PS Presto Build - American Civil War Blockade Runner

[Talisman]

Hi Don,
Very elegant! She has a great looking bow and paddle wave pattern.
The full rudder looks very scale ... will we be seeing her at Paddler day ?
Nice work!
Regards,
Kim
 

[Taifoon78]

Looks so elegant and so unhurried easy lady.

[Don]

Hi Don,
Very elegant! She has a great looking bow and paddle wave pattern.
The full rudder looks very scale ... will we be seeing her at Paddler day ?
Nice work!
Regards,
Kim

I'm afraid not Kim.  I don't have the funds right now to afford a trip over to that side of the Atlantic.  Perhaps in a few years after I get my daughters through university!
Sincerely,
Don
 

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Don,
Very elegant! She has a great looking bow a+++nd paddle wave pattern.
The full rudder looks very scale ... will we be seeing her at Paddler day ?
Nice work!
Regards,
Kim

I'm afraid not Kim.  I don't have the funds right now to afford a trip over to that side of the Atlantic.  Perhaps in a few years after I get my daughters through university!
Sincerely,
Don

Hi Don,

I congretulate you to this very well built and fascinating model. Where one can get a plan of this elegant ship?
I am also very interestet about ships of the civil war.
My presentation of the 1 : 48 model of blockade runner "Hope" you find at "construction" at September 07 in 2008.

Sincerely
Tom

[Don]

Hi Don,
Very elegant! She has a great looking bow a+++nd paddle wave pattern.
The full rudder looks very scale ... will we be seeing her at Paddler day ?
Nice work!
Regards,
Kim

I'm afraid not Kim.  I don't have the funds right now to afford a trip over to that side of the Atlantic.  Perhaps in a few years after I get my daughters through university!
Sincerely,
Don

Hi Don,

I congretulate you to this very well built and fascinating model. Where one can get a plan of this elegant ship?
I am also very interestet about ships of the civil war.
My presentation of the 1 : 48 model of blockade runner "Hope" you find at "construction" at September 07 in 2008.

Sincerely
Tom

Tom,
Thank you for you comments.  I am glad to get them, especially from a great model builder like yourself.  I noticed your outstanding model of the PS Hope some time ago.  It looks to be a stunning model, especially with the steam propulsion. 

I got the plans for the Presto (built as the Fergus) form a dealer on eBay.  He has another set of plans for sale now.  Here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/sidewheel-steamer-fergus-dare-ship-boat-model-boat-plan-/200586283938?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb3dfcba2

He also had plans for the Hope for sale but I don't see then now. 

The plans also depict the PS Dare which was a sister to the Fergus except she had a quarterdeck instead of a deckhouse. 

I hope you get the plans and decide to build a working steam model similar to Hope!   

Sincerely, 

Don

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Don,

thank you very much for your kindly words and the information about the plan.
I think, also your model is really breathtaking and I will expect the day, when it will be finished in it's whole elegance!

Tom

[Don]

January 2011:  I've been working on this model steadily for nearly a year now.  This is the fun part.  In the first picture you can see that I've nearly finished the cabins in front of the paddle boxes and the pilot house to include the hurricane deck on top of it.  I used painted paper stock to make the trim.  In the future I think I'll stick with wood.  When those were complete I started on the paddle box steps.  I was dreading these for some time thinking they would be difficult, but they were not difficult at all - just took a while.  The slots I left in the paddle boxes helped immensely with the alignment and as a result they are straight and stout.  I also built the two casings for the boilers and the smoke stacks.  The casings are a complex shape so I built up the rough shape with bass wood and then carved it out.  You can see how far they stick up out of the deck because of the ship's low freeboard.       

[djcf]

Hi Don,
Really enjoying your build thread, she looks fantastic, and sits so well on the water.
Her "Clyde built" lines really stand out on your model.
regards
Clark

[Don]

Hi Don,
Really enjoying your build thread, she looks fantastic, and sits so well on the water.
Her "Clyde built" lines really stand out on your model.
regards
Clark

Thank you Clark.  These were beautiful ships and I am glad you think I'm doing it right.  It is ironic that you live close to where the Presto was built and I live close to where she was wrecked. 

Sincerely,
Don

[Don]

February, 2011:  I completed the aft cabin house which was relatively easy.  Again, I used card stock to make the trim pieces.  I also made my first skylight.  In the second and third pictures you can see the model on our local pond again.  I decided at this point to go with a light grey color above the top rail.  I think it looked better than the single light blue color.  The only reference I found that discussed the real ship's color was a report from a Union Army officer who witnessed the ship's destruction and wrote in his report that she had white smoke stacks.  A Boston Herald reporter who also witnessed the ship's end described her as "a splendid looking side-wheel steamer, with two smoke stacks and rakish masts".  The Scotsman from September 15, 1863 reported, "...and a very fine new paddle steamer named the Fergus, of 100 tons, which is said to have great power and to sail very fast, have cleared for Nassau, and are manned by picked crews of thirty hands...."

[kno3]

The details on the cabins look very nice.

[Don]

March 2011:  Work on Presto continues.  In the first picture you can see the model loaded in the back of my van and ready to go to our nearby pond for an early morning swim.  The boiler casings/funnels are removed.  I can put my hands in the resulting hole for a good handle to lift the boat.  The batteries for the motor also go through them.  You can also see the hatch for the aft fire room just behind the pilot house and off to starboard.  The hatch to the forward fire room is in front of the galley.  In the second picture you can see the boat at full speed and making a nice wake.  In the third picture you can see that I added the steering wheel, binnacle and the vents for the boilers.  I ordered the vents from Cornwall model boats.  They were made by RB.  I had to add extra length to them because they were too short.  The binnacle was also made by RB.  I also made a funnel for the galley stove.         

[Don]

OK so now its April and I'm still attending to all the little details.  I found some nice ladder kits that were very close to the scale of the model.  I can't imagine making these myself, but I know there are skilled modelers out there who do.  I also used "Britannia" strips to make three mast bands around each funnel.  I fabricated the two exhaust condensers from bass wood.  In the third picture you can see the forward condenser jutting out in front of the funnel.  It looks to be about the size of a barrel.  I would think that a return pipe of some sort would need to run from the condenser back to the water supply, but the drawings/plans don't show anything, so I'm not sure how these would function.  I know very little about steam engines and I haven't been able to find any pictures of exhaust condensers like these.  If anyone has any pictures of condensers like these please post them.  I'll appreciate it. 

In the first picture you can see where I started on the railings around the hurricane deck and paddle boxes.  I used brass stanchions and brass rod for the rails.  I hated to paint the nice brass light grey, but a blockade runner would not leave that much reflective metal showing, and I figure they were probably made from iron anyway.

In the second picture you can see the model on my local pond.  Even though the model is not finished, I really like taking it to the pond for a spin now and then.

Don 

[Taifoon78]

The small details make her alive

[PeeWee]

that picture of her on the water really does you justice.  great work indeed