Hi y’all. After building the Caldercraft Clyde Puffer, and taking a break from building for a few weeks, I decided it was time to crank up my bench again. I had originally started on a kit that I got in a trade, a Deans Wacht Am Rhein…this boat had been started some time ago, probably a good decade before I got my hands on it, and it’s been in my kit stash for a good 5 years or so now. The original builder got the rudder and tube installed and the aft and mid deck in place, and some bulwark detail. I was working on a motor mount when I decided I just didn’t want to deal with masts and rigging at this time. At some point I’m going to finish that boat…just not now.
I’ve had a Graupner Krabbe Ton 12 in my kits stash for a bit. It’s the second version, when Graupner reorganized and sent the kit production to Asia, probably KYmodel. Same people who did the SAR rescue boat and the Taucher Wulf did this. It’s a nice little kit, well made, instructions are somewhat between the Tauchers “guidelines” and a Billings kit…better, but not quite there. Now, I know I said I didn’t want to fool around with a bunch of masts and booms and rigging, and the Krabbe has that in spades…so I decided to make something different. I thought about a slightly different take on a Kriegsfischkutter, or maybe a fishing boat to yacht conversion…but, I decided on a simple tug. Basically a 1930s or so diesel or converted steam tug, something smaller that you might see in the Great Lakes.
With that decision out of the way I went to work. First thing I did was to make up a 4mm shaft and tube. I used a Caldercraft Fineline tube that I had stolen the shaft from. I have a small collection of tubes and shafts, and a very few that are complete. Anyway, the kit uses a 3mm unit, and that’s just an odd size. Nothing wrong with it, just most of the props and fittings I’ve seen are for 1/8th, 3/16th, 2mm and 4mm. The 3 mm props and such are just harder to get…so I made up the tube by cutting down the Caldercraft unit to the length I wanted, and using the bushing from the discarded end I built up the tube, and added an oiler.
I then took on the task of choosing my power plant. The kit comes with a motor, a knock off of a Mabuchi RS380. My experience with these motors is that they make good model boat anchors. My first SAR that I built was completely stock, and I ran it on the recommended 6 cell nimh pack. After I had the boat completed and had about 6 good runs on it, she went dead in the water at Towne Lake. We retrieved it, and the motor had gotten hot, and the brush holders had softened from the heat and the brushes were not making contact….never again. I was thinking about my usual outrunner brushless, when I remembered I had a brand new MFA 2.5 to 1 380 sized geared motor in my possession. Went with that. After making up a mount and installing the shaft and tube I did a test run on the bench. At full chat, but no load it’spulling 0.07 amps on a 3 cell lipo.😁
Once that was squared away I used part of the motor mount/radio tray combo to mount the rudder servo, got the rudder mounted, and started to make up the deck houses.
One nice feature of this kit is that the deck slots into a groove in the hull. There are under deck stringers that are laser cut in the kit, once installed they give the deck a slight beam to beam curve. I used the kit parts to make up the aft coaming and house/hatch, and built up my fwd deckhouse and coming from plasticard. I then built up the wheelhouse using kit components..however, I built the deck and house “inside out”, i.e I’m not using the printed “decking” side as I’m probably going to paint the deck and house vs staining them.
That’s where I’m at now. I think the wheelhouse, as built looks a little too tall. I might leave it as this is supposed to be a small, River or Great Lakes tug, not an ocean going boat, and in some of the pics I looked up to get an idea of how I wanted her to look, some of the real boats had tallish pilot houses. I might cut it down about a half inch, but haven’t made the choice yet. Once I make that decision I’ll finish up the house and start figuring out details and what job this boats going to have…
Cash

Quick update and pic. Looking at the boat in the side view, I started thinking the wheelhouse is a bit too tall as built from the kit, and I still have to add a roof. So, using my waterline tool, I marked it all the way around about 1/2 inch from the bottom, and using an xacto knife and saw I performed surgery. I think it looks better. I don’t have a pic but I also cut an access hatch over the rudder. I might not ever need to adjust the linkage, but there’s always a chance the rudder could get damaged, and I like having access to things in my models.
Now. I have to sit and look at it a couple of days until the muse descends, and start figuring out details and color schemes. It’s going to have lights too…even though our little group meets in the AM, it’s gonna have lights….just because I can😁
Cash
First pic is the chop job, second is the original height.

Hi y’all. So I did a little more this morning. I felt that the kit supplied rudder is a bit smallish, so I trimmed down a Krick unit from my stock, and installed that. It’s not a lot bigger, maybe 20 percent, but I feel better about it. The deck is installed, and along with that I added an upper foredeck at the bow and used the kit parts to add the top cap to the bulwarks. I still need to sand the outer edge flush, and I’m waffling on adding an upper bulwark/rail to the foredeck. After I get all this figured out and finalized I’ll hit hr it’s some primer. That way I can find my screwups and fix them…🤣. Then it’s time to figure out my cabin details and such.
Cash

Hi Y’all. After sitting for a bit and staring at my work I realized that there needs to be SOME way for entry into the bottom deckhouse. It’s a little shorter than the pilot house, so I just can’t slap a door on it as it wouldn’t be…plausible. So, I made up an entryway at the fwd end of the house, similar to the ones on my Kalle. It’s a bit of a cheat but it “works”.
Also, she’s gonna be a diesel tug. So, in my stash of parts I found the upper exhaust portion for my Graupner Taucher Wulf. I thought it was missing from the kit, so I built up the Tauchers exhaust from scrap tube and modified legos. What had happened is that I had misplaced it, and found it some time after the build. Anyway, I had some brass tube that just fits, built up the exhaust and off set it to the port side aft of the pilot house. The pilot house will sit back a little from the forward part of the deckhouse to allow a walkway.
Y’know, this is making me THINK!! No wonder my wife smelled smoke from the garage….🤣🤣
Cash

So….after looking closely at my boat, I determined Doug had a point. Y’all need to know that I’ve never set foot on a tug in my life, so under decks I’m a little lost. I got rid of the companionway and added a reinforced ladder and offset hatch. I think it looks better too. Now.. more hatches and towing gear will be next.

Hi y’all. Haven’t updated this in a week or two. I had to wrap my mind around where I was going with this.
I had said that I want it to be plausible, to look the part. We have a member of our group, Steve O’Connel, who moved down here from the Pacific Northwest. He’s a tug and sub guy, has ran many tugs in regattas there and has been around them a bit…I’ve also had input from Chum44 and RNinMunich (Bill and Doug respectively). They’ve all been a big help, as I have built several tug models, but never designed, nor redesigned one. With their input, I think she’s starting to look the part.
The wheelhouse is almost finished, it’s painted, has a roof and lights. I set it up mounted to the deckhouse with socket head screws to make it easier to service the nav lights. The short aft house/hatch has a Robbe towing quadrant mounted to it. I built the stock fishing winch up, it will be an anchor and line handling winch forward. There’s towing posts mounted to the back of the deckhouse, there’s a side door installed. I also added an upper fwd bulwarks…I think it looks better.The middle aft window is painted over as I plan to have a short mast with the aft nav light and a mast light installed. I’m just getting to paint and more details, I have a door made up for the wheelhouse, but not installed, and she needs another hatch, portholes in the deckhouse and some storage lockers, as well as mooring posts, ors as Steve said, “salty bits”😁
This thing is getting out of hand, I wanted a nice simple little tug to tool around with and possible help out as a rescue boat….can’t help myself🤣 Anyway, I’m hoping to have her mostly painted up in the next week or so.
Cash

Hi y’all. Got a bit done this week. Figured out how I want to do and light my mast, which is in the primer stage, and the initial paint is done. I still have to do some touch up, and I’m thinking about doing a little blue trim on the wheel house, but that will be one of the last things to do. Paint came out decent, have to do a little touch up on the bulwarks rail, but the main coats are done. I’ll be using some O’Reillys pinstripe for the waterline separation and once all paint is done, I’ll mask the windows and give her a top coat of semi gloss. Now, it’s on to details….
Cash

Got a little done Saturday morning. Built a mast of plastic tube, had some Billings mast mount lights that I used to add the mast lamp and aft nav lamp, since it’s a hollow tube it’s easy to hide the bulb wiring inside. I also did the pinstripe waterline. Once the stripe has a few days for the adhesive to cure I’ll give the hull a clear coat.
Cash

Hi y’all. I was able to get about 4 hours at the bench this weekend, along with a couple this past week. The winch is in place, one drum is for the anchor, the other a line handler. I have a couple of small too/supply chests made up forward. I did a little mod on the forward ladder, cutting every other rung out made it more to scale. Portholes are painted up and installed, the pilot house door is installed, all doors have handles, and there’s lifesavers mounted either side of the pilot house.
There’s a bit more to do on the details, and I still have to finish up installing the esc and light wiring/switches, and some sort of hatch for the rudder linkage. Once all that’s done I’ll ballast her, give her a final leak check and a name.
Cash

Hi y’all. Did a little more today. Added a cover for the rudder linkage, I made a plug that’s a tight fit in the hole for the rudder access, then added a cover with faux hinges and handles to look like a dual hatch. The cover is about 1/4 inch all round bigger than the plug, it’s a very tight fit so should be water resistant. I also added towing beams, rails, whatever they’re called, aft of the towing gear. The electrics are all installed, so it’s time for the tub test. I’ll probably add a few more details in time, but I want to get her off the bench so I can get my area cleaned up.
Cash