Thursday 20 July 2017

Changing tack....

I have a few model boats for Radio Control, some finished, some 80% done, but the trouble is, where the hell does one go to use them?  OK there's a river up the road, but it could get awkward if they head off into the reeds.  And my yachts are too deep keeled to come to the edge of the river, meaning I'd need waders to get in there, which I don't fancy.
So, why the hell did I build a model of my old home, Vanity, a Victorian Cutter, when, with it's 14"of fin keel with a 10lb. bulb on the end, it needs special places to sail.  The only place I can use it is, at the closest, Sheringham, a day trip away.  Same comment for my Marblehead.

Motor boats, except for my restored and original Aerokits which are now over 50 years old, bore me after 5 minutes.  I like making them, but using them isn't really my cup of tea and having batteries around which rarely get used is the same as having dead batteries.  I assume my older radio gear works, I haven't tested it.  My new stuff has to be "bound" to the Rx and I have no idea how that is done.
So, realistically, why have any model boats beyond the restored originals I had as a kid?

Should I just flog it all off?  I'd have to finish the unfinished ones for them to be worth anything at all.
Give them to the kids?  They wouldn't  know what to do with them!

It looks like static models are the way to go these days.  That and my paintings.
How things change without us giving them a thought.

9 comments:

  1. Well when you come right down to it aren't all models static? I mean when you fly a model aircraft you really can;t see it in any detail unless you're on top of it and it's standing still. Same with boats, trains or whatever else blows your frock up. Hell, I built a trebuchet and while fun to toss things with it sits and collects some really neat scale dust for damn near 99.99% of the time. Fun to look at though as it is , as they say, scale. Seems to me that your answer would be to model a pair of waders?
    Flog off the collectables and give the rest to the kids to enjoy. That really what it's all about isn't it. Just grist for your mills is all.

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  2. Well, mine are, Rich, as I never get round to using them and if I did, the damned batteries are dead.
    I'll have to see if there ARE any collectables amongst them.

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  3. Second hand model boats are sadly worth very little. This is wrong but try to offer a boat for anything like sensible money and the "community" throws a tantrum. I got shouted at on the Mayhem forum years ago for defending a model offered at £900. Apparently they consider all their time worthless and are proud of this. Then they wonder why people won't take them seriously...

    Binding through is easy. Switch on boat. Press button on the side of reciever - light flashes quickly. Switch on transmitter. Reciever light flashes slowly to indicate it is now bound to that transmitter. From them on, until you bind it to a different one, it remembers this. Far easier than mucking around in the bilges with crystals.

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  4. That's the best explanation f binding I've found, Phil. Thanks for that. And you're absolutely right about model boat values. But I was thrown out of Mayhem years ago and they won't let me back on. I found all the model boat forums a waste of time. Full of rule lovers and know-it-alls. So I'm persona non grata on all of 'em!

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  5. As Phil says binding should be relatively easy, and once you get the hang of it makes life easier and cheaper.

    I had a similar thought to you about the usefulness of model boats round here. Water water everywhere, since we have dykes on all four sides, but nowhere actually suitable to sail a model. To be honest I feel a bit like that about my 16mm garden railway stock as well. 40 years of wanting a big garden to build the dream layout and now with a big garden there still doesn't seem anywhere to build a garden railway. Well there is, but I keep putting 7 1/4" track down instead.

    And yes there is the static display option, but it always seems a shame.

    Knowing the quality of your work are there no museums that might accept some of your models on loan?

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  6. Thanks for that, James. I doubt there are any museums that would want my kind of boats. Trouble is, after a while just bumbling around with a motor boat bores me! But I do like making them. The static stuff would be 1/48th scale fishing craft which I have always wanted to do and 1/43rd scale model aircraft of the sports and racing between the Wars types. You are bang on about the water everywhere, but all unsuitable! Maybe I'll keep one up in the loft for an occasional visit to Sheringham, eh?

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    Replies
    1. I've always had a soft spot for the Chilton DW1 for some reason.

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    2. Very pretty and very tiny! I know a chap who built one, using a Walther Mikron in line 4 cylinder on open pipes. Sounds as fast as it goes!

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  7. As long as you credit me for the pictures and don't pretend anyone else made the models

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