Hello Sy.
I've only just seen your update on your boat, it must have been while I was on me holibobs! and you certainly have made a magnificent job of it too 👍👍
And to see that you have incorporated some of the build features that I did is very pleasing as well and you have my absolute approval.
Interestingly, I have just returned from the International Model Boat Show in Warwickshire where I made a point of visiting the Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club stand to see Roger Clements and his restoration of an original Veron Thames Police Launch that I used as a benchmark along with the 'photos of the model in the NMM for the detailing of my model.

I hope she sails as well as mine does when you have the maiden voyage, I have included some 'photos of my model's first sea trials.

Kind Regards.
Rob.

Hi Graham.
Very nicely engineered👍 the video of the result of your efforts clearly shows that it works and is most realistic.
Combined with the operational fire monitors the plumbing and electrical arrangements for these features are ingenious.
Congratulations.
Robbob.

Hi Graham.
I have to say that they look really true to the originals, have you done a 'hydraulic' test yet?
Do use some clamps on the water connections though, you don't want them coming off and flooding the compartment 😮.
I think Mike Turpin has a point about the servo travel but your home brew servo stretcher looks very useful indeed.
Great work👍,
Rob.

Hi Graham.
Your fire monitors are excellent work as they are the first 'working' ones I've seen that actually look like they should. I think that the 'plinth' that it will sit on will present it's own problems with articulation and plumbing but you've cracked the hardest bit 👍
It was a pleasure meeting you at our club exhibition in St.Albans at the weekend and discussing our FireBoats, I know that you travelled a long way to see the show.
I have put a report about the show on the club website with a video that I produced that has some shots of my Fireboat on the water and the Thames Police Launch on display.

Keep up the great work.
Rob.

https://stalbansmes.com/

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SADMES Exhibition Video Sept 2019

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Hi Graham.
I'm pleased and flattered 😊 that you have been able to take inspiration from my build blog, I'm sure Mike Turpin is too.
Excellent workmanship too, the first two 'photos 'before and after' are testament to your abilities.
Kind Regards.
Rob.

Hi JB.
I think what you have created is excellent and very true to the boat in your original 'photo.
Your level of finish and detailing is to admired.
Congratulations and happy sailing, I hope the weather will favour Jaguar's maiden voyage.
Rob.

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Hi Pete.
Doug's quite right about the choice of power plant, there's no good reason or advantage for using I/C these days.
Tip...when building up the hull do 'dry-fit' all the parts first and check that everything is 'square' before glueing and pinning anything
especially if you've had a bevvy 😉.
I'll be following your build with great interest.
Cheers 🍻.
Robbob.

Hi Graham.
I'm pleased to see that you have started a 'refit' blog, and from what you've posted so far shows a remarkable improvement. The addition of the chine strakes have clearly been a worthwhile addition too.
I also had a similar issue with the Halfords gloss lacquer coat being very 'soft' for a long time and easily marked, the hardening process does seems to take some time and so I did have to flat down the gloss lacquer on my boat and re-finish it too.

Body repairers use an infra red lamp to dry and cure base coat and clear coat finishes before they polish it to a high gloss finish as I found out when I had a small repair done on my car by a mobile 'Chips Away' type repair company.
They advised me that the drying/curing process does take time if the finish isn't 'baked' in a paint shop spray booth/oven.

Curiously the red anti fouling on mine was finished with a satin lacquer and didn't suffer from any such problems and the hull sits on some neoprene pads on the stand with no ill effects.
Keep up the great work👍.
Robbob.

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Hi Pete-1961.
I'm Rob (Robbob).
Looking forward to seeing how you progress with the VMW kit.
I'm also interested in how the kit with the GRP hull that Rikster67 has bought goes together too.
Make sure to start a build blog chaps 👍😀
Best Wishes.
Rob.

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Hi Mike.
What a super little boat you've made for the lad, now I understand why the slow-ish progress on the Crash Tender.
I bet the young fella is absolutely delighted with his new toy, and the fun to be had when you run it first time together is going to be a priceless memory for you both. And captain Kirk at the helm too...love it 🤣 !
As someone else said 'get em young'.
Rob.

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Hi Mike.
Good to see the boat is getting some paint at last.... don't rush it, remember getting a good finish is 90% preparation and 10% application.
And going on holiday is better than watching paint dry 😁.
Enjoy your break.
Rob.

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Sorry.
Did I miss something?
Have we all turned into the crew of HMS Troutbridge ?.......left hand down a bit....Oh Lummey. 😉

Hi Sy.

Thank you very much for your very kind words about my build blog.😁

I've not added any ballast to mine yet but if I need to it will be through the fore and aft hatches that I incorporated into my model as there's no other means of access to the innards.
To be honest I have not yet put it in the 'test tank' (bath 😉) to check how she sits in the water and the accuracy of the waterline.

As regards the prop, mine is currently a 40mm 2 blade S type but until I do some sea trials I won't know the current draw or how she performs. Alan at VMV would definitely be able to advise you on the best 3 blade prop to use.

As for the Build Blog, it can be as brief or as comprehensive as you are prepared to make it and it's certainly not compulsory but other modellers, including myself, really like to see how a build progresses, and I can tell you from my own experience that the help, encouragement and praise that you get from those that read it makes the effort very worthwhile.

If you can, do take 'photos as you work so that even if you don't do a blog during the construction you can still do one afterwards, and the pictures will be invaluable in bringing your words to life.

I didn't start my blogs until I was at least halfway through the build and I had enough material to post consistently and regularly, but that was my choice.

Anyway, I quite enjoy writing.......and I probably ramble on a bit too much too......so I'll leave it there.
Happy Building.
Robbob.

Hi All.
I found this very interesting film on YouTube about the RAF Seaplane Tenders.
Could be useful for accurate detailing and it's nice to see a fleet of them in operation.
Shame that there's no commentary on the film though, which is unusual for Pathé films.

There's also a film about the RAF ASRL in action too....with commentary 👍
Robbob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ8r0kqi174

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RAF's Newest "Arm" (1932)

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"Re: Constructing 'The Box'
11 hours ago by Skydive130 ( Warrant Officer)

"I have just taken delivery of this kit, and the joy opening the box and getting that wafting smell of fresh wood, nothing like it!

Having check the excellent quality laser cut wood against the parts list, it seems that the basic box built first is now supplied as 6mm and 5mm ply instead of balsa. Can I presume this is a change to the test kit? I am not worried about the extra weight, less ballast at the end.

My only other issue now is trying to source the HobbyKing SK3 840kv motor you have used in your beautiful model as it’s currently out of stock in the Uk and EU, living only 3 miles from HobbyKing UK means I can order and sometimes pick up same day. Does anyone else have an suitable alternative recommendations for the motor if I cannot source an SK3. I could order from HobbyKing in HK as showing in stock, but the postage is high?"

Hi Skydive130
I have moved this to the end of my blog so that others can see it easily.

Yes, I understand that the box is now all ply construction, I doubt if the added weight will be any problem at all.
Re: the HK motor, speak to Mike at VMW I'm sure that he or his colleague Alan can suggest a suitable alternative.
Good luck with the build and ......Please Do A Build Blog 😁👍.
Robbob.

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Looks very good, and it's 'authentically positioned' too.
I'm sure that the 'why is it offset' question will crop up from time to time from admirers so be prepared to tell them the reasons 😀.
Keep up the great work.
Robbob.

With the annual club exhibition coming up I made a display stand for the boat, the construction is just the same as the one I made for my RAF Crash Tender.

I had to make some card templates of the hull at the bow and stern to get the end panels the right shape and transferred these to a pair of drawings allowing for a strip of 10mm thick neoprene foam to cushion the hull.

The end panels were cut from 10mm ply and the side rails are 8mm softwood set into the end panels and just glued and pinned.

After a thorough rub down I gave the stand three coats of a Mahogany stain before fitting the self- adhesive neoprene strips.

I had a pair of engraved brass plaques made up with a description of the boat, one for each side and Mike Cummings at Vintage Model Works very kindly supplied some VMW stickers to go on each side 👍 and there are some Model-Boats.com stickers on there too 👍😀.

I’m just contemplating the construction of a transport and storage case for this model and a recent thread on this site has been very helpful in highlighting some strong but lightweight plastics that may do the job.

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Ah...now we're back on track with this thread 😁
That's an ideal place for a hidden switch on a Crash Tender Graham 👍👍
Robbob.

Hi Doug.
Fortunately my usual boating lake does have a proper path from the car park to the lakeside 😁.
Unfortunately at the moment my usual boating lake doesn't have any water in it ☹️.
I'm in agreement about your comment though, but it's a case of 'horses for courses ' almost literally 😉 so this trolley might suit some but not all.
Still gonna get me one 👍
Rob.

Hi Hillro
I found a wheeled flight case which was a perfect fit for my RAF Crash Tender, £50 on eBay.
Fits into the back of my estate car and is great for paved/tarmac surfaces and copes well over grass and uneven ground too.
Lidl are about to sell a wheeled trolley for £17.99, looks like it could very useful for transporting boats 👍
https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/MiddleofLidl.htm?articleId=24157
Gonna get me one of them 😀
Robbob.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/MiddleofLidl.htm?articleId=24157

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Hi
I'm going to be showing my Thames River Police Launch at our club exhibition in September, if you're in the area please do come along to the show.
My RAF Crash Rescue Tender will be on show too.
Hope to see you there.
Robbob.

No disrespect to ikseno99 but I think I prefer Doug's research findings.
Plus I don't want to read 200 pages of Anglo/French gobbledegook that has apparently no references to maritime lighting requirements anyway.
Robbob.

Hi John.
That's a good tip and well worth considering for the future👍👍.
Thanks.
Rob.

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I have just added a blog update on my Thames Poilice Launch where I have added some instrumentation detail around the 'Steering Wheel' power switch just to pretty it up a bit.
https://model-boats.com/blogs/47891
Robbob 👍😀

https://model-boats.com/blogs/47891

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I decided that an instrument panel would enhance the appearance of the ‘Steering Wheel’ power switch so I made up a panel to go around the switch onto which I could put some dials and a throttle control.

In my previous blog update I discounted using the very nice but pricey BECC transfers and looked for an alternative, Doug (RNinMunich) kindly sent me a .pdf of some instruments but the resolution was very poor when printed out. So after a bit of Googling I found a picture of some real commercially made instruments that was quite high resolution, and importantly, printed very nicely even when scaled down to the sizes I needed. I used a premium glossy photo paper in my Canon Pixma printer for this.

The panel was made from some 2.0mm ply from the scrap box with the edges bevelled for neatness and after two coats of Teak stain they were ready to have the dials applied.

The dials were cut out from the printed sheet as best as possible with a new scalpel blade, not easy I might add, as they are so small that you can’t really make a continuous circular cut so it was a case of nibbling round the edges until it was an acceptable shape. That was a test for my old eyes 🤓 I can tell you.
The edges of the dials were blackened with a black ‘Sharpie’ pen before sticking down onto the panel with a light smear of canopy glue.

The throttle control is just an offcut of Obeche carved and shaped and with a short piece of styrene tube and a pin head for the lever, painted in gunmetal grey it doesn’t look too bad. I used a small white ball headed pin in the final assembly.
The instrument panel was given two coats of satin lacquer to protect the dials before the throttle control was stuck down and then the whole piece glued down onto the battery cover, and I also painted the aluminium switch panel black so it was less conspicuous through the slot.

I had arranged the height of the wheel so that the battery cover can only be removed with the switch on the off position as a safety consideration. Also there’s room inside the battery box for a low voltage alarm attached to the battery balance connector too.

Viewed through the cabin window the instrument panel looks quite acceptable and it all helps to disguise the purpose of the steering wheel and the switch can be accessed easily through the sliding cabin window without removing the cabin.

Quite pleased with that 😁

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Hi Mike.
Good to hear you've finished the lads boat, I hope that you and he enjoy the maiden voyage 👍
You are so fortunate to have a such a big house ( 4 floors and a basement 😮!!) that you can re-locate your workshop so easily. I hope the move goes well.
Rob.

Judging by what seems to be written on the bottle, your medication would appear to be 'Gin & Tonic'
Cheers 🍸😋
Rob.

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Not at all....just historicaly accurate....Ahem..😜

Hi Paul.
I dodged the issue by building mine as No 94.
No evidence of a stern light on that at any point 😁.

Now you're just being silly Mike 😉