[Doug]

Hornby Skaledale Canal items are now available in the shops and at various online outlets.

The canal is made from moulded resin. It's a narrow lock that takes one narrow-boat. The boats are very well made. Plenty of detail and well painted. The company signs are decals so I suppose that they could be gently removed and other company names can be applied if desired. I've seen a couple of places selling decals for HO/OO canal boats.

We'll be adding these to the layout in a few days. I've been waiting for the canal to measure the heights of the gradient changes of the area where the canal will go.

It will be an interesting challange to get the joints between the canal water pieces hidden. Anyone have any good ideas for that?

 

[Thunder]

Other than the joints, i think they look very good.

 

[John Webb]

O dear! Hornby are still selling the canal boat as a 'butty' boat when it is actually a motor boat - I did write and tell them earlier this year that they'd made a mistake! The boat has a long cabin, the front part of which houses the engine. A 'Butty' boat is unpowered, has a shorter cabin only used for living in, and a different tiller.
Otherwise they look good.
Re the join - could one of the scenic water compounds now available be used to fill/disguise the joint?
Regards,
John Webb

 

[DS239]

QUOTE (John Webb @ 10 Aug 2006, 20:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>O dear! Hornby are still selling the canal boat as a 'butty' boat when it is actually a motor boat

Hmmm,-yes,-I spotted that as well!

..and I'm not exactly a canal expert..

..more slapdash labelling from Hornby..

 

[dwb]

>A 'Butty' boat is unpowered, has a shorter cabin only used for living in, and a different tiller.
It's not full of sandwiches then?

David

 

[Makemineadouble]

Doug to hide the joints you might have to have a clear layer of polyurethane, and possibly some filler painted the same colour as the water.
No it's not a butty QUOTE Non-powered boat of a working pair, on the narrow canals. Originally a horse boat but later towed by a motorboat.Waterways Glossary
I think the Langley gates with all the lock furniture look better, but it's only my opinion.

 

[Doug]

Yep, the Butty is the unpowered boat of a working pair. Even I, a non-Brit, know that.

But perhaps they are just Butty boats waiting for a powered narrow boat to show up. Who said they were powered...? Perhaps we can find a horse for the tow-path.

 

[John Webb]

Other minor points re the detail of the boats:
The engine exhaust chimney is too large in diameter.
There should be a second stove chimney on the left-hand side of the boat near the rear of the cabin.
The 'Cratch' - the upright bit at the front of the boat, see the 5th photo - is a solid piece of wood, often painted in various traditional ways, and not the cloth-type modelled.
All of these should easy to modify.
Regards,
John Webb

 

[neil_s_wood]

I use epoxy resin as water on my layout over a painted base. Try filling the gap with thick paint and then epoxy over the top of that. For a canal you have the benfit of the water being muddy so you can add some brown/ grey pigment to the resin to make it murky.

 

[Ben Manicom]

My mate simply found of pot of old gungy dark green paint and thickly spread it over wood. It looks very impressive.