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Model Boats Website

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Registered
23rd Jan 2018

Last Online
13th Jun 2024

Harvey Kitten

Member Stats

Stats
Member No.	#	4763
Registered	📅	23rd Jan 2018
Last Online	📅	13th Jun 2024
City	📍	Letchworth Gdn City
Country	🇬🇧	United Kingdom
Gender	♂️	Male
Age	👶	Not Provided
Posts	💬	72
Followers	📣	1
Likes Received	👍	188
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🇳🇿 gazza131420 ( Recruit)

1 Follower

Recent Activity

Liked International Model Boat Show 2021 3 years ago

Liked Stevenage model boat club fun day 5 years ago

Liked Stevenage model boat RNLI event 5 years ago

Liked The BIG St.Albans Model Show 5 years ago

Liked Fairmount Alpine 5 years ago

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class

Ranks		Points
	Fleet Admiral	10,000
	Admiral	8,000
	Vice Admiral	6,000
	Rear Admiral	5,000
	Commodore	4,000
	Captain	3,000
	Commander	2,500
	Lieutenant Commander	2,000
	Lieutenant	1,600
	Sub-Lieutenant	1,200
	Midshipman	900
	Warrant Officer	600
	Chief Petty Officer 1st Class	450
	Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class	300
	Petty Officer 1st Class	200
	Petty Officer 2nd Class	150
	Master Seaman	100
	Leading Seaman	50
	Able Seaman	20
	Recruit	0

100 Points Away From Warrant Officer!

Points

Activity	Worth	Awarded
👍 Likes (rcv'd)	1	188
💬 Forum	2	4
✍️ Comments	2	64
✏️ Blog	4	72
📷 Photos	4	20
🎥 Videos	10	110
📍 Place	8	0
🚤 Harbour	8	32
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😊 Avatar	10	10

500 Total Points

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Starting to get the hang of this model building now...

Members Harbour

(Other) PS Iona

It has paddles not propellors! Scratch-built from plan. 2 paddle motors provide independent operation, hence can turn 360 degrees on the spot. Built from wood, brass, 3D printed parts. (Motor: Heng Long) (ESC: Viper 15) (7/10)

Harvey Kitten

6 years ago

5 Attributes

1 Comment

(Working Vessel) Fairmount Glacier

A Billings kit, the Fairmount Glacier (or Alpine - comes with 5 naming options) is a sturdy boat... 2 props in Kort nozzles, extras I've fitted...37 lights, bow thruster, working fire monitors, radar, & horn. Runs on 2 x 12v 7AH batteries, so runs for a while! Colour scheme makes it visible on the lake too! (Motor: 2 x M500 Mtronix) (ESC: JP Marine) (9/10)

Harvey Kitten

6 years ago

7 Attributes

1 Comment

(Naval Ship) PT109

EBay purchase... 20 yr old Lindberg kit of an Elco 80ft PT boat, a bit battered with no motor/ESC or RC - only tested in the bath at the moment! PT109 was the craft JFK commanded / got rammed by a Japanese destroyer! (Motor: M500) (ESC: HM50) (5/10)

Harvey Kitten

7 years ago

6 Attributes

1 Comment

(Tug Boat) Annabelle

My 1st tug boat -relatively small! Billings kit - ABS hull, wooden superstructure and decks, kit included hull and deck fittings in brass / plastic, propshafts, rudders and propellers. Good manual (Motor: 540) (7/10)

Harvey Kitten

7 years ago

9 Attributes

1 Comment

Members Blogs

5 Posts

3 Followers

19 Likes

RAF Crash Tender (46”) by Vintage Model Works

Well here we go... I have made a start on this great kit by VMW. This all started about 15 months ago, when I saw a completed model at Alexandra Palace model engineering exhibition. I talked with the builder/ owner, Rob, who has extensively posted on here his build blog ( and very useful reading it has been!) So eventually I got round to buying a kit last autumn ( other boats being built) and... went to the model engineering exhibition this year, and talked with... Rob, who said I “ should get on with it...” So I have. There are a few other members of this great website who have built/are building this model and I have read several blogs & looked at pictures which are a fantastic resource, but a bit worrying as I’m not sure my modelling skills are as good . I don’t know what new ideas to show, but I will try keep a regular update of progress on the boat. Having made a sturdy building board, it seems sensible to work from the bows backwards, as once the bow structure is glued accurately everything else should follow. Having dry fitted all the frames to the keel and measured for alignment, I was nervous that a mm out anywhere could accumulate errors, so I decided to steam and bend the gunwhale stringers and dry fit them as well. This will help prove all the frames correct height port & starboard before I commit to glueing. It looks OK eyeballing it but I’m also constructing some right angle brackets to clamp the frames to while the glue sets. Just in case! I’ll be working on the boat most days, but That won’t always be reflected in much progress in pictures! And unlike previous blogs I’ve done, where the boat has been nearly finished before writing anything,this one is going to be ‘realtime’.

Harvey Kitten

5 years ago

8 Posts

2 Followers

40 Likes

Paddle Tug Iona - the hull

So... here is a compressed build blog of my paddle tug Iona... and I'm playing catch-up as the vessel is 95% complete and has been sailed already, but there may be some interest in what I've done. Iona was scratch-built off plan and has turned out to be the cheapest build so far out of 3 I've made, mainly because I was able to source materials from the leftovers box! it's a 'mixed-media' boat using traditional methods of plank on frame hull, with paddles made on my 3D printer, and other parts turned on the lathe. So starting with the hull, frames were drawn out, transferred to some scrap 9mm ply and cut out on my bandsaw, along with the keel. These were assembled on a build board with some right angle brackets / measuring tools and test fitted before being stuck in place with epoxy. This was quite difficult as the shape of the hull is critical and comes right at the start of the build. I did remake 1 frame to correct alignment. The deck stringers need to bend in 2 directions, so some steaming with a carpet steam cleaner attached to some tubes worked and the wood clamped in place to dry. Outboard sponsons (?) were fitted to make a frame for the paddle boxes to fit on. Then a large sheet of ply forms the bottom of the hull, and the only job left to complete was the (tedious) planking. This was my 1st plank on frame ship... and it took ages. I think it came out reasonably OK but I'm not a perfectionist and I know if I'd spent more time it could be better... but I didn't! Next blog will feature building the paddle boxes and superstructure.

Harvey Kitten

6 years ago

5 Posts

2 Followers

21 Likes

Fairmount Alpine - TUG!

I have to admit I'm a bit of a novice and tend to work on my own a lot, although I have looked at build videos on YouTube. I often wonder about the best time to paint the various bits as it seems some will be difficult to do later. So I painted the guard rail uprights and glued them in... then clamped the painted guard rails (proper names?) then started adding the hull sides, glued, clamped, and pinned where necessary. Size comparison picture with tug Annabelle (Billings Banckert) Fairmount is 1:75 scale, Banckert is 1:48

Harvey Kitten

5 years ago

Recent Posts

📝 Kraken & GPL 1000 at Mayhem 2022

2 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 302 Views · 3 Likes

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Kraken, with a 29cc Tiger King engine, and a GPL 1000 with an OS21 on a gearbox on the lake... at the same time! Is that sensible? Mayhem 2022

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garyp

MartynB

pressonreguardless

📝 Riptide Stealth at Mayhem 2022

2 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 300 Views · 1 Like

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29cc Zenoah powered Stealth trying to stay in the lake at Mayhem 2022

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pressonreguardless

📝 Straight running at Mayhem 2022

2 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 291 Views · 3 Likes

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Who would have thought running a boat with no RC would be so much fun? Some 'straight runners' at Mayhem 2022

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MartynB

pressonreguardless

jbkiwi

📝 Model Boat Mayhem 2022

2 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 249 Views · 2 Likes · 2 Comments

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SMBC were at Mayhem 2022... here's a video of the scale boats on & off the water.

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pressonreguardless

roycv

📝 Stevenage Model Boat Club - open day 2021

3 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 212 Views · 1 Like

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open day 2021 had 2 sessions - IC + fast electric in the morning, scale + sail in the afternoon...

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robbob

💬 Re: SMBC videos

3 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 219 Views · 2 Likes

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Well... Despite the cold weather, it was good that Stevenage Model Boat Club members were able to get back to the lake & sail some boats today...

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Martin555

Madwelshman

💬 Re: SMBC videos

3 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 223 Views · 1 Like

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Thanks Bob. Hope you’re back on the water soon. It’s been a long time

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Martin555

📝 SMBC videos

3 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 224 Views · 2 Likes · 3 Comments

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Well, it's been 6 months since the last video at SMBC... but we're back at the lake tomorrow with Scale & Sail (if it's windy) and socially distanced on the lakeside... so hopefully we will have some footage to share of the boats, maybe even some new boats? in the meantime here's a link to the last video I did. Enjoy

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Seanympth

robbob

💬 Re: 3 x GPL ic boats at Stevenage

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 37 Views · 1 Like

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My yellow boat was a couple of seconds in front of the action so didn’t get involved. First time for a long time we have had 3 of the same boat on the lake. So 10 mins of ‘competitive’ fun. And we didn’t lose any cameras off boatswhich sometimes happens. 😁 Yeah pity about the shows... always looked forwards to them. 😔 SMBC has stopped sailing now till we see how Govt guidelines change, so time to do some repairs etc. Will post some video of my RAF Firefloat- you haven’t seen that. It is 99% finished. 😉

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robbob

💬 Re: 3 x GPL ic boats at Stevenage

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 37 Views · 1 Like

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Was very lucky... just clipped the tail of the white GPL and took a small chunk out with the prop. So prop on orange HPL want in the best nick after😂

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robbob

📝 3 x GPL ic boats at Stevenage

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 39 Views · 3 Likes · 5 Comments

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3 GPLs on the lake at once, all with different engines, 2 with onboard GoPros, 1 unfortunately with a battery that was about to fail...

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MouldBuilder

Ianh

robbob

📝 SMBC - Aquacraft TS3 tunnel hull

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 27 Views · 2 Likes

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On the lake Aug 02, Aquacraft TS3 is powered by an OS21X nitro outboard... eventually flips on a turn 😝

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MouldBuilder

jbkiwi

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Kevin. I haven’t seen the owner of that vessel recently but I recall he said it was running on a brushless motor as used in motorised skateboards powered by 12v SLA battery with a 60mm prop. Hope this helps

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Hey Rob. Swapped the ESC this morning and it all worked. Had a spare 50amp one in the spares box to test with but this can’t be used in anger. So the 90 amp one is either dead or reprogrammed itself to be lazy and not spin the motor. Might have to buy a BIGGER one as a replacement 😆

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Actually 3 Vospers if we include the RAF Firefloat mk2 😉

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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2 Vospers Pete. 1st was electric. 12v SLA, brushless, 60mm prop. 2nd was IC with an Irvine engine.

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 31 Views · 2 Likes

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Hey Rob. It’s an MZ12 TX. Telemetry says battery ok (BEC from the ESC). It’s water cooled ESC and I could see water coming out of the outlet ok. Didn’t appear hot onshore. Motor connectors all present & connected. RX output worked as I swapped connectors round. Nothing is seized. I’ll hook up a different ESC tomorrow and /or motor.
‘Filming’ for the videos - I have a Canon camera on tripod with a GoPro on top for wide shots. Plenty of footage to play with. One of the other boaters sticks a GoPro on his boat to add to the mix. We swap files via wetransfer. Neat.

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robbob

Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Kevin... there were 2 Vosper boats in the video... 1st was electric powered by a brushless motor & 12v SLA. 2nd was an IC boat with an Irvine engine. Which were you referring to?

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Rob. I have 2 9.6 Nimh in series. haven‘t looked at it today. Busy editing! Will investigate tomorrow to see if I have hit a lock switch on the TX somewhere. Graupner MZ Hott.

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Kevin. It is a great boat. I’ll pass your comments on to the owner. Cheers Steve

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Rob. Water is very low at Stevenage. At least 1foot lower than normal. If you watched the video there are some brief glimpses of my RAF 46” which I have almost finished now. At long last! I used the same motor/ESC combination as you and on its 2nd Sunday out ran very well for 10-15 mins. Came back in to tweak TX to get the fire monitor working and boat completely stopped after that. Scratching my head as to what happened. Prob ESC???

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Martin555

💬 Re: SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 30 Views · 1 Like

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Thx for the compliments. There’s usually something that didn’t go to plan but we don’t always catch it on video. I didn’t include the tug rescue of the tunnel hull (both mine) as I try keep the videos down to a sensible length. Check out our videos from last year.

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Martin555

📝 SMBC back at the lake with some fast boats...

4 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 39 Views · 12 Likes · 18 Comments

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Week 2 of back at the lake, with 2 big electric and a handful of fast IC boats... thrills and spills...😎

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bilge rat

gordo

Carlos

Joe727

MouldBuilder

robbertderouw

peterd

Rookysailor

Graham93

robbob

Martin555

jbkiwi

💬 Re: Rear deck test

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 29 Views · 0 Likes

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Hi Robbob, now you've asked...🙄 I have been 'distracted' with other projects - wasn't feeling confident about the skins for the 46" boat, didn't want to mess up, so I bought a Sarik semi-kit for MTB379 to practice with, and that seems to have gone OKish. Back to the Fireboat in the new year after a few other boat repairs, so hopefully the build log will pick up. The 34" boat, I burnt out the motor some how🤔 so fitted a brushless + 2S Lipo. Goes very fast!

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📝 The BIG St.Albans Model Show

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 13 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Rob. Great video showing the huge range of model / engineering skills that exist in our local area. Hope you get a lot of ‘views’ and it inspires some of the younger generations. Steve

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Martin555

💬 Re: Sabre Canard on the SMBC lake

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 24 Views · 2 Likes

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Cmb 90...

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jbkiwi

BOATSHED

📝 Sabre Canard on the SMBC lake

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 25 Views · 3 Likes · 3 Comments

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Early days testing one of our member’s Canard on the lake... will probably go faster...😀

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BOATSHED

Richard020

jbkiwi

📝 Stevenage MBC IC boats

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 21 Views · 2 Likes

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Busy Sunday with 6 members bringing IC boats to the lake. Onshore & offshore footage of the thrills and spills using GoPro cameras on the boats.

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BOATSHED

jbkiwi

📝 Joysway ARTR Mad Flow

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 26 Views · 2 Likes

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Joysway ARTR Mad Flow running on 3S Lipo at Stevenage MBC with on-board GoPro camera

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MouldBuilder

jbkiwi

💬 Re: WTC/Sub Driver.

5 years ago by 🇬🇧 Harvey Kitten (

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)

✧ 20 Views · 1 Like

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Hi Martin... just found your blog. Looks good👍. I picked up a pre-owned Gato similar to yours so interested in your progress. Did you make the end caps for the WTC? I'm planning on turning some from 'plastic' rod, on my lathe

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Martin555

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