Working Boat Models: Clyde Puffers and Beam Trawlers

Why working boats make great models

Working boats such as tugs, coasters and fishing vessels are some of the most satisfying subjects in the hobby. They’re compact, full of character and usually stable, which makes them good working (radio-controlled) models. They also suit weathering, so small imperfections in the build blend in rather than stand out.

Two British and North Sea favourites are the Clyde puffer and the beam trawler. Both are short, beamy and great fun on the water, but they make quite different projects.

Clyde puffers

The real puffers

Clyde puffers were small coal-fired cargo steamers that carried coal, timber, building materials and general goods around the Firth of Clyde, the west coast of Scotland and the Hebrides, from the 19th century well into the 20th. They had:

• A single mast and derrick for handling cargo
• A tall funnel aft and a wheelhouse, often open on early boats
• A flat bottom, so they could beach on a falling tide and unload directly onto carts at places with no pier

The name comes from the puffing sound of the early non-condensing steam engines. Puffers became famous through Neil Munro’s comic stories of the Vital Spark and her captain, Para Handy, later adapted for television. A small number of puffers survive in preservation.

Puffer kits, hulls and plans

• Caldercraft “North Light”: one of the best-known puffer kits. It’s a 1:32 scale model with a pre-formed fibreglass hull, CNC-cut superstructure and over 200 white metal fittings, including crew figures. It can be built as a static display model or adapted for radio control. Retailers note that it won a gold medal at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1984.
• Fibreglass puffer hulls have been offered by British suppliers such as Dean’s Marine, often as part of a set with plans and fittings.
• Plans: Vic Smeed’s “Lochinvar”, published through Model Boats (plan MM1410), is a classic semi-scale design at 1:48, about 17.5 in (445 mm) long, for single-screw electric propulsion. It’s a popular scratch-building starting point. For other small working-boat designs, see free model tug boat plans.

For more on Caldercraft and other makers, see our guide to wooden model boat kit brands.

Building and running a model puffer

• Choose your scale carefully. A small 1:48 puffer is easy to carry and store. A larger 1:32 model has more presence on the water and room for detail and electronics.
• Scratch-building the hull: Builders often use bulkheads (formers) on a false keel with balsa block infill, then carve and sand to shape. The puffer’s full, blunt shape is forgiving for a first scratch build. See making a model boat hull for this and other methods.
• Ballast low. Puffers are beamy and stable, but a heavy mast, derrick and funnel still raise the centre of gravity. Add ballast low in the hull until the model sits on its waterline (see how to ballast an RC model boat).
• Running: Puffers are slow, steady boats. A modest motor and a small prop give a realistic scale speed. A smoke generator in the funnel is a popular extra.

Beam trawlers

How a beam trawler works

A beam trawler is a fishing vessel that tows nets held open by a rigid beam rather than by otter boards. Modern beam trawlers usually have two outrigger booms, one on each side, and each tows a trawl along the seabed. In the North Sea they’re mainly used for shrimp and flatfish such as plaice and sole. Dutch and Belgian fleets are especially associated with them, and the Dutch fishing town of Urk is well known for its beam trawlers.

Older beam trawlers and smaller inshore boats may tow a single beam over the stern.

Model beam trawler options

Complete beam trawler kits are less common than kits for tugs or general fishing boats. Modellers usually choose:

• Fishing boat kits from European makers that include, or can be adapted for, beam trawl gear
• Fibreglass trawler hulls from specialist suppliers, with superstructure built from plans
• Scratch builds from drawings or photos of a specific vessel. This is popular in the Netherlands and Belgium, where many modellers follow their local fleets.

Photographs taken in harbour are invaluable for the deck layout, winches, derricks and gear.

Rigging the beams and nets

• Outrigger booms: Make them from brass or aluminium tube for strength. They need to raise and lower on a working model, or be fixed in a single position on a static one.
• Beams and shoes: The beam at the net mouth has a “shoe” at each end that slides along the seabed. Small turned or cast parts look convincing.
• Nets: Fine netting from craft suppliers can be dyed and draped. Hang it naturally, with gravity in mind.
• Rigging: Blocks, wires and chain should be in scale. Too-thick rigging is the most common giveaway on small models. Scale blocks and chain are covered in our guide to model ship fittings.

Stability with outriggers

The outriggers are the main design challenge on a working model beam trawler:

• When raised, the booms add weight high up and increase windage. Make them as light as possible.
• When lowered, they act like a balancing pole but can catch the water in a turn.
• Many modellers run with the booms raised and nets stowed, or fixed in a partly lowered position.
• Test stability in a bath or tank before the first pond outing, and add ballast low until the model recovers readily from a heel.

Weathering a working boat

Both puffers and trawlers look best with some honest wear:

• Rust streaks below fittings, scuppers and hawse pipes
• Soot on the funnel top and the deck around it, especially on a coal-burning puffer
• Scuffs and chipped paint along the rubbing strakes and bulwarks
• Salt and grime on a trawler’s working deck

Build the effect up gradually with washes, dry-brushing and weathering powders, and seal it with matt varnish on a working model so it survives handling and water. Our guide to model ship finishes covers paints and varnishes.

Puffer vs beam trawler as a project

Both boats share the waters of a much grander paddle steamer tradition; see our guide to paddle steamer model kits and the Waverley. If your working model uses a fibreglass hull, our article on whether fibreglass boats can last 100 years includes care tips for GRP model hulls.