Here's another for us oldies a 1963 Keil Kraft Handbook They weren't released as catalogues in those days and were a mine of information.

For those of you who remember Skyleader. This is the 4 channel unit write up on the radio I have.
Sitting in a box well hidden away as it was a 27Mhz Unit. It was fitted with DEACS and the last time I checked it after over 40 Years ago the DEACS would still hold a charge👍👍

I remember going to look at Bassett Lowkes shop on a visit to London during the war. I was very much into scale model aircraft building jn those days. There were two model shops in Cardiff and I visited them most weeks. An aeroplane kit would consist of a number of squared off blocks of wood that one had to carve and sandpaper to shape then glue together and hope it resembled the plane it was supposed to be. There would also be wheels, a 'plastic' cockpit cover and some water slide transfers of the insignia. I also made model ships, but used scrap wood from the local timberyard for those.

Cheers, Nerys

I remember Beatties but then I am old enough to remember Bassett Lowke!
Like you Red in SA we don't get anything for a Rand anymore!

"this might be the origin of the Lesro Rescue RIB..........That itself is now extinct of course"
It WAS Red, until Sy did his Jurassic Park magic on it and revived it!😊
Cheers, Doug 😎

And another one which might be of interest - believe this might be the origin of the Lesro Rescue RIB.......................That itself is now extinct of course..............

An ad for a steam set from 1979 - love the price - could afford one or two of those !

Posted this on a build blog but of interest here - check the price of the one board - its in SA Rand not GBP at a time when the Rand was worth half a GBP and US $ was worth 3 Rand ......... Round about 10 times the price now ! Both of these firms went out of existence many years ago ! . Anyone else still got Balsa etc this old ?

My first R/C aircraft came from that book. My Father built the Single Channel R/C Unit with a rubber band driven Escapement 1 blip one way 2 blips the other.

Ianh,
Thank you for posting that great book/catalog in pdf. I really enjoyed looking through it and was amazed at how much vintage building tips there are. Saw some reference to Jetex models and I remember having a Jetex engine in the late 50's. It had solid fuel pellets and lit with a fuse. It really worked well and we were building rockets with it!

Liked the hovercraft too!
Joe😊

Wow, JB, even nicer in real life, will check Sarik for the plan, Ta very much.😊


Cheers, Pete

Hi Pete, I think its an early nod to a Bates Starcraft. Not a bad looking boat at all (a full sized Bates would get a few looks in NZ I'm sure,- NZ and Aust boats are quite different to Northern boats) I need to do a bit more to mine at some stage, - chine strakes, safety rails, lift up cabin top access flaps etc. I've added quite a bit to mine as it was very basic (and rotten) as received. My boat came from a farm rubbish bin so I have no idea when or where it was originally made, (very old either way)

Took me a few years to find out what it was, (eventually from memory from a vintage model boats company, -very helpful chap there).
Plan is apparently still available from Sarik Hobbies (X list plans -MM709) 13GBP) I actually thought of buying a plan and scaling it up to 40" and copying a Bates as there are lots of photos available to go off for detail. It would make a lovely model I think, if it came out like the pic.
JB

What beautiful lines she has got JB👍, wouldn't mind building one myself.😊


Cheers, Pete

Sure is good
I am busyrefitting an aerokits Sea Commander. Building a Sea Queen Kit via Jotika and in a box a 46" Crash Tender Kit supplied by Vintage Model Works
These are all wood kits So back to basics👍👍

RE - Here's Something to take you guys back when MAP existed
Hi Ian, nice find,-takes you back to the days when you could get plans for almost any machine/plane/boat made. Today just same boring plastic/foam rubbish,-very little choice in boats or planes. I have the MM 'Fairacre II' (p132) which I rescued a few years ago and restored. Just as good as anything new and probably built in the 60s.
JB

I used to live just up the road from Greenwich Maritime Models. Spent loads in there. He was a very helpful man. Most of what he sold was not to my taste but he would always order in what I wanted. That was the same as Avicraft in Bromley. They were mainly plane but done some boat stuff but Bunny the owner or his sons would also get special orders in. I was and still am into Vosper style hulls or the fast boats and the old Aerokits. I just seem to want to get faster. I'm not into sail or scale but it's each to our own and I would never knock anyone for what they like. But I do like to see what others make.The brushless motors are well on par with nitro and possibly even faster.

Tony very kindly sent me scans of the article about Sirius Star from July 1954 and the boat was used successfully by Max Coote in competitions, was used by him as a floating test bench for most of his equipment- and has Ripmax emblazoned across the transom. The design was based on a Thames cruiser built by W. Bates and Son at Chertsey. The article mentions that it is suitable for miniaturised radio and thus 7lbs of gear can be carried!

Apparently the offering on ebay comes with an original drawing.

PS I was born in Camden Town two years after the shop opened- I don't remember it!

Ian

Exactly the same!
Started in 1949 in Camden Town (Before I was born)😊😊

Would that be the same Max Coote who owned the model shop Rip-Max?

That's very interesting Tony, thanks, I'll look forward to receiving the article. It's alway nice to read these old articles even if nothing is ever done about it. I wasn't aware of the designer's name but I love the boat. Not sure a boat like that looks right planing! Probably better trickling up the Thames or across Oulton Broad on a summer's evening with a wind up gramophone shattering the peace. It reminds me of a boat I saw in the Broads called Sir Losis of the River. The occupants were up on deck enjoying a libation or three.

IanH, I had a look through the X list but Sirius Star isn't there. It's funny how these little books become lifelong companions, as I mentioned, my copy of Power Model Boats is never far away.😊

Stay safe all,
Ian

Ian, I had a look at the ebay listing of 'Sirius Star', a design by Max Coote.
The accompanying magazine article was in June 1954 Model Maker. It included one of those small plans which back then were only suitable to build a miniature. Nowadays with modern copying facilities they can be enlarged. I will email the magazine item over later.

I had another look at the Ebay listing and it was described as the Sirius Star - brain fade!
The last thing I need is any more plans, I decided some time ago that I'd better call one of my hobbies 'collecting plans'.
I might still have a look at X plans though.😊

Glad you liked it
Try X Plans at Sarik
Bought that in the 60's cost me half of my paper round money!😊😊😊

Ian,

Very nice to have a look through. I happened to notice an attractive boat on ebay and this post helped me to identify it as the Sirius Star - well pretty sure it is. I also noticed the same design on an old Pathe news film I was watching on You Tube yesterday. Shame the drawing isn't still available, I could add it to the long list of boats I won't get round to building!!

Funny how these things come together! Thanks for posting.

Ian

Heres Something to take you guys back when MAP existed

Nostalgia of a different kind😊


You know,
sometimes I think despite all the technobabble today not much has changed in 'Real Life'😁
Enjoy!
😎

Good find Red,
I luv the Trimming Mechanism!😍
😎

a little bit how diving subs worked from the archives

Wonderful short documentary about MGB 81, thanks for posting the link.

Hi Martin,

Thanks, for finding this Video.
I truly enjoyed it!
It's good to see a historic vessel!
And a nice piece of history!

Cheers, Ed

Excellent find Martin, well enjoyed watching.👍

Cheers, Pete

Martin,
Thank you for posting the video, it is very interesting and I read further about its history. Quite interesting.
Joe👍

Hi Martin.
Absolutely brilliant footage.
Great little boats,and did such a fantastic job.
Regards Bill

Hi Guys.
I am not sure if this thread is the correct place to post this but i thought it might be of interest.



Martin555.

Donated a load of Model Engineer and Engineering in Miniature Magazines some from 1953 to Centurion Society of Model Engineers (I was born in 1953!) The old ones had model boats in them

More............Note the Vic Smeed Ad.........

lets ave a few more.......Travelled all the way to Uk from SA for business in the late 90's - checked out as many model shops as possible from the Midlands to Cornwall/Wales - arranged a stay over in London at my own expense - arrived at Maritime Models in Greenwich to find they had closed 4 months before.............Visit to a (non shop - mail order) bookseller in Greenwich almost made up for it - was taken for a very nice lunch as I had brought several collectable SA Maritime books for him.............

Fancy seeing a model of the Eileen again. The first plank on frame boat I ever built, though mine was built from the Model Boats plan (I think I still have the plan somewhere) hey ho, nostalgia's not what it used to be. I sold it at the Watford swap meet, some guy made an offer for it before I'd even got into the hall.

"Doug - you can either use coping(jewelers saw) or fretsaw blades in your Minicraft Jigsaw"
Good idea Red, I'll try grinding the end down to fit👍
Cheers, Doug 😎

Being an ex Model Engineer I remember Beatties well as lived in the UK till 1972. Also Cowell lathes I think they still going! Can,t afford to be a model engineer anymore. My last model was a 5" G Springbok cost me close to ZAR100 000.00! Also 6 years😀😀

More - not much new around other than brushless motors - believe hydrojets date from the 1860's

Once again.......

We had a Beatties in Leeds city (Yorkshire , England) centre for many years but they tended to favour model railways, long gone now.

Re Yetagin

Loved the Austrian Hirtenberger engines, (HP- Hirtenberger Patronen), some of the best model engines ever produced. Production rights bought by RJL (Mecoa) USA, never quite the same again.
German HB (Helmut Bernhardt) engines were just as good and were also bought by Mecoa USA. The machining and casting on both of these brands was superb. Mecoa bought up most of the small engine manufacturers in the 90s (HP, HB, RJL (ex Kraft) Webra, Fox, K&B and a number of others then pretty much stopped making anything in quantity. They would only make up most motors to order and you might have to wait years for a run. If you ever wondered where all the worlds motor production disappeared to, that's where. They did it to monopolize the engine market, but I don't think anyone cares now as OS is probably the biggest seller.
JB

Pity a lot of these companies and the quality of magazines has long gone. My Dremel Table Saw was junked the other day as I can no longer get blades! I still have the MyfordML7 and can still find a lot of bits for it. Gone back to wooden kits and am building a Sea Queen at the moment had one in 1969 with a water-cooled Taplin Twin😀😀

Yetagin

----and a couple more

Hullo All - updated old pictures with clear scans - so you can now read without eyestrain - here are a couple more

Re - Squishing me eyeballs up to read the blurb in that Precision

Was sure it was made in France Doug, as the dry cell battery adapter which came in the kit was en Français. You had me checking the memory, so had a quick look around and found an auction for the same kit and it confirmed my memory cells are still working (mostly😁)
JB

Doug - you can either use coping(jewelers saw) or fretsaw blades in your Minicraft Jigsaw - have the Disc Sander , Jigsaw with fretsaw table attachment , Drill Press , 2 large 1 small Drills with proper chucks, Saw Table and finally the later stand alone model Jigsaw plus two large variable speed units taking 3 tools at a time. (one for spare - came with the jigsaw for a tenner at a Lymington boot sale) Still have plenty spare blades - some sanding discs but not too bad to make ones own. All still working ok apart from a switch failure on one drill - easily sorted from my spares box.........
Going to scan ads but will all be full page - remove & re-post so no eyes were damaged making this thread..............