Fittings all 'chromed', spray rails and toe rails finished, and 'Star Craft' decal made (might need re-doing, hard to get it looking good in such a small size) First one I did was on clear sheet which looked good, but came out black when applied on the varnish. I tried the white which came out ok colour wise but with the usual rough edges from having to cut them to shape. Hardly ever looks good on very small decals. Best way is to use a white background and the clear decal sheet, (bit hard to do in this instance). One day we might be able to print white.

Boat was 'hauled out' and went into the shed for a bit of work. Progress so far, - chine spray rails fitted, along with port toe rail, (stbd toe rail varnished and ready to go on). Hull re sprayed, old interior lighting wiring removed and 'propspeed' applied to prop and rudder. Preliminary 'Star Craft' decal printed. Cabin carpets cut to shape.

Think I may have found the boat this was modelled off. I had a thought that it was modelled on a Bates 'Star Craft' cruiser, and having tracked down the star craft owners club, I found this photo on their site which might support that thought. Main difference with the model is that it is a hard chine hull (probably for ease of modelling) whereas the Bates is semi displacement. Everything else is pretty much the same. Fun fact, Bates Star Craft were made to be a British competition for Chris Craft cruisers. Very well made with laminated double diagonal mahogany or teak hulls on Oak frames, and nicely fitted out .

JB

http://www.bates-starcraft.co.uk/birth-of-the-star.html

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Seeing there is not a huge amount going on at the moment, I thought I might put up a timeline of the restoration of an old M/M plan built 'Fairacre' launch, which was found in a farm rubbish bin, and given to me by a fellow plane club member. I did the restoration quite a while back but never put it together on the site, (only a few pics in my harbour).

The boat was almost completely rotten as it had been sitting in a bin outside for years, so it needed a lot of work. I first de-moulded the inside which was black and washed it all out. It was then left in the sun for a few weeks for the balsa to dry thoroughly. Next thing was to repair the hull, which required cutting out the rotten sections and re sheeting them. Other areas were ground out and filled where necessary.

The prop shaft was renewed and then the hull was glassed and painted. The inside was coated with 'Everdure' timber sealer/preservative to kill any mould in the balsa and toughen it. The rear rubbing strakes were replaced with dowelled in varnished hardwood and a rubbing strake fitted to the gunwale. The deck was sanded back, the plank lines re-drawn and the deck varnished again. The hull was painted inside with grey enamel which improved it somewhat.

The cabin was almost a write-off as the front part had warped out of shape. This required adding small sections of thin ply and veneer to get the deck line anywhere near straight. The cabin saloon roof was cut off to allow access to the inside (and to later re-do the windows). The cabin sides were sanded back as far as possible and then re-varnish/stained with 4 coats to try and hide the ply weather staining defects.

The inside was carpeted (left over grass from my sons model layout) and the seats painted (don't ask me why I painted them moroon😀). The cabin roofs were sanded back and repaired, then painted and re-fitted with blocks and screws so as to be removable. They had been planked originally but were pretty rough, so paint was the best option. New windows were installed after re-shaping and repairing the openings in most of them, and some left-over Graupner 'Commodore' curtains (from 1978) were used to cover the windows.

The old Graupner monoperm motor was re fitted after a tidy up, although it's pretty knackered as the bushes are worn out. It still runs very quietly and pushes the boat at a decent speed, so saved having to buy a new motor. I used my old 1978 Futaba FP-MC llB 12-24v 10A ESC which still works perfectly, to run the motor from a 3s Lipo and a Sanwa servo for the rudder. The main power switch is a 12v car aux switch hooked to the ESC, and the output from the ESC run to a stereo speaker connector, then to the motor (simple to disconnect) The TX used is a 2.4 TGY (Flysky) 6x, converted to twin throttles (used on the MTB as well)

The lighting is a mixture of LEDs (nav/running lights/dash-top power indicator) and grain of wheat bulbs for the 3 cabins. The are all independently controlled from an 8 way micro PCB switch and have resistors to balance the lights. I also fitted a mast,, grab rails, a few deck ornaments, and made a boarding ladder for the transom.

The model is far from perfect, but considering it's previous state I think it's a slight improvement. The boat runs nicely and is very quiet as well. The original builder made a good job of it and used ply frames and 4x4mm hardwood stringers which probably saved it from extinction.

While I'm waiting for the sampan to arrive from China, I am going to make a start on a small refurbishment and tidy up a few bits. I'm going to fit a spray rail on the chine, a toe rail, simplify the lighting (all LEDs switched from the TX), better on off switch and tidier wiring, anchor, bow roller, new motor, new interior and whatever else needs improving. Wouldn't mind actually getting hold of a plan (still available) and scaling one up to 40" and 'Starcrafterising' it, - would make a nice and unusual model.

R/C 'Fairacre' launch

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