Steve Brown's Boats

This is my first R/C model sailboat, a Sterling Kingfish.

This is a tiny (14") R/C tugboat I recently completed, from a Lindberg kit. Here are some comments on the construction of the kit and its seaworthiness.

This is a current project, the Emma C. Berry, a two-masted schooner from the Sterling kit. Views are available of the framing, and the hull after planking, fiberglassing, and the first few coats of primer. The model is presently stalled in this state; the project has gotten tabled because of my schoolwork.

The prototype for this model is still afloat at the Mystic Seaport Museum. Unfortunately, the Sterling kit isn't a good match for the restored Emma C. Berry. Mystic Seaport chose to restore her to the as-built condition, with a single mast and a fish well, but Sterling's kit shows her as a coastal freighter or yacht, with two masts.

If you're considering building this kit, you should definitely consult the article Schooner Emma C. Berry in R/C, by Frank E. Dully, Jr., in Model Ship Builder, No. 90, July/August 1994, pp. 4-11 (part I), and No. 91, September/October 1994, pp. 24-29 (part II). The kit as supplied has a number of problems, and this article describes how to overcome many of them.