Irish Royal Mail Steamer Connaught build

[Stuart Badger]

I have now completed the two wheels (minus the flippy floppy wobbly bits) and have posted some pics.

The horizontal braces are 0.8mm brass tube with a dome headed pin inserted and superglued each side. The diagonal bracing is 1mm brass wire fitted into drilled holes in the circumference of the hub and the inner wheel rim/spoke junction. The rivet detail is simply 10thou plasticard embossed with a small punch, superglued in place. Finally I've just blown a light coat of primer on to aid the cleanup.

I'm in a quandry about what colour to paint them. The Science museum Laird model has them black, the model of the wheels and engine assembly in the same museum has them brown. The only thing I'm fairly sure of is that they were not red oxide. I have at my disposal paint in black, dark red and brown - any thoughts?

[Talisman]

The only thing I'm fairly sure of is that they were not red oxide. I have at my disposal paint in black, dark red and brown - any thoughts?

My thoughts, would they have been painted in some sort of antifoul?
Perhaps a coper coloured antifoul which over time may have turned Brown / black coloured.
Like i say its only a thought no idea if I'm right or even close.
Kim

[mjt60a]

Good point - and I hadn't even noticed before!
On the ship model they are indeed black but on the engine model they're maroon, same colour as the engine parts.... I would expect black is correct and the maroon has been used for appearance so they 'match' the engine... but I have no idea really 

By the way, a plate on the engine says it is a model of the engines of P. S. Leinster, the plate on the case it's housed in says Leinster and Connaught

[Stuart Badger]

Thanks for the input Kim and Mick.

Mick you have inadvertantly caused me great relief! Two of the four steamers had outside feathering gear and two had inside - much more complicated to build in model sizes. The model of the engine and paddle assembly in the Science Museum has OUTSIDE gear and if it's labeled Leinster AND Connaught then that's just saved me a deal of work - thanks!

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

I've now started making the small components for the floats and feathering gear. The first of these are the control arms and pivots for the floats.
You may find the technique useful for producing small (or large) identical parts. The method involves making an extrusion or bar to the profile of the parts you want and then slicing them off. The paddle pivots were made by cutting a piece of 6mm PVC to width and then on the circular saw, making two lengthwise cuts each side to take out a 'step' either side of the strip to produce the profile - they were then sawn off using the fence on the circular saw set at 3mm.

The control arm profile was made up with 4 strips of PVC glued up. I tapered the 'arm' and put the round nose on it before I assembled the strip. After slicing the control arms I soaked the joints in very thin Cyanoacrylate to be sure that there were no voids in the joint.

The next step wil be to produce a small jig to drill the holes required.

Although I am fortunate in having all the machines I need NONE of these methods need them - they can all be done with hand tools. It will take longer of course, but when I was making models for a living time was a luxury I didn't have. In fact that is the only difference between some one who does something for a living and someone who does it for a hobby - so please don't be put off by seeing me use a machine that you may not have.

Hope the photos are clear - I'm off back to the workshop

All the best

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

The bit I don't understand is how you manage to produce all these things so damned fast! I start to lose the will to live when it gets down to the fiddly bits!!

That's the reason very few of my models are actually complete - They get to the stage where they look okay from a distance, and that's as far as I get....

I've decided that on my next build, I'll do all the "little" bits first - Then hopefully I will be onto the larger bits that interest me as the enthusiasm starts to wain....

Keep up the magnificent work Stuart - I know there are a lot of people watching in awe!

Regards
Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

I know what you mean about 'Losing the will to live' Eddy! I used to feel that way too, until a guy I was working with told me to forget about  finishing the model. He said that if you look forward to completing the thing you just get depressed about the lack of progress and overwhelmed by all the things there are to do. His method was to treat EACH tiny or large part of the model as a SEPARATE project. He would finish each part - including painting, and move on to the next little 'model' or component. And then one day the whole thing would be finished!

Anyway it works for me!

All the best

Stuart

[Tug--Kenny]

Hi Stuart

On the last picture (above) you show the 'piece' in front of the blade ready to cut.

How do you retrieve the cut off slice from between the blade and guide, please.  Does the 'cut off' fly about loose ?

It is lovely to watch your work on these machines. So professional. Thank you

Ken

[Stuart Badger]

What I do Kenny is to set the blade so that it JUST fails to cut all the way through - then I can retract the piece and just break through the last little bit by hand.
Thanks for the kind comments!

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

I've spent the last day or so making all the components for the feathering mechanism. I had to make several decisions as to how 'scale' I made the wheels, I want the model to be a nice item in its own right - BUT I also want it to be a practical working model. Conaught's wheels have several distinctive features, not least of which are the brass end caps at the end of the feathering control rods. She also has chamfered edges to the paddle floats. I decided that I couldn't leave these off of the model, so it's taken me a little time to produce the bits I need. In no particular order these are the parts;
Wheels - these have now been sprayed black.
Paddle float pivots - now sprayed red.
Paddle floats - These are made from two sheets of 1.5mm pear wood laminated together using polyurethane adhesive to produce a 3mm thick sheet. This is for two reasons, it should stop them warping if any moisture gets through the varnish and the lamination gives me a line to work to when I am chamfering the rear edges.
Eccentric hubs - these were machined on the lathe from PVC then drilled for the feathering rod pivots to 1mm, a piece of 4mm brass tube provides the bearing.
Fixed control arms - these were shaped from 6 X 0.5mm brass and drilled for the centre hub and pivot point, they will later need to have 4 bracing rods attached to the 'bulgey' bit and the circumference of the eccentric hub.
Float control arms - these were made from 2.5mm brass rod, drilled 1mm at the eccentric end and will all have the other ends  turned down to fit the float end caps of the rods.

Rod end caps - These were machined from 6mm brass rod, then side drilled to accept the feathering rod. The rear face of each cap is drilled 1mm to take the feathering pivot pin AFTER the feathering rod has been inserted into the side drilled hole. This ensures that the end pin retains the rod and nothing can move or come apart! - I have shown one rod assembled in the photos.
Feathering pivot pins - these are made from 1mm brass rod which I have then threaded 12BA at the float end to take a retaing nut and so I can get the assembly apart later if I need to.
I now need to make the assembly jigs and some sort of test stand so that I can put it all together to be sure that it all works - still a bit to do though as I have to varnish all the floats yet!

I've just re-read this and it is bordering on the edge of boredom ! Sorry!

All the best

Stuart

[Tug--Kenny]

Not boring at all, Stuart. I'm following this with interest. I particularly like the machining details, as do probably most of us here. After 50 years of engineering for someone else, it's a real pleasure to do for ourselves, eh !!

Surely, your not going to put it in the water.  (as my Wife would say)   

ken

[Stuart Badger]

Surely, your not going to put it in the water.  (as my Wife would say)

My main fear Ken is that I'll end up putting it UNDER the water! I still have real concerns about the stability.

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

The moment of truth draws closer, and I'll see fairly soon whether these wheels and the feathering mechanism actually works!

The only truly tedious job is to mount the pivots and control arms onto the floats. I need to fix them mechanically as well as glue them as I am using wooden floats, so I have decided to use pins to simulate the bolts that would have held the original together, as they protrude through the back edge of the pivots. This will mean making another jig so that I can drill the 16 X 0.8mm holes required for each float - a total of 448 holes! (but hey - who's counting!).

I have drilled all the pivot and control holes, assembled and painted the master control arms and assembled and painted all of the other control arms. I have also made a 'dummy' section of the centre of the hull so that I can test the assembly and get an idea of the relationship of the paddles to the rest of the hull. I have also marked up and laid the keel jig and printed up all the bulkheads required onto paper ready to paste onto the plywood.

As the build progresses I keep noticing new things - for instance 'Connaught's' paddle shaft was ABOVE deck level, on the model it works out to a full 10mm - so I'm getting even more nervous about stability!

Any way - back to the workshop.

All the best

Stuart

[djcf]

Hi Stuart
Really enjoying seeing your wheels take shape...& so quickly 

How much water will your Connaught draw when shes finished & afloat?

Clark

[Stuart Badger]

Thanks for the reply Clark - it makes it all worth while.

In theorey 'Connaught' should draw between 5-6 inches, or not a lot at all as it's known!

Stuart