Stunning weather most model boaters would be jealous of. Warm, but not hot! Very gentle breeze. No rain! But not many showed up. Wait 'till the summer comes" No complaints about it being too hot for model boats!

Anyway, I wanted to get back to my trawler with another video. This time on board with my old GoPro. Had some issues with the battery packs slipping inside the hull. I'm going to remove the one for the lighting as I don't use them anyway. Then I will add some fixed ballast in the bottom. The video with the camera (and waterproof housing) on the top of the pilot house made the boat heel quite a bit. Going to try for some more on board videos in the near future on my other boats.

Got the 4 minute YouTube link here:
I hope you enjoy it!

Lew

Back on the lake again tonight. Ballast and trim apparently sorted out now, hopefully no more " undersea exploring"😂

This is my first attempt at building a boat and is based on TOPAZ (J8). The hull/basic kit is from jclasshull.co.uk and the sails from PJsails. My biggest mistake is to make her too heavy but I can't remove ballast, besides that she goes REALLY well. I am still fiddling with the tuning to remove the Lee helm and have already got her neutral. : ) The remote movable Genoa clew carriages are proving to offer brilliant control over the Genoa leech, powering up or down as required.

Built by Buxton Model Boat Club member Adrian , he says :- "essentially the paddle boat is scratch built but uses some fittings and materials from a Disar "Vanguard" kit ".
Adrian used drawings of "Flying Scotsman" for inspiration, but is not a faithful reproduction, although "Old Trafford" is also quite similar .
This was the maiden voyage so plenty more work to be done on detail and ballast etc.as the boat still sits a bit low in the water.
For reference see :- http://tynetugs.co.uk/
http://www.tynetugs.co.uk/oldtrafford...

I know this is not one of my boats, but belongs to one of our club members. It is a 1/48 scale model of a "whaleback" freighter. The real George Washburn was built in 1885 had a length of 320 feet. What is unique about this is it had a almost tubular cross-section hull. Many times I heard visitors call it a submarine.

Jim's model includes horn sound, lights, homemade smoke generator and a ballast fill/empty system to reduce transportation weight. Video Link (this is not on YouTube, you have to copy this link to your browser to see the video): http://ssmbc-fl.org/Videos/Video-03-30-2014-01.mp4 (😮The link icon below WILL NOT WORK!😮)

I though some of you might enjoy this wonderful scratch built model!

Lew

Managed to capture some video of Brian Clewes' live steam TID tug on the lake this Wednesday 19 October. First chance for a proper sail and a bit more ballast needed.

Information from Nerys -

In the 1940s and 50s, many traditional Thames Sailing barges were converted into motor barges. This is a model, based on photos and my memory of the 'Nellie'. The sailing barge 'Nellie' was built by Cremers at Hollowshore, Faversham in 1901,. She traded under sail carrying about 90 tons of cargo around the Thames, Medway and Swale until about 1952 and then had the gear taken out, a Chrysler Crown petrol/paraffin motor installed and carried on trading for some years owned by R.Lapthorne & Co of Hoo on the River Medway.. She was eventually sold out of trade and is now privately owned. She has been rerigged with a reduced sailing barge rig without a topsail. My model is based on a 30" barge hull from Dave Watts Mastman.

NOTE More information from Nerys - read on ........

Hi Phil,
I'll just add a little more information to that. I was Nellie's skipper in the mid 50's for a few years. We were based at Hoo on the Medway and carried cargoes around the Medway, Swale, Thames and Colne. Regular trips were such as ballast from Fingringhoe on the Colne to Hoo, sand from Upnor on the Medway to the Ford works at Dagenham, fertilizers from London to Faversham and Queenborough, wheat from London docks to Whitstable and more or less anything that could be carried between ships in the London docks to anywhere in the Estuary. We were paid by the freight. Half the value of the carriage charges going to the owners and the other half to the crew, shared 2/3 for the skipper, 1/3 for the mate, Then fuel and other expenses were divided up similarly.
Nellie, of all the barges I served on was the one I liked best. She was the smallest, but there was just something about her. However as a footnote, in the 1970's I built a forty three foot schooner rigged barge yacht in the same yard as Nellie was built.

On Halloween morning Sunday Oct. 31 2021 ran the Sequin with several other club members at Spencer's pool may be last run this year with weather getting cooler . The lake freighter was her first run & just needed a little ballast weight at the stern prop wasn't deep enough Boat belongs to a fellow club member .

This is s short video of the first trial of the Police Launch. I was very happy with the performance. After 30 minutes of running in fairly rough conditions, I was pleased to note that not even a drip of water entered the hull.
She performed very well but I will wait for a calmer day before deciding on any changes needed to the ballast.
I stopped the run after 30 minutes only because it was very cold. The LiPo battery, 2 cell 2200 mAh, performed faultlessly. Even after being in storage charge for more that 2 years, it still was only reading 3.78 volts per cell after the 30 minutes. My estimate is that it will run for 40 minutes or more before getting close to the lower limit. I was running at full speed for most of the test. My only negative from the test is that Krick have settled for a motor which is at the bottom of the power range. A pity as I am sure that an increase in motor speed would be of benefit to the model.
Peter.😊

First time in the water for my 1/48 scratch built model of MV Overchurch Mersey Ferry. No extra ballast required and she responded well to the transmitter.

Just built Krick RO-Marin Neptun. First tug I’ve built, she came out okay, I think. 6volt system, MFA 2.5 geared motor, Graupner SXM switch controlling the lights, older Pixie brushed esc controlling water monitor pump. Old Futaba MC210 for motor esc, Frysky QX7 radio. This video was shot at Towne Lake, McKinney Texas. She well on her maiden, needs about 2-4 ounces ballast in the stern though.