Aluminium paddle steamer

[rmcluckie]

Sorry if this has been posted before but it is really good. Just like modelling but in full size.

http://aluminiumpaddlesteamer.com/?page_id=9

[kno3]

That's a great project! I like the site, it shows a lot of the building and associated problems.

[Roderick Smith]

The site indicated that the launching date would be 20.11.09, and that was achieved.
A great video of the event has been placed on Youtube: three segments of 7.5 min.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQEdbos7xY: preparation at the building site, and transport to the launching site.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqwqL1trhlQ&feature=related: launching
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHfcbx_cIEs&feature=related: trials

This was a well-made video.  It was good to see another construction project completed successfully.  It was also good to see the blending of modern materials with traditional lines and practices.  For me, it was also good to see this against a backdrop of roads on which I have travelled, water which I have cruised, and cliffs and trees which I have seen.  Our Australian bush is always muted green, not virulent, but the grey light has robbed the cliffs of their richness.

The opening verses of Doreathea Mackellar's evocative poem 'My country'

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

http://www.imagesaustralia.com/mycountry.htm

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor