Billing Boats (BB528) Smit Nederland Tug

Donnie

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Billing Boats (BB528) Smit Nederland Tug - Model Boat & Fittings:



I saw this Tug and was really impressed as I am thinking about departing from Period Ships for a while and this Tug really caught my eye. I have seen some Tugs in action like this one and seeing this in real life is really something else. However my excitement has waned some and weakened as I see that this is not a 100% wooden kit, but has a mixture of Plastic and "some" wood. Not that it makes that much difference.

I thought I would share this post to see if anyone has any knowledge about this kit and what they think. I have only two plastic ship kits under my belt and the plastic hulls were a unique challenge in its own problems. this is what is discouraging me from getting this Tug (the plastic Hull). Ofcourse I have not seen the "out of the box" hull. I would think that the hull would have to have preformed appearance of steel plating - . I am thinking ahead on this and it seems that just to paint the hull Red is probably not enough but to make the Hull "look" more realistic, one would have to do what to it? I really need some help and advice here - anyone has any, then please step forward. :text-thankyouyellow:

Donnie
Here are the details:

Billing Boats (BB528) Smit Nederland Tug - Model Boat & Fittings is a scale model ocean going tug. The Smit Nederland was built in 1979 at the BV Scheepswerft & Machinefebriek "De Merwede" in Hardinzveld, Holland. Length 28.40 m, breadth 8,85 m, draught 3.85 m. The vessel is driven by two "Stork Werkspoor" diesel engines, whose 1000 rpm yield 1800 HP. Top speed is 12 knots; the acting radius is 2,250 miles. A special detail of this ship is the propellors, which are equipped with reversible blades in jet streams, and two basin rudders which ensure good manoeuvrability.

Kit Contents:

Plan with detailed building instructions German, English, French, Danish, Italian and Dutch, ABS plastic hull, decks from wood, plastic and wooden parts to finish the model, stern tubes with shafts and propellers.
 

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I do not think this tug has any plate or rivet effects cast into it. I agree that plastic is a median I try to avoid.
However, I have looked at some of the Mount Fleet products and they use metal and wood parts. I was really interested in their Mount Fleet St. Nectan Steam Trawler. This would make a very sturdy model and the only reason I chose not to get it was it required a lot of metal work and I like wood too much. They do have a Steam Tug Cruiser that would have a lot of the detail you would expect above deck level. Their motor tug Active does not appear to be near as detailed, but you get what you pay for and this is the cheapest kit in their line.
 
Thanks Gary for pointing this trawler out to me. I read that it has a GRP hull which is fiberglass. This thing is 62" long ! Dang. I do not have a shelf in my house for that one :)

Donnie
 
I buy tables to put my models on and use one of my bedrooms as a display room. This allows me to get the proper lighting for them when I want to show them off and makes it easy to dust when cased. Since this is an RC model, you would only case it if you were to use it as a display model. When I do the Titanic, I plan on extending my fireplace mantel and widening it for this ship display area.
 
Hi Donnie, Gary is correct about the hull, I seen this model (completed) up close, half an arms length, and the hull is as smooth as a (proverbial).
Even as a RC model it is very powerful, the ducted props make sure of that. You could spend the rest of you eyesight 'simulating' rivets using tiny drops of glue, but, what for.
I have some model boat plans, from UK magazines, I'll hunt them out and contact you then.
Regards
Eric
 
Hi Donnie

ABS hulls are not that difficult to build on.
What I do is sand the area I want to glue up. This stops any need for washing or worrying about residue from injection molding. I have never used a CA type glue on the plastic, tends to distort the plastic.. I mostly use e poxy.. More expensive but holds up well.
A tip for you about rivets that I used on a plane.
At a dress making/fabric store they sold a tape with different perforations on it. They are in a line and come on a strip 10 to 15 feet long. The holes come in different sizes so scaling to size is easy. You tape this or glue to surface. Using white glue squeegee to fill holes. I let dry but you could pull up after this.
Sand lightly and prime.
Hope this is some help
Dave
 
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