As soon as I came across details of the 45 foot Harbor Tugs built for the US Army in WW2 it was obvious that they would form the basis of an interesting model. If you want more details, look up "US Army Transportation Corps -Design 320", the Army designation "ST" and Navy "YTL".
When I eventually got around to designing it, my first thoughts were for a 1/18 scale (30 inch -76 cm long) model. This would have been a handy size but my eye was taken by a stack of balsa off-cuts and the possibility of making a smaller model. Great fun had been had many years ago when an editor had got me to make small RC models that would fit across a magazine double page spread. It was something of a challenge to figure out how to accommodate the bulky RC gear of the time inside a design that was simple yet still safe to sail in less than perfect conditions. Surely, with today's much smaller stuff, this was no problem now.....?
Like most ideas, it didn't survive its first contact with reality. It took some time to devise a straightforwards way to built a reasonable looking hull, an ugly looking or complicated one was quite easy to do! Like most things, the answers were obvious but only after you had seen them. But, the extra effort proved to be a lot more rewarding than any simple assembly job could have ever been,
The resulting model is, at 15 inches in length, 1/36 scale. Powered by a single RE360 motor driving a 40 mm dia prop ("Radioactive" prop and shaft item) from a 4 cell AA Nimh battery pack with the potential for more than 2 hours sailing flat out. This scale also allowed me to man the model with some figures from plastic military kits, solders 'cos it's its an Army Boat.
Plans now in the hands of the "Model Boats" editor. Enjoyed it so much plus there is still a pile of balsa off-cut
available, maybe time for another 15 incher..?
Glynn Guest
