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[Dave_S.]

I was having a bit of a tidy up in my modelling room this morning (about 5% of it, anyway) and rediscovered the completed  & decked hull for one of these: https://billingboats.com/index.php/modelboats-footer/40/120/boats/the-beginner/P-bb604-hms-renown


I bought the kit in a Helsinki model shop as something to do while I was living in a bedsit in Kuusankoski in 1996. I finished the hull & deck planking the following year when I had married and moved to a house (also in Kuusankoski).


The completed hull and the kit box with the rest of the model in has followed me faithfully around to three more houses in Finland, and then came back to England with me in 2012. I have made no further progress on it since 1997, when I decided that it wasn't really worth my while building a model boat that wouldn't see water.


Now it hides at the back of my bench, and every now and then I uncover it and take another look at it. I reckon I made a fair job of the planking, and the deck looks good with thread caulking and a coat of varnish. With the size of modern radio gear and batteries, it just might be possible to motorise it, though I wouldn't want to submit such a tiddler to the club pond.


The frames inside are all wood, no cutouts for motor, etc, and as I have already decked it, I would need to cut into my beautiful deck to make an access hatch and then perform maritime gynaecology to make space for motor, shaft, rudder servo and a little battery, ESC and Rx. Years ago I experimented with a servo motor and its electronics and it propelled a small plastic kit, so possibly something along those lines could get the picket boat on the water.


The hull is, according to Billings, 45cm x 10 cm max beam, so there isn't much of it to move - but neither is there much room inside!


I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried this, especially if they succeeded.

[Martin (Admin)]

 
 
https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/billings-hms-renown/

[Dave_S.]

That's the one! It's about 17" by 3 1/2" according to my ruler.


I'll try to attach a few pictures to show where I've got to. My success rate with uploading pictures to the forum isn't exactly impressive, though!


Managed it! Took me three attempts, though… First couple of pictures show the model as it is today and the third shows the receipt from Hobby Point in Helsinki for the 376 Finnish Markka it cost me (about £54) dated 04/10/1996.

[tonyH]

Might be worth wrapping what you've got in clingfilm, putting it in the bath and see how much weight you've got to play with first. Then you can take off the fittings and then see how much you've got left for motor, battery etc.

[Dave_S.]

Good idea - it would be a bit disappointing to convert it and find I had a submarine!


Just looked up the shop - it's still going but has moved from No 5 to No 7 on the same street - and they still sell this kit.

[Colin Bishop]

The Deans Picket Boat kit is around the same size and sold as a working model:

https://deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/cPath/10_11/products_id/2256

However, I would have thought it quite difficult to convert the Billings version given the nature of construction with the central full height 'keel' section that supports the bulkheads and planking. Even more difficult once you have actually built the hull and deck. You are faced with a major excavation job!

Also, the Billings kit as designed as a static model so you may find that the construction results in too high a centre of gravity which would make the model unstable.

An interesting problem!

Colin

[Dave_S.]

Thank you, Colin - I have been looking at the plans and remembering how solid the model is inside - but I have some experience of key-hole surgery on models due to previous changes of heart. The superstructure (such as it is) is mostly vacuum formed plastic, and weighs almost nothing, so shouldn't be top heavy if I keep the motor & battery s low as possible.


I'll definitely take small steps, as it is a decent hull and it'd be a shame to spoil it now - especially as it's survived 25 years and many moves. It'd make a lovely model at about 50% larger.

[Colin Bishop]

I understand where you are comng from Dave as I was quite keen to make the Chanioti Gaita kit I recently reviewed for Model Boats as a working model but came to the reluctant conclusion that it would just not be viable really at that size and using the supplied parts. On the plus side the manufacturer provided an excellent plan with the bulkheads so it would be very easy to scale these up to twice the size and modify the construction to build a proper working model. I hope to get around to this at some time in the future.

Colin

[Dave_S.]

Yes, it might well end up as the static model it was intended to be, but I shall explore the alternatives, hopefully without damaging the model as it is at the moment.


One of the best things about forums like this is to be able to get advice from some of the leading modellers in the field, for which I thank you, Colin.

[tonyH]

Since you've got a good solid hull, why not get someone to vacform over it and make 2?

[Colin Bishop]

I'd hardly describe myself as a leading modeller, there are many on here much better that I am, but I have learned the hard way that, while nothing may be impossible, it isn't always worth the effort!

Colin

[Dave_S.]

Thanks, that's another idea to store away 'in case'. I prefer working with wood when possible, though.

[Dave_S.]

I'd hardly describe myself as a leading modeller, there are many on here much better that I am, but I have learned the hard way that, while nothing may be impossible, it isn't always worth the effort!

Colin

That's a lesson I have been slow to learn, I've been making models since the late 60s, but my output has hardly been prodigious! I quite fancy a small, easily transported, model to take away on holidays - something I can squeeze (in a box) into the back of the car without taking up valuable 'shoe space' - also means I could sail on small areas of water.

[Colin Bishop]

Another lesson is that as you grow older, smaller models become a lot more attractive!

Especially when your knees go...

Colin

[Dave_S.]

I had a knee operation some years ago, but still can't take too many risks - which is why I have a couple of large Aerokits Crash Tenders for sale at the moment.


The trouble is that the eyesight goes the other way, and bigger is definitely easier to see!

[grantlau]

I did something similar with a different kit of the same construction. The tool I found best was a dremel with a flexi shaft and a pile of small cutting disks. Using the Dremel I was able to remove bits of the centre keel and frames and gradually hollow it out. No pictures of the patient survive, it was a smaller boat than the renown model but a successful operation.


Coincidentally I also have a planked and decked Billings Renown, but there the similarities end. I did trace the frames and keel onto graph paper before building it as I was idly wondering about building a scaled up version for the water. Of course I'd have to find those tracings to build it . . .

[Dave_S.]

If it helps, I might be able to find my tracings of the frames...

[Colin Bishop]

Some interesting deliberations. Does one take pleasure in wrestling with a model that was never intended to be a working one or settle for either one that is (The Deans version) or something that is just a bit bigger but will be a far easier project and probably look better on the pond as well?

If, in the unlikely event that I had been able to convert my Chaniotica Gaito to a working model, I would have ended up with a tiny thing that would sort of almost disappear at any distance on the pond. However, if I were to build a more substantial larger scale version it would be far easier to construct and do a much better job of conveying the attractiveness of the boat to spectators.

Some food for thought perhaps.

Colin

[Dave_S.]

My hull & deck have been planked and waiting for the next stage for 25 years now, so the chances of me finishing it as a static model are fairly slim. A small working model that I could use on small bodies of water (portable ponds at shows, for example) might just have a chance of being completed. The picket boat does look tiny next to my 46" Crash Tender (though that is too big for my circumstance, really).

[grantlau]

More memories return . . .


The kit was one of these: https://www.mantuamodel.co.uk/products/ship-kits/mantua/102/police-boat-detail
I built it all up then cut a hole in the deck inside the superstructure.


Fitting everything in my model was a challenge so instead of a ready made battery pack I soldered rechargeable AA batteries in a string so that I could distribute them within the hull and they doubled as ballast.
I charged the cells fully before soldering, the idea being that I had all the cells at max charge at the same time then recharging them as a pack should return them to an even state. Don't know if it was a sound idea but he batteries stayed fine for quite a few years. I used AA cells with a small motor.


Don't know if that is helpful but it worked for me at the time.


Thanks,


Grant.

[Circlip]

Now 400mm (15 3/4") is big in comparison to some offerings that have worked. A model Tug illustrated years ago was only 152mm (5") complete with Ever Ready TG18 and bang bang escapement. Sailing waters was a bucket but with some of the "Tsunamis" on local waters, even a 46" Crash Tender bobs about like a cork at times. Seen at one meeting, a Revell plastic kit, no, not the Flower Class, smaller, with a servo motor as the drive source with the Amp used as a speed controller.


  Regards   Ian