Left: My cruise ship also built of cardboard, The Ecstasy

 In the summer of 2003, I chose to build a model of the ill-fated C.S.L. canaller "Kamloops". I had heard about the ship in a P.B.S. program back in the mid-80s, and had always been intrigued by her and how little I knew of her.

She seemed to have a lot in common with the Edmund Fitzgerald, but everyone knows all about the Fitz. No one seems to care about the Kamloops. So, I obsessed over her. Scraping together what few images and stories I could find online. I didn't even know about the Daniel Lenihan book.

On July 4, 2003, the Kamloops made her maiden voyage. She is a full 4 feet long and is actually made of CARDBOARD. Don't worry, though. The cardboard is encased in fiberglass resin and is quite waterproof (from the outside).
 

Originally, she was very poorly detailed. I didn't have my videotape of the wreck yet, nor Lenihan's book. Therefore, she was re-modelled recently, to be more detailed, and more acurate. These pics are of the NEW Kamloops, as she appears today.

Interestingly, she is only a 1-channel boat. She cannot control throttle.
She is simply motorized with a servo controlling the rudder. This is ok,
because she only opperates on civic park or golf course lakes. There is
never a need to stop or reverse. I just beach her at the end and fish her
out.

Originally, because I didn't understand how to hook up radios and stuff (I
had a major phobia of electronics), I actually (are you ready for this?)
bought an assembled R/C boat pool toy and GRAFTED it to her flatbottom hull!
I sealed it with epoxy and drove the toy boat with a 4-foot model on its back!

Then this year, following her major detail refit, I discovered that the toy boat DIDN'T WORK ANYMORE! Could I just throw the whole boat away? Of course not, so I re-engined her as I built my 55-inch S.S. America model. A radio-shack motor, geared to a switch and 4 AA batteries.

Then I simply put a radio in and hooked it up to a servo and the new rudder. Now she runs and looks better than ever.

In one of these pictures, you can see how I christened her before the maiden (rebuilt) voyage. I used one of those champaign-shaped bubble-blowers and spilled it's contents all over her port forward nameplate.

She is much better built in her current form and I am proud of her. I hope everyone can enjoy to see her online- especially if you have had the chance to dive on the real ship!