Hello Folks
Jean has almost completed our next addition and just allowed me to post pictures without killing me, so�
When we�re searching through the thousands pictures in NavSource to show details of piers, buildings and Yard equipment, we found this �exotic�, �out of age�, although grey painted boat:
These boats had an eventful history and well deserved the Yard: it was logical (and very exciting) to add them to our project.
We learned the Navy acquired those two paddle wheeled steamboats, the Delta King (YFB-55) and Delta Queen (YFB-56). These boats (the �million dollar boats�, as they were called) had been built on the River Clyde by Isherwood Yard in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1924-27 and ferried in parts to the West Coast to be assembled in Banner Island shipyard, Stockton, CA, being completed on May 20th, 1927. Both boats run for the California Transportation Company of San Francisco on the so called "Delta Route", the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta, which gave them their names. The Navy took them over in October-November 1940 and they went back to civilian use by mid 1941. Their new owner planned to tow them to the Hudson River, New-York, for use as excursion boats� but then came Pearl Harbor.
Both went back into Navy service as Emergency Hospital Transports, then Yard House Boats (YHB) and finally reclassified as Yard Ferry Boats (YFB) on July 5th, 1944, to be used as ferries to bring workers from Vallejo, across the River to the Navy Yard.
In 1945, the Delta Queen took delegates of the 51 gathered nations on sightseeing trips around San Francisco Bay.In 1946 both were stricken and mothballed into Suisan Bay.
In 1952 the Delta King was sold to Kitimat Constructors. They wanted her as a home for the workers of Alcan (Aluminium Company of Canada Ldt.) in British Columbia. She was stripped of her machinery and towed to BC, where she was grounded on the beach and used as barracks until 1958.
In 1959, Delta King was refloated and towed back to Stockton, her birth place, to be refitted as a floating restaurant. In the meantime, she was used in the MGM 1959 movie �Huckleberry Finn�. After being sold, re-sold, sunk twice and re-sold again, she finally arrived in Sacramento in 1985, where she now serves as a restaurant, hotel and theater in Sacramento waterfront. Her machinery had been bought as spare in 1952for her sister, the Delta Queen.
Delta King today�s website:
http://www.deltaking.com/
Delta Queen was luckier, at last in the beginning: she was bought by the Greene Line Steamers of Cincinnati in 1946 and towed via the Panama Canal in 1947 to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Pittsburgh to be overhauled. Following was a chaotic 50+ year career as a passenger ship on the Mississippi River: Delta Queen was soon considered dangerous with her wooden superstructures and had to cease activities as a passenger ship. However her career had been extended many times by special Presidential decrees until now.
More can be found here:
http://www.steamboats.org/steamboat-pic ... story.html
Our researches:
Thanks to the Internet, a lot of stuff is available on both ships, although WW2 pictures as Yard Ferries are very scarce.
We found plans of today�s Delta King (as a restaurant), many pictures of both ships as today on Google, and many tourist videos on YouTube we carefully examined, taking snapshots to get details of the hull and machinery. NavSource gave us overall dimensions.
Jean did the �reconstruction� from all these sources and produced two gorgeous sheets of PE with 323 parts and a wood + plastic hull for this 11cm long kit.
Here is an extract of one of his �working sheets� (100% CAD): look how he draws details directly on the original pictures to obtain the correct shape and dimensions.
The main difficulty was to back-fit the ship to her 1944 appearance: many trial and errors during the drawing, but a very exciting task.
The making of the special embankment near the inclined slip:
Jean made a prototype hull in hardwood and plastic:
First I used his hull as a master for resin reproduction:
Then I etched the PE sheets and Jean began assembling the prototype. He discovered a lot of small errors on such a complex build, but I wanted to show the pictures to give an idea:
Here is the stern post with the overhang structure for the paddle wheel. By chance, we found views of this structure� in an amateur video from YouTube!
Main deck:
The machine room (detailed with the help of another amateur video) :
Preparing the decks (on the right is the under bracing of upper decks):
Assembly of the main stairs:
First deck is now complete:
Second deck:
Passengers. We wanted to honor the numerous female workers (� Rosie the Riveteer �) who manned most USNavy Yards during the War� this build is a tribute to them.
An inspiring 1942 picture:
Second deck being installed:
And next comes the third deck:
All these ladies�
And there comes the fully equipped pilot house:
Now the paddle wheel:
The wheel axis:
And the wheel comes to its place:
A brass tubing single funnel (sorry, no REAL steam plant below� ehh, not yet!)
The forward boat deck:
And NOW, Ladies & Gentlemen, may I introduce to you the -almost- completed Delta King:
More detailing left� and the sequel: correction of all errors, assembly tricks, etc� for production models.
Hope you enjoyed this build as we did. It took four months to design, draw, etch and build.
And now we can shift to more additions to our Yard�
Bruno and Jean
