Innehållsförteckning för January 2026 från Model Boats

After tackling my first card and wooden kits, with some success, the next stage in my modelling journey came about quite unexpectedly. During a leisurely lunch my wife and I were having with Craig and Ilona, friends we see perhaps once every year or two (don’t forget Australia is a big country), I found myself casually sharing a few photos of the models I’d recently built on my phone. This prompted Ilona to explain her father had made her a lovely pond yacht when she was a child but that sadly over the years it had become “a little battered”. Would I be interested, she asked, eyes full of hope, in looking at it to see if it could be repaired? As a result, shortly after, said model was delivered.…

NEW TOOLING Trumpeter’s 1:700 scale HMS Queen Elizabeth R08 Trumpeter’s newly tooled 1:700 scale plastic kit for the Royal Navy HMS Queen Elizabeth R08 Aircraft Carrier (Ref. 06751) is now due for imminent release (December 31, 2025). The vessels within the Royal Navy’s latest class of aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth class, are the largest warships ever built in Britain. HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), which is the lead ship within this class, was assembled at Rosyth Dockyard by Babcock Marine and commissioned in 2017. F-35B Lightning II joint strike fighters and Merlin and Wildcat helicopters can be operated from her distinctive ski-jump flight deck, and she also boasts integrated electric propulsion, advanced radar systems, and close-in defence weapons including Phalanx and 30 mm guns. She first saw active duty in…

When war broke out in 1939, Britain was once again faced with the U-boat threat to her supply lines. The hard-learnt lessons of World War I had been forgotten; too much reliance was placed on the development of ASDIC (the anti-submarine detection system) as the solution to the submarine menace, and once again there wasn’t a sufficient number of escort vessels. The improvised Flower class corvettes went some way toward relieving the situation, being cheap and quickly built, but they were too small and too slow, with barely enough seaworthiness and range for the North Atlantic. Something better was needed. A Twin-Screw Corvette A new design was approved in March 1941 and revealed a vessel of some 300ft (92m) long, which was to be known as the River class. Providing…

As the Absalon is a comprehensive kit, I’ll endeavour to detail as much of the main construction as space will allow. Just as a reminder from Part 1, a start was made on the assembly of the various structural elements. The radar towers were formed from 2mm thick lite ply, and the funnel exhaust casings were slotted together. Moving on, these parts were given several coats of sanding sealer and sanded down, this being followed by a coat of Hycote plastic grey primer. Once dry, these basic structures were then located but not at this stage fixed, on the removable weather deck (see Photo 1). Referencing the full-size vessel At the top of the forward tower is the Thales 3D Air Search Radar, ringed in red in Photo 2; further…

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 Mystery model identified I was the modeller who built the mystery featured on page 79 of the October 2025 issue, which is a Russian Riga frigate, the Sea Lion. I built it in the early 1970s and enclose a photo taken at Sandown Park Model Show. Could you please send a copy of this letter and the photos to Pete Bonney, the current owner, and I will be happy to give him the full history of its building. Just to let you know, I am a founder member of both the Surface Warship Association and the Kent Model Boat Display Team. BARRY CHAPMAN EMAIL…

For those unfamiliar with this show, it’s almost exclusively dedicated to the static modelling side of the hobby, and exhibits are, by and large, based on kit-built models, whether they be injection moulded, resin or 3D, and likewise whether they’ve been constructed to the manufacturer’s specification or modified. That said, some of the larger scale kit-built exhibits, are converted for R/C operation. What all the exhibits have in common, however, is the high standard of build quality, detail and finish. To give you some idea of how vast this show has become, this year 108 IPMS (international Plastic Modellers Society) branches, 97 SIGs (Special Interest Groups), 18 other modelling groups and 23 overseas clubs were displaying, plus there were 123 trade stands to browse! And those figures don’t include the…

By abandoning the idea of independently controlled oars for both steering and propulsion, a radio-controlled model based upon a rowboat can easily be made. The rowing mechanism for this model doesn’t require any exceptional skills, materials or equipment to make. So, in calm conditions, you can enjoy a leisurely row around the pond/lake. Paddle power Having had some success with the twin paddle canoe model Waddler (see Photo 1 – the plan and build guide for which was published in October 2016 issue of Model Boats), it was inevitable that my thoughts would eventually turn to a rowing boat model. The canoe paddling mechanism drew heavily on a small model powered by an elastic band and designed by Peter Holland. This needed scaling up and modifying to suit a larger…

Most Boiler Room articles focus on products and techniques, how things work in the world of model steam, and how we can best achieve a particular result. What we don’t tend to touch on as much are the things that can go wrong and the lessons that can be learnt when they do. It doesn’t matter how much experience we have or how long we’ve been playing with steam plant, there will always be things that catch us out. Sometimes rectifying an issue is a simple, ten-minute job, sometimes the whole boat has to come apart again. Drawing on personal experience, this month I am going to share an example of the latter! Some of you might just remember a build I described in the June to September 2022 instalments…