Listing for full size Printed Plans & Article
Not a KIT or MODEL
M.T. IKWERRE
Thornycroft fire boat tug built for service in Nigeria.
Full Size Printed Plan on a Sheet 32" x 28"
Six Page article with building notes and photo
Scale 1/47.2.
LENGTH 30 “
BEAM 7 ½”
POWER ELECTRIC
By N. F. Warren
Construction is of balsa on the bread-and-butter principle. A tug model is really excellent from this aspect, and can also give a large displacement for a comparatively low overall length. To enable the model (in its box) to be put in the boot of a small car. I fixed the length at 30 in. which determined a beam of 7 1/2 in. and a displacement of roughly 9 lb. This gives a scale of 1/47.2.
THIS tug was completed in July, 1963, by J. 1. Thornycroft & Co. Ltd., Southampton, to the order of the Crown Agents for the Nigerian Port Authority - hence the unusual name. She is designed for harbour and coastal work, and is registered in Lagos. Of 275 tons gross the Ikwerre is of all welded construction, and was built to the highest class of Lloyds Register. I came to know the vessel during part of an apprenticeship at Messrs J. I. Thornycroft last year and was much impressed by the very handsome design (not, unlike the A therjield of the same origin), and high standard of specification, The decks' are laid with 2 1/2 in. thick teak, the seams being filled with a' black composition. As befits a tug, the bulwarks, towing equipment and the like, are massively constructed. The fender running all round the ship is of rubber, this dispensing with the need for old motorcar tyres. The 8 in. square bow pushing fender is in the form of moulded rubber - again 8 in. thick. All this, together with a colour scheme of cream uppers and medium green hull gives a truly impressive appearance. Twin rudders are of the spade type and electro hydraulically operated. The design of the hull features a flat broad stern with the propellers either side of a large skeg, and in front of the spade rudders. The stern terminates in a rounded transom formed by a knuckle.
Length overall - including fenders - is 118 ft., breadth 28 ft., and draught loaded 10ft.
Thank you for looking Rose