Scratchbuilding a B&O RR stick lighter: Pt. II TWO PHOTOS: COLLECTION OF BOB LEWIS: NEW YORK HARBOR; 1946
While these two photos show Lehigh Valley lighters, not those of the B&O, their wood su- perstructures are similar in many respects. A close look will reveal the gentle curve of the sheer line from port to starboard (above) and the camber of the deck (below). Similar in size to the B&O lighter modeled by the author, these Lehigh Valley lighters had a lifting capacity of approximately five tons and a deck capacity in the 400 to 500 ton range.
ings, or in any photos that I have seen, as to how this requirement was met by the railroad. My guess is that they probably just hung red and green lanterns from the bits at the forward corners of the barge and a white lantern from the center shroud at the stern, as there are no fixed lights mounted, or even any brackets or hooks to hang lights from. Moving outside the deckhouse, tem- porarily step the mast in the holes pre- viously drilled. It is a good time to check that the mast is vertical (at the very least), or more preferably, slightly angled towards the stern. If the mast looks good, you can assemble the gal- lows frame that holds the pulleys that lead the falls into the deckhouse and to the hoist drums. The construction is fairly straightforward. The trickiest part is probably getting the two knees that brace it to look right. This frame should be tight up against the mast. When the frame is complete, drill the three holes and in- sert the shafts with the pulleys. Glue this to the deck, but not to the mast, then glue the two knees into place. Next is the base for the boom goose-
neck. This should be 2′-0″×3′-0″×3′-6″ high. It is glued to the deck 6″ ahead of the mast, on the centerline of the barge. If you have fabricated the boom gooseneck, glue it to the center of the boom seat base. Remove the mast, and paint the pulley gallows, knees, and boom seat base flat black. Re-install the deckhouse and mark the front wall, in line with the bottom of the four pulleys in the gallows frame. Pull the deckhouse out of it’s well and drill these four holes to clear whatever line you will be using to rig your model. I was unable to determine exactly how the lines were led through the walls to the various drums, so I de- cided to just drill holes in the right spot to allow the lines to feed in a natural way onto the four take-up drums. Before gluing the deckhouse into po-
Turning to the roof, I covered it with scale 30″ wide strips of single ply toilet tissue, bedded in flat black paint. I then installed a hatch over the boiler, and added the boiler stack, the two steam exhaust pipes and a whistle. I sliced the top of the boiler and the stack off one of the Life-Like donkey boilers and used that on the roof. All of this, except for the whistle, was painted black. I made up two name boards, one for
each side of the roof. These were paint- ed red, then lettered before being glued
78
in place. A smoke jack was added to the roof for the crew cabin stove. When the red paint was good and
dry, I added the lettering to the outside of the deckhouse.
It is my understanding that vessels under tow in tidal waters need to dis- play red and green running lights and a white light at the stern, just like a powered vessel. This applies whether under actual tow or if lashed alongside a tug or other powered vessel. There is no indication on the draw-
sition, drill a hole down through the floor just behind each drum. When you rig the model, the falls will come down the mast, around the pulleys, through the wall, over the drums, and down through the floor, and be tied off under- neath, out of sight. Give a final check of the deckhouse, making sure that everything is as good as you can make it. Place a thin bead of glue on the top of the various frame members in the bottom of the well, and carefully insert the deckhouse one last time, being certain that it is fully seat- ed, and square all around. Well, that’s it for this month. We wrap up construction next month with the masting and rigging.
JANUARY 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116