Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från Model Boats

And now for something completely different… While clearing out the cellar of my daughter’s ‘old’ house ahead of a move, I came across the mortal remains of what had obviously once been an IC-engined race boat. This belonged to one of my grandsons and he was more than happy for me to take it off his hands. Photo 1 shows the glass fibre hull (measuring 975 mm long, with a 275mm beam) and (detached) deck in ‘as found’ condition. The question was, what to do with it? The hull shape had obviously been designed for some sort of offshore powerboat, but I didn’t really want to build one of those, so I needed to find something with a similar shape that I could use this hull for. After a bit…

Flotsam & Jetsam This month I have some notes on recent motor acquisitions that help to chart the often neglected history of these essential prime movers of our model boats. NSK Motors NSK was one of many Japanese companies making miniature electric motors for the toy market, alongside the likes of TMY and the better known KTK/Mabuchi brands. Cheap tinplate toys were identified as one of the products that could help Japanese industry recover after the devastation of World War II, and by the 1950s a further market developed for small electric motors to replace the clockwork ones commonly used in them, with the added bonus of the business generated by their insatiable appetite for batteries. “Cheap tinplate toys were identified as one of the products that could help Japanese…

I won! Here’s a picture of me with my prize from the July 2024 draw [the Billing Boats’ pre-production factory sample of Carli}. It’s the first time I have ever won anything. To be quite honest, I’d always had my doubts about whether draws like these were genuine, and I’m probably not the only one, so I feel the least I can do, aside from saying a big thank you, is to share proof you can indeed get lucky. NEIL MROZEMAIL Thank you so much for this lovely letter and photo, Neil, and you are so welcome! Before starting work on magazines, many, many moons ago now, I, too, was very sceptical about whether anyone ever won anything in competitions/prize draws, so it’s always such a pleasure when I hear…

Signals Coming soon from Billing Boats… Billing Boats is currently updating and improving its 1:20 scale kit for the WSP 10 Polizei Patrol Boat, which will be marketed as a static model but has been designed with conversion to radio-control operation in mind. The model is based on a vessel built at the Bodan Shipyard in Kressborn, Germany, and delivered on June 30, 1989, to the Harbour Police in Bayern. This is now stationed at Passau on the Danube and patrols an area stretching from the Austrian border and roughly 80 km upstream. Measuring 15m in length, with a 3.9m beam, it is powered by 300 HP MAN diesel engines, which give an approximate speed of 40 kph. Usually manned by a crew of two, the boat is used not…

Paddle pulling power While enjoying a cruise back in 1975, I was fortunate enough to see the paddle tug Dexterous at work in Gibraltar and, having marvelled at its superb manoeuvrability (being able to run paddles in opposing directions and turn on the spot), the idea of modelling one of these vessels immediately appealed to me. Paddle tugs have several advantages over screw driven vessels. Firstly, the wash from a screw-driven tug propeller acting against the side of the ship it is trying to ‘tug’ is counter-productive and quite significant at close-quarters in the confines of a harbour. Secondly, the paddle tug’s towing gear is situated aft of the paddles; this, I am informed, removes much of the danger of the tug slewing sideways and the rope causing a near…

Karakurt-E With the hull and superstructure prepared, a primer coat on the superstructure, and ballasting trials completed (all covered last month), we now move on to the various fittings, beginning with the forecastle. As mentioned in Part 1, to ensure a precise fit (once all surfaces have been airbrushed), each and every fitting features a locating brass pin (see Photos 1-2), and it’s on this pin, rather than on the underside of the fitting, that the adhesive needs to be concentrated. Many of the fittings added to the Karakurt were previously made for the Soobrazitelnyy (the build of which was covered in a series of articles run in this magazine between December 2018-June 2021), good examples being the cordage reels and the large mushroom vents located around the deck. Knuckle…

During our annual steam days at the Kirklees Model Boat Club I usually get through somewhere in the region of 12 to 13 steam tests. At this year’s event one chap, attending for the very first time, told me he’d learnt more in a day than he had done since getting involved in the hobby a couple of years ago – although, he brought a lovely steam lake launch with him, so he’s obviously getting the hang of things! These steam days offer the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas with lots of like-minded enthusiasts and get a better understanding of what current thinking is. I also receive useful feedback on testing procedures and will often pick up subject matter ideas for future instalments of Boiler Room, usually prompted by…

EXCLUSIVE PRIZE DRAW Win a production sample of Billing Boats’ newly updated, improved, and designed with R/C conversion in mind, 1:20 scale WSP 10 Patrol Boat kit MORE GP HULL TOP IDEAS Easy build working and live-aboard canal boat model options FREE PLAWT PULL-OUT PLAN PLUS accompanying build guide for a totally ‘out there’ project that can be brought in on the tightest of budgets! 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…

Freighter rated Billing Boats always has an interesting selection of kits in its catalogue and over the years I’ve built several of the models in its range. So, having been first alerted to the fact the Mercantic (Ref. BB424) was being retooled by a news story featured in Model Boats back at the tail end of last year, I was, when offered the chance by our editor to review this latest version, foaming at the mouth to get started. Why? Well, because vessels like this instantly trigger a wave of nostalgia for me. I should, therefore, perhaps begin with a bit of background… A potted history For those not knowing much about this vessel, MS Mercantic was built in 1964 by H.C. Christensens Staalskibsværft in Denmark. Ordered by Per Henriksen,…

Spraytime! I recently purchased an Aero-Naut Firefighting boat with the intention of building it together with my grandson. The kit itself is excellent, but the monitor provided is nonfunctional and what 6-year-old doesn’t want a working water cannon? No, no – this had to be remedied. I needed a pump and cannon. Of course there are plenty of water pumps available online, but where’s the fun in that? Much more interesting to me was making one myself, and after a bit of research (i.e., watching YouTube videos over my morning coffee) I found a few people had created their own small water pumps using, among other things, a plastic syringe. Hmm, would one of these homemade devices really work as well as the video footage seemed to suggest? Only one…

Scratch built stunner Having last month completed the hull, keel fin and ballast bulb, I shall now move on to show you how I tackled the controls and, as far as I am concerned, the most fun part – the mast and spars and the all-important sails, before finishing with some of my thoughts on this model following initial on the water trials… ■ Photo 1 Here, the four sail winches have been set out on a baseboard. It’s much easier to set up the control loops and program travel and reverse from outside the hull. The outside winch loops are for port and starboard staysail sheets, but the jib sail uses a single loop with the port and starboard sheets attached to each side halfway along. Thus, when the…

Lucky Following previous coverage of the Heng Long Tugboat 686 and seeing what others have done, I thought I would share my lighty modifiied version of this fun little boat. LORENZ SCHMUKIEMAIL I absolutely adore what you have done with this basic little model boat, Lorenz. Although intricately detailed, in my eyes there’s something delightfully Tintin-esque about it – the association probably being something to do with the lovely colour scheme you’ve chosen. And you’ve even turned the cleverly designed box you’ve built for it into a work of art – fabulous! Ed. Plaxtol Someone gave me an oldish copy of Model Boats magazine still containing its free plan, which was a David Metcalf design for Plaudit, a Thames tug. I had previously built a model from one of David’s…