This is a video of my re-make of the Aerokits Sea Queen. Build commenced in the autumn of 2006 and it was to be a winter build project for when the weather was too bad to fly R/C elec planes. The boat was finished mid 2007 and was launched in May.

My closest water to sail on is Lake St Clair, but one slip up and the boat's next stop would be Canada. its seen here sailing in the confines on an ornamental pond in Wahby Park, St Clair Shores, Mi, USA. The music has been added to cover up the sound of fountain just out of picture to the right.

The supplied motor has been replaced with an MFA Torpedo 850 which has substantially more power and 3x the RPM.

A week before the video was taken I lost the prop and its seen here running on a temporary prop while I awaited a replacement. The performance on the video is a little more sedate than normal.

More info & pics in the photo gallery

This kit model of the seagoing tug Happy Hunter was started in 1983 by a friend of mine. Finding it too difficult, he let it lie until 2006 when he asked my son and I to build it.

After 219 hours work it is finished and sailing. it is powered by two 545 motors and a single speed controller and has 15 working lights, radar, bow thruster and crane, all of which operate. it is a real beauty, and I see Robbe have just brought out a new H H kit.

Scratched built prototype 1880s victorian tug (hull) by Metcalf Mouldings H.M.S kit length 44" beam 10".

The original tug was built to tow sailing ships in shallows, hence it's shallow draught and wide beam. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Another one not finished!

"BOO BOO Kitty" is a scale model of a Crosby designed Cape Cod Cat Boat.[USA] it was built from scratch at a scale of 9.04" = 1"; the model being 26.5" oal.

The dimensions were taken from a book that highly detailed the building of a real Cat Boat.

The hull is plank-on-frame with epoxy and glass cloth as the final surface. A separate and detachable fin keel was used for sailing of the centerboard model.

Radio controls were a Hitec sail winch [HS-785HB] and one servo for the rudder with a 2 channel JR transmitter.

Copying the book plans, scaling them down, and construction took up the winter of 2006/2007. The model is sailing better than anticipated on a local lake in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

These pictures are of a scale model of Captain Joshua Slocum's "Spray". it was sailed around the world, singlehanded between 1895-1898. Slocum re-built a Delaware oysterman hull in Fairhaven, MA and had been a gift to him.

After reading of his exploits in an original copy of his book, 'Sailing Alone Around The World' 1899 The Century Co., John copied the drawings that were in the book, established a scale for each and then converted those scales to just one - 1"=14.6" and proceeded to make a model of the famous boat. At that time [2003-2004] there was a commercial kit available but after much research John concluded that he had enough information from the book to build his own version. Actually the available kit contained some mis-information about the boat and that settled the matter.

The model was built plank-on-frame and then covered with epoxy/glass since it was intended for RC. He sailed her during the summer of 2004 and was quite pleased with her performance. An opportunity to sell the model came to him and he did so in January 2005.