Ray, yes where are they? They should “out” their projects just like I do.

Ashley

David,

As far as I'm aware there have been no changes to the site. Cut and paste has always worked with text but was never intended to be used with images for which the album facility or a link is necessary.

Usually when things appear to change it is down to the device being used by the Forum member. If this has changed or its software updated then it can cause problems. A lot of organisations are experiencing problems with making their sites run on all the different devices in use today. It's called progress I believe!

Colin

I am currently nearing the completion of Plaudit. This is a David Metcalf design of the Port of London Authority (PLA) tug of the same name. The PLA had a wide variety of tugs, mostly with names starting with the letters PLA. To be honest it will be a version of Plaudit, as I used the vacuum moulded hull which is still available (1:20 scale), but had to change the size/shape of the superstructure to accommodate all the electronic kit. As all the PLA tugs were sold off years ago and have had a variety of owners, often with a change of superstructure, my model will be called Plaxtol (which is a village in Kent). I have yet to decide a livery, but as Plaudit was at one time in the ownership of construction company BAM Nuttall and in their distinctive green/orange livery, then that is one option. Once Plaudit/Plaxtol is complete, my next project will be a catamaran workboat. There have been a number of very good kit reviews of this type of vessel within MB but mine with be based on that presented by Dave Brumstread in MB January/February 2013. As I like to scratch build, I have obtained a set of drawings for Searcher by James Pottinger. This is a catamaran lobster boat in 1:24 scale, but I have already had the drawings stretched to 1:16 scale and the model will be a workboat, based on the Dave Brumstead kit review.

I have had several weeks off doing any serious modelling while some minor house improbements and redecorations took priority but now getting back into my liner model. The main hull is pretty much complete except for fittings and I am now working on the superstructure. Due to its 'shade deck' nature it is something of a three dimensional jigsaw to work out how to construct it and in what order the parts will need to go together. I have a decent set of drawings and photos but not everything is obvious and there is quite a bit of headscratching involved in getting it all right.

Last week I managed to get hold of a copy of the August 1963 issue of Model Maker in which the 1:1200 R. Carpenter drawing appeared. I already have a much faded dyeline 1:600 print but the Carpenter drawing (below) does help in clarifying how all the elements of the ship fit together.

Looking at my file, I first started researching the ship in 1974…

Colin

Ray, new projects, I need to finish some of the current ones first! Of those it will probably be the River Cruiser and the Huntsman 28 that get finished first. The Swordsman 33, though started first has become a longer term project (not too long I hope!) due to me going to plank the deck and rear cabin roof.

You know about the Fisherman 27 but in addition to that I'm going to build a Huntsman 31 and at some time the Spearfish kit I picked up.

Trouble is I've got to get back into the DIY and finish off the bedrooms etc. and I've vowed to use my motorbikes more this year. I also want to spend more time on photography etc.

Good news is that it's only 4 weeks until retirement now!

First project for 2019 is to put the finishing touches to Vic Smeed's cabin cruiser design 'Lorena'. This is half size balsa 'kitchen table' build which needs about two or three months more work. The model had successful bath test and now needs the cabin finishing, mast, deck/cabin fittings and a stand.

Hello Ray,

And thank you very much for asking! I'm still around in the general sense of the term, and (other than a couple of colds recently) in excellent health and state of mind, but have been otherwise much occupied in various ways since last autumn. Among other things, my wife and I went to Australia over the end-of-year holidays and for most of January, but more detrimental to model boating has been me going off on a woodworking tangent of late.

It all started with a need in our kitchen for something that would facilitate consistently placing the kitchen table in the desired spot under the lamp (as we're renting, moving the fixture was not an option) while also providing some storage space for the odds and sods that would otherwise tend to clutter up said table; the result was a made-to-measure set of shelves of my own design that one can see here between the table and the half wall:

I then got it into my head to sort out a (non-)problem which I've wanted to address for quite some time, namely to have a Stephenson screen in the garden to house the outdoor temperature/humidity sensors and rain gauge for our two (one older Oregon-type one, and a more recent Netatmo on-line capable system) weather stations:

I am not in any way, shape or form an amateur meteorologist, but I have been getting more and more fed up with having to guesstimate the temperature measuring error that one inevitably gets when the sensors are set up too close to a building. I don't care if it is currently 6.4 degrees in our garden, as the Netatmo app tells me it is, or actually 6.2 or 6.7, but I don't want to have to deduct +/- so many degrees from a reading of somewhere between 8 and 10, which is what I would probably have gotten before, when the sensor was strapped to a drainpipe next to the house …

Both these projects are now finished, but while working on them last autumn I also took a ten week (and 30 hour total, I should perhaps add; not ten weeks full time) course on hand tool woodworking (the bench in the foreground with a plank being edge-planed was mine) …

… and got bitten pretty badly by that particular bug; so badly, in fact, that on Saturday, my wife and I will be driving up to Arnhem in The Netherlands where I shall spend a small fortune on hand planes and suchlike at a place called Baptist, and also visit the Arnhemse Fijnhouthandel ("Arnhem Fine Woods Shop" ) for a first recce. We will then spend the rest of the weekend plus the Monday doing more touristy stuff, including going on to see respectively the David Hockney (at the Van Gogh museum) and the All the Rembrandts (at the Rijksmuseum) exhibitions in Amsterdam; just the tool and wood stores would not likely have lured my wife along … 

This does most emphatically not mean that I have abandoned model boating! It is just that I have given short term priority to spending available time and money getting properly started on full size woodworking. Once that dust has settled, though, my next model boat project will be a 1/16 Fairey Huntsman from Dave Milbourn's plans! Oh, and I shall also have to do some minor restoration work to the hull paint work of my Moonbeam, which got a bit scratched against the pond shoreline when I took it out in an a tad too strong wind back in autumn …

Again, many thanks for asking after me, and all the very best!

Cheers,

Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 11/03/2019 11:06:28

Edited By Banjoman on 11/03/2019 11:09:37

Edited By Banjoman on 11/03/2019 11:13:16

Edited By Banjoman on 11/03/2019 11:14:34

Hi Ray – yes, I've been a member of Knightcote, near Southam, about 30 mins away for a couple of years. Only been a handful of times though and when I do I sail my HydroPro Affinity 650mm yacht. Good job I only had to rig it and not build it! That was the reason for going down that route. Neighbour has one as do some of the guys at the club along with Dragonforce 65s. I miss the racing as it's on a Thursday when I'm working.

Whilst generally I'm fine having a number of things on the go once I start on the DIY it takes over and has to get done. I've got some breathing space at the moment as the youngest son is back from China for a little longer yet and he's using the room that needs doing – skirting boards, architraves and decorating etc.

Chris

Hi. Ray, As you know I am building Cambria, I have got the frame work finished, waiting to be planked, I am making all the metal fittings needed at the moment before I start the planking, some of these fittings can only be fitted at this early stage and the others will then be ready when required.

I am also making a speed boat for my grandson, it's in the paint shop at the moment.

I have also come to realise you need a boat for every set of weather conditions, ie. no wind, medium wind speed and near gale force wind! so have started on the James P. Woods tug. for the latter.

As I am at Broadstairs this week I have already called in at MFA Como Drills at Worth for the geared drive unit,and have started to order electronic parts to make a steam generator for it.

I like the look of those planes, I bet the blades are excellent at maintaining a razor sharp edge.

I have had a few sailing sessions with Susie May and am now getting used to her, making a couple of minor adjustments to the sails and sheeting, club members are telling me she is fast, time will tell!

Only ships a drop of water even when it's over the rails and halfway up the hatch sides, I am really pleased with her.

Regards.

Eddie.

Edited By Eddie Lancaster on 13/03/2019 16:10:55

banjoman, did your woodwork tutor never tell you not to leave your plane sole to table……and steel particles such as nails etc driven into the bench by 'orrible little kids before you, will scar the sole of the plane………..and if using old boxwood planes, irreparable damage to the wooden soul…………

always leave a plane on its side……………as a woodwork teacher and tutor, for 25 years…….my absolute pet hate…………..except for sharpening chisels on a motorised grinder………argghhhh.