Innehållsförteckning för July 2024 från Model Boats

The June 2021 issue of Model Boats featured my review of the attractive Navarino Models 1:24 scale traditional Greek Chaniotiki Gaita fishing boat kit. Its small size and method of construction put it firmly in the static model category, but the instructions did include full size drawings of the major hull components, which made me think about the possibility of building a larger working version in the future. For many years, my wife and I have visited Greece on a regular basis, and I have taken the opportunity to photograph the colourful and attractive caique type fishing boats to be found all over the region. All the small ports in Greece have their local fleets of fishing boats and, while some of them are now modern designs with GRP hulls,…

My Shandau adventure began in a charity shop in Maldon, Essex, where I came across the Yachting World Annual 1957, a review of yacht and motorboat designs constructed in that year. It was full of the original designers’ plans and a brief history of the design and builder, which for a model builder is manna from heaven. My passion for this type of gentleman’s motor yacht goes back to Vic Smeed’s semi scale Silver Mist design, based on the Silver Vanity built by James A. Silver in his yard at Rosneath, Scotland. Built at that same yard, Shandau was designed by John Bain, who has many similar designs to his credit. A Google search will reveal numerous pictures of Shandau in her current beautifully restored condition, taken from she is…

Memory Lane The famous old British firm of E.D. (Electronic Developments Surrey) Ltd founded by Jack Ballard began in the late 1950s with the aim, as the company name surely suggests, of designing and manufacturing model aircraft and boat remote-control systems and, to this end, it employed George Honnest-Redlich as chief engineer. Mr Redlich was very successful in this regard and E.D. did indeed design, build and market the most successful of our country’s very first single- and multi-channel R/C systems; the latter using the resonant reed/relay system – an idea that originated out in the USA. It is something of a mystery as to how and why Mr Ballard came to expand his fledgling company’s initial offerings in order to include model diesel engines, but the decision was a…

Thorneycroft CMB The August 2021 edition of Your Models featured a Thorneycroft 55ft CMB (Coastal Motor Boat) built by the late Keith Hayes from the plan by Barrie Griffin, which I understand is now sailed by Richard Simpson. The following edition featured Roger Pickett’s own version. You put me in contact with Roger, who kindly took the time to send me a copy of the original article from Marine Modelling International April 2008, along with a letter describing his build and a list of suppliers. Now, nearly three years later, my own version is complete and has had its maiden sail at the wonderful Wallasey model boating pool. I have made a few changes to Barrie’s original design, namely the fitting of a A2212/10T 1400KV brushless motor, repositioning the rudder…

Signals URGENT HEALTH & SAFELY ALERT – PLEASE READ! A very serious health & safety issue has been kindly brought to our attention by reader Robin Evans following last month’s publication of Part 1 of Tony Bird’s ST Henley TLC feature. Consequently, this is an urgent warning about the extreme danger of any kind of exposure to asbestos while modelling. The inhalation or ingestion of asbestos dust or fibres can result in Mesothelioma (better known as Asbestosis), an incurable, terminal cancer. Asbestos, therefore, should never be sawn, filed, sanded or drilled, etc. Indeed, once discovered asbestos should only ever be dealt with by specialist contractors, who will remove and dispose of it safely. Further information about and advice regarding the dangers of asbestos can be sourced via Mesothelioma UK at…

All for one, and one for all The Mintanic (see the March 2024 issue of Model Boats) was a modest success. Not only did the hull perform creditably but the interchangeability of the tops was great fun. However, having one hull and four different looks for it was, I felt, something that could be further developed. The issue with the current Mintanic set-up is that the front deck is glued solidly in, and the superstructure sides are extensions of the hull; both items have to stay in place, and this limits the style of alternative top that you can fit. But, if one was to make a plain hull devoid of any particular defining characteristic, then this would open up the possibilities big-time. Larger? Smaller? Pointier? As with the previous…

Flotsam & Jetsam Sleeping Beauty was the code name for the MSC (Motorised Submersible Canoe), one of the more bizarre weapons to emerge from World War II. As its name suggests, it took the basic form of a canoe that could be paddled or sailed in the usual way but was also a motorised submarine, by means of which its one-man operator could approach an enemy coast or harbour, submerged and unseen, to conduct reconnaissance or plant limpet mines on the hulls of ships. Long shrouded in secrecy, it did not meet with the operational success that its ingenuity perhaps deserved but led to several modern interpretations of the concept for both civil and military use. Conception and operation The MSC was conceived by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in…

You may recall that a couple of months ago, in the January 2024 edition of Model Boats, a Saito pressurised liquid burner and boiler unit was compared with the more traditional gas burning set ups. The interesting results clearly revealed that despite the challenges of using a liquid fuel, and the process of getting it ignited, there are significant advantages to pressurised liquid burners, in that they don’t suffer from the gas cooling effects that often prove so problematic for many modellers (see Photo 1). Consequently, I thought it might be interesting to see just how the burner and boiler set up performed when connected to an engine, and in doing so get a feel for how convenient it is to use and how well it operates the engine. So,…

Before I pick up from where I left off last month, there is something I feel I should first flag up… Although I am reviewing this kit from a static build perspective, creating a powered working version of HMS Warrior would certainly be feasible; the hull is plenty large enough to house all the power, steering, radio and batteries. Warrior would, in fact, be an impressive presence on any pond. On with the build… Having got the hull structurally complete, primed and ready for the fitting out of the superstructure and deck (see Part 1), let’s now move on fitting of the fore, main and mizzen chainplates, and the installation of the beak-head structure at the bow. Care must be taken to get this latter structure ‘right’; several small parts…

A very smart restorationPART TWO With the engine fitted and all work on the hull, except painting, finished (as covered in Part 1 last month – please see H&S alert on p.10 ), we now move on to the boiler and fore deck. Boiler break Here I got lucky, as a friend happened to have both a Stuart Turner boiler and engine (as originally fitted to the Henley) which I was able to borrow and base some constructional drawings on; the steam plant being complete except for its chimney (see Photo 1). A few days later when he visited to pick the plant up, however, we agreed, over a cup of tea and chat, to a boiler swap (as I had another boiler he was particularly interested in). This was…

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 Let’s talk! I may not be the only person with this issue but here it is… I am finding it increasingly difficult to get parts for projects due to some traders and shops no longer wanting to talk to their customers on the phone. They seem to be under the impression that all they need to do now is offer their service via internet. How sad they must be if this is how they think. I am 78 and I am not a computer nut. Please, please traders and shops, start talking to people again as you may find it a nice thing to…

● YMER PRIZE DRAW Don’t miss your chance to WIN a factory sample of this newly updated and soon to be released 1:60 scale tugboat kit ● MS MERCANTIC Nick Brown tackles Billing Boats’ 1:50 scale kit for this traditional Danishbuilt freighter ● GET INTO GEARS! David Marks takes the grind out of grasping the basics 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…