Hi all,
Thanks for the add Admin. I thought I'd introduce myself, and give an idea of what I'm about with model boats.
My name is Jeremy, though living in Devon it's easier to call myself Jerry as us Janners usually end up saying 'Germy'
. I'm based in a small village in the South Hams, and often the peace of the village is broken by my running IC engines as I have a preference for these over electrics. I started modelling maybe forty five years ago, following on from my Dad who made all manner of free flight and control line aeroplanes during his time in National Service. His section leader was an accomplished aeromodeller and had the joy of touring the UK with him with an exhibition of control line planes on poles which could be controlled by visitors in the '50's, in an effort to promote the RAF. Names such as Vic Smeed came to the fore and dad could be found making Admiral's Barges etc from the MAP plans handbooks of the time, often from timber recovered from retired Mosquito's. Into this background dad encouraged me into the hobby, and I've never looked back. He now makes live steam models and at 85 is still at it, having just completed a Tug model ready for the engine to be made.
I've come in and out of the hobby as circumstances allowed, not least in an effort to repeat what my father did to enable engaging with me as a child, I'm 55 now and both my lads are modellers. This kind of bonding is priceless in my view.
I have a leaning towards the less than conventional, as a lad I would make airscrew driven hydroplanes (airboats) long before radio gear was accessible to me, not least because of their simplicity, and I have come back to that with a couple of projects that use contemporary design to get the best out of such a method of propulsion. Waterprop boats are in there too, the usual fayre of Cats and Monos, but airboats are my thing really.
I'm a Fitter/Turner by trade, what folk might now call Old School. Apprenticed in a Naval Dockyard in Devonport I now reside behind a desk in Quality Management, but still in the marine industry. One of my great pleasures is to make stuff myself as much as I can, I have a small machine shop with lathe and mill and consider myself to be a builder rather than an assembler. But, I'm no snob and firmly believe that the measure of success in modelling is the joy you get out of it, not in the means used. I do like things to be finished well, but also might be perfectly happy with a throw together that raises the grins I seek. I also like to paint things, all of teh models below are all paint, no decals.
So here's some of my efforts:
A scratch built five point Hydroplane:
A three point hydro built from plans:
A 'Flatty' Airboat made with my son from scratch:
A Petrol engined F1 from UK hull maker Daz Elson:
And another Daz Elson boat painted for a club friend:
I've many projects running together at the moment, I'll get to those in time.
