Steam Tug Uncle Sam completed

Seatoland · Sep 4, 2025

Have been watching this site off and on for a while and look at many of the logs when building so thought I would start sharing. I need to create a full build log at some point but I usually have several going at the same time... I finished an old Arkit Uncle Sam this weekend that I replaced over 75% of the wood and all the cast items with what I liked better. I built the wheel frames from a Sovereign of the Seas kit using the left overs from the tops that fit nicely as the frames for the paddles. I haven't seen too many of these completed models so maybe it will help someone building this boat to see one.

Pathfinder65 · Sep 4, 2025

Wow, that is a superb model, nicely done.

Jan

Namabiiru · Sep 4, 2025

Very nice!

Senorbob · Sep 4, 2025

the first "tractor tug". I like it

Rebus · Sep 4, 2025

Very well done, looks great.

nongri · Sep 6, 2025

Very beautiful, I like tugs... I am now on "King of Mississipi " , Artesania Latina
your Uncle Sam is a kit or did you build it by yourself ? So many sails boats on the market but very few other sorts of boats

LaurieS · Sep 7, 2025

Looks great , well done. It’s good to see another enthusiast for something a little less common.

Darryl · Sep 7, 2025

Very nice job overall, a unique project to build. I like the brass rails and the steam engine stacks in particular, beautiful model to display. Darryl

JamesSmi63 · Mar 24, 2026

Seatoland said:
Have been watching this site off and on for a while and look at many of the logs when building so thought I would start sharing. I need to create a full build log at some point but I usually have several going at the same time... I finished an old Arkit Uncle Sam this weekend that I replaced over 75% of the wood and all the cast items with what I liked better. I built the wheel frames from a Sovereign of the Seas kit using the left overs from the tops that fit nicely as the frames for the paddles. I haven't seen too many of these completed models so maybe it will help someone building this boat to see

Great job, that’s a really nice result! Replacing over 75% of the kit and reworking the details takes a lot of effort, but it clearly paid off.
Using parts from another kit for the paddle frames is a clever solution. And you’re right — not many of these are shown completed, so this will definitely be helpful for others. Looking forward to seeing more

Ted Robinson · Mar 24, 2026

I love the rains and stacks. All the metal work. Would love. To see a build log.on how this was accomplished

Seatoland · Mar 25, 2026

JamesSmi63 said:
Great job, that’s a really nice result! Replacing over 75% of the kit and reworking the details takes a lot of effort, but it clearly paid off.
Using parts from another kit for the paddle frames is a clever solution. And you’re right — not many of these are shown completed, so this will definitely be helpful for others. Looking forward to seeing more

Thanks! Was a fun build.

Seatoland · Mar 25, 2026

Ted Robinson said:
I love the rains and stacks. All the metal work. Would love. To see a build log.on how this was accomplished

I’ll try and go back to see what photos I have for this one. I’ve built a couple more since then. Has been a while and I need to do better with taking and saving photos to be able to do a log.

Ted Robinson · Mar 25, 2026

Seatoland said:
I’ll try and go back to see what photos I have for this one. I’ve built a couple more since then. Has been a while and I need to do better with taking and saving photos to be able to do a log.

Your metal skills are fantastic. I for one would love to watch you work and learn the process