The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob Preface. At the time of writing, I’ve had the construction of this boat on ‘the back burner’ since July 2022. By then I had spent about two months on and off constructing the boat to a stage where I could consider applying a glassfibre cloth and epoxy finish to the hull. However I couldn’t spend any more time on the Marlin project as I had a more important project to undertake, which was to paint, decorate, refurbish and prepare our house for sale so that we could downsize and move to a new area now that our kids had all fled the nest. Fast forward to today (mid-April 2025) and it’s taken a while to get the new house and gardens into shape and settle in, with the emphasis on converting my internal garage into a great new workshop, I can finally pick up from where I left off. Introduction to the kit. This new model is the latest undertaking by Vintage Model Works, now famous for their very popular models of the RAF Crash Rescue Tender and Thames River Police Boat kits which are based on old Aerokits and Veron designs. The Marlin is a re-working of an original Veron design by the late Phil Smith in 1953. His son Colin Smith, who was also responsible for the re-design of the Thames River Police Boat, has made some changes to his father’s design to take advantage of more modern materials and production methods such as CNC and laser cutting. The photograph below is of a prototype built by Colin Smith to give you an idea of how the boat looks in finished form. And there is also a review of the Marlin that appeared in Model Maker magazine, November 1953. The size remains at 36” and it employs the same construction method as the original. The spacious cabins of the boat makes it very easy to accommodate all the latest control hardware required, not that the original was lacking in that area even when the radio systems used valves and large batteries and the propulsion was usually IC or a large electric motor. Even the pre-production sample the Vintage Model Works kit supplied to me is well presented with a full size drawing including a pictorial construction sequence and separate pages of building instructions. All the required materials are supplied in quality ply, balsa, strip-wood and dowel including clear plastic sheets for the windscreens, and various white metal deck fittings. The builder is of course required to supply their own adhesives and paint of choice, as well as the propulsion, drive train and radio control gear. In the latter respect I will likely restrict control to throttle and rudder and not add any lighting or other features. That has already been done magnificently by Mike Turpin. Construction. As with the Thames river police boat, another Veron design, construction starts with the assembly of a box structure onto which formers and bulkheads are attached to make the basic hull shape. I will be tackling this in the first part of my build blog which I hope you will enjoy following and I encourage you to ask questions, leave comments and hopefully some ‘likes’ as I make progress. Robbob.

Well my friends, I've gone and done it again. Through some dumb luck I stumbled upon a reasonably priced discontinued bucket-list kit that I've always had my eyes on and took the plunge. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while! The Dumas Brooklyn Tug was one of their best kits and much to my surprise it came with a very strong set of directions...unusual for Dumas in my humble opinion. Be that as it may, it's a large (40 inches) and quite a beautiful kit. The version I was lucky enough to find was the final version before Dumas dropped it. The first version (I understand) from way back in the day was meant to be a plank- on-frame build. But it seems Dumas felt it would not sell well, not to mention the wood production problems it would incur. So they engineered a fiberglass hull that became highly prized to builders. My version is the last version with a PVC hull. The hull is nice, but the two hull molds come with a ton of excess PVC and feel like wobbly bathtub parts coming out of the box. Very worrisome to start, as cutting the mold flanges away was not a simple task, no to mention Bondo and a ton of sanding...yes, with mask on and vacuum at the ready. Next came a heavy inner fiberglass keel inlay, an addition PVC skeg support. Then an outer long false keel is installed with the stuffing box installation...more Bondo and sanding. Uggh. Worrisome or not, the instructions have a tongue-and-cheek feel about them as the writer and engineers slip in comments like "no need to worry" and "now don't panic!" Sheesh!!!! So, after a couple of days of bitching and worry I managed to get the two halves joined and on the stand. The next issue is the PVC deck with the basswood supports. The joining of these two deck halves was not the "issue," but the total lack of wood decking aggravated me. I want a more scale appearance, so I have to have a planked deck! As a result of my own needs I lowered the deck supports 1/8th of an inch to accommodate my planking. I did a scale deck test shot to get an idea of what I'm after. Believe or not, the PVC hull will not be fully "true" until you squeeze the deck halves with the bass cross-members into it. I know, it's weird. So I will trace the deck shape onto paper and do my planking as a side project to begin this weekend. Call me crazy, but my instinct is pushing me in that direction. I am going to give it a go. My wife, Mary is like, "Where are you going to put that one?" "In the water!" I shoot back, "then on the mantle, because it's going to be a like museum scale!" Don't you get it?" I think she's glad I have this hobby...it keeps me from pestering her for other things. Onwards and upwards and more to follow. Best -- Guy

I decided to start this following a suggestion from one of you on this website, that the smaller Lesro designs such as the Sea Urchin, Sea Nymph and Fast Patrol Boat would perhaps be able to be sailed relatively safely on my backyard pond with reduced power settings. As I have most of the plans for these designs, it stood to reason that my severe building addiction could be somewhat satisfied in the background whist trying to solve arising issues on another much larger build I had already embarked on but which had stalled for the time being (namely Vivacity). So here goes with just a few pics to set the ball rolling; 1) 20FEB2026 - measuring and transferring shape of parts onto paper templates and balsa - I decided to use balsa for most of the frame as I had plenty, and I find it much easier to work with on smaller boats. And the model was for modest electric power, not small diesel, so it should be plenty strong enough if the outer hull is covered with tissue, as on the Knocker White Tug model completed earlier. 2)&3) Keel and bulkhead parts cut from 3/16" balsa. Keel doublers glued on first side using exterior grade PVA, all excess 'splurge' immediately wiped away using damp rag - I cannot stress enough the importance of this, as it really minimises/eases the 'fettling' required to fit bulkhead/other parts as the build progresses. 4)Keel assembly turned over and propshaft 'slot' cut away/filed. 5)Remaining keel doublers glued with PVA, as well as 5 minute epoxy around prop shaft/keel/doubler sandwich. 6)Bulkhead shapes reinforced with scrap 1/16" balsa crossgrain at edges where slots are to be cut, creating a sort of 'liteply'. 7)Keel assembly completed with proptube reinforcement and bow doublers glued. Bulkhead slots for cabin sides/keel cut. 8)Fettling and test fitting bulkheads to keel - and a celebratory glass of Henkell Trocken to mark the progress to date - 01MAR2026. More to come once I've done this weekend's property jobs! Best regards to all reading, Nick

A good hello to all members. Now that I finished The Fireboat, I would like to add to the forum my favorite build, one you are all familiar with.Hello fellow members. The Juanita Stern Wheeler. This an amazing, high end kit that that when finished will be 40" LOA & should weigh under 10lbs ballasted. According to online sources the JUANITA was built in 1954 by O. F. Shearer & Sons at Cedar Grove, West Virginia. Another source on the internet says that the JUANITA has been "in operation since 1977." The present owner of the JUANITA is Tom Cook of Dunbar, West Virginia on the Kanawha River. I was lucky enough to be a part of the first clients that purchase the first run of this fantastic model and I got it for a very reasonable price. With that being said, I would like to show you guys a building log for this model but buy no means I will say that this is the best way to build the Juanita but this is how Im building it with my limited knowledge and the help of the instructions emailed to me by the designer. I also like to say that this kit does not have written instructions since this kit was produced in a rush job before kits had to be sent out; the only instructions is a PDF file containing drawings showing the main steps of building process, but the designer himself is very helpful in answering all of my emails about specific needed details in the build. So, lets get started. I will start by showing the real Juanita.

Hey gang! As you may already know I have the Bluebird K-7 on the shelf for final detailing, the C-2 cargo ship Matson "Pacific Trader" awaiting rigging, and 22 inches of snow on the ground. So I wanted a challenge and grabbed an ancient Dumas Pay n' Pak Hydroplane kit to keep myself from going nuts. This may or may have not been a mistake! And...you may already know that I've already labeled this build as my "3 day running knife fight" as a boat made of 100% warped plywood is not a walk in the park. Here are some pix starting from frame up to a primer. And yes, to fight this beauty from becoming a warped "banana boat" those are bricks and carpenter's clamps helping me keep her straight! The The bottom is glassed and the rest resin covered. The primer is meant to assist in showing all my mistakes and assist in final sanding prior to a finish coat. Tough build, but it does look like something out of "Star Wars!" More to follow.

LT100 My Way. With this build log there is a lot of ground to catch up on I have been building this model for more than 20 years. I do not profess to be an expert builder, nor that this is an exceptional model, especially considering that this is only my second scratch built model. However my intention is to build the best model I can (this is true most of the time). My first reasonable scratch build being a simple hard chine cabin cruiser. Most of the models I have built have been plastic kits. My intention with this project was to build a working model without many compromises, that is to say when out of the water you would not be able to tell it is a working model. I welcome constructive comment. I hope people enjoy the journey with me. Looking around for a scratch build project, something that wouldn’t take too long (ha-ha) or be too complex or too large, I found that I really liked the look of steam drifter trawlers. A wooden prototype being preferred as I could build a model hull out of wood then build a steam plant to power it; therefore the model would have some similarity to the original even if internally it wasn’t a replica. So the decision was made to build myself one, I started searching for suitable plans, this was in a time before the internet when things weren’t just a click away, therefore I relied on the couple of plans catalogues that I had in my possession. Plans were found in the MAP Plans catalogue, then this project got off to something of a false start in 1990 with the purchase of a set of plans drawn by R. A. Neville to a scale of 1/24, from the Plan Shop in New South Wales Australia these are for a typical Wooden Steam Drifter. I am not sure when these plans were first printed, however I have inherited a copy of Model Engineer published in September 1959 which is the first of 4 articles titled, How to build a Wooden Steam Drifter, written by R. A. Neville (I didn’t find this article until many years after starting work on this project!) I wasn’t quite happy with these plans, being more interested in building something that represented an actual vessel. So I sat on them for quite a while umming and arr-ing, thinking they are not quite what I wanted. Then to my amazement and elation, on the cover of Model Boats in April 1993 was a beautifully made model, that had been entered into Class C9 kit class at the 1993 Model Engineer Exhibition, of LT100 built by Robin Butler, winning a Silver medal, and guess what next month there were to be plans for this trawler, wow just what I wanted! Life got in the way of hobby as it usually does and it wasn’t until a few years later in 1996 that I purchased the plans drawn of Formidable LT 100 by James Pottinger to a scale of 1/33, along with the book From Tree to Sea by Ted Frost, this is a wonderful book about the construction of LT 100 drawing from Ted Frosts memories as an apprentice ship wright. The plans arrived, then I had them enlarged to what I thought was 1:24 scale, as mentioned earlier I intended to power the model by steam, I went off and measured the opening for the wheel house and I found I could comfortably fit the 3 ½in diameter boiler I was thinking of building through the opening. Having no experience with steam at all, I imagined that steam plants would require quite a bit of servicing, with this in mind I thought it was important to be able to remove the entire steam plant easily for routine maintenance. Next step was to get some plans for an engine. Probably in 1996, my dad and I went to Kilsyth (an outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia), where Live Steam Supplies of Victoria were, they specialised in miniature steam in all its aspects. Whilst there I purchased plans for a ½ in bore ½ in stroke, twin cylinder double acting oscillating steam engine designed by Basil Harley, published by Model Maker plans service. Probably first printed in July 1983, I have the August 1983 Model Boats with part two in a series of articles to build the engine and boiler along with a 42in long steam launch, once again I didn’t find this article until much later after purchasing the plans even though this was a magazine I had bought! I had already decided to make the centre flue boiler designed by Peter Arnot. Peter ran an excellent series of articles in Model Boats for a Vee 4 steam engine, boiler and associated equipment throughout the year of 1993, I intended to purchase some 3 ½in copper pipe as illustrated in the plan. Unfortunately Live Steam Supplies of Victoria didn’t have any 3 ½in copper pipe, turns out this isn’t a size commonly used in Australia, what to do, luckily I had bought along the trawler plans and after a few quick measurements were taken, a rash on the spot decision was made, (this would latter cause problems). I purchased two pieces of 4in diameter copper pipe that were cut to length, along with flat sheet copper for the end plates, smaller diameter tubing, a few packs of solder on nuts and tails along with other various items including a Cheddar ceramic gas burner. The steam engine and boiler were started along with the work boat, work proceeding roughly in parallel. Most people start with the hull, however I decided to start making the work boat first, my thinking being if I can make a small clinker built boat to the standard I wanted then the rest should be achievable, also I wouldn’t be in such a rush to finish what is really “just a fitting” for the project, therefore possibly doing a better job. After reading the clinker-built boat section of “PLANK-ON-FRAME MODELS and SCALE MASTING & RIGGING Volume 2” by Harold A Underhill a start could be made. I wanted to use Huon pine, for most of this little boat, this is a very slow growing timber unique to Tasmania in Australia, which was used to build real ships and boats from, due to its ability to not rot even when submerged, it also has a straight, fine grain and generally pale in colour. I made a start by spending a day at dad’s using his table saw to cut up some blocks of Huon pine into strips to make up a “kit” of material. This material I had bought back from Tasmania on my honeymoon, packed into our suitcases to my wife’s bewilderment. Then making a building board and formers from MDF (not the best material to use as the dust is very bad for you, I was unaware of this at the time). The keel was fabricated from several pieces of an unknown hard wood all pinned together with homemade bamboo pins, a Huon pine transom being pinned to the stern post also keel doublers attached for planks to rest on. I would like to say that I could not have made the work boat without Harold Underhill’s book, there was a lot of reading then rereading combined with head scratching going on during the build. The main difficulty was to generate the shape of planks. At one point I nearly scrapped the whole thing as I couldn’t seem to get the planking just right, however after some consideration I pressed on with the attitude it doesn’t really matter if this one is not perfect I will learn lesions in building it and I can always build another if it isn’t up to scratch. Once templates were made the plank would be cut and steamed then clamped into position, left there for a few days then glued on with Cyanoacrylate and pinned to the previous plank, making sure not to pin it to the building frame. After planking the hull was removed from its jig then ribs, benches, floor boards, rubbing strake and knees were added, some artistic licence was taken, I didn’t follow the plans completely choosing to not add grab lines like you would see on a life boat and a device that I was unable to determine its purpose mounted on the transom. Next oars were made, these are not shown on the plans, I didn’t want to make paddle’s, so I looked through books that I have trying to determine proportions and came up with something that looks like an oar to me, I made these from Huon pine in two parts. Next came the crutches and sockets, Brass tube was used for the sockets being fitted into holes drilled. Next the crutches, these were fabricated from brass wire and fine chain silver soldered together, when I am silver soldering small parts I use a technique my dad taught me. That is to cut off the required amount of solder and once you have heated the flux a little to boil most of the moisture away, then place the solder using tweezers where it is required, the solder will stay in place because most of the moisture has gone from the flux, gently apply heat and you should have a very neat job. While on the subject of soldering a low-cost alternative to fire bricks is to use what is called Hebel in Australia this is a lightweight product used in buildings and landscaping it is an aerated concrete sold in blocks. Once the flux was cleaned up, they were painted black using Humbrol enamel. Using a Teak coloured wood stain, I masked then stained the top strake down to the rubbing strake. The inside and top strake now received a couple of coats of satin varnish. The rest of it received a few coats of Humbrol satin white airbrushed on. In the end after it was finished, I hadn’t quite achieved what I set out to do however, I was quite happy with my little work boat even with its short comings. Cheers, Stephen.

Hi y’all. The Tug formerly known as Harbor is now in her berth, flagged, and is now known as the O Wulf 8. She’s done!! Well..mostly. Got a couple more things to do to her, but she’s out of the shipyard, which means another project must commence. Union rules Y’know…I’m not union, but the gremlins in my garage are… Anyway, I WAS going to start one of the kits that’s been in my hoard for a while, but I decided to build a birthday kit. She’s the Model Slipway Vosper RTTL. It was in my wishlist on Ages of Sail, my wife picked it out of a list I gave her. Woman knows my heart. Anyway, I wanted something relatively simple, although the kit does have some head scratching moments. To start off, it’s a nice kit. Molded hull, deck and superstructure, good brass and plastic, printed plastic parts and white metal fittings. The downside is the 2mm shaft and tube, press on propeller and a rubber tube coupling. First thing I did was find a suitable tube and shaft in my stash, I like 4mm and 1/8th inch. Found an unused Dumas 1/8 tube and shaft that was just a wee bit longer, so I chose that and a 3 blades prop with a 3mm hole that I gently cleaned out to 1/8. The kit is designed to be powered by a 6 volt Speed 400, and one was included, but I’m going brushless with this build. First thing after cutting out the hull, deck and interior liner is to clean up and trim, then you’re supposed to build up the rudder from 2 abs halves and a metal shaft. I had a commercially made rudder that was the right shape and size, so I chose that and a 3mm ID tube. Now, the builder is supposed to make sure the liner fits, then tape it in place so one can drill the rudder tube hole thru the hull and up into the aft part of the liner. I thought I’d be able to just hold it in place. And, of course, it slipped leaving me with an elongated hole too far forward. Looking at the plans, the tube comes thru the bottom of the hull and is glued ther and at the liner. No reinforcements on the hull bottom. So, me being me, I found a nice piece of hard balsa, drilled to fit, and then slid that over the tube, and used black ca on the bottom of the hull and used epoxy to glue the tube and block inside. I made the offending hole in the liner a little bigger, and once it was glued in i made up a plate to go over the tube, the glue the plate to the tube and topside of the liner. Before I could accomplish that, I had to mod the liner to accept my choice of brushless outrunner. Plus I had to cut the slot for the stuffing box. Once I had all that done, I tacked the tube in place with ca, made sure it was lined up, the used tape on the bottoms of the hull to keep excess epoxy from running out and then glued it home.skeg was installed at this time. Then I installed the modified liner. I made up my motor mount and installed it and the motor. I tacked the mount in place with the motor installed to make darn sure the motor, shaft and coupler were a slip fit with no binding, then I bonded the mount to the hull and liner. After that I installed the deck, and the spray rails. You’re supposed to cut the strip from tha plastic sheet, but I cheated and used some strip styrene I already had. The superstructure has been started. I’ve got the aft bulkhead, aft bulkhead outside fairing doublers, cockpit and windbreak installed. At this point I have to measure the drawing on the plans to mark the windows, then tape 2mm strips in position, glue the strips and uprights at the window locations, cut away the unglued excess strip, then cut the windows out. I’ll probably get the locations marked this week, and get the horizontal strips taped down, then wait till this weekend to finish that job. Cash

After seeing Cash's excellent build on here I was inspired to actually do some research and make some updates to my proboat tug. The initial build was done while this model was owned by a friend in 2022. I added deck lighting, interior lighting, working radar, and changed one of the mast lights to a blinking red (not accurate but it looks cool). I'll put the initial build photos here. The radar is a n20 gearbox with a 3d printed housing. Looks chunky but it got the job done. More photos of the 2026 update to come soon

Haven't built anything for a while due to lack of space (too many models) but the urge to build something was too great. After looking at many options, I decided to go with something 'easy' to build. I found some full size plans for an Australian MkI Moth which I'm building to a MKII (double chine) style. I'm building in foam and glass again to make things easier. It's 850mm long and 310 wide which is roughly 1/4 scale (original is 11 ft) Started by converting all the lofting measurements on the redrawn 1953 plan to metric and dividing them by 4 to get the scale. Next was creating the ply deck, then contact gluing onto it a piece of dense 50mm building polystyrene. This was then shaped with a surform file and the chines shaped afterwards using eyeometry. Then the 10mm deck foam was glued on so the deck sheer could be shaped. Next the cockpit foam was routered out, and basswood sides and inner transom piece epoxied in. After that, the ply outer transom piece and hardwood nose block was epoxied on. The centerboard case upper and lower ply braces were routered out (using the mill and a 1/2" slotting bit) large enough to accept the case sides, leaving enough room for the 6mm aluminium keel (can't use a centerboard for obvious reasons) which will have to have a bulb fitted. A rebate in the bottom of the hull was routered out for the lower c/board brace. These braces are needed to form part of a box structure with the floor and cockpit sides which the c/board can lever on. Once everything is eventually glassed in, it will make it very strong unit, so the foam will just be the shape surrounding the box, and not having any strain put on it. The ply deck will take the strain of the stays/mast. The cockpit floor was cut, and will be slotted the same as the braces, then the c/board case will be built. The mast on this is 1.486m tall, - sail is -luff -11.295, foot 609mm, so quite large for a small boat. The full sized boat is a lot of fun to sail, so this model will be interesting to sail. Unfortunately, without the human input required, and being a performance boat, it may assume the attributes of a submarine in a stiff breeze, - time and testing will tell. The basic mast was made from 12mm ally tube, boom from 10mm. Sail pattern was cut from art card to the plan. All laid out on the floor to get an idea of what it will look like. PDF is the history of the Moth. There were a number of versions round the world as it went along,- scow, international moth (dinghy type) and todays high speed foiling moth. Lots more to do yet JB 2025 world champs, off the Whangaparaoa peninsula, just up from where I live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuLhJ-yRLmc https://australianclassicdinghynetwork.org/moth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWkd2e8apSI https://www.moth.asn.au/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAifFN0RJ0M

It has been a while, health issues, other projects that had deadlines, and just too many projects. So, I buckled down, found the time, prioritized and came up with a build/complete schedule for partially built projects. This patrol boat project will be built and completed with the partially built (Almost complete 52' MLB Victory). One of the reasons this can happen is my 3D printer is up and running again. I do not know why just every now and then it stops working correctly? Anyhow , Specifications: Strange Scale it worked out to be: 1:42.75 Crew should be 40mm in height Hull: an open-source Coast Guard 140' 3d printed hull with the aft chopped to make it 110' (Hence the "ish" in the title) Propulsion: two shafted 380 brushed motors w/VEX robotics speed controller. 7.4 Lithium battery for power. Pictures to follow, firewall where I am takes forever to allow. Excelsior! Glad to be back to the hobby. Remember, if you have a battleship feeling I still have free plans available. Not cheesy internet downloads, actual rolled or folded plans. Yamato Bismark Littorio Richelieu WW2 LST X2 Arizona/Pennsylvania Great White Fleet USS Michigan Also a crazy complex Russian Ship of the Line Always looking for Post FRAM Coast Guard 378' 1:96 plans, the ones I have are 1:200 Message me if interested. I will cover shipping to the US. Arrangements can be made for overseas. Kevin

The Northern Bay lobster and sport fishing boats are built in Qgunquit, Maine. Known as Down East boats they are semi-displacement hulls. They are very good sea boats stable in heavy seas. Compared to semi-vee hulls common to many other sport fisherman boats in the U.S. the Down East hulls tend to be wet boats. As with everything else, boat design is always a compromise. 1&2 The inspiration 3&4 Beginning steps

This will be my first boat build at this scale, so who knows how it will turn out. I got a set of Vic Smeed's plans from Sarik Hobbies along with their wood packs for the model - I thought having some laser cut parts might be helpful. I grew up in Alness, so if the build goes well I'll probably paint it as 2757 which was based at 1100 MCU Alness/Invergordon in the late 1950's to early 1960's.