Scale Tug Boat help

Hey guys, I don't know how well received this kind of post will be here, but since you guys are pretty much the experts, I thought who better to ask. However, if there are better people to ask or places to be for this sort of thing, please kindly point me in the direction and I will be off. Anyhow, let's be on to it. My dad works for an inland waterways company as a chief engineer on one of their tugs. He is coming up pretty close to 25 years with them and I want to build him a scale model of the tug he's on. Now, I do have SOME plans for the craft, but they are not really what I would call accurate enough for building anything more sophisticated than what an 8-year old could do with some cardboard and scissors. This leads me to my real question, has anyone here had any success in contacting companies that create things like this to attain basic dimensions for model making? My fear of calling them up is that they'll think I am trying to do something untowards to their craft which isn't the case, I just want to make a nice model to commemorate my dad's time working for the company.

Also, it should be noted that the company he works for is NOT the same company that built the craft. Thanks again for your guys's time, and again, if this isn't the place, please point me in the right direction.

Re: Official first post and plea for information.

Welcome! I'm not terribly knowledgeable in the area of your quest but there are definitely scale modelers on here that can steer you. Silly question but have you looked for tug boat models at hobby stores? I'm certain some of our expert modelers could suggest some things...but may I suggest you re-title you post to say something like "scale model tug help needed". Good luck...sounds like a great project for your dad!

Re: Official first post and plea for information.

Not sure if it's much help, but this is a site I've had saved for a while, for when my dad gets his sailboat completed, I had thought of having one made to match.

http://www.abordage.com/custom-models/

Miker: Thanks, changed the title, should've known better and did that from the off lol. And thanks for the welcome. I have looked at model tug boats...but they aren't quite the class of tug he works on, I think it might be a terminology thing...I think they might TECHNICALLY be called TOW boats...but most people still refer to them as TUG boats, I'll link an image to the class of vessel he is on.



CharlzO Thanks for the link, they might be an asset once I get going.

Have you approached the company he works for? They must have resources related to the vessels they operate and perhaps contacts with the builders who might be able to provide help with the hulls lines, etc.
Good luck!
Regards, Robert

Well, I kinda thought about that, but then I thought "Well they obviously outsourced it." But now that you're making me think about it again, they must have had specs to send to them right? Hm, I'll have to think on this, cause I want it to be a surprise for my dad and I don't want them to go to him with inquiries about me making inquiries...lol, I'm skurred.

So I did a little googling...

This website list the MV Hoosier State asLength 166 feet - Breadth 48 feet - Twin Screw GM 12-710G7B, 6000 hp. Built 2009 by Quality Shipyards LLC, Houma, LA.
Quality Shipyards was acquired by Leevac Shipyards which was then acquired by Gulf Island Shipyards. Try contacting them to see if they can assist you. If you're honest with them about why you want details of the boat they may be more inclined to help you out. They could still have plans for that vessel. A boat made 2009 may have plans in some digital format which might be able to be converted to 3D for printing.

This now defunct website has info about building tow boat models.

This website has some photos.

That should hopefully nudge you in the right direction. I'll leave you to continue googling from here. :thumbsup

I'd go to the RC guys, not only do they recreate amazing scale boats, but they have towing competitions. They'd give you all the info you'd need from plans to fittings, railings, etc. Doesn't matter if you're building static, the construction would be the same.

Try RCGroups and RCUniverse.

ZeroSum, yeah, you found pretty much as much as I found lol with exception of the defunct site which looks like it would have been super handy if still active.
ausf I'll give them guys a shot too, never hurts to have your fingers in ALL the pies, as it were

Somewhere, I have a set of plans for a similar towboat, possibly the same class of boat. I bought them many years ago to do a similar project for my dad, who was VP of a barge line.

I don't remember where they are, but I doubt I threw them out. If I can locate them, I'll share them with you. Give me a few days, on a business trip ATM.

Jkirkon That would be great, thanks!

I looked around a bit this weekend, but couldn't locate the plans I have. Still have a few places to search, though.
I DO remember that the boat was a Dravo shipyards Viking class, 5,600 hp twin screw towboat.
Not the same as your dad's boat, though. The one I built for my dad was the M/V Dixie Power.

I will keep looking. If nothing else, I'd like to build another, bigger one.