Swiss Steamwheeler RIGI under construction

[Gerhardvienna]

After painting the skylights body, I had to build the windows. Therefore I used 1mm Plywood, and 1mm balsawood, the plywood for the upper frames. The baksa was glued to a sheet of paper and cut then into shape. mark, that the texture of the balsa must be in the loger direction,will break, whe it is glued in thdirection! er forming the frames, they were glue togehter, and painted after that. When all was dried, I fored small eyelets fron thin wire, and fixed them into the frames, I use superglue for that step. As next I took a sheet of crystal clear plastik, and glued this into the frames. The Windows are then fixed to the skylights body, even here was thin wire needed.
Regards Gerhard

[DamienG]

  Looking good Gerhard. 

[John Davies]

Hello, Gerhard

Looks to me like you're a true miniature engineer, rather than a card modeller as I am - my principle hobby is model railways, in which the engineering skills come more into play.   That is one lovely model you've created.

I noticed someone found a very early photo of Rigi in original form which shows she had a very odd boiler housing, with a tapered top to the cylindrical body, not a bit like the flat, oval shaped one from her 1905 rebuild. That dome on the boiler, as Brian suggested in an early post, would indeed be a dome, like a locomotive's - the museum's card kit shows this, on a very early 'Scotch' marine boiler, to be rectangular in shape.

The card kit suggests that when you've got to a particular stage the model shows the ship in her original form - well, no, not quite. No railings round the decks for a start, or helm. I must go through your pages in detail and find out where the ship's wheel originally stood - presumably between the sponsons.

As for the change in shape of the portholes, this is 'par for the course' with any veteran vehicle with a long working life. Most preserved locomotives, cars or traction engines have been rebuilt so often that there's very little of the original left except the makers plates.

My model of 'Rigi' has moved on a bit, and the upperworks are now being prepared - if anyone else is planning to make the model I'd suggest you do as I have, dispense with the inner details and permanently fix the deck and upperworks to the hull, it makes a much stronger, more durable model. The boiler, which is quite a good representation, makes a good waggon load for a model railway, but the less said about the 'engine' the better - its about like a child's tinprint toy car with faces on the windows, and totally unconvincing.   

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi John
I`ve downloaded two pics from the RIGI, found on the internet, from her very early days. Ther first one shows her at some harbour, the secon at the transprotation over land. Both are really interestign maybe for you too. The "harbour" picture shows the RIGI with square windows. If you do have any other pics, pleas show them here or even at your building thread!   
I had to do a break at the building, and make a full new set of drawings for a modelbuilder college from switzerland, he needs a 4-cylinder steam engine for a 1:50 model of the steamwheeler GALLIA. The plans are almost done, so I will continue here soon.
Regards
Gerhard

[John Davies]

hello again, Gerhardt

Thanks for those two photos, very interesting to see how she originally looked. My model is progressing nicely at the moment - having had a break while exhibiting my railway at a show last weekend - and I am now assembling the upperworks. As work has progressed I've found that the card kit needs various parts trimming - they don't quite match the spaces provided, or line up with other parts that should be the same size, but there's nothing which cannot be corrected.
I'm making the model in its 1905 configuration, as first preserved at Lucerne and this raises a question. What, if anything was inside that long saloon on the after deck? As designed the kit has planking etc marked on the deck but no suggestion of seats, either along the sides of the saloon or down the centre line, such as you find on 'Dresden' for example. Given the amount of printed detail which is included I'm inclined to think there were no seats fitted. Am I right? It seems a bit daft, though to go to all the trouble the designer did and then not include 'interior' windows which could be seen through the open doorway.
One other problem is looming. My wife put her finger on it, when looking at my model of 'Dresden'. "Its a lovely thing - but where are you going to put it?"

John     

[Gerhardvienna]

hello again, Gerhardt
One other problem is looming. My wife put her finger on it, when looking at my model of 'Dresden'. "Its a lovely thing - but where are you going to put it?"
John   

Hi John
A good view of the interior for both rear and front section, is here to be seen http://www.kingswearcastle.co.uk/Rigipotm.htm  But I`m not sure, from what time the saloon was.
If looming is what I expect(??) the toilets seemed to be located in the wheelhouses at the rear end. But this is just an expectation, also not sure about that  ,l note the open door ath the rear end of the right side wheel house. Note the chimney too, this is definatly from the time after the second modification 1850.
Regards
Gerhard

[John Davies]

Thanks, Gerhard. So, assuming that the pictures of the preserved ship are also an accurate reflection of her later service days, the saloon was supplied with ordinary movable wooden arm chairs. I think, therefore, that unless I can find a source of 4mm scale chairs I'll leave the area empty.

Sorry if 'looming' puzzled you - I mean that a problem has appeared. Namely 'where am I going to put these things?"

My model is now in its last stages and, after a lot of work, I'm very pleased with it. Should anyone else be planning on using the Swiss Museum's printed parts as the basis for a model, they will need to be very careful as a number of parts don't fit together very well. Work slowly, do 'dry' trial fits without glue and trim as needed to make a good fit.

One example is the smokestack, which the instruction photo shows slopes backwards, but the saloon roof (if used as supplied) makes it stand upright. The top edge of the hull centre section is higher than the bow and stern pieces, and some of the sponson cabins and saloon bulkheads also need adjusting.

Similarly, its better to cut the sides off the deck and saloon roof pieces completely, and then reglue them. It makes a much neater job, depending of course on the thickness of the card you've mounted them on, than scribing and folding them down. 

I also cut off all the tabs for fixing the bulwarks and other parts into the deck etc. They aren't needed, as I dispensed with the removable upperworks/decks idea, and it does help them fit together more neatly.
 
Having said that, the model is worth all the work which can go into it - it really does make up into a lovely display piece.

John

[Gerhardvienna]

Hello , I`m back again
For health reasons i was stopped from model building for a while, hopfully I will be able to continue with the RIGI in a few weeks. But I`m back for reading, and watching your builds, the rest will be a matter of time.............
Best regards
Gerhard

[DamienG]

I hope you get well fully quickly Gerhard.
Damien.

[Gerhardvienna]

Thank You, Damien
It will take some time, but things go well at the moment, so I hope to be able to continue the RIGI, and all the other projects I`ve started......................
Regards Gerhard

[kno3]

Gute Besserung! Hope to see you continuing the build soon.

[Spankbucket]

Get well soon Gerhardt!!!!

[Brian Gates]

Can I add my best wishes to those of the others.

Brian

[Gerhardvienna]

Thank you guys
Still working strong for recovery............
Regards
Gerhard

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Folks I`M BACK
The last days was spent with planking the deck, and soldering the chimney. The chimney is maed from 1mm brass and 16mm brass tube, nothing more to say about that. The deck is planked with 0,5 x 6mm pearwood, this was cut into 10cm stripes, and glued to black cardboard. After that was dried, I cut the "block" into single stripes again, and glued them to the deck. Then all was sanded with 120 and 240 sanding paper. The deck will be painted with colourless varnish, while the chimney will be black coated. More about making the deck`s planks will be shown in my next post.
Regards
Gerhard