For heaven's sake, if the leader of a specialist magazine for model boats can't get it right what hope have we of ever getting the public to regard them correctly?

Rather begs two questions, Martin.

1. Why would the general public seek detailed information about the nomenclature of full-sized river traffic from a model boats internet forum? and

2. Why suffer apoplexy about it anyway, especially when many folk still refer to ferries and aircraft carriers as "boats"?

Did you never make a similarly trivial mistake? Would you like me to comb all your posts to find one?

I know Paul Freshney personally. He is the Editor of Model Boats magazine and a fine scale modeller (a previous National Champion) and to call him ignorant is not only wrong but offensive.

Wind it in, mate – there's no room here for stuff like that.

DM

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 10/07/2016 18:57:46

Martin can't believe how narrow minded your being and once again you need to be corrected read a dictionary and by definition everything you have written is wrong, maybe it's time to join in or jog on !!……mark

Hi Martin

I am disappointed to see your criticism over such a small matter, when taken in context of the efforts made by the Editor to bring you such a monthly good read. As you incorrectly described my latest design Invictus of Allington as a "Free Plan" its not ! see what I mean ?

Regards Ray

Thanks Bob

I like some variety, I'm lucky to have the river Medway at the bottom of my road, plenty of subjects for modelling

Regards Ray

Hi Bob

We are close to the Allington Lock, near Maidstone the only emergency here would be if the Malta Inn runs out of beer ! also my test pool

Regards Ray

Hello Martin

The subject of canal boats is obviously very important to you so perhaps instead of getting upset at well meaning but inaccurate comments perhaps you could take some time and produce a brief article on the subject that other people could use as a 'go to' reference.

I can understand your frustration as in my younger days I lived next to the Bridgewater Canal in Lymm I owned a succession of small boats and to pay for them I repaired boats at Hesfords Marine.

At the boatyard we often came across some very weird descriptions of boats and equipment, often from chaps wearing captain hats who, having just purchased a fiberglass cabin cruiser, were instant experts in all things canal related.

I became used to the wildly inaccurate comments and brushed them off with as much good humour that I could muster and then we would have a laugh in the pub later as we related the latest nugget.

I have to say that you have misjudged Paul Freshney, I know him to be an honest and trustworthy person who would not knowingly print something that was either misleading or untrue.

Paul

It takes all sorts! All Paul did as a busy editor was to make the written equivalent of a slip of the tongue. An annoying mistake made with a deadline looming but it is hardly the end of the world and really did not deserve such an aggressive response when, as others have pointed out, a more humorous and good natured reaction would have achieved exactly the same result.

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop, Website Editor on 11/07/2016 20:35:01

Hi All Sorry for my mistake Last line should read (I have built a scale model Narrow boat in 1/12 scale for my wife .It is 48 ins long and 6ins 10/12 wide) Thanks GarethMichael

Martin Field's outburst has rather taken me aback, it's not the sort of thing we usually see on the Model Boats Forum. I've followed Dave Milbourn's lead and clicked on "Ignore member", something I've never done before. Perhaps Martin should take a step back and consider his whole attitude or he'll end up having a stroke, it's a hobby after all.

Peter.

Dear All

Thank you to all those who wrote kind words about me.

Many readers may not realise, but MB is produced by one person – me, and I do 13 issues per annum. There are no sub-editors or other staff. Steve Stoner who lays out and designs the magazine also does likewise for Model Collector and of course Colin Bishop on a very much part-time basis looks after the website & forum for us all. If it were not for Colin covering when I am away, I could not have the proper uninterrupted holidays that Mrs. F demands.

Generally speaking many of the typo errors are eliminated at various stages in the magazine production sequence, but Spell Check will not pick-up on the words barge or boat and there are only so many hours to read through magazine proofs.

In the case of Ray Wood's Canal Boat, the article and cover are correct – the substitution of Barge for Boat occurs on Page 5. I am sure there are probably other errors elsewhere, but there are in any publication if one looks hard enough, including Government documents I should not be surprised.

I wish you all well.

Paul Freshney

Boat, barge, narrowboat……….who cares. I found the article very interesting and certainly would not criticise the author or the editor of MB. My ancestors worked on the canals in the UK for over 150 years and I would certainly not criticise anyone that referred to a narrowboat as a barge. The meaning is clearly there so why bother. I worked in engineering all my life, but when someone refers to a `gear' as a `cog' or a `bolt' as a `screw' it certainly does not bother me. Lastly the people that lived and worked on narrowboats were always referred to as `bargees'.

Most of us would not have noticed the Barge reference in the first place

It's a pity, Martin posted as he did

Come back, Martin…….Life is short enough

Bob