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Paddle Steamer "Paris". A bodger's build blog


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David Clarke

Fri Jul 31 2015, 06:32PM

Registered Member #4621

Joined: Fri May 15 2015, 01:04PM
Posts: 6

This is my blog about building a model of the steam channel packet “Paris”. The “Paris” (and its sister ship “Rouen”) was launched in 1888 for the cross-channel service from Newhaven (UK) to Dieppe (France). The service was jointly operated by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) and the French railway company Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest. These two ships were the greyhounds of the time, able to steam at more than 19 kts.

Information on the ships was scarce. The most useful source of information was a half model of the ship, owned by the UK National Railway Museum but on loan to the heritage “Bluebell Railway”. The Bluebell Railway had published a side-on low-resolution photograph of the model and kindly let me have a high–resolution copy of this photograph. I subsequently visited the Bluebell Railway and took a number of additional photographs of the model. There are also a few poor quality photographs of the actual ship. In the end many of the details of this model are based on guesswork.

The model is at a scale of 1 to 200, giving an overall length of about 15 inches. It is a half model, mounted on a display board and will be protected by an acrylic-fronted shadow box (which I have yet to make!).

A confession. I do not make models of ships, I make models of models of ships. I like the style of the old builders’ models and, to an extent, I replicate them. For instance, windows and portholes are “painted” on rather than cut out and I print paper decks. This model is closer to the Bluebell Railway model than the actual ship. I have simplified some aspects of the model. If this offends you, stop reading now!

Making the hull
The hull is carved from wood up to the lowest point of the sheer. A keel was cut from thin ply giving the hull profile (photo 01). The keel was glued to the block. The main deck was cut from thin ply and glued to the hull, following the sheer profile. The bow and stern gaps between the basic hull and the deck were filled with soft timber and a plaster filler (photo 02).

Once this was done I carved and fitted the bow turtleback. A piece of wood was temporarily fitted to the stern to allow the shaping of the stern bulwark from thin ply, strapped in place and heated in the oven (photo 03). The remaining bulwarks were then made of card, liberally treated with shellac (which hardens the card).

Portholes
Portholes were made of wire rings and glued into place. The hull was then spray painted with car acrylic paints (white primer, red primer and satin black). The porthole glazing was printed on white, water-slide decal paper. These were cut out using a leather punch and applied inside the wire rings on the hull (photo 04).

Decks
The paper overlay for the decks was made by drawing out the shape and planking using the drawing package embedded in Microsoft Word and laying this image over a free download of wood grain. The decks were sprayed with acrylic varnish before being glued in place (photo 05).

Deckhouses
The deckhouses were carved from wood. Some of the deckhouses were originally panelled wood. This, and the door and window detail, was represented using a printed paper overlay in a similar way to the decks (photo 06).

Paddles and Paddle Box
The shape of the paddle box was cut out of card, treated with shellac, and then filled out using solid wood. Cutting the slits in the paddle box sides was a challenge and in the end there are fewer than was actually the case. The paddle was made from brass sheet and one of my favourite materials, brass dress makers’ pins (photo 07).

Fittings
The only bought fittings were the cowl vents, but these were heavily modified. All other fittings were made from wood or metal. The handrails were soldered up from copper and brass wire and painted using acrylic paints. Lifebuoys were made from solder wound round a stick and slightly flattened using a jewellers’ hammer.

Assembly
The ship was assembled as three main sub-assembles: hull; deckhouse and boat deck; paddle wheel (photos 08 and 09).

Nameboard and Display
The main name board was constructed from a scan of name board of the builder’s model (taken from the photograph provided by the Bluebell Railway). It was cut and pasted up in Microsoft Picture It! to give the wording I needed. I printed an image of gold leaf and then printed the name board over this to give the effect I wanted. The subsidiary name board was produced in Microsoft Word. The ship and name boards were mounted on a plywood back board (photo 10).

teleman

Fri Jul 31 2015, 07:57PM

Registered Member #1925

Joined: Tue Nov 29 2011, 05:32AM
Posts: 1186

Just a really nice model. Well done David.

Gene Bodnar

Fri Jul 31 2015, 09:27PM

Registered Member #126

Joined: Tue Jul 21 2009, 11:20AM
Posts: 1888

David,

Looks great. Nicely detailed for such a small model.

Gene

bensid54

Fri Nov 13 2015, 04:39PM

Registered Member #2957

Joined: Wed Jun 13 2012, 05:43AM
Posts: 785

That is great David! You gave some helpful tips on model building plus you also mentioned Microsoft Word had a drawing program that I never knew about.