English Canal Narrow Boat

[JohnM]

Darwin/Kevin ... The Pontcysyllte aqueduct is about 25 miles from where I live. Picture postcards are common around here, or I could even take the wife's camera down there if you need better references. Just googling it produces plenty of references though.

Johnny.

[Kevin WS]

Russ - it does come with a set of locks.

And I will do these next as well. I have looked at the instructions and pieces in in my head they do not make much sense at this stage, but this is not a worry really as the Scalescenes instructions are good and I will take care to follow these instructions in sequence under I understand what is going on!

[Kevin WS]

Johnny,

Sorry - only saw your post now - it was on the second page.

Thank you very much for the offer and info. Much appreciated. May take you up on it as well.

For the moment I want next to do the lock, but I have also now made my mind up (thanks Darwin!) that I will do the viaduct project as a diorama. I am gong to think about modelling the Scalescenes kits or maybe just making the viaduct myself via ModelBuilder. Will see...........

[Kevin WS]

More progress.

Photo 1 shows all the pieces for the next stage. Some of the smaller parts like the fenders and the “T” pieces have already been put together or made up.

Photo 2 shows some more assembly, with a couple more pieces (side planking) that I decided to put on now.

Photo 3. A close-up of the bow area taking shape.

For touch-up on the edges of the card I either use water colour pencils (same as the ones in the photos), or water colour paint and a fine brush. Both methods work well – pencils for large long surfaces or edges, paint for smaller areas or spots.

Photo 4. Most of the parts now on and assembly of the cabin started. I am slightly out of sequence here with the instructions, as I decided to put the roof on now so I could get the alignment of the sides spot on. A dry fit earlier showed this would not be the case if I put on the roof last. So I am now trimming the sides to fit…..

About 20 odd more pieces added now.

[Darwin]

Kevin, I'm glad to see the direction you are heading with this build...it will give me some ideas for the train layout that is coming together in the back of my mind. I was intending using the scalescenes viaduct for a railroad bridge, but the narrowboat application is really making the imagination kick into high gear. What are the titles of the reference books you have on the boats? I'd like to look for them on Amazon.

[Kevin WS]

Darwin, I am lying here in bed - just been woken up in the middle of the morning, and the books are on my bedside table, so that is an opportune question!

Narrowboats Explained by Trevor Yorke
A really good little book that provides a basic but decent explanation of the history, types, construction, decoration etc.

English Canals Explained by Stan Yorke.
Also great. About the canals, locks etc. And how everything again works.

Narrowboat Planning by Graham Booth
All about planning the interior of your Narrowboat! Great if you want a good idea of the insides and where everything could and does go. Lots of colour pics. Has me dreaming and planning in fantasy land.

Recommended all three. The last may seem expensive, but not really as it is worth the price and has content you will not find anywhere else.

Treat yourself. All three are UK books, so also check their prices and postage on Amazon.co.UK to see if they pan out cheaper from the UK. Sometimes this works!

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John - I was just now looking in the book that explains canals and it has some pics and an explanation of the basic structure (very simple) of the aqueduct you mention. An impressive structure!

[Kevin WS]

Little bit more progress.

Photo 1 . Sides and rear on, with the doors and rear decoration cut out, along with the planks for the cargo hold.

Photo 2. Here’s one for you Tim. The “coal” is in!

Photo 3. The coal has now magically (with a bit of paint) turned into coal!!!!

Actually after it had dried, I found I had a pronounced hull warp, but managed to straighten the hull by rolling it over a very small diameter piece of tubing.

The warp came from using diluted white glue to set the coal (even though I had varnished the surrounds as a precaution). So, BE CAREFUL anyone doing this!

This time all went well, and I was lucky and go away with it. Lesson learnt!

Photo 4. The home straight – almost done. Planking in, and the chimney on.

All that is left now are the fenders, canvas cargo cover and the tiller (which I can see is going to fiddly)……. and then a varnish. Nearly there!!!!

[Tim Crowe]

Looking good - particually the coal

I have a Schrieber barge I am planning to use the same technique on.

Tim

[Kevin WS]

Thanks Tim.

To my mind scale coal always looks oversize, so I always try to use something small. The N gauge coal is monstrous!

Trouble is in the very small scales if you go smaller it starts looking uncoal like! I actually considered using fine sand or bicarbonate but after a test both looked unrealistic, though the size would have been closer to accurate. The ballast used here sort of looks right - to my eyes anyway.

[Kevin WS]

Ok - nearly done with this - not abandoned.

Did all the small pieces last - tiller, fenders etc and attached these.

Basically finished - just need to stick on some varnish. Gave it a coat of varnish at the weekend, but then could not find the matt varnish.

Will have to by some this week, finish the varnish, and will then then take some pics of the finished item.

Going into winter now here, so modelling is going to be slower going forward - do not like modelling in cold weather!