1880s Nile Steamboat 1:32 scale

A new instalment on the build. I finished the railings on the upper deck and also added railings on the wheelhouse deck. I had some leftover stanchions that I was hoping to use, along with 1 mm brass wire. But the wire was too thick for the holes in the stanchions, so I opted to use 0.8 mm copper wire instead. I finished the wheelhouse, but won't glue it on until after I paint the railings (the wheelhouse in the photo is just sitting there for the time being, along with some storage boxes. There are also additional railings to add on top of the paddlewheel housings. I also officially named the boat the "Abbas", which is the name of the boat in the film Khartoum.

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Carleroo said:
A new instalment on the build. I finished the railings on the upper deck and also added railings on the wheelhouse deck. I had some leftover stanchions that I was hoping to use, along with 1 mm brass wire. But the wire was too thick for the holes in the stanchions, so I opted to use 0.8 mm copper wire instead. I finished the wheelhouse, but won't glue it on until after I paint the railings (the wheelhouse in the photo is just sitting there for the time being, along with some storage boxes. There are also additional railings to add on top of the paddlewheel housings. I also officially named the boat the "Abbas", which is the name of the boat in the film Khartoum.

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Looking great! Where did you get those stanchions?
 
I installed the smokestack, steam whistle and cooking chimney. For the cooking chimney I used some styrene tubing, which slid perfectly into an aluminum tube. I used wooden dowel for the smokestack, and I had some leftover copper tubing for the steam whistle. I also added some storage boxes and a - water barrel and vent "thingee"to hide the 3 volt battery holder and switch. Once these were in place I glued on the wheelhouse and wheelhouse door, leaving it partially open.

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It's finished! I am quite pleased with this project. It was a lot of fun designing and building as I went. As you may know there are no plans or period photos of the original boat and I had to content myself with blurry screenshots from the film. If I was to start this project again, I would have added a few more inches to make it look more streamlined and less "boxy". But I wanted it at approximately 1:32 scale and I had already cut the wood in a 23" length. So, it may be shorter and more stubby than the authentic boat, but I like it anyway.

I did not weather it, other than a few dents etc. made by a bit of a sloppy construction. In its current version is more like the boat as it was originally designed for Thomas Cook and Son, an early travel company that ran excursions on the Nile for rich European tourists, beginning in the 1860s or 70s. So this version is the spic-and-span clean boat that the early travellers would have experienced. Later, during the War Along The Nile, these boats were taken over by the British and Egyptian armies and it is that version that it was covered by armour protection - wooden planks - and cannons. I may convert the model into the dirtier military version, but not right away. The figures are not of the period. They are merchant sailors from Shipways, circa 1950s. I am looking for figures - soldiers, - Egyptian and British from the 1880s.

Apart from using my Proxxon to cut the rabbets for the stairs, I only used a sharp craft knife to cut out all the pieces. So the major tools were knife, ruler, protractor, sanding materials and occasional use of my Dremel for sanding the larger pieces.

The model is 23" long, 14" in height and 5.5 " wide.

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Carleroo said:
It's finished! I am quite pleased with this project. It was a lot of fun designing and building as I went. As you may know there are no plans or period photos of the original boat and I had to content myself with blurry screenshots from the film. If I was to start this project again, I would have added a few more inches to make it look more streamlined and less "boxy". But I wanted it at approximately 1:32 scale and I had already cut the wood in a 23" length. So, it may be shorter and more stubby than the authentic boat, but I like it anyway.

I did not weather it, other than a few dents etc. made by a bit of a sloppy construction. In its current version is more like the boat as it was originally designed for Thomas Cook and Son, an early travel company that ran excursions on the Nile for rich European tourists, beginning in the 1860s or 70s. So this version is the spic-and-span clean boat that the early travellers would have experienced. Later, during the War Along The Nile, these boats were taken over by the British and Egyptian armies and it is that version that it was covered by armour protection - wooden planks - and cannons. I may convert the model into the dirtier military version, but not right away. The figures are not of the period. They are merchant sailors from Shipways, circa 1950s. I am looking for figures - soldiers, - Egyptian and British from the 1880s.

Apart from using my Proxxon to cut the rabbets for the stairs, I only used a sharp craft knife to cut out all the pieces. So the major tools were knife, ruler, protractor, sanding materials and occasional use of my Dremel for sanding the larger pieces.

The model is 23" long, 14" in height and 5.5 " wide.

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A very nice scratch build model, your Nile Sidewheel Paddle Steamer, Carl.
Regards, Peter
 
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