Innehållsförteckning för February 2024 från Model Boats

Room for improvement? When you’re new to model building your first scratch-built boat is a delight. You, not some kit manufacturer, can decide upon the ‘where’s and ‘how’s. Armed with limited information/experience, though, there is always the possibility that you will blunder on, unaware of where you’re going astray. That was me in 2005/6, building a model of a yawl called Sheila 2nd. I got lots right, she looked OK, and I was filled with optimism when I took her for her first sail as Bonny Lad (named for the man who lent me the drawings – see the With a little help from my friends feature in last month’s issue). Besides having all the paraphernalia of sail and rudder control, I had decided to have a motor and prop…

I think by now we’re all familiar with the potential risks involved when purchasing items via online auction sites, and much of this month’s instalment of Memory Lane radiates around one of my more ill-advised ‘wins’… A bad buy So, I bought myself a vintage Sea Urchin, and got stung! For those of you unfamiliar with Aerokits, this is the smallest of the once terrifically popular ‘Sea’ series of model boat kits designed by Mr Les Rowell, which were marketed and distributed by Keil-Kraft. When said kit duly arrived, I had a nasty shock, in that the box was virtually empty. Despite obviously having viewed the pictures posted by the seller in his listing, it now became evident they had been carefully ‘posed’. The listing had been worded to explain…

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 On turning up to make the next gas delivery, however, he dropped an unexpected bombshell: he wanted to be able to sail this model via radio control. My original understanding was that we had been taking about a static model! Fortunately, this came before I had fitted the deck, so I could still work out servo mountings, rudder push rods and mainsheet leads fairly easily. I would also, however, have to make provision for a detachable false keel for sailing. Onwards, and once I’d fitted all the radio gear, the ply deck could go on; on this I drawn pencil lines to represent planking…

Signals A remarkable Victory Master modeller John Aliprantis’s build of a unique and highly detailed 1:75 scale version of HMS Victory based on Billing Boats’ kit (Ref. BB 490) is now complete. John explains: “I built this model with the full cooperation and support of Billing Boats but incorporated many extra little touches I designed myself along the way. Besides all the features you’d expect to see, such as cannons, cannon ports, etc, my model incorporates: ■ A copper hull, consisting of 2,200 individual pieces of copper plate■ 20 sails■ The use of different types of coloured (black, brown and tan) rope, each chosen to match a specific purpose (e.g., for standing or running rigging, etc)■ Seven ship’s boats■ Yellow LED lighting inside the four lanterns (three on the stern…

Plan buildPART TWO Having dealt with the basic structures of the hull, wheelhouse, arctic cover and ramp in Part 1 (see January 2024 issue, which included the free pull-out plan for this build) I can now move on to some of the fittings, the airbrush techniques and associated materials used for the model’s finish, and the all-important on-water trials. Bitts and arctic cover handrails & bulkhead Along the edge of the gunwale port and starboard are eight small bitts (see Photo 1). Rather than moulding in resin, I decided to fabricate all eight using aluminium tube for the barrels, brass for the connecting bar and styrene for the bed. As these were mounted with the use of locating pins, I inserted a length of brass tube into the barrels as…

Steam Basics Pt. 149 I think it would be fair to say that over 90% of the plant I test as a Boiler Tester are manufactured units with previous certification, and usually below the 3 bar-litre limit. In most cases I’ve done the previous test myself, so I’m familiar with the plant and the owner and the steam test will usually be around a 15-minute process, finishing with the boat going on the water for a sail. Occasionally, though, something a little bit out of the ordinary comes along that requires a bit more thought and preparation, possibly even some homework, before determining the best course of action. Sometimes this might be an old, secondhand unit that has been picked up with no paperwork, no information, and which has obviously…

Living in Cornwall, I have a passion for building model boats of local and/or historical significance. While looking for a new project in early 2021, a friend lent me a book Passenger Steamers of The River Fal, containing some fascinating old photographs of the many locally built vessels which served the river route to Truro, then still an active inland port, and also provided coastal excursions. One in particular, the Princess Victoria, took my fancy and was, in fact, the longest-serving Fal River passenger steamer, until requisitioned by the War Office in 1942 and never seen again. All I had, however, was a handful of blurry black and white pictures and a tiny silhouette of the Princess Victoria, but with both the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and The Royal Cornwall…

LCM 711 With the publication of the landing craft model plans in October/November I was inspired to have a go at making one myself. I did some research and produced this standoff scale model of a Royal Navy LCM (Landing Craft Mechanised). I designed much of the detail in FreeCad and then 3D-printed it, but for hull I followed the published design, just upscaling it a little to approximately 1:35. The figures and Jeep I found free on the Thingiverse! I’m new to R/C modelling so I’m afraid the paintwork is not up to the usual standard seen on the pages of the Your Models section. Let’s just say I went for a ‘well-used’ look. STEVE CHAMBERSEMAIL I love that even though new to R/C modelling Glynn’s plan motivated you…

PLUS accompanying build guide for this stand-off scale World War II Royal Navy destroyer KD Perkasa SLEC’s 1:40 scale Fast Patrol Boat kit reviewed ● Amphibious vehicles The modelling challenges to consider before taking the plunge 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 March 2024 issue, which goes on sale at all good newsagents from February 16, now, but why not…