I`m on a boat

[scott b]

Started making an abbreviated narrowboat for my shelf layout/party size pizza, the layout is a back alley dockside kind of thing and I loved the Narrow boats since a few of you started making them a few years ago.
built the base out of Gatorboard, sort of a heavy duty foam board.

then laminated plastic on with contact cement,

and the rear deck out of diamond plate,

added a cabin and front bit, the engine room will have an open hatch and one of my Lister engines will be on view, there will also be and open hatch with a stove to view and a small living/dining area with a few details to see.

partially painted with some more details added

some more detail

how it fits with the layout,

[Artizen]

Gnice!

But the boat owner had better look out for the moose on the mountain!

[DCRfan]

Gatorboard, I would never thought of using that to make a boat. Well done.

It looks like you have room at the wharf to make the boat quite a bit longer, why not?

[Gerry Bullock]

Looks great Scott however where's the tiller

[scott b]

Did some more painting and added some more details to the boat, the back,

view inside of the stove,

side view,

as you see I put the pins in the hinges, did a bit more painting put the engine in the bay and added the steering tiller bar.

[Rockley Bottom]

Good to see some interest in the canals as they often worked along side early railways. The narrow boats were ( as I found when I made two 60 footers for Smithies Yard) very subtle shapes. They had multi curved bows which were developed to create the least drag or bow wave.

The book I used most was was "NARROW BOATS" by Tom Chaplin ISBN 0-905483-71-5. A great help to me.

The pictures of my Narrow boats I think may still be found under Smithies Yard in past submissions.

I found that making my own transfers was the best way to letter and decorate the boats.

Good luck with an interesting project

Ralph

[scott b]

As the boat was just an element on my layout which I had hoped would be a fairly quick build, I did make some design compromises and the multishaped bow was one of them as you can see. I did not make it longer Paul as I had originally intended to have another small row boat tied off at the dock in front of this boat but have since changed my mind as the framing of the layout works better without the other boat, and no I do not want to add more length to this one at this point
Ralph I did use your boats already for inspiration and if I think about it probably the original idea to build it.

[Adrian]

G'day Scott
I have always loved the look of narrow boats.
Just something about them is real fascinating.

As the boat was just an element on my layout which I had hoped would be a fairly quick build

I would be surprised if you could manage that

From the photos that I have seen of the originals you have probably got a lot of work doing the paintwork
Lots of castles, roses and diamonds. All in bright colours of course.
And not mentioning the fancy sign-writing for the company name.

All of which explains why although I had a couple of starts making narrow boats I never managed to finish them.....those paint schemes really scare me.

(By the way...........it is looking good.)

Cheers

[ian_g_griffiths]

If the artwork on the boat is to be in panels, especially with beading around the edge. How about, designing it with something like Microsoft Powepoint and getting it printed on photographic paper using a laser printer at the local printshop.

Ian

[michael]

Nice one Scott!

[Rockley Bottom]

You are doing a fine job on your boat, and it could be owned by a small firm who only have access to a short dock. As yours is steam/diesel powered it could be pulling a butty that is off stage

For transfers/decals laser printing is best but I did mine on an ink jet and gave them thin mist of varnish and they stood up to being pushed around. I did have one panel start to lift after about a year and I stuck it back with a little spay varnish, which seemed to work.

A nice touch on narrow boats are the fenders at the bow and stern. I think I got mine from a model shop that did boat kits and they had a selection of sizes of fend-offs. Another nice touch on narrow boats are the brass rings on the cudy chimney.

As a child I saw narrow boats at work on the Dearne and Dove canal during the time they were being scraped these were used for moving coal. The last four I saw were used as the centre of a fire on Guy Faulkes night . They were placed vertically in a pyramid and made a great blaze. Looking back, what a waste.

Keep up the good work and don't forget a narrow boat is a great place to use female figures as they often were the person in charge along with the children!

Ralph

[DCRfan]

These decals look interesting. http://www.riversidemodels.co.uk/Canal_Boat_Decals.htm

Has anyone tried them?

[Rockley Bottom]

They look to be a great time savers and accurate for narrow boat decoration.

Some letters would be useful for making up names, as the letters often had deep shading on them.

I would love to see a 1:12 scale narrow boat, that would be 6.feet long!

I may get some 1:24 scale sheets in stock in case my two boats need a re-paint

Ralph

[DCRfan]

I just had my tape measure out to visualise the size of 1:12th boat I can't even begin to think what the postage to New Zealand would be. The 1:24th one on the other hand - hmmmmm
Plus decals
Plus sound unit

[scott b]

The other day I checked all the model kits (cars) I had on hand and found between all the decals in the kits I could cobble together with some cutting and creating a fairly good sign for the boat. The main one had some good business type letters with some good looking pinstriping and other good looking details. Yesterday went to look for the sheet not where I thought I left it with the other decal sheets, twice have spent 1/2 hour looking for it Gone Gone Gone %&%^%^*!!.
Those sheets look good Paul but by the time they got here it would double what I have spent on the layout, the idea was use what I have on hand and bits from stalled builds and old layouts.

[Adrian]

G'day Scott

Those sheets look good Paul but by the time they got here it would double what I have spent on the layout, the idea was use what I have on hand and bits from stalled builds and old layouts.

You could always down-load the images and use them as a guide to hand painting your own

Paul wrote:-

I just had my tape measure out to visualise the size of 1:12th boat I can't even begin to think what the postage to New Zealand would be. The 1:24th one on the other hand - hmmmmm
Plus decals ?
Plus sound unit

If you are really interested in building a narrow boat in 1/24 "the model maker plans service" (UK) has a plan of a canal narrow boat (#1170) by Vic Smeed.
Don't know how much .... but I bet the postage for a plan is a lot less than the postage for a full hull.

Hope that this helps .......

Cheers

[Adrian]

G'day

Just spent a little time on the web and it looks as if the MAP plans service has been absorbed into My Hobby Store and some of the original plans have disappeared.

However I did come up with another plan:-
http://www.myhobbystore.co.uk/product/1 ... ncy-bm1454

A 70 foot narrow boat that builds into a 4 foot model ..... whatever scale that is

Cheers

[More_Cats_Than_Sense]

G'day

Just spent a little time on the web and it looks as if the MAP plans service has been absorbed into My Hobby Store and some of the original plans have disappeared.

However I did come up with another plan:-
http://www.myhobbystore.co.uk/product/1 ... ncy-bm1454

A 70 foot narrow boat that builds into a 4 foot model ..... whatever scale that is

Cheers

1:17.5 by my calculations, so just a tad on the large side for 1:22.5/1:24

[Granitechops]

Quoting Adrian in Oz

"You could always down-load the images and use them as a guide to hand painting your own"

I work in 1/12 & wanted a narrow boat for my garden canal basin, but at 7 ft long would have been dominating the scene, so in the end I settled for a Norfolk Wherry, which has an 'instant' drop mast
I might even yet get round to making just the rear end of one dissapearing into the canal tunnel, however the art work intrigued me & I did a bit of practice on painting some canal style flowers, on a market barrow, did not get as far as castles.

I used a method I read somewhere ( no idea where now sorry) that uses cocktail sticks & not brushes to apply the paint





simple but effective

[Adam Roper]

I like the narrow boat

For a real exampe of a canalside railway try this link http://www.wiseacres.co.uk/rlr/index.htm

Or this one http://www.wiseacres.co.uk/rlr/flatwagons.htm - the canal is visible behind Neill

[Adam Roper]

Found another picture

There's a Lister in the background if you look at the middle picture....

http://www.narrowgaugenorth.org.uk/exhibitors/243-ripon-a-district-light-railway

[DCRfan]

I just had my tape measure out to visualise the size of 1:12th boat I can't even begin to think what the postage to New Zealand would be. The 1:24th one on the other hand - hmmmmm
Plus decals
Plus sound unit

How do you speeel it - serendipity Just on an off change I typed 'narrow boat' into Trademe, the local version of Ebay. I got two hits, one a full size narrow boat a Kiwi couple are selling in the UK and a large model kit. The individual selling it had owned the kit for about 20 years but never made it. I purchased the kit which arrived today and I've just measured up as being about 1:26th scale - the length and width don't quite scale out to the traditional 70' x 7'. It consists of a pair of plastic hull half sections and various lengths of wood.




A winter project

[Glen A]

Looks big enough to put a link span on the back, and make a roll-on roll-off canal-boat/ferry.
Could fit several rakes of Gn15 wagons along the deck of that.