I am in the 5th month of this build. Definitely a challenging build. I decided to build this one a little out of the box. Couldn't find a whole lot of reference material or color photos so I just painted it the way I thought it looked best. Any criticism good or bad is welcome. Thanks, Dave

Hey Trev, The paddle wheel motor is 150 rpm which made the walking beam run way to fast. The small motor runs at 30 rpm. It looks much more realistic when running. It also is mounted in the upper half of the boat so no need to disassemble the walking beam to remove the top for service. Thanks for all the kind words! Dave

I have a couple other things I am doing on this build. All of my previous builds stayed true to accuracy. This one is me just having fun. I made clear plexi panels for the inside of the wheel housing. Used gloss spar varnish on the decks. Shiny brass bits to bring another element to it. None of which should really be on this boat. But its going to stand out. I really do enjoy scale modelling and I still learn something every day. I love all the feedback and you don't have to be "nice" I can take it 😉 I will post pics of future progress. Mounting and working on all the lighting now, Thanks Dave

On the embossed details I just used a green paint pen with a medium tip and barely swiped the top of it at a 45 degree angle. I don't have a very steady hand and thought it would be a flop but it was much easier than expected. If you zoom in on it you can see how "not perfect" it is but from a couple feet away it really helped the overall look. My Grandfather taught me to never stop and never give up on a project. If you finish the build all the little things that are "wrong" will go away as you look at the completed model. And you only get better with time. Never be afraid of "trying". Jump in with both feet! Thank you all for the kind words. Dave

Just finished painting the embossed paddle wheel house covers. Spent about 2 hours on each one. My painting skills are ok. This completes all painting...whew!...on to assembly, rigging, etc. Anybody know a good way to cinch ropes? I have dabbled with tiny wire with some success. Thanks Dave

Yes I used # 11 blades also took about 2 hrs. Lighted magnifier of course I'm blind without it haha.

As I am well into final assembly I keep seeing needed detail ( I always do this to myself) so I used some of the mesh material included with kit to create a rope floor and standard sewing thread to tye it all in. Took about an hour per raft to complete. Happy with the results. Thanks again for all the tips and kind words, Dave

I have been busy ...a few updates. I have assembled all major components. It fun when the last 3 months of making and painting parts you can start installing them! In 1 day you can see your time pay off! Few update pics. Its a frenzy! Lol Thanks , Dave 😋😋

A few more... My little gear motor... Drives the walking beam... Engineering is Hard...lol. Having fun with this one...

Adding all the detail parts. Working on lifeboat davits. Getting close to calling this one finished. Start rigging today. Hope to get finished pics within a week. Then its time to get her wet.... More updates to come....