Well in-between the recycling project and HMS Nelson, I've been toying with the idea of Noah's Ark. Initially I'd created one out of cardboard and coffee stirrers according to the biblical dimensions and when building in N gauge worked out to be approximately 1m or 3'in old money. The idea at the time was for the door to open and for an elephant to be on the inside. The main "house"would lift off and offer an inside view of holding pens etc and underneath that would be the rc. So anyway, I decided to make a start. Firstly a suitable donor was required. Decided that a scratch built aircraft carrier that I no longer sail was ideal. As you can see, the size is comparable - a little longer than required but this can be cut back and reshaped. Hull to deck level on both vessels is roughly the same. Many different descriptions of the Ark are out there, I'm with a little "artistic licence "going to curve in both ends as this appears to be a somewhat favoured view. The propulsion method is via two motors which were fixed to the underside of the original aircraft carrier. When I did sail this, it created very little wake which is ideal as of course Noah's Ark had no propulsion of any kind. However, that sort of defeats the object for using at the club. It's a bit of fun, so I'll see how it goes.

Scratch build the ship I was on in 1965-67. I purchased a hill from scale shop yard in California. Covid held up making it n delivery. I have it and it’s perfect. I’ll publish bits as I do them. I gathered all data from my past n all online. I’m building it as it left upgrading at Charlestown ship yards in Boston. I have a hull so first thing is put in formers n stiffen the hull so I can install the deck. First thing done was do a fast sand to get the top of the walls flat. I’m adding carbon fiber cross frames and added rear torpedo ports. These ports were to allow the ship to torpedo without turning around. Never got used as far as I knew. I also made formers from fiberglass sheets left over from my gyrocopter where I added a body shell. I was advised by manufacturer that expansion rates in the sun could cause cracking of joints. So carbon fiber n fiberglass are similar to the hull. Once formers epoxied in I will start the deck with its opening for equipment. Here is pic of real ship rear n the model. I used hatches from Polaris missile plastic sub kit. I also will start on the stand for the ship to rest on. I used cardboard to make patterns fir formers and stand. I’ll post more

I thought I would put together a video on this title. It follows the concept of making something travel a linear distance with limit stops on both ends. The belt and pulleys are from an old HP inkjet printer. (Lots of usable parts in these discarded printers.) This Springer is based on a real boat using four photographs. Enjoy! Lew Florida, USA https://youtu.be/ny1ukVCP4Gc?si=VifrtoZ9wqx6hixZ

Hey guys, I finally got a good start on my Dumas Typhoon in 1/10 scale. This kit builds up in 2 halves which is kind of different. Although I had my doubts about alignment it came together nicely. I will update when I can, I am going to take my time on this one. I plan to use a 3660 2200KV brushless motor and 60A esc (I have on the shelf). Is water cooling absolutely necessary? I have a fan for the esc and a heat sink for the motor. Any input is helpful. Thanks RR

Hi After sorting out the rudders I fitted the rear deck, I then moved on and fitted the for-deck, now we all know about saying measure and measure again then cut, well I did just that and yes I had made the cutout in the for-deck too small by 1/2 an inch in length, I only found this out when I started to make the for-deck housing. I had to do the for-deck housing so the I could work out just were to fit the smoke stack housing as I have no plans for this boat, so all measurement's are taken from all the old deck's and deck housings. All the best Fred

My first official job, when I was 16, was working on the construction of the Baltimore Clipper schooner Pride of Baltimore. On my 21st birthday I reported on board as a member of the crew. After that I acquired the plans from Thomas Gilmer who designed the vessel, with the intent to build an RC model. After a false start then, I changed the scale and started again in September of 2010. The model represents the boat as she was when I was crewing aboard her in September-October 1981. I had a certification from the National Park Service to handle black powder cannon, so I was put in charge of Pride's guns which was handy when we went to the bicentennial of the Siege of Yorktown, what it really meant is I slept with 25pds of black powder at the foot on my bunk. I cooked right along with construction while also working on Constellation and starting a third model, until July of 2012. She was basically a static display model since then, with an attempt to work out her controls that didn't work out in 2015. Trying to set up her steering uncovered a design flaw that I resolved by moving the rudder servo forward. Life has a habit of getting in the way of my hobbies, and several changes in jobs and homes put a damper on all three models. She's pretty much just sat till now, going on display a few times, getting floated in a pool in 2019 and capsizing, which was a bit eerie considering the fate of the original. The model is 1:20 scale making her Hull length: 54" (137.16cm) Length on deck: 48" (121.9cm) Length on waterline w/o rudder: 46.75" (118.75cm) Length over the rig: 81.5" (207cm) Beam: 13.625" (34.6cm) Draft without ballast keel: 5.875" (14.9cm) Total height (top of jack-yard to bottom of keel): 61.6" (156.5cm) Total Sail area: 2,049.13 square inches in 7 sails as shown above, 2,205.13 with the flying jib. Her keel is plywood and she was planked with white pine strips over plywood forms, which were removed. The hull has a layer of 4oz glass cloth and poly resin outside, and several coats of just resin inside. As mentions she capsized in the pool when a slight gust caught her, despite being weighted to the waterline. She's designed to have a removable fin with a lead bulb making up most of her ballast, but that hasn't been made yet, so it wasn't fitted in the pool that day. Her lower masts are white pin made with the "birds-mouth" method so they're hollow and weigh next to nothing, but are strong. Sails are made of a Dupont cloth called Supplex which is a polyester that makes excellent sails. All lines will be nylon or polyester Dacron walked up from thread acquired from a sail-maker's supplier. All the sails have bolt-ropes hand-sewn on. There's no stitching to represent seams because I think it looks like crap, and it's a lot of work to do to ruin your sails. The seam lines on Pride are drawn on on with an .005 permanent marker. Originally her controls were going to be a Mega-arm sail servo and a winch servo, with the winch driving a loop. That was changed to two arm servo controlling my Semaphore-Sheeting system used successfully in Constellation for the over-lapping heads'ls. That wasn't going to work on Pride mostly because space limitations (vertically inside the hull). A friend recently launched his four foot schooner in which he used two winch-driven loops to control the sails. It's success, especially with the over-lapping jib, got me re-thinking Pride controls and reverting to the loop-sail-control system, with changes. So I'm working on the model again, this time removing everything inside the hull. I removed the motor and my homemade 1 inch prop because there's no way that little prop can over-power all that sail in the lightest of wind. The rudder servo will be moved aft of where the motor was and be accessible through the cabin hatch. One winch will be mounted where the motor was, under the engine hatch, just aft of the mainmast, and another winch will be mounted just aft of the foremast and be accessible through the main hatch. This is where things stand at the moment (June 25 2022). The pic with the gun is a 3D printed test of a gun for my Macedonian model (1:36 scale) which seems to be just right for the 1:20 scale Pride, which will benefit from 3D printing with guns, gunport lids, a much crisper name board on her stern, along with the Baltimore emblem that was back there. The last pic is the actual boat in the Pacific in 1982. I edited in the main tops'l to show the rig I plan to set. She also had a ringtail, stuns'ls, and a main topmast stays'l, none of which I plan to use. Hopefully, this approach to her controls will work out and I can actually get her sailing at last.

As I promised here is where I am with the build of my Veron Titan Tug

Hi Guys, I am building a Clyde Puffer (electrically powered) and am wondering if anyone that has built this model knows of a suitable sound system that could reproduce the original steam engine sound. Cheers, Ian

Started to scratch build a police boat back in March, build so far. Have now started on the superstructure, so more pictures to follow.

Hi y’all. I’ve temporarily put the Antje aside for reasons that I stated in the build blog and started on a Billings Banckert. I originally bought the kit for a very good price off EBay ( yes that still happens!!), then added it to my stash. I haven’t had it long when one of my “trading partners”, Fred, started eyeballing it. Long story short he had it about a year, decided to thin out his stash, and brought the Banckert along with 2 other kits I had traded him and made a trade back for a kit I had in my possession….so I decided to start her before she got traded again!! Now…it’s a Billings kit. Good quality parts, nice laser cutting, good brass, slightly confusing instructions with hardly any measurements or written details. It’s like my Taucher, you just have to think a few steps ahead. Unlike the Taucher, the kits parts are marked with drill holes and the like, so each step, from what I can tell, Billings wants you to dry fit the parts and see how they fit in relation to each other..which you should do anyway, but their kits seem to be engineered to encourage this. Now, there is no suggestions on power, battery, etc..there is a box fwd of the fwd bulkhead for the receiver. That’s it. Also, no useable tiller nor is there mention of one. So here goes The first thing I did was to cut out the hull and deck, making careful note of what to leave via the pics in the manual. I then added the floor, 2 bulkheads, and the stuffing box support. I then tackled the stuffing box and the rudder/ Kort nozzle setup. The Kort nozzle is suppose to be held in place with 1 screw and the bottom shoe. The rudders are May of ply halves that you’re supposed to grind away enough material to allow room for the rudder shaft. I did mine out of layered balsa, sanded and lightly glassed them. I then decided, fatefully, to build the whole assembly up and bond every thing in place..this necessitated having the prop installed, as it will be a real pain to replace with the whole works glued together…however, if I damage that prop it’ll probably mean the Kort nozzles toast too, so there that. I decided to use an old Hitec HS81mg for the helm, as it has enough torque for the job and has metal gears too. It’s also in a semi bad place, but where it sits I have a straight shot to the tiller, and works perfectly. Power is being handled by a HobbyWing 30 amp brushless esc and a 28 mm 880kv motor. I made a ply/plastic mount out of scrap. I’ll have good access to the motor, tiller, and electronics, the servo will likely be a little hard to get to but not impossible, and the prop/Kort/rudders have “no user serviceable parts” Thats where I’m at now. I have to make sure I get my battery setup just right as the fwd hatch is narrow, so my choice of battery might be a little limited, but I have options. After that’s all completed, and if I feel I have enough room to easily ballast the boat with the deck on, then my next step is to secure the deck to the hull. Cash

Many of us have seen or heard of the "Springer" push boat (a.k.a., tug, truckable boat, etc.). Most of them are not scale models but still built to the enjoyment of the owner. This blog deals with how I build "Springers" to look like a scale model of some real boats. I will deal with some of the issues as well as ideas for searching for you own "scale model Springer". Follow this blog as I build my latest "Springer", a US Army Corps of Engineers truckable push boat working at the Little Goose Dam in Washington State where it moves river debris to the "stoplog" gates. Lew Florida, USA Here is the introduction video: https://youtu.be/bZZJOWAsU0Y

After weeks of waiting for the kit to be delivered from Italy I re-ordered instead from Cornwall Model Boats and received it next day. The box was smaller than the one for my Riva but at a quick glance all the parts seem to be there. Now that I have received the kit for this motor sailor I can start to plan how to attach a detachable keel and a detachable extension to the rudder. There is an optional motorisation pack available which uses one motor but drives two props through a gear system. Myself and Roycv are thinking of using 2 separate motors but I'll check space available. Not sure whether with potentially 3 sails we can get away with one winch because it looks like space is at a premium. I must say the Amati Italian Runabout kit had very much clearer build instructions than this kit with lots of photos of various stages. Before I can start building this I need to resolve a problem with my newly fitted fireboat's fire monitors! Hopefully my blog will help to fill in missing information. It might be a slow build log because I'm limited with pains in my hands how much I can do at a time - so to those followers please be patient! Some photos of the box content:-