HO Scale Tugboat?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m looking for an HO scale tugboat. Plastic prefered, but a wood kit would be ok. I don’t want a waterline model.

I have one that I bought half built in a plastic bag. I think it’s a Lindburg kit. It looks too big.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

2

http://www.bluejacketinc.com/honscale.htm

http://www2pb.ip-soft.net/railinfo/car-floats/ho-ship-models.html

http://www.master-creations.com/bargeco.htm

http://scaleshipyard.com/Catalog%20Pages/auxillaries.html

http://www.frenchmanriver.com/Frenchman%20River/HO%20Scale/directory.htm

Have fun

3

I think Lindberg & Revell both sold the same model - it’s close to HO - I have one. Check out the bigger older hobby shops boat sections and flea markets - good luck finding one!

4

Sylvan Scale Models has some very nice marine equipment, including a Great Lakes tug in steam or Diesel, a beautiful RR tug and even a Great Lakes Ore Carrier.

http://www.isp.ca/Sylvan/ho-scaleproducts.htm

5

The tugboat I used was built from a Tuarus Kit. It is made of wood, and requires the hull to be finished (carved) and painted by the builder. The boat is correctly porportioned for HO (1:87 Scale) One of the nice thing i like about this kit is that the hull is cut down to the waterline making it appear submerged. As far as difficulty… I would rate this kit at an intermediate to advance skill level.

6

Thanks Bob, I’m probably going to go with the Tuarus kit. Since it’s wood I can probably glue it to a chunk of basswood and carve the bottom of the haul fairly easy.

Nice job on the one you built. The weathering looks great. The ‘smoke’ is a nice touch, too.

7

Dave,

I’m not familiar with the available HO (and 1:96) tugs, but I AM familiar with the full scale variety. The tugs used in New York Harbor in the 1950’s were pretty sizeable - 65 to 100 feet in overall length. Look at the photos of tugs with car floats - the tug is easily as long as two transition-era freight cars.

There were two valid reasons for this:

  1. A tug had to be seaworthy. New York’s waterways can develop a vicious chop when wind and tidal flow are in opposition.
  2. A tug had to be big enough to carry a powerful engine, to make headway with barges in spite of wind and tidal flow.

IMHO, your original partially-assembled model is probably closer to right than you realized!

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

8

Thanks Tom.

The haul for the kit I have measures a little over 85 feet. The man that is with it measures about 8 feet tall and the doors on the tug measure about 5 feet. Something isn’t right.

I found a lot of pictures on the internet of the tug boat graveyards around New York. Interesting stuff. I also found some good info about the ‘Jupiter’. Its in Philly, which is close enough for me to make a day trip out of and snap some pictures.

Thanks for the info.

9

I’m curious, why do want a full hull rather than a waterline version. Are you intending to put it in a dry dock?

10

I’m planning on building a tugboat (maybe 2 or 3) that are similar to the tugboats in the boat yards around Statten Island and Shooters Island, NY. If you don’t know about it its been called the tugboat graveyard. I don’t want to post someone elses pictures, so here’s the links.

http://oboylephoto.com/boatyard/index.htm

(if you click on ‘home’ on the above linke there’s pictures of a train junkyard)

http://northstargallery.com/boneyard/boneyardindex.htm

I want to have a tug listing to one side with a lot of the haul showing and the bow run aground with the stern almost under water. I can picture it in my head a lot easier then I can type it.

I think I’m going to use the haul from the Lindberg kit and scratch build the rest.