robert e lee

don't suppose , anyone has a better set of instructions . these aren't that great

got the deck's coloured , used david's , MM tan , with burn't umber oil wash .

coloured the wood pile's left them darker to stand out agains't the deck , found some cargo in my spare's box , don't know if I will use them yet

Hmm needs a 37mm turret & a 75mm sponson gun or two?

will be interesting and different, good luck

you into planes jon lol

this is an exmple of the flash I talking about

Steve, I am interestedd in following your thread; but I am getting question marks instead of images. What service are you using to download your photos?

Steve ;

     I know that Kit and it's sister the " Natchez " .Both from the same mold except the paddle boxes . The kit is probably over fifty - five years old .

    I always preferred the " Natchez " because of the tan decks and the green and gold highlights . This kit was the reason I have no fingerprints on my left thumb .

    My foster parents gave it to me for my birthday with my first X-Acto knife . In trimming the many large pour gates from it I slipped and cut my thumb to the bone . I still finished the Natchez and was darned proud of her .

 My Mom finally asked me after they returned from a Florida vacation what I had done with my thumb . I told her it was a slight cut when a blade broke . I don't think she really believed me though .Great kit and can be fun to build .

  Take some cotton balls .Two to a bale and wrap the outside with paper towels and put thread around them leaving the cotton exposed top and bottom and stack them to the bottom of the second deck rails with hard cargo in cases around the fore deck alongside the stairways .

 Go outside and find tree limb dropoffs that are the size of what the wood piles would be .Band together and cut to length , fasten to  Evergreen .010 plastic strip .Then seal with craft clear flat and there you have the fuel wood stacks .The real thing .

    There's a lot you can do with her .Spend a little time and the wheelhouse will pop too . If you want , go to Hobby Lobby and find the little decorative hurricane lamps they have .Find the tiny ones .The piece of brass fine work that holds the chimney will look great as stack crowns .    T.B.

a really good modeler gene1 , told me to go through google , it give's you clearer picture's , you can sharpen them up too . sorry you can't get my pic' though .

thank's tanker builder , you've given me , a lot of food for thought . really appreciate the idea's , I think I'm a bit slow on the creative side lol .

 steve5

Ah, that brings back memories!  I actually built one of these and converted it into a Civil War "tinclad" for 15mm wargaming.  Some use of plasticard and 15mm cannons and she was the terror of the riverways! 

Gary

gaf

don't suppose you have any photo's , sound's an interesting build

these wheel's were a mini build on their own , still have to finish weathering , and adding some slime and grease and such , I have never tried this style of weathering , see how we go ,

steve5

gaf

don't suppose you have any photo's , sound's an interesting build

Steve,

Unfortunately, no photos.  That was over 25 years ago.  I think I ended up giving it and a 15mm Albemarle model to a friend.

Good luck with this one!

Gary

cheer's mate

Morning,

I've built that kit many times for my clients in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The only part of the kit that will give you grief is the railing around the radius corners on the second deck  - touch too short; you can fix with styrene and filler. I've also add smoke via puffed cotton balls, painted appropriately as well as steam leave the vent stakes mas on the cover.

The turnbuckles provided in the kit are just goofy, you need to order new and correct one from any of the ship model supply houses. While considering that, purchase some scale rigging as well. Coat and Clark brand button and carpet thread is a PERFECT scale. The deck detail is generally ok, but could use some more detail. The wood pile ‘fuel for boilers’ are neat, BUT, if you feel up to it replace with real wood.

Steve5;

    Your welcome ! My profession finds me building many riverboats .Some from that era especially .If you can , there's a steamboat Museum , I believe in Dayton Ohio. It's my understanding they have the last Boat I built before I left Arkansas .The " Edgewater Princess ". To be displayed at the entry to the Edgewater Lounge in the Convention Center in Little Rock .

    There was a simpler one I built for the Capitol Display group that was in the Legislative Library for a while .I don't know where it is . These were both Stern-Wheelers . The clients wanted stern-wheel boats specifically . The nice part about your boat is this , you can use it as a " Go By " .You can Buy Evergreen sheet and strip plastic , Faller Wrought Iron, in H.O scale and build a 1/87 scale model of any boat you want . You could also do it in " N" scale which is 1/160

 There are very interesting " Snag " boats, Survey Boats , Tow-boats ad infinitum . Here's a piece of history you may appreciate .One of the J.M.Whites ( The Palaces ) of steamboats ( Missippi Trade ) and the  freight boat Weatherly ( Ohio River trade) , wound up in the Sacramento Delta during the Gold Rush .Yes , they made the dangerous ocean voyage and survived many years .  Hope you do more . Tanker - Builder

is this what you had mind tanker ,I intend making more and better one's , but I like your idea , we don't have hobby lobby in australia , looked them up on google , they don't seem to make those lamps anymore , it's a while before I get to that stage , so I'll think of something ,

thank's for the history , they would have to been pretty adventureous to take a paddlesteamer out into the ocean

steve5

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Steve 5;

   Your photo didn't come through . Good Luck and I just know there has to be somewhere in Perth , Brisbane or Adelaide , that you can get supplies at . If not, Evergreen will do overseas mail orders . Catchya Mate !    T.B.

tanker builder

have any of my photos come through ,apparently on another site ,I was told they weren't coming through either .

steve

steve5

have any of my photos come through

Nope.  Just a greyed-out circle with a bar rather like a European "No Entry" sign.

This forum really only supports external photos--they have to be "someplace else" and linked to this site.  So, you have to be in the full editing pane, and click on the Insert/edit Image button (it's between the chani link and the motion piture icon).  You then need to insert the url of whereever the photo is hosted (sadly, "c:/user/My Documents/My Photos" is not a valid source; the sourrce needs to have "http" preceding it.  To wit:the url

"http://steamboats.com/jpgs/Model%20Steamboat%20CASTLE%20ROCK%20diorama%20MO%20state%20capital%20Jeff%20City.jpg" gives

ow, I can't tell what Tanker is referring to--but, I might be tempted to go check the Chritmas ornaments aisle at the local craft store, and examine the little brass tops on the glass bulbs.

hopefully I'm back on track

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For both you and Steve 5 ;

 Look at Christmas ornaments . Definitely !They make those things in different sizes . They would work ! Nice picture by the way . T.B 

Steve 5 ;

   Those are gorgeous wheels .But a sidenote here ;

     The wheels on the likes of the " Big Named " boats were kept in almost pristene appearance .Why ? Well exposure for too long to the waters of the scrubbing action of the mud suspended in the rivers would weaken the bare wood substantially .

     I believe the Lee's wheels were either red or blue . Not sure , mind you . T.B.     P.S - I think somewhere , someone stated , they might've been dark grey !

That's the idea .

 Now they really need to be larger in size say 1/2 " x 1" almost an oblong . Build them in one of the crates . Then you can make many all the same size . The wrap needs to look like old burlap - Kind of a dark brownish tan . Almost a weak coffee and cream color . Hope this helps .  T.B.    Please excuse this comment . It normally took four " Bucks " to carry one bale . I am referrencing the vernacular back then , this referred to the African - American males required to do the job .

thank's tanker builder , I was thinking of soaking some paper in tea , then letting it dry out , haven't had a chance yet . still up in the air about the wheel's , I really like the wood effect , might end up using artistic license on that one . put a photo of the stack's in , they still need a little work , but I like them .

I take it tanker that white is really the only colour to paint this boat ?

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Steve5;

   Yes, my friend .Sad to say she was All white with  Red letters on the Paddle boxes .Some say that one time, Before the famous race in which she cheated she had red rails and fancywork .

   I have not been able to verify that .I have seen one picture where all the windows and doors had a very light grey paint though.

   That's one reason why I had asked for the Natchez as a Christmas gift .She was way more colorful . I may buy one and change it to the Natchez . Same boat different colors .The kit , as I have said was the same for both except the paddle-box lettering .

    I have modeled enough now to make the change of letters very easy . So I can use the " Lee " instead . If I were you, I would excercise that artistic license in the door and window areas too .

  I have always believed she looked better with Light grey in those areas to counter-balance the natural wood of the fore-deck upper supports . Now that you have made that decision , I think you should keep those wheels and do the same fantastic job on those deck supports too.

    If you have difficulty finding any material , I would be glad to obtain the items and send them to you .Message me .   Tanker - Builder

Years ago, at a Nautical Research Guild convention, I heard a lecture by John Fryant, one of the most knowlegeable steamboat modelers around, about his model of the Robt. E. Lee. He'd done a great deal of research on her.

One revelation (to me at least) was that there were really only two reasons for the fame of this particular riverboat. One was the Currier and Ives print of her race with the Natchez: http://ualrexhibits.org/steamboats/wp-content/blogs.dir/10/files/05/ualr-ph-0101_na_na_na_na_pho065_web.jpg . The other was the song "Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee" - which in fact was written about a later, smaller vessel of the same name.

I did a little digging on the web, and found this set of plans, which looks pretty impressive to me (though I'm certainly not an authority on steamboats): http://steamboats.com/museum/modelplans.html .

Here are a few photos of Mr. Fryant's model: http://steamboats.com/museum/fryant.html .

And here's a pretty good photo of the actual boat: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6808751505_5d3f47d081_z.jpg .

If you google "Robt. E. Lee steamboat" you'll be taken to a whole lot of interesting pictures - including several shots of models built, to varying standards, from the Pyro/Lifelike/Lindberg kit.

The shortage of really good American riverboat kits - plastic, wood, and other - is a real shame. They make spectacular models.

Good luck.

T.B.

thank's mate , appreciate the offer , and will do , if I have any issue's , sad about the colour scheme . might have to put a coloured rail in , or something , lol .

J.T.

 thank's for the picture's and history , they will come in very handy .

started on the first deck

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Hey :

 Looking good Mate ; Now when you get the hull painted remember this , she was either Dark red or black for the underwater areas with no waterline stripe .

 Your deck looks good , To age it some you can wash it with a wash of Acrylic clear tinted with some chocolate and white . Probably one small drop of each to a large bottle of clear semi gloss paint .

     The Bulkhead in the picture would be sooty grey behind the boilers . On the center area only.

   Want to have some fun .If you can .( I don't know if it's available there ) there's a product here called " Rub n Buff". They have a burnt steel and sooty black .You rub them on and polish like crazy .The color stays on the item .Then you cover it with Clear semigloss or flat acrylic clear . It's used to antique picture frames .

    This would be excellent for the boilers and steam lines .Remember , Back then they weren't lagged ( Insulated ) . Some smudging in front as the boiler deck in front of the beasts would have been a sheet or two of steel or iron in case the firebox did a blowback which did happen from time to time .

      Good luck and keep the pictures coming .  Tanker - Builder