Hello from Medford NJ

[James MacIntyre]

Hello
My name is Jim MacIntyre. I joined Padddleducks over a year ago and regret I did not get any further than that.
Must admit I was scared by what appeared to be a very complex system.
I recently joined in a similar web site - shipsnostalgia - for ex mariners and have enjoyed it so much I decided to come back to Paddleducks and get my feet wet
I am currently building a model of the P.S. Waverley in 1/86 scale and I'm stuck on decisions for powering her. More on that later.
Look forward to participating
Cheers
Jim Mac

[Eddy Matthews]

Nice to have you with us Jim - I hope we don't appear too scary now! :-)

The Waverley is a very popular paddler, so I'm sure a lot of our users will be interested in hearing more about your model, and of course if we can help with anything we will.

As the guy that handles the day to day running of the website, please feel free to ask if your unsure of anything - I'll always do my best to help.

[James MacIntyre]

Hi Eddy
Thanks for the welcome.  Just been looking at paddlewheells and see you have used Graupner for your model. Unoftunately I didn't do enough research before starting and I amended the scale plans to 1/86 (approx 'HO' railway gauge) thinking about accessories. Having completed the hull and pontoons (?) I arrived at the question of paddles. Now I can either go back to the original scale of the plans (1/54 I think) and rebuild the hull or experiment with custom made smaller paddles. Must admit it has stalled me fore well over a year.
anyway look forward to staying in touch and finding ideas for my projecct.
In the meantime I started on a Shell tanker model (Dylisia) so I have some diversion
Cheers
Jim Mac

[Walter Snowdon]

Hi Jim and welcome to the best little site on the net. Glad you are getting youre feet wet and building a paddler. But be carefull on stability as at 1/87 scale waverley will be very "tender" and will be difficult to stabilise dur to her round bottom and shallow draft. Superstucture will have to be of the lightest materiel and NO metal fittings or injection moulded plastic, as tall funnels and lifeboats etc. quickly add top weight. to be honest, I would revert to the larger scale. I have a soft spot for the Waverley as twice a year I live aboard for a couple of weeks at a time working on her as a volunteer. I have three sets of plans at various stages in her life, some 70 -odd postcards of her and about 150 photos of her career and every conceivable detail of her construction and fittings. Should you ever need information, please ask and wecome again!. Regards, Walter.

[James MacIntyre]

Many thanks for the advice, Walter. In the past I have used some adhesive backed lead weights in the hull for stability although it tends to make the model a bit 'stiff' in the water. I'm still mulling over the case for going back to the larger scale meantime plugging away on the tanker Dylisia for now.
If I do revert then the smaller Waverley will probably end up as a static model.  I certainly appreciate the offer for information and no doubt you'll hear from me down the line
Cheers
Jim MacIntyre
P.S. I envy your volunteer work
JM