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.