Steam powered sternwheeler ( first boat build ever )

[apointofview]

Bill,
Thanks for the idea !  I have been debating on just how to control the jet drive.  Setting it up as you suggest would make its use automatic.  Even with the steam plant inop I would just use the same control so no fiddling with another control.
Pete

[apointofview]

I had a local trophy shop make the signs for the boat for me.  I gave them pictures of the full scale signs and a drawing of the size and deck curves I wanted to match.  I think they came out great and only 10 bucks !!

To get an idea of how they would look I loosely assembled the boat parts as they are now.  I have a few issues with paint thickness messing with the fit of some of the parts.  I didnt plan for the thickness of the paint when I was fitting the part so some of them are now too tight.  A little sanding should fix it.

I have also started securing the floats to the paddle wheel

Lots of detail to cover but progress is being made.

Pete

[vk2dj]

G'day  Pete very impressive build the detail is worth the time & effort
One question What is your preferred glue I have tried several on test pieces I am leaning towards Titebond they make a waterproof one will be interested in your thoughts
Gary

[apointofview]

Gary,
Thanks !  Titebond 3 it the primary glue I used on the boat, I think there is almost a whole 16oz bottle of the stuff in my paddler.  There is some 5 minute epoxy here and there when I wanted things done faster. Superglue was used for the bits that make up the railing and other detail parts because I couldnt see clamping up all those parts and waiting for them to dry.

Pete

[apointofview]

Well it was pointed out to me that the glue joint between the brass spokes and the wood floats on my paddle wheel has a good chance of failure.  Between the paint on the float and the different ways wood and metal expand he suggested that it would be prone to failure.  I agreed and came up with using brass wire to secure the wood to the brass at the ends of every float.

I have put the baluster stickers on the mid deck railing and sprayed them with clear lacquer.  That added a lot of detail to the deck.

A fun bit of progress was painting on gold bands to the smoke stack.  I used the lathe to slowly spin the stack while painting and while it dried.

Pete

[DamienG]

 

[apointofview]

Thanks Damien !

I started mounting the lights that run the perimeter of the decks.  Turns out I didn't order enough ( that's what I get for not measuring ) I plan on running them off a 7.4 lipo pack I have from a remote control truck.   That same battery will run the backup electric jet drive.

This all the mid deck and most of the upper deck done, I still need to figure out where to run the wires deck to deck and what connectors I will use to hook them to each other.

Pete

[apointofview]

Big day for me today, I put the boat into the test tank and ran it on air.  Everything went great, one problem with one of the cam push rods getting loose and water getting in the hull when the paddle runs in full reverse.  Other than that it floats exactly where it needs to with 5 lbs of ballast in the bow and she didn't leak a drop.  I didn't run on steam because the gas feed system isn't finished, but the full tank of fuel was on board. 

The electric recovery jet drive works good, as a matter of fact it has enough thrust to rotate the paddle at full throttle.  I will probably make a bit of a deflector at the outlet of the drive to direct the water column down below the paddle. 

Still have a few details to finish out like a servo mount for the whistle valve and gas shutoff valve.  Wiring for the lights has a ways to go and leak check of the water supply tanks and pump.  I had to make an extension for the manual side of my boiler feed water pump because of my lack of planning.  When I extended to bow I forgot to check the clearance of the pump handle so when I remounted the pump I found I had no access to the handle with the extended superstructure in place.  Oops, well I have a handle mounted up on the bow now with a push rod under the deck to operate the pump.  The handle is removable when its not in use and its actually a better setup now.

I am sure there are a few other items that need completing that I haven't thought of too.

Getting a bit excited to see it out on the water on its own power !!

Pete

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHisuJegus

[DamienG]

 

[derekwarner_decoy]

Well congratulations Pete....... you deserve to be very proud............she looks very good in the video

We see with ~~40 PSI the wheel rotation is just over 60 RPM.......I understand you had your workshop air compressor regulated down to this pressure, however did you restrict the air flow to attain that paddle speed?.......it will be interesting to see the vessel steaming along at this paddle RPM and understand if the speed is prototypical scale

We also see in image_3037 what appears to be 2" draft as you predicted......however what is the total vessel weight?....with the two side mounted water tanks full...and also the gas tank...speaking of which .....is it hidden under the foredeck hatch?

Back to the water tanks......what is the total water volume/weight?.......having the tanks sensibly mounted far FWD, will only result in the bow lifting as you consume the water, however the stern wheel depth of immersion should remain pretty well even depth

Again congratulations...well done......... Derek

[victor vector]

Lovely work !

Very impressive model.

 

[apointofview]

 

Derek - Yep I had the shop air feeding the boiler to 40psi which is just under the crack pressure of the first relief valve. From there the air ran through the steam feed lines to the pair of throttle valves ( one for each engine to fine tune the movement ) which restricted the flow to get the paddle rpm you see in the video.  The full scale boat in Florida runs 7 to 10 rpm so I am really fast.  I added another video (  https://youtu.be/VdhiP_ZSMtI  ) to show the range of speed the paddle has.  I was just moving the throttle servo by hand so the increase in speed will be smoother when the servo drives itself.

So far the total weight is 47lbs with a full propane tank and empty water tanks ( yep good observation the gas is under the forward hatch ) I havent checked the capacity of the water tanks yet. I just fit as much pipe as I could in the space I dedicated to water.  I may not even need that much. I plan on a leak check of those tanks soon so I will measure the max capacity when I do that.  You are correct the bow will rise as I vaporise water and it will transfer aft as the condensation traps located under the engines fill up with oil and water.  Hopefully the weight transfer wont drop the paddle too far under water.  Real world running will teach me a lot.

It sure was a fun day !

Pete

[DamienG]

Coming along really well Pete   

[derekwarner_decoy]

So Pete says....."The full scale boat in Florida runs 7 to 10 rpm so I am really fast" 

Lets say...scale @ 1:24.....therefore shaft speed is the square root of the scale x actual = ~~ 50 RPM.......so your video at ~~60 RPM is not out of the question........see how 50 RPM performs in the next river trials

Remember these were graceful & purposeful looking vessels at speed.......certainly not a speed boat.......Derek

[andy]

PERFECT!
I hope, in spring you show to us a drive of the model outside and with steam power?

Andy