Scale wooden model boat kits?

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Disrespective

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#122102 24-Jun-2013 21:15

I'm in the market for a model boat to build for my birthday later in the year and want to know if there are any others on here who know a thing or two about them.

I've got extensive model making experience from architecture, to cars and planes however I've never made a boat and feel like a challenge.

The model/s I have my eye on is a Legend Model Boats 1958 California Cracker Box. Or the same brands 1935 Gar Wood Speedster. Not only are the designs pretty beautiful but the kits from Mack are fully complete so I wouldn't have to source other parts.

Does anyone know of any other kits that might be easier to source of a similar nature?

eracode

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#843748 25-Jun-2013 03:37

Billing Boats make beautiful boat kits with a very wide range and have been around since 1958.

http://www.billingboats.com/modelboats.html

There's at least one of the general type in which you seem interested:

http://www.billingboats.com/images/BB710%20Phantom.jpg

This style of boat is what I have always thought of as 'Chriscraft' style boats, after one of the famous US manufacturers of classic motor boats.

You can (or at least used to be able to) buy Billing kits in NZ - there's a model shop in Quay St, Auckland that had them some years ago but I haven't been there recently. I imagine it would be fairly simple to buy something like this online so you could have the whole world market at your fingertips.

I bought a large Billing's kit of the famous Newfoundland fishing schooner, Bluenose, as a present for my Dad when I was returning from OE in the UK in 1976. He didn't start it for about 20 years but then spent about five years on it and did a beautiful job - very part-time. He died about eight years ago and we now have it on display in our bedroom.

EDIT: Just did a quick search of "Billing Boats' restricted to NZ domain and found these:

http://www.toyco.co.nz/category/Billing-Boats?c=35049

http://www.mightyape.co.nz/Manufacturers/Billing-Boats/All/

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Disrespective

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#843761 25-Jun-2013 07:43

Thanks for the links eracode.

There's a particular layout I really like: rear cockpit, front engine. The Chris Craft type boats all seem to be split or multiple cockpit and rear engine.

At the worst i'm looking for plans and a bill of materials that I can get laser cut/source myself. It's just not an ideal solution.