I like how you finished Thunder along with the details. Any comments from the folks overseas? Hope you shared the finished product with them too. Looking forward to seeing it on the water and towing or pushing.

TD, Laughing My A… Off about your Charlie comment. I remember him saying they wouldn’t let him take the helm of the tug where he was the chief engineer.
Thanks. I’m fortunate I recovered HAMMERHEAD. My helmsmanship rule is to sail in water no deeper than you can safely walk into.

Chum,
Sounds like serious trauma all around! I wish I had been there, but....
I am glad that you were able to recover Hammerhead. The water gets deep fast there. As for Charlie... he was an engineer, not a deck officer...someone should stand by him while he as the helm😂🤣😂🤣

Thank you TD. We had a good time at Scarborough. Wx was okay, cloudy with the sun trying to occasionally breakthrough. Around 67°, light on-beach winds.
Attendance down from last year. Tim M & Jerome M from Maine there as was Charlie T & Tim L from the club plus several others who I don’t know.
Couple of mishaps, someone went dead in the water & required a push to shore, Charlie T lost the house on one of his lobster boats after he hit a shore overhanging tree, & my DMS HAMMERHEAD sank. I saw that happening so got it back to shore just as it went totally under! If you’re going to go; go big!!! Looks like only fatality was the rudder servo. Charlie also recovered the house on the far side of the pond, so all the mishaps turned out to be minimal.
Photo of DMS HAMMERHEAD.

Chum,
She looks beautiful. How was the event? Pretty snootty downeast, at least until late morning, then it just blew.😁

Some of those lights on the mast are indicating that you are towing, and I believe they are lit in daylight, dusk, and after sunset, not just after dark. I will check with my tugboat skipper.

Marcel says, “ 1hr before and after only for nav. lights. Day shapes during the day.”

The Day Shapes: All day shapes are black.

Towing is a diamond shape on tug and tow.

https://www.mhpa.co.uk/uploads/Marine_docs/Lights_and_Shapes.pdf

Bill, she really looks the part, knocked this one out of the park.. your weathering brought her to life!! She's a keeper!
Cash

Thank you Alessandro. Just enough to improve how it looks but strong enough to take some knocking around. 🤞

Great additions. Very realistic.

Thank you for the tip JB; it’s a good one.
What appealed to me about the use of magnets was the lack of needing very precise alignment of the connectors such as is required by pogo connectors, etc. Your method does combine two functionalities into one.+++.
I suppose that some slack in the roof wiring could provide flexibility by allowing the male & female ends of the connector to be mated prior to seating the roof. That would reduce the force holding the roof in place but if the roof were to be blown off at least it would not be lost.
Aha! You spawned another idea in my head. Using an old fashion fuse holder for one lead connection & a small piece of the proper diameter rod for the other lead would allow the rod to snap in. That way almost no slack in the wiring would be required.
Thanks again.

Hi Chum,

have you thought of using stereo plugs ? If you have an electronics store nearby, have a hunt through the various plugs. There are a number of different types which are suitable for connecting accessories on the cabin to the power. In my cabin boat model, I used stereo headphone male and female jacks which power all the nav and interior lights. They have a very positive connection, so I have a tapered hardwood wedge to slide under the cabin to remove them. They also hold the cabin down at the front, so have a dual purpose.

Pic is when they were being fitted.

You can also use stereo/computer multi pin plugs on a lead on both ends, or the female end end fixed.

JB

JB

Great color scheme Bill!

Excellent photos Alessandro as well as a good history lesson. Ahh, the beauty of Italia; ancient works of architecture & culture amidst modern functionality.

Today, I saw a very similar but smaller version of the white mega yacht you photographed. It looked quite out of place in Falmouth Harbor.

One could spend a lot of time in Civitavecchia studying details of the fishing boats & tugboats. Like you I’m no fan of those huge yachts.

Thanks for posting these photos & the ones of the AMERIGO VESPUCCI.

Hi Chum444, this is an amazing coincidence.
Guess where I was yesterday?
Right at the port of Civitavecchia.

However, I didn't go there to see fishing boats or tugboats, even though there are many and of various types.
In another topic of this forum I will explain the reason for my visit yesterday.
The photos you see were taken by chance because there was little time and the time had to be dedicated to the main objective.
But you are right, the port of Civitavecchia even if it is not as big as that of Naples and Genoa has all types of ships, in which to take photos.
The port of Civitavecchia is on average 80 km from Rome.
It is within the province of Rome but not in the municipality of Rome.
The port of Rome is Ostia, since the time of its foundation (of the seven kings) but today the port of Ostia is small, it is only a tourist port, with small pleasure boats.
From the port of Civitavecchia ferries depart for Sardinia, Sicily, Spain and Tunisia, etc. etc. as well as cruise ships.
It is a multifunctional port, divided into two macro areas with different market dynamics: to the south the one dedicated to tourism, yachting and cruises; to the north the area for commercial traffic, fishing and coastal shipping.
It is very old, it was founded by Emperor Trajan.
It is very beautiful because it preserves the Renaissance fortifications.
"The Rocca, a quadrangular fortification, was built first; then in 1508 Julius II entrusted Bramante with the construction of the Michelangelo fort, which was to be built on ancient Roman ruins. The fort was completed in 1537, perhaps thanks to Michelangelo's contribution. In 1608, under the papacy of Paul V, a lighthouse (the Faro) was erected on the southern end of the breakwater island, 31 metres high. On 26 November 1659, the first stone was laid for the arsenal designed by Bernini, which for a long time would coagulate a good part of the city's economy. Then the crenellated city walls were built, the work of Pier Paolo Florian, commissioned by Pope Urban VIII in 1630, and in 1743, under the pontificate of Benedict XIV, the famous fountain was erected, the work of the sculptor Luigi Van Wittel, known as Vanvitelli, the same one who designed the Royal Palace of Caserta. In 1761, commissioned by Pope Clement XIII, Porta Livorno was built.
Some of these structures were destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. In particular, in 1943 the Lighthouse, the Arsenal, the Bramante Fort and the Rocca Vecchia were destroyed."

I did not take photos of the fort and the walls because I was not there for that as already said and I had little time.

P.S. The Yacht you see among those in the photo, like many other yachts are not my passion. I prefer 12-meter boats (a little more or a little less) rigged as a sloop, with which you can sail and master them with two or three people at most but also alone.

Chum444, this is the reason for my visit to the port of Civitavecchia (see link at the end):

forum/151297#151299

Alessandro. Sorry my Italian vocabulary has been mostly forgotten over the years. Civitavecchia is exactly what I meant. Il mio errore. (I had to look that up).🤔

I assumeyou would see tug & other workboats there.

Thanks for this additional advice, but what do you mean by "citti vecchio"? I don't understand the word, maybe you mean Civitavecchia?

Glad to hear you’re going to give weathering a try. When you search the web you will find many techniques for weathering. I’ve used one of them, dry brushing, with success. I find it particularly useful for applying rust. Rust is another whole subject as is waterline weathering. I suggest you avoid purchasing the high price weathering kits of pastels that you may see online. You can make most of what you need to accurately weather a model.

How close are you you to the harbor in the citti vecchio? A good place to see many varied types of vessels & how they weather.

Thank you very much Chum444, your advice is useful and precious.
Really ingenious, it seems simple but brilliant.
Now that I think about it, when I handled the lifeboats I dirtied and ruined the paint in several places (especially the white part). I immediately thought that it was necessary to repaint. In reality it was more beautiful and realistic before.
I want to save this text because it contains very useful information for me and for others, and because in the future it will be impossible to find it here.
The other tricks also seem excellent to me.
As soon as I have the chance I will do some tests.

Thank you Alessandro. The process is called weathering & it really is mostly a matter of knowing where real boats rust, get dirty, & wear through the paint. Then just move ahead & try it. There are many techniques that work quite nicely.I suggest you do a web search about weathering models. Enough content to occupy your attention for a long time.
One simple thing as a starting point. Paint your hull & superstructure as early as possible while building. The bumps & scrapes that occur as building progresses create a very realistic appearance.
I like to use charcoal dust for simulating dirt. Put some dust on your finger tip & stroke in the direction a part would get dirty. On the cabin roof stroke from fore to aft since wind created by the forward motion of the boat would cause dirty streaks in that direction. On cabin sides where railings are attached use downward strokes under the railing pieces that attach to the cabin.
If you don’t like how it looks wipe everything off with a damp cloth & try it again. If you do like it cover with a thin coat of flat sheen clear.
Hope this is a help to you.

Hi Chum444, you have a fantastic ability. I admire and envy you because I can't do it at all.
I try to make parts with maximum realism (to the best of my ability) but then, when I paint, the effect is always that of a scale model and never of a real ship.
How did you manage to make the painting so realistic?
Could you illustrate your technique and reveal the tricks?
You managed to give the "lived" look of a real boat.

Did you have baby's permission to use their float?

Hey TD. More beer may well make it look like a mega yacht tow.

Very good Chum444. Your tugboat does its job very well.

Captain!
Back to the Bar. I am need more beer!