Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Pidgeon Pie


River Star
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Time to introduce a new project to you.

Last year at the model boat show, I bought myself a kit. I hadn't planned to, or at least not this kit. Trouble was, I had to be there all day and towards the end I'm chatting to the guy running the Metcalf Mouldings stand. I had been admiring the River Star model all day but at 170 quid it was much more than I wanted to spend.

Anyway, he was about to sail the model on the stand (the one in the picture) in the pool. He sailed it and then handed the controller to me. It was a fantastic sail. Controllable, tight turning circle, stable. Eveything I wanted in a boat. I handed over the plastic before I handed back the transmitter.

The prototype is interesting, it's a tug yacht. Apparently this was a boat built for hauling pontoons in the USA while providing luxurious accomodation for the captain and his wife. A quick search on the web shows lots of different designs so it must be succesful. The end result is very attractive.

For some reason this kit has excited me more than anything I've built in a while. It's not the value - although it's my most expensive kit to date. There is plenty of boat for the money though !

Anyway, check back for updates. I've got much of the work on the hull completed and will fill in the details.

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