Just finishing off Lot540, bought at auction along with a Triang Crane, sold the crane on eBay for what I paid for both the boat and crane.

Initially thought this was a Sea Rover but is shorter at 70cm / 27.5” and looking at pics of the Sea Rover I’m not convinced that is what she is.

Did a quick sea trial before doing any major work and was very impressed with the speed and handling as had fitted a 1250kv brushless. It now has a pumped water cooling system running from a separate battery and a new rudder as the original had a lot of wear.

The 2 hatches were warped and ill fitting.
I’ve sorted the hatches and repainted the boat, it’ll get afloat later in the week.

In the meantime does anyone have any thoughts on the design. I suspect it is based on a Sea Rover with some tweaks. Originally there was no windscreen, have added this as well as some timber in front of the windscreen to butt up to the cabin roof hatch.

The handling on initial trials was very nice, that wide transom meant the boat stayed flat in the turns, did need the windows fitted as spray water got in to the cabin.

Made the mistake of counting mine. somehow I've managed to acquire 22 r/c boats (10 sailing and 12 motor). 12 are designated as projects, with at least 6 of these as long term as they are just hulls. There's also at least 15 pond yachts in the house as well.

The Torbay Model Yacht Club was formed in late 2023 and sails yachts at two venues in Torbay.

The Summer Venue is Galmpton Creek, TQ5 0EH used from March - September.

From September - March the club uses Young's Park, Paignton, TQ4 6BU.

Full details can be found at

https://torbaymyc.org.uk/

Hope that’s not the cutting mat I bought you for your birthday!

Have found that the high viscosity CA from Everbuild works on Plastruct and Plasticard. I roughen the surface slightly with a scotch pad first.

The HV version sits on the surface rather thank wicking away so remains in place while putting on some light pressure for 30 seconds until cured.

https://www.toolstation.com/hv-super-glue/p78871

I have 2 old Marbleheads, both are rigged differently. I’ll get some photos for you of both options in the next couple of days.

There have been several 1:32 Perkasa kits over the years. If yours is a wooden hull I’d suspect it was by Presedent, now defunct.

All the 1:32 fittings are still available, but at a price from Battlecrafts

https://www.battlecrafts.com/complete-fittings-kits/1-32nd-scale

It does indeed sit in my study! It lives with a very nice and rare Eldon Catamaran, complete with original helmsman.

Well, after reading this thread I ordered a couple of kingmodel ESCs, have just bench tested with the BYMS. Did find out I’d forgotten to grease the prop shafts so once I’d worked out a fix to reach the grease nipples with the deck in place the bench test was a success.

The BYMS has twin MFA 385 motors so the 20 Amp ESC with blend may be over the top but it works fine. Good value for £6.11

This one is nearly done, bought as part of a £15 auction lot of boats that didn’t sell in a previous auction.

Now identified as a Nile River Gunboat she was probably built about 40 years ago so trying to remain sympathetic in adding bits that don’t look too new.

The original builder had put in a lot of time and effort so would have been a shame not to restore it.

Early photos show how it arrived, very dirty and covered in paint splatters. Have had to repair various fittings and source a suitable motor. New motor has 11:1 reduction gearbox and is connected the the 3:1 clockwork gearbox using pulleys and belt from a 3-D printer.

Have added various parts including the dinghy, boat hooks, cannon balls, barrels, some tools and an engineer and stoker.

Having fun tracking down 1:24 scale fittings and parts so think this one will be getting interesting stuff added to it as and when I find it.

Have been plugging away with 2079, thought did get distracted by the Nile River Gunboat for a while.

The main deck is finished and now has several coats of varnish, not the authentic look but I want something to break up the never ending sea of grey paint.

Before varnishing and the fitting of the bulwarks I built the first level of the superstructure, figuring that without the bulwarks fitted I'd have more access to fit the sides, rear panel and hand rail. The doors and portholes came as part of fittings more Sirmar, the hand rail uses brass handrail stanchions and 1mm brass rod, all painted grey.

With the 1st level of the superstructure built it was time to fit the bulwarks. I'd removed the old bulwarks as these were part of the moulding and didn't extend far enough aft, the moulding was also an irregular thickness so would throw any vertical supports out of alignment. I used the old GRP bulwarks as templates to make a pair of 1.5mm ply bulwarks.

At this point I made a mistake in cutting and fitting 38 vertical supports to each of the new bulwarks, when I offered them up to the deck I released I'd have to do so much fine filing of each support to get the right length to match the curve of the deck. Decide to treat that as a learning experience and recut the the bulwarks.

For version 2 I fitted the 4 closed fairleads in each bulwark, I created a template of the fairlead then transferred this to each fairlead position on both bulwark sides, cut out the shape for the fairleads, fitted them and then painted the bulwarks before gluing them in place to the deck. The glue contact points were the base of each fairlead, the base of the rear vertical support I'd added and the front edge of the bulwark, where it meets the moulding.

Now the bulwarks were attached to the deck I added the 38 vertical supports. These were fitted 12mm apart using a ply block as a spacer.
Once the vertical supports were all glued in place I was able to finally varnish the deck.

The only remaining part the bulwarks to be fitted now was the handrail / capping rail. This sits on top of the bulwark sides and vertical supports and follows the curve of the fo'c'sle.

I used obechi strip for the hand rail and didn't want any joins in it so decide to steam it using a former of the fo'c'sle curve. Luckily a recent power cut had meant I had to find the stove top kettle that could consistently produce steam. The pictures show the painted obechi strip being steamed using a Spanish windlass to pull the strip against the former as it becomes pliable from the steam. I left the strip on the former over night and found the steamed curve was perfect.

Gluing the hand rail into place was very straightforward and brings and end to this part of the build. I need to do some small bits of paint correction to the bulwarks but the next stage will be the fitting of the foredeck and building upwards.

I now have all the parts built for the rear deck and engine room cover - I'll post details and pics about them a little later.

I went the the sloop option as thought the Mamoli kit was a Corsair’s Sloop.

I have a set of the Precedent Perkasa Torpedo blanks left over from my 1/24 build as I bought a set torpedoes from Battlecrafts. Do you want them for your restoration in exchange for a small donation towards the site costs?

Think the M60s are Mtronick motors M600

https://www.mtroniks.net/prod/Motors-For-RC-Boats/M600.htm

Well, the two larger hulls (Nelson/Rodney and Warrior) now have new homes.

After sorting the River Gunboat Paddle Steamer I bought from the same auction I’ve been doing lots of reading about Paddle Steamers and have decided to keep the Waverley. Will have to store it for a while as this will be a major project but I’m enjoying building to 1:48 with the BYMS so a 60” 1:48 Waverley could be fun.

Once again something popped up locally on FaceBook Marketplace that I couldn’t refuse.

Bought a box of about 100 Model Boat and Marine Modelling magazines. Lots of mid 70s - mid 80s then a few from each year up to 2007. Lots have plans. The whole box was £5. They’ve all been stored well and they are in great condition. Should keep me quiet for a while.

Re: Stingray. There’s an article in Feb 2023 Model Boats magazine about a Stingray build.

Can you let me know the beam of the 48’ drifter, I’m pondering repurposing an existing hull as a WW 1 requisitioned Trawler/Minesweeper so would be could to know the distensions of yours.

Managed to finally to identify the Black Marblehead, it is a Chris Dicks ‘Deception’ design.

Apart from a good clean the only thing that needs doing it to replace the removed section of the keel, apparently the previous owner cut the keel stub down so he could sail it on a shallow lake. Luckily the boat came with the removed section so I’ll reattach using carbon fibre rods and epoxy.

Probably spending more time thinking about this than I should be.

Thinking that a geared motor might be the way forward. The MFA 919D2.51 with 2.5:1 reduction seems to be an option. I can get a 6mm pulley to go on the shaft and still have the option of adding a 60 tooth 2GT pulley at the gearbox end, this should give a further 3:1 reduction if required.

Colin, thanks, I was thinking about increasing the size of the pulley at the gearbox end, found a shaft adaptor so I can increase diameter to 5mm, means I can get a 60 tooth 2GT pulley and leave a 20 tooth pulley on the motor shaft.

Been having a look at motors for tugs and see Mobile Marine do a 4TA that’ll run 6V-12v so I could try a 2S or 3S which should give different max revs.

Think this one will be trial and error to find the best solution, just pleased that the gearbox and paddle work, only had one machine screw work loose, found it had been soldered in place and the solder joint failed, probably due to paddle wheel running at excessive speed.

I’ve been doing loads on the Paddle Steamer, have most of the repairs done, have a few more features to add. Will do an update when it’s finished. Think it is a British Gunboat, possibly Nile.

I’ve had to wait for a couple of pulleys and a belt to arrive to get the paddle wheel running. Using stuff from 3D printer controls, seems to work OK

I’ve tried a couple of different motors, I’ve got it working with a Foxxy Speed 600 but that motor is to high revving and although it has enough torque to get the paddle moving it’s way too much, think it hits 17,000 rpm. It is getting very warm so won’t be used in the boat.

So, I need recommendations for a high torque motor that will plod on. There’s a 3:1 reduction gearing but I’m looking at the paddle wheel doing 100s of RPM not 1000s. Video shows about 1/4 throttle.

I have no preferences, can be 6V -12V, no need for brushless.

So any recommendations gratefully received.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WahJacWEXko?si=IJeGnuL32EJ77gnx

Back to 2

Looks excellent, what smoke/steam generator are you using?

Have given the stern wheeler a quick clean, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, lots of detail and really well made. Managed to free the locked rudders, think it’ll only need a new motor with a belt to the gearing, the paddle wheel is now running free.

It has obviously been in a shed as there are splatters of paint on the deck. Definitely going to get this one sorted over the winter. Time to investigate smokers for the “engine” at the bow.

Boat is 4’ long, cleaned the windows and found the deck cabin is also fitted out. Someone has put a lot of effort into this one.

Have to admit that the large paddle steamer is growing on me. Might even take some time away from the BYMS to have a fiddle with it

A couple of weeks ago I bought a number of hulls and kits at a local auction. There were a number of boats that didn’t sell at the auction and they were put together into one lot at auction today. I left a bid of £15 for all the boats and was the only bidder so won all three boats.

There’s a Mantua Titanic that has been built as Britannic as the hospital ship. Missing some fittings but has motors and r/c. Is restorable.

A large paddle steamer, presumably American Civil War era, with a fair bit of detail and has the gearing fitted, needs a new motor but I have plenty to try. The more I look at this one the more I like it, there’s a nice boat under the dust and grime.


A very rough, smaller paddle steamer, no running gear.

I suspect these all came from the same shed as my large hulls and other kits.

The larger paddle steamer and the Britannic are worth sorting out and getting on the water at some point, just need to build more project storage!

That is superb, what scale is it?

Well, made the decision to sell 3 of the larger hulls, I went to the auction to buy 2 boats, came back with 9. It is tempting to keep the Waverley but I have enough projects to keep me going for a few years, and a couple of other boats I want to build.

Am keeping the Shaarhorn, the Aerokit Sea Rover copy, RAF launch, narrowboat and the Dumas Coast Guard kit will be built next year.

The three largest hulls and the HMS Crane kit are now on ebay, if they sell that’ll be great, if they don’t then I’ll have to revisit the project list!

Bang, in two