1875 Swedish Steam Launch

[boosed]

Some time ago, David Hathaway offered as a freebie an 1875 Swedish steam launch that is part of the model of the coastal defense monitor Solve. When I printed it out, I accidentally set the Adobe Reader to “Fit to Printable Area” and the model came out to about 3 inches long, which I THINK makes it about 1/111 scale.

It occurred to me that the little launch would be a good way to work on my modeling skills in preparation for other models, so I set to work.

The model was printed out on 67 pound Wausau Exact Bristol (.008-inch/0.2mm) card. I laminated the main deck and the lower (duckboard) deck to 0.5mm card for strength and printed out an extra copy, which I laminated to another thickness of the 0.2mm card and then cut out the coaming, circular hatch covers, and gunwales from this extra copy in order to provide additional depth to the model.

After the very simple boiler and engine were assembled, I added brass-colored bands and disks in order to give added depth. I also cut out the area of the sternpost and rudder where the propellor was printed on and fabricated a three-dimensional propeller mounted on a little piece of #76 (0.5mm) brass wire.

Don B.

[boosed]

Here is the completed model. It looks rather pretty from a distance, but the flaws show up in the photos: especially the gap between the gunwales and the hull sides. Nonetheless, it’s a start. I also have the Digital Navy Admirable-class minesweeper (USS Caravan, AM-157) under construction and am learning by making mistakes.

Don B.

[dansls1]

Looks good!

[barry]

A great little model Don prop and shaft are impressive.

[cjwalas]

I absolutely love it. There's an elemental beauty in the simple lines of a well designed basic steam launch and you've done a fine job on a small model! Well done indeed!
Chris

[Clashster]

Great build! Very cool in it's simplicity!

[B-Manic]

Thats a very nice little boat. Thanks for sharing.

[whulsey]

That's a nice looking little model.