1:25 scale Quarter-wheeler river Drogher

[Steven S]

I've been able to finish and mount the rudder.  Now I'm trying to work out the chain routing and how to attach it to the rudder and the servo.

[Steven S]

I’m still not satisfied with the rudder linkage so I have been working on finishing some other areas of the boat for now.  My main holdup is that I have been assembling a sailboat I bought in February.  Several of us in my club have decided to try racing RC65 sailboats this summer as we have a new pond this year that is deep enough and clean enough for sailing.  It took more time than I thought, but I’m back to work on the drogher now

I have fastened down the boiler room and added some shelves for packages plus a bench and a water closet for passengers that might want to accompany their goods into town.  I also made some latches for the engine room and the front hatch.  It’s just a piece of brass rod bent into a “U” that fits into two holes in the structure.  One leg is shorter than the other to make it easier to insert.  I also added braces under each motor as Jurgen suggested and my woodpile is still a work in progress. My next job is to roof the boiler/wheel room and then make a deck crane.  Deck cargo and cardboard boxes for the shelving are also on the agenda.

[Hankwilliams]

Very good work, the impression of the boat seems really original.

[Steven S]

Thank you Thomas, yes I’m afraid it is entirely scratch built and bears little resemblance to any boat out there as there are no plans that I could find.  I looked at many pictures and read a lot of history on droghers and then built the boat I would have liked to pilot on the rivers back around 1900.
It is early summer/late spring here in Canada and there are other things to do, so work on the boat has slowed, but I have finished the boiler room and am now working on the deck hoist.  I’m planning on making it similar to Tomas Krejci’s Lulonga.  I just have to make or buy the fittings for it.  I’m trying to figure out how the boom is connected to the derrick post.

[Hankwilliams]

Very interesting and well build model, Steven!

[Steven S]

I’ve finished my deck crane and some of the deck cargo, although I will redo my double blocks later. I had to make my own as I couldn’t buy any locally, and know that I should have done a better job. I just ripped a piece of maple into a quarter-inch square, cut it to length, sanded the edges, drilled some holes to represent the pulleys and glued some brass loops in and then stained it to a dirty grey colour.

I wanted the mast to be removable so I cut off the bottom couple of inches and glued it into the hull, and then epoxied a brass tube joiner onto the stub.  Now the mast and the smokestack are removable for transport and storage.  I cut the parts connecting the boom to the derrick out of 1/16 plywood and a small piece of maple glued and them into place to make a working pivot.

I just have to finish off the rudder linkage and build some more cargo to finish the boat. I also need to add a couple of passengers sitting on the bench and a deckhand/fireman to finish the project. The only ones I could find turned out to be extremely expensive because of shipping so I am still hunting for another source.

[Hankwilliams]

Very interesting boat, Steven! The details made the model lively. I would like to see her on water!

Thomas