Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Model Boats

A first look at… HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy and built in Henry Adams’ shipyard at Bucklers Hard. She was also the first to carry that name in the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but all her active service took place after her conversion to a 44- gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in…

Free Plan This month’s free plan and build guide is for the latest of three airboats I’ve designed. The first was a small one, using spare stuff accumulated while relearning to fly R/C aircraft using Speed 400 motors, and was published in the Sept 2007 issue of Model Boats. The second, built a few years later, was a shade larger for the more powerful 500-600 motors, and was included in the Oct 2014 issue. Both are of simple balsa/plywood construction and are fast and stable, albeit with the ‘different’ handling quirks that seem to be characteristic of such models. Steered with air rudders, on the water they must be slid into turns and it’s quite novel to see a pronounced yaw when they travel in a slightly wider turn. Too…

Signals OUT AND ABOUT Helston & Falmouth MRC Spring Exhibition Heston & Falmouth Model Railway Club’s annual spring exhibition, this year scheduled for the weekend of April 15-16 at the Pool Academy in Church Road, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 3PZ, has been expanded to embrace a wider spectrum of modelling interests, including model boats, model aircraft (both R/C and static), R/C trucks, military models and model architecture. From 10am to 5pm on the Saturday and 10am to 4pm on the Sunday, there will be three halls of exhibits and trade stands to browse, as well as outdoor demonstrations (weather permitting). Admission will be charged at £6 for adults, £3 for the under 16s, or £14 for a family ticket (covering two adults and two children). Free onsite parking will be available…

Thrills and spills Well, a warm welcome to this my first article for Model Boats magazine. For those who don’t know me, I’ve been involved with model boating since the early 1990s, although I did take a break for around 13 years, returning to the hobby in 2015. My main interest is circuit racing (hydro-style outriggers and some smaller offshore style boats). By the time you get to see this article we will be heading into the summer months here in the UK (meaning warmer weather, I hope!), so it seems the perfect time to start drawing more attention to I.C. powerboats by providing links to club events and providing some general information for anyone wishing to try out I.C. powerboating themselves. I should point out that I don’t profit…

Plastic magic Having outlined the hull and running gear modifications made last month, this month we come to the rotating guns, radar, mainmast, etc, and, of course, how the finished model performs… First painting attempts The original ships in this class were endearingly nick-named ’Blue Devil’ due to the standard paint scheme adopted for the class at the time, which included blue decks. But while I’d already decided I wanted to give the finished model a dazzle pattern in various shades of grey and black, I wasn’t at all sure about how to establish the correct blue for the deck, as while internet searches called up lots of images of the real thing, they were all black and white. Frustratingly, a number of different websites carry conflicting information, so I…

Vintage tugboat restoration Joan was, according to a plate at the front of her deck saloon, built in 1926 by Messrs Herbert & Wild, who at that time were, I believe, members of the West Hartlepool Model Power Boat Club. My friend, Charles Camera, and I acquired her when she was listed on a well-known web-based auction site about 15 years ago. The club selling her pointed out that she’d been kept on static display in a wall case for many years. It’s likely she hadn’t been sailed since the 1930s, and at over 74-inches in length, 17-inches in the beam and weighing in excess off one and half hundred weight, perhaps that not so surprising. “It’s likely she hadn’t been sailed since the 1930s, and at over 74-inches in…

Out and about Harrogate has long been synonymous with model engineering shows. Due to the rebuilding of the exhibition centre there in 2016 though, shows were moved to the Doncaster Racecourse, until, in 2020, with the intervention of Covid in 2020, they were completed halted. Fast forward to 2023 and under new organisation/management the Harrogate Model Engineering Exhibition was once again up and running. As the name would imply, the focus of this year’s event was model engineering, with a strong emphasis on model railway displays. Yet, true to the event’s previous format, there was strong alternative model content, including trucks, tanks, heavy plant, aircraft and, of course, model boats. The exhibition was held over two days, taking in the Friday and Saturday, not Sunday as in previous years. This…

Flotsam & Jetsam Over the years many attempts have been made by manufacturers to simplify the installation of an electric motor into a model boat, particularly the important task of aligning it with the stern tube. The essential elements of motor, battery, stern tube, coupling and gearing (if any) can be pre-assembled in different combinations and offered as a product that attempts to either achieve the goal of easier installation or provide propulsion which more closely represents that of a particular full-size prototype. One example is the model outboard, covered recently in these pages, but a look back at the modelling past reveals many others. Distler The first example from my own collection is the 1950s’ ‘Elektromotor fur Shiffsmodelle’ Standard, featuring the German Distler motor packaged with a stern tube,…

Head of steam I was very impressed, almost excited, by Richard Norman’s article (see Feb 2021 issue) describing his modifications to a medical nebulizer to turn it into a model boat smoke generator. My previous smoke generators had involved big-ish tanks, a fan, and a voltage increaser to provide 24V for a heavy nebulizer device. The tanks could only use about half of the water required. Here was Richard describing a simple, compact device powered by only 5V, the same voltage used by our radios. My excitement was somewhat diminished when I checked his Amazon link only to find it listed the device as “out of stock”. Of course, a simple search quickly displayed similar devices, but the search also revealed a different type, even more compact and able to…

Plans and achievements Thank you for the free James Pottinger plan in the November 2022 issue; I have now already started work on my own 1:96 model of LT Woodleigh. I have been a subscriber to Model Boats since 1994, as well as to the Model Shipwright, so I’ve had access to many of Mr. Pottinger’s plans. I enjoy how these feature a wide variety of vessels from an era when ships really looked like ships, and that they provide enough detail to build a satisfying and accurate model. He also has me spending many pleasurable hours of further research to sort out all the fiddly bits! When building from scratch you become very personally involved in the model, from your interpretation of the drawings, choice of materials and construction…