Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Model Boats

Flotsam & Jetsam In 2007 a prospective new member approached our Bosuns (formerly Broadmeadows) Model Boat Group here in Melbourne. After he had attended a couple of sailing days and night-time ‘show and tell’ sessions, we then asked him what he might make for his first model. “A rescue craft”, he said, “one that can pull your models out of the reeds, with a winch and a crane and other attachments to deal with any emergency”. This brought knowing looks from older members, who thought they could recognise unbridled enthusiasm outpacing practical realities and predicted a swift change of plan to a simple speedboat once the complexities of making such a craft set in. Besides, our models never needed rescuing… About a year later Argy-Bargy, the name he christened his…

Many people seem to have a limited grasp of how forces work, and within the hobby this appears particularly so when it comes to thrust lines. This became increasingly apparent to me in a discussion about how to maximise the turning effect of a model boat equipped with twin independently controlled propellers, with lots of debate about how far apart the propellers ought to be to achieve the best effect. Lines of action What often causes confusion is not where forces need to be applied to make a body rotate but the direction of that force (see Fig. 1, based on the above-mentioned model with two propellers capable of independent operation). One argument put forward was that if the propellers were set further apart (see Fig. 2) then the turning…

Three generations of model boat builders As a long-time reader of your magazine, I thought you might be interested in a story about getting a new generation of my family into modelling... I have never written into your magazine before, come to think of it, I don’t think I have ever written into any magazine, so here goes nothing… One of my earliest memories of my dad and I, is of us together in his garage building a Precedent Models’ Perkasa, with me being mesmerised by how he could shape the wood and get everything so perfect, something he remains an expert at to this day. 30 years on, he is still my ‘go-to-guy’ when I get stuck! There is a traumatic story to this Perkasa, though, involving my dad…

Signals Billing Boats entry level kit updates Currently in production by Billing Boats are three improved and updated 1:60 scale entry level kits from the 1970s: the outrigger trawler Carli, No. 236; the North Sea trawler Progress, No. 240 (a pre-production sample of this kit being up for grabs in this month’s exciting and exclusive prize draw – see pages 36-37); and the tugboat Ymer, No. 244. All three kits will include newly designed and easy to follow photo manuals. Work on photo manuals for some of the other older kits in the range, including the US Coast Guard boat (No. 100), the Royal Navy lifeboat Waveny (No. 101), the fishing boat Dana (No. 200), and the shrimp cutter Rainbow (No. 201), is also now in progress. OUT AND ABOUT…

Like many other boaters, for more than a few months during the Corona Virus pandemic I sat at home, and so, with no prospect of going boating for the foreseeable future, my efforts turned to finishing a couple of craft that were on the stocks. The trouble was, having plenty of time on my hands, these projects were soon finished, and I was once more left twiddling my fingers. Further to this, when our local pond did become accessible again after a period of park closure, cars were no longer permitted onsite, access being restricted to foot traffic and bicycles. Now, as it happens, I did have a few boats that were transportable by bike, but that always presents the risk of damage. So, what was needed, I decided, was…

Billing Boats will shortly be relaunching three improved and updated 1:60 scale entry level kits from the 1970s (see this month’s Compass 360 news pages) and, ahead of their release to the trade, this month we’re able to offer you the unique opportunity of netting a pre-production factory sample for the North Sea fishing trawler Progress. Created for the test build stage of the production process, this may feature slight differences to the kits brought to market, so you will, therefore, be winning something money literally can’t buy! (The only dilemma, of course, will be whether you make Progress or hold on to the pre-production kit in its unbuilt form due to its highly-prized collectable status.) This easy-build kit, which comes with Billing Boats’ newly put together photo manual, will…

During the mega sunny July and August of 2022, I had not one but two once fine old radios under restoration. Both are very closely related products of the old Kraft company in Vista, California – a KP2B, c.1971/2, and a KP3S from a year or two later, both being originally ‘dry’ battery-powered economy sets. From its very first proportional sets of 1965, and certainly with the introduction of its famous ‘Gold Medal Series’ in 1968, Kraft Systems Inc built its name on offering top quality, high technology products at a premium price. Savvy enough to appreciate that it couldn’t expect to dominate the world market by ignoring those with less $ to spend, though, right from the start Kraft also catered for those with smaller budgets, offering ‘badged’ radios,…

A unique opportunity is being offered by the Trustees of the Wellington Trust. The Trust, which owns HMS Wellington, the sole remaining Royal Navy convoy escort ship to have served in Battle of the Atlantic (1939-45), will be making spaces available for a number of model ships within a new semi-permanent onboard exhibition, and would very much like to hear from readers of this magazine wishing to put forward suitable candidates for what will be a very high-profile showcase. The Trustees are looking for the long-term loan of models that accord with The Trust’s intention for Wellington, with historic Thames-built ships being the central focus. For suggestion purposes only, some examples are listed below – although please note models of other vessels that expand on this theme will also be…

Sea Rover resurrection Sometimes opportunity knocks, and this was literally the case here when one day my next-door-neighbour, who regularly attends car boot sales, turned up at my front door looking very pleased with himself and promptly announced: “I’ve found a model boat for you!”. What he then handed over was dirty, incomplete and painted (with a yard broom, by the look of it) in a most outlandish colour scheme (see Photos 1 & 2), but… I instantly recognised it as being one of the old kit-built models from the 1960s’ Aerokits range (see Photo 3): the Sea Rover (back in the day, I built one of the Sea Rover’s sister models, the Sea Scout,a model that is still in my possession, albeit now in the guise of a police…

Like many of my creations, this pilot boat came about not through any serious and well thought out plan to build a specific model but more as the result of a series of haphazard events; such occurrences seem to happen to me on a worryingly frequent basis, although on this occasion they were to prove serendipitous. It all began while scanning through a US hobby forum (RCGroups) and spotting a couple of photos of a small pilot boat. This was shown working in the Soo Locks, part of the North American Great Lakes navigation system (I later discovered these vessels were originally US Coast Guard utility boats, with an aluminium hull and glass fibre superstructure), which immediately registered with me as we had holidayed with friends who live by the…

● VIBs (Very Impressive Builds) More of your brilliant work showcased ● MINI PLAN & BUILD GUIDE For this simple to construct and easy to modify River Ferry ● SS RAVEN A Lake Windermere steam ‘barge’ build worth crowing about! 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 May 2024 issue, which goes on sale at all good newsagents from Friday, May…