Scale Shipyard

This page showcases projects under construction or recently completed by our members. Also shown are the feature projects from the newsletter. It gives tips on building construction with pictures of the process. We will also show the building projects of others too.

Modeling the Great Lakes Fish Tug

To learn more about this type of vessel see the Boat School Page.

In 1992 WSBA member Bill Pelky built a generic fish tug based on the Midwest Products 50' Harbor Tug that was popular at the time. By extending the hull frames to the roof line the hull made a very good representation of a Great Lakes Fish Tug. Using the identical propulsion setup as the Harbor tug it performed very well even in moderate wind.

In the summer of 2005 WSBA member Chuck Steffen asked Bill to make a plug of a fish tug so he could produce a fiberglass mold. The mold would allow him to turn out fish tug hulls. Bill had just completed making a plug for a similar hull to the Midwest Products 50' Harbor Tug. Midwest had discontinued this kit several years ago but there was still much interest in the design. The harbor tug hull was very popular and Chuck believed a fish tug hull would also be welcomed.

Plug for fiberglass mold. Plug with harbor tug hull.

Chuck requested that the hull be capable of being used for other types of vessels. Unlike the tapered stern on the harbor tug the fish tug hull is semi-circular in the stern. If a modeler wished to use the hull to make a tour boat or small ferry it could be done. The hull can be modified to fit a particular project.

A new hull being delivered to a club member is float tested before acceptance.

David Krause of Ann Arbor, MI built a model of the fish tug Sheryl Dennis. His father in law purchased the boat from Marinette Marine in 1946. It is still working out of Racine WI. This was David's second boat model project. He purchased two of Chuck's hulls. With the first hull he made a generic fish tug. This allowed him to gain experience and confidence in his abilities.

For the Sheryl Dennis he had to square the stern (remember the hull has a round stern), and droop the nose.

We think he did a excellent job.

Mark Weitzman of sunny Los Angeles, CA sent us photos of his build on the hull. Another remarkably well done job.

Our own Chuck Steffen made a fish tug for himself. He called it the "Geezer" for his father. Chuck used decals for the doors and windows that were made by his nephew. Chuck then weathered the boat.

Maybelle & Geezer at the 2010 Milwaukee Boat Show.

Chuck Steffen's Top Swap

WSBA member Chuck Steffen gets the most out of his 25" tug hull. He made three different tops to fit the one hull. Each is distinctive and unique.

He starts with the 25" hull. It lacks fittings that might not work with the individual tops.

The first top is a little tour boat. It has the Tug wheelhouse, a low engine hatch, canopy with benches, and a steam stack.

The second boat is a island tramp steamer. Chuck is also into "G" railroading and the wheelhouse is from a steam locomotive.

His third top is a tug.

Chuck also has a 36" tug hull with two tops. When he swaps those the scale changes, but it is still believable.

If you have limited space or budget consider trying to do a project like this one.

Bristol Bay Conversion

Jim Shander keeps tabs on what is available online. He came across some damaged Bristol Bay boats from Tower Hobbies. He thought there might be some interest in them so he purchased a few and resold them to members at cost. Chuck Steffen bought one and really redid it. I don't have the original photos to post here so I am placing a link to the February 2007 newsletter. A story and photos appear on page 2.

Feb. 07 WSBA newsletter.pdf

Project Harbor Tug

By Bill Pelky

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Our members are always looking for new projects to build. We have become spoiled by having in our club a member who makes fantastic fiberglass boat hulls. He has done the Sterling Cris Craft Cabin Cruisers in fiberglass, and a series of commercial hulls, too. He undertook the harbor tug project somewhat reluctantly (believing it was too small) but it has become a very popular project much to everyone's surprise.

Harbor Tug (hull #1) nearing completion

The Harbor Tug is based on the popular but discontinued Midwest Harbor Tug Kit. The hull is a "near" copy of the Midwest and is 25" long. It makes a very fine 1/2" scale tug. Since it doesn't have any frames inside the hull there is plenty of room for the gear. Using the old Midwest plans as a guide the tug can be completed like a Midwest or any way the builder chooses. It is also possible to build some of the other Midwest models on this hull like the fireboat or trawler. Basing this model on the Midwest tug was not a accident. Midwest produced a high quality product with excellent documentation. It is unfortunate that they chose to end production of this and the sister kits. The quality of material and instructions made them excellent beginner and second or third projects. Below are some examples of tugs built on this new fiberglass hull.

Feature Boats

The projects below are the featured boats from the monthly WSBA newsletter.

Scaramouche, by Greg Jolliff and Dave Blake

The real boat was designed by German Frers as an ocean racer in the 1970’s and is still racing on the west coast today. The model features a fiberglass hull and solid cast lead fin keel. The boat will use a standard two channel radio setup with a big sail control. The mast and sails are the same as an EC-12. At 54” in length and weighing about 35 pounds, building one boat should have been enough work but we decided to build three at once. We are just to the point of framing in the deck supports. The boat in the background still has the clamps on the rail stiffeners. The next task will be to mount the keel. Our project has been going on for some time, mostly due to only working over my lunch hour twice a week.

Congratulations to Bob Dallman and the American Scout for being the 2006 Peoples Choice Award winner at the 2006 WMM Model Ships & Boats Contest in Manitowoc.

The American Scout by Bob Dallman

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Bob laid the keel for the American Scout in 1973. The hull and superstructure was completed in 1976. He then saw more detail labor than he was ready for, so the ship went into mothballs for 18 years. Recently, after mingling with the WSBA and going to Manitowoc and seeing Chuck Lewis's Scout, he was encouraged to finish her. Thanks to a fitting kit from Chuck Steffen and a radar motor from Jim Taddy, he can now finish the ship with all of the deck gear, winches, etc. He did make 9 feet of brass hand railing. All three rails are hand soldered. Running lights and wheel house are illuminated. Propulsion will be 6 volt motor and gel cell batteries. Hull will be epoxy black for the base coat. A smoke unit from Graupner is planned. Launching is scheduled for next year.

A beautiful job, and an impressive ship.
Good luck with her launching!

USCG Cape Hatteras by Dave Blake

The 95’ Cape Class cutters were designed in the 50’s to defend against subs. They were armed with hedge hogs and depth charges and carried passive sonar. Although this armament was soon removed, it makes for an interesting model. Most of these cutters were used in the traditional SAR role until they were replaced by the bigger 110’ Island class cutters in the 80’s.
Building the small (13”) Lindberg kit into a radio controlled model had a few challenges. The biggest was keeping the weight down. A control unit from a 1/24 scale RC car was used. A single motor turns twin screws via an o-ring and pulleys. Two tiny motors and a smaller battery pack are planned for a future refit to help reduce the weight even more. The only other non kit items are some davits and a few crewmen from the railroad section at Greenfield Hobby. This boat is about 8 years old.

The Boat Store by John Sells

This small (30’) pusher is used to service the working boats on the Mississippi river delivering crew, supplies, etc.
It was John’s first attempt at scratch building. The plans came from Boat and Ship Modeler magazine (fall, ’94) and the model was built to a scale of ¾”=1’ (1:16).John says he was surprised by the interest the club showed as he got into this project. Ron R. supplied the deck winch, tow cables and the torch tanks. Chuck S. offered the tire fenders, crates and spotlight. Jim S had an extra strobe light and prop and he made the stand in his wood shop. Dave B supplied the motor and Gordie K convinced Ken to leave Barbie and take a real job on the river. With all the trimmings it looks like a real working boat. I’m just waiting for the sides to rust. I think it was a successful project and it shows the reason why you join clubs. Job well done!

Saturn by John Oster

The original SATURN harbor tug was built in 1908 at the Janssen & Schmiliksky dockyard in Hamburg. Later, it was transferred to the Wamemunde, where it underwent a series of refits. The power output of the steam engine was rated at only 140 BHP. After decommissioning, the Saturn was placed on display in the Rostock Museum as a memorial ship.
The kit is made by Graupner and includes a molded ABS hull and numerous detail pieces. Several interesting items are the scale cable (pull-pull) steering system and fold down funnel. A large towing hook is included as well. Powered by a speed 720 motor and 6 volt battery this 32” model should be capable of impressive performance.
Nicely done.

Cranberry Isle Lobster Yacht by John Sells.

Built from the Midwest kit with a few modifications including an improved interior and running gear. The kit comes with two cabin options, this being the one with a roof. The model is 30” long and powers up nicely with a 6 cell NiCad battery pack and a speed 600 motor with direct drive. The big motor might seem to be a bit over the top but with the small prop on this boat the on the water performance is very enjoyable. Although John uses a big Astro Flight reversible speed control any unit that can deliver about 20 amps will work fine. Run time is expected to be over 30 minutes at these speeds. The pictures were taken during builders’ sea trials. The boat will be complete with the addition of some small details. Nice Job!

The Schooner, by Herb Blake:

When my father saw a simple side view line drawing of a schooner in Sail Magazine a long time ago he thought it looked very nice. He then built one, from scratch, without plans. He just made things up as he went. Of course, it sailed beautifully. Well, now its ten years later and it needs some TLC. I took a quick look at what I had to work with. Balsa deck, balsa cabins… balsa everything. My list of repair and/or replace was getting longer the longer I studied the boat. There were a few major problems, and a host of minor items but somewhere along this road I realized that I needed to do this, no matter what it would take. Well, I have already replaced some balsa with real cherry and I am pleased with the results. The spars have been repaired and varnished and the hull is sanded. This is a work in process, so stay tuned.

Dave Blake

The Cutty Sark, by Thomas Thelen.

The Cutty Sark was a Clipper ship and represented the cutting edge of sail technology. It was used to ferry tea from China to the UK where the first ship to land their cargo could name their price for what was, and still is, an important commodity.
The model measures 48" from the tip of the bowsprit to the stern and is 36" from the bottom of the keel to the top of the main mast. It's built from a Mantua kit from Italy and has a real copper plated hull. The rest is mostly walnut with a lot of brass wire and fittings. The ship took a total of two and a half years to build. The endless detail and other commitments led me to shelve the project for about ten years. Although I'm pleased with the results, I would not recommend this kit for beginners! I had extensive modeling experience when I decided to tackle it and some aspects of the project drove me up a wall! I nearly went blind staring at the rigging diagrams trying to make sense of them and establish the order in which to proceed so as not to rig one part and find later that I'd made another part of the rigging inaccessible. Tom

Elco 80’ PT by Jim Shander

Jim purchased the new Italeri 1:32 PT boat kit and is making great progress on powering it up. He is running an Astro 020 brushless motor with a 4:1 planetary gearbox. A Raboesch coupling, shaft and tube are already fitted in the hull. The power will come from a two cell (12 volt) Lipo pack and Castle Creations reversible ESC. Getting brushless motors to go into reverse is still uncommon for ESC’s.

The kit is exceptionally detailed and includes some photoetched parts and turned aluminum gun barrels. There is even a color detail book in the kit that shows the real boats in action.

Although a bit smaller that the Lindberg kit, 1:35 compared to 1:32 scale, it is far more detailed. It represents a late war Elco 80’ PT.

Chris Craft 24’ Runabout by Tom Thelen

As a boy, Tom admired these beautiful boats cruising Little Muskego Lake. As an adult, and a newcomer to the hobby, he wanted to try his hand at building one. The Dumas kit was his choice, and the result is quite impressive.

Despite some minor complaints about some of the materials, the boat was built per the instructions. The instrument panel was detailed by drilling out the gauges and adding faces and lenses. A choke knob and grab handles were added to the cockpit. A new rub rail was fitted using half round styrene. His wife’s name is even stenciled on the transom. The running gear is a combination of a Dumas motor (Dumas #2025 is a Mabuchi 05 can motor) – with an ESC and a six cell NiCad stick pack.

More model building projects to come!

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