Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Edward Pinniger]

This is a very large (1.34m/53" long), incomplete model boat which looks to be based on a typical 1960s motor yacht/cruiser of about 75-85ft length. It has a hard chine hull; I'm not sure if this is accurate for the prototype or simply due to the construction technique, as most real vessels of this type had displacement hulls.

Construction is from thin plywood sheet over a ply framework, other than the bow which is carved from solid and the stern which is built up from planks. It's very neatly made (though the hull has "oil-canned" a bit due to the thinness of the plywood skin) but it's definitely scratchbuilt rather than a kit, as the frames and interior strengthening parts look to be made from scrap (ex-furniture?) ply.

Note that the radio gear + prop shaft in photo 3 was temporarily installed by me, the only "hardware" in it when I got it was a rudder tube (not even a prop shaft).

Can anyone identify a prototype and/or modelling plan which this model might be based on? Or is it simply a "freelance" scratchbuild?  The design appears closer to an American prototype (such as a Trumpy, Chris Craft or Stevens boat) than a British one, though it's hard to be sure. The general appearance is slightly reminiscent of one of the boats in Aerokits' range (particularly the Sea Commander), though both the model and the subject matter are a bit larger than anything Aerokits produced.

[Vintage]

Hi Edward

I'm not sure what your model is but, having read your other post relating to plans available for a large motor yacht, are you familiar with the Vic Smeed designed "Lorraine"?

The model is a similar design / length at 54" & the plans, still available in the link below, might be of help. The link doesn't show an image so I've scanned one from an early Model Boats & Cars plans handbook to show you. I'd imagine that the construction would be very similar to the old Aerokits series of models.

http://www.myhobbystore.com/1770/Colyer-Lorraine-MM512.html

Bassett - Lowke also produced various plans for modeling similar motor yachts many years ago - not sure if you'd be able to find plans these days but I could certainly scan in the tiny ads in a very early catalogue I have if you're interested?

Hope this helps

Mark

[Edward Pinniger]

It looks like you've identified my model! Vic Smeed's "Lorraine" looks like an almost exact match, if the line drawing you posted is anything to go by; any differences are likely just due to the individual modeller who built the boat I now have. I had a look through the plans listed on myhobbystore.com and Traplet's site only yesterday, but as the Lorraine plan doesn't have a photo, I didn't notice it.

After doing a Google search for Vic Smeed plans, it seems he made another 54" motor yacht plan, "Vivacity" which is a smaller design rather reminiscent of "Bluebird of Chelsea". The only photo I can find of it is here: http://www.srcmbc.org.uk/pdf_files/News_Jun_08.pdf

Since I already have a completed hull, deck and superstructure, I probably won't buy the Lorraine plan set from myhobbystore; I would suspect, like most plans from this era, it's a semi/stand-off scale model and doesn't go into too much detail with the fittings and cabin structural work. Given that the model is about 4.5 foot long and works out at around 1/18 scale, I want to build it to as high a standard of detail and finish possible. I'm planning to use photos of the rather similar US motor yacht "Black Knight" and of smaller British motor yachts from the same era, as reference for detailing and converting my model.

The plan description is interesting in that it apparently has the option to build the model as a hard-chine hull (like mine) or a (probably more accurate to the prototype) rounded hull. The line "excellent for radio" also says a lot about the size and cost of R/C gear at the time it was published...

Bassett - Lowke also produced various plans for modeling similar motor yachts many years ago - not sure if you'd be able to find plans these days but I could certainly scan in the tiny ads in a very early catalogue I have if you're interested?

I actually have a couple of old Bassett-Lowke catalogues in my own collection of "memorabilia" - I'll have a look through these for inspiration, though my model is definitely not one of theirs.

Anyway, many thanks for the help!

[roycv]

Hi E.P. I don't think it is a Bassett lowke design, Barbara springs to mind and she is different, I have some rather tatty drawings of Barbara.  Vivacity is a big, deeper boat, not terribly attractive and not the one you have pictured.  Lorraine is as you can see similar but there are more curves all round in Lorraine, as per the pictures.
It looks like it was a kit if only to explain the stanchions.  Perhaps an American one as has been surmised? Sterling maybe?

I agree, if you are going to produce a model to a 'high standard' then I would now look at full size boats and forget the origins of the model.  I say that because the plans / kit looks very 'dated' and will have been very much simplified for either kit production or as plans.
Deck planking will 'lift' the model from what it is at the moment and it is very satisfying to do.
Best of luck, Roy

[Shipmate60]

It looks very like the Dumas "Dauntless"

Bob

[Shipmate60]

http://www2.gpmd.com/image/d/dumb0675.jpg

Bob

[DickyD]

It also looks very like the Maycraft Mercury of 1961 vintage



Wrong size though. 

[rob]

The word Tarpon sprung into my mind.

[Edward Pinniger]

I can't be totally sure based on a single small line drawing, but I'm 95% certain my model is built from the Vic Smeed Lorraine plans, given that the hull dimensions are identical; the differences from the drawing are presumably a combination of artistic license, the techniques/materials used by the original builder of the model, and my model being the hard-chine version rather than the rounded displacement hull depicted in the drawing.

I'm certain it's not built from a commercial kit (though it may possibly have been built using a kit plan) as all the structural parts have been cut by hand and have no markings or outlines printed on them, and many appear to have been cut from scrap wood salvaged from old furniture!
(The "stanchions" are actually homemade items made from split pins inside lengths of brass tube, with copper wire threaded through them, and other than a few interior details are the only fittings on the model.)

The Keilkraft Meteor has some similarities, but is significantly smaller (38"), has different hull proportions, and no forecastle. Similarly, the Dumas Dauntless lacks a forecastle and has an odd cabin layout (with a very low cabin forward of the main wheelhouse, which has an open back) not found on my model. Here's a photo of a built one: http://image2-9.rcuniverse.com/e1/forum/upfiles/88993/Rp43779.jpg. Couldn't find a photo of a completed Tarpon, but the Kingston Mouldings Tarpon hull appears to have very different proportions to mine (and is only half the size)

When I rebuild the model I'll completely plank the deck (including the aft boat deck) and resurface the superstructure with either mahogany veneer or (more likely, as it's much more durable) stained plywood, with appropriate panelling detail. I also plan to add bulwarks around the lower deck and rubbing strakes on the hull.

[Tester]

The boat certainly looks identical to my old sadly departed Lorraine.

I still have a very old set of plans that I can can let you have if you want them, although I would like to get them back at some stage.

Let me know if you want them.

Richard

[Edward Pinniger]

I've got the model running again, with a rebuilt + repainted hull, though there's still a lot of work to do on the deck, upper works and fittings!

I've started a thread for the rebuild project here: http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=19892.0