Burnaby Association of Marine Modellers

Scale Towhooks for 1/48 scale Paddletug, Reliant

The Steam Tug Reliant was used mainly in the Newcastle Channel and had towpoints both fore and aft. The ones at the front had two smaller towhooks and the aft one had a large and small hook.  The first 3 black & white photos are from the Reliant on display in the Maritime Museum in Newcastle. The hooks had a large spring to act as shock absorber and a locking mechanism to ensure the towrope did not unhook by itself.

The hooks were made by heating 3mm square brass and shaping. Then the were filed and shaped and heat treated to harden them again.

The body of the towhooks were made from square tubing and bent sheet. The springs are from my collection of VCR 'spares'.

The bolts are 1,2 and 1,4 mm steel model engineering stock.

The shackles are heated and bent square bar. The ends were heated and hammered, drilled & tapped.

The last photos shows the working, scale hooks installed on their sliding pedestals.