jserb

iv been a scale builder for about 2 years now and i have only completed my first model. although it seemed like a life time, once i was done with all the hard work she really paid off in the end. i must addmitt when i first recieved my dumas tripple barrel back i thought that there wasent much to bulding a scale model compared to building/restoring a REAL boat, boy was i wrong. the reasion why i am typing this to all of you is to give all you the apprecieation and respect you all deserve. this is a one of a kind hobbie we all love, and it has some of the most talented craftsmen in the world. We can only apprecieate eachothers work, when outsiders dont understand why we love our boats so much. and when we see the work of others we can only imagine what that builder went through to finish it. To make a long story short i did not realize over the past year and a half as to how much paicents, and skill i learned over the course of building my tripple. i began work on a REAL boat (wellcraft fisherman) that was in bad shape. As i ripped her appart and began to rebuild her i realize just how easy the REAL thing is compared to our models. There is just so much detail and skill in our little models it out weighs the skill needed for real boats. Long sotry short i have resotred this REAL boat like new and im telling you, i still spent more time, more detail, and almost more money into my model than my big boat. So i felt compeled to tell all of you who havent worked on large projects for the most part, YOUR NOT MISSIN OUT ON ANYTHING!!! what your doing right now is probally harder than most larger projects. keep up the good work! good day and happy modeling friends!

P.S im wondering is 2 years a long time to spend on building just one model.?
P.s.s im thinking about buying the brooklyn tug, prime time, and the Mr. draby, any thoughts as to which one i should go with ?!?!

Deathwish

My Feedback: (6)

Post some pic's let's see it. Am working on the U.S.S. Missouri that was made by sterling but, am working from plans so it's a little harder. So far it has taken me about 10 months off and on.

DONS BOAT WORKS

My Feedback: (3)

I agree 100%. I'm building a Banckert tugboat, I think Billing Boats forgot to add the instructions with the pictures.
I’ve been working on the mast lights. I can’t believe It took me over 3 hours to do all the wiring and soldering.

Don M.

patmat

Welcome to the addiction.
There's all kinds of kits out there... some very expensive, just put the nice parts together; some cheaper, you'll pay just as much as the better kit in the end and do more work; and on the low end, cheap and looks it. Some let you focus on scads of detail work (most anything grey with lots of guns sticking out); some let you focus on model engineering- like animations on tugs, or all that neat gear in a static-diving sub, or a steamer with automatic boiler feed water pump, etc; some let you go for speed- PT's and runabouts.
You can build small (ever seen an r/c Lindberg HO scale tug?), or big (go to harbormodels.com and look at their in-house line for tugs even bigger and better looking than the old tired Darby).
Time? I've got a PT boat several years in the making, off and on... the original lasted 9 months, launch to ashes.
It's your choice, and you can take as long as you like!

Patrick Matthews

LtDoc

jserb,
Along with all the other suggestions, pick a model that you like the looks of. Not really much point in having the best designed and produced kit if you don't like the thing when you're finished, right? I've found that the 'doing' is as much (if not more) fun than the running. Doesn't mean you should start with a museum class boat, but also doesn't mean you should go for the most simple either (unless you're talking about me, then more simple is more better, unfortunately). Thanks for the compliment, even though it doesn't exactly apply to me. My hat band is elastic so I can handle it...
- 'Doc