Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Model Boats

I began my working life as an engineer in the Merchant Navy and have owned, sailed and worked on various craft over the years – from beach catamarans to restoring a 1956 timber cruiser – so I’ve always had an interest in anything that floats. Since retiring about three years ago, I’ve also built a handful of models. I’m still very much learning to master the various skill sets this requires, but I am hoping that by sharing my early mistakes and small successes this will encourage others who are also new to the hobby. Getting started with HMCS Agassiz My wife creates all sorts of celebration cards for birthdays and other occasions, and she often asks me to cut out some of the delicate shapes. It was this that…

Not every working model to which the term ‘scale’ can be applied needs to have visible figures onboard to enhance its appearance. I did once see a submarine model that featured a gun crew on the deck as well as some crew on the conning tower; they were still there when the model dived under the water. This did not seem to create the right image! The other extreme could be a model based upon an open launch. No matter how beautifully it has been built, sailing it around with no one onboard looks at least a little odd, if not downright peculiar. Scale matters The first thing to consider is whether you’ll actually be able to see any figures aboard a working model out on the water. Take something…

This is a story not about the technical aspects of a build but rather the tale of a relative newcomer to the hobby (myself) and the mistakes and successes of a first attempt at using the plank-on-frame method of construction. At this stage, I wasn’t a complete novice, as I had already built Ray Wood’s excellent Osprey and Eventide models, both of which have hard chine hulls, but this was a quantum leap forward. As a long-term hobbyist who had only just recently embraced the idea of marine modelling, the trigger here came in the form of the free plan for the motor trawler Woodleigh by James A. Pottinger included in the November 2022 issue of Model Boats. The plan immediately intrigued me. Although the accompanying build guide did come…

Rembertiturm After a long, long delay (of at least 20 years), I finally started to build, and am nearing completion, a 1:50 scale model of the offshore tugboat Rembertiturm from a Robbe kit. Overall, this has been a positive experience. The plans are easy to understand and show the position of all parts. The kit also includes about eight pages of instructions, but in German! So, my limited model building experience together with my even more limited grasp of the language has presented some challenges. Thankfully, though, with the help of ‘Google Translate’, I’ve been able to understand the instructions well enough to get through some of the trickier parts of the build. This brings me to a couple of comments regarding two articles in the July 2025 edition of…

Redcar MBC Boating Lake: fixed, filled and fabulous! Redcar Model Boat Club is delighted to announce that repairs to its boating lake at Newcomen Terrace in Coatham, Redcar (originally constructed in the 1930s), have, thanks to Redcar & Cleveland District Council, now been completed, with the lake having been successfully refilled this September. Rob Heseltine, Secretary of Redcar MBC, tells us: “It’s very rare these days that there is a ‘good news’ story, but this is ours… “For the past several years the club has suffered from a leaking lake and for the majority of that time we’ve had no water at all. A handful of members have been able to keep the club going by switching to R/C cars when there’s been no water, using the bottom of the…

Let me be clear from the outset, the origins of this model can be laid at the doors of two very different people: my wife and Bryn Heveldt, the author of the excellent book Build Your Own R/C Yacht. To explain; it was winter, gloomy and raining outside and having done all the necessary mods to my existing little fleet of yachts I was bored and miserable. “For goodness’ sake,” came the call from SWMBO [She Who Must Be Obeyed], “Go down to the model den and build another boat!” The die was cast! As for Bryn, his book describes how to build his design of Racing Sparrow in great detail and is a ‘must-read’ publication for anyone new to the world of model yachts. The book, however, focuses on…

Encouraging any potential newcomers to the hobby has always been one of the things I’ve tried to achieve with my Boiler Room articles. We’re all aware that numbers in many of craft-based hobbies are dwindling as the older generations pass on and, for various reasons, teens and 20-somethings simply don’t seem to find them as interesting as we did when we were younger. Of course there are still those out there who enjoy making things, but most tend to look at steam-based hobbies as complicated and expensive. This is perhaps not surprising as, looking through the Boiler Room back catalogue, it occurred to me that many instalments focus on very specific topics, so, collectively, newcomers may be daunted at the pondside by just how much there is to consider and,…

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 Fairey figures I read with interest Chris Fellows’ article in the September edition on the history of the Fairey Marine models and their real-life counterparts. I am interested in both but right now especially the former, having just purchased an SLEC kit for the Huntsman 31 with view to reviving my model making pass time, which has been on hold for several decades since my teenage years! One thing which I noticed particularly was Photo 10 on page 24 of the Swordsman 33, which is at the same scale as my Huntsman kit (1:16). In the photo there is a scale figure at the…

What do classic rock songs and river patrol boats have in common? For me, they’re both essential ingredients in capturing the spirit of the Vietnam War era. The title of this article is intended to reference the group Creedence Clearwater Revival and its Vietnam protest songs ‘Fortunate Son’ and ‘Up Around the Bend’ for those who are familiar with the band and the tracks. Combined with the Dean’s Marine latest Vietnam era model, I hope you will enjoy the play on words. The LSSC The Grafton Boat Works of Illinois, a small boat manufacturer, constructed the Light SEALs Support Craft (LSSC), producing 22 vessels, with 20 deployed to Vietnam in 1969. The LSSC, measuring 7.3 meters in length, was powered by two water jets made by Jacuzzi and could reach…

Despite conversations frequently bemoaning the fact that there seem to be fewer and fewer newcomers coming into the hobby of model boating, I still remain positive when I come across questions or enquiries regarding some of the more basic techniques we might find ourselves using in our model boat construction and operation. One such question that came up only recently concerned the application of waterslide transfers. Now, I know it’s much trendier nowadays to refer to them as decals, but I come from a time when my modelling teeth were cut on Airfix Series One plastic injection moulded kits in polythene bags at 2s 6d per kit! Back then, my pocket money was 2s 6d per week, so I could afford a kit a week, while paints and glues had…

At the dawn of the 20th century, development of the torpedo was passing from Robert Whitehead, its acknowledged inventor, to the many companies making copies of it, licensed or not. Incremental improvements transformed its speed, range and destructive power, yet not its basic form. There were also one or two competitors that enjoyed a brief period of popularity before falling by the wayside. The Brennan torpedo Louis Brennan, an Irish-born Australian working in Melbourne, patented a steerable torpedo in 1877. This had contra-rotating propellers on concentric shafts, on each of which was mounted a reel with thousands of yards of fine steel wire. The two wires were led out at the stern and connected to shore-mounted steam winches. A differential gear sensed any difference in speed between the two reels…