Thanks Lew, my choice would have to be a rescue craft of some sort or Tug helping others.
Cheers Colin.

A wise man once said
Growing old is not for the faint hearted

The strength shown by Colin and resilience shown by Lew to name but a few demonstrate this.

I’m a proud to be in the company of the older generation with members like this

I wish you all the best for the future Colin.

OK Colin, my younger friend (I got five years on you). If you scale us down and someone could put us in a fine rc model boat, one could say "we are both in the same boat". I am sure that is true with many others on this forum as well. You ask for no sympathy so I hope you accept my sense of humor.

Now, about that boat, what would you like it to be?

Lew

Thanks for all the encouragement shipmates, I will beat this problem someday.
Luckily my 11 year old grandson is keen, so I will be supervising him mostly. But he's got a steady hand and a good eye for detail so hopefully I will be able live my modelling life again through him.
As for my dead hands, I have 3 prolapsed vertebrae which is compressing my nerves to my lower arms and hands. The surgeon has told me that surgery now would only have about a 10% chance of success, or leave me with permanent paralysis. So I'll have to live with it.
Coping with life is made more difficult as I am the only driver and have to shuttle around my wife and daughter in law who are both disabled and doing daily school runs for the grandchildren.
So now I have shared my woes with you all, please don't offer sympathy, just accept I'm not perfect, but have learnt to accept my life.
Cheers shipmates, regards Colin.

Welcome back to the workbench Colin - I know what it is like to work with painful hands.

I also find that I drop a lot of things these days which is very annoying - more so because I have problems picking things back up again as cannot feel much with my fingers.

I had to laugh when I went for a blood test this week and I was asked to make a fist ! My fingers won’t fold in that far anymore and my two small fingers won’t fold in at all !

When working on my model boats I actually forget about these problems most of the time as I have learned to adapt and automatically find that I hold tools differently and work differently to accommodate it, so I hope you will find the same once you get started.

Painting remains a hateful job as I keep dropping the paint brush - and trying to paint a straight line only reminds me that my hands shake as well !

Stay with it Colin - don’t give up - it’s good therapy!

Bob.

Hi Colin, glad to hear you might be getting back to your life again, and perhaps back to some modelling which might be therapeutic. Re numbness in the hands, - maybe carpal tunnel? I started getting that while restoring a motorbike, then found when I finally started riding, that my hands went completely numb after about 15mins and I couldn't feel if I was hanging on or not, and had to stop and let the feeling come back. Eventually found I had carpal tunnel syndrome and had to give up riding (after 50yrs) Had an op on my left hand about 8yrs ago which fixed that side. Tips of my fingers are still a bit numb and not much feeling, but a lot better. Right hand still could do with fixing but I don't ride any more so not a problem. Good luck getting back to 'normal'

JB

Hi Colin, we're all looking forward to seeing you back.

Hang in there Colin! Sending good vibes.
👍🏻😉

Colin its so sorry to hear about your continuous miseries. You are here for you.

Collin good to have some news from your end and not what we would like to hear!!! I hope you can forget 2025 as soon ad possible and start 2026 full of joy and in good health for yourself ad well as your family!!! And that we receive again building progress of a new model !!!!

Hello Colin it’s been some time since we’ve chatted here.

What are the specialists saying about your numbness in the hands?

Sorry guys, but health problems got in the way again. Getting better slowly but no feeling in both hands makes life quite difficult.
Sold 22 of my fleet on Sunday at the Cwmbran model boat open day and managed to sail 3 of my boats, Caroline, Valiant and my grandson's Witte Zea.
Now have the space to modify my workshop to cope with my health issues.
Will definitely be back modelling as soon as I can.
Cheers Colin.

Thanks JB food for thought, I have lots of brushed motors, it's just that people keep saying how much better it would be with brushless. My "Caroline" launch runs for up to 6 hours depending on throttle use with a 7ah 12v sla, plus its over 5 feet long.
And can get up on the plane.
Cheers Colin.
PS, sorry for delay, have been to hospital with my wife since Friday evening, so no progress at present.

I find jbkiwi's reviews and advice very intelligent, technical but also very useful for their strong practical focus.

Thank you JB!!!!! I will come back at you when I start my 48" Chris Craft Corvette! These notes are a goldmine.

I shelved the Bluebird K-7 for a bit as further EDF research is becoming a blind alley. More on that later.

Hi Colin,

glad you are starting to get back to modelling after everything that's happened 😊

With a model of 48", it might be an expensive exercise to use a brushless motor, if your finances are limited at the moment. You would probably need something like a 34/48 (diam and length) x 1000 KV (revs/min/V) brushless outrunner (or water cooled in runner), with a 50-60A max load capability,- at least a 60A brushless ESC (fan cooled or water cooled) and a 3 or 4 cell LiPo (depending on the motor and ESC max input/cell count rating) You would also need a LiPo charger. Gets expensive and still requires a lot of experimenting to get the best performance.

SLA or lead acid batteries might not have the current rating to match a brushless motor, as brushless motors of 35 diam can pull anything upwards of 30A (maybe 80A depending on the motor) and would drain them in minutes, and might overheat them.

You could put a smaller brushless setup in the boat, and run it as a cruiser if your grandson is not a speed freak. For a reasonable performance, I would go for either a 550 brushed motor, (for cruising) or twin 550s which would be better suited for your batteries. You can get very good performance from brushed motors if set up properly (especially using LiPos or Li-ion). Here are a couple of my boats running twin brushed motors. The ST has twin 550 45T motors, twin Hobbywing 30A ESCs and uses 2x 2200mah LiPos, - the runabout uses twin 550 high speed 12-18v internal fan cooled motors and twin high voltage (12v) ESCs, and uses 2x 3S 3000mah LiPos.

The ST is 40" and the runabout is 33" and both around 5.5Lbs to give you an idea. Stiletto has a 37/56 x1600kv heli motor and 60A fan cooled Hobbywing crawler ESC. Uses a 3s 3000mah LiPo. has a cable drive setup.

All these motors, shafts and ESCs etc can be bought from Ali Express at reasonable prices.
Another suggestion is, (if you are not keen on LiPos) if you can find a Li-ion battery pack (say 2.4Ah) and charger combo cheap enough, this would be an ideal, safe means of powering your model for brushed or brushless setups. Simple and safe to use and charge. You just need to make an adaptor to plug into the pos and neg battery terminals, ( they will usually have 3 terminals,- one is for balancing the cells) I've recently built a portable field charger/12v battery drill power etc using this idea.

Hope this gives you some idea. There are so many variables that it's impossible to be specific, mainly down to a 'suck it and see' trial and error process. Let me know if you need info on any of the gear I've used.

JB

Hi.
I also have just picked up this model for completion, I have a set of drawings/plans with it that I can try and have copied if they would be of any use to anyone - just cover cost of copying & postage??
Nick.

Please note that I am not “nit picking” but I have seen a couple of references to working monitors on the Fireboat. This would be almost impossible at this scale as they are not water monitors but foam monitors. They would project a smelly yellow white foam. However artistic licence would allow you to use water.

Chrisfo, good looking model but totally different boat which didn't have the water/foam monitors.
Enjoy your refurb and show us what you can do.
Cheers Colin.

Got my one out the loft at mum's
House today
My dad started to rebuild but he passed. Before he could finish it
I am looking for parts for the boat
Mainly air vents into boat
And fire fighting equipment
Yours looks like the same model i have
Should have been twin screw but my Dad
Had converted to single screw
See photo

Great job Doug.

Thanks for the reply ColinH.

Good evening Alessandro, so far all my previous models run brushed motors, apart from 1 which is a job in progress, but temporarily on hold as the motor and esc were given to me by my son just before his death. I will carry on with that one once I can touch his stuff without the painful memories. People keep telling me that brushless are the best for speed models, so as my previous experience is only with vintage brushed models. That's why I have a good stock of lead acid batteries. I can sail most of my boats for 6+ hours without a battery change.
I have brushless in my 3 drones, dji phantom 3 professionals. But as they are already built when purchased my knowledge is blank.
Good night, 5.30am start tomorrow .
Cheers Colin.

Hi Colin, good evening to you.

A curiosity: did you choose brushless to have a new experience to try them or because you prefer them to brushed?
In that case why do you think they are better for a naval model?
I'm curious to know your opinion.

I can't help you in the choice because I have very little experience (only theory) of brushless I could lead you into error.
I'm sorry but I'm sure you will receive a lot of useful information in this forum, as is already happening.

Thanks Doug, I knew you would sort it.
Caroline sends her best wishes to you, as do I.
Cheers Colin.

Hi Bill,
You can't use the 'myaccount' link to guide to your Build Blog, cos that link only works for you as the account holder.
Everyone else will see a jump to their own Blogs - if any!
Link below should work, copied when actually on your Blog found via your Profile.
Cheers, Doug😎


https://model-boats.com/blogs/62884

Alessandro good evening,
I am still looking for potential motor esc setups, I want to go brushless, but want to use sla 12v 7ah batteries as I have plenty.
So if anyone has any ideas for what I need then please post the details.
I will also be fitting it with working monitors as on my old 34" model, that's what I've been told to do by Lynk, (my grandson).
As most of you that know me, I have only a little spare time each day since the loss of my son. But I have agreed to try and get it done in time for Lynk's birthday on 9th August.
I already checked my stock and have 2.4ghz 6 channel rc system. All paint, and lacquer, fibreglass tissue and ezekote to cover the hull.
So shopping list is quiet short, thank God as wallet is very depleted.
Cheers Colin.

Hi Colin,

I have almost finished my refurbishment

My model is just under 36" long, and there's details about the electronics / motor etc on my build page if it will help Hoping to do my test run on a lake v soon, but it ran well in the paddling pool on the lawn recently!

Good luck - it looks just like my Aerokits model
I think I put the plans I have in my build page, but I have 2 documents - 2xPlans, and How to assemble

Regards,
Bill

Here's the link to my build page:

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

My model is just under 36" long, and there's details about the electronics / motor etc there if it will help Hoping to do my test run on a lake v soon, but it ran well in the paddling pool on the lawn recently!

Good luck - it looks just like my Aerokits model
I think I put the plans I have in my build page, but I have 2 documents - 2xPlans, and How to assemble
Regards,
Bill

Do you already have in mind which electrical setup to put on board (motor, esc, batteries) and which propeller or are you still thinking about it?

Hi Colin, I can't wait to see the master at work.
As I said, I admire and envy those who restore and revive models.

Now removed that lovely little "Taycol Star" motor (that's one for my vintage collection).
This was never radio controlled, but a free runner with a fixed rudder and just a motor which was set to run forwards only.
Almost all joints need re-glueing as the original glue has given up. Plus all the nail heads are proud of the surface.
Work should start at the weekend if no emergencies happen.
Cheers Colin.

Aye! And a very worthy project that one Colin! Keep the pix coming!

I am busy restoring a RAF Crash Tender as well. Will post some pictures.