robert e lee

 I forgot what a nice kit that is & I built 3 of them. You are doing a nice job & it is fun. Sometimes it does drive you crazy, like this Prince. The deck fit is horrible, but I finally got it fixed & glued together. I don't remember the Lee being bad to fit, but a lot of fun to build. It was the # 1 kit in the world to me when I built it.

of to get some supply's today , I think it is starting to come together .

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TB, The best riverboat museum is just over the border from Louisville in Jeffersonville, Ind. That is where they built a lot of famous riverboats. It is in the builders old mansion & has a lot of boat models, & a lot of other things too. It is where I got Bill Reids book of riverboat prints. 

    We also went on the riverboat in Louisville when it was docked & one of the mates took us all over it.

   Steve, that super modeler friend of mine built a big plastic Victory, & used the figures from the 1/96 Constituion to rework a ton of figures for the Victory. They were in 1/8" tho.

Hi Gene1:

   Sorry pal .The Edgewater Lounge ( if it still exists ) is or was in the Little Rock Convention Center . It was there when the place opened .I do not know if it's still there now .They had removed the boat into storage and asked me if I wanted her back .They put her in a case with about a thousand bucks worth of woodwork !

   I told them I had no space for it BUT they could donate it or at least see if the Steamboat Museum I believe in Ohio wanted her . Haven't heard a word since ! It may have wound up in a landfill for all I know .  T.B.

gene

I know what you mean about old house's , I live in a cottage , I would say it's over 100 year's old , but we love it !.

I do have some n scale figure's , it's just you can't find river boat men , they are about 11mm high , or 1/2" in your language lol , I'll have ago at some milliput and paint and see what happen's .

looking forward to seeing some picture's of your build ,

steve5

  Hi Steve, I will try to take some pictures. I did want to show my wood for the screws in the hull. & the way I glue the hull together. I have done the rear of the boat with all the figures. It's not done, but I will show it when it is. I was having fun looking at your boat pictures again. You really did some nice work & a lot of it.

  Our sink drains stopped up yesterday & we spent a half day unclogging them. That is hard on an old man. I told my wife, I don't know anything about this stuff with old houses, all I did was buil new ones & they didn't have trouble. I built this 25 years ago when I retired.

  I have been wanting to look and see if I have any N scale figures. Measure one of the doors on the Lee to see how big the people should be.

gene

if that is your little effort , I would have loved to have seen the main event . it's beautiful . are you doing a build forum on your prince , would love to see it .

steve5

Hi TB, I thought I was wrong, thanks. The old brain does forget lots. Where is the Edgewater Lounge ? Is it the old hotel On the river in Marietta O. ? I ssold my beautiful HO layout several years ago, but I built a little quickie 30"x 60" layout for my cute little HOn2 1/2 scale engines. That is n scale trck with HO engines. 

   I'll give Steve some engines to put on his Lee. 

Gene1;

   Hi . Being a model railroader too . I do have to correct you . With a friendly nudge ." N " scale is formally recognised as 1/160 and yes , Walthers is the go to place . Just recently I found out about a Ferry and a Cargo craft that are excellent conversion bases , to side or stern wheelers .  T.B.

Steve, My figures in the pilot house are Weston RR figures in 1/87 HO scale. A Model RR supply sales is called Walther, just like the gun. Look it up as they have everything & ship everywhere I believe.  Walther Model Railroad Supply. They have a lot of N scale figures.  N scale is about 174th. 

  I would do like TB says & paint the hull white about 2' scale above the bottom of the paddlewheel. I always left mine all white.

  We just had our kids (55 years old & I have one 63) for a week. They left this morning. We only see them every 2 years. They work for the DOD in Germany. We used to go over but I hate airports anymore. Flying is fine, but expensive.

   I started the Prince today & primed the hull & made the wood isert for mounting. I did the brass lacquer on the rear panels & tried my black panels & clear blue Tamiya acrylic for the windows. Looks like it will work great.

   Steve, like TB said you look like a great model builder, & I know because I started one of the very best in the world. He is that good & has won best of show & first place in big shows in Tokyo & the US  & more. I will try to post some of his models some time. Gene

Hi !

 I wouldn't worry about that . When you put the next deck on it won't be noticeable . So it's a little knickered , Oh Well .Don't the walkways look better thinner though ? I would say you are doing fine . P.S. Has the steamboat bug bitten you yet LOL.LOL.  T.B.  P.P.S. Steve, I tried your E-Mail and couldn't through , so here's mine .gjgeracci846@gmail.com

is this better T.B. , don't take any notice of the last brown strut , didn't see it myself until i saw the photo ,

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tanker

don't worry mate , as I've said before I am really enjoying your help ,I love learning , weather or not I have the ability to carry out the help might be a worry lol .

gene

my e-mail is stevetuck56@hotmail.com any picture's of your paddle steamer will be much appreciated . yes I still live in queesland australia , in a small country town ,

steve5

Steve, Your wood pile looks great & it will help the looks. I looked at my wood R E Lee & my walkway at the boiler is in wood like the deck. Mine is different on my boat as the walk goes across the front of the boiler.  I will try to get a picture of it. I don't want to clutter your thread up, & I can send you a bunch of train pictures to, along with others, to you posted email. let me know.

   I just read your personal details & saw you were from Austraila. Do you still live there or here ? I have built every kind of model & can help you with what kits are good & send pictures of any that I have. I'll let Tanker give you the working details as he does know them.

Steve5;

    Hello, Young Man ! You are getting the idea now .Point .The upper walkway around the boilers .Why don't you take some .020 sheet plastic or heavy card to make those walkways .That way they'll look more in scale .

    See , As a modeler you need to look at the parts with a critical eye and especially the boxtops .Those pictures will aid you a lot . Not the sides , but the picture on the front . That walkway should not be that thick in scale .

    You'll have some trouble with the front stairs and the corner rails too , but we will get to that soon enough .The wood in the stack looks great . Now you are catching on . The texturing , weathering and woodgraining are par-excellance !

     This is an excercise in co-operation , teaching and building .You will look and say  "But , wait , I'm doing what T.B. said , not what I wanted to do ". If you do that it's your choice . I firmly think you have an exacting nature and you want this to be a fine model .That's what I am here for . Enjoy and , believe me , You will learn a lot to put with the skills you are already showing . Good on you Mate !   T.B.      P.S. I am enjoying the daylights in being able to help you !

had a go at making some real wood log's for the boiler , still got to touch up the styrene at the bottom , think I might paint the walkway's a light brown , for contrast . what do you think T.B. , gene ." />

cheer's steve , I agree with everything you said , & will do

"Nice to know you are watching steve , but I have to say , I am getting some excellent help from tanker"

Yes you are, Steve. There are some awesome people on this forum and it is so cool to see how we all work together to help each other. Keep up the good work, Steve.

Gene... yes, please do.

Gene1;

    I wish I could on the pictures .Just can't seem to get it right . Now , building sailcraft was fun . But , without a doubt restoring a 4-6-2 steam engine from the late forties was the Best challenge .

Sure glad I had part in it .No , didn't do the mechanicals .I painted her ! Now doing the Oil Spill boats was fun too . Why ? well they were in the gamut from twenty footers all the way to 180 footers . Riverboats , indeed were mostly white .They looked more like palaces that way .

 By the way Did you know that the J.M. Whites ( I don't remember how many there were ) were considered the most beautiful and ornate of the genre. I saw a photo of J.M.White number four and wow! they were right .

     They didn't carry a number on the sides or anything .Just J.M.White ! T.B.  

Bakster, I never got back wwith you on your question on my great grandma & the battle of Nashville. She did see some of the battle from a hill above. I will send more. 

TB your history sounds great, why don't you send us some picture's? You built the real things & then got into fine model restoration. You also built houses too. So did I, design & build for 40 years. I stuck to houses & some apts. & stores & didn't fool with anything that had to work like boats & motors.

 Steve5, I did some more color looking & every boat I saw, even in a group, were all white. I can still remember building your Pyro Lee & even nearly bought another one on ebay in the last month. It was a good kit & with what you are doing, it should look great.

nice to know you are watching steve , but I have to say , I am getting some excellent help from tanker builder , and now gene1 is their too . I love learning !

Hey Steve, I thought I'd pop in. This is a very cool project and one that I am following. You are making some great progress, and man, you are doing some really nice work. Way to go sir. 

sorry tanker builder , they were only glued on with elmers school glue , a bit of water they came off . so they go to the right of the boiler door's . see if I can come up with some smaller ones

steve5

Steve 5;

 I hope you didn't glue those in place .They go next to the boiler , not on the end of the drum .  T.B.

Hi Gene1;

   Well where do you want me to start ? I am a proffessional , retired , and Steam Packets were my specialty . Now that said , I also specialized in Museum Grade restorations of sailing ships and motor yachts  ( real and models ).

     I have done seven foot containerships for a Model RailRoad shop and 1/48 scale oil spill cleanup boats and ships for Clean Bay and Clean Seas of Ventura and Concord California .

 my most memorable resto was a sailing ship that fell off a shelf and landed rigging down on the floor .When cleaning it up to rebuild  it, I washed away years of grime and repaint to come to the original paint from many years ago . Seems the modelers Great - Grandfather had built it during the " AMISTAD " Trial and that's what it was . A very correct model of the ship by that name .

 I engineered and built Homes, Bridges and Hospitals . Now I try to stay out of trouble and build odd Planes ( if it floats ,all the better ) , Cars and Riverboats as well as well as H.O scale inland river oil tankers ! Plus I build the odd LEGO building of my own design too .I spend time at our Local Rail Museum where I am on the board , as well as a liaason and  member to the  San Antonio L.U.G. ( LEGO users group ) and spend one day a month running the Friends of the library bookstore at our city's ( New Braunfels ) library .

 I like to come here and share Whatever, wherever and whenever I can, and derive great pleasure from it .  T.B.

TB, I have loved riverboats sice I was a little kid & rode on the President in St louis back in about 1936. Also my most memorable model was building the Pyro Robt. E Lee. My old great grma got my Yankee mom to name my older brother Robert Lee. She wanted the E Lee for mom's maiden name Evans, but mom stopped there.

   Steve is doing a great job on his Lee & it will look super. I painted most all of my paddle wheels Red. It goes nice with white & tan deck. I have got to go back & read all your & steve's posts on this site again. I just found it last night. If any of you all know where I can get PE railngs & stack caps done, please let me know. 

   I will go & look at some of my other riverboat books on color. I just looked at Way's Packet Directory & everything in there is white on passenger boats. I have been to a lot of riverboat towns, St louis, Marietta O, Louisville & Jefferson ville Ind. The museum at Jeffersoville is great. It is the old mansion of the boat builders of the R E Lee & many other famous ones. It is above the falls of the Ohio, I believe.

   Tanker, I would like to hear more on what you did.

Hey Steve .

  Wanna have some fun ? On your boiler casing front put two valves by each drum .One is steam flow and the other is blowdown . These would be on opposite sides of the drum .The right hand one is red the left steel color . No steam lines are necessary unless you want the boiler bleed valves which would be right on the lower front edge of the boilers in plain sight . T.B.

Oh , Gene1;

 You have stolen my heart ! What a gorgeous boat .WELL DONE ! ! Unlike many , who do them flat , I am glad to see those beautiful sheer lines . Awesome ! ! T.B.

 Hello !

    The littler guy is just right ! T.B.

Gene1;

 Hey ! That looks just like one of the paintings they had on the walls of the " Edgewater Lounge " Most looked like originals . Oh ! You are dead on right . Rivercraft of any kind , Stern or Side Wheel will " Snag " you , but good ( pun intended !)  T.B.      Especially the working boats .