Well here we go... I have made a start on this great kit by VMW. This all started about 15 months ago, when I saw a completed model at Alexandra Palace model engineering exhibition. I talked with the builder/ owner, Rob, who has extensively posted on here his build blog ( and very useful reading it has been!) So eventually I got round to buying a kit last autumn ( other boats being built) and... went to the model engineering exhibition this year, and talked with... Rob, who said I “ should get on with it...” So I have. There are a few other members of this great website who have built/are building this model and I have read several blogs & looked at pictures which are a fantastic resource, but a bit worrying as I’m not sure my modelling skills are as good 😉. I don’t know what new ideas to show, but I will try keep a regular update of progress on the boat. Having made a sturdy building board, it seems sensible to work from the bows backwards, as once the bow structure is glued accurately everything else should follow. Having dry fitted all the frames to the keel and measured for alignment, I was nervous that a mm out anywhere could accumulate errors, so I decided to steam and bend the gunwhale stringers and dry fit them as well. This will help prove all the frames correct height port & starboard before I commit to glueing. It looks OK eyeballing it but I’m also constructing some right angle brackets to clamp the frames to while the glue sets. Just in case! I’ll be working on the boat most days, but That won’t always be reflected in much progress in pictures! And unlike previous blogs I’ve done, where the boat has been nearly finished before writing anything,this one is going to be ‘realtime’.

Clamping the gunwale stringers will be difficult as there is no sensible place to locate the other end of the clamp. So I made a widget that locates into the slot in the breast hook and provides a parallel surface... we’ll see when we get to glueing!

So I’ve made some progress today, glueing the bulkheads in place. Some of them are almost vertical 😆 seriously tho I’m a bit pedantic about keeping both sides of the boat at the same height so clamped all the bulkheads as I glued and adjusted as necessary. 11mm holes are for cable runs. Fitted the cabin sides, using marks to ensure they were fully seated to the bulkheads. Also used the clamp widget in anger as I attached the inner gunwhale stringers. These were also pinned in place with 12mm brass pins. 30 min Glue is running a bit slow as the temperature in the garage isn’t exactly warm. It’ll be set by tomorrow 😉

And here it is, finished😂 or is it???

So while 2nd layer of gunwhale stringers glue is setting on 46” boat I thought I’d do some renovations on the recently acquired 36” boat, starting with the rear deck. This will be a useful practice for when the 46” boat needs doing. The original deck was painted white and was screwed down. I’m replacing it with a planked deck, some removable foam tanks, hose & deck hatch with brass handles. The foam tanks need to be removable to get at the screws to lift the deck (access to rudders &servo) here’s where we are up to. Deck is planked with recess for hatch. The cross hatch grid for the foam tanks was made on my 3D printer and once painted will be OK. I’ll make the brass connectors for the hose on my lathe, and the hatch needs a recess milled out for the handles. The hose I have is a bit of corrugated plastic probably from Lego. We’ll see how all this comes out and adjust for the 46” boat in due course. 👍