Riverboat
Built by Richard Marsden in March 2026
This model was inspired by a 3D jigsaw. If you’re not familiar with these, the pieces are backed with foam about 5mm thick rather than thin cardboard. The edges of each piece are cut in a regular square-tooth pattern, so the pieces can be pushed together on the flat or at right angles, or indeed any angle if you don’t mind the sides of the teeth showing. Further three-dimensional detail is suggested by shading or perspective, as in a normal picture.
The resulting model was however very flimsy, despite the addition of a cardboard stiffener. It immediately occurred to me that a Meccano model would be a lot better.
My model is motorised and the paddle wheels turn at a realistic speed. I included a staircase to the upper deck (there’s probably a correct nautical term for this) as the jigsaw had one, and I’ve tried to make the funnels look as if they could connect to the boilers, rather than just springing from above an open deck.
One problem I still have to solve is making the model look as if it is in the water. It can’t be a waterline model because of the paddle wheels. At the moment it is perched on two part 52 flanged plates (could I enter it for the Secretary’s Challenge later this year?) and that makes it rather obvious the lower saloon doesn’t have a floor.