Model Boat Building

[Chinewalker]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this - please move if needed.

Any other iboaters build model boats? I'm not talking about ship models or the tricked out R/C racers, etc., but rather scale models of pleasure boats. I used to build them more regularly, but have tried to keep at least one on the bench to keep busy over the winter when it's too cold to fire up the shop heater. I look through old Popular Mechanics, etc. for interesting plans. Also found some in the Fawcett series "How To Build 20 Boats". I draw up scale frame drawings on my computer and then glue them up.

These are some pics of some models I built a few years ago. The "Meteor", "Arrow" and "Jinx"...

- Scott

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Model Boat Building

Here's the framing for a model I've been nibbling on for awhile. It's Joe Michelini's "Airmarine Special" record setting hydroplane from the late 1950s. Since I took this I've gotten it more or less skinned and ready for some detailing work.

 

[oops!]

Re: Model Boat Building

what a hoot....

really maticlous (sp?)

how many hours?....

and where did you get the motors from?....

or did you build those too?

awesome scott

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Model Boat Building

And here is a 1/8 scale model of my Craig Bowman built "Broccoli" C-stock runabout. Power is a 1/2A .049 size Sea Fury outboard from 1955. I've actually run this - free running and it does alright!

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Model Boat Building

Thanks Oops!
I actually spent at much time on the frame drawings as I did the boats themselves. Getting everything scaled down, etc. The Broccoli I had to loft to get the measurements and then draw them up, as I had the 'real' boat and wanted a model of it. Maybe 15-20 hours of actual build time.
The motors came from eBay. Go to the home page (not eBay motors) and type in 'toy outboard'. Lots of stuff like that!
- Scott

 

[SFT2]

Re: Model Boat Building

I'd love to build a 10th scale model of my Baja, but I'm a bit clueless as to how to get it into the computer to cut up into bulkheads. If I can manage to get a CAD file it won't be tough to chop it up, cut bulkheads every inch or so on the CNC mill at work, mount 'em to a flat board, plank, sand, etc., to make a plug, then a mold, and make the hull out of glass. Then it'll need an insanely large engine (it is a Baja, afterall )

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Model Boat Building

SFT2,
You might be better off finding an existing moulded plastic hull that is similar and then customizing it with new deck, interior, etc.
- Scott

 

[JB]

Re: Model Boat Building

One of my Dad's favorite hobbies was building scale models of sailing vessels from plans published in "Yachting" magazine in the 30s. We took them to the pond in the park and sailed them. Wish I had some pix. He focused on hulls and rigging more than details because he wanted to sail them.

I was quarantined for several months during the polio outbreak in the late 40s and used his methods to build a sailing model of the yacht, "Atlantic", a three masted schooner that once held the record from Sandy Hook to Plymouth. She was 36" long and gorgeous but I never got her ballasted right for good sailing. I sold her to a local restaurant to display.

I do still have a wooden model of a bugeye-rigged Chesapeake Bay Sharpie that Dad and I built in 1945. She is in sad shape, but the hull is still sound.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Model Boat Building

i don't have the patience.

 

[oops!]

Re: Model Boat Building

I do still have a wooden model of a bugeye-rigged Chesapeake Bay Sharpie that Dad and I built in 1945. She is in sad shape, but the hull is still sound.

that sounds like a project jb