Started on a 1m catamaran on the weekend as another design as you go project. It will be modelled roughly on the 18' Ron Given (NZ) designed 'Hustler MK2' 'A class' catamaran I restored in 1979, (pics) and so far it's progressing ok. Hull is from three 25mm strips of polystyrene laminated using foam safe contact spray. Laid the 2 blanks on a flat board with 2 4" nails through each to stop them moving, and weighted them down for a day to set. While waiting, I cut the decks from 5mm ply and shaped the bow sections. When the blanks were dry, I glued the decks on with lots of PVA glue, (which sticks foam well to wood,) and weighted them down with clamps sideways to stop them from moving. Left them for 2 days to set in my warm shed then gave the bows a rough shaping. Next was the fun part, shaping the hulls using a Surform file which creates a major mess with lots of vacuuming needed. The beauty of it is, is that the basic hulls were shaped and tapered (bow to stern) in about an hour. The laminating seams are used as a guide when shaping, plus eyeballing and straightedges. Today, while the deck sides were still parallel, I set the hulls up in the work table and routed out preliminary spaces through the deck for winch, rudder servo and radio. Tomorrow, I'll hopefully be routering a side taper to the decks, (hulls will taper bow to stern on bottom and sides) The hulls will then have to be refiled to the new shape. Shaping is done 90% with the Surform, then longboard sanded and hand sanded to the final shape, later to be completely sealed and glassed. Crossbeams are 12mm ally tube with orange conduit bored to a tight fit and epoxied to the ends, then steel saddles epoxied over them. The whole tube/saddle assemblies will also be drilled and screwed together to prevent any tendency to turn. Center beam will probably be a double like the 100% cat, (yet to be worked out). Would be nice if they could be made like the originals, but welding thin ally tube might not be feasible. JB

Fancied a different challenge so picked this up a little while ago. Now that the Calypso is complete and I have space again, just started this build. As you can see from the box it measures in at 51cm or just under 2 foot in old money . This will be a first as I've never built a submarine, I have some tiny motors which I will try to fit, these have come off my old steampunk which in principle worked but not as I'd wanted so these if they fit will be repurposed. Also a mini esc which should fit. Not sure about servo for the rudder due to space, but hey ho, this is a bit of an experiment for me. At the end of the day if this doesn't work, I get to practice not only with the mechanics but also with my newly acquired airbrush. So far, the 2 halves of the hull have been joined and the "cowlings/covers for the prop shafts. Any cracks have been filled and sanded, next check to make sure all is watertight and then I'll look at installing the motors etc. Fun times ahead

Hi y’all. Since I’ve maidened the Pilot, I found myself with an empty workbench. I really like to build, as my building time seems to help me focus on other things in my life, family, work, etc. Calms my mind, I think…so I decided to build something a little smaller. I had a Dumas ST74 kit that I received Christmas 2 years ago, so I decided that would be my next build. It looks relatively simple, but that can be deceiving… So, the ST74 is typical of the newer Dumas kits. Nicely laser cut wood, expanded PVC sheet, styrene hull and molded parts, some fittings, strip and wire. You also get a full size plan view, written instructions and a booklet of illustrated building steps. The hull is a 2 piece affair, and both halves matched up well. First thing one does is to build the simple stand, built up of what looks like 3-4 mm expanded PVC die cut parts. You could use this as a permanent stand, but I’ll build something better once the boat nears completion, as it’s really designed to be just a cradle to build on. Like my Whitehall I built a few years ago, the hull is constructed from 2 halves, glued together and the joint reinforced with fiberglass tape flooded with thin CA. Thankfully this hull is a little thicker material than the Whitehall. Then it’s a relatively simple task to install the stuffing tube, rudder tube, deck and a 3/16th keel which covers the hull joint from the knuckle of the aft hull forward and up the bow. Now, this boat is supplied with a nicely made 1/8 inch diameter shaft and matching stuffing tube, but since I have quite a few 4mm props, I elected to set the tug up with a 4mm shaft and tube. I had a very long Caldercraft Fineline unit that I cut down, and used the cut ends bushing to mate with the tube. Once I had it freed, I pressed it in place and used the shaft to finalize alignment the soldered it to make sure it wouldn’t work loose. Now, this boat is designed for a 400 size motor and 4.8 volts for power. That is not how mine will be powered. I’m using the same Zippkits 36mm 650KV motor that I’ve used in boats from my Taucher Wulf down to my little Kragle. My reasoning is that this motor is deigned for tugs using 6-7.4 volts, and the tugs gonna need ballast anyway. Also, I’m not using the little white nylon prop that Dumas has been using in their smaller kits for years, as I’m running a slightly bigger 3 blade Graupner prop. Now, changing motors from design necessitated a different mount. I usually do a bulkhead style mount, and screw the motor in place thru th pe bulkhead, but this time I used the supplied cross mount. I had to Dremel off one of the legs so it would clear the hull bottom, then screwed it to the motor, and used socket headed sheet metal screws to attach the assembly to the mount. This gives me more room to make removing the motor a little easier. That’s where im at now. I also built up the rudder using 1/16 ply vs the 1mm styrene in the kit. Next up is the front bumper and rub rails, then I can start on the deck coming and bulwark rails. Cash

One of my first attempts at building from scratch, although my rc "expertise " was very limited and I couldn't get it to work properly, so shelved for the duration. Now brought back to "life " as the need for a "rescue craft" /on the odd occasion when at the lake on my own-I always take a spare vessel and tx with me, but nosing a striken boat back to shore with a "pointy bow " is difficult . So stripped out the rudder, realigned the prop tube as that wasn't central and replaced the water cooled motor which was ineffectual with a brushed motor, possibly a 340 from the spares box . Hopefully I can finish off this weekend and give it a test run

I haven’t done anything on my builds since before last Christmas for various reasons but am looking forward to starting again in the next couple of weeks. I’ve been working on a number of builds for some years and not finished one yet! Main reason is that I reach a certain point, maybe something I’m hesitant about, and so start another! Which is the reason I’ve got five on the go. I’m building all the classic Faireys; Huntsman 28, Huntsman 31 and Swordsman 33 and a rarer Huntress 23 with a stern drive and longer cabin. Also a River Cruiser 23 (the one and only full-size build was a prototype was based on a modified Huntress hull but with more freeboard which disappeared) and I have the plans drawn up to start a Fisherman 27 motor sailer and a Faun 17 river/lake cruiser. All builds are at a scale of 1:12. The River Cruiser and Huntress are further on as they have had lake trials with the others being at the painting stage which I will be taking up again soon. I use a Hitec Flash 8 Tx and Rx’s and Hitec servos with Overlander brushless motors (even in my slower models) and HobbyWing Quicrun and Seaking ESC’s along with LiPo batteries though will probably use NiMh in the Fisherman and Faun.

Regretably I have decided to part company with Kathryn. The boat that is, not my wife. I am looking to dispose of the larger, less manageable boats from my collection to make life a little easier for me. The Sea Queen has gone to a new home in Southport, and now the Thames Bawley to a member of Kirklees Model Boat Club. The new owner has exciting new plans for her so I will be keeping a watch on developments. It is quite sad to part company with a model that I have spent so many hours in making and sailing but comforting that she is now in good hands.

My first attempt at using plastic kit. First problem is how to mark up where to cut/trim hull and deck Second problem is how to lay out hull with motor, rudder servo, Esc, Rx, battery etc Any help would be gratefully Rx. Paul.

Picked up a nicely laid up glass hull of the Smit NEDERLAND. Spoiler alert; it won’t be the NEDERLAND.

Forgot I had the Optimist to re-do so I'll do a short blog on what I'm doing. I had already re-fitted the stays with solid stainless fishing trace as the original wound wire stays had frayed and had nasty sticky out bits. I had also re-joined the cabin roof which I had cut behind the mast for R/C and battery access (once assembled the model had no access to the interior and involved removing all the stays sheets and mast to get at anything,- about 10 mins work!) Now with long lasting LiPos there will be no need to remove the top for the whole day. I have two 'El Cheapo' winches to fit,- one for the jib and one for the main. Not sure how long they will last as they won't even center properly and sit there and hum most of the time. The alternative is a very expensive modern winch, around $600 or maybe a winch servo arm type, (still quite expensive). I have ripped the rudder and shaft out as it had completely seized up over the last 40 years and was spinning in the hull, (having broken the epoxy) I've made a new shaft and bushes to go back in, and will be adding a lower (skeg) and upper (deck) bush as the original had none and just sat in a hole in the ABS skeg, and the shaft tube was just held by 2 ply wedges to the inside of the hull. I am strengthening all this up, and the top bush will now support the shaft where it comes through the deck to stop any flex in the ABS. It was a very nicely made model in its day but ABS was the wrong material to make it out of, considering the weight of the keel required. If you pick the model up on its side, the hull flexes, so I might glass the inside for a bit more strength as it's getting old and probably a bit brittle in that area, (as long as polyester resin won't distort the hull) The rudder shaft goes through the deck, through the shaft tube and into a brass tube which is epoxied into the rudder blade, and through to the bottom bush of the skeg. The shaft and blade tube are drilled through before the blade tube is epoxied in place. Shaft and rudder blade are then assembled as one unit into the hull ( shaft going through everything) with all the bushes epoxied in at the same time to line them up The shaft and blade are then pinned in place through the pre drilled holes. This time I'll fill everything with grease to hopefully stop it seizing again. Might use a small stainless split pin to lock the blade and shaft as it might be easier to remove. This design also was not a brilliant way of doing the rudder, and prone to corrosion inside the blade tube. I have also re modeled my modelling room as a complete area, (was getting sick of working between rooms. Have put both 6ft tables in so now have more 'bench space'. Now to get rid of some planes!

Good evening everyone, Here is my final summary for the creation of my Dutch crewman. Once again I will post the starting photo from the web that I will base my crewman on, as a reference to save looking back at part 1 for a reminder. Photo 1. Having got the figure to a good scale height of 120mm, I now decided to pose him in a sitting position to keep his centre of gravity low. I would have preferred him to be standing at the tiller, but there is not enough head room under the working main boom on this particular model. I have found with this type of play figures that the joints do not have full natural movements for some poses. This was the case with the limited hip movement, so using my mini grinder with drill bit attached, removed some of the plastic to enable a 90 deg hip bend. Photo 2,3,4. This completed the desired sitting pose position photo 5. The next task was to remove the wrist cuffs and convert into a tight fitting cuff around the wrist. I had not at this stage glued the various body parts up as it is easier to do these modifications while apart. Photo 6. I then at this stage supa glued all the joints together in my final required pose, when set I trimmed the joints with a sharp craft knife to remove the excess plastic and round off the joints into a more human form. Photo 7,8. When happy with the shape I filled all the joints with modelling putty. Photo 9. When dry I sanded the figure smooth, and made a small barrel for him to sit on. Photo 10, 11. Next I made out of card the waist coat and collar, a bit of trial and error before it was right. Photo 12, 13. The large baggy over trousers were the next task, for these I used modelling tissue, as in aeroplane wing covering. This is strong enough not to tear when spread with PVA glue. A couple of small squares were coated and wrapped around each leg then gathered at the waist and ankles. Using this tissue leaves nice folds and realistic creases, then left overnight to dry. In the meantime I cut the figures boots off and using modelling putty shaped a pair off clogs. also worked a neckachief into the V of the waist coat collar, photo 15,16. After a dry run to check the pose one last time, I dismantled the components and gave them a couple of coats of paint. Photo 16. When all was dry the Dutch man was glued together in his final sitting pose with his left hand resting on his left knee, his head slightly turned to one side, as he relaxed while smoking his now fitted in his right hand a new meerschaum pipe with smoky wisps emanating from the bowl top. Photo 17,18,19. Then finally I bonded the crewman and barrel using double sided tape to the deck of Karoline. Photo 20,21.

This model was part of the yard sale find .There was a lot of parts missing but kit box had diagrams & missing parts still had cut out's so I could trace & cut parts needed.

Good evening, with all of my vessels I have crewed them with figures. I always think a boat looks strange without a crew showing, this is only my personal thought for my boats and I get as much pleasure from making the larger scale figures to suit the boat in person. It was with these thoughts that I decided to have a go at a crewman for the Karoline. I first did a search for photos of period Dutch fishermen, which produced the 1st photo shown below. The guy on the right was the one I was to use for apparel ideas. The figure I used for the base is as before from the children’s Doctor Who series of play figures that I have acquired over the last few years for just this purpose. Photos 2-3 are the starting figure. I started by making his hat from light card, side, top and peak, photos 4-11.next the coat was removed, photo 12. Next an amount of mathematics to correct the figures height. The boat is 1/15th scale which equates to a 6 ft man ( 1828 mm) being 122 mm figure at this scale. The figure is 140mm so he needs trimming down. I have found in the past that the figures have longer legs and torsos for some reason, and find can be cut down and still look in proportion, also the neck can be trimmed too. photos 13-14-15. I cut the figure in pieces as shown and tidied up the new joints until happy with the overall size.