Innehållsförteckning för January 2025 från Model Boats

The Blackpool Model Show, first staged at the famous Blackpool Tower (hence the design of the iconic Best in Show trophy – more on which later) back in 1997, is now one of the UK’s most enduring model events. A change of venue, to the Norbreck Castle Hotel’s ballrooms in more recent years has seen it grow and evolve from the model boat show it started out as to an all-encompassing extravangza. Visitors to the show can now also book package deals that offer both entry to the show and hotel accommodation – ideal for those travelling extended distances and wishing to recharge their batteries, both figuratively and literally! For those who love statistics, the 2024 show hosted 34 model clubs, 16 traders and six independent exhibitors/competitors. An all-star line-up…

In the July 2024 issue I introduced my GP (General Purpose) hull, this being of no specific form and constructed so that it will accept any number of interchangeable tops, enabling ‘different’ boats to be sailed on the cheap, as it were. Because the hull is quite deep, so as to accommodate the varying amounts of ballast suited to tops of different weights, at no point will you see a picture of one of these boats out of the water, as this will undoubtedly spoil the illusion! The top I will be sharing with you this month represents a vessel based on the emergency World War I series of five M29 monitors. M33, the only surviving ship of this class, has been preserved, restored and currently resides in Portsmouth’s Historic…

Churchill’s ‘dirty tricks’ department, the SOE (Special Operations Executive), was set up in July 1940 to wage war overseas by any and all means of sabotage and subversion. Essential to its operation was the research and development of the unique weaponry and equipment required, which was carried out at a requisitioned private hotel, the Frythe, at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. This was known as Station IX, and many of its inventions took the prefix ‘Wel-’ from the city’s name. Some, such as the Welbike folding motorcycle and Welrod pistol were successful, but others were not. The Welman one-man midget submarine falls into the latter category. “It was designed without input from the Royal Navy and not built to navy standards; understandable, perhaps, given the secret nature of the project, but…

De Crangon De Crangon (the Latin name for gray shrimp) was the last wooden vessel built in Belgium (1964). Originally named Eldorado and carrying registration number Z 582, she fished not far from the Flemish coast for round and flat fish or for lobsters and shrimp. Fortunately saved from being scrapped, she is now, following a complete restoration, preserved as part of Belgium’s proud sailing heritage. Moored in Ostend, she is today mainly used to accommodate tourists and show how the shrimps were once caught in an authentic way. The vessel is still equipped with the original gear for plank fishing, where the shearing boards pull the net open thanks to the speed of sailing. Once the catch has been hauled aboard, the shrimps are then sorted, cooked and peeled,…

ISMA UK accolade for the Sailing Wellness initiative Simon Collyer, the social entrepreneur who was interviewed in this magazine about his ‘blue health’ R/C yachting initiative Sailing Wellness back in the November 2021 issue, has been presented with an award by (International Stress Management Association) at the 2024 annual Global Online Stress & Wellbeing Summit. Sailing Wellness was set up to introduce those with PTSD, mental health, and physical injuries to one meter long (275cm) radio-controlled DragonFlite 95 sailboats, and in teaching them how to sail in a social setting help break the cycle of rumination and inactivity following a traumatic event or period of depression. Commenting on this success, Carole Spiers, Chair of ISMAUK tells us: “We congratulate Simon on winning this Award, which celebrates the outstanding…

All scale boats need fittings. If you are building from a kit, then many will be included, otherwise you’ll need to purchase items or make your own. So often it’s the quality of the fittings that make the biggest impression when viewing a model. In the late 60s you had four options: make the fittings yourself from whatever materials you could find; repurpose items, such as using eyelets for portholes; buy from the limited range of injection moulded plastic fittings available from manufacturers such as Keilcraft, Ripmax, etc; or look longingly and hopelessly at the advert in Model Maker for the exquisite Web Fittings, which cost an arm and a leg and were way beyond the means of the average boat modeller. “So often it’s the quality of the fittings…

The Motor Ship Oldenburg first caught my eye some 10 years ago while moored alongside the quay in Ilfracombe during one of the many enjoyable holidays my late wife Gwen and I spent on the north Devon coast. Oldenburg shares the quayside with Verity, the Damian Hurst bronze statue which is some 66 feet high and truly amazing. Realising I had only really made one actual ship model before, that being HMS Diamond, D35, at 1:96 scale, I felt Oldenburg would make a perfect project, so I started a collection of photos of her and did some research. A little bit of background history Oldenburg was launched on March 29, 1958, in Bremen. During the 1980s however, having passed through the hands of various German owners, she was purchased by…

The last couple of instalments of Boiler Room have focused on the build and modification of a Mountfleet Models’ Ben Ain kit. I covered the assembly of the hull, the steam plant, the sea trials and bridge unit first, and then last month focused on the complete remodelling of the aft accommodation unit. This month will be dedicated to the conclusion of the project, why things took an unexpected turn, and what can be learnt from that. Finishing the hull Although by now the majority of the work on the hull had been done, some finishing touches and a couple of modifications were still required. The first job was the capping rail. This was made from a combination of strip wood along the straight sections and lite ply around the…

Billing Boats has now refinished its former 1:20 scale kit for the Monterey (an Italian-designed fishing vessel built out in California, USA, by an Italian expat fisherman) in traditional Mediterranean colours and, as can be seen in the pics here, has added some fun extras, such lobster pots, lobsters, etc, for inclusion on deck. Although marketed as a static kit (and very pretty the resulting model will look on display, too!), the scale also offers the potential to equip this boat for radio-control. Those of you with the ‘know how’, therefore, could, with a little work and some blue sky thinking, have such a project finished and the model ready to sail by spring! To further explore the Billing Boats’ range visit www.billingboats.com TERMS & CONDITIONS N.B. For this particular…

Q Firstly, congratulations on a truly spectacular model by anyone’s standards, Crissy. Can I begin by asking you to explain to our readers when and why your fascination with the Orca first began, and how that initial interest then developed into a desire to replicate the vessel in model form? Also, as I know you work as an Art Director in the film industry, were/are highly detailed models of other types already very much part and parcel of your working life and area of expertise, and did an early interest in modelling play any part in the creative career path you chose for yourself? A As an Art Director, over the years I’ve been involved in the production of many films where vehicles are considered sets in their own right…

If you sail a model square-rigger, you’ll occasionally be asked if your boat has a motor/propeller. When you say “No, it’s just moved by the wind”, some will go on to ask how that can be done, and, in particular, how you sail “against the wind”. Part of the reason for the question is just to do with model boats, but some people are equally fascinated by how the real ships did it. This piece attempts to explain some of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of both. Pondlife The pond at Tynemouth is oval shaped, is about 250 metres long, 100 metres wide and, being right next to the North Sea, has good, clean wind. It’s an almost perfect place to sail model square-riggers and I’ll explain how it’s done by…

SCALE MODEL WORLD We report back from the 2024 show in Telford SHELL WELDER Converting a plastic coastal tanker kit into a super little ‘sea-going’ model “GRANDAD…” Titanic and Bismarck builds for junior R/C captains 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 February 2025 issue, which goes on sale at all good newsagents from Friday, January 24, 2025, now, but why…