Irish Royal Mail Steamer Connaught build

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's...Stuart ......I have been back through the thread & can't find a nomination of the wheel size? [or have I missed it?]

a) In jpg40...we see a plastic ruler @ 5" & sections of feathering posts....so are the wheels = /< than 10" diameter?
b) how did you produce the rivet effect on the reinforcing plate sections on the major rim OD?

As always superb work    ....Derek

Eddy...why are my emoticons not working?

[Stuart Badger]

Hi PDs

Derek, the wheel diameter is 10.75 inches or about 272mm. I made the rivet detail by drawing the outer and inner dia of the outer ring onto 10thou plasticard, marked the centre line between the two diameters and then used a small punch to emboss rivet heads. I then cut out the arcs and glued them in place.

I have now drilled ALL of the holes in the float pivots (YAY!!!!!) for the rivets (brass pins) then I shall tack glue the pivots in place on the floats' front faces and push the pins through the wooden floats. The end of the pins on the rear face will then be nipped off and will be hidden by the rivet sandwich plates which I shall make from rivet embossed black card. Then I shall give them one more coat of varnish to seal the card.

I have also assembled the  feathering stars. The articulated rods are  held in place in the groove in the hub by interference fit brass pins driven through with a small punch.
All the best

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

So - on to the next stage. A couple of days ago I discovered a major problem. My fault entirely for not checking things! When I made my super dooper accurate nothing can go wrong wheel jig I made an error in marking the iner ring (I marked the inner diameter on the jig instead of the outer. This means that I had to offset all of the paddle pivots to ensure that the floats are centred between the outer and inner ring, otherwise they would foul the inner ring when tilted. BUT! it would appear that the wheels as drawn on the plans I have have a smaller distance between the rings than the Conaught -(Conaught it would appear had larger floats than her 3 sisters) but I have made the floats to the size off Connaughts - result is that I will have to trim ALL the floats to reduce their depth - RATS!

I've shown the jig I used to assmble the floats. The float is slid front face up into the jig. The two small strips ensure the correct distance between the pivots, whilst there are two holes in the side blocks of the jig to slide the axle through to locate the position of the pivots with regard to the centre line. Then it was just a case of pushing the pins in and tapping them home with a punch. I am now glueing all of the rivet sandwich plates onto the rear face of each float (4 to a float) having counter bored the rear of each control arm to hide the 12BA retaing nut.

Hope the pics are clear enough.

All the best

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

Well! - things have slowed up a bit here at Glyfada shipyard, Naxos. We had a bit of a blow last night and the wethervane is now in my workshop being repaired!

I have also run out of 40 thou wire for the paddle float axles (more on the way) so I will have to delay final assembly and test of the wheels.

I shall probably start the funnels in the meanwhile - more soon!

All the best

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

We've had a bit of a blow over here, and just a drop of rain too Stuart.....

Winds with gusts up to 60mph, and parts of the northwest had 374mm of rain in less than 36 hours, some even had more than 300mm in one 24hr period, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the UK!!

More heavy rain and storm force winds are forecast for wednesday - Large parts of Cumbria and Dumfries have had floods, and more than 1800 bridges are being inspected for structural damage - 2 bridges have already collapsed and many more are closed.

Oh the joys of living in England!

Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

I saw some of the news on MSN - not nice. At least here it's violent, dramatic and very short lived. Today was clear bright, 70 degrees and Ros went for a swim!

Stuart

[Talisman]

Q - Stuart - is this 40thou or badly made 1mm?
Regards
Kim

[Stuart Badger]

That looks like 40 thou to me!

Stuart

[Tug--Kenny]

Time to get something more accurate      


ken

[Stuart Badger]

I thought I'd assemble at least one wheel - so here it is.

I have made a video of the wheel operating with the feathering - but I have to consult our Guru to see how to upload it or reduce the file size. So for now - just pics

All the best

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

My god, that's a masterpiece!

What a crying shame to hide it under a paddlebox! 

Regards
Eddy

[Talisman]

Blimey! that needs a glass box not a paddle box.
Good work!

[Stuart Badger]

Thanks guys!
It remains to be seen how fragile it is in use - Hey! but I can always make another pair (NOT)!

I had a rather sad moment and counted the components for both wheels. The grand total is 1,428 - I am not going to count anything else again - ever!

All the best

Stuart

[djcf]

Hi Stuart,
Some job...those wheels are a completed model masterpiece in themselves,... without the rest of the ship!   

I'm guessing on the real ship the rpm must have been pretty low.

[Stuart Badger]

Thank you.

You are right about the RPM. The Connaught's engines (direct drive) revolved at 22 RPM when at full speed. This gave her a top speed of about 18 knots, unheard of for the time and a record that was held AGAINST ANY VESSEL for 20 years!

part of the mail contract requirement was that she could complete the crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown (Dublin) in under 3 3/4 hours.

All the best

Stuart