Wind farms in early stages in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Seemed appropriate to make a guess about work vessels they might use.Blount Boatyard in Warren, Rhode Island has contracted with Vineyard Wind for construction of two CTVs. Not sure that one will be of what I am building but pressing ahead anyway. First photo is of the vessel I am generally constructing. It is a cat while mine is a blunt bowed workboat. Otherwise I will use it for overall reference using Blount’s GA drawing.

I was going to put this on the project shelf and look at it later in the year, but it has proven difficult not to pick it up, plot and scheme so it looks like this one will join the Eventide and Crash Tender on the bench. I found this advertised on a Facebook group for sale as a project and liked the look of it and thought the waterjet might be something different to play with. Also there is a bit of a family connection as my father served in RAF Gan where the sister ship 2748 was based, so at one point was thinking this one would be model of 2748 in the white tropical paint scheme. The hull has been built well, and most of the superstructure is complete, there’s a box full of bits and pieces so I think everything is there to finish the boat, if not I have now have a load of timber in stock left over from other projects. Turns out that the original RTTL 2748 has been restored, though currently has no interior and is about 4 miles away from me. She was also based at RAF Mount Batten (not far from where is is currently in Plymouth) in the 1950s, so a both local and family connection As the Kitshack 28" RTTL was very similar, if not identical to the Veron kit so I made contact with Phil Smith's son who has the archive of the Phil Smith designs including the boats he produced for Veron. I now have the full set of plans, templates and build instructions. So, the plan is to now build the model to be 2748 from the mid 1950s before the addition of the centre roof, as she would have been when towing targets from Plymouth. Many thanks to those responding to my thread on the forum about the boat, particularly to RichardH and dave976 for letting me have lots of information on RTTLs. Having spent the last few days immersed in the research phase I can't wait to get started. The first job has to be to remove the waterjet and make good the hull so I can fit the propshaft, rudder and keel.

Threw a dart at a bunch of free plans and came up with this one (old MM plan) No matter what I chose, I would always see something else and wish I'd built that instead, but this has possibilities for a few improvements to the hull and a bit of room for extra 'stuff'. I had it printed originally to A-O size, but it came out a tad large, so I scaled it back to 33" x 10" which should make a good sized model. If I'd gone with the original print size (48") it would have required a weed-eater motor, my own forest, and a trailer. At 33" it will suit 3ft balsa sheets. Went up to the print place and got it done yesterday, came home and did the bulkhead tracings, then transferred those to some 4mm light ply and cut them roughly to size. Later today I might give them a haircut to the final shape with my small bandsaw. Next job will be to find some spruce for the framing, which could be a challenge, as the main (almost only) model shop in Auckland, is a bit light on for most modelling wood at present. I'll build it my usual way, - upside down with a central square hardwood spine screwed to the board, with the tops of the bulkheads notched to fit over it and all blocked in place. Once planked and glassed, the spine can be cut out in the required areas. This model could take a while, as I have a dozen other jobs which need doing.

Time for a new scratch built boat. A couple of years ago I built 'Scullduggery' a scratch built rowing boat manned by Bionic Bill and Ben. https://model-boats.com/blogs/68795 Scullduggery is always well received when Bill and Ben are out rowing on the lake, so I've decided to have a go at building something similar, this time a kayak. After a bit of research, I came across a book by Nick Schade which describes in great detail how to build a full sized wooden strip kayak. There are several instructional videos by Nick on YouTube. There is also a company in Cumbria (https://www.fyneboatkits.co.uk/ ) who offer kits to build full sized kayaks based on the designs in the book. The photo of the full sized kayak is from their website. The book includes tables of offsets for three different kayak designs. Using these offsets it is possible to draw up a set of plans. Entering all the figures from these offset tables into a spreadsheet makes it relatively easy to change the scale of the plans, but what scale to use? The scale for Scullduggery was determined by the scale of the readily available Action man figures used for the crew i.e. 1/6th scale. Why not use the same scale for the kayak? One concern is the load carrying capacity of the model kayak as well as it's stability on the water. The full sized kayak has a maximum loaded all up weight specification of 160kgs. This equates to only 740g for a 1/6th scale model. Not very much for the complete model including the paddler and radio gear, servos, battery, etc. Using a larger scale of 1/5th for the model improves the all up weight target to 1.28kg which may be more achievable. At 1/5th scale, the completed model will be 39" (986mm) long with a beam of 4.8" (120mm). Using a 1/6th scale figure as the paddler should not look out of place. As I did with the rowing boat, before starting construction of the hull, I want to be confident that I can build a mechanism that will drive the kayak, provide realistic looking paddle movement, fit inside the hull, and not weigh too much. So that is the next step.

Hi y’all. I’ve been wanting a smallish WWII ship for some time. I wanted a Whitehall, but they went out of production and all of a sudden a kit that ranged in price from 95-120 dollars were being priced at over 500 dollars!! Now, I know there are some Graupner, Robbe, Sterling and Midwest kits that go for good money, but this is a bit extreme. Anyway, one came up for bid on EBay for 100 dollars, and I won the auction at a very little over that. I had sold my Paula to have some “boat funds”, so it was perfect timing. The Whitehall is a PCE, Patrol Craft Escort. At 1/96 scale it’s still small, around 23 inches long with a beam of 4 inches. This is the first kit I’ve built where the hull is in 2 longitudinal halves….anyway, let’s get started!! The first thing the builder does is to build a temporary stand, which is provided in the kit. It’s made of expanded pvc. Then you get to assemble the hull. This is not abs, but a form of styrene, but not stiff like a static model. You basically get the 2 halves lined up then use thin ca and glass tape to reinforce the joint. There was extra tape in the kit so I reinforced the bow and stern areas as well. It took a little fiddling to get the hull to line up. You then add the 2 bulkheads and fwd deck. The kit, in usual Dumas fashion, does not come with running gear. I sourced a Caldercraft 4mm fineline shaft and tube from my stock, an old Graupner rudder and a Robbe steering arm. Ca works best on this plastic, epoxy’s ok, Stabilit Express seems to work well, but you have to scuff the mating parts in any case. Anyway, once the stuffing box is lined up and then ca’d in place, you then build up the skeg out of plastic, then fill and sand. Once I was done I caoated the inside joint of the tube and rudder tube with Stabilit. Now, this boat is designed to use the Dumas 4.8 volt motor, basically a Speed 300, and a 4.8 volt pack…..nope. On the Dumas website this motor is rated at 4.8-6 volts, with 7200 rpm being it’s upper limit. Now, the question is, it’s that rpm measured at 4.8 or 6 volts? I emailed Dumas with that query and got an answer same day..measured at 6 volts. That gives the motor an effective kv of 1200 rpm per volt, roughly 5600 rpm on a 4.8 volt pack. I was going to use a geared Speed 400 but the gearbox is offset, putting the motor higher in the hull than I liked. So…I went with my latest fave, the Zippkits 650kv 36mm outrunner, and a 2 cell lipo. Fully charged I’ll be down maybe 300 rpm, and the boat needs ballast anyway, so the weight of the motor is negligible. I’ll have decent speed, and that motor will never, ever get hot. I use that motor in my Taucher, and it comes back a touch over ambient, so we’re good. The back deck, as well as the mid deck are supposed to be removable. I don’t like that many big holes in my boat. I decided to mount my rudder servo just aft and to the side of the motor, instead of aft of the rear bulkhead. I then cut a hatch in the aft deck for rudder linkage access, and glued the aft deck in place. The superstructure is built up of balsa, expanded pvc and styrene. Nothing new here, but as the boats so small it can get fiddly, but I got it done. I have the rub and spray rails to install, and then the hull is ready for paint. The superstructure is built in 3 levels, then assembled and painted. Then it’s off to guns, gun directors, hatches, rails…and the fittings for this kit are no longer available. Some of the NTWS club members are offering to print what I need, I’ll just have to source and scratch the rest. Anyway, that’s it for tonight,, Cash

Started the build of this boat in April 2021. Followed the instructions implicitly until now but realised that fitting the optional motorising kit I needed to deviate! Dry running the fitting of the motors, gear boxes, rudders and rudder linkages were very difficult even before any planking. I've therefore decided to blog my deviation from the instructions since they indicate fitting these components on completion. I think otherwise this would be near impossible so I'm going to blog my method and hope it works! Hopefully it might be useful for anyone else building this Amati kit. I've just installed the motors and prop shafts as I needed to use the space where the planking would be fitted in order to get them into place! I've wrapped the motors and gear boxes in a plastic bags to protect them until the boat is finished. I will complete the bottom planking and then fit the rudders as again access once planking is complete will make the job almost impossible. The clamps are holding strengthening pieces in place in order to hold the props in correct alignment. This again is a modification plus I've filed out the wood close to where the outer motor terminals are located. Otherwise attaching the wires to the motors would again be difficult.I plan to cover the bottom of the hull with the mahogany planks so I can attach the rudders and linkages before planking the sides.

Hi everyone... I will be getting this Graupner Commodore soon. I will be doing a complete restoration on her. I will strip her hull and repaint it. Redo running gear with twin rudders. Add led lighting, wood railings etc. Stay tuned. Photos are from the seller.

After sitting on the shelf for about a year I decided to start my build of the E.F.S. Surveyor kit by Deans Marine. She is a 1/20 scale representation of a fisheries research vessel, measuring 780mm in length with a beam of 250mm, she's wide and should be pretty stable on the water. First step was to trim the hull and apply a layer of Bondo putty to smooth out the fibreglass that will be above the deck. Next the twin stuffing tubes needed to be carefully aligned and again Bondo, the a layer of fibreglass on top for added strength. Once all that was satisfactory I cut out the freeing ports, then installed the deck supports and motor mounts. Then it was time to install the rudder shafts and I ran into my fist problem, the brass tubes for the rudders supplied were the wrong size, about .04” to big, fortunately I had some scrap tube that was a perfect snug fit. With a bit of grease I should be able to keep the water out, next I noted that the kit did not include a way to support the tubes but did indicate I could solder a scale a brass to the tube and epoxy it to the hull. I elected to cut up blocks of wood to insert the tubes through and epoxy them in place, before carefully drilling my holes for the tubes. After this was completed I installed the two skegs adding an extra sheet of plastic to make them each three sheets about 5mm wide and again used Bondo to take up the gapes created by a badly designed cutouts. Last I installed the bow thruster and bondo and sanded it all smooth. After a quick leak check in the tub I will fibreglass the hull along ware the skeg pins are located and cove the interior part of the bow thruster in marine sealant. That is it for this week, cheers

Hi All, Looking for plans and Line drawings for a "Cigarette" hull. Hopefully someone on here can point me in the right direction

Hello All. I am not a fan at all of ARTR models,as they are far too pristine and clinical but the opportunity on this one was too good to be true. One of the Grandsons visited Belfast on the Thames recently and was so impressed that I just had to do this for him. I have been able to purchase for literally a song in comparison to the new retail price HMS Belfast. The model has only been sailed by the previous owner on two occasions,but has already sustained some minor damage. My plan is to personalise her in the following way. All main armament to rotate. Fitting of smoke effect. Main crane to rotate. Rotating main Radar. Fitting of suitable lighting. I will then undertake a subtle but effective weathering plan. I have already purchased four appropriate handmade brass M3 propellers (sliding fit with grubscrew as opposed threaded) to replace the original plastic props as fitted. I attach a few pictures,but until I am well enough to get back into the boat shed I will not be able to make much progress. Take care all and happy boating. Regards Bill.

Readers of my HSwMS Visby blog will be aware the model is complete and operating well. Was quite happy spending last Summer just sailing models; that was until JBKIWI wrote a forum entry introducing the Swedish CB90 class of waterjet propelled fast assault class! Sparked my imagination. After some research, found the base hull has been developed into a number of forms, including attractive “Interceptor” and VIP vessels. The hull is of a hard chine style and should not present any unusual challenges. The waterjets are not the same as the Visby, in that the reverse/steering function is different. From experience with the Visby, consider a reverse capability essential. Decided to use the same base 20mm waterjet units as the Visby. They power a hull in the 30 – 40” O/L range nicely. My preferred size. They also work well and do not leak. Problems friends have encountered with other units. This offered two approaches, one use “modellers license” and fit the same bucket style units as on the Visby. The other was to use the base waterjet unit, but make up the correct Kamewa “clamshell” style reverse /steering units. These were not available through the jet supplier.

Evening all. I’ve not been active for a while due to one thing and another, recently I’ve decided to do a retake in the sarik hobbies (bold pursuer) torpedo boat as the previous one I did I wasn’t happy with the overall finish. So far Im happy with the progress this time around. Loads still to do. Thanks for reading Skippy (Jordan)