Hi Everyone,
Finally after 2 years and 2 months I have finally finished my Riva. Even though I say it myself I think she looks beautiful! I must admit I haven't put all the cleats on because the base of the cleats are flat and so small that I think they could easily get caught and broken off when I get round to sailing her. This could end up damaging the mahogany veneer.
To fit the forward chromed metal fittings I put a layer of masking tape on the bow then drew round the bases and cut out the shape with a modelling knife before roughing up the varnish and then gluing the fittings with 5 minute Araldite. The 4 engine air vents on the sides were a bit daunting to fit with the very fine 'Aquarama' lettering and also having to drill through the hull for each vent. I used cockpit glue as it is relatively ease to wipe away any excess. I had to nail the back strip on first so I drilled tiny holes so that I didn't have to use the hammer too much! I then chromed over the strip and the nail with the chrome pen I mentioned earlier in the blog. Unfortunately on one side strip there was a nail hole missing and 'try as I must' I could get my hand drill to create this tiny hole 0.3mm. Once in place The holes in the metal strip for the air vents show where to drill. I was surprised that I had to go through completely to hold the peg on the back of the air vents. I tried to epoxy the inside of the holes in order to seal the wood around the holes. I've fitted the seats to the floor with magnetic door catches so that I can easily remove the seats for cleaning. Eventually I will replace the floor with a planked floor but this wasn't part of the kit. I found using digital callipers useful to measure the size of the pegs on the fittings and then chose the appropriate drill bit. Because this has been my first build since my early twenties I have had to buying quite a lot of stuff and tools to complete the build. I would like to do another build but I don't think my hands are not up to that any more unfortunately.
I think the next stage is a bath tub test and then sit and admire it before I pluck up courage for the maiden voyage! I hope you have all found my blog interesting and helpful especially if you attempt this kit. I've learnt a lot along the way and had some sleepless nights wondering how to tackle certain things! Hopefully my blog will help you to avoid some of these deep searching thoughts!😊
Cheers Duncan 🚤
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Hi Everyone,
Finally after 2 years and 2 months I have finally finished my Riva. Even though I say it myself I think she looks beautiful! I must admit I haven't put all the cleats on because the base of the cleats are flat and so small that I think they could easily get caught and broken off when I get round to sailing her. This could end up damaging the mahogany veneer.
To fit the forward chromed metal fittings I put a layer of masking tape on the bow then drew round the bases and cut out the shape with a modelling knife before roughing up the varnish and then gluing the fittings with 5 minute Araldite. The 4 engine air vents on the sides were a bit daunting to fit with the very fine 'Aquarama' lettering and also having to drill through the hull for each vent. I used cockpit glue as it is relatively ease to wipe away any excess. I had to nail the back strip on first so I drilled tiny holes so that I didn't have to use the hammer too much! I then chromed over the strip and the nail with the chrome pen I mentioned earlier in the blog. Unfortunately on one side strip there was a nail hole missing and 'try as I must' I could get my hand drill to create this tiny hole 0.3mm. Once in place The holes in the metal strip for the air vents show where to drill. I was surprised that I had to go through completely to hold the peg on the back of the air vents. I tried to epoxy the inside of the holes in order to seal the wood around the holes. I've fitted the seats to the floor with magnetic door catches so that I can easily remove the seats for cleaning. Eventually I will replace the floor with a planked floor but this wasn't part of the kit. I found using digital callipers useful to measure the size of the pegs on the fittings and then chose the appropriate drill bit. Because this has been my first build since my early twenties I have had to buying quite a lot of stuff and tools to complete the build. I would like to do another build but I don't think my hands are not up to that any more unfortunately.
I think the next stage is a bath tub test and then sit and admire it before I pluck up courage for the maiden voyage! I hope you have all found my blog interesting and helpful especially if you attempt this kit. I've learnt a lot along the way and had some sleepless nights wondering how to tackle certain things! Hopefully my blog will help you to avoid some of these deep searching thoughts!😊
After a test in a paddling pool at home it was off to the local model boat club in Bury for the maiden voyage - along with a bottle of fizz! It was such a beautiful day it was so perfect for a launch. After christening the boat it was time for the moment of truth - will she run OK! I'm pleased to say that she handled very well although I thought she might run a little faster. The bonus was she was perfectly dry inside - great! Perhaps a direct drive rather than going through the supplied gearbox that arrived with the motorising kit. Since I'm going to have it as a display model I'm not that bothered about the speed. Perhaps it is about the correct scale speed of the original boats than weren't fitted with dual V12 Lamborghini engines! Please see this video of the V12:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMxPhjcJeno
I have now bought a piece of 1.5mm ply so that I can create a planked floor area in the cockpit on top of this piece of ply. So that will be my next lot of work! The seats are fastened in with magnetic door catches so this will make it easy to replace the existing vinyl flooring. As well as this short video I also have a full video but it is 50mb!😊
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After a test in a paddling pool at home it was off to the local model boat club in Bury for the maiden voyage - along with a bottle of fizz! It was such a beautiful day it was so perfect for a launch. After christening the boat it was time for the moment of truth - will she run OK! I'm pleased to say that she handled very well although I thought she might run a little faster. The bonus was she was perfectly dry inside - great! Perhaps a direct drive rather than going through the supplied gearbox that arrived with the motorising kit. Since I'm going to have it as a display model I'm not that bothered about the speed. Perhaps it is about the correct scale speed of the original boats than weren't fitted with dual V12 Lamborghini engines! Please see this video of the V12:-
I have now bought a piece of 1.5mm ply so that I can create a planked floor area in the cockpit on top of this piece of ply. So that will be my next lot of work! The seats are fastened in with magnetic door catches so this will make it easy to replace the existing vinyl flooring. As well as this short video I also have a full video but it is 50mb!😊
Re Lamborghini, a little known fact, was that Bob Wallace from NZ was their development engineer in the early days (I didn't know myself till a few years ago, after I watched a video on Lamborghini history (they started making tractors) and picked up on the Kiwi accent.
Having seen another Aquarama built by Damian on Model Boat Mayhem I decided to follow his lead and replace the vinyl cockpit floor( as supplied in the kit) with a walnut planked floor. The planks are 6mm x 0.5mm walnut from Cornwall Model boats. I ordered 4 metres of them and I thought there would be plenty but I ran out before even starting the foot rests! I ended up having patch under the magnetic catches for the seats. I couldn't believe it - 4metres! I've separated the planking with 0.75 black rigging string. I eventually decided to order another 1 metre of walnut to do the foot rests so as to finish off the job properly! Needless to say the postage was 4x more than the plank!! I think it looks a lot better than white vinyl. Thanks to Damian Curzon-Price's great idea.😊
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Having seen another Aquarama built by Damian on Model Boat Mayhem I decided to follow his lead and replace the vinyl cockpit floor( as supplied in the kit) with a walnut planked floor. The planks are 6mm x 0.5mm walnut from Cornwall Model boats. I ordered 4 metres of them and I thought there would be plenty but I ran out before even starting the foot rests! I ended up having patch under the magnetic catches for the seats. I couldn't believe it - 4metres! I've separated the planking with 0.75 black rigging string. I eventually decided to order another 1 metre of walnut to do the foot rests so as to finish off the job properly! Needless to say the postage was 4x more than the plank!! I think it looks a lot better than white vinyl. Thanks to Damian Curzon-Price's great idea.😊
Great build
I see there is a similar build described in the October Model Boats Magazine.
Regards
Bill