The African Queen

The boat from the 1951 film of the same name. Katherine Hepburn is a British Missionary in German East Africa caught up in WWI.  Humphrey Bogart captains a small steamboat that keeps their camp supplied. After Katherine's brother is killed they come up with a plan to use the boat as a weapon…

At 100% the boat prints out at 7 inches (17.78cm) long. It has built in stands. I have printed it here to show it can be printed but eventually I will be printing it at 200%. (check your printer fit) This model can be adapted to any skill level. You can simply print it. Clean it up a bit and do some basic painting or, you could spend hours giving it a distressed, weathered  paint job and adding custom details. The “complete” STL is for reference only. Here are recommendations for printing the parts…

Print the hull at 45°, nose down. Use 0.16 or finer layers. Use organic supports at whatever setting works best for you.

I managed to break the rudder off as I removed the supports. Since this was a prototype I glued it back on rather than reprint it. To avoid this use more care than I did when removing the supports and, don't use super cheep PLA as I did.

There are some very tiny details. They will print out. With little careful cleanup and some silver paint these details will be acceptable for the scale. Alternatively, do as I intend and print larger!

The mast has been made stronger than the original. Print at 45° and 0.20 layers. If you print the layers too fine or you print with the layer lines horizontal the part will be very weak and break when you try to get the supports off. (I know. I broke it 3 of them before I angled it!)

The original prop is unprintable so I made a new one. At 100% it's small enough that you can slice it wrong and make it unprintable. Print it flat. Use organic supports. Use the finest layer size that your printer will squirt out. Examine your G Code carefully and look for defects. I used a blue and gold silk PLA that gives it a tarnished brass look.

The tiller can be simply printed upright with a brim.

Not much to think about with the canopy. Just have good support settings and take care when separating.

Basic paint recommendations… Dark red bottom until just above the waterline. White for the rest of the hull. The deck is brown (natural wood). a quick search with your favorite search engine will turn up lots of pictures that suggest distress and weathering.

Below are photos of my prototype. I will apply more modeling effort when i print it greater than 100%.

Designed new prop as original was not printable. Strengthened mast as original was very weak.