Mark Twain Riverboat

 September 10, 2015
Sheet No. 7 of the Mark Twain Riverboat blueprints shows details of the pilot house, including exhaust pipes, the bell and bell stand, and main deck beams and posts.

These are relatively easy to trace and then use the "Follow-Me" tool in SketchUp to lathe the shape 360 degrees.

September 11, 2015
The pilot house is coming together. A lot of symmetry so that makes for quick work. I'll keep the bright colors so that the elements render more vividly, as the wood is naturally white the lighting would wash out all detail.

September 14, 2015
I stumbled upon a beautiful set of blueprints that allows me to add much more detail to deco work than casual photos do.

Importing the blueprint and applying it as a reference texture means quick tracing work can be done and all of the parts and components can be laid out to view at once.

January 8, 2016
I rebuilt the paddle wheel in SketchUp after exporting from 3DStudioMax. It's a much cleaner build and the edge lines add to the complexity.

June 15, 2021
A lite cleanup / upgrade to this old model.

Testing the Mark Twain's paddlewheel in simulated water before attaching to the hull. Mark Twain stacks complete and attached to the Texas deck and Mark Twain pilot house complete.