Started the Runabout. Using my Lion Miter trimmer to cut the planks, and my block plane to trim to the chine. Then a sanding block for the final fit.

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.

Rapier1. When the first lock-down came along I dug out a couple of old wrecks that had been thrown away and had been saved from a skip some years previously, and this looked like a good time to see if they could be rescued. The first was a badly built and abandoned LesRo Rapier (shown here after the rebuild as my photos showing the full rebuilding sequence will not load). The LiPo tray carries two large 2C 5600Mah LiPo cells, but only one is connected up at a time - the unused LiPo acts as ballast to keep the hull running straight, but makes for a nice quick change when the first one runs down Any basic tools that I may need when I am "pond side" to change a prop or brushless motor are carried on small magnets in the rear compartment to save me forgetting to take them with me and this has proven to be very helpful! Bob.

Hi y’all. I turned 65 last month, and in preparation for celebrating making it this far without getting myself seriously injured or spending time in jail I sold a few boats and cashed out some excess pto so I could do something I normally don’t do…spend more than usual for my birthday. So, I had a budget, and my goal was to use as much as possible from my savings from boat sales without disturbing the family Kitty much if at all. I was successful, came in under budget, my wife got me two kits and I picked up this-the Horizon Harbor Tug. Now, I’m not usually a RTR or RTF kind of person. The few times I’ve purchased a hobby grade ready to run or fly model I’m usually disappointed. But…this boat has been praised by modelers of all stripes, and Horizon has kept it in production for 4 years, which I think is some sort of record, as usually Horizons scale offerings last maybe a year, 2 years tops. Also, we have 2 members who are dedicated builders of tugs and submarines that love them to death. So here goes… I was not allowed to touch my birthday presents until my birthday, so I had time to figure out what I wanted to do with the Harbor. Once I got her on the bench, I gutted her like a fish. The Harbor Tug comes with a barely hobby grade pistol grip radio capable of 4 channels, a combo brushed esc/receiver, an esc for the fire monitor pump, and a radio controlled electronic on off switch for the led lights. Power is a 700 size motor, this is all supposed to be powered by 3 cells. It does NOT come with the water pump, that’s 60 dollars more, and from what I’ve seen it’s not as strong as I like. So, I had to make a mount for my preferred motor, the Zippkits 650 brushless outrunner, that’s coupled to the shaft with a good solid coupler. Esc is a HobbyWing 16BL30 30 amp unit. I had to do some modifications to mount my preferred Amazon sourced pump, which included drilling out the molded in water pickup and epoxying in a brass pickup, and changing the mounting location of the pump. Pump is powered by a 10 amp brushed aircraft esc-the original that came with the boat works well, but is set up for 3 cells, and doesn’t give me enough voltage at the pump. Originally I was going to use a FrSky 7 channel receiver, but I wanted to try my hand at telemetry. So I used a FrSky X8R so I could run the FrSky FAS40 module, which gives my real Tim battery voltage and current draw. I also added ballast to bring her up to 12 pounds, as the stock weight of 9.5 or so is seriously under ballasted. Now, the first production runs of this boat had some issues, leaks near the stern and along the bulwarks were common. It seems to me that Horizon did what Joysway did with the DF65, and listened to feedback, as my boat ran dry. There was a bit of water in the hull before the maiden as I was checking ballast and leaks the day before, and there was no appreciable water in the hull after. All systems worked well, and the boat exceeded my expectations. Now, y’all know me. You’ve seen my build logs. Probably wondering why I’m loving a boat that I don’t have much time at the bench with. You see, the story doesn’t stop here, oh no, I have more work to do. The real boat this was modeled after is the Taucher O Wulf 8. Horizon put just enough detail to please the average boat modeler, and decaled it with an H on the funnel. My goal is to get her recognizable as the Taucher. I have to do some detail work, add some things that’s missing, do some lettering, etc. The end game is a stand off scale model of the Taucher. So stay tuned, we’re going for a ride! Cash https://youtu.be/DIf4v8KvfSk?si=9Ya4HaEL1Sq_q__J

Made the bilge keels from two laminations of mahogany sheet to get the correct thickness and then glued them in place. Once this was done I was able to return to the superstructure. Drilled the holes for the portholes and then glued the cabin sides in position. Made the forward cabin front window and glued in followed by that for the rear cabin. Bolted and screwed the upper support for the drop keel whilst I still had easy access. Really starting to take shape now but still a long way to go! Chris

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

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.

This was my first attempt at 3D printing an RC boat. With plans to print a large navy ship I wanted to confirm that I could actually get a 3d printed boat running so I tried this file from Thingiverse. It still needs lights and paint but it runs surprisingly well. Power is from a 3s lipo and a brushless outrunner - pics in a later post. I'm planning to make an autonomous boat this year and this is a potential candidate Printed from ASA and ABS filament on a Bambu X1 Carbon and glued together with acetone. Acetone dissolves ABS and ASA so it's also nice to dissolve the support scraps in a jar of acetone to make a filler putty. You might notice the different colors on the suprtstructure, that's because it's just resting on top and can be knocked off and lost requiring a reprint Does anyone have suggestions for a colour scheme?

Monday, February 16 2026, is a holiday called Family Day in Canada so I decided to build a lifeboat that a fellow in the boat club gave me. Read over the instructions, and that took a while, and then started building at 11.00 am today, after 1/2 hour stop got two parts built.I am surprised that ModelShipways is still in business It's a real tiny boat.

Here's another Aliexpress boat, I got inspired after seeing another build on facebook. I don't have the skills to meet his build but I figured I'd give it a shot. For $20 CAD I couldn't say no. It's even smaller than the tiny 686 tug! I gutted the electronics and replaced the receiver with a small all in one unit with dual esc and steering mixing built in. Due to the funky channel assignments on the board I had to use my Radiomaster MT12. The stock 100 mAh battery was replaced with a 250 mAh to enhance runtime and ballast. I added mast and navigation lights, the mast lights are switchable between off, white, and red. The factory spotlight was retained and put on a switch along with the worklight. I might make a new spotlight eventually and I plan to redo some of the details as well. It doesn't like large ponds or waves of any sort really but is fun in a water feature type pond or in Little Canada's Bay of Fundy display (when the tide doesn't leave me stranded)

Another RC hobby? I'm already into RC scale model boats (since the early 1970's) and RC armor (since 2015) I am branching out to RC scale vehicles (but not too many). Notice the word scale in each of these three segments of RC hobbies. This topic is for a RC semi tractor and lowboy trailer being converted from an inexpensive toy. It is already in 1/16 scale and should be compatible with my Springer ("truckable") tugs and Armor (tanks, etc.). I plan to use it at both Model Boat and Armor meets. This first segment involves the selections I have made and my plan to make the necessary modifications to the toy. I bought two ERTL about three years ago with the intent to convert them into RC. I paid about $70 (US) for the pair of them on sale. They are currently in the $70-80 range (each). They look good enough to use although not to exact scale. The project goal is to keep the cost down and have a fun functional vehicle. Why buy two units? When done, I will be using parts from the second vehicle for the first, like wheels for extra axles and other parts. Right now I am working on the semi-tractor. The new unit will have another axle, this one to lift by RC. It will also have the extra sleeper cabin and other accessories. I am planning to make the "gooseneck" (the part that connects to the trailer) RC controlled. Unfortunately the model's lowboy trailer suffers problems like the real trailers do. Too close to the ground. I will need to elevate the trailer sufficiently so it will not get stuck. I do not have to contend with railroad tracks which makes the vehicles good targets for fast moving trains. The latest: This evening I am cementing the chassis frame together. I had to print it in five pieces due to the limitations of my 3D printer. There will be rectangular steel tubing epoxied inside the frame for extra strength. Lew