Water Mill - A Boat Mill Variant! - Page 7

**Kevin WS** · #61 09-12-2016, 05:51 AM

Well, the next construction step was one I was dreading – the second hull that holds the bearing for the water wheel.

I could just see it going wrong and causing alignment problems, and I also was not certain of the build order….

But in all events it went fine and was over and done with pretty quickly.

Picture 1 – This shows one side of the bearing assembled. There really was no way to build this gradually, letting parts dry, so I assembled all four parts at one. I was then able to manipulate them gently to get decent alignment.

Picture 2 – This shows one of the critical parts that affects the overall alignment of the bearing. I attached this last, and was I glad I did. It needs to be “tweaked” to ensure everything is 100%.

After this I then attached the other 4 parts and the actual bearing – again more or less in one go so I could manipulate everything before the glue (white PVA) dried. I had to work fairly quickly as the glue has a fast drying time, and it was also pretty hot here.

Pictures 3, 4 and 5 – This shows the finished bearing on the hull. Three pictures to show it off – I think it is interesting little model in in itself!

Picture 6 – Hand held – just to give you an idea of scale.

Picture 7 – A check, alongside the Miller’s House, to see how good the alignment is.

There are now a couple of smaller bits to assemble, and then we are almost there, with the last stage now being assembly of the actual Mill Wheel itself……

**SCEtoAUX** · #62 09-12-2016, 06:02 AM

Looks good so far. I did not realize how small the scale is.

**Kevin WS** · #63 09-12-2016, 12:48 PM

Doug, the scale is around 1/160.

That's the scale I usually use (if I have a choice) for buildings......

**Kevin WS** · #64 12-04-2016, 09:59 AM

Well, after a break, it's back to work.

Mostly quite a lot of tedious work with not too much to show!

The next and last stage to make is the actual water wheel itself. Then, all that remains is to put together the various sub-assemblies.

The wheel bearing on the smaller hull is attached to the Mill House by two stays - one of which carries a walkway with a rail for access to and from the Mill House. So for a bit of variety I quickly made this first......

Picture 1 - The cut walkway part scored and folded.

Picture 2 - The walkway glued together and drying. This picture shows yet another use for my small Engineer's Square - here it's being used to hold the part true so it dries properly at 90%. One of the advantages of the Engineers Square is the fact it is made out of steel - this makes it easy to clean off anny glue that oozes out from the parts while they are being held to dry. I use this Square a lot when making architecturaL models, although what I originally bought it for I cannot remember!

Picture 3 - The finished walkway.

Picture 4 - The parts for the wheel. There should also be a couple of small circular bearings - these are not in the photo as I took them to work to make a couple extra.

In the picture, going clockwise from the top left, can be seen the wheel hubs - there are six - these are glued together in pairs, to make three double sided hubs.

Next are the mill blades - these have to be folded lengthwise and then glued so they become double sided.

Lastly there is a small bamboo skewer. There are two small templates provided in the kit (see next picture) to help size and make the axles. Looking around I found the skewers (which I normally used for bird models), and after a little sanding I had one with the right diameter.

Picture 5 - Again going clockwise from the top left, you can see the finished walkway, with below it the axle for the wheel (below it's template), and below that the two stays and their template.

I stained the stays and axle with some Gel Wood Stain - this is a gel (!) and is easy to use - squeeze a little gel onto a tissue and then rub it back and forth until the desired colour is achieved. Dries quickly!

Next are the blades for the mill - now folded, glued and cleaned up.

Lastly the hubs for the wheel - again glued and cleaned. This was pretty fiddly and took quite a while. At the tip of each spoke is also a tab (for attaching the wheel blades) that had to be folded out. A lot of these got glued together when making the hubs, but they were easy enough to cut open with a sharp knife.

Next I will need to edge color the parts - I am probably going to use watercolor paint for this, as the parts of the wheel hubs are too small to get a felt tip or water colour pencil in................ Then together the wheel goes!

**Don Boose** · #65 12-04-2016, 10:45 AM

This is a great project, Kevin! The mill boat is a little gem (and it no longer looks like Pogo Possom's flat-bottomed swamp pero).

Don

**elliott** · #66 12-04-2016, 03:20 PM

Been following this since the start. You've quite the eye for doing detail work at a small scale Kevin. I can no longer do it. Great job!

**Kevin WS** · #67 12-06-2016, 08:47 AM

Elliott, Don - thank you!

Don - I still think of Pogo Possum now and again when I am doing it!

**Kevin WS** · #68 12-07-2016, 01:39 PM

Not much visible progress to date, but some interesting points cropped up worth mentioning for anyone making this model.

Firstly, as I mentioned last post, to edge colour the parts of the waterwheel hubs which are very small I was thinking of using watercolour paint.

Well, this is exactly what I did. I did not try to get an accurate colour match, as the colours on the wheel are very variable – I just used the brown straight off the watercolour tablet.

It was difficult to paint into the corners etc. with getting it on other areas (messy) but as I pre-varnish my models before I cut out, this didn’t matter.

Cut areas I needed paint on, varnished areas I didn’t. So, I just painted away and then cleaned off the excess with a damp finger. Because of the varnish, this did not affect anything or cause any damage to the paper.

The waterwheel blades I coloured in with one of the felt-tips I used throughout for the model.

The above took me a full evening to do.

I then started to think about how I was going to approach the wheel assembly.

Picture 1 – Using the model template I checked this against the boat hulls to make sure the spacing from my build was accurate, and the spacing shown on the template was therefore still applicable. No problems.

Picture 2 – For the waterwheel there are three wheel hubs. The template shows the position of the outside two, so I measured and marked the position for the centre wheel.

Picture 3 – Something then said to me, check against a wheel blade. Which I did and then found that the two positions for the outside hubs marked on the template are incorrect. In effect the blades are smaller and if the hubs were glued as shown the blades would not fit. The picture shows the amount out.

This is not a big deal – just a case of measuring carefully when I attach the initial pieces. It does however emphasis the need to always check parts (and dry fit).

Picture 4 – This shows the assembly diagram. Having reached this stage I looked at this carefully and think there is a mistake here as well. This to do with the direction that the wheel hubs are shown in – there are braces (see arrow) that support the back of the watermill blades.

Having looked at the diagram I am of the opinion that the hubs must be reversed so the braces all face the other direction.

The reason – the bows of the boat mill and its bearing boat would face upstream or into the current. This means, looking at the assembly diagram, in this position the wheel would rotate anti-clockwise. In turn this means that the braces are on the wrong side – they should be behind the blades to cushion the water force!

So flipped they will have to be!

Picture 5 - This shows a wheel placed facing what I think is the "right" way for the anti-clockwise wheel rotation!

So now ready to start with the water wheel assembly next!

**JohnM** · #69 12-07-2016, 03:46 PM

I have studied the diagram and pictures and am in complete agreement with you on the flow direction Kevin. The assembly picture must be wrong. It may seem wrong to us for such a machine to be designed to turn anti-clockwise, but back when the original was designed ... did they know what a clock was?

**looker** · #70 12-08-2016, 08:48 AM

Timber support for the blades would definitely be better applied in compression so reversing the wheel is justified.
Clock/anti clock rotation of the wheel would be determined by the bank of the river to which the mill was moored. But rotation of the millstone within the mill could be set up in either direction according to the side (up or down) of the "bevel" gear from which the drive was taken see -
http://www.kartonwerft.de/fotos/A03-5.jpg
from
KW-Modell A03 Schiffmühle
but it would it really matter -as long as one stone rotated against the other.

This continues to be an interesting build.