Hi y’all. I haven’t posted the video yet, but the Patriot ran well, stayed dry, and pumped a lot of water, luckily I got her maiden done before the wind hit 22 or so gusting to 35. We had some drama but all turned out well. So, I’ve said this before, I like to keep my bench busy…building is therapy for me, and my wife lets me have 6 or so hours on the weekends and unless I’m needed for something or there’s a family emergency, about 2-3 hours a week on average. I’m going to use a lot of that time over the course of the next 3-4 months I think. Maybe more. Let me explain. About 2 Christmases ago I was searching for something for my Christmas present. Now, sometimes I give my wife a list of things I would like to have and I am pretty good about budgeting money for gifts, food, donations, etc. Also…I’m intrinsically cheap. Blame my mom. That woman could stretch a penny clean around the house…and to her credit, I don’t remember ever going without anything I needed or wanted growing up. She and my dad drilled that into my head, which I promptly forgot the first few years of adulthood. Anyway, the budget was settled. Looking thru EBay I found a new in the box Revell Flower class corvette kit. I had read of several conversions that were done, all done differently, all ran and performed well…and it’s not the Tecnic kit, which isn’t cheap…if you can find one. It was an earlier kit after Revell bought the rights to the Matchbox kit…and the price was extremely reasonable. So I got it for Christmas and it’s been in my project stash for a couple of years. Now, she’s on the bench. This kit is pretty nice, there’s tons of parts to her, over 1000. There are things I’ll have to address going forward, like making railing from brass wire instead of plastic, what to glue down vs what’s removable, but the first thing to do is build the stand. Now, the stand provided is fine for a display model, but just a little sketchy for an rc model. The for and aft rods that connect the ends are just plastic styrene rod. I had 2 hardwood dowels and a piece of 6mm cf tubing that would work. Later on I’ll build a proper stand and cut the dowel and tubing away to put back in the wood/brass/whatever stash. But for now, it works. The hull is a 4 piece affair, you have fwd port and starboard halves, and aft port and starboard also. Now, I built 2 sides then assembled the hull, thinking about it now it might have been a good idea to build a fore and aft section then complete the hull, as I had some minor fiddly alignment issues, but was able to resolve them fairly easily. Once that was done I added the chine rails, then decided on internals. Hers where you have to stop and think about what you’re going to do. The aft deck has a good sized opening, maybe 10x4 or so. Not huge, but workable if you plan things out. All my equipment , running gear,etc is built into this hull with that in mind, as I’m going to make the aft house removable for aces and battery changes. Looking at the instructions this looks like a good way to go. I may have to make a compromise how the foscle and bridge connect to this, but from what I can tell this will work. I thought I had a Fineline stuffing box but I only had a standard box in my stash, so I had to carefully drill and ream the propshaft exit to fit the box. I added a greasing tube, then scuffed the tube and the inside of the hull, then glued it in place with copious amounts of epoxy mixed with microballoons. I heated the mixture with a heat gun till it got runny, and poured it in, around and under the tube, the heating makes the epoxy runny enough to get into nooks and crannies, but it also makes it fire off quicker so you gotta be quick. I built the rudder next. Instead of making a rudder from brass, I opted to use the kit rudder and modify it into something useable. I had a Robbe rudder tube in my parts bin, but I was out of 3mm brass stock. Luckily I remembered that I had a short 3mm steel shaft that I wasn’t using for anything. It was bent at an angle, cut to fit into the rudder halves. The shaft was centered, the angle boxed in with wood strip, then filled epoxy was laid in both halves and clamped together. Works like a champ. I used a piece of 1 inch thick balsa, drilled to fit the rudder tube. I glued a piece of 2 mm sheet on top to prevent splitting, sanded the bottom to reasonably match the hull contour, then once lined up epoxied into place. I decided on a 650 KV Zippkits outrunner for power. This motor is wound for tugs and workboats, and it hauls my Taucher Wulf around with no issues whatsoever..bench running I’m pulling less than 1 amp at full chat. I made up a motor mount and once jigged up I tacked down with ca, double checked motor to shaft alignment then epoxied it down. I then made up a rudder servo mount from scraps and an electronics shelf just fwd of the motor. I’m still on the bench about the receiver placement there though, as it’s awful low in the hull, and 2.4 doesn’t like being surrounded by water. That might change. That’s where she’s at now. Next up is reinforcing the hull joints, making a battery shelf then loading the hull up with ballast to the waterline and a leak check. Then..,the real fun begins. Cash

This is a new thread of my refurbishing of an old ship model that was built back in the 1980's or so. Background: I managed to get this model when a fellow boat modeler knew that I have multiple scale RC powered boats and would be the right person to give it to. This was during a sailboat regatta and I was videoing the races from my big fishing trawler using a GOPRO camera. The story goes that this particular person had the boat built, wired and fitted professionally. It is a huge model spanning 76 inches in length and weighing 35 lbs fully loaded ( of which 21 lbs were lead acid batteries ; six of them ). however, that person passed away years ago and after a while, his widow needed to clean up the house and was about to trash all the models into the dumpster. Fellow modelers were able to save two of his huge boats. One being the German U99 submarine that went to a collector in Texas and the second was this un named old ship. It languished for years in a garage. The person that saved it was not interested in powered RC boats, but kept it. Apparently there was an email offering this model for sale back then, but I have no idea what came of it or when it was written, nor any details as to what it was. So what is it? next thread Isaac

Hi everyone. Back with a new build. I figured that I would use the hull I have laying around (from a Graupner Commodore) to build the boat I enjoyed as a kid. Our family boat that was a kit boat built by my father in the early 60's in the Yukon. She is a Glen -L Marine design called the "Gung Ho' She is 28' in length. My fathers boat was powered by twin Grey Marine Fireball V8's. That is me as a boy sitting on her bow on the lakes in the Yukon. Then in Prince Rupert, BC at the yacht club. Following are her study drawings. Our boat was not build exactly the same you may notice. More to come of course. Will be working on setting the hull up for twin rudders, etc. I will resin the cabin when the weather allows. Then build the upper windscreen and roof. Of course work on the interior of the aft cockpit as well. cheers and welcome to 2025.

Hello, I have been off the air for a good 18 months, A move to Vancouver Island from the mainland, and working on the house has taken up much of our time, enjoyable and rewarding as it was. The story so far Enough of that. I set out to build a David Metcalf model of the Sangsetia. I ran into all kinds of issues, and if I'm honest I probably should have started with a kit. After redrawing the ribs I restarted the build, and most of the hull has been planked. Then the move to the island. My initial plan was to build the hull in wood and then draw in CAD the fittings and 3D print them. Surgery last October had me doing nothing until the end of January 25. In that time I decided to draw the hull and fittings and a JPG will show the progress to date. Its a labour of love, which has given me much pleasure and satisfaction. Boats are challenging to draw. I am using Alibre software.It is my aim to print the hull, and what you see is the sections. Here's my problem, and I am asking for help from boat modellers with many more years of experience than I have. I have been researching the Sangsetia, and I can find precious little about her. The avenues I have pursued have led me to a dead end. A chap on Model Boat Mayhem went this route years ago, and the information he shared stated that the plans are inaccurate, and much of the detail incorrect. That being said has anyone have pictures of the Sangsetia. Please note, I have photos from the Malayasian Police Facebook, so that bridge has been crossed. Can anyone please suggest any other avenues I could pursue. I thank you in advance. Best Regards Paul

I haven’t done anything on my builds since before last Christmas for various reasons but am looking forward to starting again in the next couple of weeks. I’ve been working on a number of builds for some years and not finished one yet! Main reason is that I reach a certain point, maybe something I’m hesitant about, and so start another! Which is the reason I’ve got five on the go. I’m building all the classic Faireys; Huntsman 28, Huntsman 31 and Swordsman 33 and a rarer Huntress 23 with a stern drive and longer cabin. Also a River Cruiser 23 (the one and only full-size build was a prototype was based on a modified Huntress hull but with more freeboard which disappeared) and I have the plans drawn up to start a Fisherman 27 motor sailer and a Faun 17 river/lake cruiser. All builds are at a scale of 1:12. The River Cruiser and Huntress are further on as they have had lake trials with the others being at the painting stage which I will be taking up again soon. I use a Hitec Flash 8 Tx and Rx’s and Hitec servos with Overlander brushless motors (even in my slower models) and HobbyWing Quicrun and Seaking ESC’s along with LiPo batteries though will probably use NiMh in the Fisherman and Faun.

Had the Graupner Optimist in my basement for about 25 years some one gave the unfinished kit to me at A show club was doing at Canal Days in Port Colborne Ontario . No keel so I made one from a piece of scrap plate at work on afternoon shift took a few weeks at lunch time had to learn how to use a cutting torch & industrial grinder to shape the keel like the plans. Then for some unknown reason I put it in the basement & kind of forgot about it after I finished installing keel & all the framing I think I couldn't find a sail servo back then so I stopped the build. I found all the manuals & sails stashed away in a drawer & the sails have creases in them that may not go flat.

It must have been in the early '70's when my father and brothers built this model. It had a car blower motor, a home made server to steer (see picture), and my eldest brother built the RC system. We had fun on many boating lakes on holidays in North Wales, and I've decided to refurbish her, and get her on the water again. She was named "Endeavour", as my mother said it took a lot of endeavour to build her! I think I'm going to fit the missing chine and gunwale stringers and repaint her as a Fireboat - of some sorts! I'd like to go modern with the RC, motor (brushless?) and metal geared servo. Any advice - particularly on motor sizing would be appreciated. I saw a similar Fireboat on the water at Southport Model Boat Club open day recently, with an 850 motor, which seemed to sail very nicely

Fun at the park. A big lake and nice day to run the boat at the Wellen Park in Florida. The owner of the bike and kayak shop took this video of my shrimp boat Capt CJ (it is a scale boat; the full boat was destroyed during hurricane Ian a couple of years ago). here is the link. I don't know how to copy the video by itself. https://www.facebook.com/reel/501543055774701 Isaac

I know some of you have played with these vessels and created 3-D printed versions but here is the manufacturer out in B.C., Canada https://www.dropmarine.com/products

45 years ago I sold ice cream from a boat very similar to this model which nearing Completion. It is only 13 inches long and vaguely 1:12 scale . More details after sea trials! I SHOULD ADD THAT AS WITH MANY OF MY BUILDS ,I AM ABLY ASSISTED BY neilw ( Lt Cdr)

Recently picked this up from our club sale at the lake and made a start. A quick resume so far: checked all was complete , previous owner has already made up the prop assembly but used slightly larger size than the original ones which were still in the kit. This has resulted in me having to ever so slightly raise the shafts on their mounting struts so that the propellers clear the hull. Not sure on size of motors yet, will be working on that alongside the servo for the rudder etc with the space restrictions and access. Have been looking at some videos of other people's builds and sen that they'd cut out the stern cabin to allow access to the rudder servo and also made the cockpit removable for access to the motors, esc, etc plus the "bulkhead " which the cockpit would normally have been glued to had been partially removed to again give access. So this has been carried out. Along with spraying the hull and partially the deck, cockpit is also work in progress.

Its been a while since I have updated you all on my Venice water taxi build. Over the last few months I have been working on the canopy and the hand rails, used to get on board. I am just about ready to give her her first sea trials in open water. The swimming pool here at the village I live in is not large enought to give her a good run, with out the fear of hitting the sides. It was really tricky machining the 0.75 mm pins for the canopy hinges but with a very sharp and pointed HSS tool it worked OK. Also I decided to glue the canopy top along the edges, where the frame goes through, as I dont have a machine to sew, so it all got very difficult. The end result was perfect as I used clear silicon sealant. The hand rail support flanges were turned from 5/16 dia brass with a 2 mm hole and soldered on the back face, which worked well. They are glued on with 5 minute araldite. My next update will cover the launch and hopefully a video of her steaming along. I am not sure if the notes for each photo is attached but if not I am sure you will all get the idea. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers Ian