Hello Flaxby.
Thank you.
Restoration is slow at the moment due to the old hip replacement which has gone well and at least I don’t walk around in circles anymore.
I doubt if I will get to the Boatshed until after Christmas now as it’s a bit of a walk on slippery grass to the bottom of the garden. ☹️🦵🩼.
You are quite correct these restorations are sometimes more time consuming that starting from a new build,but very satisfying.
Will update progress as soon as.
My thanks again.
Regards
Bill👍👍🎅

Good morning Bill,
I have only just discovered your build blog and wish to congratulate you on making such a thorough job of the boat restoration. I know we have not yet seen the finished item, but your portfolio of progress photos has been such a pleasure to look through, and really portrays the amount of work involved. I have done similar restorations so know just how time consuming it is, and how one is constantly making decisions whether to keep, repair or replace.
Good luck with the new hip . 😉

Hi Bill, just catching up on things and saw your post. Wishing you all the best and pray for a quick recovery for you. All the best and looking forward to seeing more of your post when you get your "sea legs" back again,
Regards,
Chris

Hello Pete.
Thank you re the hip🤞.
Just a quick response before I go in to hosp.
Re the balsa.Valid observations 👍.What you can see is purely cosmetic covering the original ply so that the structural integrity is not compromised.
The previous owner/owners had cut out or drilled so many holes it looked awful as can be seen.
Hopefully my work will make her look tidier.
Thank you also for everyone else’s kind words.
Regards
Bill.🚑

Hi Bill Hope all goes well with the hip. I note that your replacement bulkheads and lower decks are all in balsa instead of the original ply. Any specific reason for this or just that balsa is easier to work. All the best Pete

So far so good Bill,👍
"Not an easy task as nothing is straight"
Reminds me of the inside of the Billing Boats Gina 2 cutter I'm trying (on and off🤔) to straighten out. I'd have been better off scratching a new one.

Get well soon 'you old Hippy you'😉🤞
Cheers, Doug😎

Great progress Bill.
Much harder than starting from scratch, but it's going very well.
You did well to include many photos. So it's very clear.

Bill, knowing what you've achieved so far is making me think mine is going to need a major overhaul soon. So far you are making great progress, and I believe you will end up with a good solid model that will last for years to come.
Cheers Colin.

Hello Boatshed.
Sorry for the long delay.
Health not been brilliant as of late so well behind with messages and any form of building.
On this occasion I am using two MFA Como 500’s.
Attached picture shows a similar motor.
Sturdy and reliable.
Regards
Bill 👍

What size motors are you using in this build please??

Hi Scratchbuilder, thanks for letting me know, I will get some of that, I think my Aerokit's Sea Hornet will look forward to it when I get my car back from the menders. 🤕

Morning Boatshed.
Nice little model,thanks for sharing.
Re the paint stripper,nothing fancy I’m afraid.
Just B and Q own brand,but it does the job 👍👍.
Regards
Bill

Hi Scratchbuilder, I have just found a picture on another thread on another blog on this site, and it shows the props. As you pointed out earlier on the original boats both props did run the same way. They say you are never too old to learn something and it's true. I wasn't disbelieving you. I just happened to come across the picture and I thought I would show you.

Out of interest what paint stripper have you been using, the Nitromore's paint stripper isn't the same as it used to be. I have heard that some people use caustic soda dips, but not sure about that, I know there is a paint stripper sold in proper marine chandlers and that is for use on fibreglass boats and that is a caustic soda based mixture. The heat gun that I have is a Black and Dekker one and that is quite brutal on wood it can scorch the wood if not careful. I'm curious as I have a couple of old Aerokit's that I want to strip, oneis the oldest that I still have. I made this one way back in 1974 when I was living in Milton Keynes, it the Sea Hornet, I used to have a Enya 19 glow engine in it. This is my RAF Crash Tender that I built 28" long. I started this in 2008 and this is as far as I have got, I will finish it one day.

Boatshed.
Nice story and great pictures.
Nice to remember those who are no longer with us but who enjoyed our sport 👍.
Regards
Bill

I have done a little bit of photo trawling and the last time out with boats and my dear old dad (R.I.P.) and this was in 2008 just before they banned IC powered boats on this pond, the next time I went there just with my brother we hadn't seen the sign on the other side of the pond. I had just run my boat out up the side of the pond and bent the shaft. Being an idiot turning to late. Someone in the flats next to the pond had phoned the Blackheath Area Warden and he turned up a few minutes after I had just done that. I would have got an £80 fine for running an IC engine on the pond then. We should have walked round he said and checked the area bylaws. I had been using that pond since I was 10 that was 1960.

Hi Scratchbuilder. Thanks for that information, that is something that I didn't know. I was just lead to believe that contra rotation was all down to torque on the effect that it had on the hull. When I was out once with my Crash Tender with an Irvine 61 when I had it, I used to find that the hull used to dig in on turns and could never seem to stop it from happening. Another modeller pointed out something on the rudder that I hadn't known about. He had said about the leading edge on the rudder and advised trying trimming this part off. So when I got it home, I did remove the rudder and done that. On the next time I went out I found that it had done the trick. I have done this on all my model boat ever since. Bust I am someone that always goes for speed and not scale speed. I think that the Vosper style hulls were built for fast speed which is why they were used for MTB's. I have a 48" PT109 that had a 26cc petrol engine but due to running restrictions all around were I go I have removed the engine and sold that on and I going to fit brushless in that now. Again that is the type I like also the other Aerokit's Huntsman and the Fairey Swordfish they were built for racing Sea Commander built as a fast cruiser. My other boats are tunnel hulls. 🚤🚤Speed 😁 Freak.

Good bit of work going into that Bill, looking good 👍 Getting rid of the paint is the hardest part, - can't exactly use a belt sander like you would on a 100% boat. Even worse with a balsa hull.

JB

Morning Boatshed.
Now there’s an interesting story.
Shame you never got that lathe!
We all have stories about Kit launches that we can tell.
Re the props on my refit launch.
According to my info the real boats had both shafts and props on the same rotation from the engines(Rover Metorite 375shp each.)
Hence both props the same.
If I am wrong I am never too old to stand corrected!! If anyone knows different please advise.👍
The model motors will be brushed.
Regards
Bill

I see that you have both brass props the same, or are you going to change one and go contra rotating. What type of motors are you going to use, will they be brushed or brushless? I see that you are one of the lucky ones that has a lathe to use, some years back when I worked at Tetley's Tea in Bletchley and they were closing the factory down they had a Myford Lathe that was up for grabs. There were so many of us after it it was a case of names in a hat and the manager of the workshop picked out a name. No luck here. Still never been able to get even a small one. Now I'm retired I will not be able to afford one. I think I would sell my soul to the devil for a few workshop tolls on my hit list, but I think he already owns it by now anyway.😂🤣 I had my first RAF Crash Tender for my 9th birthdat 25th August 1950. My father and myself built about 7 in all the others were built out of tea chests that my dad bought home and cut up and we built them all in a line to make sur that we never got the Aerokits one done wrong. One was kept for my younger brother and the rest he gave away to all sorts. I know one was the coalman one was the milkman, one he gave to someone he worked with the others I don't know. I had a ED Hunter 3.46 Diesel in mine and my brother had a Taycol Meteor in his. I can remember taking the accumulator battery round to Lewisham Model Centre sometimes to get it charged as we never had a charger for it. Those were the days. I recently sold off a 34.5" unmade kit that I purchased in 1994, a 48" kit from the Vintage Model Boat Company I think they are called and a 48" Built one all in the last 2 years. I do have a 28" one that I shrunk all the parts of the 34.5" one and that is 95% made from Balsa and a second bottom skin of 1/16th ply on top of the balsa. But I still have not finished building it. That is some 15 years in progress. I'm a bit slow as I have so many projects on top of the model boats and still the ROVER P4 car to finish putting back together that is in my Avatar.

Looking good Bill! 👍

Excellent tutorial Bill👍
😎

Thanks Bill for your long and precise explanation.

The sequence of photos is excellent, we understand perfectly how you worked.

The images are very clear, they speak for themselves, thanks for this post, as well as being pleasant to look at, it can be useful to many modellers.
It is certainly very useful to me.

Hi Bill, sounds interesting. I'll be watching how this progresses 👍
Regards,
Chris

Hi Barry.
Thank you.
It was a sturdy original build by the looks of her.
I have a couple of sprung joints but easily repairable.
Regards
Bill.

Hi Rod.
Sadly no it’s not an Avometer,wish I had one.
Regards
Bill

Bill,
It looks like the original builder did a very good job on hull construction.
Stripping paint is the one thing that I dread. You have certainly done
a commendable job.
Not long off is the joyful part of putting a finish back on it!
Keep up the good work!
Barry

Scratchbuilder Bill, is that an AvoMeter on your bench?? The really good paintstripping liquids were those in the 1960-1970s era.
Rod in Scarborough, Canada

Chris.
Your right!!
3 hours was enough for any sane man today !!
Yep it will be worth it.
Good tip re the Stanley blades 👍
Bill👍

I can empathise with you on the paint removal having done exactly the same job recently. Urrrgh. I went through a lot of paint stripper and I found that old stanley knife blades worked well to scrape it off. Keep going- it will be worth it!

That's some achievement Bill 👏, job well done so far. Happy rebuilding 👍

Looking forwards to following your work👍👍👍👍👍
Rick

Bill,
I always like to see the old ones brought back to life.
It looks like you have a good solid base to work from.
I will be watching,
Best wishes,
Barry

Looks really good and I can't wait to see this one progress 👍

Well Bill you can re-live that all over again, I got mine as 10th birthday present in March 1959 and also assisted by my dad, finished the build on January 1st 1960 and maiden voyage in the boating lake at Abbey Park in Leicester. On Sunday January 3rd, a cold frosty morning, lake but was ice free. Dad, eldest Sister and my 2 best mates had a great morning, needed us all as she was a free runner and needed catching. Changed to rc in 1965. And electric motor in 1977.
There's no way I could part with such great memories and definitely wouldn't let the boat go, my grandson wants to have it when I die.
Cheers Colin.

Another great project to follow 👍