what did you do too get the old paint off redoing one myself but need to take the old paint myself any ideas please

Mike, it took me ages to get the old paint off. it had been brush painted very thickly and had severe paint runs all over the hull. I started with a, Stanley knife blade and scrapped off what I could. Then used a small detail sander which saved me a lot of elbow grease (worked really well) then I just used sanding paper and a block of wood to get the paint off where the detailed sander could not reach, really difficult inside the Hull. This took me quite some time until I reached a finish I was happy with. I didn't use any chemicals as I was worried that it may affect the glued joints and balsa wood. All that work (never thought it would end) has paid off now so I'm happy I spent the time to get the Hull rubbed down the way I did.

HI Salv, what primer are you using, and are you applying it with a an air brush or spray gun. I have a 46 and a 34 fire tender both in need of repainting. I have always used thinned paint applied with a brush but always lacks a good finish. What type of sander did you use when rubbing the hull down. Hope that you don't mind me picking your brains. Graham (jelley_baby)

HI Graham, the type of primer I am using is normal aerosol can, grey primer I bought from Halfords, I also use, Spray Filler primer (Yellow/orangie colour) also bought from Halfords which is much thicker and covers better than normal grey primer. I always start with a couple of light coats of grey primer and leave the paint to dry well, at least 2 or 3 days before I sand the hull again (With wet and dry 900 to 1000 grit), end up sanding off most of the excess paint when sanding to get that good smooth flat finish. After rubbing down all the Imperfections show up, if it's to bad I then give the hull a coat of the sanding filler primer perfect for filling any sunken areas that need building up, again allow a couple of days to dry and harden then rub down again. I am now at the stage of filling minor Imperfections with kniffing putty which is basically filler, allow that to dry well then rub down, That's where I'm at presently. The sander I used is a cheap detailed sander (A£15) I bought from B&Q with a diamond shaped head, I found it perfect for getting at difficult areas of the hull. inside the hull was a lot more difficult 90% was sanded by hand. Hope this helps, Graham. Gladly help if I can. Salv

Thanks for the responce, I am looking forward to testing the Fireboat within the next couple of weeks and am interested to see how the motor performs. Will let you know.

Very clean layout. Nice

Thanks for the response, Balsabasher. it has taken me about one & a half years to complete working on the boat when I had some spare time.
Look forward to meeting you at Hartsholme Lake. I had a similar problem with the steering and found that the plastic rudder servo arm I fitted was slipping on the brass rudder shaft as I could not tighten the screw enough, I decided to replace the plastic rudder servo arm with one I made out of aluminium I also filled a flat on the rudder shaft and fitted a setscrew and lock-nut to the aluminium servo arm so that once the steering is setup I can lock the arm properly. Don't have any more problems now with steering.