sternwheel towboat model

Ooooh I am Greeeeeeeeen with envy!

Here are some pilothouse pics.

Here is the model with a lot more detail.

*How do they do it?!*
Morning, Steamboating colleagues:
Thanks, Mike, for sharing your on-going model project here. Great photos good and up close. How guys like you and John Fryant do it I don't know but do it you do. She's a nifty little creation but I wonder if you'll paint some name on her stern splashboard? John Fryant has written and spoken that a steamboat model should be left outside in the yard for a time to "weather" as that's what the real thing looked like not long after leaving the shipyard. I 'peeked' inside the pilothouse seeing the big, thick book on the captain's log table. Now, with a cross on the book, is that a Bible or a log book? Back in the old days the streamboats that had big Bibles in the main cabin, Purser's office, pilothouse were termed "Christian boats." That meant a captain who made crew and passengers tow the mark along with evidence of the Temperance Movement prohibiting a bar to operate dispensing 'libations.' "Base talk" by officers, crew around fair ladies and children not permitted. Some passenger packets operating on a Sunday stopped in way towns for passengers and crew that could to march up in town to attend church. This another fascinating story about old-time streamboat operations and business. Anyway, for all my clap trap above, thanks for sharing and keep us posted. Cheers!

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

Hello and thank you for the kind words. Yes that is a bible and yes i am working on the name now. This boat is the U.S lighthouse tender Marion but i am naming it the Nicholas after my son. I have boats named for all my family members but him and he likes this one. I am installing electronics now which includes a smoke generator and have been testing the wheel in the bathtub awaiting the ponds to thaw here in East Liverpool but we have a while before that happens. As for weathering the boat i have tried my hand at that on another project but didnt turn out so well. Im still practicing.

Are you applying "weather" paint over it. That's how we did it with model railroads. Seemed like instant years.

Ive never heard of weather paint. The method i was doing was using an airbrush to imitate rust or dirt or scuffs of sort.

*'Weather paint?' Hmmmmm.*
Morning, Steamboating colleagues:
"Weather paint" you say? Never heard of that but I bet our model builder John Fryant knows about it. He surfs/lurks here regularly. As stated, another 'myth' were all those pristine steamboats often seen in some art work of a rather romantic nature etc. With all that coal smoke both on the boats from the stacks and from the shore, that soon disappeared. Back then industrial America ran on anthracite and bituminous coal. Look at many old steamboat photos in/around big cities and you'll see that 'smokey' air. More than one old log book contains entries with "...a dark, smokey night...a wet, heavy night with smoke." When the then QUEEN CITY was launched here at the old 'Cincinnati Marine Ways' she was photographed brand new totally sparkling white with even her sternwheel painted white. That didn't last long. Several accounts then even mention how within a couple of years those magnificent, ornate Gothic long cabins were "dull, dusty, worn out looking." What do I know?

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

R. Dale Flick;36209 wrote: *'Weather paint?' Hmmmmm.*
Morning, Steamboating colleagues:
"Weather paint" you say? Never heard of that but I bet our model builder John Fryant knows about it. He surfs/lurks here regularly. As stated, another 'myth' were all those pristine steamboats often seen in some art work of a rather romantic nature etc. With all that coal smoke both on the boats from the stacks and from the shore, that soon disappeared. Back then industrial America ran on anthracite and bituminous coal. Look at many old steamboat photos in/around big cities and you'll see that 'smokey' air. More than one old log book contains entries with "...a dark, smokey night...a wet, heavy night with smoke." When the then QUEEN CITY was launched here at the old 'Cincinnati Marine Ways' she was photographed brand new totally sparkling white with even her sternwheel painted white. That didn't last long. Several accounts then even mention how within a couple of years those magnificent, ornate Gothic long cabins were "dull, dusty, worn out looking." What do I know?

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

Weather paint is sold at the hobby store in the same bottle as the colors but it is called "Weather" instead of say, "Flat Black". You paint it right over your finished paint job and it adds years to the work. - but a search looks like testors the manufacture now sells it in a pen format. They don't make anything like they used to.

I am so thankful for all the great info and great people on this site. I love that you guys are so helpful with my question so i have another one. Can anyone tell me if this boat would have been wood fired or some other fuel for the boiler?

*MARION fuel--wood or coal?'
Steamboating colleagues:
Mike, just clicking to catch up here and saw your latest posting with a question, "...would have been wood...some other fuel?" I assume your MARION model is one of the two real MARIONS appearing in WAY'S STEAM TOWBOAT DIRECTORY appearing on Pg. 156 with Entry No. T1722 and T1723. I first thought you made up her name. T1722 MARION built/ran 1895-1931 Keokuk, IA, 93X18X3. Rock Island on the upper Mississippi until sold 1931. No doubt Judy Patsch has a better handle on boats operating up in those waters than I do. Now, if this MARION worked possibly in handling log rafts she 'could' have burned wood early on. That was big lumbering country then. Other boats this size did local towing work etc. Yet, coal possible but WAY'S entry doesn't say. By 1931 possibly burning coal. Our own John Fryant via his model work may have information or an idea.

T1723 MARION ran 1909-1923, 73X15X2.5 for 'McClain Sand Co.' of Port Marion, PA on the Monongahela River. She exploded a boiler November, 1923 killing two persons, scalding two others. Good question and I don't know the defining answer.

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

Here are some pics of the first run. The only adjustments i have to make is adding some weight to the front. The model ran very well and looks good on the water. Im in the process of adding the fine details now.

She looks great, Mike! After you get crew, fuel, water, and supplies aboard, she'll be in perfect trim!

I have to agree with Capt. Bob! What a doll your model is, and a real boat like her would be.

*Model MARION is a beauty*
Morning, Steamboating colleagues:
I agree with Frank and Bob that Mike's model of the MARION is a gem. If the photos were in Black/White a first glance would have you thinking it was the real thing.

I certainly enjoy studying, admiring a fine ship/boat model but don't know how guys like John Fryant, Mike and others do it but 'do it they do.' I have no patience, skill or trained eye to do work like that. Those old photos of then 'new' big steamboats just off the ways at the Howard Shipyards, and others, when sparkling brand new didn't last long. All that coal smoke from the boat boilers, smoke/soot from ashore back then soon dulled them down. John Fryant once spoke at S&D mentioning that, "A new steamboat model should be put out in the back yard to be rained on several times so it looks authentic." Some years back I attended in London, England the famed 'Prince Philip Gold Medal Awards for Boat/Ship Models' and was truly amazed. Even the famed Str. QUEEN CITY, when launched here at the old 'Cincinnati Marine Ways,' had her sternwheel painted pristine white. That didn't last long. What do I know? Cheers!

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

Facepalm.

I want one too.

Hows this for a vintage lookng photo?

Here are some closeups of the detail.

More closeup pics. With only forward rudders it is stubborn in the wind.

And just a few morw pics.

Sorry for the sideways pics.

*Perky MARION & Pictures*
Morning, Steamboating colleagues,
Thanks, Mike, for the additional photos taken close, afar etc. Really like the one you took in Black/White. She certainly looks 'new and fresh' but in real life operating she'd soon 'weather' and tone down: her wheel and stern board soon muddied up, decks roughed up with crew tramping around, moving heavy materials, wood or coal fuel, boiler smoke and soot, mud tracked on. Several of John Fryant's B/W model photos fool the eye thinking it was a picture of the real thing. Ok, now what are you going to do with the MARION model? Any thought of building another model? Let us know.

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.

The Marion model which is now named Nicholas after my son is going to stay in my collection. It is the best model i have ever built and is just fun to operate. It is the 15th model i have built. My next project is actually in the works but only on paper. It is the sidewheel steamer Clyde. Only a couple photos of it exist so it may be a challenge to replicate. It will be built in 1/24 scale just like the Marion. The Clyde model may be a few years away because i just started restoring a Harley Davidson golf cart and my sons jr. drag bike needs some attention. So many projects so little time.

Here are some pics with some lighting in place. I found some small incandescent lights that when i add low voltage it gives that realistic look im going for. More will be added to the forward cabin and pilothouse.