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Not enough woodies in the model boat world. Just loads of kit built Dumas Chris Crafts and Amati Rivas with the Timossi Hydro (NOT Ferrari) thrown in. When you consider how many gorgeous woodies of every kind there are and have been that seems to say loud and clear that people won't/can't/don't make anything from scratch any more. Many woodies could be made by adapting the kits made by various companies or the plans sets sold by the Rowell family. Ditchburn, Minet-Shields, Peterborough, Hackercraft, Dodge, Chris Craft, Greavette, Gar Wood, Lyman, Century, Seabird, Richardson.....gentleman's racers, racers, runabouts, sedans, commuters, utilities. So many gorgeous chrome detailed varnished mahogany hot rods, yet so few are ever modelled. I have dozens of plans, so they are available.
HI Westquay I am a scratch builder, so this is my 1920 SK&G Gentleman's Runabout with the 3639-1100kv brushless motor under the dash. Runs a 3S 3700mah Lipo battery on a 37mm 3 blade prop. On the first the driver left his mate standing at the pub and nick off with a bit of skirt !!! Canabus
Generalising again Martin? Dangerous 😲 Canabus is just one example of the excellent scratch builders here. Robbob is another magnificent example. To name but two! Also, many of us, Colin-H for one, me for two😉, are heavily into Renovations, usually without even plans, so that is also like scratch building. Often more fiddly than a new build. Like my Gina 2 cutter for instance. BTW: I've often wondered why your Boat Harbour is empty!? Any pics available? Cheers, Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Doug, I was only talking about woodies as they were what the OP showed. So not really a generalisation. 2 swallows do not a Summer make, as they say.
I don't really understand the boat harbour thing. Yes, I have pictures.
I too love restorations. I just finished 7 total restorations of early (50 year old) Monogram slot car bodyshells. And I have 2 ancient Marinecraft hulls for which various repairs were necessary. One, I have made a very Ditchburnish gent's racer superstructure for, as I had no details of what it was originally like.
Canabus, could you explain S,K&G? I keep seeing it, but have no idea what it is.
".... that people won't/can't/don't make anything from scratch any more." looked pretty 'general' to me Martin, and I guess most, if not all, others here. Whatever, cheers, Doug 😎 PS I did say "To name but two" there are many others here. There's a grain of truth though in what you say; in this RTR/ARTR age 🤔
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
Doug, I think compared with how it was relatively recently, there are, for argument's sakes almost no real scratchbuilders any more. I mean take, or preferably make a drawing and, using stock materials, make a model of something for which there are no kits. And there, the grain of truth is already branching out into a full tree. And that ain't gonna get any better when your own grandchildren, who have grown up watching you make stuff still can't conceive of working at a bench to make something they want, because they can't use their 'phone. I feel sorry for them on one hand and on the other I don't give a shit because I won't be around to see their despair when the power runs out and they wish they'd listened. My two twin granddaughters believe that a portable charger will always be able to charge their 'phones, wherever they are. Common sense has not even taught them to question where IT gets its power. OK, their education so far has been woeful and finally is improving now they've changed schools, but really, should that be necessary in the modern age?
But that's a different topic altogether.
On a better note, I have finally heard from someone local who wants to meet up for a coffee and a natter to discuss running model boats on the local river, a calm and canalised thing with almost no flow and a bridge to get both sides.
I used to scratch build aircraft 50 years ago and thought a kit might just ease me back to modeling (sorry Martin) however I'm doing a scratch build along side my crash tender, its actually a kit but needs a lot of mods as the plans are not as good as they should be so is near enough scratch. Can anybody tell me the difference between scratch and kit building? I think that a lot of scratch builds and kit builds may not be built to a "production standard" however they are built to the best of the builders ability, conversely there are boats (both kit & scratch) on this website that are built to exceptional standards with kits being modified from plan, I've never seen two "same models" that are the same. Each to their own. Any chance you could share your woody plans Martin?
Mike, to me scratch building is just that. You start with bugger all and end up with a model boat. If you start with a kit, you're kit building and if you have to modify it to correct it you're kit-bashing. All perfectly valid, especially if you are using scratchbuilding skills to make a good job of a kit, as I had to do when a client asked me to make up an Amati Riva kit. Biggest pile of crap I ever opened the lid on. Having already built two Rivas from a pile of plywood, a plank of pear and a set of stolen Riva works drawings I was able to kit-bash the garbage into something I could deliver, but never again! I wouldn't know how to share plans, but have em all here if you can inform me how. I have Gary Griswold plans...useful, but crap. You will be correcting the build as you go along, but it's no big deal, just time consuming and a bloody nuisance! I have also a pile (roll) of drawings from The Rudder magazine, an American publication from the 20s. These are of real craft, not models, but that's irrelevant, really, when sections are given. Cheers, Martin
Yes Martin I agree we are a dying breed in this Virtual Reality Throw Away Rush rush world. But also please don't forget that you are a professional model builder with decades of experience.
BTW: my 1/72 HMS Hotspur was absolutely scratch built. My first ever ship model, I was about 13/14 when I started it, with extremely basic hand tools. Kits out of the question and there weren't nuffink like her around anyway. Built to plans drawn up by me on foolscap paper from measurements taken from an Airfix 1/600 kit with a plastic micrometer and scaled up with a slide rule!! Remember them!? Had just started technical drawing at school, very handy. My Type IA submarine, built 30 odd years ago, was a Krick 'kit'! Ha Ha! 4 20mm planks of wood for the hull, a big lump of steel bar for the keel, crude half shell vac-formed tower, and a bag of assorted brass rod and tubing for various fittings. Some brass sheet for the dive planes. 'Thanks for the cash the rest is up to you' sort of deal! A visit to the Deutsches Museum showed up many 'simplifications' in the Krick plan so all the corrections were 'scratch' as well. Notably- Correct hull shape, correct rudder assemblies with skegs, railings, net cutters, flooding slots, wintergarden etc etc.
Looks like Gina 2 is going to be a scratch rebuild from the gunn'l up as well.
Actually I just thought my post might create a little wonderment and some Oohs and Aaahs, not loose off such a debate. I'll know better next time. Now back to Pete's lighting. Ciao, Doug
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
The wall of my work shop. 4 scratch builds & Totnes Castle on work bench. I have 4 others upstairs. 1 sold to a pub & 2 in museums. Oh yes & 1 kit, can I go on the list of scratch builders please.
Hi Doug, A phenomenal place, the Deutche Museum. I visited it when I was working in Munich back in '87/'88.
I agree with the views on scratch building. It's the difference between Model Making and model assembly.
Although, I have to say that, although my 3D printing has been poo-pooed in this forum as non-traditional - is anybody out there still using horse-hoof glue and bamboo strip - most of the stuff I print is self designed.
All the hulls I have built have been hand built. I do have one kit with a moulded hull - a Graupner Optimist- it's been in the garage attic unfinished since 1993. I must get round to it one day. But before that, there's this Ferret plan in the MB mag. That looks interesting.....
'87/'88? I was here then as well, since Oct. '85. Where were you working? I don't ppo poo 3D printing. I have to admit that I've had a 3D printer for 2 years now and haven't even calibrated it yet 🤔 Haven't had a real need that drove me to it yet, will come eventually I hope. Cheers, Doug 😎
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
I was working on a contract for Digital Equipment Corp at Unterfoering and was staying at the other end of town at Westkreuz (Gaestehaus im Forum).
I've had the Ultimaker for 2 or 3 years now. It's great for making the little things. Ship's wheel - 6 hours by hand, 1 hour on the printer. Design it once, print as many as you need. Bits and bollards, fairleads, funnels, ventilators - not cheap from the shop (if they have any) pennies on the printer.
Gotcha! I'm at the other end of town in Ramersdorf near the Ostpark, where my sailing lake is, complete with Biergarten and terrace restaurant 😊 Unterföhring I know, that's where my home bowling alley is, Dream Bowl Palace! Built about 10 years ago, biggest in Europe now with 52 lanes.
Worked here for Rohde & Schwarz for 32 years on Naval Communication Systems.
Hmm, will have to have another look at the printer, and make some space to be able to use it! 😲 Cheers, Doug
Young at heart - slightly older in other places 😉 Cheers Doug
23rd Jul 2018 01:47
