Thought I would share a few photos of my just finished build of the Dave Metcalf Lady Laura Tug.
Looking around the clubs, shows, build logs etc whilst tug kits are as they always have been a very popular build subject, mostly though it seems that the offerings by MS, MMS, Mountfleet and Caldercraft are the most popular and very fine kits they are too especially the MS ones IMHO. Although there have been a couple of build reviews in Model Boats and Marine Modelling, I haven't seen anywhere near as many versions of Dave Metcalf's Lady Laura build as some of the tugs by the manafacturers listed above.
I started this a couple of months ago and it has turned out to be a lovely model to build. The Hull is of a very good quality and it is as comprehensive as any kit I have done in terms of fittings and building material. The white metal fittings are excellent. The printed parts are also very well done with almost all of them a perfect fit. I did make some minor personal changes during the build as the access to the shafts was limited especially where the couplings fit so I inserted another access hatch there. I also changed the plasticard deck for ply as it is a very substantial model and ply was in my view better for the deck. And of course as you can see from the photos I build her in a made up scheme with a made up name chosen by my daughter to reflect her nickname.
Havent sailed her yet although she is now ballasted but will do so next weekend. Hopefully she will be a good steady sail. Accepting that I cant yet recommend her from a sailing perspective from the build I certainly would recommend her to anyone thinking of this kit. Its certainly value at £199 and the only really quibble I had is some of the parts (very few) aren't fully clear on the two sheet drawings.