Clyde Puffer Glenaray

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Lovely, it’s got the character, that’s what you’re after.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Got some chance to get some more detail added to the hatches of my puffer.  Seems to have been an outbreak of cigarette rolling by the crew!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Getting down to some fine detail now on my puffer model, while waiting for paint to dry on the model itself!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

After another very long pause, am getting started on the quarter deck and the deck house.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Didn’t like the puffer wheelhouse in the kit so am building one from scratch.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

beginning to take shape, with engineer leaning out of deckhouse and smoke coming out of the funnel.  Now to build the wheelhouse.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Always used to make me smile, the engineers would go out on deck for a breath of fresh air, then have a cigarette!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

My engineer is leaning out and reading a novel called “Lady Cynthia sins again”.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

It reminds me of an incident that happened to me many years ago.  We were entering a lock on a small coaster in the early hours of the morning.  I had stuck my head out of the funnel side door to watch us gliding into the lock while the second engineer remained in the control room.

Our engine was a three cylinder medium speed, opposed piston Doxford, and, as the rings wore on the top piston and compression was not as good as it should have been, starting became less and less reliable.  We were going to re-ring the top pistons in port.  The Chief had warned the ‘Old Man’ that starting was less than reliable so he should enter the lock slowly.  The ‘Old Man’ was a gentle soul but Lithuanian, with a poor command of English and a stubbornness that tended to isolate him.  He was also noted as manoeuvring the ship as though he was using on-off switches.  Finesse was not his strength.

As we glided into the lock I was watching the quayside rushing past, bathed in the lights of the locks, I remember very clearly thinking, “F*ck me we’re going a bit fast”.  Then I heard the chuff, chuff, chuff of the engine trying in vain to start.  Then I heard the chuff, chuff, chuff again.  By the third time I heard the chuff, chuff, chuff I was half way down the steps taking them three at a time.  By the time I burst into the control room the engine finally fired and immediately went to full astern.  Apparently we stopped only inches away from the far gate.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

ha ha! I like that story! My engineer has nobody else in the engine room to blame, although unusually for steamships, puffers did have direct control from the wheelhouse

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

My puffer model now has a wheelhouse.  like most of the rest of superstructure, it was made from scratch as I didn’t like what was in the kit. Now turning my attention to the mast and rigging. Likewise, the white metal fittings in the kit were largely either broken or didn’t fit, so am remaking these in brass.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

I realise purists are going to tell me that you can’t steer a ship if there is a light on in the wheelhouse, other than in the binnacle.  I know, I have steered a ship at night! This is artistic licence, just  so you can see inside the wheelhouse (and the heads below). Am justifying it on grounds that skipper has briefly lit a tilly lamp to look for his pipe. I now have the after half of the ship more or less finished and am now thinking about the other half!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

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