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L'Orenoque Mamoli 1:100 scale

The Gavel said:
What ho, shipmates!

I finished the hard part of the head! Not perfect. But then, what is? I took great advantage from seeing the pics of Constellation that Jerry shared as well as his very very nice modelling of the complex curving of the planking covering the timbers between the main rail and the upper cheek.

Using L'Orenouqe's plans to determine wood dimensions, I made the main rails of 1/8" square stock and heat hent them just a bit to achieve a slight curve. The cheeks are 1/16" x 3/16". I decided to thin them once the Titebond II had dried over night - the additional width gave ne a better handle for placement. I heat bent these pieces as well. The timbers and planks are all 1/8" x 1/32" stock. I know the timbers would have been much stouter, but I couldn't get anything thicker to take the curves necessary to form the landing spots for the planks and at 1:100 scale it's a tight fit in there. Also, let's be honest, this construction will be covered with grating and will be painted black:cool:. I'm pretty happy how things came out!

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The dotted line is the line of the lower cheek based on the plans - 1/16" in from the front of the stem.

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Now you can see that I bad mathROTF I don't know how I managed to get the port side forward chase port wrong. But I managed it. I'm going to measure twice cut once a lot more going forward on this build.

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Since the starboard side isn't the money shot for display purposes, I did my experimenting on that side. Here you see 2 of 3 timbers notched into the top of the main rail. The timber farthest aft that you can't see I notche into the bottom of the rail - I really can't explain that choice. I think that choice accounts for the gap between the aft end of the top plank and the main rail. On the port side, no pics, I notched all of the timbers into the top of the rail and had better luck with the gap.

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Ta da!!!

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Next placement of the grating - the kit part is nightmarishly thick - we'll see what happens with that. Then the upper head framing and planking and finally ornamentation. Maybe this all happens in the next couple of days!!!!! :D

Thank you for looking at this, commenting on it and mainly for contributing to it!

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
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This is really outstanding woodworking. You don’t need any paint
 
Hey Chuck,

It looks beautiful, and you've done a great job with it all. Maybe this will help you with the topic of steering paddlewheel ships...

Steamboats that did not have an externally visible rudder at the stern were usually steered in the following ways:
Rudder present but not visible: In most cases, a rudder blade was present, but it was located below the waterline or directly behind the hull, making it difficult to see from the outside. This rudder was moved via a tiller (on smaller boats) or a steering wheel on deck using ropes, chains or, later, hydraulic systems.

Side paddle wheels (paddle steamers): Many early steamships, especially those used on rivers and lakes, were paddle steamers with large paddle wheels on the sides. These ships could manoeuvre by controlling the speed or direction of rotation of the individual wheels independently of each other (similar to the tank steering system used in tracked vehicles). This allowed the ship to turn on the spot or make tight turns, which was particularly useful in narrow waters.

Multiple propellers: In some designs with multiple propellers at the stern, a similar technique could be used by varying the thrust of the individual propellers to initiate a turning movement.
However, the traditional principle of steering by means of a rudder blade in the water flow behind the hull was the most widespread and efficient method of course correction on the open sea. "Invisibility" is usually only a matter of perspective or the design of the specific ship.
 
Ted Robinson said:
This has been one of the most entertaining build logs I’ve read. Excellent informative work mixed with humor. Bravo
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Ted! I hope all's getting better with you!

Thank you for the lovely compliment! I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey so far!

I'm just back from celebrating my wife's birthday in Kansas City. I spent my down time planning the rigging, a combination of studying the works of Lennarth Petersson and my riggining on my Harriet Lane build. Believe it or not, the plans I developed call for more expense in dead eyes, hearts and blocks than I paid for the kit ROTF .

I am about the head to the shipyard. Next up, another bateaux-tambour. I also need to make the openings I made in the sponson tops a bit more narrow. And then I will work on the inboard sections of the sponsons, the ladders and the bridge! Then there's the funnel and all of the deck fixtures and rigging the guns - not necessarily in that order. It's a big to-do list. :eek: ;) Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll put in my order for the aftermarket rigging materials. I need them to be able to do the guns.

In the meantime, I wish you well and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
 
The Gavel said:
Ted! I hope all's getting better with you!

Thank you for the lovely compliment! I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey so far!

I'm just back from celebrating my wife's birthday in Kansas City. I spent my down time planning the rigging, a combination of studying the works of Lennarth Petersson and my riggining on my Harriet Lane build. Believe it or not, the plans I developed call for more expense in dead eyes, hearts and blocks than I paid for the kit ROTF .

I am about the head to the shipyard. Next up, another bateaux-tambour. I also need to make the openings I made in the sponson tops a bit more narrow. And then I will work on the inboard sections of the sponsons, the ladders and the bridge! Then there's the funnel and all of the deck fixtures and rigging the guns - not necessarily in that order. It's a big to-do list. :eek: ;) Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll put in my order for the aftermarket rigging materials. I need them to be able to do the guns.

In the meantime, I wish you well and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
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Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all..
Ted
 
What ho, shipmates!

The bateaux-tambours are complete! You'll be surprised to see that I did not keep the hotrod flames on them - in scale it seemed a bit much ROTF

This first post is the completed port side bateaux that will be rigged out for lowering. I haven't glued the benches in yet. The contrast of the natural wood benches against the Iron Cannon Black is quite stark. I'm waiting to see if I like it - from an artistic perspective, it works with the composition of the model with the variety of high contrasts including the natural wood paddles and the black rims of the paddle wheels.

Since the plans showed rivets, I did my best to add them. In person the effect is much more subtle - they are almost invisible.

lo bateaux final 1.jpgLO bateaux final 2.jpglo bateaux final 3.jpg
 
This is how I built the boat.

I did make another bateaux to match the one that had the right number of strakes. I also used much finer line for the center keel seam applied with acrylic matte medium.

I then made the bulkheads and decking and glued small fishing line weights into the recesses to add some heft to the boat. I think it will give the impression of gravity that I was looking for;) - I am also going to use very fine chain for the rigging which will also add to the impression of weight and will avoid the problem of the rigging line twisting.

Then I super-glued in strips of black construction paper. One strip to the center deck and one strip on either bulwark. This gave me a new porous surface to glue the wood for the center member that holds the bench supports and the bulwarks to support the outer ends of the benches. I didn't use the brown paper because I wanted something a little less absorbant in fear that the brown paper would become impregnated with CA and fail to bond with the TiteBond.

Then I added the seams on the decking and bulkheads and the ribs. No picture of the ribs under construction:p I used the dot-of-glue method to simulate the rivets. Although I am not using the kit-supplied boats, I like the kit-supplied oars! I'll see how well they hold up under the stress of sanding them into shape. On that note, I am not quite finished with the bateaux - the plan shows thole-pins. I need to add them. BTW, that beam running fore and aft in the last picture was a temorary way to hold the benches until the bench supports were glued in place.

On the benches - I was going to use 1/32" thick x 1/8" wide basswood. The basswood looked too thick. I kept all of the very thin width sapelli that I did not use when I built my Constructo USS Enterpise. The thinness of the sapelli looks much more "in scale" to me. Tapering it to the proper width is hard because of the oddities of it's grain, but I got it done to my satisfaction in the end.

Before I started workng on the bateaux's guts, I applied a couple of matte acrylic medium to the outer hull. Then, as you can see from my last post, I got it painted. I was more spartan in laying on the paint - took three thin coats to get the job done. The rippling problem was solved! I think it had more to do with the number of strakes rather than the amount of moisture in the matte medium and the paint. But certainly a combination of those factors. In either event - no ripples!:cool:

lo bateaux construction 1.jpglo bateaux construction 2.jpglo bateaux construction 3.jpglo bateaux construction 4.jpglo bateaux construction 5.jpglo bateaux construction 6.jpglo bateaux construction 7.jpg

Thank you for taking a look!

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
 
The Gavel said:
California? Never. Not for me. Besides, I got the best thing California ever produced - my wife! :cool:.

If you ever need brown paper grocery bas, Ted, just sem me a pm and I'll get them in the mail to you!

Blessings.
Chuck
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Would have loved to see a YouTube video of you making both the boats and forms
 
Martin By Eye said:
They look really good ! You've caught the steel riveted construction perfectly , i can almost hear them clank against the davits ! Bravo !!
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Martin! Many thanks, shipmate! I'm pretty happy with the result - so far . . . ROTF The good news is that there's so much left to do!

Blessings.
Chuck
 
Ted Robinson said:
Would have loved to see a YouTube video of you making both the boats and forms
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Ted! I had my "15 minutes of fame" during the academic year 2015-2016. I haven't ever posted anything outside of SOS and LinkedIn and I am about to quit LinkedIn. Although it is less upsetting now to know how many pictures of me are out there including misinterpretations of my words and down-right misquotes, I could never YouTube.

Sorry, shipmate!

On the other hand, I can take the time to fully describe the process and include pictures - my Admiral will be the photographer. I'll get a "how I did it" post up in December. Promise!

Blessings. And, Ted, thanks for the interest and support!
Chuck
 
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