After the success with the A class catamaran, (glass on foam) I was looking for something new to build using the same method. I've been wanting to do another model of one of my full sized boats, so thought the day sailer would be a good subject. Model is 1m long. Made a sandwich of 4 x 25mm foam sheets on the 5mm ply deck cutout, glued with foam safe contact spray. The area around the cockpit was only glued round the edges, as 2 sheet thicknesses had to be removed later. The big foam sandwich was shaped by eye with a Surform file when dry, using the laminate lines for reference. The full sized boat had been measured previously, and everything scaled 20%, and lines drawn on the foam as a guide also. Once I was happy with the shape (checked side to side with cardboard templates) I glassed the hull with epoxy resin and 5 oz cloth. I rolled on a thick layer of resin before the cloth, to help with filling the pores of the foam. Hull had 2 further coats of resin, sanded between coats, then another 2 with fairing powder mixed rolled on, the 2 more thick fairing mixes squeegeed on, (imperfections filled as well). Each coat was sanded back to eventually hide the weave and leave a smooth surface. LOTS of sanding !-orbital sander, finishing sander, block sanding etc and some Surforming of any high spots in the resin. Next job (yesterday and today) was clamping the hull to the bench for cutting out the cockpit, (clamps go under blocks with cutouts screwed to the bench with a cross bar for the deck, and hull on foam blocks) Cockpit was cut out using a jigsaw with a short medium blade, and finished to the lines by drum sanding and blocking. The deck and 1st lamination came away as one piece, and the second lamination was cut down to with an extended snapoff knife set to the depth, and then picked out easily in large pieces due to no glue in that area. Cockpit is now 50mm deep, with a nice flat bottom, ready to either epoxy thin ply round or glass it then lay ply. The deck will be glassed eventually as well. Centerboard case top will be routed out to drop a complete case unit through, (as I did with the cat) Transom is also 5mm ply, epoxied on before glassing, (which links its' edges to the hull, otherwise it would only be a foam strength joint) Next I'll have to knife some epoxy between the laminations on the centerboard case, as they obviously had no glue previously. the whole case will be ply sheeted and braced. I'll leave painting till last, as the hull will have a lot more done to it yet ) rub rail, coamings etc) This is where it's up to at the moment,- more to follow. See pics of the full size boat, and some of the detail I hope to add to the model. Boat was built in the 80s, took me a year to restore it, (including removing a full width outboard well.) JB

Hi everyone, this will be a log of me building a Tippecanoe T37 kit, the first build I have ever done. I'm already pretty far into the build by now, but I figured it would be nice to start a log in case anyone else wants some pictures of the build process. My first impressions with this kit are very impressive. The folks over at Tippecanoe look like they've done a great job of including everything you need to build a nice RC sailboat. I purchased the racing upgrade version and also got the mahogany veneer deck kit.

Hi y’all. Since Dickey has maidened I decided I wanted to do one more project before I attempt to overhaul my garage workshop. I’m thinking I’ll be down a month or more if I get done what I want to get done. In that vein, I’ve decided to attempt another Springer tug. Some years ago I built one before I really had ballasting down right..she ran okay, but I kept messing around with the ballast, epoxying it in, and when I tried to remove it to make changes I severely damaged the hull. So, I removed all equipment, fittings, etc and scrapped the hull. I’ve been wanting another go at it, so I ordered the Zippkits tugster, just the kit no hardware, and started to lick my calf over (old country phrase for a “do-over”) I built the hull proper per the instructions, and that’s where that ends. I’m using a 4mm shaft, the smaller Robbe/Krick Kort nozzle, and a home made stuffing box. She will be powered by my fave working boat motor, the Zippkits 650 kv outrunner fed by 2 6 cell nimh in parallel. My stuffing box is made up of a thick wall brass tube that accepts a Traxxas 4mm i.d flanged oilite bushing. The bushing is tapped in with a hammer, and I use an old 4mm shaft to make sure the bushings stay aligned as I install the other bushing. The 1mm thick wall allows me to drill a hole the same size as the brass I’m using for an oiling tube. I’ll grind down the fitted end just a bit to get a decent, thight mechanical joint. That way when I silver solder it in place it stays put and is a good strong joint. The reason I’m so picky is that I use a mini grease gun from Horizon Hobbies, I can old it in place and pump, and I get just a wee bit of grease showing at the bushing under pressure, that way I know darn well it’s full. I used part of the keel parts to fit the tube, cutting it shorter to allow me to swing the Kort nozzle hard over to make it easier to change props without removing the Kort nozzle, depending on the size of the prop. I cut an oversized slot for the tube as I use solid couplers, and with the motor fitted I could get everything lined up and tack the tube in place with ca, that way I have no binding. I don’t like using universal joint couplers unless I really have to. I get my couplers from Servo City, as they are steel, use larger socket screws, and don’t have any runout. Very solid. The kit uses a radio plate to to mount the servo, receiver and esc. I cut that down and built up a servo mount, and it’s installed on the same bulkhead shown in the manual, but I mounted it to the fwd side vs the aft as in the instructions. My deck opening is going to be different. I’m using Dubro pushrods, but good old Amazon was out of the ones with metal quick links, so I ordered the ones with nylon. I dug thru my junk box of hardware that I have been collecting since 95 or so, and I found gold!! A few Dubro and Sullivan threaded metal clevises, and some solder clevises too. I mounted the servo, made sure everything worked correctly, then uninstalled everything and gave the inside of the bow and transom and the bottom of the hull a coat of 30 minute epoxy. That’s where she’s at now. I’m thing I’ll spray the rest of the inside of the hull with clear lacquer ro finish waterproofing, then I have to make a decision. I dont know if I need to glass this thing, or maybe glass the bottom and the just seal and paint the heck out of the sides, or….I’ve also heard that some people just epoxy coat the outer ull with thinned epoxy, then prime and paint. She’s gonn be a working boat, used as an emergency push boat when needed, so she needs to last…if I can get her ballasted properly this time, that is… Cash

The VMW Marlin Cabin Cruiser by Robbob Preface. At the time of writing, I’ve had the construction of this boat on ‘the back burner’ since July 2022. By then I had spent about two months on and off constructing the boat to a stage where I could consider applying a glassfibre cloth and epoxy finish to the hull. However I couldn’t spend any more time on the Marlin project as I had a more important project to undertake, which was to paint, decorate, refurbish and prepare our house for sale so that we could downsize and move to a new area now that our kids had all fled the nest. Fast forward to today (mid-April 2025) and it’s taken a while to get the new house and gardens into shape and settle in, with the emphasis on converting my internal garage into a great new workshop, I can finally pick up from where I left off. Introduction to the kit. This new model is the latest undertaking by Vintage Model Works, now famous for their very popular models of the RAF Crash Rescue Tender and Thames River Police Boat kits which are based on old Aerokits and Veron designs. The Marlin is a re-working of an original Veron design by the late Phil Smith in 1953. His son Colin Smith, who was also responsible for the re-design of the Thames River Police Boat, has made some changes to his father’s design to take advantage of more modern materials and production methods such as CNC and laser cutting. The photograph below is of a prototype built by Colin Smith to give you an idea of how the boat looks in finished form. And there is also a review of the Marlin that appeared in Model Maker magazine, November 1953. The size remains at 36” and it employs the same construction method as the original. The spacious cabins of the boat makes it very easy to accommodate all the latest control hardware required, not that the original was lacking in that area even when the radio systems used valves and large batteries and the propulsion was usually IC or a large electric motor. Even the pre-production sample the Vintage Model Works kit supplied to me is well presented with a full size drawing including a pictorial construction sequence and separate pages of building instructions. All the required materials are supplied in quality ply, balsa, strip-wood and dowel including clear plastic sheets for the windscreens, and various white metal deck fittings. The builder is of course required to supply their own adhesives and paint of choice, as well as the propulsion, drive train and radio control gear. In the latter respect I will likely restrict control to throttle and rudder and not add any lighting or other features. That has already been done magnificently by Mike Turpin. Construction. As with the Thames river police boat, another Veron design, construction starts with the assembly of a box structure onto which formers and bulkheads are attached to make the basic hull shape. I will be tackling this in the first part of my build blog which I hope you will enjoy following and I encourage you to ask questions, leave comments and hopefully some ‘likes’ as I make progress. Robbob.

Awaiting graphics to finish off THUNDER& METEOR so pulled this one off the shelf to resume the build. I’ll start at the beginning posting highlights so as not to take up too much time. Photo 1&2 One of the many real boats. These are iconic around Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, & other Atlantic bordering states. Photo 3 Starting the frame & keel.

Hello all! Before my two week sojourn out to California starting tomorrow... Here she is, all 31 inches and 4.8 pounds of 3D printed 1/10th scale madness. And the questions are starting arise after more than a few hours spent in research. How to get her to plane even close to scale? 1) EDF? Probably not, actually I don't think even a 90mm fan, (which will, in fact, push a faomy jet) will ever get this boat to plane. 2) Prop? Maybe with dual 6s and a killer motor, monster cooling etc. But, nowhere near scale with a big prop hanging out the back. 3) Turbine? probably yes, but way out of my league in mechanicals and $$. There will be tons of head-scratching my quickly balding head on this experiment. This is going to go on the shelf for the long haul as my freighter needs finishing and the big Sterling Chris Craft Corvette is screaming at me. But, off to Cali for now...I will drop some pix from time to time of our travels. Best to all!

Good Morning Shipmates Help please - could anyone please assist me with the the lighting on a Royal Navy Steam Pinnace as shown in the picture, what I need to know is what would the location have been of the stern light ? Also would the lights at the time been oil fired or would they have been DC electric run off a steam generator - enquiring so the I get the right kind of light for my model. Thanking you in anticipation of you help Pat

You asked me to try and do a build blog so here is my attempt Started the build two day ago. This progress so! First mistake was fixing one of the stringers? In the wrong cutouts. Managed to release them and make good (I hope). I’m double checking now. I really miss having a plan, as you do with aircraft builds. I think it’s ok so far.

Classic Model Power Boats is a title that I have used for many years to describe the group of model boats that most interest me and that I remember seeing (and sometimes owning) in the 1950’s- 1970’s time period when this type of model was probably at its peak. Many of these models came from kits produced by the like of Aerokits, Veron, LesRo, Stirling and many others, but some came from plans drawn up by Vic Smeed and others from this same time period. Models both before and after this era are also included in this category if they are of the same type - ie, a model of boat powered by a motor which was (back in those days) most often a glow plug engine, diesel engine or a petrol engine, although some were powered by electric motors such as those from Taycol or the smaller types from Mabuchi. These days, most Classic Model Power Boats are powered by electric motors, not always by choice, but often because the use of ic motors is generally frowned upon and is banned from many waters due to the risk of pollution. Electric motors can be thought of as being comparatively soulless and are quietly very efficient - but lack the noise and smells that accompanied the whole procedure of fuelling-up and starting our power boats back then. Restoring and building Classic Model Power Boats has been my main interest for several decades now and I am pleased to see a revival in interest in this type model boats….although in real life, they’re never actually went away! I am hoping that this blog will attract fellow enthusiasts of this type of model boat to contribute with their pictures and share their experiences of building and operating their Classic Model Power Boats. Those that currently collect Classic Model Power Boats (and plans) with a view to building and /or restoring them all one day and those who are just generally interested in them may like to contribute too? Bob.

I have managed to acquire this model boat from a friend. The pictures that I will include as I work my way through it suggest to me (wishful thinking?) that I after many years of searching, I may have accidentally found a genuine LesRo Sportsman. Here it is pictured on my workbench - something I was beginning to think would never happen! Bob.

Collected this one last week, it came from the Ron Wem collection - have a look at his site as he made loads of amazing boats. I also bought the Aquataur A600 and the mould for the Broom 30 Hull. Sadly, Ron died early this year so his family are moving on a number of his boats. KoH is a very decent representation of 1950s Norfolk Broads Cruiser. The model was built about 25 years ago and needs some updating, the interior requires finishing. Have already replaced the motor and ESC as the motor started smoking when tested. Model is 1:12 and is 43” long. As with the full sized boat the wheelhouse roof slides back and the windscreen folds down to get under the low bridges of the Norfolk Broads. Here she is in her just collected state, will update as progress is made. https://www.ronsboats.co.uk/my-models

When I was at school and in my young to mid teens, I liked to read the Model Maker magazine that was current at that time. Although it was a “general purpose” model magazine that covered several different types of model making every month, I found the model boats section the most interesting-especially those about model power boats. Most model power boats at that time were powered by diesel engines, glow plug engines, two stroke petrol engines (usually ex- strimmer) the occasional rare and expensive (often hand made) four stroke engine, or steam. Some electric motors were available ranging from the smaller Mabuchi types to the larger Taycol motors and others that I don’t remember so well. It is with this background that Vic Smeed designed the Remora model power boat for use in steering competitions that were popular at that time. This may seem a little strange now, but back in the days of single channel radio, steering a model boat accurately though a marked-out course represented a worthwhile and entertaining challenge. These competitions faded away with the introduction of affordable proportional radio control as steering a model boat accurately became a lot easier as it was no longer necessary to remember the number of times the transmitter button had to be pushed to get the rudder to turn left or right. The prototype Remora was powered by a .21 glow plug engine and took advantage of the new type proportional radio control system that was to eventually make the intended use of this model boat redundant,

I have been very pleased with my copy of a Sea Commander, but it does exhibit a strange desire to “dive” if it should turn into choppy water or the wake of another boat. Ken Mears took a lovely picture of my “Kopy Kommander”. (the name I gave to my copy of a Sea Commander) when he visited our Southport Club open day earlier this month, but he also took another picture that I had not seen before that shows the boat about to enter its nose down attitude. The next stage after this is for the nose to push itself down into the water as if it was trying to submarinate, when the water covers the front cabin top and the wave deflector is called into action. I do wonder if all Sea Commanders exhibit this same trait after being sharply turned into a wake or choppy water - and maybe that is why Les Rowell included a wave breaker to the front cabin of his Sea Commander design? If that was the case, I wonder why he omitted it from the enlarged (Sea Queen) version of the same boat?

Good morning everyone, this will be a slow build although looking forward to the challenge. Firstly though I'm needing some idea's/expertise at the start. This will be rc with 2 x motors plus of course rudder. The centre prop will be either fixed or free spinning. However, unfortunately when I opened the box I found that the "arms" for want of a better term which the port/starboard propellers are attached to are solid with a nipple on the end to afix the blades to being as this is intended to be a static build. Likewise the rudder, however with some patience I can cut out the fixed rudder and get this to operate with a servo. The issue is with the propellers , has anyone got any advice on this please. The only video I've seen on utube of a 1/400 scale Titanic shows the props in situ and working but didn't go into detail as to wether the "support arms" were hollow in the first place and tubes threaded through or they were solid as in this case and they had to be drilled out. Alternatively I could bypass and run an external tube but I believe this would look messy. Hopefully the photos will show you my quandary. Thanks in advance folks

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.

I bought this Fireboat off EBay. It was fitted with a glow motor and was covered with fuel proofer. In general it was sound but a bit neglected. I am well into the repaint and have lined ide interior of the hull with glass fibre and resin. Will update as I progress

Long

My first official job, when I was 16, was working on the construction of the Baltimore Clipper schooner Pride of Baltimore. On my 21st birthday I reported on board as a member of the crew. After that I acquired the plans from Thomas Gilmer who designed the vessel, with the intent to build an RC model. After a false start then, I changed the scale and started again in September of 2010. The model represents the boat as she was when I was crewing aboard her in September-October 1981. I had a certification from the National Park Service to handle black powder cannon, so I was put in charge of Pride's guns which was handy when we went to the bicentennial of the Siege of Yorktown, what it really meant is I slept with 25pds of black powder at the foot on my bunk. I cooked right along with construction while also working on Constellation and starting a third model, until July of 2012. She was basically a static display model since then, with an attempt to work out her controls that didn't work out in 2015. Trying to set up her steering uncovered a design flaw that I resolved by moving the rudder servo forward. Life has a habit of getting in the way of my hobbies, and several changes in jobs and homes put a damper on all three models. She's pretty much just sat till now, going on display a few times, getting floated in a pool in 2019 and capsizing, which was a bit eerie considering the fate of the original. The model is 1:20 scale making her Hull length: 54" (137.16cm) Length on deck: 48" (121.9cm) Length on waterline w/o rudder: 46.75" (118.75cm) Length over the rig: 81.5" (207cm) Beam: 13.625" (34.6cm) Draft without ballast keel: 5.875" (14.9cm) Total height (top of jack-yard to bottom of keel): 61.6" (156.5cm) Total Sail area: 2,049.13 square inches in 7 sails as shown above, 2,205.13 with the flying jib. Her keel is plywood and she was planked with white pine strips over plywood forms, which were removed. The hull has a layer of 4oz glass cloth and poly resin outside, and several coats of just resin inside. As mentions she capsized in the pool when a slight gust caught her, despite being weighted to the waterline. She's designed to have a removable fin with a lead bulb making up most of her ballast, but that hasn't been made yet, so it wasn't fitted in the pool that day. Her lower masts are white pin made with the "birds-mouth" method so they're hollow and weigh next to nothing, but are strong. Sails are made of a Dupont cloth called Supplex which is a polyester that makes excellent sails. All lines will be nylon or polyester Dacron walked up from thread acquired from a sail-maker's supplier. All the sails have bolt-ropes hand-sewn on. There's no stitching to represent seams because I think it looks like crap, and it's a lot of work to do to ruin your sails. The seam lines on Pride are drawn on on with an .005 permanent marker. Originally her controls were going to be a Mega-arm sail servo and a winch servo, with the winch driving a loop. That was changed to two arm servo controlling my Semaphore-Sheeting system used successfully in Constellation for the over-lapping heads'ls. That wasn't going to work on Pride mostly because space limitations (vertically inside the hull). A friend recently launched his four foot schooner in which he used two winch-driven loops to control the sails. It's success, especially with the over-lapping jib, got me re-thinking Pride controls and reverting to the loop-sail-control system, with changes. So I'm working on the model again, this time removing everything inside the hull. I removed the motor and my homemade 1 inch prop because there's no way that little prop can over-power all that sail in the lightest of wind. The rudder servo will be moved aft of where the motor was and be accessible through the cabin hatch. One winch will be mounted where the motor was, under the engine hatch, just aft of the mainmast, and another winch will be mounted just aft of the foremast and be accessible through the main hatch. This is where things stand at the moment (June 25 2022). The pic with the gun is a 3D printed test of a gun for my Macedonian model (1:36 scale) which seems to be just right for the 1:20 scale Pride, which will benefit from 3D printing with guns, gunport lids, a much crisper name board on her stern, along with the Baltimore emblem that was back there. The last pic is the actual boat in the Pacific in 1982. I edited in the main tops'l to show the rig I plan to set. She also had a ringtail, stuns'ls, and a main topmast stays'l, none of which I plan to use. Hopefully, this approach to her controls will work out and I can actually get her sailing at last.

Made the framed glass portion of the skylight. They're hinged so I can get a finger inside to flip the power switch on or off. They're made from clear plastic from some packaging, basswood, and brass wire.

My first ever classic r/c power boat model was built in the 1960’s from an Aerokits Swordsman kit that was paid for from my meagre apprenticeship wages. I chose this model because I really liked the look of the boat and I loved the way that the deep vee hull performed on the water. This model was run for many years in rivers, canals, ponds and lakes, but it’s biggest achievement was when it raced in the sea in an off-shore race that took place in a 6 foot swell, performed well and survived without incident. After I got married in 1971 and moved to Exmouth I was disappointed to discover no interest in r/c model boats (in this seaside town!) but plenty of interest in r/c aircraft, so I sold it to help pay for my new hobby....and regretted it ever since. Now, almost 50 years later I am scratch building another Swordsman based on a used Aerokits plan that I found on eBay and some drawings from Chris.....who seems to have some interest in Fairey Marine power boats ! I started by making templates for all the parts to be cut from birch plywood and then cut them on my bandsaw after checking that every template was symmetrical.

Hi. After my exploits with the Hybrid Barge hull design I have now started work on a powered barge. This will be using a Kort nozzle. Pictures show how far I am down the road. It is now on version 6. I keep looking at it and then changing things. I think this will be the final version. It's almost ready for printing. I have finished testing Kort nozzles and propellers and will at some point post the results on the Kort nozzle blog. My printer has started to do silly things. Like going into thermal runaway on the hot end. The other day it was getting ready to print at 210°C, then I could smell hot plastic and looked up to see it at 270°C and rising. I have changed the hot end, thinking it might be the thermistor temperature sensor but it still does it. It is only intermittent and I am starting to think the MOSFET that controls the power to the hot end by PWM is breaking down. So it will be mother board out and do some tests. I have spent most of this week getting over Covid and fixing a 150 Watt powered sound mixer. That was interesting. I managed to get the schematic from the Australian manufacturer, which helped in tracing the faults. All working now and going back to my musician friend .

This picture was taken by a friend on Sunday morning after everyone else had gone home to lunch - but it does show the club lake quite well.

This is a repair for the model Melvin. A while back, I put a little story about this particular model that was always sinking when I ran at our club's favourite water hole. So, I cut the hull at the waterline and added about a half-inch. I can tell you now that the bathtub had a real workout to get the model stable & balanced. Painted hull, but it wasn't a very good paint job; but that will not be seen in the water, I hope. I took the last photo off the internet, and you can see that the deck isn't very tight to the hull & I would be a little worried about a leak there.

Having built, restored, and bought quite a few old model boat kits over the years, I have always been surprised to find how non-symmetrical the bulkhead shapes are when checked. Most of these old kits are “saw cut” and so some variation has to be expected - and I suspect that very few of us actually check the symmetry of the bulkheads before gluing them to the keel before assembling our latest projects?

Test Sailing of RMAS Ixworth After A Long Refit 06 August 2025

When I first posted a thread under ... a dreamproject.. I didn't realize it was the wrong forum category. So here is my built blog. I will spare you the original introduction as I have made progress which and most of you are already familiar with my project. The hull was built merging 2 methods on a simple keel plate from plywood, bow and stern structure bread and butter and hull in between 3mm planks on frame. The entire main deck is intended to be removable with a drainage irrigation system of plastic corner moulding (from a building supplier) along top of hull and flush at poop and back deck structure. The deck is made of 1/4" plywood skeletal structure incorporating midship deckhouse. Hull glassed with lightest cloth available after 2 coats 2-epoxy sealer and paint primer followed by final coat except top (above waterline) grey will be applied once I have finished doing any necessary adjustments. There have been a lot of them since I realized many inaccuracies in dims etc. I wasn't happy with. Here are photos in the progress (some may have already been posted in the original post. More a bit later next week.

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

Expert Advise Required - Swamp Boat Refit Good Morning Shipmates Took my newly aquired swamp boat (second user) for a test yesterday - unfortunately it did not go well so some advise needed. The problem - if chugging along at half power things are great but the boat is a little slow - so I increase the throttle and affter a couple of seconds the motor cuts out :-( . This is easily reset by just giving it a little kick astern. On trying againg exactly the same thing happens everytime. Hardware - The Speed controller is as in the picture (unfortunately I have no knowledge of these as on my standard models i use either Mtronics or FTX ESC's) - I am using a NiMh battery rated at 7.2v 8000mah (sourced from Aliexpress) - so far I have avoided LiPo batteries - as I have a collegue that has had two workshops burnt to the ground with Lipo batteries although I have no more details than that. My thoughs - Either the ESC is naff or there is a problem using a NIMh battery with the ESC/Motor combination - what are your thoughts - I dont know where I could source another ESC in the UK and how expensive it would be - I dont want to spend a fortune as I cant think of where I would use another ESc of this type. As regards Lipo batteries as I said so far I have avoided the due to the fact they are expensive and I would need to buy a new Lipo charger again an expensive option in the UK but this could be used in other models. Anyway guys what are your thoughts, any advise appreciated. Have a good weekend everyone Pat

After weeks of waiting for the kit to be delivered from Italy I re-ordered instead from Cornwall Model Boats and received it next day. The box was smaller than the one for my Riva but at a quick glance all the parts seem to be there. Now that I have received the kit for this motor sailor I can start to plan how to attach a detachable keel and a detachable extension to the rudder. There is an optional motorisation pack available which uses one motor but drives two props through a gear system. Myself and Roycv are thinking of using 2 separate motors but I'll check space available. Not sure whether with potentially 3 sails we can get away with one winch because it looks like space is at a premium. I must say the Amati Italian Runabout kit had very much clearer build instructions than this kit with lots of photos of various stages. Before I can start building this I need to resolve a problem with my newly fitted fireboat's fire monitors! Hopefully my blog will help to fill in missing information. It might be a slow build log because I'm limited with pains in my hands how much I can do at a time - so to those followers please be patient! Some photos of the box content:-

Test Sailing of HMS Newcastle ' SMBC 300725 After A Major Refit - might I add completed by a Colleague - with me assisting a very little bit