Bantam Tug

From Jim Shead's Website: During the fifties and sixties E C Jones & Son (Brentford) Ltd built a series of tugs which they called "Bantams".

I first became aware of Bantam tugs when I visited the London Canal Museum a few years ago. In the basin at the back of the building is the museums own tug - Bantam IV. At the time I took loads of pictures as it would obviously make a fantastic model.

Back home, some research showed that while above the waterline, things are simple and boxy, below it all gets but complicated with a very weird shape hull. Without a plan and with lots of other projects, the idea of a miniature Bantam remained a dream.

Then, at the last model boat show, Mastman Models were selling a Bantam kit. This had the hull and I reckoned I could do the rest.

So, I dug out my photos again and also found a card kit from the museum that I'd bought 2 copies of. An hour or so later (the painting takes time), a 7mm scale waterline model was on the workbench.