I've just been looking on the Medway Maritime Trust's TID pages and, though I knew that many tugs had been modified during their long lives, I was surprised how different many of them looked from each other. Not just in terms of the technical changes; even a different livery can make two otherwise similar tugs look poles apart in appearance.
I think it would be great if we could see a collection of member's TIDs to demonstrate this, perhaps with a bit of info about each.
I'll kick off with my model of TID 15 in her diesel engined
Salisbury guise. She is seen while working for the Laxey Towing Company, predominantly assisting the Isle of Man Steam Packet ships at Douglas. Her Manx service will probably be best remembered for her exploits with the wayward ro-ro car ferry Mona's Isle (vi) during that vessel's brief career in the mid eighties.
The model is based on a Kingston Mouldings hull. Deck and upperworks are predominantly styrene sheeting. She has working lights, tow release, fire pump, and smoke generator. Running gear is 6v 4ah battery, Electronize ESC and Robbe geared motor which work extremely well with a near-scale prop.
She is currently awaiting refurbishment due to 1. being dropped on my King Orry model (which came off much worse - thanks Dad!) and 2. being consumed internally by a member of the family
rodentiae whilst stored over the winter - major rewire required!
Anyway, I look forward to seeing if the model TID fleet shows the diversity of the full scale vessels.