Project 'Manned Models'
The
idea of having a model boat that one could sit in has been in my head
since childhood times but was given serious consideration after a visit,
back in 1991, to the naval warfare battles re enacted on Peasholm Park
lake in Scarborough.
It was at the International
Festival of The Sea held at Portsmouth in 2001 that I saw for the first
time the two magnificent sit-in models of Roger Wilkinson. They are the
23-foot battleship King George V and a 16-foot nuclear submarine.
Meeting Roger and seeing
his models was the impetus that I needed to stop thinking and get
building. The first stage was to prove the feasibility of my smaller
model so a full size cardboard mock up was quickly made, the opportunity
being also taken to evaluate the envisaged paint scheme. The mock up
was duly made and with little refinement, was a great success.
Propulsion is by a Minkota
electric outboard motor fitted in a well aft, access being from the deck
and which is closed off by a plywood hatch disguised as part of the
deck. Power to the motor is provided by a car type battery which sits
between the crew lying down in the boat. To monitor battery performance
both an ammeter and voltmeter are fitted. Motor speed is achieved by
using the original controls modified from twist grip type to a simple
knob. Steering is effected by a simple disc and rope arrangement
operating through pulley blocks.
By October of 2002 after
six months work HMS Canopus, as now named, was ready for launching. With
the design being well thought out, especially with the help of the
cardboard mock up, everything worked well even to floating to her marks.
A second model, that of the
Imperial German Navy’s SMS Schleswig-Holstein of similar vintage to HMS
Canopus, was then built in 2004 to form a working display routine with
HMS Canopus.
A third, but larger model,
HMS Cornwallis followed in 2005 incorporating all I had learnt from the
previous model and, best of all, room for a Captain and his Gun
operator. A bespoke trailer was also built which had to double up as a
launching / recovery device.
I now have a glorious Wendy
house on the water, which everybody admires and cannot believe that it
is not radio controlled let alone that there are people inside. It is
going to be very hard to go back to conventional models!
From the Designer and Builder:- Jon Clapham
