Runabout Boat (The Crab with the Golden Claws)

The Crab with the Golden Claws (French: Le Crabe aux pinces d’or) is the ninth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in Le Soir Jeunesse, the children’s supplement to Le Soir, Belgium’s leading francophone newspaper, from October 1940 to October 1941 amidst the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Partway through serialisation, Le Soir Jeunesse was cancelled and the story began to be serialised daily in the pages of Le Soir. The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, who travel to Morocco to pursue a gang of international opium smugglers.

– courtesy of Wikipedia

THE FINISHED MODEL:

THE STORY:

I already talked quite a bit about The Crab with the Golden Claws, so there isn’t that much more to say, except, perhaps, that it’s one of my favourite adventures. I mean, first of all it’s got a great cover, introduces Captain Haddock… and for some reason I just love saying “Karaboudjan” – it just rolls off the tongue.

Some people have said that The Crab with the Golden Claws is a bit of a remake of Cigars of the Pharaoh, but that doesn’t bother me. It’s a much tighter story, and it’s got some really iconic scenes that I get to tap into for my Tintin project – the yellow float plane that dive bombs our heroes is the prime one (and I do love float planes!), and who could forget the lifeboat that Captain Haddock drunkenly sets on fire, but I really like the boat chase at the end between Tintin and Allen.

In fact, Steven Spielberg is reportedly a fan of Tintin, so there are some similarities between his “Indiana Jones” movies and the Adventures of Tintin. So, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the boat chase scene was the inspiration from a very similar scene in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade.

There’s something about the grand tradition of Italian mahogany runabouts – they’re a classic style that share the same cultural DNA as Italian racing cars. Just beautiful to look at.

THE BUILD:

Tintin chases Allen in the runabout boat

This one was a bit tricky. First of all, there’s very few kits available for these kinds of runabout boats – and certainly none in 1/72 scale. There also wasn’t much hope of finding one using my usual go-to backup plan for cars – diecast. No, this one was going to take some doing.

Luckily my resin printer (the relatively inexpensive Longer 30) came to the rescue. In fact, it’s almost exactly why I bought it in the first place. However, building a 3D model is a bit different animal that putting together a plastic kit. At first I tried to replicate some plans I found online by building the boat from the ground up in Blender, but that’s going to take a bit more practice. Luckily, by searching for an appropriate STL file, I was able to find a free option online – thanks to creator msbealo on Thingverse!

Of course, it still wasn’t easy. The STL file is really meant for a much larger RC boat, so scaling it down to 1/72 scale meant that the hull got pretty thin. I was left with gaps in many places that needed to be filled. Nothing a fair amount of Tamiya grey putty and lots of CA glue couldn’t solve… that and a LOT of sanding. 😉

I had to be a bit careful though, as I ended up cracking the hull a couple of times in weak/thin spots, but in the end I was reasonably happy with the result. After getting the hull sorted out it was smooth sailing. 😉

Since it’s a pretty basic interior in the comic album, I opted to just scratch build a couple of benches and a steering wheel. Happily I was able to adapt the windscreen from the 1/72 Jeep.

THE UPDATE (2023/11/16):

So I’ve learned a lot about 3D modeling and printing since I did this project 2 years ago. After reviewing the files I used before, I’m surprised I was able to print them at all. They weren’t properly manifold and had all kinds of intersecting faces. So, as I was going through and upgrading many of my projects, this one felt like a simple do-over was appropriate.

After spending some time cleaning up and reformatting the STL files I used, I was able to get a very nice (and much more solid) hull printed out. It needed a LOT less putty to hold together, and consequently a lot less sanding was required. Following the original paint job was easy enough, and I “cheated” by taking a bit of a short cut and re-using some of the interior. It may be a short-cut, but I also appreciate the idea that I’m somehow transplanting the “soul” of the original build into the updated version. A little bit of continuity, and less work? Sounded good to me.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the result, but feel free to tell me what you think.