But the modern tug - ah, modern tugs have a spectacular mast. Here I broke an EeZeBilt rule and spent a couple of quid on 12" of brass tube and a scrap of brass sheet...
The plans are here. Start by drilling three holes about 1/2" into some wood - the template for them is here. Then cut the brass tube into 1 5" and 2 3.5" bits, and slot them into the holes like this:
Now we need to add lights, radar, and every service seen on a tug mast. There are quite a lot of illustrations on the web, but if we're semi-scale a little lattitude may be permissable?
Here is a selection of lights and radar sliced out of the plastic insulation of that discarded wire I was talking about...
Bend the 2 3.5" posts until they touch the 5" one. Let them spring back a bit - about 1/4". Then cut the brass sheets from the pattern, and slide them on thus:
The lowest sheet just touches the front post. Mark where that is, and cut a small slot in the post at that point to positively locate the front tip of the sheet.
The mast is located between the funnels - use the same template here to drill the holes. Make up three 1/2" lengths of brass tube one size larger than the mast. Solder washers onto the tops of each of these, and epoxy them into place in the superstructure. Check that the mast can be inserted and removed easliy...
Make a funnel out of paper, wound several times with balsa glue, and a round balsa endpiece.
And here we are adding items to the mast - google 'tugboat mast' for some examples of the sort of equipment they carry. I thought I would use as much of the length of wire as I could.
I particularly like the floodlights cut from the middle of the outer insulation. But your mast will differ. The only limit is your imagination...
A little flash of solder, and we have the basic frame...
