Originally Posted by
mfr02
Available worldwide, but with zero woodwork involved unless you really want it, the Revell 1:72 Snowberry. A plastic display kit with plenty of conversion options and opportunities to think your way around them. Low cost, big enough to get both hands into, small enough to carry around. Electric power, which for me is the simple reliable option.
Modest performance is generally good for a first boat. Faster boats tend to throw their surprises rather suddenly, and water is an unforgiving playground. You can't walk over to get the bits back.
I would have to agree, something slower would normally be a better choice for a beginner. When I built my first boat, it was a Dumas nitro powered hydroplane. I had no idea on how much of a learning curve there would be to take that high performance boat and not only get it to work but, in the case of a hydroplane, work properly. While there are several high performance boats available, they do take a lot of work to get them to run. I don't know of any fast boats that will work right the first time. There's hours of building, balancing, testing and redoing to get them to the point of being runnable.
Along similar lines of the Snowberry would be the Tamiya 350 scale battleships. They are fairly large, have plenty of detail and options for more on a one piece hull. I know the Bismarck I built back in 1982 was actually set up to run with four "D" sized batteries and a three way switch. The way the rudder was set up, it would have taken some work to make it steerable but, that said, it was possible. I just didn't have the materials, knowledge or time to do so