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.
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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!
A new 12” prop shaft will be needed to be fitted fairly early into the hull rebuild, so I need to either buy one or make one.
As the hull is already built the bulkheads would make it really difficult to fit a tube that already has an oiler soldered onto it, so I will fit a plain shaft without an oiler.
Most of my prop shafts have a 5mm inner shaft and have run for years (some have run for hundreds of hours) without an oiler fitted so this is not likely to be a problem on this boat - and various clamp-on oilers can be retro-fitted easily enough if I should ever feel the need to have one in the future.
Whenever I start working on any restoration, I always find the hardest bit is making a start by removing the prop shaft and the engine mounts etc as this can involve a fair bit of "brutality", but once the hull is completely stripped, the restoration becomes a relaxing and creative opportunity to return a Classic Model Power Boat to the water.
I have stripped this hull now so it is ready for restoration.
Most of the old Classic Model Power Boats that I have restored have come from the time when glow plug motors were the usual choice of power, so the hulls have been fuel soaked and take a LOT of time and work to clean the wood enough to get any glue to bond to it.
Unusually, this boat was electric powered by a Mabuchi 540 motor when it was first built from the LesRo kit, so it will be a comparatively easy restoration with no fuel soaked wood to clean.
Bob.
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Whenever I start working on any restoration, I always find the hardest bit is making a start by removing the prop shaft and the engine mounts etc as this can involve a fair bit of "brutality", but once the hull is completely stripped, the restoration becomes a relaxing and creative opportunity to return a Classic Model Power Boat to the water.
I have stripped this hull now so it is ready for restoration.
Most of the old Classic Model Power Boats that I have restored have come from the time when glow plug motors were the usual choice of power, so the hulls have been fuel soaked and take a LOT of time and work to clean the wood enough to get any glue to bond to it.
Unusually, this boat was electric powered by a Mabuchi 540 motor when it was first built from the LesRo kit, so it will be a comparatively easy restoration with no fuel soaked wood to clean.
@zooma Quite a tidy example to start with there Bob. Shouldn't take too much work for you to get its bottom wet, and it making the white water that you like a model boat to do.
Very handy that it hasn't had an ic motor it, making for far easier cleaning than you may previously have thought.
As the hull is already built the bulkheads would make it really difficult to fit a tube that already has an oiler soldered onto it, so I will fit a plain shaft without an oiler.
Most of my prop shafts have a 5mm inner shaft and have run for years (some have run for hundreds of hours) without an oiler fitted so this is not likely to be a problem on this boat - and various clamp-on oilers can be retro-fitted easily enough if I should ever feel the need to have one in the future.
Bob.
It was telescopic and had an adjustable base so I am guessing that the boat was originally sailed with a 27meg radio?
This assembly has now been removed and left a hole that will need to be covered of filled.
Bob.