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[cabman]

Have just started my first ever Model Slipway kit and hope I'm not being too ambitious. I'm certainly impressed with the contents of the "big box" and instruction book. My boat building experience to date is a Billings Dragon which I am immensely proud of, a small planked two masted cutter (can't remember the kit maker) and a US made V32 yacht kit with modifications and an elaborately planked deck. The amount of Tamar parts looks daunting but with retirement due in3mths and 2days (who's counting?) I have plenty of time. I've built the stand so far and very good it is too.My first proper building stage tonight has been rubbing down the few moulding lines on the hull and measuring the areas which need holes cutting. I have followed the instructions to a T but was confused because the layout of lines on the hull look nothing like the layout on the plan in the instructions. I do have a copy of Model Boat magazine's review of this kit and thankfully my markings look similar to those in the magazine. I am surprised that MS haven't made their plans look more like the actual measurements although I realise the don't have to be to scale. If I hadn't got the magazine, I would have been very nervous of drilling holes and cutting slots. which is tomorrow night's task. Has anyone else come across this or is it just me being ultra cautious? Think I'll order a few metres of spare dowel now for when I attempt to make that back rail.

[irishcarguy]

Like you I felt the locations on the drawing for the prop shafts was not correct, however the measurements are correct, so just lay it out as per the measurements. I am building the Tamar as well it is a lovely kit & great people to deal with as well. If you have any questions just email me I am plodding along just a bit ahead of you, but you will pass me, I am very slow. I have made a few changes you might be interested in too. Mick B.

[Neil]

for most of the kit manufacturers that started producing these excellent kits in the 1980's, and the biggest bugbare of many modellers was the caveat printed on the plans...DO NOT SCALE FROM THIS DRAWING.........
why they couldn't actually put scale precise drawings into the package is a mistery to many, and it was Caldercraft that started the trend with their Joffre and Northlight kits..........and it seams to have persisted with british produced kits from the major 3.
so long as you have good measurements from the instructions, you should be ok with your build.
neil

[irishcarguy]

You are so right Neil. It is so easy to mess up if you are not paying very careful attention all the time. I must say though that Model Slipway are far better than most. I had a lot of trouble with a Billings kit & it had nothing to do with my skill level. They must have a severe shortage of paper in Denmark. Mick B.

[pipster]

I agree with the previous posts which are from builders with far more experience than me.  If it's any reassurance, my first boat kit was Slipway's Trent and that went ok.  I'm building the Tamar now so happy to help if I can.  I've also got a build log at www.modellifeboats.blogspot.co.uk/ (apologies for the plug) which may help you - a guy at my boat club had build photos of his Trent and they were very helpful. 


Absolutely agree about using the measurements in the instructions and not the plan - go with the measurements and you'll be fine.  The prop shafts are at quite a shallow angle though so not much room for motor mount blocks but slim ones will fit; I used thin ply, others on here I think have just epoxyed the mounts directly to the hull.  There's a post on here on that issue, and others about the Tamar.


I've just finished the transom bar and like you thought I'd need loads of spare dowel, but in the end I didn't need any.  A mitre box for cutting will help and thick superglue will help if the angles cut are a little out.


Hope you enjoy the build.

[Bill D203]

Snap   I started mine in Sept this year. I have done a couple of test on the running gear & I hope to do  final test on Sunday this week.
I went for the full opening rear which has held me back a bit but This my winter build so I don't mind to much as long as it is 90 % done come spring time. I have also made the folding mast work up and down as per the real thing which is what I'm working on at the moment.
When i paid a visit to the Padstow Tamar this year I noticed how many PC screens was inside the cabin. I can't run to tiny screens so I am playing around with some led's and fiba cable . All good fun
Once all the bit that I want to get working do work then the rest should go well.

[colin]

The reason Do Not Scale is on drawings is that paper expands / contracts due to humidity levels this is common practice within the construction industry with sites being exposed to all weathers. There are drafting films that move less but are expensive.


Regards Colin

[Colin Bishop]

The reason Do Not Scale is on drawings is that paper expands / contracts due to humidity levels this is common practice within the construction industry with sites being exposed to all weathers. There are drafting films that move less but are expensive.

Well, that would rule out using the many hundreds, if not thousands, of plans marketed for modellers and used by scratchbuilders where the expectation is that you do take most of the dimensions directly from the plan!

In the case of architectural dimensioned drawings it is certainly correct that written measurements are always to be used instead of scaling, not just because of paper expansion/contraction but because what you are building is many, many times the size of the drawing and any minor errors in taking off measurements become greatly magnified. You might find that your roof beam doesn't fit across your walls for example!
 
But with modelling you are usually building 1:1 from your plans and certainly not greater than a factor of two so there is no technical reason why kit manufacturers should not supply full size drawings as the scope for error due to the printing process etc. should be pretty minimal in practical terms.
 
The real reason for the non full size drawings is that kit manufacturers don't want people copying them and selling them on for a profit. Many of the kits on sale today first came out years ago when copying was not quite as easy as it is now and commercial copy shops might ask questions about copyright if you wanted a lot of copies to a particular scaling factor. Following the digital revolution this has all become rather irrelevant so there is no reason why proper full size plans should not be supplied but I guess they carry on using the ones they have in the original format.
 
Fear of plaigarism is also why you won't find body plans on kit drawings and where manufacturers supply marked or cut out frames in their kits for plank on frame models, you won't find the frames accurately reproduced on the drawings either.
 
Engineering drawings are also dimensioned due to the fine tolerances required.

 
Colin (the other one)

[Neil]

The reason Do Not Scale is on drawings is that paper expands / contracts due to humidity levels this is common practice within the construction industry with sites being exposed to all weathers. There are drafting films that move less but are expensive.


Regards Colin

no sorry....the reason is that they aren't drawn to scale........simples.

[colin]

I have known a sheet of A0 paper move as much as 5 mm due to change of storage , now if it is drawn at 1-1 or any other scale who would you hold responsible if you scaled a size of the drawing and it was incorrect.
Whilst i appreciate that a lot of drawings are incorrect to start with not drawing to scale is very hard to do it is far easier to draw the correct size / scale, but the information the drawings are produced from needs to be correct.


Regards
Colin

[cabman]

Wow I wish I hadn't said anything now with all this talk about scale/not scale. As I said earlier, I didn't have a problem with the exactment of figures in the instruction book but my observation was simply that the diagram was confusing because it  showed the prop shaft holes to be forward of the front tab holes for the keels. When I measured  the exact measurements to a T, the result was the opposite which made me think I'd measured incorrectly or misunderstood the instructions. From advice I have received from several mayhemers and from Model Slipway, I now realise that I had done it correctly in the first place. Many thanks to all of you and to Jackie at MS who appears to have gone beyond the call of duty on my behalf.