Another Classe 'M' or Marblehead, designed by Paul Lucas , lives somewhere around Brest. When we first arrived here in France the house had a central heating system fitted, all the rads were old fashioned cast iron thin column jobs, they needed sandblasting and re furbishing, found a guy locally who agreed to do the refurb his quoted price was on the high side,however when we went to collect I spied some grp hulls, we got talking, he had produced the hulls(he always had an eye to make money. I negotiated a price for the rads and 3 hulls, still got 2 spare, I think the 2 were the first 2 off the moulds, a bit rough but recoverable. He also supplied plans and after finishing the house refurb construction began. Did it at my local club, no english speakers so a little problematic. I followed the instructions initially then seeing easier solutions started doing my own thing. i had lots of finger wagging etc from the french members(they are very tunnel visioned) However they were complementary about the final product. That is the reason for the name, That'll do thats near enough and the french equivalent, me thumbing my nose at them again. More photos / info 'en route' eventually.

And another piece of silliness, Quad bought cheaply years ago, a crude r/c system was originally installed, replaced by a 40mhz system and then later, a 2.4ghz system, It has working lights, a piezo buzzer in series with a flashing orange led mounted on a short piece of tube to raise it above the heads of the rabbits. The rabbits were bought in a typical cheapo visitor shop in Knaresborough, end of season bargains, £2 the two. my wife used to circulate at exhibitions here a la frog, transmitter in hands, the reaction of small children was always amazing!

Here is a Classe M, Marblehead, of the late 60's early 70's. An early resin hull which had received quite a lot of modification. I think it was vane steering originally, then a very crude conversion to r/c, mainly by inserting a tupperware container, half set into the deck and then crudely glassed in. Cost more to collect than I paid for the boat, a trip from near Kidderminster to West London and back. The hull leaked in several places, and, an attempt to seal it had been made using thickened varnish, strange idea, not by me, it didn't work. Stripped the varnish using cellulose thinner, acetone applied sparingly, when clear lightweight glass tissue was applied internally then a coat of slightly diluted resin. This was followed by a keel box, the original was by a long bolt through the hull. a new keel and lead weight made, new rudder fabricated, then the usual controls installed. A new front bumper was formed from silicone sealer. A new system of sail control also created. Initial sailing trials carried out in 2019, not fully finished(Covid arrived)First impressions, sailed ok, hopefully as well as my other Classe 'M', a Cedar Clube, french design by a local competitor, Paul Lucas of Brest, now that is a performer. Hopefully listed later when i have found the photos of construction! Apparently Bloodaxe is the name of the design, it's by a guy living somewhere around London, still alive and a club member somewhere, but no reply when I tried contacting the club. More to follow eventually

Another toy, this time a Kayak, bought in a Brest toy/model shop 18 years ago 15€. Had a crude r/c system installed, forward/reverse and direction, single speed! Another for bath time. Opened up the kayak to view the r/c system, room for a 27mhz system, which was duly installed using a home built speed controller and mini steering servo. I should have said, there is a rudder under the rear hull for direction, the paddle push rods just operate in a vertical oval pattern. Another for use by children at exhibitions. Ran well for 2 or 3 seasons then locked up, investigation revealed a gear box with stripped nylon teeth. I had a g/box with brass gears originally destined for a 00 gauge diesel loco! An adapted modified mounting was made and installed, success! Continued in use over the years with upgrades to the r/c system etc. The last time out whilst packing up a tx fell on the paddling mechanism and the two push rods were broken. Have not opened it up to assess the viability of a repair, but probably a goer as the system is in abs plastic so with plas weld or similar it should soon be back in action. I also need to produce a rubber seal for the paddle system etc, I have a wooden mould for this, and with talc and latex solution shouldn't be a huge problem! I will post more photos of the internals etc when I get around to making repairs.

My nephew had acquired a farm property in Normandy, whilst visiting him, we went to have a look around the site, He had a skip there for all the rubbish, when I looked in it there was this little tugboat. I asked if I could have it, the response was yes, but radio control it! I like challenges, and here is the result! All original pieces removed and then a r/c plan was made, originally for 27mhz kit, successfully installed and the system worked. After that the various UK exhibitions with a sailing facility available were attended and the transmitter was handed to children to 'have a go' -- 30 years ago, a novell concept at that time, still a little so!. It has continued over the years via new motors, batteries, r/c systems, 40mhz and now 2.4 ghz. Speed control is by a home built digi proportional unit which works extremely well! Some working lights as well! Long may it continue! ;-D

One of my few new purchases, from Hobbyking, a slight price reduction for the Xmas season! What a great mistake, enjoyed the build, sailing the beast a very different experience. Sails like a brick / nail! Even in the lightest breeze it turns turtle, have tried demounting each of the 2 sails, always the same result --- a real piece of cr*p. Hopefully this year I might get better results, my ideas are either to mount a ballast weight normally used on a 'Footy' at the base of the keel or a small wing at the bottom, or even a combination of the two. I cannot add too much ballast because that would reduce the flotation level where the two outriggers would be waterbourne as well. My advice AVOID it!!

1:4 scale Optimist, built 20 years ago to Optimist Association plans, the idea was to be a dual role model, for exact scale static competitions and also for r/c free sailing. The r/c setup being demountable with replacement by a scale forward seat/bench -- never happened! The original keel was a vertical ply job with a lump of lead at the bottom, power was from a 4 or 5 pack of 'd' sized cells(for ballast) across the stern with the figure sat on one side, hand, velcroed to the tiller arm, sailed like a bath, tendancy to 'dig in' at the front. The 2nd keel was made with a swept back aspect and the same lump of lead, now sails properly. I need to find a 1:4 figure or a 1:4 scale head to refresh the whole thing.

Another find in a French field selling house clearance 'stuff', cost 30€ but that included parts for the same model, 2 x Miniperm motors(380 size) a speed controller and a servo, I thought the parts equalled more than the 30€! It is the current project, the hull is ready for painting, haven't got very far with the superstructure renovations as yet!

Yet another 2nd hand kit, already started but the builder died. Basically a fresh start, some mods along the way with battery placement. I will add a link to a sailing event 2020 with a short Youtube piece showing the Jetski on the move! It is featured about 13 mins in then also Krake about 16 mins in! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14HsbblXXBY A little freedom after the first period of lockdown here!

Lively based on yard drawings, Cox&Co Falmouth, built 1912, and on station around the Fal estuary. Very similar to Searcher by Vic Smeed, in fact I would think Lively was his inspiration! The model is to 1:20 scale, 33" oal, bread and butter construction, I had lots of offcut pieces of 1" balsa blocks, then the rest is traditional. Powered by a 380 sized motor thro' an aero gearbox at 3:1, 6Ah lead acid battery and lots of lead ballast, working lights, NB, no navigation lights, there is a picture in Kings Cutters, obviously only on station daylight hours, a novel concept now! Again a steady model for steering competitions! Currenty under construction , Active, a sister launch of 1911, to a scale of 1:12, to be steam powered, 54" oal engine, reversing Stuart D10, boiler Scotch type(return tube) --- progress is very slow!

German kit, an Ebay find, vaguely started, and a challenge to fit 'stuff' in. Water jet propulsion. Originally not very good when going astern, but after the addition of a deflector panel at the rear, is now now an excellent steering competition boat. Has working lights! The eventual situation, see photo, is to build a trailer to carry Krake behind at the same scale r/c Land Rover! The wine bottle is to give an idea of size!!

Graupner kit, bought 2nd hand from a Dutch model shop situated opposite the shipyard who built the full sized boat, Jules Verne. The chap who commissioned the full sized boat was German, he also commissioned the model on a visit to the yard. He went bankrupt, the 2 items lay dormant for some time then, an American bought the full size job and continued with the construction. When finished the boat was sailed to the USA, she rests in Los Angeles(last info I had) - bought the just started kit, stripped back to basics, and slowly completed it, with colour scheme changes also a name change but still with a science fiction link -- living here in France it was me thumbing my nose at the frenchies!! Has working lights and radar. An excellent competition boat, finished 2nd in the 2019 Brittany / Pays de Loire championship, quite an achievement as I am not in the least competitive!