You have seen it before, a slightly tatty 36" Fireboat. Paint soon.

OK, been a while since I could do much but I am a little surprised to find how much I have missed not having the chance to take her for a turn around a pond- other things get in the way. I removed all the internals except the prop shaft which is unaccountably stuck to the aft U/J, might as well leave it there for now, and started sanding, which was a fairly painless process. Then a little P45 and more sanding, you know how it goes. Then came the paint choice- no-one really seems to be able to say 'these boats were this colour' and to be honest I am not worried about the perfect shade, all the photos of the originals look slightly different anyway. I first put a coat of car acrylic primer over everything then used an epoxy two part light grey for the interior, very hard and waterproof. I liked it so much I carried on above decks as it seemed to be going so well. A couple of days later I did the hatch tops white and hmm, not much contrast with that grey so it has to be over coated- makes a good solid base though. The hull is traditional red and black with white stripe to split them, car paint again and a self-adhesive pinstripe, we'll see how well it stays on after a few coats of laquer. The grey above the deck will be plain car primer, it seems the right shade and will be shiny once laquered also. So there I am, half painted and not in the least laquered but that should change in the next week, then a while for it all to harden fully and I will fit the old girl out again, and post a photo and maybe video if I make it to a pond- I am keen to try my local pond at Norwich where I might get more than 2 seconds at full chat!

Painting went quite well, the only snag was the red which kept bleeding through the black. The white line was I think successful, although a bit of a fiddle to get flat over the chine line, doing It on a hot day helped. The grey primer upper deck looks OK too, but the first coat of acrylic laquer was a bit flat. I then used poly-urethane laquer for alloy wheels, miles better, the hull especially Is like glass. It Is slow to dry but well worth the wait. Usual stickers from Cornwall model boats, used 94 as most people seem to favour the more photographed 93! I just need a bit of time to fit the deck out with the model slipway stuff In the winter, but the latest test post re-assembly was fine, too much rudder travel was easy to remedy and everything else was good for me. This was finally at my local pond, Norwich and I had the place to myself, probably because It was raining! It seemed very big after Sheringham but as I say It was empty, I will have to join the club and visit on a Sunday morning actually with a boat rather than as a spectator.