Advice wanted please.

Hi, I am a new member to the forum having never built a boat before. I am a very experienced aeromodeller for over 50 years, having built and flown all sorts from Jets to Helicopters to gliders etc etc !

However this still means I know nothing about boats LOL !

Over winter I am wanting to build something which is relatively straightforward, largeish say 1m length + sort of tug type vessel !

I would welcome any advice, I have looked at a number of kits available, however some seem to have excessive detail for my wants.

If anyone can show me where and what to look at, I would be very grateful.
Thanks
Paul.

Hi Lupoman

I have also gone down a similar route, mine being boats, control line aircraft then helicopters before returning to boats. I would suggest looking at something like a Billing kit of Smit Rotterdam. Billing kits can be more expensive, but are good. A vessel like the Rotterdam has a planked hull (much like having to plank the formers of a wing instead of using tissue paper), and with a juditious use of pins to hold the planks while the glue dries and the occasional wet or steam bending before hand, will make the build interesting. A vessel of the size  you are looking at will also allow easy fitting of control system (R/c and ESC-elec speed controller), as well as any fog horns or sound systems. I assume you would be going down the electric route, I have used water cooled diesels in the past but they are messy, and can rot the wood and adhesives.

The latest build I have done was a 1.4m long model of the Titanic using a Mantua kit. This had a double skinned planked hull, and took 10kg of lead shot to weight it down, along with all the controls and two sets of batteries.

Have a good session, you wont regret building a boat.