Great video. That consistent “melody of sounds” would sound great if a builder of this tug could take it from the video and load it into a sound system. Very peaceful!

The pre-start procedure reminds me of using a pre- flight checklist for a plane, even though the Captain has it all in his head.

Great clip- I love old tugs anyway, and saved it to my files!

I thought Cat O Nine Tails WERE an “Essential Item!” 😁😉

Looked up your tug in the
harbor. Beautiful build. Did you ever do a build log for it?

I also saw quite a few Chris Crafts in addition to the ones on display. You
Have a beautiful and extensive collection!

I should add that I have always loved Chris Crafts, especially the cruisers. We had quite a few around Grand Island, and the Sterling kits were quite a hit when they came out.

Is that tug on the upper left built from the Frances Smith plan in Model Builder and Model Ship Builder? I can tell it is a ‘civilianized’ Army Corps of Engineers ST Tug.

Those are great photos. In addition to showing your lowering sling, the second one really shows the size of your tug.

This is a very well imagined and well executed build. Taking notes for a future tug build. I do have a plan for the interior of the actual tug, which should be helpful for placing the bunks.

In view of your comment that you will ballast after floating the tug, what are you (or did you) use for ballast, and where do you put it in. I think that is a great idea, so the fun of running the tug isn’t impaired by back pain. 😊

Wow! What a beautiful model! Inspires me to go into my files for a plan of a penny steamer I have stashed away.

My problem is too much inspiration and not enough perspiration. I love so many kinds of ships and boats that I want to build them all, sometimes jumping off a project to research a new one. So when I get my legs working again and some space to do it in, I will focus on completing a previously started project.

This model makes me envious of your work!

I think that the hobby of building or assembling model boats is very similar to the build vs assemble in the model airplane world. Some people just want something to take out and fly on the weekend. There have been very similar ready to sail boats for a number of years, the Atlantic tug, and the similar fishing boat, and a very large number of racing boats. Many of the tugs and fishing boats get modified to be more scale like, as do the scale ARTFs.

In assembling a large scale computer printed model, the goal seems to be how accurate a model can be to its prototype, rather than how accurately you can build it. At first, a number of fittings were available, not a lot different from the metal fittings that had been available for a long time, but more accurate to a particular model. But increases in equipment size and programming skills have made it possible to build, in some cases, an entire ship. A lot like building the 1:200 Titanic kit from the new kit, yet there are those selling more detail parts for that kit, down to plating and rivets, so on it goes.

It reminds me of the discussion of Fiberglass vs built up hills in the old days.

I guess the key issue is what the modeler wants - a museum piece to display, or something a little lessor to operate, or a very accurate model you built yourself.

In the world of the average scale modeler, I feel the same about people who can invest in a lathe and who have machining skills. I doubt that I will ever do that. But I have used a drill to use some level of ‘machining.’

I started out when a carpenter on a construction site cut a point on a piece of 2x4, drilled mast holes in it and stuck cardboard sails on it, for my own “Santa Maria.” It sailed, and for my early age it was great.

But for years I have also collected plans, and have built kits, from scratch in wood, and plastic kits. I doubt that I will ever build a whole computer printed model, just like I will never fly an ARTF Spitfire.

I could say it is all the modeller's choice, and there is no harm - but we are losing the local hobby stores, which I used to love. But we were already losing them before 3D printing due to large online suppliers, etc., so that is another problem.

She’s beautiful!!!

Looking forward to your build. I love the old Classical tugs!

Well, RN, since you know the Buffalo area, I grew up on Grand Island, across the Niagara River, and a little northwest. I lived there from 1944 to 1967, then went off to San Diego to join the crew of the USS Canberra, CAG-2.

Even Niagara Falls is affected by the current storm! https://www.facebook.com/susan.brosseau.7/videos/38628161304...

https://www.facebook.com/susan.brosseau.7/videos/3862816130437995/?

🔗

When I was an Assistant Professor for Naval Science (Navy ROTC Unit) at Iowa State University), we were in the office one sunny May morning, when it clouded over and began to snow - hard. By early afternoon, a neighbor Lieutenant (whose wife had the car) and I decided we’d better go home.

By that time, the streets had snowed over, and we were going very slowly on the main road toward home. We were doing OK, until we were nearly by a small food mart. Rather than try to park and drive in, two cars in front of us just stopped, and the drivers got out and walked into the store.

When they got back in, they couldn’t get going again. We were about two to two and a half miles from home, so we decided to walk and started walking diagonally across a field that was also bordered by the street we lived on. However, the snow kept getting deeper and our legs were getting very tired. Fortunately, two men on snowmobiles were coming toward us, and they picked us up and took us home. They said they had gone out to find and rescue people like us. I don’t know if we would have made it home without our “rescuers” but I have never since just started walking in snow extending up to my knees. That was the worst blizzard I have ever been in, even though I grew up near Buffalo, New York.

Looks a lot like my Mom’s father!!! 😊😊😊

I should have checked my last post for autocorrect errors. My post should have started with “Nerys,” not “Beets.”

I first saw the Mt Washington in John Fryant’s Paddlewheels and Propellers catalog. Somewhere along the line I searched for John Braeynart, who drew the plan, and found a Steamboat Bill issue with his model of Mt Washington in it. After corresponding with John, I found out he would be coming to San Diego, so we arranged to meet.

Later, while at Naval War College in Newport, RI., we were off for the Martin Luther King holiday, so I had a chance to chase down the Maritime Museums and found John’s model.

A couple of years later, when Dumas came out with the kit, I was able to buy it. However, life has gotten in the way, in more ways than one. It does give me something to look forward to, and I have followed some on-line builds and gotten a few tips as well.

OK, I have probably drifted too far from “real boats,” so I am closing this up.9

Beets: I can only imagine the sound of those paddle wheels from a few times having rented a paddle wheeler at a recreational lake, and from films, so I envy that experience. I am still tied to a walker - working toward using a cane with a physical therapist. In the meantime, I need to clear a work area in my garage, so I can still work while using the walker. And I need to send someone up to the rafters of my garage to recover my Dumas Mt Washington kit, so I can hear those paddle wheels again.

Thank you. Hope to keep the career going through getting my modeling going with my grandsons when they can come to visit.

That is for sure!!! Especially if you look at my unbuilt kits and plans!!! 😉😊

I know that many members here have talked about building their own boats, but though I have been “on the water for most of my life, except for rentals, I never had a full sized ‘personal boat.’

I was brought up in Grand Island, New York, which is situated in the Niagara River, just northeast of Buffalo, New York. Before my parents and older sisters moved to the house that I was born into, they lived in a cottage on the West River of the Island. They had a dock and an outboard powered open boat. It used to sit behind our back fence, but I don’t recall going out in it, unless I was very young at the time.

The house was about three blocks away from the East River, and we could see the South Bridge, and the superstructures and stacks of ore freighters and tankers passing by. (Although the northern tip of Grand Island is 8 miles from Grand Island, the river around the island is navigable.)

My next door neighbors had an outboard powered mahogany boat, which we used to go out early with his parents, and later for water skiing. I have a very strong memory of skiing on the East River when the boat “lost power,” and I went down with my skis. When I looked behind me, there was a Great Lakes freighter coming up the channel behind me. At that point, I abandoned the skis and started swimming for the edge of the channel. Then the outboard motor suddenly regained its life, and my friend quickly came up to recover the skis and me.

There were plenty of other boats as well. I received rowing and canoeing merit badges at scout camp, and in Sea Explorers, we restored a former Navy Utility boat, and we used to camp out on Strawberry Island, taking everything by boat.

There were also the Thunderboats that raced every summer until the boats got too fast for the width of the river.

As a Midshipman during summer training, there were LCM’s that took us to and from our troopship to the beach; later that same summer, I took sailing lessons and became qualified on Sunfish sailboats.

The following summer, I was the Acting First Lieutenant on the USS England, DLG 22 for six weeks, and the following year, as a newly commissioned Ensign, I was assigned as an Air Intercept Controller to the USS Canberra (CAG-2), pictured here.

My second ship was the USS Connole (DE-1056), which was still in construction at Avondale Shipyard, just west of New Orleans.

Following that tour, I went to the US Navy Logistics Support Activity/Naval Advisory Group, involving transfer of maintenance of the ‘Brown Water Navy’ to the Vietnamese Navy. My last ‘gray’ ship was the USS Barbour County (LST-1195), which was involved in the evacuation of Vietnam.

I also was on a Disney Cruise in later years with no concerns about standing watches.

As a result of being brought up on the river and ocean, I have come to love and model all kinds of ships and boats, so it often gets difficult to decide what type to build.

Somewhere on my workbench, I have a sound board fo Diesel engine noise to be hooked to the motor so it would vary with speed. It is to go in my trawler, once it stops being ‘decor’. I already have a speaker in the boat for the horn.

It may be the one offered by Harbor Models, who offer it with a 2” or 4”
Speaker. It also includes a horn.

https://www.harbormodels.com/sounds.html

🔗

I don’t know if I specifically worked with Paul, but I did follow Model Boats on the internet for a number of years. My condolences go to his family and friends. We have far too many losses from the COVID Pandemic on both sides of the pond. I hope that the vaccine will eventually bring down the infection rate, but the sooner, the better.

Looking great!!!

I do have the paintings by Ken Marschall for guidance, and various photos to use as a guide, when I choose to start. I also have the musicians, but I don’t think I want to display the ship as going down.

If it is an operating model, i believe it should have crew. My Trawler uses figures converted from a plastic fireman set in a plastic bag in the toy section of the local drug store. It was fairly easy to convert the fireman’s coat to the ‘nor’easter’ of the boat captain. Horsemen Faldo make good line handlers.

I think it is ok for static models to have no crew, unless they are in a diorama. I have a set of GMM PE in my “to do” pile that includes a set of passengers for the Titanic, which I am planning to install.

And, May I wish the same to all of you, and yours . . .

You are definitely not alone! 😀m

And the same to you and yours. We will all be close, thanks to the CORONAVIRUS Lockdown! 😁

The layout of the Elke is very similar to that of the New England trawlers, which was my first R/C boat. Mine has a horn in it, so I can sneak up on the ducks. Presently needs an overhaul, as the radio is old enough to be outdated.

In the meantime, it has to serve as ‘decor’ until I replace it with another suitable boat or ship.

She’s really looking lovely. (Probably not a good adjective for A hard working boat!) Glad your recovery permits you to work on it. Be sure to post her next sea trials! 😊

Thank you. In the meantime, I am continuing planning, and following this site and the other websites. Of course, that leads to a lot of alternative ideas for new projects.🙄😀