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Chris Craft Catalina 8'

8' long......I saw this boat online about 8-10 years ago from an estate of an elderly man who was amazingly talented and built this Chris Craft Catalina. Note the fellows finger pointing at her engine.He was 93 years old and left us in 2009. His name was Tony and he started in 1958 was competed about 1959. He made all the metal work ,engine . Exact scale model, All brightwork hand made and plated, working doors, sliding windows, All lights work, Evinrude 3HP outboard powerhead customized to fit in the boat, custom made twin counter rotating gear box, dual wet exhaust, full trailer to haul it around. All of the trim around the cabin and the rub rail is polished stainless and screwed on to the boat. The gauges can be read...Clearly. You reach in the side window and pull a lever to release the cabin. The blinds even work and were scratchbuilt. Redcraft in CA made all the brightwork and converted the engine. But the story goes that the two of these guys just decided to build the ultimate model boat. It won every contest ever entered. It was disqualified once for not having a scale powerplant.....So they made a working scale chris craft V-8 for it OMG! Red said that the owners son still had the V-8. Chris Craft themselves offered a huge amount of money for the boat at one time but the builder turned them down. Red has the letter from them that has the offer. All this info was from 2009.

5 years ago by Brightwork

Forum

Chris Craft Catalina 8'

8' long......I saw this boat online about 8-10 years ago from an estate of an elderly man who was amazingly talented and built this Chris Craft Catalina. Note the fellows finger pointing at her engine.He was 93 years old and left us in 2009. His name was Tony and he started in 1958 was competed about 1959. He made all the metal work ,engine . Exact scale model, All brightwork hand made and plated, working doors, sliding windows, All lights work, Evinrude 3HP outboard powerhead customized to fit in the boat, custom made twin counter rotating gear box, dual wet exhaust, full trailer to haul it around.All of the trim around the cabin and the rub rail is polished stainless and screwed on to the boat. The gauges can be read...Clearly. You reach in the side window and pull a lever to release the cabin. The blinds even work and were scratchbuilt. Redcraft in CA made all the brightwork and converted the engine. But the story goes that the two of these guys just decided to build the ultimate model boat. It won every contest ever entered. It was disqualified once for not having a scale powerplant.....So they made a working scale chris craft V-8 for it OMG! Red said that the owners son still had the V-8. Chris Craft themselves offered a huge amount of money for the boat at one time but the builder turned them down. Red has the letter from them that has the offer. All this info was from 2009.

5 years ago by Brightwork

Blog

HMS Cottesmore in 1/48 scale.

Hi Guys, I have been asked about a build log for HMS Cottesmore. Well this is a first for me as I have not done this before, so if I get things wrong please tell me. I worked in a shipyard for 25 years and it was there that I first saw an MCMV being built. There was something about her that made me say to myself " one day I will make a model of her. Some years later I managed to get hold of some plans and attempted to make the hull without much success, so the idea was put on hold. About 3 years ago I was looking on the web I discovered a fibreglass hull at 1/48 scale, that then started me of again. So I purchased the Hull and from Fleetscale and made a start. The first job was to install the bow thruster using two part epoxy. Then laminated some strips of plastic card for the bilge keels,shaped them and attached them with some small self tapping screws and epoxy glue. Then the two prop shafts and A frames.

5 years ago by Martin555

Forum

Workshop

Perfect hobby machines, I'm in the wrong country!. We used to have a lot of small new lathes for sale here in machinery outfits for around $1200 NZ but I haven't seen any for a while. I could do with a small lathe especially for boat stuff. We had a Triumph 2000 (lathe not car) and a Bridgeport mill and all the gear when I was in the site services dept in the big woodworking co I worked for. I made good use of those, plus in my workshop I had 2 German RS2000 tool grinding machines which were great for touching up all your router bits and saw/ planer blades etc and a Chinese mill which I reco'd when the other guys didn't want to use it. Made my sons cars' frame and (all 10 speed bike gears modified etc', -everything adjustable for growth) while I was there . Sure great if you have the gear!

5 years ago by jbkiwi

Blog

quite a while since last update

it been quite a while since the last update, holidays, work, sun shine etc all got in the way we have done some amount of work on the model in past few months mostly around the and some electrics Made up a platform on which all of the main electric components will sit on, these include the 2 batteries (6 volt for the steam and lighting) 7.2v for the motor. also on the platform will be the smoke/steam generator, motor, ESC, receiver and at the back the Servo for the rudder. platform made out of MDF and sealed up and then re-enforced with wood strips before fixing the platform inside the huil (permanent fixing) did a "Bath" test to add ballast to the hull as you would imagine that it rides high without anything expect for the platform/batteries and paddles. used Car wheel weights as ballast as you can go done to the nearest gram with those as well as stick on on where needed. once ballasted (not fully as need to put superstructure and deck fittings on before the final a ballast glues (epoxy) the platform, into place (with the ballast under it) we can still put extra to the sides and bow/stern worked out where the Servo is going to go, fitted that to the rear of the platform and used 2 rods to goto the rudder arm added 3 switches to a small shelf on the platform, these will be the main ESC/Motor Power switch, one switch for the steam and 1 for the lights. Also ensured we can get to the 2 battery leads fore charging Added the Navigation lights (and wiring) to the wheel boxes as well as wiring up the small set of lights we have in the engine cover. as we are looking at a removable deck (so the whole thing comes off rather then just sections of the deck)on it if we need to get to the stuff like battery/motor etc we can. looking for a solution pointed me to look at the metal clips that are used to hold car speakers into place in car doors etc, basically a slide on spring clip with a hole one side and a grooved hole the other to screw into. drilled the hole in the deck where needed (8 holes in the main deck and 2 in the stern for the rudder area.) drilled holes in the GRP platform on which the deck rests, clipped the metal clips to the hull/desk rest, i have glued some small metal washers to the top of the deck to protect it then we can basically screw the deck to the hull (and remove) without damaging the deck or hull and we are screwing into metal clips and and pulling the deck to the metal clips next thing to do is look at fixing the wheel boxes to the deck, the a way of fixing (but being ale to remove) the house house if needed. then lights and wiring of as we are looking at getting lights to the wheel house as well as a few other places at the same time putting other the deck fittings (Mast, work/life boats) etc once all that done a final ballast, tighten all of the various bolts/screens, charge battery and test sailing (could take a while as working on this slowly)

5 years ago by barryskeates

Directory

(Working Vessel) Fisheries Research Vessel Scotia

Started this model a year ago it has a fiberglass hull 1/76 scale A lot of dremel work need to get to the hull shapes. Hull it now painted and being fitted out with . I've now moved on and use 2.4 r/c system. Lots of work to do. The build is on Modelboatmayhem.co.uk but it'll be slow going as it is really a hobby. (Motor: Sun 555) (ESC: Electronize ) (10/10) See layout in photo. Model had now been completed and had her maiden voyage with great success

9 years ago by Seaspray

Directory

(Naval Ship) Motor Torpedo Boat

This is an all-metal Motor Torpedo Boat, built in 1946. its is absent and has fixed rudders. This will be an interesting project starting with the removal of the cracked paint... Has anyone else got one of these? (5/10) An enthusiast in the USA saw it and wanted it (big time)... he bought it and paid £97 P&P!!

8 years ago by petercbrown