African quarter wheeler

[Paulrjordan]

Uh oh...this is beginning to look like "PJ's NEWSLETTER" again as I
have been responsible for the last 11 out 12 posts..and that is NOT a
good thing!!! Never mind..surprisingly enough I havn't received any
complaints to the office about lack of postings and maybe it's a
quality V quantity issue here!!!

Anyhow my question is to all you Sternwheeler experts here...

It concerns an article I recently came across in Model Boats Magazine
by the famous David Metcalfe. (Model Boats Dec. 1994) Seems that
David published a set of plans and three or four articles about an
African river paddler called "LULONGA" (unattractive little thing as
it happens but with a certain "ugly duckling" appeal).

In the article he extols the virtues of the easy to build Graupner
self feathering paddles which are both mounted at the stern in good
old sternwheeler fashion. The only difference is there are TWO
wheels at the stern as opposed to one. These are independently
rotating and allow for the great maneuverability that goes with the
split wheels. (I'm assuming there is an accurate precedent for this
as David Metcalfe is no slouch in the modeling world.) or IS THERE?
These are called "quartering wheels" according to him and I was never
aware of this configuration, although it makes sense. Have any of you
riverboat junkies seen anything like this before or is this just a
fanciful idea of a fun model?

Looking forward to hearing from ..SOMEONE!!!

PJ

[Alistair Deayton]

Yes, the quarterwheeler was a variety of paddle-wheeler mainly seen in
Africa. They were also known as vane-wheelers. There was a series built for
the Royal Engineers Inland Waterway services in Mesopotamia in the first
World War. Some ended up in Egypt when the war finished, and one, KARIM, is
still around, running Nile cruises.
There were also a couple of side-wheelers built for the same campaign which
were purchased by Thomas cook for their Nile services and converted by
moving the wheels to the stern, thus making them quarter-wheelers.

Alistair Deayton

[Paulrjordan]

Excellent feedback..thank you Alistair.

Now that Alistair has "legitimized" this strange little paddler from
Africa and provided an insight into this genre, I've put up a file
showing David Metcalfe's interpretation which started from a series in
the December 1994 Model Boats. There were about three articles on this
including a set of FREE plans. She actually grows on you as you look
at her (not as much as Gators though!!)..but if you want a fun and not
too hard to build paddler with lots of conversational appeal at the
Club, take a look at her.

Find her in our files section at

>FILES>"MODEL GALLERY">STERNWHEELER MODELS>
(don't click the URL link in the previous file auto alert you
received, coz it got split into two lines and doesn't work.)
I'm going to see what else I can find out about these and will let you
all know when I come up with something.

Alistair if you have any images of these or can lead us towards them,
please let us know.
Thanks again for the clarification.
PJ

[David Powell]

Hi Paul,
as you say the message board is getting a bit like PJ's
newsletter, (especially as you are repeating yourself)last two
messages, is your machine doing the same as mine, doubling up things ?
however just to let you know the messages are being read, I'm afraid
I never heard of the African quarter wheeler, but it sounds like a
logical thing, after all twin screws are the same sort of effect, I
guess there will be someone out there who will have heard of it!
Come on Africa, there must be some paddleducks over there!
DP.

[Paulrjordan]

We'll let's see if this message doubles up too, David...although I
suspect it has rather more to do with the time of the night I bang off
these posts...sometimes even fall asleep at the pooter...so if you get
ten messages the same you'll know what happened.

Is anybody interested in seeing an image of LULONGA? If so I'll scan
one and put it in the files..if not..I'll just go back to sleep!!!

PJ