I am looking for a water line tug boat. I have seen Walthers and I have purchased Sylvan. Both are bigger than I need. I am looking for something under 10" in 1/87 or 1/96 scale.
You can see large Mississippi River tugs at the Milepost235 webcam, to get an idea about design. However, they’re not shaped like a traditional salt-water tug.
Harbor & Ocean (HO) division of BlueJacket Shipcrafters of Maine make models of a River Tug and accompanying barge out of resin in HO and N scale. Look for BlueJacket’s website.
Revell used to make one. I built one(I still have it)and it is a nice model. Better than the Walters i think. Look around or try ebay.
Everybudy is missing the boat, pun intended. the Revell boat is excellent, but you would have to cut the bottom or make a hole in you base for it. How ever Model Shipways, in Mt Pocono makes a 9 inch wood model of the Tautus dated 1900, and it is a waterline model. Also if you can find the old issue of Model Railroader, my mentor E.L. Moore did an article on Scratch Building One. I believe that M.R. can find a copy somehow. They also have other great E.L.Moore articles.