these are the blue leds in the cockpit! and on the radar barrel getting inspiration from a you tube video, please comment!

Finally managed to put a little film together of my 1.24 Grey Goose taken at the Herne bay regatta. As well as the usual turning guns, lights and ship sounds this boat fires working torpedo's using a CO2 gas system. Will be putting some film of this on youtube shortly.
If your interested I'll be exhibiting at the Southern Model show this weekend and will demonstrate the torpedo system at the show. Hope to see you there.

This 1/12 scale model is based on the Aerokits Solent Class lifeboat. Over the past 5 months it has been under going a major refit. I originally built the boat about 35 years ago and got the "bug" again last September. I've done the best I can to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Its powered by two MFA Torpedo 800 electric motors. power comes from two lead acid batteries, each rated at 12v 7Ah. Control is provided by two Mtroniks Tio ESC. The twin spade rudders are linked to one servo. Each ESC has its own receiver. I found that one receiver, using a Y lead, could not continuesly keep the two ESC supplied with a signal and they kept going into Failsafe mode alternately. I got round it by binding two receivers to the one transmitter. Within the engine compartment is an automatic bilge pump. Two probes detect if/when the water level rises to a certain amount in the bilge and activates the pump.

The model has working radar scanner , navigation lights, search light and blue flashing light.

If you want to see the boat in action please go to my You Tube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/coljacktonvale

Scratch built. 1:16 Scale. All data researched from internet.
3D CAD modeled.
IC 16M is a swedish 15.9m. Aluminum Coast Guard Boat driven by 2 800HP Jet'Drives. Max. Speed 50 Knots. Builder: Dockstavarvet.
Model constructed of all glued ABS 1.524mm (0.060") sheets. Deck details under construction.
Powered with two 28mm. Kehrer Jet Drives. 2 Swang Hobby 1200 KV brushless motors 2 90A Seaking ESC 5S / 18.5V - 25C -5000 maH LiPo Hyperion Battery.
Weight included 1 Bat 4300 gr.
Running at Mazenod Road Pond, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Oct 19th -2014
Jagged video because of stabilized feature from Youtube.

the wood mast / boom were replaced with aluminium tube yokes made from aluminium new planked oak deck combing around the deck hatch the sails come off for transporting to the lake

Found this Dense block of foam, floating in local Ashton Canal, whilst sailing other boats with my brother, whilst rescue a stuck boat from the reeds, in 1996 was temporarily on the dole at the time, struck by her Landing craft shape on turning it over plus realised I could carve it like wood, later using my bits box, after carving a couple of box shaped groves, for battery, motors and rc equipment, literal rammed a prop shaft, and rudder shaft through hull, and fashioned some balsa sheet into superstructure suitable camouflaged , I had a "US Army Vietnamese River Craft" of sorts and with its 1 1/2 to 2" thick Hull virtually unsinkable, hence its name :-). Here she is in 2000 sailing at Ethrow Park. May in the future alter her superstructure, she makes a handy towing barge for both mine and my brothers Tug Boats, and if rc left connected can even act as rescue boat if they pack up or get weeded up :-) - Have delete this from You Tube and replaced with slightly clearer version, but it seems to be still working here mysteriously, may cease working eventually, new version above :-)

Based on a 72nd scale Airfix Plastic kit, original needed 20volts worth of batteries to get it up to speed, but change of motors, tweaking strakes near bow, and moving batteries aft, now get same or better performance from 7.2volt pack' Since these videos have added 4 torpedo tubes, well rocket launching tubes found on field when walking dog last year day after the 5th Nov, with carved torpedo's poking out,us scratch builders will use anything. ;-)

Greetings from Hollywood, California. 😎 Many thanks to David Metcalf at Metcalf Moldings for his advice and for so graciously replacing parts I messed up. This craft has been swimming pool tested (after all we're in Hollywood) and it ran beautifully. Next stop is the local pond. I chose brass counter-rotating props. Those are lithium batteries tucked under the sides. I chose to recut the decks out of wood. Brits rave about plastic but I found it difficult to cut and forget about sanding down the edges. (I guess if you cut it properly you don't need to sand the edge.) Major mistake: watching a You Tube video that told me I should make brass joints using a Propane torch. it will make a good joint but it MELTS ALL THE OTHERS. There was a lot of learning here for me and thanks to David's fine kit I think I'm somewhat of a better model builder.

See forum and my harbour (CapnJim) for more details.
Just some footage of my weathered Model Slipways Puffer - now some years old but still cruisin'. Still appreciating the model and is one of my favourites. One day I'll build a puffer at 1/32nd. but for now this does very well.
Easy build but lots of opportunities to add detail. This has all the bells and whistles (well 'steam' whistle, smoke generator and puffer engine sound at least). Would fit in a briefcase but still able to stay afloat against the wash of bigger boats or blustery winds. Surprisingly, steers well when going astern. Speed with supplied motor about 2mph ' but this is faster than scale by a margin.
Clip prepared for YouTube resolution so best not viewed full screen.

Following the legendary Keil Kraft Eezebilt plans for a Mermaid Ocean going boat. Plans exploded to 200%. Trying to build it completely out of Plywood and Foam Board.

OA Length 710 mm, Beam 180 mm. AUW 1.98Kgs.

She carries the name 'JAYSHIL". it is a portmanteau derived from the names of my late parents.

Model features working lights as prescribed by the international Maritime Authorities:

http://www.bosunsmate.org/seamanship/lights.php

In keeping with Rules 22 and 23:

http://www.bosunsmate.org/seamanship/rulesoftheroad.php#rule23

Brushed 550 motor, Reversible ESC, 2S LiPo, Turnigy Blue Prop, Working Lights and indigenous Sound Generator unit.

Video is available here: (you may need to turn down the volume a bit as the horn is rather loud)

I would welcome any queries and/or comments on this build.

Thanks and Regards,

VC

I have just acquired a part built original kit. I will be restoring this to its full potential in due course but am sharing the pics for now. I will post as a build blog.
Condition is good and the build seems to be to a good standard. I intend to replace the single proptube with a double and use a couple of brushless motors. 👍

I have found that a parallel ribbon cable from an old desktop computer (80 way type) are ideal for mast lights or working Radar etc. and can be glued down neatly.

The end connectors are easily removed without damaging the cable. it is possible to separate two or three insulated wires or however many wires or pairs you need to run to different areas of the hull or the superstructure.

For mast lights or radar etc, I found that wires in pairs are the best way to feed multiple pairs of wires up a mast tube etc. (It helps to feed wires through tubes with a dab of talcum powder to ease the wires through). I was able to run 4 pairs of these fine cables up a 3mm mast tube.

The wires are single strand insulated and easy to solder onto led's or bulbs with very fine heatshrink tubing to insulate. Because these wires are very fine the lights or radar supply should be fused at a low amperage rate. 250mA in my Tug.