Thanks Will, but as per my post I already have them. Sorry wasn't very clear that I have them in PDF.

I'm trying not to start any new builds! Though I've printed off the Sprite outboard project!! 🤔

Chris

Bob is correct Chris, I have the plans as a pdf that I can send you. I'll try and remember to do it in the next couple of days.

Will

Hi Bob

No plans but that's no problem as they are amongst some that Harry sent some time ago. I prefer them on the computer anyway as I can print them off to suit my carbon paper transfer method and make other changes e.g. size, though in this case it's probably fine as it is.

Remora.

That was a good stroke of luck Chris 👍

If the plans are still in the centrefold of the magazine, I can really recommend building your own Remora as it is one of those timeless designs that really does suit the modern era of small brushless motors and LiPo batteries - possibly even better than the original intended .21 glow engines.

My Remora is a few years old now, and although it was designed as a competition boat for the old “Steering Competition”, it performs beautifully with a modern electric motor.

If you don’t have a plan a believe that Will has a download or I can let you have my original magazine plan. Although this original plan is a little fragile now, it is still in one piece and is very usable.

Bob.

I've got that magazine - it was amongst some old ones I bought for a Fairey article.

Chris

One of the plans that I enjoyed building from the most came free with the December 1964 Model Maker magazine….probably because it was the first model boat I had ever built from a plan.

Vic Smeed’s REMORA design builds easily from this free plan and the design still performs really well today with a brushless motor - although the one I built in 1965 had an OS21 Marine engine to power it.

LewZ showed us his idea of making a lighting box as a way of copying plans, and this idea would be brilliant for copying old plans like this one as it was originally printed on cheap yellow paper (it was free!) and over the last 66 years it has become a little fragile to handle!

The option that Lew suggested about simply taping it onto a window to copy is a very simple method that is only restricted by the size of window available, and the weather (if an outside window is being used).

Lew’s method for copying a plan can also be employed to copy the parts (such as bulkheads) from the plan without damaging it as well, so it is quite a good practical idea.

Making card templates for the parts to be cut worked well for me as the ones I made in 1964 are still good and were used again when I build my second Remora many years later.

Building a simple model like this as a first time effort helps to build confidence for future more complex builds, and in my case it was a TID tug that followed using the same technique of making card templates from old cereal packets for all the parts that needed to be cut.

Bob.

Hi Roy,

You are so right, it is so much easier to say “no” than to make any effort (or take any possible risk) to provide or support a facility such as an area of suitable water that can be used for model boats.

This situation is far worse now than it was in the 1960’s when “those in authority” were much more accommodating than they are now.

When we asked for “official permission” to run our Classic Model Power Boats on the local waterways in the 1960’s, our club was granted a “pleasure boat licence”, so for a small annual fee we became bonafide users of our local Avon and Kennet Canal and the local stretch of the River Avon.

I bet they wouldn’t do that now.

Bob.

Hi Zooma you are right Health and Safety have left a trail of filled in ponds and neglect mostly done by local councils where 'No' is so much easier than considering a possible Yes.

Fisherman pay lots of £££s for exclusive use of ponds. We have a lot of ex-quarry ponds but no access. You might find local libraries have an on-line list clubs and societies that might help find a place.

Back in the 1890's when Royalty was sailing their yachts it filtered down to would be Captains who would run a sailing club and have 'their man' build and sail their yacht but collect the trophy if they won. Gradually with various conflicts Royal yachting's last phase was Prince Phillip and his yacht.

I note that Princess Anne has a yacht a Rustler 44 which she sails in and around Scotland with her husband. Two Admirals on one boat there's a thought!

Sorry for the aside but society has left the act of making and doing and has gone over to preening and image.

Roy

Hi Cheddarman,

As a fellow model boat enthusiast from Somerset, I was also surprised at the lack of model boating facilities in the county when I first started looking for somewhere to run my first model - an Aerokits Swordsman.

When I joined the Bath Model Power Boat Club back in the mid 60's we used to run on the Avon and Kennet Canal in Bath, and on the River Avon at Saltford where we managed to find a nice access point to launch (and recover) our Classic Model Power Boats next to a small parking area alongside the road and the river.

We had members joins us from the surrounding area - a good friend of mine (Roland Steemson) use to drive over to run with us from Trowbridge with his plan built Swordsman and we often drove around the county (and strayed into Wiltshire) to try out any village pond or lake that we could gain any reasonable access to run our Swordman models on.

Most of the ponds and lakes were unsuitable for one reason of another, and the local boating lake in Victoria Park (Bath) really was just too small (and often over-crowded with small toy yachts etc) for use with our Classic Model Power Boats.

.......hence why we run from many different locations on the River Avon (including on the water both above and below the famous weir) but mainly in Saltford where we found the most user friendly stretch of water with good access.

The bowl at the end of the canal in Withycombe (behind Morning Star Racing Motors) was another favourite weekend and evening meeting place where we enjoyed running our model together.

Word and mouth and messages left in our local model shops "The Modellers Den" and "Cyril Howes Models" helped to keep everyone aware of where were were going to meet-up over the large area that we frequented to help everyone stay in touch.

Bob.

Mark II ready for sea trials, only problem there isn't a lake anywhere near here!!

Cheddarman, 87 - wow! Happy birthday, Lew

Thank you Roy,

Vic Smeed along with Les Rowell (HMM, Aerokits, LesRo etc) were the two most influential and prolific model boat designers that influenced me the most during my formative years of the 1950’s and 60’s.

It is always nice to be reminded of them and the great service they provided to the model boating community.

Bob.

Hi Zooma thought you might like to see a photo I took in 2009, when Vic Smeed was one of our judges. This is the last public photo taken and often used. He died at 90+ a couple of years later. He is posed next to two of the yachts he designed called Panache.
Roy

I prefer to prick through the plan onto thin card and then joining the pin pricks together with a pencil before cutting the cardboard “to the line” with a craft knife.

The “template” produced this way can be placed on the wood and drawn around ready to be cut.

I keep all my templates in an envelope with the plan for future reference. Storing the templates with the plan makes it easy to recut a part if needed for any reason in the future.

This method enabled me to remake a model 50 years after I made it the first time around without having to transfer any information from the plans again (Vic Smeed Remora).

Whatever method I use to transfer bulkhead shapes etc, I always transfer them onto card first to make a template to work from.

This template also makes a good reference to keep with the plans if a future replica model is ever contemplated.

Cereal packets are my usual source of supply for this task as the card is just right for the job, and for components that are longer than the cereal box - I just tape some together (common practice when making a keel !).

Once the centre line of a bulkhead shape has been determined, I scribe a line on it so that the shape can be folded in half. Once folded, any differences between the two sides can be corrected to make sure that the bulkhead template is symmetrical.

This is essential if the hull is to be built “true”. If the bulkheads are not cut to be made symmetrical, it will not be so easy to align

What ChrisF said. I also would tape it around a dowel or anything fitting the intended bend when drying.

I bend mine over a kettle. Leave the top open so that it doesn't keep switching off. Wear safety glasses and cover your arms and I use oven gloves to hold the timber. Hold it in the steam for a short while and then bend it. Best to overbend it as it will spring back a bit. Might take one or two goes to get enough bend in it. I've used it successfully for bigger stringers and chine rails.

Just about finished cutting out all the bits so thinking ahead.
Where the 1/8" 1/4" Spruce Gunwale and Stringers come around the bow, it's quite a sharp turn so will need to "bend" the wood to prevent snapping it.
What's the easiest way to do this, soaking and heating? I don't have a steam facility.
Thanks

Might try the "rubber" (gooey) glue from the stationary section in a store. Apply lightly. Easy to remove.
Lew

John - I knew Dave as well and know that he was an advocate of liteply on many occasions. But I still won't use it!

In fact I have both of his prototype builds for the 1:12 Huntress which are my only models with any liteply in them.

Chris

Just be sure to adhere to the old saying "measure twice- cut once"

hi

I am in the camp of tracing paper for transferring from plans to building materials. The main reason for this is once you have traced all your building frames along with water lines and verticals, you can lay the tracing paper one on top of the other to ensure that they all align up correctly and you can make sure you don't have any mis shaped /out of line frames.

The other bonus is when you draw the internals of the frames i.e. where you are going to cut the centres out. If you trace this as well, you can flick the tracing paper over so that they are identical both sides. The third and final bonus to this system is you can place all your tracings onto the building materials and move them around so you can obtain the most economical spacings for your frames from the building materials sheet.

Just as a side note about lite ply - an old dear friend Dave Milbourn used to swear by it - but you must ensure it is water proofed well. I normally give mine a couple of coats of HMG Paints Sanding Sealer. It does stink, but it does the job great.

John

As for liteply. It is easily damaged by water so must be adequately sealed but I suppose you could argue that's true of all timber to some extent, but I dont think liteply uses waterproof glue. But the big downside for me is that it's difficult to cut cleanly and splinters easily. Fine for kits that are laser cut.

Personally I won't touch the stuff. The weight saving is marginal in a model boat, especially if bulkheads have their centres mainly removed.

I think I would worry about wallpaper and wallpaper paste. I have a past where hanging wall paper was standard decoration and the paper stretches a lot as matching patterns can testify. I know it was probably the weight of the paper but the paper base of wall paper is random and not structured.

I use a continuous roll of 'tissue' which is strong. I imagine it is a drawing office material and was given to me, it is about 30 inches wide.

I think if you use cut out photocopies and mark a fixed measurement on the original and then check that the pasted on piece conformed to the measurment you won't go far wrong.

Currently I have a small yacht in build and started from laser cut ply. It is worth checking that laser cut ply conforms to the drawings in the same way. I have some difficult to reconcile parts which are now glued in place but I wish I had checked measurements first!
Roy

I've transferred all my builds, including the long keels, on models up to 33" with no issues. Trick is to adequately tape the drawing down to allow the carbon paper to be moved along or use multiple sheets.

Wallpaper paste will probably wrinkle the paper?

Some of the pieces are 30"+ long and to accurately transfer them using carbon paper there's lots of room for error me thinks.
Bought some wallpaper paste so will photocopy and glue onto the ply.
Thanks everybody........

My preferred method is to find some old-style carbon Copy paper, and place a sheet between the plywood and original drawing.

Strength I believe as here in the US lite ply seems to be laminated balsa as beech ply is all beech. So I guess it depends on your models needs at wherever the bulkhead is located. YMMV😁 cheers

Apart from price, what's the difference between Lite Ply and say Beech ply. Can I use the Lite Ply for the bulkheads etc? Save a heap of money!!

Print a copy of the parts using your scanner and printer, Or go to library or FedX and have them make copies, then attach to your wood with a nonpermanent glue. Then cut them out leaving a small waste then sand them down to the line on the printed copy.

Hi Cheddarman, Always cut outside then sand. It is easier to sand down to the line rather than have to fix a slip of a blade or a split etc.

So once you've got the plan on the plywood, should you cut nearly up to the lines and then sand the edges, leaving the line intact or should you cut on the line?
I guess as long as you do the same on every cut it doesn't really matter?

Hi all, just seen this thread. In the past I have used a soft lead pencil and scribbled on the back of the plan and then turned over and draw over the lines. Similar to the carbon paper idea.
Also if it is a chine hull then I use a pin to prick through at the corners and then join the dots on the wood.
Roy

One more tip for replicating plans, old school idea, but cane come in handy if you have some large plans and don't want to scan small sections at a time or pay for a large bed scanner is to use a "light box".

I built mine years ago an use it now and then. It is made of wood about 3.5" high, 25" wide, and 19" deep. Wood sides and bottom and clear frosted (by not removing the protective film on the inside) Plexiglas top. I have fluorescent lights inside, but that was before LED were popular.

An alternative is if you have a large window tape your plan to it and overlay and tape the copy paper on top. Do it during the day when it is brighter outside. The light box placed on a table is easier on the arms and shoulders.

Lew
Florida 😎, USA 😊

Lew

I would have saved a lot of wasted effort if I knew to use scale lines and x.y co-ordinates when duplicating plans, from the start🙄

Obviously, sticking the original plans to the plywood is not a good idea if you plan to cut (saw) the wood with the plan attached.
So that leaves tracing or duplicating the plan. If you want to duplicate (copy machine) the plan I recommend adding some ruled lines ( x & y directions) with measurements. This way you can verify the copy is to scale by measuring it and checking straight lines.
Don' use a camera 👎 to capture the image. A flatbed scanner 👍 also eliminates distortion.
Lew
Florida 😎, USA 😊

I am with ChrisF, been using carbon paper for years. I started before home copiers were invented
👍

I tried sticking the drawings with removeable spray glue as I print my own out but prefer to use the carbon paper method. I think with gluing on there is more chance of distortion, especially with the bigger parts like the keel and I prefer cutting to a line actually on the timber rather than on paper.

Another method is using tracing paper but that seems a bit cumbersome to me as you have to trace on one side and then flip over and go over it again to transfer the pencil.

We each have our favoured method.

Many thanks guys. I think photo copy is the best way to go although years ago when I did this on a biplane I ended up with two different length wings!!!
I think todays printers/copiers are better now so I'll do one and measure compared to the original plan!!

I had no issues with residue at all. By memory I ‘borrowed’ the can of glue from my wife’s sewing room. The only issue that I had was that I had to be careful I did not accidentally move it as it is a low tack type glue.
Or get caught🙄

Hi Cheddar Man,
A good idea from peterd. However photocopy the part from the plan you need and use that instead of the original. Most computer printers have a photo-copy facility. In the past I have used dilute PVA glue unfortunately you cannot get the plan off the wood. I have also used wall paper paste, whist this can be removed by soaking in water, both methods mean that the plan could stretch due to water soaking. So avoid these if possible. Just a thought. does the spray on glue leave a residue that needs to be removed?

best wishes Tim

Same method that I use, however I use a spray on glue that is not a permanent fix and then draw it from that template. This way, the plan is saved most of the time.