On my prior Ann Arbor car ferry page showing the completed Arthur K. Atkinson model, there were no close-up shots of the model in part because of its size and in part due to minor imperfections and shipping damages that occurred while the model was in transit. In the meantime, until those issues are addressed, the modeling information is decent, and the boat is a reasonable stand-in for display purposes.   

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However, my ultimate goal is for flawless operation, and I have a clean slate with the parts and construction for my Ann Arbor #6 car ferry, which will also involve custom-building the ferry docks and aprons for my N Scale upper deck Elberta and lower deck Manistique/Kewaunee facilities.

 

As the dock/apron-boat interface is the most critical element to ensure smooth operations, and as the biggest issue with the Arthur K. Atkinson model was that the boat deck tracks became dislodged during transit, I'll be starting my car ferry construction project by building two new car decks from which I can build the rest of the Ann Arbor #6 from parts and then remove and retrofit my Arthur K. Atkinson superstructure.

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I find it quite ironic that I'll be doing these just like the prototype! I commissioned a full ship that was retrofitted in 1958-59 in hopes of using it first and got parts for one built from parts in 1917 to build second... yet due to UPS damages, I'll be building the parts ship first and then having to retrofit the original complete model!

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Progress will be tracked and recorded on this page and appended below accordingly. Stay tuned!!!!