Here's a work-in-progress thread for my rebuild of the cheap ready-to-run "Seaport Workboat" (also sold as the "Dickie" tugboat, and with slight modifications as Coast Guard and US Marines boats) into a mid 20th century steam tug.
It's 1/48 scale and is based approximately on the Dean's Marine steam tug "SS Furie" (
link), though the design has been adapted to fit the different hull shape of the "Workboat" and the deckhouse doesn't extend all the way to the sides of the hull. I picked the Furie as the prototype for my boat for the following reasons:
- I have a set of plans, and various spare fittings (davits, bollards, etc.) for the Dean's Furie kit, given to me by a friend (what happened to the original model, I'm not sure, but I think it was sold years ago)
- It's more or less the style and period of tug I want to build (mid-20th century steam tug)
- Last but not least, it has a large, rectangular deckhouse of roughly the same dimensions as that on the "Workboat". This is important as the deckhouse is the one part of the original model's superstructure that I've retained - as it covers the circuit board, battery compartment opening, etc.
I'm mainly a builder of static display models - I build scratchbuilt models of ironclad-era warships in 1/96, and plastic kits of WW2 and earlier ships in 1/400 and larger scales, as well as a few planes - but have wanted to build a working, radio-control model boat or ship for some time. However, I've always been put off by the technical complexity of installing the R/C gear and by the very high cost of most R/C boat kits.
I was interested in the "Seaport Workboat" when I saw it on the Howes stand at the Leamington show this year, apart from the very low price of £30 - especially as it actually had a steerable rudder (or rather a Kort nozzle) rather than the unrealistic (and rather awkward to use) twin-prop steering of most cheap RTR boats. Whilst the modern-outline appearance didn't appeal to me much, it looked like it would be relatively easy to rebuild into an earlier design.
Apologies for the rather lengthy post, but I thought it would be a good idea to give readers an idea of how I (re)built the model and what materials + techniques I used, in case anyone else is interested in trying the same.
Anyway, here are a couple of photos of the original, out-of-the box boat:
As can be seen it's very bright, plasticky, and toylike in appearance (although admittedly when viewed on the water from a few metres off, it doesn't look so bad) - a coat of paint and some weathering will fix this easily enough, and the addition of a few more details + fittings will result in a model which looks very good on the pond.
However, its very modern design really doesn't appeal to me, so I decided to "backdate" it to an older tugboat design. The original idea I had was to rebuild it as a mid 20th-century US diesel tug, similar to the Revell "Lucky XI" plastic kit, but when comparing the designs it was obvious that the hull + superstructure shape was too different to make this an easy conversion.
Originally I didn't want to rebuild it as a steam tug as I didn't think any of these had Kort nozzles, but after some searching + asking questions on other model ship sites I found that this was not the case (Kort nozzles were actually introduced in the 1930s) Since I'd rather build a "steamer" anyway, and I happened to have the "Furie" plans on my bookshelf, this seemed like the best option!
The first stage of the rebuild was to fix the strange problem with the steering that seems to be a design fault of the "Workboat", basically the rudder/Kort only turns half as far to the right as it does to the left. I eventually managed to fix this by removing the (fairly useless) plastic trim-adjustment peg from the centre of the rudder mechanism. This allows the rudder to move more freely, although as it no longer auto-centres properly, a constant "hand on the tiller" is needed to keep the boat running in a straight line.
The other change I made was to replace the ballast tank with lead weights. The tank is theoretically a good idea as it means the boat is lighter and easier to carry when out of the water, but it also means that the boat leaks muddy pond water everywhere after being removed from the water.
I sealed the intake "grating" for the ballast tank by filling the holes in with two applications of Squadron modelling filler putty, then sanded down and covered with two layers of thin (0.2mm) styrene sheet. As I'm not sure whether the hull is styrene or ABS (suspect the latter) I glued the sheet on with Ambroid liquid cement, which glues both types of plastic equally well.
Two pieces of lead sheet (can't remember the exact weight, but they weren't too heavy) were then fixed inside the hull with "duct tape", one either side of the forward end of the ballast tank, to provide permanent ballast.
Once all this was done, and the boat had been tested on the water, I started work on dismantling the boat and removing all the bits I didn't want, which turned out to be almost everything above deck level:
I basically removed all of the upper superstructure and most of the fittings, and the resulting holes + pegs were cut down to the deck level and sealed with styrene sheet. (The ones on the aft deck are left in place as these will be covered by a skylight/hatch structure later)
I've retained the lower superstructure for the sake of practicality. I'll also keep the bulwarks, these are currently removed to give easier access to the deck screws. Some of the fittings such as the bollards, searchlights and ship's wheel will be incorporated into the rebuilt model, I'll also use commercial metal fittings (including the "Furie" spares) along with plenty of scratchbuilding. Originally I was going to use the winch and cable reel as well, but after comparing this to plans it's obvious that it's totally overscale - more like 1/32 than 1/48 - so I'll need to buy a replacement for these as well.
The LED running lights have also been temporarily disconnected, as they will be positioned much further apart (either side of the deckhouse) and so need to be re-wired.
After taking the model to bits, I could now start work on putting it back together again, in a rather different form:
Basic work has now been started on scratchbuilding the new superstructure. The lower deckhouse has been resurfaced with styrene sheet, with Slaters textured sheet (2mm planks) used for the planking on the upper deck. The aft skylight and forward skylight/hatch housings, along with the lower part of the bridge/wheelhouse, have been assembled from 0.75mm styrene sheet, but not yet trimmed to shape.
The top half of the removable battery cover has also been sawn off and discarded (as it was in the way of the wheelhouse) - the remaining half still fits tightly in place even without a screw.
The model is starting to take shape now, with the wheelhouse structure more or less complete and skylights, hatches + vents added (all of these are temporarily placed on the model, nothing is glued yet) and a raised bulwark at the bow. The engine-room vents are commercial items (can't remember the manufacturer - possibly Graupner) lengthened with styrene tube and with a riveted base added, all other parts are scratchbuilt from styrene sheet + strip. The deckhouse is fairly featureless at the minute, but will eventually have portholes, doors, railings and rivet details.
The deck and bulwark interior has also been painted, but not the hull yet. My model will be painted in a fairly generic colour scheme with a black hull, yellow/brown superstructure, varnished wood deckhouse + red/black funnel.
The wheelhouse is made from Slaters and Evergreen styrene strip, with the lower part cut from 0.75mm sheet. Glazing, doors and interior detail will be added later, the roof will be removable to allow access to the wiring (aerial + running lights) and to view the bridge details.
More photos in a few days hopefully - since these photos were taken I've painted the hull, scratchbuilt the funnel, and added more details to the deckhouse and skylight.