Stormstown Dispatch

During the 1960s, my Uncle Norman built a model of a tugboat that he had worked on as an engineer. It was gifted to me then and has been in storage for years. It is still in good shape despite missing parts, notably the stern mast, the light above the wheelhouse, two navigation lights, the stern panel to the wheelhouse, and an antenna.

I have been planning to restore it for a while. I purchased a 3-D printer to manufacture the missing parts. The model is also dusty, so the first step in restoration was to clean it.

I removed all of the dust and printed the missing parts. I dry-fitted the parts before painting and gluing them to the model. The most difficult part to make was the stern mast. I printed one section for the lower portion of the mast and three sections that included a light on each one.

Here is the model’s starboard view with all the missing parts now painted and installed.

Here is the port view. I am pleased with the results.