I first involved myself in model boats in the mid 1960's. My Son David was 8 years old at the time and beginning to take a keen interest in boats. Probably because I was a Scout Leader with the local Sea Scouts and also had the job of Boatswain to the Troop. As we had a lot of boats from pulling and sailing dinghies to cutters, maintaining them took a lot of my time and David used to come along with me "to help".
It was time that he had a "boat" of his own. I tried my hand at building a half Scale "Marblehead" model racing yacht. It had to be half scale otherwise it would not go in the car if he/we were going to sail it.
It was built of Balsa wood on the bread and butter method and shaped to templates at the stations and then hollowed out internally. The lead keel was cast in a plaster of paris mould in a wooden cope and drag with the keel bolts fitted integrally and through bolted into the wooden keel section of the hull. It had a very complex wind vane steering apparatus made of brass and from memory it was not very successful. It was also supposed to have been self tacking but I don't think I ever got that to work.
The whole project was built from a set of plans that I had acquired from somewhere, and I soon realised that if you want to build a model racing yacht you have got to build it full size if you want to sail it successfully.
Shortly after its completion I moved to the Midlands and there was nowhere to sail it and it was laid up ashore on David's bedroom windowsill for a couple of years until it collided with the cat and ended up wrecked on the floor.