Murray River Paddle Steamer.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Some years ago a bought a lot of a lot of model boat magazines in a charity shop.  Having read them except for the ones that had 'Free' plans with they were I disposed of.  A couple of weeks ago I was leafing through these magazines and in an 2007 April edition of Marine Modelling International there was a free plan of a Murray River Paddle Steamer 'Jennifer Anne' designed by Eris Kennedy an Australian.  The model is quite small about 20" long and powered by an electric motor.  As recently I have been designing and working on a gear box for a steam powered model paddle boat I was quite interested.  I am going to try and make a steam powered version of Eris's model.  I expect it will have to be altered a bit to accommodate a steam engine and boiler.  A friend is going to 3D print some paddle wheels for me.  Other than thinking about it all I have done is made a modified version of the gear box I have been playing with, this gear box will either have a steam engine fitted to it or will be driven by a shaft from a steam engine.  As I want the steam engine to be self starting it will have to have several small cylinders.  The first job will be to check out the paddles to see how much power is needed they will be several weeks arriving so no much can be done in the near future.

'Jennifer Anne' as designed powered by an electric motor.
   


One of the engine and gear boxes I have been working on.



The gear box only that I have nearly finished.






I will report progress.

Regards Tony.

[kno3]

Looks like it is going to be a nice little steamer. What kind of paddle wheels are you having made?

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Looks like it is going to be a nice little steamer. What kind of paddle wheels are you having made?

I am meeting with a friend at a model railway show in a couple of weeks time to discuss the design of the paddle wheels.  The size and number of blades will be to the drawing, I would like a paddle that was made in one piece, but there are constrains made by using a 3D printer to make it, so we will see.  Once I have paddles I can check out the size of engine and gear ratios; I have already made a small boiler that might be suitable, oddly it was one of a pair that was designed to power a small model of a paddle boat.

Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I have had a meeting with the friend who is going to 3D print some paddle wheels for me.  He has worked out how the paddles will be constructed; a very simple design with 12 blades.

I have started work on a prototype hull.  The plan of the hull has been photocopied and has been increased in length to 54 cm to give more buoyancy and still still be less than the 50 Mini Vap rule.

The plain section on the drawing is the extra length.
 


A half section template was made from thin plywood it could have been from card but I didn't have any. The half section plan glued to the plywood.



The Half section was cut out.



And the paper removed.



The hull to be made is for testing and for positioning the boiler, engine in it so I am using timber that I have to hand.  The hull shape will be to the extended drawing but the construction will be as open as possible to allow easy distribution of the various parts of engine boiler etc.  The original instructions with the drawings specified balsa wood for construction.  I don't have any balsa wood and for steam use a more robust hull might be an idea.  So one of my usual sources of timer was used.



I don't make many boats from scratch so my constructional techniques tend to evolve so there are probably better ways of doing it.  The coping saw was fitted with a new blade and cutting was started.



The two halves of the bottom of the hull were glued together.



Being a metalworker the result was filed rather than planed, I do have a plane somewhere.



To give the most access the deck was modified from the drawings.



The two sections of deck nailed together for filing.



The ends of the deck were glued and slotted for a piece of plywood foe extra strength.



The drawings called for formers to hold the bottom of the hull and deck apart but to give maximum access pillars were used.




That is as far as I have got with the hull.

Regards Tony.

[Delaunay]

 :)Although the good evening;
Alor, I love this kind of construction, bravo!
But I board believed that translate the shell is Balsa?
Fear thou not water infiltration that destroys you your shell?
cordially
François

[Tony Bird]

Hi Francois,

The hull so far has been made of spruce from a Pine tree so shouldn't suffer with water damage.

A bit more has been done to the hull more pillars have been fitted.




And a inner thin plywood skin has been fitted.





The hull so far has been sealed and hopefully the outer skin will be fitted tomorrow.

Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Today I skinned the hull with 1/16" (1.5mm) plywood.

Both sides being skinned at the same time.




The bows were done separately this is the second one being glued.



The hull as it looks at the moment.





Regards Tony.

[Delaunay]

 :)Hello Tony;
as on another forum, I am worried about the tightness of your clamshell, you will make him an exterior protection with resin and fiberglass?

What has against dumped you used, the wood-based Birch?

The curve has caused you caused the problem?

Regards Francois

[Tony Bird]

Hi Francois,

As I have mentioned I have used this construction and materials before on a model boat a steam powered canal tug that uses a model steam locomotive as a means of power.






Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I caught up with some domestic engineering this morning and did a bit on the hull this afternoon.

The hull had been sealed and hung up to dry yesterday afternoon.



This morning a displacement test was done to see how much weight there is to play with for the rest of the construction.




About 2.4 kg nearly 5.5 lb to get the hull to its water line.



A start has been made on the sponsons which will hold the paddle wheel covers.




A dry run with a boiler and engine.




The engine and empty boiler come in at just under 1.5 lbs so there is a bit to play with.



Regards Tony.

[PeteH]

Looks a bit ugly out of the water, but wathing with interest.  Love the worm gearbox.

[Tony Bird]

Hi Pete,

Looks a bit ugly out of the water.  Yes, a bit likes its builder short and fat!  Having a deeper displacement doesn't help maybe the paddle boxes will improve the appearance.

Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Today I did a bit of metal work along with some wood work.  I don't know what it does but the Murray River paddle boat has a very long stem post.  Presumably made of wood; for a model this looked a bit vulnerable so one was made of aluminium and screwed in place.




The large rudder was cut out of plywood and a hinge made.  The hinge is simply a couple of brass eyes screwed into he hull.  The rudder has a brass tube glued to it and is held between the brass eyes with a brass rod.  A slight kink in the brass rod stops it from falling out and allows it to be removed when necessary.



It was decided to make a drive system for the paddles so some bearing for the paddles shaft were made from some aluminium channel.  The 18:1 drive is by Mamod type spring belt and some commercial 1:1 plastic pulleys.



The model now looks like this.



A short video of the engine, gear box and drive running on about 8 psi of air.

https://youtu.be/9LiTdApba6Q

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9LiTdApba6Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

The paddle boxes have been made.




A steam test was done and the boiler makes enough steam for the engine and probably any other engine that is likely to be fitted to the hull.

A video is at:

https://youtu.be/7NdLD90JG7U

In Old South Wales the sun is shining and may it do so for the rest of the day as I will be playing with trains at the CMES.

Regards Tony.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Not a lot of progress on the hull some combing has been put around the deck and some undercoat applied.





I'll have to make a start on some paddles!

Regards Tony.