Tow Boat and Barge

Now THAT is cool!

Very, very nice, Dave. 

David,

Your tow boat and barge are just fantastic!  I dream of having both in my fantasy 1940s Pittsburgh layout (Union Barge Co.) and here you've gone and created excellent examples.  What specific boat was your model?

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Dave,

Beautiful work as always. The fascia panels are great, how did you make the rivets, resin?

Malcolm

River tows and barges are as Pittsburgh as the Pirates and Steelers but prettier.  Nice modern tow boat.

Tomlinson Run RR and Jim are so right!  I didn't know you were building a river and tug/barge scene.  Fits right in the steel hauling railroad layout.  Looks excellent!

WOW!

great job! and the green for the water is perfect!

Andre.

The Pittsburgh rivers are usually brown or gray. There are two things I take issue with-if it is a Pgh River-never saw a RR track right along a river lock like that and the  pilot house and stack don't look like a Dravo tow boat. But is nice and  not often modeled.

oh yeah..i thought it looked good as it sat, but much nicer with the worn look. noticed some Magic Hat in the back ground. perhaps a modeling secret ! Sgt Schultz would say Very Interesting !!

Howdy Dave,

Very nice rendition of the style of Pilot Boats I've seen pushing barges up and down the Monongahela river in Allenport, PA.   Very, Very Nice!

 Chief Bob (Retired)

Dave.

The sunbathers look great. OH! and the modelling is superb to, like all your work.

It's hard to get water the right colour it's either to dark, to clear, you have nailed it.

Roo.

Excellent!!!!

Great job David. The tow boat is awesome.

Alan Graziano

Thank you all for the nice comments!  

The boat started as n RC 1/48 scale model.  The company was kind enough to sell me just the shell.  It was a tripple decker and pretty long with just minor detailing.

I cut it down and shortened it quite a bit.

The prototype does have a smaller pilot house and shorter stack but I think I will leave the model the way it is and deal with the critics.  Like I said in the first post, I took some liberties. lol

Here is the best photo I have of the real boat.

I also have a photo without the blue trim which I like better.

The scene is not a lock but rather a coal unloading facility and the tracks are not as close as in my scene to the water in real life but they are fairly close.  I didn't try to model THIS crane.  I think somebody makes a 1:48 diecast version of it but i didn't have enough space.

Even though this photo is very old, the rivers are still green and brown.  You can still see the mix at the point.

Malcolm,

The layout fascia is masonite and the rivets are just foam spheres cut in half.  I think I might replace the bottom baseboard rivets with wooden half spheres.  The foam ones are easily destroyed by shoes.....  I have wiped out quite a few myself.

Here is the gate to get inside the layout.  I will eventually put fascia around the whole layout, maybe add some lighting too.

Again thank you all for the nice comments!

Dave

Great work and vision Dave!

Remarkable!

Roo posted:

Dave.

The sunbathers look great. OH! and the modelling is superb to, like all your work.

It's hard to get water the right colour it's either to dark, to clear, you have nailed it.

Roo.

 

 Our ball team just had the annual "Christmas in July" day, maybe one day we'll get down there and see what Xmas in summer is really like!

David Minarik posted:

Thank you all for the nice comments!  

Even though this photo is very old, the rivers are still green and brown.  You can still see the mix at the point.

I can certainly attest to the fact that the Monongahela River water looks brown but the Allegheny River water often looks more green.  I have seen the rivers merge into the Ohio just as in Dave's old photo. I also remember when the Manchester Bridge crossed the Allegheny right at the point.  I can't recall the name of its partner that crossed the Mon.  You can see the  present Fort Duquesne Bridge (once the infamous Bridge to Nowhere) behind the Manchester Bridge.

 Very nice job, Dave.  You'll have to give us all a video tour one day.

smilesrs posted:

 Very nice job, Dave.  You'll have to give us all a video tour one day.

Steve,

Thank you!  You can see some of it here.

Wonderful job. It is very realistic.

Nice job, as always, Dave!

Ah Great, Thanks Dave

When I come back from overseas those videos are at the top of the shopping list I might even get them sent to me while I'm in the UK give me something to look at.

Thanks Dave.

Roo

The model is great; yours always are.

The gate and trim?

How  in the heck did you access my dreams like that?

You would have loved the look created at my pals old house. A taste-- His shelf-like bed hung off the wall by two sections of chain with 8"- 10" links, the mattress sat on a 3" thick , metal banded, wooden flatbed from a vintage delivery truck. All scrap found between Zug Island and US Steel. Strong enough for me, him, his woman, and two dogs at 140 + 165lb (about 800 lbs) all stained dark and painted like your layout.

Is the layout at your residence or at the store ?? 

jim pastorius posted:

Is the layout at your residence or at the store ?? 

Jim,

This is my home layout.

Dave

Nice work!

Not sure I've ever seen bathing beauties on a Tug/Tow boat.

I fear a 1:48 scale barge mishap if the Captain's eyes start to wander . . .

Bob

Two thumbs up, David.

Thank you Tom!

Excellent job David.

Dave

very nice work!

Pat, Rich,  Thank you!

RRDOC posted:

Nice work!

Not sure I've ever seen bathing beauties on a Tug/Tow boat.

I fear a 1:48 scale barge mishap if the Captain's eyes start to wander . . .

Bob

Guess that is why they are up top!  Looking forward to the video Dave.

I was at the Emsworth dams locks one hot, sultry summer day taking photos on the NS main line that runs right past it. Had my scanner on and it was picking up the radio transmissions from the lock crew and they were checking out the sunbathers on the pleasure craft going through the locks. Funny !!

Well done, Dave!

Peter