MM2CVS9
Active member
As a kid around 10 or 12, back in the 50's, I spent time at my grandfather's home on a lake. One of the things to do was to help scrape, putty and paint the fishin boats to keep them in shape. This was before plastics and fiberglass (and money) was available. Here in Michigan we have thousands of small lakes. Each cottage had a fishin boat or two. These boats were mostly hand made from locally available material, sometimes salvaged from wherever. Hardware was cobbled together, such as a coffee can filled with cement and a metal loop imbedded in it for an anchor. Each lake seemed to have similar but slightly different designs, usually patterned after a boat built by someone on a specific lake that had built a successful boat. Us kids had fun in them, spending hours fishing, frogging and just messin around.
I have collected 3 Midwest Skiff kits #967 in 1:12 scale. I'm not sure exactly what "skiff" means, but the kit produces a much fancier boat than our "fishin" boat was. One kit I got at 40% off from Hobby Lobby. Two kits were given to me by model club members that said they would more than likely not build them, so my investment is small. The kit, even though it had a fancier design, kinda inspired me to build a couple of those old boats that I remember. Maybe the kit is of a design used along the Atlantic seaboard for utility purposes. The rockered bottom and more flared sides may have made it more seaworthy in the coastal bays. Our boats rarely went out on big water such as Lake Michigan, but were very common on every small inland lake in the state.
My intent is to build four of these boats;
one - out of the box according to the plans
two - modified to a couple of the boats I helped Grandpa build
and one - from scratch like the first one I built myself with guidance from Grandpa. I plan on building them simultaneously, showing the modifications I make for each boat.
So a fleet of four boats, One as the kit depicts, three of them, 1:12 copies of the boats I built 1:1, 60 years ago. This should be fun.
Will post photos as I get these baby's going.
EJ
I have collected 3 Midwest Skiff kits #967 in 1:12 scale. I'm not sure exactly what "skiff" means, but the kit produces a much fancier boat than our "fishin" boat was. One kit I got at 40% off from Hobby Lobby. Two kits were given to me by model club members that said they would more than likely not build them, so my investment is small. The kit, even though it had a fancier design, kinda inspired me to build a couple of those old boats that I remember. Maybe the kit is of a design used along the Atlantic seaboard for utility purposes. The rockered bottom and more flared sides may have made it more seaworthy in the coastal bays. Our boats rarely went out on big water such as Lake Michigan, but were very common on every small inland lake in the state.
My intent is to build four of these boats;
one - out of the box according to the plans
two - modified to a couple of the boats I helped Grandpa build
and one - from scratch like the first one I built myself with guidance from Grandpa. I plan on building them simultaneously, showing the modifications I make for each boat.
So a fleet of four boats, One as the kit depicts, three of them, 1:12 copies of the boats I built 1:1, 60 years ago. This should be fun.
Will post photos as I get these baby's going.
EJ