Hello Alistair,

Have you given much thought yet to what sort of subject would most tickle your fancy? A working ship such as a tug or fishing vessel, or a Napoleonic era ship-of-the-line? A sleek pleasure cruiser or a WWII-era warship? Are you likely to be obsessed with and enjoy spending lots of time on getting every detail right and exactly to scale, or would you prefer the faster-to-the-finish line of a semi-scale approach?

In my mind, none of the above or any of the myriad other ways of building model boats would qualify as better or worse — but I do think that it is important that one tries to understand one's own motivations. One ultimately does a hobby for one's own pleasure, and it is therefore important to choose a project likely to provide exactly that, as this will make one more motivated and … well … better pleased!

That said, one should of course also try to honestly evaluate one's current skills set, and not set the sights so high that the project ends in frustration and is abandoned.

Also try to realistically assess how much time you have to spend over how long a period, and be honest to yourself about how good (or not) you usually are on seeing a long-term project through. Can you see yourself diligently spending on average 10 or more hours a week for two or three years on a single project? If so, the sky (or should that be the ocean?) is more or less the limit! If not, putting a tad more of a lid on your ambitions might get you further — one does not really need yet another bad conscience sitting untouched at the back of a cupboard or at the bottom of the garage, does one?!

Which of a kit or a scratch-from-plans build would turn out the more expensive depends on so many factors that I'd say it is quite difficult to be very definite about that. The clear advantage of a good kit (and there are may good'uns out there!), though, is that it will give you everything in a box (except glues, paints and tools) that you should need to achieve the finished article.

Making a model sail under radio control does of course make things a bit more complicated (it must at least be watertight, and the driveline needs to be installed with some care), but in no way insurmountable. You will need to spend a bit more on r/c and driveline equipment, although these days prices are really quite democratic. For the full lowdown on r/c equipment, including likely costs, I cannot enough recommend the article by forum member Dave Milbourn in the very recent Winter Special issue of Model Boats magazine!

If you want to try your hand at scratch building, one of the free plans from MB magazine might also be an interesting option! These tend to be not too complicated models, and come with an accompanying article to further explain the build and provide many helpful suggestions.

Best of luck and enjoy your model boat building!

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 20/11/2014 14:05:43

Edited By Banjoman on 20/11/2014 14:07:20

Edited By Banjoman on 20/11/2014 14:08:50

Edited By Banjoman on 20/11/2014 14:19:18

Hello Alistair

Take a look at this thread…..

**LINK**

You get the plan by making a donation (About a fiver) to one of the charities

The plan is sent via Email…..You print it off……Stick the A4 sheets together and get cracking

The wooden model will be very inexpensive to build

You can talk about the motors and gear later on

The link describes the build from start to finish

Bob

Good evening,

I'm in a similar boat to Alistair i.e., I have never built a boat before and was looking for an easy start. I had considered building a RC steam launch or even a paddle steamer (I have a workshop – lathe milling machine etc) but I agree with the comments from Colin suggesting a walk before run approach. I am also not so keen on splashing out approx. £300 for a kit either – which typically has a plastic hull.

I have looked at some of the Vic Smeed designs e.g., Moonglow and Moonmist but would prefer to build something like a tug. I have noted a simple design (both model and the real thing) called 'Tiddler' – also by Vic Smeed but I'm not so sure about its size at 20" in length. Has anybody either built or seen a tug model to this design and is it successful at 20" or could it be scaled to say 30" easily to give more space for RC etc?

PhilH

Thanks tony,

Ill get the winter special from WH and have a look.

I had noticed the virtual extinction of the old model shops and have noticed that materials such as balsa need to be bought online. I was recently horrified by the cost of balsa in a well known hobby super store. Im thinking of trying to utilise materials such as plywood that are readily available in the DIY stores at say 3.6mm thickness combined with small amounts of balsa and other materials bought online.

Yep, I was sort of concerned about smaller boats bobbing about in the waves but guess the fishing boat is working in scale north sea waves?

PhilH

Thanks for the warning Colin. Out of interest – I've noticed that the DIY stuff tends to delaminate during the cutting process when doing work round the house – is that the main problem with it – or does it delaminate when the model oat sniffs water?

I've just been searching online and the model ply (say 3mm beech) seems reasonably priced (excluding post).

I assume that a hand fret saw is fine for cutting the model ply?

PhilH

I agree with Colin. The timber in a simple model will probably be the least expensive item. I can thoroughly recommend SLEC (see the link to the right of this column) as suppliers of balsa, birch ply, liteply, bass etc.
The difference between birch ply and the DIY stuff is that the former will have been manufactured using waterproof resin between the laminations and under very high pressure. The DIY stuff used an acrylic or PVA-based glue (not waterproof) and much inferior timber so it is more difficult to get a good finish on it.
Just as an aside, I'm building a 20" R/C balsa model from an old Model Boats plan (about 1966). The article lists all the timber required and then says "Throw in the stern tube assembly and a rudder and the cost of the model less radio, engine, cement and paint hardly exceeds a pound". Ee, by 'eck – them were t'days!
The curious thing is that the price of a 2-channel proportional radio in 1966 was actually more than it is in 2014, and that's without allowing for inflation. A Ripmax Digimax 2 (£54.19s.6d in 1966) would cost £928 today had not the little men from the other side of the world become masters of electronics. In the same time a sheet of 1/16" balsa 36" x 3" has increased only from 1s6d (7.5p) to 95p. Compared to coarse fishing or golf this is a pretty cheap hobby.
Dave M

Thanks Ashley, I've had a quick scan of the suggested designs but I quite like the vintage look of the Vic Smeed tug. It also looks simple but in accordance with the original rather than a simplified design to make the model easier to build.

I will create a separate thread because I have no doubt that I will have many more questions.

PhilH