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Liked Re: Fire Crash Tender 9 days ago
Liked Re: Classic Model Power Boats 25 days ago
Liked Graupner Wiesel 1 month ago
Liked Graupner Wiesel 1 month ago
Liked Question of the Day? 1 month ago
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 day ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave (
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Having completely failed at R/C sailing, I took the easy way out today and selected the longest answer. Seemed to work!
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📝 Question of the Day?
6 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I knew the answer before I opened the options available. I learnt what otter boards are from reading model boat magazines! Probably the first time I have been able to use knowledge gained from my modelling activities in QotD.
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📝 Question of the Day?
17 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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My answer was a stab in the dark as what I know about sailing ships could be written on the back of a postage stamp, so I'll have to admit to luck on this occasion.
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hermank
📝 Question of the Day?
18 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Definitely remember this question not long ago, unfortunately I couldn’t remember the answer! Took a guess and got it right.
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📝 Question of the Day?
20 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Same here, the question went right over my head, so I resorted to the longest answer. Turned out to be a good choice!
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📝 Question of the Day?
25 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I didn't know the correct answer, as my result proves!
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💬 Re: Classic Model Power Boats
30 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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That a good proportion of Birch ply comes from Russia was a shock to me, having lived in Finland for 16 years where my local timber yard sold only Finnish ply.
Most Finns would reject Russian wood on principle, though there are thousands of tonnes of wood coming into the the country from Russia to feed the paper industry. Most of the pulping is chemical these days (smells bad) but I lived near a paper mill that ground the wood into pulp - all the timber had to be x-rayed in case there were any bullets or shell fragments in the wood which would have damaged the grinders.
Most Finns would reject Russian wood on principle, though there are thousands of tonnes of wood coming into the the country from Russia to feed the paper industry. Most of the pulping is chemical these days (smells bad) but I lived near a paper mill that ground the wood into pulp - all the timber had to be x-rayed in case there were any bullets or shell fragments in the wood which would have damaged the grinders.
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💬 Re: Classic Model Power Boats
30 days ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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A few months ago I tried a local independent (in Witney) timber merchant for some birch ply only to be told that most of their birch ply came from Russia and the source had dried up since the war with Ukraine started. This might explain the poor quality of some plywood being sold as birch ply.
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💬 Re: Classic Model Power Boats
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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That plywood doesn't look like modelling grade, more like non-structural DiY ply.
I always buy good quality Baltic or Finnish birch ply for my models. I used to be able to go to the local timber merchants in Kuusankoski and buy big sheets of lovely ply from under 1mm thick upwards.
I always buy good quality Baltic or Finnish birch ply for my models. I used to be able to go to the local timber merchants in Kuusankoski and buy big sheets of lovely ply from under 1mm thick upwards.
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📝 Graupner Wiesel
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
Sub-Lieutenant)✧ 24 Views · 2 Likes
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Herman - some models really hit the sweet spot and become real favourites.
My Robbe W3 police boat has been my go-to model for over six years, and is looking rather worn - I used it as an ice breaker several times, which didn't do the ABS hull much good, and it was also attacked by a swan, which resulted in the loss of quite a few fittings.
They were sad days when Robbe and Graupner closed their doors, but I managed to find an unstarted W3 kit which I will build 'someday' to replace the one I have now - and no more ice breaking allowed!
I think that Krick have now added the W3 to their Romarin range, but my original Robbe kit is still untouched.
My Robbe W3 police boat has been my go-to model for over six years, and is looking rather worn - I used it as an ice breaker several times, which didn't do the ABS hull much good, and it was also attacked by a swan, which resulted in the loss of quite a few fittings.
They were sad days when Robbe and Graupner closed their doors, but I managed to find an unstarted W3 kit which I will build 'someday' to replace the one I have now - and no more ice breaking allowed!
I think that Krick have now added the W3 to their Romarin range, but my original Robbe kit is still untouched.
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hermank
jumpugly
📝 Graupner Wiesel
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
Sub-Lieutenant)✧ 25 Views · 3 Likes
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Thanks for sharing that video, Lew - my Wiesel has a very mild power set-up - two tiny brushed motors running off a single 3.7v cell - I don't think it would make any headway at all in a breeze, and certainly way out of character for a Schnellboot!
I was considering replacing them with a pair of 385s, with the option of 2s or 3s lipos, but might change that to something a little bigger.
I was considering replacing them with a pair of 385s, with the option of 2s or 3s lipos, but might change that to something a little bigger.
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📝 Graupner Wiesel
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Phil -
You should see the state of my model room - fitting a 42" boat in amongst the boats I use, boats awaiting restoration, and boats under construction was a tricky job - I'm not about to reverse the process just yet!
I added another repair to the queue yesterday when I caught my hand on the Deans ASR as I was launching it and broke off the rear gun which sank immediately. Luckily, a clubmate managed to spot it and retrieved it with a rake. Just need to reattach it, and the ventilator that was knocked off a few weeks ago, then I have plenty of other jobs to do, including extending the shelving to accommodate more boats! Next time I am able to get the Wiesel down, I will photograph it. My main priority on getting it home was to store it safely.
You should see the state of my model room - fitting a 42" boat in amongst the boats I use, boats awaiting restoration, and boats under construction was a tricky job - I'm not about to reverse the process just yet!
I added another repair to the queue yesterday when I caught my hand on the Deans ASR as I was launching it and broke off the rear gun which sank immediately. Luckily, a clubmate managed to spot it and retrieved it with a rake. Just need to reattach it, and the ventilator that was knocked off a few weeks ago, then I have plenty of other jobs to do, including extending the shelving to accommodate more boats! Next time I am able to get the Wiesel down, I will photograph it. My main priority on getting it home was to store it safely.
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hermank
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💬 Re: Classic Model Power Boats
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I started building my Slec Arrow nearly six years ago. Recently, I finally added the plywood skins to the bare framework, so I reckon it should be finished by 2030, assuming I last that long!
It's not that I am an especially slow builder, but I keep getting distracted by other projects.
It's not that I am an especially slow builder, but I keep getting distracted by other projects.
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📝 Graupner Wiesel
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I think with the motors currently installed, it is much more langsam than schnell!
I will be replacing them as a main priority, though that long slender hull shouldn't need too much power to perform well.
I will be replacing them as a main priority, though that long slender hull shouldn't need too much power to perform well.
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📝 Graupner Wiesel
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
Sub-Lieutenant)✧ 52 Views · 10 Likes
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Today, I fulfilled a long held dream - to own a Graupner Wiesel. I remember drooling over the review in (I think) RCM&E about 50 years ago - but it was well above my means.
I have often thought back to that elegant model, and today I collected a completed example of it. It looks well built, but has some slightly unusual features, such as having no rudder, with steering being accomplished by a two stick (both vertical axis only) operating the left and right motors - which themselves are very small mabuchi brushed motors running from a single LiFe cell.
I plan to remove the motors and replace them with something that will improve the realism of the model on the water, and to replace the rudder, as tank steering seems to be fairly useless on a long narrow hull (as I have tried it on my Robbe W3 Police Boat). It works well if the boat is barely moving, but at any sort of speed, the straight-line stability of the hull takes over - the model continues in a straight line but not as fast.
The builder had also decided to add ballast to get the model to sit at the waterline, but used cement, which might make it difficult to remove when I install bigger batteries and motors.
I am confident that I can get it working well, and am very pleased to have been able to add the Wiesel to my collection.
I have often thought back to that elegant model, and today I collected a completed example of it. It looks well built, but has some slightly unusual features, such as having no rudder, with steering being accomplished by a two stick (both vertical axis only) operating the left and right motors - which themselves are very small mabuchi brushed motors running from a single LiFe cell.
I plan to remove the motors and replace them with something that will improve the realism of the model on the water, and to replace the rudder, as tank steering seems to be fairly useless on a long narrow hull (as I have tried it on my Robbe W3 Police Boat). It works well if the boat is barely moving, but at any sort of speed, the straight-line stability of the hull takes over - the model continues in a straight line but not as fast.
The builder had also decided to add ballast to get the model to sit at the waterline, but used cement, which might make it difficult to remove when I install bigger batteries and motors.
I am confident that I can get it working well, and am very pleased to have been able to add the Wiesel to my collection.
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Thank you Ross & Roy for your explanations. I asked merely out of curiosity, not a rapid desire to climb to the top.
I'll carry on pitting my feeble wits against the QotD machine, but am quite happy to be floating somewhere in the middle of the listings.
I'll carry on pitting my feeble wits against the QotD machine, but am quite happy to be floating somewhere in the middle of the listings.
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I have selected the correct answer today & yesterday, but my overall score has been stuck at 80%, any idea why that is?
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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A self contained marine engine with an integral propeller that can be easily removed from the boat is usually referred to as an outboard motor.
The outermost engines on aeroplanes are generally referred to as engines.
The outermost engines on aeroplanes are generally referred to as engines.
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📝 I Hate Painting!
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
Sub-Lieutenant)✧ 23 Views · 1 Like
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I've never had any luck with a paintbrush, other than painting window frames and skirting boards in the various houses I've lived in.
For my model boats, I use acrylic paint in spray cans, preferably outside and on a calm, warm day. One or two of my current builds will hopefully be ready by the spring, so I can spray them outside.
For my model boats, I use acrylic paint in spray cans, preferably outside and on a calm, warm day. One or two of my current builds will hopefully be ready by the spring, so I can spray them outside.
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LazyFerret
📝 Tools
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I also have the Veritas miniature plane, very useful for shaving away paper thin layers of wood, and a David razor plane which I have had for 40 years or more but has never been used on anything harder than balsa.
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LIBERTY CAPTAIN
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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PhilUK -
I had no idea of the answer (or even the question!) but I remembered someone saying the answer with the most words is usually the correct answer.
It wasn't!
I had no idea of the answer (or even the question!) but I remembered someone saying the answer with the most words is usually the correct answer.
It wasn't!
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📝 Double Jointed Universal Couplings
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Here is the link to the place I have bought metal couplings from. They aren't double couplings but it is easy to join a pair together with a short piece of suitable piano wire (or similar).
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📝 Double Jointed Universal Couplings
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I've bought metal couplings that look the same as the one you have posted a picture of, I get them from ebay and they are definitely sent from the UK, usually arrive in a couple of days.
I'll dig out the link when I get back after our club's mid-week meeting at the lake.
I'll dig out the link when I get back after our club's mid-week meeting at the lake.
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📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Yes, I can see your point as well, but in theory, if not posting means no loss of points, there would be a temptation to hold on to a good position if you weren't sure about the answer.
I like to pit my wits against the daily question, and have to admit that at least half of my replies are a semi-educated guess. I know far more about model boats than I do about issues affecting full size boats. But i never check before submitting my guess!
I like to pit my wits against the daily question, and have to admit that at least half of my replies are a semi-educated guess. I know far more about model boats than I do about issues affecting full size boats. But i never check before submitting my guess!
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AlessandroSPQR
📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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But if that was applied, then as soon as someone reaches 100% they could stop posting and just stay there.
BTW - congratulation on reaching the top, please don't take my comment personally!
BTW - congratulation on reaching the top, please don't take my comment personally!
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📝 A little bit of luck
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I haven't taken anything out of the box yet, and doubt that I would be able to fit it back in if I did! When I make a start on it, I will post plenty of photographs.
Meanwhile, here is a picture of the full size boat.
Interesting to see your take on a drumbeat, I played bass in various rock & blues bands for 50 years until arthritis forced me to stop.
Meanwhile, here is a picture of the full size boat.
Interesting to see your take on a drumbeat, I played bass in various rock & blues bands for 50 years until arthritis forced me to stop.
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hermank
Madwelshman
📝 A little bit of luck
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Ian L1 - there are very few model shops that still have proper shops to visit and browse through, and staff that know what their customers want.
I am fortunate to live less than 30 minutes drive from Howes models in Kidlington, and as a regular customer the owner lets me know if he has something he thinks I would like. Most are finished and ready to go, but some poor chap had died and left a loft full of unstarted models, his widow sold them to Howes and I happened to drop by at the shop soon after they had arrived. Nick knows what sort of models I like, and he was spot-on with the Drumbeat.
I am also very fortunate to have a wife who puts up my boats around the house (her dad was an aeromodeller, so she's used to it!), and far from saying 'oh no, not another one' she told me to go back in and buy it. I had to admit to her that I had already done so!
The kit is exactly as it left the factory, a real time capsule from the 90s, when the Drumbeat was the pinnacle of Model Slipway's range.
I also have two other MS models, a Sentinel and a Tsekoa - both bought second hand and in need of restoration. The Tsekoa was built by David Metcalf himself, so is definitely worth getting it back on the water.
I am fortunate to live less than 30 minutes drive from Howes models in Kidlington, and as a regular customer the owner lets me know if he has something he thinks I would like. Most are finished and ready to go, but some poor chap had died and left a loft full of unstarted models, his widow sold them to Howes and I happened to drop by at the shop soon after they had arrived. Nick knows what sort of models I like, and he was spot-on with the Drumbeat.
I am also very fortunate to have a wife who puts up my boats around the house (her dad was an aeromodeller, so she's used to it!), and far from saying 'oh no, not another one' she told me to go back in and buy it. I had to admit to her that I had already done so!
The kit is exactly as it left the factory, a real time capsule from the 90s, when the Drumbeat was the pinnacle of Model Slipway's range.
I also have two other MS models, a Sentinel and a Tsekoa - both bought second hand and in need of restoration. The Tsekoa was built by David Metcalf himself, so is definitely worth getting it back on the water.
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hermank
EdW
📝 Question of the Day?
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Glad I got it right then! I have always hated doing lines.
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📝 A little bit of luck
1 month ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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Thank you for your kind comments. My wife is very supportive of my hobbies (she wasn't too unhappy when I had to give up riding motor bikes, though!) and said exactly what I was thinking about the Drumbeat - might be the only untouched example left. I would have kicked myself severely had I let that slip through my hands.
I'm currently building a Billing's Emil Robin, but that shouldn't take too long, though I have 'several' unstarted kits in the loft (and a few in the model room, three under the bed…), but the Drumbeat will be built slowly and carefully - no spare parts available!
I'm currently building a Billing's Emil Robin, but that shouldn't take too long, though I have 'several' unstarted kits in the loft (and a few in the model room, three under the bed…), but the Drumbeat will be built slowly and carefully - no spare parts available!
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hermank
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📝 A little bit of luck
2 months ago by 🇬🇧 Oxford-Dave ( Sub-Lieutenant)
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I was out with my wife for lunch in Oxford today, and dropped into my local model shop on the way home to buy a couple of 385 motors & props.
I know the owner there quite well, and he often invites me to look at his latest acquisitions, and initially was interested in a Graupner SAR boat, but then he hit me with the news that he had a brand new in box Model Slipway Drumbeat of Devon that had just come in for resale.
This is a kit I had always lusted after - I used to be a member of the Hanworth model club and one of the members had a Drumbeat and I often saw it on the water.
After a short friendly haggle, he made me a decent offer, and I rapidly accepted it.
I took the motors, etc. I had bought and put them in the car and told my wife that there was a long discontinued model unstarted available. Bless her, she immediately said I should go and get it before someone else snaps it up. It was in the car and back home before I really knew what I had done.
The kit was genuinely unstarted, never even take out of the box. I think this one will be bumped up to the top of the building list, though I have just started a Billing's Emil Robin and want to get that on the water soon.
I also have a Model Slipway Tsekoa that I bought built but well used. After some investigation, it turned out to have been built by Dave Metcalf, so it will definitely be worth restoring.
I know the owner there quite well, and he often invites me to look at his latest acquisitions, and initially was interested in a Graupner SAR boat, but then he hit me with the news that he had a brand new in box Model Slipway Drumbeat of Devon that had just come in for resale.
This is a kit I had always lusted after - I used to be a member of the Hanworth model club and one of the members had a Drumbeat and I often saw it on the water.
After a short friendly haggle, he made me a decent offer, and I rapidly accepted it.
I took the motors, etc. I had bought and put them in the car and told my wife that there was a long discontinued model unstarted available. Bless her, she immediately said I should go and get it before someone else snaps it up. It was in the car and back home before I really knew what I had done.
The kit was genuinely unstarted, never even take out of the box. I think this one will be bumped up to the top of the building list, though I have just started a Billing's Emil Robin and want to get that on the water soon.
I also have a Model Slipway Tsekoa that I bought built but well used. After some investigation, it turned out to have been built by Dave Metcalf, so it will definitely be worth restoring.
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