Hi Cowana,

Good try on your GRP moulding Technique, and has shown you what it is all about. At least you have had a go and now know more of what it is about in trying to make a GRP Moulding! However, from whatyou say, I should think this weighs a fair amount compared to just five ounces of a 'Foamy' Float! Of course a 'Foamy' is far from ideal in it's shape and lack of volume, but they really are perfectly useable and dead easy to set up and then 'adapt for each sailing condition.

Thanks to our inexperienced 'Resident Expert', but the best person to speak to is 'tricat'! He has by far the most experience of using them on this site so far, and he has done some excellent drawings of their shape and fittings required. They are also very cheap, so just trying them out is not exactly going to break the bank!

I would like to thank Dick L for bringing to my attention this Class on Scale Models, but making a model that large is just too much for over here I think! The 2M Class over here has little following as it is, as it requires a lot more equipment to transport them over here! In the UK these days, people just want to sling the boat in the back of a car, rig up the swing rig, switch on and off you go within a minute! Even a MINI40 used to take half an hour to assemble and rig up! Whilst the idea of super size models sounds good, over here in our cramped little country they are not the easiest size to use. And of course, what is built as 'Scale' to one, is not sometimes seen as that by some others! Building to Scale can sometimes have pitfalls when trying to build the beams strong enough and keep them scale too. There is 'Scale' and useable 'Scale', ..but then is that 'Scale'!

In the USA I think you have a little more 'room' in which to live, build and then use such models because your country is so much larger than here. Because of the Fuel situation for one, (at £5 per gallon as near as damn it), people go for small cars, and therefore would need a trailer to transport such models. And some small cars are forbidden from using trailers! In a majority of small gardens where do you put the trailer and build the boat in the first place? And how long would the mast be too? Sounds all very expensive for me unfortunately, but I do like the idea of big models. I have built boats from a fleet of 365 3" three masted ships up to 54 feet Ferro Cement boats amongst many others in all forms of materials, and everytime you need more room to build them than you think!

However, my eyes are turned over to you Dick L, and maybe you and MultiFast could build one between you and show us why we need to emigrate over there!! With over 100,000 'ethnic' Britons emigrating each year now, maybe that is the answer! Know any good Estate Agents over there?