Isle-of-Man 1875 Paddle-steamer BEN-MY-CHREE 1/700 scratch

[Pieter]

...leaning over the rails feeding the fishes?

[Dino Carancini]

All those umbrellas! It would be nice to add some on your passengers, a bit challenging, but something different..

[JIM BAUMANN]

......seasick passengers leaning over the rail... I shall add at least one or two --- for a laugh.

@ Dino- in the picture you saw, it was bright sun-light on the south coast of the UK

ergo the umbrellas--- sun-shades for delicate Victorian Ladies facial complexions.
In a boisterous Irish sea with 25 knots of wind I think Umbrellas may be superfluous...

I am a bit tired already of painting and creating figures--there are now almost 200 on board
every day I add some more.....

-======================================================================================
but maybe on my next Paddler.....

How could one NOT love this?

but if I think I am tired of making passengers.....
I think I would baulk at adding 3400 or so passengers !!!!!!!
--they might look like an army of invading ants devouring my 1/700 model of Tashmoo

But I have a cunning plan-that ship Tashmoo ran aground on a sand bank....
--and was pulled off by a small plucky Tug-boat
Bingo--the model would pure in outline, no passengers--just a few desultory crew--
and I get to build a Tug boat again

waddyaythink?

[wefalck]

"In a boisterous Irish sea with 25 knots of wind I think Umbrellas ..." would turn those ladies into Mary Poppins'

[Neptune]

Finally new software on the board, we can freely post again

Great job on this project Jim! Interesting (but not truly unexpected ) choice of subject.

[Iceman 29]

Hello Jim. All these details are incredibly realistic. I don't know how you manage to work on such a small scale. You must have very good eyesight or glasses...

[1:6000]

Look what I found!

An aft deckview of S/S Mosel of NdL, built at Caird & Co. / Greenock in 1872, thus in a similar time and area and with maybe similar installations regarding the benches.
Good luck with Your build, I greatly enjoy it! May You never choose a subject past 1905!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Ahoy 1/6000

Good find --for future reference !

yes--that is exactly the the kind of thing
--though both the the clerestory and consequently the seating in BmC was rather higher


meanwhile progress is afoot!
more passengers -now fwd of the bridge with the odd crew-member amongst them

with the davits now installed , and seated and standing passengers installed below the boat deck--
it was time to create said boatdeck

from the few images I have I could ascertain that there were longitudinal members and athwarships intermittent ' gapped' planking
where the boat chocks were--thereby allowing light, drainage and access to boast below--without an enclosed deck

These decks had a slight camber athwartships --- and interestingly the longitudinal members had a slight deflection

I implied/ modelled the former camber and ignored the latter sag!!

Using assorted elderly ' scrap' PE from my boxes

I was able to construct something in the 'spirit of...'

at laaast... I could install the funnels that I made months ago !
however... interestingly the funnels an masts do not have the same rake
--I noticed that before when I built the Normandie--the funnels and masts had disparate rakes !

so I double-checked side elevation images

getting the funnels to align was tricky!

meanwhile-after endless eyeballing the funnels-and double checking the model in a mirror
( a sure-fire way of dispelling any doubts about alinement's!) an awaiting the slow set glue to set...

as the custom 3-D printed boats had arrived
need 2 x 29 ft whalers and 4 x pulling lifeboats ( and a skiff--I am carving that at the moment!)

said boats were painted

and installation could begin

The time had come to install the- previously custom made paddle box decals

for that I needed the paddle boxes to be near horizontal-- and steady

a hand holding the baseplate would not do!

Phew !!!

it all came out well!

now for final installation of bridge furniture, additional crew, additional small bollards,
stowed gangways, making anchors , chains fairleads and many many more small parts !
before the more interesting parts of the build; the rigging and finally sea colouring!

More soon

Jim Baumann

[SG1]

Incredible progress and most inspiring scratchbuilding. What i admire most is your ability to add-on structures and details over a pre-painted and
very fragile model, crowded with tiny figures, without wrecking havoc on the already assembled and finished areas. Like building a house of cards. it requires a careful planning and an incredible steady hand. The most difficult part of small scale modelling in my opinion. Great solution for the funnels. The decal-effect is superlative. Looking forward to the rigging phase.

[JIM BAUMANN]

here is a small self-explanatory image based update !

The only clear image of the anchors is this one; I cropped and zoomed in on the image and lighted it brutally
in order to discern the size and layout

The 2 x anchors were cut out of 1/350 handrail fro the stock and cross-bar,the curved base was thin curved PE strip
and paper flukes

chain was made by twisting wire

anchors installed

[Sszabi]

Jim, this is an inspiring build, like all of your work. Those details...

[zs180]

Jim, congrats on this little gem! Your build reports are always entertaining and educational.
The ingenious use of PE is so characteristic of your builds.
Your ability to find a suitable PE part for every little detail seems supernatural!

[Frank Spahr]

Awesome doesn´t halfway begin to cover it ...

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hello Gentlemen ( and anay Ladies ?)

so with some long evenings at the bench the model is essentially completed

herewith 4 x " work-bench-snapshots "

formal proper SLR photos
( without the distortions of the point and shoot and with depth if field ! )
will be taken in near future
Hull length is 135mm ( 5 1/2 inches)
Humbrol pint tinlet gives a scale

herewith

Kind regards
JIM B

[wefalck]

One feels the breeze in the hair (though at that time gentlemen certainly would have worn a hat ...).

What always amazes me is, how long paddle-wheels were used in the waters around the British Isles. In continental Europe most seagoing vessels had screw-propulsion at that time. Mentally, I associate paddle-wheels mainly with rivers and lakes.

[MartinJQuinn]

She is magnificent. Well done.

[SG1]

Beyond beautiful! Congratulations on completing another amazing project. now, what's next?

[Pieter]

Beautiful little steamer. I'm looking forward to seeing the SLR pictures.

[Yuth]

I've reached the end of my list of superlatives...

So, simply: Bravo maestro!

[Frank Spahr]

Another gem - absolutely stunning in the workmanship and atmosphere conveyed!