If I build it, will they come?

[Mr.Tin]

Sorry, couldn't resist that!
I've just been over to the son's house to eat daughter-in-law's fairy cakes and play Forza on his new steering wheel and I decided, spur of the moment, to ask him for my McLaren M8F box, which he keeps safe for me.
So...if I start to build it again, will anyone be interested enough? I mean, I will build it anyway now it's back here and this forum has got my interest going again, but is it worth the picture taking?
It would only be to garner interest and encourage those thinking of giving scratchbuilding a go, so I'd want questions asked.

Let me know, please.

Martin

[3.Star]

As far as it concerns me, there is a whole lot of interest, Martin.

Cheers
Michael

[unipart]

Hi Martin,

Please keep going on this nice project.
Have you finished work on your River Barge?

unipart

[Mr.Tin]

Hi Unipart,
my wife and I got the canal boat nearly done, but my back won't let me lay on the ground raising heavy planks in place any more, so we had to sell her to someone who had better resources.

So now, I just work in the workshop on various things. I was looking at the boat section of this forum, but it seems to have finished, which is a shame. I've made more 1/12th and 1/8th scale boats than cars. Even a 1/6th scale speedboat, a model of my own boat.

So, I'll get on with the McLaren and post pics when new work is done.

And please, ask questions, that's what the forum's all about, I hope.

Albatross Mk1 in aluminium...1/6th scale

Miss America X with 4 Packards...1/8th scale, 5ft-3ins. long!

Rive Aquarama Special, from works drawings, NOT a kit...1/12th scale, 700 hours work.

Miss America X and Miss Britain III in 1/12th scale, complete with Napier Lion W12 engine.
Martin

[unipart]

Martin, where did you got the drawings for those magnificent boats? I only found the book on Miss Britain In Windermere museum.

unipart

[ssybrecht]

Great models Martin!

Unipart you can get some interesting plans including Miss Britain III here: The Antique Boat Museum Gift Shop - Boat Plans

Cheers
Sebastian

[semijoe]

woe thats is some serious boat builds. all from scratch?

[hot ford coupe]

Worth taking picture? Absolutely yes. We'd love to see more pics of what you have, Martin. Those boats are beautiful.

[unipart]

Thanks, Sebastian

unipart

[ssybrecht]

I have another source: http://www.marinersmuseum.org/library/popular-plans
I haven't contacted them yet, but it looks like a good source for boat plans!

[Mr.Tin]

Sorry all, I've been elsewhere for a while.
Thanks for the kind words on the boats.
I was lucky to find each of them to measure and photograph, then I did my own plans. I have works drawings for the Riva Aquarama Special, but they are not too accurate, like most works drawings unfortunately! I always do my own drawings. I wish, now, that I'd done them neatly enough to publish, but if wishes were toffees, eh? I'd have no teeth!

Yes they were all built from scratch. I once built an Amati Riva fora customer but it was overpriced garbage from start to finish.

For any American friends near Fairfax, Virginia, you can see the Miss America X and Baby Horace III models at Artie's Restaurant.
The Miss Britain III model was built on spec. and sold at auction, where the auction house ripped me off over£500 for so-called expenses on top of the commission which they failed to warn me of and took 6 MONTHS to settle! I used Bonham's but I'm sure they're all as underhanded.

The Albatross speedboat is made entirely in aluminium, like the real boat, which I owned at the time. The Thames Slipper Launch was measured at Peter Freebody's yard. I was lent the original table of offsets by the old chap who did all Andrews original slippers.
Miss Britain III was measured at the National Powerboat Museum at Pitsea, which has shamefully been shut down in favour of a mud hut visitor centre! Welcome to maritime Britain, where prehistoric mud hut replicas are more important than its historic marine heritage. The curator gave me the keys and told me to help myself. Now it's in the National Maritime Museum in London in a dark corner and you're not even allowed to take a photograph.

Doh! I just realised there isn't a pic. of the slipper launch! Here it is at the Classic boat rally at Henley-on-Thames.

The McLaren will be done, but right now I'm busy with a new project. My own range of slot racers in 1/32nd scale. High end stuff, starting with an XJ13 Jag in original form before it crashed.

Thanks for the interest. Check out the existing M8F thread. I've put all the pics up there with building text.


Thames Slipper launch

Martin

[Dougritt]

Martin...you have amazing skills! Thanks for posting. Your fine work prods me to continue working on my build which is now nearly one year old! You seem to build with amazing speed...what is you secret?

[Mr.Tin]

Douglas, thanks for the compliments.
I guess speed comes from practice. That and the need to get paid to keep the family fed!
Obviously being able to spend all day on it helps.
I also trained as a technical illustrator during a break from modelmaking, so drawing is something I can do quickly too.
I've tried dong it with a computer but soon gave that one up!
Can't beat a pencil and pen.

Whilst on the subject of boats, let me pass on a tip from my cabinet maker Grandad. He always said "Stain the finish, boy, NOT the wood". In other words, make the piece, get some sanding sealer on it and rubbed down, THEN stain it. That way you don't kill the grain. My "mahogany" is done with steamed pearwood and lighter woods are done with lime (basswood) or sycamore. They then look like the real woods in scale.

What are you building?

Martin

[Ton]

In other words, make the piece, get some sanding sealer on it and rubbed down

Martin, a sanding sealer could that be a transparent enamel ?

[Mr.Tin]

Ton,
not really. That would just be a varnish, which CAN be used, but takes a while to set and isn't the easiest stuff to rub down. I use a cellulose sanding sealer, which dries very quickly like all cellulose products and carries in it some grain filling component. It shouldn't kill the grain and once you're happy with the finish, stain it with a preferably spirit or oil based stain, wiped on with a pad, not a brush. See woodworking manuals for that. You need a thing called a fid, a ball of cotton wool wrapped in a tight wad of lint free cloth. This allows a gentle build up of stain in a controlled way. When that's dry, then varnish with decent yacht varnish. A spar varnish will golden up the colour, too.
This is how I treated all the varnished areas on those boats. I could never get epoxy to cover the wood properly. It always pinholed due to certain oils in the fruit woods I use. I tried it, but had to laboriously scrape the entire hull of every little piece of epoxy . It took hours and was a filthy mess.
Good luck and NEVER use water based anything on a wooden model.
Cheers,
Martin