Yes another Clyde Puffer

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I don’t follow how that mechanism works Richard. I assume the rudder is transom hung and the windlass connects to the wheel but where are the pivot points?

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

The way I see it Colin the rudder pivots on its pintles on the aft of the hull and the two ends of the chains would be connected to the two holes you can see in the end of the tiller arm, probably with a couple of shackles.  The large brace welded to the deck looks a bit misleading and isn’t part of the turning mechanism, that just looks like to stop the chains eroding the deck.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks Richard,

That’s an interesting picture. I’m not sure how easy it would be to make a working representation. I think I’ll stick to my simple chains for now.

Jim.

[Richard Simpson]

On Richard Simpson Said:

The way I see it Colin the rudder pivots on its pintles on the aft of the hull and the two ends of the chains would be connected to the two holes you can see in the end of the tiller arm, probably with a couple of shackles.  The large brace welded to the deck looks a bit misleading and isn’t part of the turning mechanism, that just looks like to stop the chains eroding the deck.

That’s exactly right, the large drum in the top right corner is directly connected to the ships wheel and turning it pulls the chain one side & slackens it the other, the pull on the chain being transmitted via pulleys to the tiller. I’m surprised how “lightweight” the tiller bar appears to be.

With mine I’ve put a slot in the tiller bar and operated it with a vertical pin in the end of the servo arm. I could have moved the servo a few inches further forward & then rigged chains round pulleys to operate the tiller. As the tiller would be covered by a grating anyway to stop it getting jammed by gear on the deck it wouldn’t be seen anyway so I’ve stuck to the KISS principle.

Stephen

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Long before the days of John Hastie four ram hydraulic steering gear controlled by hydraulic telemotors!  Nowadays even they are a thing of the past as rotary vane steering gear is more the norm.

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Hi One & All

Having reread all the comments, to me it seems that this site can supply all the help you can ask for.

I started this build as it was way to cold for me to work in the garage.

Looking at the rudder, Just how many ways are there to make a rudder work? for the Puffer that I am building, I feel that the control rod running over the deck will work fine. When I move onto the 1/24 Puffer then the rod over the deck is not the ideal route to go down, at this scale I must look at the chain route, that means making some of the parts, so I will need help from an outside source.

Richard posted some photos of one of his funnels, these photos have made me look at funnels in a different light, there is more to a funnel than just a straight tube.

Its little bits of info like these that makes our models look better.

Fred

 

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Couldn’t agree more Fred.

When I joined the forum about 3 years ago, I knew very little about the internals to make the boat move. There are modellers on here who are very generous with their knowledge.

I always say, never be afraid to ask. If you don’t ask you won’t learn. ( learnt when an apprentice).

Jim.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Fred,  I’ve just spent all afternoon adding hatch board cover handles to my coaster hatch boards.  If I’d used the kit part for the hatch boards it was a printed ply overlay and it would have been done quickly and easily.  I decided I wanted individual hatch boards cut from stripwood, each end drilled then blanked at the back with paper to create a hand recess, handles cut from 1mm plastic rod, painted and glued in place.  The boards have been given a wash to bring out the grain and the handles now want a weathering.  We do these sort of things simply because we enjoy doing them and we get an enormous sense of satisfaction in making something that bit better then it could have been.  I sometimes think I’m bonkers but it does look a lot better than the kit supplied parts.

The thing is we can show the missus and we get a “Yes dear that’s nice” or we can show people on here and we actually get some interest!

 

[Fred Ellis 1]

On Fred Ellis 1 Said:

Richard posted some photos of one of his funnels, these photos have made me look at funnels in a different light, there is more to a funnel than just a straight tube.

Fred, That’s because I’ve been up and down more funnels than I care to remember!

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Hi Richard

Yes I know just what you are saying, a late friend said  “the more detail you add to a model the more people say that is a great model” with out the detail but built just as good they say that’s nice.

I bet the brush that you used to clean out the funnels was big (lol)

Fred

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Hi One & All

O.K. so most of the drawings show a water tank, now I am thinking that this is for fresh water, would I be right in thinking this.

Fred

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Hi Fred, Yes there will be a fresh water tank on the deck somewhere, usually above the galley as this is just about the only place fresh water would be used.  Washing, thunderboxes etc were all saltwater.  One thing that amazed me when I started to do some research into very early steamers was the fact that they used to use seawater as boiler feed.  I grew up in a marine environment where we used to test the boiler water for chlorides and use the results to determine how much to blow the boiler down to maintain an acceptabe limit.  And this is only relatively low pressure auxy boilers.  High pressure main propulsion boilers were controlled a lot more seriously.

Anyway because sea water was used as feed the boilers had to be entered avery few days to scrape the salt out of the water side and the soot out of the furnace and tubes.  They didn’t have time to let the boiler completely cool so invariably this was done while the boiler was still pretty hot.  They earned thier keep in those early steamship days.

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Hi Richard

Thank you its just as I thought,

From what you have said it looks to me to be a cost cutting exercise on the owners part when the puffer was built, to them it must have looked cheaper to have the crew clean the boiler, also by not having  some form of water purifier the engine room would be smaller so making the cargo area bigger, a bigger cargo area would mean more money for the owner.

Fred

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Just a quick update on how the puffer is going.

I have now fitted a galley smoke stack, this is made out of an old drinking straw, the type that can be bent, next I made the tarpaulin for the deck hatch cover, this is made using a tissue then covered it with PVA glue, I then painted it with a mix of cockpit green and satin black.

Fred

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Fred,  she’s looking really good.  Nice engine room doors and love the bendy straw idea, I’ll keep that in my back pocket.

Len

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Thank you Len,

Your Puffer is coming along well, i am looking forward to the next update.

I now need to start doing some detail work on the funnel and other parts of the wheelhouse.

Fred

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

As we have had a brake in the rain with a bit of sun, I took the chance to spray the rest of the hull black, as I was waiting for the hull to dry, I made the galley smoke stack stay and fitted the pipe work from the fresh water tank to the galley.

To get a straight dividing line between the red and black I used some 1/8″ car pin stripe.

 

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Hi Fred,

Like the water tank supports.

Len

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Thanks Len

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Now that things have quieten down, I have found some time to work on the Puffer, I have fixed some wood strip around the tarpaulin to simulate the fixing points, as I would like to have a working derrick, I had a go at making the derrick to mast fixing, it’s very crude and over sized, it seems to work so on with the rope work,

Fred

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

That’ll look excellent Fred with some cleats etc for tying off the ropes and when it’s painted.  Some Puffers have a bracket on the engine house to lock off the mast and derrick when they are lowered.

Len

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Great modelling at the mast base Fred. The plan I have shows something similar and now you’ve made it we can see what it will look like . A great help. I take it that’s made in plasticard? I’ve just primed the rudder on mine with an etch primer, as it’s made of brass. Be good to see a working derrick.

Jim.

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

Hi Jim

Thank you, yes it is all plasticard I am sorry to say that it will not be working on this one, I only did it so the when I start working on my other Puffer I will have some idea of how to make one for that.

This is the first time I have tried to make a working item on any of my boats, I only got me head around LED’s last year also, how to get them to work from my handset. my son has been trying for the last few years to teach me CAD, I still can not get the 2hb to work on the screen.

Looking forward to seeing your Puffer, that’s a good idea to use etching primer on the metal parts, in the past I used some etching from a company called “Frost Auto Restores”

Fred

 

 

[Fred Ellis 1Participant @fredellis1]

The one thing I forgot to say was that the steam winch only moved the boom up & down and the same goes for the cargo hook, to get the cargo onto the quay the boom had to be moved by the ropes that are fixed to the boom and pulled by the dockyard staff,

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks for the info on the working of the boom Fred, something I did’nt know. I’m a fan of plasticard, it’s so easy to use , and if you make a mistake, easy to re make. Once painted, it looks like anything else.

Enjoying watching yours come together.

Jim.

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