USS Arizona - would have preferred an HMS VAnguard (Battle Cruiser) but cant get one for love nor money

RusselBrothers built 38 Ville Class tugs for the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII many of these vessels served on both the West and East coastal waters. After their service in the war many were sold for private enterprises. Sine the hull is basically the same size on all these 38 Ville tugs I built one hull and made three different wheelhouses to represent three different tugboats currently operating in different locations of Canada. Beamsville is owned and operated by Marcel Theriault working out of Tofino, B.C. Loganville is owned and operated by Pete Spencer working out of Port Dover, on Lake Erie, Ontario, Canada Miss Jenna is owned and operated by Kelley and Son working out of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada I have had the privilege of meeting all three owners, photographing each vessel and sailing aboard the Beamsville in the Tofino Harbour.

Yet another classic, The Wavemaster was designed by Les Rowell, and marketed by HMM, Hammersmith Model Makers of London. It was 34" in length by 11" width. Retail price back in 1958, including purchase tax was 71/7 or £3.58.

This is the 2nd Lesro Javelin/Streaker that I bought as part of a deal when buying the 1st (yes, I know, I can't help it!) Will

This is one of my Lesro Javelin/Streaker race type boats. Whilst buying one, the seller mentioned having another one, and a deal was done for the two Will

Built as a cheap-ish rescue boat driven by a planetary geared 540 sized motor off the Ali Express website, turning at 2300rpm max off 12volts, allowing it to turn a 50mm 4-bladed brass prop - plenty of pushing power! Have had it chugging around for over 30mins while having a conversation with a local dog-walker about hobbies in general; thought it would have used a fair amount of the battery (2 x 1.3ah in parallel), but only around 500mah consumed. I guess those gears work well, as the motor seems to stay nice and cool! The figures are cheap 1/18 scale (about right for this size of Springer Tug) 'Peacekeeper' soldiers from Toyworld, repainted to mimic a salvage crew. Bruder figures could also be an option, but they are very expensive here in NZ. rgds, Nick

This simple Vic Smeed design was originally for the 'Unit Steam Powerplant' but the plan does say suitable for electric...! I've had this plan for decades, finally using it to give myself a break from building RC planes and re-kindling my interest in boat-building. Mine was blown up to 33.75ins from the original's 27ins, giving a beam of around 4ins and a weight of 3.8 - 3.9kg. I used a re-purposed RS370 motor gearbox from an old foamie RC trainer plane, with the gear ratio around 3:1. This allowed this otherwise high-revving motor to easily drive a 3-bladed 40mm prop off a 6volt 4.5ah Lead gel battery, drawing very little current. Only drawback is the gearbox is a little noisy, but the boat sails very well after a slight adjustment to the positioning of the lead weighted keel. I've sailed it around for up to 20 minutes at reasonably scale speeds so far, and only had to put around 450mah back into the battery, so I guess it would probably sail for well over an hour if necessary. A great build for having a go at making your own scratch-built fittings eg, railings, vents, windlass, derricks, rigging ... Nick

And another Presumably Precedent Huntsman 31 aft cabin.

Due to my love of the Fairey brand, I got a little carried away, and now own three of these smaller 34" Huntsman 31. I'm unsure of the manufacturer of the model, but presume it's a Precedent kit. My 'eventual' plan, is to have one stock looking 31, like a Fairey factory boat, one race replica, and one converted to 'aft cockpit', rather than the common 'aft cabin'. Yes, you guessed it, a project.

In my quest to own more 'Scale' model boats, this Sea Queen came along. The paint is flaking and peeling away in various places, so a rub down and repaint will be required, when I get around to it. Yep, another project

The 2nd Lesro Sportsman mk1 that came my way. In my opinion, the mk1 is prettier than the mk2 which had a flying bridge fitted.

Yet another of the Lesro range of boats, again one of the lesser seen ones, but being very 'scale', I had to try and add one to my fleet.

The Lesro brand of model boats caught my eye due to their Scale like appearance, but also in some cases, their rarity. I had heard of a few of the range, but definitely not all of them. This Stiletto was another auction win, and yes, another 'project' boat.

Model boats under about 24" were always in my opinion too small for me, because some of their use 'will be' on the river by my parents house. When I saw the Sea Urchin, I instantly fell for it, thinking what a cute model boat, and because it's very 'scale' too, I had to bid on this one when I saw it. So, yet another.....project

After my interest in model boats increased again, I started keeping an eye out for classic motor boats, ones that were more realistic and scale like, or slightly different. this Veron marlin fell under those categories nicely, and is in quite decent condition. Yet another 'project' Are you sensing a theme yet?

Thames police launches are a boat that I really like the design of, so when this one appeared for auction I bid on it. Like so many others of my 'fleet', it came with an ic motor, but will be converted to brushless electric.

Because of my love of the Fairey brand of boats, I had to get hold of a Veron Huntsman 28, and this is one of two that I now own. The Huntsman 28 is in my opinion, about the prettiest of the Fairey range of boats, even though some of the others are better sea boats. This is the one of my model boats that I want to get on the water first (eventually! )

First build of a us army harbour tug, a very novice build 🫣

Re-mod of my simple "Foam on Foam" platform (Clears the weed nicely) Built for speed not for silence !!!.

Another "Nip" camera boat.

2" to the foot scale ,build is cold molded double diagonal .the are NZ .crayfishing boats

Large, interesting, and ancient Sterling Models kit and a labor of love. Took my 6 months and she runs stable although high. Took me quite some time to sort the ballast. A personal favorite. Details to follow.

Fun kit, reliable but ultimately kind of slow. Going to overhaul this one for speed. Custom paint job.

Restored with custom paint job. Leaks like a sieve. In dry-dock for repairs.

Rescued and restored...

Great kit restored...

Been meaning to build my Harbor for quite a while, so I'll get started with pix. Details to follow.

New acquisition - Southampton Tug - bit of a play thing really but it has working lights a horn and a half decent transmitter

New acquisition - Elco MTB - In a Bit of a State - it needs some TLC

A recent acquisition with sound and smoke built by a Sussex member the rear boatman steers the rudder all in 1/12th scale