New Boy looking for guidance

[peterwwebster]

Hi
I am new to your site and found it from a link on model boats mag site.  I have returned to modeling after many years.

I am just nearing the end of a Billing Nordkap trawler which I have found very absorbing although I found the the instructions / plans misleading and frankly wrong on several  details. Not good given the price
.
However I now have the bug and I am thinking about my next project.

I like the ideal of a Clydle paddle boat  r/c but I cant find any kits.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

I want a dificult kit that will take a long time to build but I am not to sure about a scratch build.
All suggestions etc welcome

[Sandy]

Hi Peter,

I am not sure if there are any kits for Clyde paddlers at the moment.

Kim from Clyde Model Boats has gone very quiet and I have not been able to contact him.

Modelsbydesign do three fibreglass hulls though:- one is for the current Waverley, one is for the Talisman (and how nice it would be to do Talisman as built rather than post-WWII), and one for the Albion (which sailed in the Bristol Channel), is the same as the Glen Rosa and the Minerva which sailed for the GSW railway on the Clyde.

Here's a link to these hulls:-

http://www.modelsbydesign.co.uk/model_boats.aspx

They list alphabetically and the paddlers are under P.S.

John Gray did a very comprehensive five part build of Glen Rosa in Model Boats magazine and, if you are a subscriber, you can download and print the articles. They are very useful and helpful, and John isn't afraid of pointing out his mistakes and how he resolved them. His build was in the Oct, Nov and Dec 2007 and Jan and Feb, 2008 issues.

The snag, at the moment, would be building the paddle wheels. The default was to use the Graupner ones for the paddle tug 'Glasgow' but they are out of production, and, I have been told, will never appear again.

Kim did some nice sets, both rimmed as for the CSPC and GWR railway ships and un-rimmed floats as for the NBR ships (like Waverley).

Model Boats magazine do plans for the Duchess of Fife. Mine are of an odd scale but it may be that their printing machine was out of whack that day but included with the plans is a nice set of drawings of how to build you own paddle wheels, including the feathering mechanism.

I also have a set of builders plans for paddle wheels. I just need to pluck up courage to try my hand. I am waiting to see how Ian McGhie gets on with his set built from the old Model Steamer Club patterns.

Not sure whereabouts in the country you are but the Paddler Day is being held in Glasgow on 31st August. While I have never been to one when they were held in Darlington, I am hoping that, as to a great extent Glasgow has been the spiritual home of model paddle steamers for over 40 years, there may be quite a few models on display and sailing. A fair number of folk locally have been enthused and lofts and garages have been visited and old paddlers dusted off.

I hope this may have been of some help?

All the best
Sandy