Hi, just a quick intoduction.

I have been a modeller most of my life, mainly plastic, but with also model railway and scalextric thrown in for good measure.  I had a play with aircraft very briefly but decided that the 30 seconds in the air did not merit the many hours of repairs so I gave up on it.

Then about five years ago I saw a Deans Marine model HMS Cossack on Ebay, 90% completed, and I decided to have a go.  I redid most of the internals, seperating the twin motor functions, took the level of completion to about 95% and gave the hull a new coat of paint before realising I wanted to make something myself.

Consequently I ended up with a Mountfleet kit of the Ben Ain, which I have been working on for the last three years.  I decided I wanted to use a steam plant so my interest quickly developed into model engineering and model boats.

I have purchased a few more boats off Ebay in the meantime and the steamer progresses slowly, interspersed with repairs and upgrades on the other models.

I am currently an engineer on board a cruise liner working 12 weeks away and 8 weeks at home so all my modelling gets compacted into those 8 weeks.  I am a member of the Kirklees Model Boat Club, a nicer bunch of guys you could only hope to meet, and I moderate on a Scale Model Forum as well as contributing to the Model Boat Mayhem Forum.

I ended up here following links to model steam engine plans and, although not a great fan of paddle steamers I do have a great interest in steam plants.  Your files and resources are superb and I have already downloaded some plans for my crew to practise thier machining skills on in thier spare time.

I look forward to sharing some of your experiences and I will be keen to see how some of the more common steam challenges have been met by you guys.

Welcome to Paddleducks Bunkerbarge - Don't worry about not having too much of an interest in paddlers, we WILL convert you to the joys of proper propulsion soon enough..... The Borg have nothing on us!