Erie Canal Barge

[Joe711]

Interesting relics of an old age!
Very enjoyable articles!
The ships are beautiful!



Thanks: Joe

[Johnflys2]

Joe, thank you very much. There's more to come, I have already started laying out the "Walter Furman" in PSP. It will be white with green trim. Most of these old boats were quite colorful to attract the attention of those who were looking for a means of shipping their goods. John

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear John:
Most rope used by the waterway people could be measured by two diferent ways and can realy mess up the modeler, the small stuff by Diameter the larger ropes by circumparance Boy I miss spelled that. i.e. a 6" rope would be just under 1 3/4 inch in Diameter and a good size for a tow rope 100 to 120 feet long. now take that times 1/250 to get the dia. of the thread. and the ropes to tie up to the docks and banks would be eather old tow ropes cut down to 20-25 feet or if bought new 3" rope i.e. 1 1/2" dia. approximity.
PM me your snail male adress and I can send a copy of an artical from the cannal Annual Mag. all about tow ropes and physics and force.
Following with interest,
MILES
wish you would go up to HO scale
I wonder if someone like John Hathaway has a scale converter for 1/250 boats and ships

[jimkrauzlis]

Originally Posted by Miles Linnabery

Dear John:
I wonder if someone like John Hathaway has a scale converter for 1/250
boats and ships

There are a lot of articles online discussing scale conversions, including rigging line, and a few can be found in ship model instruction manuals put out by Model Shipways/Model Expo. For this small scale, however, I have found as a practical matter it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to actually measure thread to get the actual diameter for scale purposes; I have found using a guesstimate "by eye" reading of the thread to work quite well in picking out appropriate scale thread. If you have a good idea of the actual full size measurement of the line used on the actual ship, you can fairly well eye ball the thread to get a close matching size. For instance, in 1/600 scale, I have found ordinary button thread to approximate the size of line used for vessel shrouds, polished sewing thread to be good for general line sizes and fly tying silk 0/6 size to be good for the "small stuff", such as the ratlines and flag lanyards. Of course, if you feel the need to get it exactly right, you can always do the math once you know the actual line size and what scale you are working in...and hopefully find threads the exact size you need.

Cheers!
Jim

[Hudsonduster]

Currently in that particular borough of Heartbreak City myself: at 1/250, 1 foot=/048" & an inch is .004"...which is 1 foot=1.22mm & 1 inch=.1mm to our non-American friends, but then we'd also have to convert the feet to meters, right? There's only so much math I can do at one time.

'Duster

[jimkrauzlis]

Originally Posted by Hudsonduster

Currently in that particular borough of Heartbreak City myself: at 1/250, 1 foot=/048" & an inch is .004"...which is 1 foot=1.22mm & 1 inch=.1mm to our non-American friends, but then we'd also have to convert the feet to meters, right? There's only so much math I can do at one time.

'Duster

As I said, eyeball it....

Cheers!
Jim

[Hudsonduster]

...Jim's more right than he's saying. Old ship modelers will tell you that you need to err on the small side of these things because your eye will ADD 50% of anything past a certain smallness! If you do proper reductions, your model will look chunky.

Same goes for paint. But we don't have to worry about that as much.

'D

[Thomas Meek]

As a long-time canal buff from Indiana, I am very happy to see that you are doing all that research and building the model.
Your canal boat is turning out very similar to many of the boats that were run on the Wabash & Erie Canal and the Whitewater Canal in Indiana as well as the original Ohio canals.
I watch the development of your model with great interest. This is something which has been lacking for many years, and I am glad that you are making such a good job of it.

[papermodelfan]

So what is the nature of the two different sterns - one like the bow, and one squared off? Are these two different shapes of freighters?

The Erie canal song that our fanmily sings when we go on car trips is:

"I've got a mule and her name is Sal, 15 miles on the Eire Canal.
She's a good old worker and and a good old pal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day, filled with lumber, coal and hay,
And every inch of the way we know, from Albany to Buffalo..

Refrain: Low bridge, everybody down, low bridge, cause we're coming to a town.
You can always tell your neighbor, you can always tell your pal,
if you've ever navigated on the Erie canal.

Get up old Sal, here comes a lock, 15 m o t EC
We'll make Rome by 6 o'clock, 15 m o to E C
One more trip and back we'll go, right back home to Buffalo.

Refrain:"

So this sounds like a 1 mule powered liner, with people riding on top who have to get down to get under the bridge, that makes only 15 miles a day. Albany to Buffalo is like 360 miles (my wife made that trip in a small boat as a child) so that would be 24 days.


For a whole lot more lyrics, and the music to go with: Erie Canal (Mule Named Sal)
Or if you wnat some one to sing them, try this:Erie Canal Song




bm

[papermodelfan]

And for all the history, and the importance of the canals in the US in the past - not one survived, and we don't even have a replica? Steam boats and steam engines galore... but not one canal freighter. How casually we have let the past go! Thanks again to John for bringing it to life in paper.