My Bristol Bay is in relatively pristine condition. The rigging is original, I have the masts and sales and the navigation lights all still work. The radio is in the 75 megahertz band so I am stuck with a long antenna on the TX. Overall that I have seen on Kijiji or eBay are locking the rigging but have the masts and no sales or they have neither. Please forgive my spelling, I am using voice to text conversion

Hi Rod C we as a club were given one about 6 months, a donation out of the blue! Who ever bought it had no idea what he had, as a lot of it was wrapped up like just taken out of the box and it had never been in the water.

But the rope had all perished so I replaced it all but setting up the RC defeated me! Fortunately we have some members used to screen Tx's from operating model aircraft and it was set up OK.

I found a member who wanted to look after her and he has it. I was intrigued by the name as my first thoughts were to Bristol in the UK, which is a port but not a Bay.
Googled it and found it in Alaska!

Nicely made model much overpowered I thought but difficult to alter.
regards
Roy

The BRISTOL BAY is an excellent Aquacraft product, regrettably no longer in production but "everybody" seems to hav owned one.

Mine is over 10yr old, the motor current is quite high so i need to disassemble the drivetrain for cleaning & lube but the tight fit is a challenge for fat arthritic fingers & dim eyesight. 🤞

She was a fantastic crowd-pleaser 8yr ago when last in Lake Simcoe at sunset, lighting all a-blaze.

Bristol Bay is on the south coast of Alaska. Her sails are not so much for motive power but to dampen side-to-side rocking in swells for the safety & comfort of her crew. 👍

Heiii Jumpugly,
For heaven's sake, you haven't offended me in any way. But some translator programmes sometimes don't convey what you want to say.
I had the same thing with a Bristol Bay, your imagination is the best thing that can happen to you !!! Good tinkering!
Michel C

PS: The available Bristol Bay is very simple. But mine was initially a "corpse" as we call it here. . My wife supplied her wishes and ideas. Cool, isn't it?

I was a great believer in using home grown model shops until I retired then every penny counts. Nearly everything electrical you need for your model was or is made in China so Aliexpress became my preferred seller. I'm guilty your honour here's why...
Quickrun from uk seller V alliexpress

Michel C, I will have no problem fitting out the Naxos with all the details I can pull together, as it is in my nature to do so. I love a challenge. And to be clear, I do like the kit quite a bit, it is a very sharp looking boat. If I have offended you about the pilot house building techniques, I offer my sincerest apologies. It certainly was not my intention. I for one, am a huge fan of the laser. It has saved the balsa airplane hobby. 👍

Michel C. Bonjour, good Morning
I m still surprised that à Young men like you has already so much wisdom to Tell
Regards
Herman

Hello jumpugly, hello everyone
This looks like my parts from the laser cutter. just all quick products to assemble, because certain people today have no time for details and sometimes lack the imagination. . our modern age, we prefer to hang around on our cell phones instead of creating something ourselves.
Remember: if someone tells you "it can't be done", remember that these are their limits, not yours!
Crafting greetings Michel-C.

one more thing: don't forget to forward the Christmas wish list!!!

Roy, I saw the website.
Beautiful!
However in the U.K. you have a very long modeling tradition.

I never ever, pass a hobby store. On the outskirts of Sacramento California is an absolute monstrous one called RC Country Hobbies, from servos to glue, kits and ARF, soup to nuts, they had everything. Wonderful place with a huge staff to cover all of it's 40K square feet. There was one in Miami Florida called Orange Blossom Hobbies that was huge as well, but to everyone's horror it closed down. When my local hobby store closed I moaned to the local newspapers. And when Westchester Hobbies went belly up the TV stations showed up to hear the owner's sad story. However, a good many shop owners have become mail-order experts. A friend who closed down his store-front ships about 40 boxes a day from his ebay store. The postman swings by at a set time everyday and loads them up. He still has his suppliers who ship the kits to him or he acts as the middleman. Bless him. 😊

I have also found that "plastic" is making a comeback in a big way over here; especially armor and larger scale planes. But, I am concerned about the r/c airplane kit business since ARF's & RTF's make up a biggest part of that sector. Boats (thank God) still have some solid manufacturers in the kit business. But, price is an issue.

Don't forget The Component Shop and Howes of Oxford.
Roy

Hi Hermank.

So you're telling me that you only came to Rome for the Colosseum, St. Peter's, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Palatine, the Trevi Fountain, the squares, etc. etc. and not for model shops?
Hahahaha, I'm joking.

I agree with your point, but not only that I also like your way of spreading the passion for modeling.

Thanks to people like you, Jumpugly and ColinH (he does a wonderful thing: he passes it down to his grandchildren) this passion will never fade.
It may have ups and downs but it won't end.
Young people have much more entertainment than previous generations and so it is normal that the remaining fans are mostly a little older.
We modelers hold on.
Ga voor groot Hermank.

Don't forget that most if not all model shops do an on line service. This should be your first port of call if you want the remaining shops to keep on trading. I get all my parts from my local model shop (The Leeds Model Shop)
Support your shops in preference to Ebay, Amozon, Ali Express, Bangood etc.

Alessandro amigo italiano,
i read your answer and i m not blaming anybody for bying at Ali, as said we live in democratic countries and every body is free to bye where they like to buy.In ROM ( what a city!! i was there a couple of years ago and admire the beauty of the fontains, the architecture and what remains of the roman empire) you still have 2 shops to help you out of your needs. In can imagine that in smaller cities over Europe people have closed because there were no customers anymore. As already mentionned by myself and other members we are a dying generation so the number of customers is also decreasing. But will not keep me away from building model boats. As mentionned i m building the Harro Koebke at the moment and my wharf has the next order in to built a RNLI model again 😁😁
the hull should be arriving from the UK the next couple of weeks.
There 's still enough to do at the present one i m building.
Pictures of how things are going on will be on this site in due course.
I hope i m not insulting people with my reaction. I love chinese food but not there internetsite(s)😍😍😍😍😍

Hi One & All
I also have dropped AliExpress, due to my order not being sent, they even said that I had refused the goods, on that they refused to give me a refund, even PayPal said that they would be unable to get my money back, as AliExpress has its own set of rules with regards to refunds, I now only use ebay.
Fred

Hallo Hermank.

I understand your point and, in part, I agree with it.
I say partly because the laws of the market don't listen to anyone and follow their inexorable path.

Since I really like reading, I loved going to bookstores, choosing books, smelling them (this is why my son always makes fun of me and not just him) because I like the smell of printing and then buying them.
Now it is increasingly difficult to find the book ready and available, many small bookshops prefer to order them. Then I'll order them directly.
I did this for those at school.

I basically agree with Hermank but I don't feel like criminalizing anyone for online purchases.

As far as modeling is concerned, luckily I can't complain, here in Rome there is still a vast choice.
It's true it has dropped a lot, especially after Covid and many shops have disappeared but there is still decent availability.

Here in Rome I have two points of reference:

for static modeling "Rocri Modellismo" (I put the link at the end).
For me it is irreplaceable. I find everything I want, I have never had an empty trip and their site is organized and well done.
The quality is better and the prices are competitive even compared to the online offer.
For strips or common modeling materials I also buy from smaller shops.

For dynamic modeling the reference is "Gianni Modellismo" (I put the link at the end) very equipped and well equipped (it also has three tracks for RC car models) and has trained staff.
However the prices are not competitive and I have often turned my attention towards Hobby King. Even though he is Chinese he has a wide selection of a certain quality.
I currently buy both in store and online.

As for Aliexpress, the last things I ordered (non-modelling) did not arrive. I don't know if it's just a delay or they'll never arrive again.

https://www.rocrimodellismo.com/it/
https://www.modellismogianni.it/

Roy: Here's one of those "interesting" kits from China.
My son got this bare bones fishing boat "Naxos" for me on my birthday. He found it on an ebay store in Hong Kong. He just got hit with sales tax, but no VAT as far as the customs documents are concerned. The shipper didn't hit him with shipping fees either. It's a mystery to me, unless VAT is paid directly to ebay by the seller. Shipping is worked out with ebay especially if you are a bulk seller. Their shipping rates are pre-set (it seems) and at times quite reasonable compared to their "estimated" seller fees. 🤔

And when I mean bare bones I mean it! The fiberglass hull is beautiful, but the pilot house is almost like wooden legos. There is a decent motor mount and stuffing box, but no detail parts. And to top it off no instructions! You have to go to a website for those.
Yikes! 😂

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275684912008?hash=item403019eb88:g:cBgAAOSwN4Fd5MAf&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4AcV01WTXzn%2BFV5Ionp5rcG0OVce0NYF1eidclYtD%2FgPl2RPCZOBi9b2yENSItRnbH32Li30KSfInaI0UmzkV5HdItzX7onPP7KDeF9hXo06vT%2FzEsKADfv6mI0OJiXiXS7uRS%2F98Xw17WwmnjTVwJtZTFiXRtMNWdLIkT9%2FDB%2BVNCAOt5FNnzP4GECZ3D9%2Bz6wf0oc0dmOxh2OaFi7y%2BDAHsa1HmjZlKxtpXtvqGRzzKPEiFNuU6wNliFpTKaQzGTJz9oLuddpRHtfvnoIhGO7x2GuZ3IvkdL7LkTFTaFP0%7Ctkp%3ABFBMoPLZxYNj

I only bought once from AliExpress, a few RC tank figures. Price was great, took a while (not a critical need) and the figures looked good, so it was not a unpleasant experience. I did get a few not English emails after that but they stopped.

Not sure if I will order from Ali again. I will certainly not order from Temu knowing their political structure.

What little is left to the hobby shops are turning into RTR items. This leaves most of us with little choice, internet buying.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA

As said before the local hobby shops are almost the thing of the past resulting in the need to resort to internet purchases. This is true a;; over the world. Maybe AliExpress needs to change it name to AliDistress😂 Len

Hi Roy: considering the fact that Jack Ma gets busted by the Chinese Government from time to time, I would unsubscribe from AliExpress totally. The turnover times with Ali have gotten out of hand and much of Ali’s communication is AI driven and ruled by spyware so the inevitable hacks and phishing emails will surely follow. As a result, I ran from Ali like I was running from a burning building. Recently I have had tremendous luck with Chinese suppliers through eBay, despite suppliers hating eBay’s exorbitant fees. Then again getting replacement parts (for example) directly from companies like Hobby Boss in China took 13 weeks to arrive. If you must deal with Ali reopen a new account with new passwords etc. It may work out.

Some of the small rc boat kits from China look interesting but I believe that bringing them into the UK can over double the purchase price.
Has anyone done this? Did you pay VAT and import tax apart from postage?
Roy

My closest model shop is now nearly 30 miles away there used to be a couple within 5. Know buy most of my modeling bits on line but youse shops with mail order. Or I get stuff from shows.

Hi Hermank, I agree with yopu on customer service. I buy locally for what we call 'white' goods, fridges, ovens etc. The service is excellent. I have a couple of cameras not expensive but also bought locally and one was changed due to mal function.
But model makers are a rather niche group and even with a local model shop I did not use much of what they sold, I mainly scratch build and look for appropriate wood and glue which is fairly easy anyway.

Roy

Roy cv a good afternoon
i do understand what you are saying. In Belgium we do have the same problem. Up to 10 years ago there were 6 modelshops in Antwerp. Now ther's only one. I agree the generation that is building is slowly dying and those who remain buy in China. I bought an esc some time ago didn't use it and when i wanted it to built in it didn't function wright.Went back to the shop without the receipt, the guy tried it and gave me another one. This is what i cal customerservice. and why i buy local even knowning that it could be cheaper to buy ali.
But we are living in a democracy so very body is free to go and buy where they want 😊😊

Hi to you both, but most of our model shops are gone now and in the end they were importing what I was buying from China.
In the UK many people buy on-line anyway.
But when we did have model shops a speed controller would cost £25 - £35 now I can buy an eqivalent for £2!

I found the word 'Plus' on the web site clicked it and have changed most into English so fingers crossed!
I will keep you posted but thank you for responding.
Roy

Agreed hermank,

or you end up like Wellington NZ, with no model shops in the city. Then you have to even order over internet, with the consequent delays, one bottle of Tamiya flat white.

Roy à good Morning
When you order in the UK you don‘t have all this misary. That is one of the reasons i always Go to my local modelshop supermarket. They have everything in stock , you have it straight away and ok it is à few pennies more but you also Support the locals