Innehållsförteckning för July 2022 från Model Boats

Build today, shape tomorrow… In recent editions of the magazine, it’s been lovely to see and read about the model boats fellow modellers have built for their grandsons. I also noted with great interest and admiration, Stan Reffin’s superbly made Grand Banks motor launch featured in the Your Models section of the March 2022 issue. What a fantastic job he’s done. The model is packed with detail it looks just like the real thing. This, then, is the story of a simplified version of Grand Banks that I built for my own grandson... 1979 My story really begins long before the ‘White Boat’, though – back in 1979, when I made a model boat for my son, then aged six. It was a spur of the moment thing; no drawings…

Back to basics Firstly, my apologies to those of you out who know the ins and outs of all matters relating to this subject and already have the experience to know which of the numerous products available are best suited to specific tasks. The reason for this article is, however, that one of the most frequent questions that seems to come up both at the pond side and on various online forums relate to a degree of confusion regarding glues. So, for those amongst us who we are trying to encourage to take the plunge and get into the hobby we all love so much, what follows is a very brief look at some of the main categories of glues and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I should point…

Free Plan Due to the pandemic, in 2020, I, like many others in the UK, found myself furloughed from work for a period of three months. Of course, due to lockdown, I could only go out for essentials, and not being able to travel anywhere was tough, but, overall, as a model maker the situation wasn’t actually that bad – particularly as I was fortunate enough to have a good supply of modelling materials to hand. Sometimes the inspiration for a project comes from comes from the most unexpected of sources; in this case it just happened to jump out at me from a jigsaw puzzle my wife was in the process of completing. As she pieced the colourfully painted scene depicted together, a seaside trip boat (of the type…

Classic transatlantic passenger liner Having covered most of the work undertaken on the lower hull last month, this month we’ll continue on with the construction of the upper hull. The sequence for completing this was adapted as I went along, but was generally as follows: 1. The completion the four lower wrap-around walls of the superstructure at forward and aft ends, plus the fitting of the bulwark supports at the bow. 2. The priming and paint finish of the superstructure, including both the exterior and visible interior surfaces. 3. The making, painting and gluing into position as one unit of the Promenade (4) and Sports (5) decks and lifeboat davits. 4. The making, painting and gluing into position as one unit of the Sun/Bridge (6) and Observation (7) decks. 5.…

All hands on deck! MS Finnmarken My model of the MS Finnmarken was inspired by a visit in 2017 to the Hurtigruten Museum in Stockmarknes in the north of Norway. Here the original vessel has been lifted out of the water and positioned on the quayside adjacent to the museum building. Visitors are able to wander around the boat, so I was able to take numerous photographs to aid my build project. To speed thing up, I found a business in the south of Norway that was able to supply a 1:100 scale kit of the Finnmarken (https://www.hobbyruten.com). The kit arrived in a long, attractive box, illustrating the route of the coastal steamer service. Numerous drawings and build photographs helped overcome language problems. My research has enabled me to add…

● Taking the plunge Glynn Guest explains how he dived into the tricky art of R/C submarine modelling ● Two takes on the Hood A superb plastic magic build PLUS JSC’s newly updated card kit reviewed ● Fenland lighter A steam-powered designed to spark up interest PLUS A thematically varied selection of feature-length articles, all your favourite regular pages – including Your Models, Your Letters, news, reviews – and lots more (Please note: content may be subject to change) You will find more about the exciting content coming next, features of particular interest you may have missed in past editions and details of the very latest subscription offers on our website at www.modelboats.co.uk You can, of course, order you copy of the August 2022 issue, which goes on sale at…

If you have a news story for these pages, please contact the Editor, Lindsey Amrani, via e-mail at editor@modelboats.co.uk Further to much recent speculation online about the future of the enamel paints in Humbrol’s range, we thought it worth clarifying the situation by bringing you an official statement from Hornby Hobbies Ltd, Humbrol’s parent company: "recently, a chemical called 'Meko' (Methylethyl Ketone Oxime), which can be found in enamel paints, was reclassified, and could not be sold to the general public in Europe after March 1, 2022. As this deadline approached, Humbrol ceased to ship stocks to EU customers, pending the arrival of reformulated Meko-free Humbrol Enamel. Brexit has triggered the migration of EU Regulations to British equivalents. There has subsequently been divergence between these regulations. The reclassification of Meko…

American Scout WWII Liberty Ship Back in 1974, my wife and I had only been married for three months and were living in a tiny 650 sq ft one bedroom apartment. With barely enough room to swing a cat, it was there I embarked upon my first ever R/C project, built, from Sterling’s American Scout World War II Liberty Ship kit, on the new coffee table in our living room – a real test of our new marriage! The kit was basically all balsa wood and was supplied with a steel propeller shaft and steel shaft tube. A white metal fittings kit was purchased as an extra. Propulsion came courtesy of a Dumas electric motor through a Dumas reduction gear assembly, with a dog bone coupling and pressed on two-blade…

While I cannot claim to have watched all eight series and an unbelievable 91 episodes of The Onedin Line, this BBC television drama left an indelible mark on me. As I write this article the theme tune to the series courses through my mind; it was the Adagio from Spartacus by Khachaturian. What was it about, this fairly innocuous programme that still haunts my memory? Well, it was set in Liverpool and charted the chequered history of James Onedin, owner of the Onedin Line, during the period from 1860 to 1886. It starred Peter Gilmore and Anne Stallybrass as the fictional husband and wife, and, as it happened, the actors ended up getting married to each other in real life. The indisputable star of the show, however, was the schooner…

Arleigh Burke build My last Model Boats magazine article was published back in 2014 (a 1:48 HMS Clyde build), and, with my cold casting and master fitting making skills greatly improved post that build, I can now share with you how I took things to the next level by embarking on an even greater challenge. My passion has always been building warships, so an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer had for some time been on my bucket list. The ships of the Arleigh Burke class (DDGs) are among the largest destroyers built in the United States and number 70 built to date. This class of guided missile destroyer (DDG) has been built around the Aegis Combat System and the SPY-1D multi-function radar. The lead ship, USS Arleigh Burke, was commissioned in 1991…

Flotsam & Jetsam I told the story of Taycol (Taylor and Collis) motors back in the February 2014 edition of Model Boats. It is obvious that these British-made motors, which had their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, still hold a special place in the hearts of vintage enthusiasts and collectors judging by the number of questions about their operation that have come my way or are posted on forums. Most of these queries relate to the use of these motors with modern R/C equipment and, specifically, how it is possible to obtain reverse running. What follows, then, is an explanation of how this can readily be achieved so that a vintage boat may not only be made to look right in the engine compartment but have that heady whiff…

The long haul… In 2021, just before my 81st birthday, I finished – well, almost except for about six items of stern decoration – a ¼-inch to 1ft (1:48) scale model of HMS Victory, based upon the plans included in a slip case of the HMSO Publication of 1966 HMS Victory Building, restoration and repair (this printed volume came with drawings, photographs and slip case). The plans are based upon the 1797 rebuilding of Victory when the stern galleries were removed and, instead, the stern was all glassed in, as we know her today. Now, I have to admit that I’m not an experienced model maker, and I had to learn as I went along, especially when it came to Victory. Over the years, however, I have managed to construct…

Last month I explained how and why I decided to marry up a Wide-A-Wake clinker-built hull design with a Hemmens twin poker burner boiler and a Caton ‘V’ four engine. Having documented this project to the point of getting the deck with the feed tank and the separator tank fitted as a removable module, it’s now, therefore, time to progress the internal build and the outside of the hull. The hull exterior The more I looked at the hull, admired the stylish lines of the clinker construction and appreciated the beauty of the finished wood, the more I wondered whether it would benefit from an additional finish below the waterline. I toyed with the idea of painting the lower surfaces with an anti-fouling finish and considered various different gloss colours,…

Following Part 1 of Roy Cheers’ Empress of Canada build feature in last month’s issue, I thought fellow readers might be interested to see some shots another Empress of Canada. There were actually three Canadian Pacific Steamship vessels that carried this name. Mine represents the first, built in the 1920s. Although obviously designed as an ocean liner, following the outbreak of World War II she was converted to a troopship, a role in which she served until, at midnight on March 14, 1943, she was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci approximately 400 miles (640 km) south of Cape Palmas off the coast of Africa. I built her in 2009 while I was still in high school with the help of my dad, and during the…

Letters can either be forwarded via email to editor@modelboats.co.uk or via post to Readers’ Letters, Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR A warm Blackburnb & District MBC welcome awaits The Blackburn & District Model Boat Club would like to welcome anyone in East Lancashire with an interest in model boats to come and join us. We sail every Wednesday and Sunday morning throughout the year at Queen’s Park Lake in Blackburn (BBQ 1QF). We have just reached agreement with the local Council for us to use toilet and shelter facilities at the Watersports Centre, right at the edge of the lake. We have every type of craft imaginable (internal combustion power not permitted unfortunately) and quite a variety of boats is usually to be seen…