Right Ian - highest price for a local magazine is about R95 - MB in the region of R150 if as you say - you could find one! Way beyond affordable. The PO is in a shambles as they have no funds - wanted a local PO Box long before lockdown - could not supply as there were no locks or keys - plus the fact half the box doors were rusted through or fallen off - no money for maintenance.......
The staff here are good and do their best - but the problem stems from the top and a Govt more concerned with a dead airline.

Quite right - still awaiting the Apr & May issues! Postnet here tell me they have had one bit of mail since lockdown eased . Pity they dont pour some funds into the Post office instead of the billions into SAA .

Nice one JB - recently found a plan for an Adamcraft version - not sure when it dates from - possibly the 50's - so anywhere up to 20years later than the video.

That cooling fan is not beyond your skills JB - hides the can pretty well - looking at a small computer fan as I write this - 2' diameter - sure you get even smaller............
Good idea as you only see the top of the motor in a boat - not suitable for airboats though!

Hi JB - Seems I missed a lot being away - You have moved on pretty far already. Looking great so far. What have you got in mind re extras - working bilge pump perhaps ? Not that you would need it hopefully . Or perhaps fishing rods , Tackle boxes etc . A replica motor would be nice - I have a V8 motor from a large truck kit given to me by a friend now in OZ. Always thought it would look good on an airboat model - but how would you stop the plastic from melting with the heat ? How did you overcome the problem on the other replica motors?

Great ingenuity - so as Martin says "well done" . Enjoy your building - its a great looking boat. The coping saw might well come in handy too.

The one good thing about kits is that usually apart from motors etc everything is in the box . Very useful when you live somewhere where its difficult to find MB bits & pieces. That said however you are simply one of many to build that particular model. Very boring to go down to the club and find a lot of the same boats on the water........ Not to say disappointing
So my usual approach used to be to change a few things including the superstructure - unless that particular model had great appeal.......
Fortunately now having stocked up fairly well with bits & pieces plus having use of a laser it was easy enough to revert to scratch building - my first ever boat aged around 9 or so was built from a photo and was probably quite crude by current standards - however it gave a lot of pleasure in building - and sailing in a garden pond but regrettably sank on its first real outing - giving me my first lesson in watertightness. Although my last few efforts for my grandchildren & lockdown are using a plan - the finished articles will have many deviations from the original - such as variable mast steps on the yachts.......

Hi JB - the ones we have are at the most 2mm - cut one on the laser last week for a stencil for beehives - was not talking about the the thick nylon type boards ,

Check the kitchen stores JB - there's a type of thin clear hard plastic cutting board which might be useful as the bottom slide material - has to be tough to withstand knife cuts on a continuous basis.

Looking good Graham - wonder if you ever saw the rowboat populated by three skeletons - one of them doing the rowing. Never managed to get a close up look but believe the movement was made via clear nylon heavy fishing line - might that not work with your system ? - you would seem to be well qualified to devise something working on pull only. Might well be easier to conceal .

This boat has now become a work of art......

Beginning to think you either have an expanding ruler Martin or you have some sort of magical shrinking device - if it's that ---- do you shrink yourself or the boat ?

An airboat might be a bit fast on big blue Martin - i have a toy one you could modify however ............

Seems to be picking up speed JB - perhaps triangle shaped rails underneath might help with the skidding as on a Faiey Huntsman etc or would that increase the risk of flipping ?

I should imagine most of us on this site are classified "At Risk" - the average age of the club in UK I belonged to must be over 70...........
So I agree with Martin re the social distancing...........
But some of the rules re not being able to visit an ill friend seem a bit harsh.
The classic one here is recreational fishing is allowed - but you are not allowed to walk on a beach........
So re-iterating Doug's statement - thank you Stephen for this platform allowing us to stay in touch with friends all over the world - and to make new ones.

Here are a couple of links for you to follow Martin - we expect the next one to be RC........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyHZXt_JDHQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ug8NPwzxZg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyHZXt_JDHQ

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ug8NPwzxZg

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Martin - that's getting ridiculous - how can you even see what you are doing at that scale - you should be a specialist in micro surgery at a hospital - you really are incredible.

JB that looks like a picture of an African Bush Baby - otherwise known as a Pookie. Everyone wanted one as a pet - until discovering not only were they nocturnal (hence the eyes) but as they lived in trees - and spent their time jumping from branch to branch - they peed on their hands before each jump - and if they were jumping onto your shoulder as they liked to do - well..........

Well done Martin - so incredibly maneuverable - you will have to give her a run on bigger waters sometime - as long as you check water-tightness.........

My little Lindberg Tug is not much larger and copes surprisingly easily with what would be "Hurricane" seas at scale - much better than a lot of bigger boats in fact - so as long as you fit a bit of poly foam flotation and make sure she is watertight there should be no trouble .

Pity Im so far way or we could run them together............

Do you want my sister to save her margarine tubs for you Martin ? The way you turn out brilliant models from them is astounding . Great addition to your fleet ..............

Wonderful what you can achieve with scrap material Martin - really great model - when are the Sea Trials ?

Martin you continue to astound me - suppose you will have opening doors next - how is it doing weight wise ?.

Beginning to wonder where you get all the margarine tubs from Martin - do you get your friends to save them for you?

And then you work your magic on them ............

As usual you continue to make the rest of us look like bungling amateurs . A man of many talents

Marge is coming along well - looking forward to seeing the finished article

Hi Ron - alternatively to JBs suggestion you could try two other things . Use a 4mm Brass nut (assuming its a 4mm shaft) then file that to almost washer size - but ensure there's still a little bit of thread left - that will still work as a locknut - use a file BOTH sides to ensure that - there is also some stuff out there ( non-permanent threadlock ) which you can use in addition to keep the prop from falling off. Secondly file away the front face of the rear propshaft bearing - again to washer thickness - just enough to keep it from pushing into the tube . They are usually a very tight tapered fit in any event and unlikely to go further into the tube even if you filed of a little too much - assuming its a bronze/brass bearing. a nylon one can also be filed - but not as thin as metal.
From experience I have removed the tip of a prop altogether for a similar reason (look at outboards) and its still a very fast little boat without much noticeable cavitation . However in this case agree with you that the blades themselves might pose a problem . I would personally remove the tip completely - leaving a flat face on the boss.
Hope that helps

Martin you are amazing - really do admire your skills & talent - looking forward to seeing the completed tug - and of course running it in the Big Blue

That's so much more lifelike Cash - the awnings were never pristine . Watched a couple of videos on Vietnam boats after Googling PBR's - that awning is definitely "real"

Hi Doug - you need to get a portable O2 generator - but you would have to mask it too........

Sorry to have missed this Martin - glad to see you progressing on yet another great build . Just shows you don't have to spend a fortune on something really interesting . You continue to be an inspiration to us all .

I have often thought it must be awful to have spent hundreds of pounds on a kit - and then find there are at least another ten versions of it already sailing on your Club water...............

That's never going to happen to you

Those are brilliant Martin - should work great - a really good job .

Hi Rick - we do actually have a town here in SA by that name - sometimes known as Vishoek in Afrikaans - but more often by its proper name Fishhook . Its not at the end of the line - more like middle - Simonstown being the end ............. perhaps its like a long weight.........

Hi Cash - we had a few for ours too - especially the FAF's - so also not able to post here.
There was however a combined base in the Zambesi Valley called Mukumbura - its biggest claim to fame was having a Surf Club - being a long way from water - and temperatures over 40c on a cooler day........

Good one JB - pretty well controlled - be good to see under lighter conditions - as Martin says it seems to turn well . Wonder if the twin rudders helped ?

There is a book called The Boys Book of Model Boats by Gutenberg from much the same era. If you Google it - it is possible to download the book for free - also very interesting reading.
Don't let the title put you off Nerys - its also from the age of Stereotypes and "Clever Lads"......

Love reading these old books - found one called "Rustic Funiture" - you use small trees or branches to make furniture without bothering to debark or anything silly like that.........

Reminds of a story i heard in Air Force days - two airfields were being set up in Northern East Africa - a request was made to HQ for names for the airfields. The Air Commodore in a very bad mood said - I don't care if you name them my a..e or my elbow ............

If you looked on the RAF maps from WW2 you will notice two airfields - one Myarsi and the other Myelbow.........

Funniest thing was everyone thought the names were from a local dialect.........

Problem is Brian - the original engines were incredibly expensive to run - like the 3 x V12 motors in some of the MTB's/MGB's & most PT Boats. They were basically marinised versions of the Merlin/Griffin engines from Spitfires or more correctly modified Packards from Mustangs. (Rolls Royce motors modified by Packard). Would cost an absolute fortune even for a days run. Think in thousands of pounds not hundreds.

We had some old Jet "warbirds" here for a while - at Cape Town airport - called Thunder City - a 20 minute ride in a Lightning would cost you about R40,000 (+- 10k gbp at the time) - they did not make a profit since the lightning guzzles +- 640 litres /minute - max duration being about 30 minutes. ( They have TWO Rolls Royce Avons like the ones fitted to the Hawker Hunters one above the other) Vampire T11s & Hunter T7s were much cheaper to fly in. Running 3 Packard v12's would be even more expensive.
A friend has two Miami Crashboats from WW2 - without fitting Diesels he would never be able to afford to run them - he also has two Ford Class SDB's originally fitted with V16 Paxman Diesels - cost far too much to run as the Paxmans were two strokes - when fitted with the same size Detroit Diesels the fuel consumption almost halved - with not much power loss. He built an 82' steel hulled excursion boat based on the 63' Miami Hull - powered that with two Detroit V16's which at a lot less than half throttle push it along at about +-18 knots - estimated top speed around 30 knots when he has the chance to fit the right props & driveshafts - (perhaps this year as things are quiet) - at about 1/4 the consumption of the Packards - even then the fuel is measured in tons - not litres or gallons.......

So the only way to fit original engines would be to accept that the boat would have to be placed in a museum and never run - which would be sad indeed.

Money is always the problem and despite leaps forward in engineering techniques and the like you will probably find that the Waverley boiler refurbishment cost more the original ship did - even in updated currency values.........