Steam Tug Boat
Built by Adrian Ashford in October 2011
This model is based on a typical steam-driven tug, hundreds of which were once used extensively for towing ships in and out of docks and ports on major rivers.
I looked at numerous examples in a colour album of these vessels — there were so many different ones, by different builders, that it was only possible to make a very generalised model — modelling a specific one in detail would be very difficult.
One common characteristic feature, which I was determined to reproduce correctly, is the slope of the hull around the stern. This was achieved by curving 4” Curved Strips to form a semi-circle. This also set the scale of the model, by making the beam (width) 4½”, the length being roughly five times the beam, typically.