Hi, I have just acquired one of these tug boats. it is in need of some restoration. Do you know of any where I can get a copy of plans for this model please. I have been in touch with the manufactures and they basically said they have nothing for this Amsterdam model so it looks like it is going to be a job and half to restore it but it will be done. Could I ask what scale size figures you have on yours please and where did you purchase them from. Regards Bob
W165 was built by Roger Forlines, he's a member of Shelton Scale Ship Modelers R/C boat club.
This boat took six months to build and is to Scale as laid down by model manufacture, the boat was weathered to depict a long voyage on the north seas.
Also, the Jim Wilder tug, this took four months to build and has been built to look like a turn of the century steam tug which worked the San Fransisco bay area.
I rescued my PT Boat from EBAY in August 2005. it was owned by a young boy in Birmingham whose Dad had built if for him. it is an original Aerokits kit Fast Patrol Boat. When I bought the boat it had a sound hull with a few damaged fittings, which I removed. Since then I have made new guns, extended the front cabin to carry the life raft to make it look like a late World War II Elco PT Boat and added other new fittings.
I have made 6 working exhausts in brass tubing, have fitted a new open prop shaft running an Octura race prop and a Merco 61 glow engine. it still needs torpedos, guard rails around the machine gun turrets and a few other fittings. The number 349 is from an original Pacific Theatre 80' Elco PT Boat whose name in Bee Bee, which I hope to add at a later date.
I have also painted it in an original Pacific Theatre camouflage from a PT Boat book which I bought for reference and to make it look like a standoff scale model. This boat was also photographed by the local Burton Upon Trent newspaper at the Fireboat day in September 2006. I ran this boat at the Burton Model Boat Club's Fireboat day in September 2006 briefly until I broke the exhaust manifold and had to retire it early.
The Hugh William Viscount Gough built by Debbie and Alan
This is the Hugh William Viscount Gough. She is a solent class lifeboat. She went into service in 1963 as the Stornoway lifeboat. She was there for around twenty years.
She then went on to Barra and ended her service at Dunbar. She was sold in 1993 and is now out in Malaysia.
I have scratch built her from the hull up. She has a fibre glass hull and the super structure is made from plasticard. She took four weeks to build. I have some bits and bobs to do to her.
She runs on two MFA 850 torprdos, but I am going to down size to 800's.
We sail her at Mote park Maidstone most Sundays and also at shows.
I agree with Larryshaw48. Many of the members of this site have a general interest in vintage boats including the fireboats, I'm one of them! Other categories are available to cater for that and it keeps the site busy and of broad interest. it also helps build a data and information archive for others to access - a vintage boat treasure chest! The more the merrier I say 😊
HI Alan and Debbie
Nice to see your Aerokits Solent still going strong 😊 . My original kit sails infrequently but I really enjoy sailing her. I intend to update the control from a Bobs board to twin Mtronic ESc's but will keep the two Bhuler motors and 12v 18Ahr SlA. I also need to update the number I originally allocated as mine still has the original Watertight door. Thanks to the internet, this and other on line modelling sites I can now make the model represent an original lifeboat. I enjoy looking at all 😊 model boat pictures and my Aerokits Crash Tender was restored with help from this site. I have a model tug that has fire monitors fitted and I intend to make them operational. Previous attempts showed up my poor soldering in the connection piping 😟 . I agree with thelegos.
Dave
This lifeboat was a part-kit from Metcalfe Mouldings, being just a bare hull and superstructure. All the detailed work was scratch- built by my son and I did all the drive and electrics.
It is powered by two 540 motors through a single water-cooled speed controller and the props are about 35mm. My son and I sail it at our club water at Knightcote in Warwickshire. it is now about 4 years old and, (touch wood), pretty reliable.
The Sea Queen is an original Aerokits kit from the early 1960's. it was built by my Dad in the early 1960's. it was originally fitted with an ED Seaotter, next it had a Channel island Special, then a 15cc Gannett and finally fitted with the OS 80 which it still has fitted today.
I sail at King Lear Lake at Watermead County Park in Wanlip Leicestershire. it sat in my attic for 22 years and 2 years ago I dragged it out and gave it a bit of TLC and started to use it again and it has been ran most weekends for the last 2 years.
I ran this boat virtually all day of the Burton Model Boat Club's Fireboat day in September 2006. it is currently in dry dock having a full de-barnacle and repaint.
The hull of this model was my own design in 2004 and was sailed for 2 years, and then a new upper decks and battery system were added during the winter of 2005. The hull performed well enough but my original cabin design was too crude to keep.
The boat shown here depicts my effort to copy a 1958 ChrisCraft Cabin Cruiser at a scale of 1" = 1'.
The hull is 1/8" thick pine planks on frames with hand cut Walnut decking and 3/16" Walnut cabin sides. No epoxy or glass was used on the hull - just a good paint job.
The big change was to replace a bulky & heavy 12VDC leac acid battery with 9 AA dry cells connected in series. Bathtub testing indicated I could expect about 2 hours running time at full speed and that estimate was about right. A Dumas 12VDC motor and mechanical speed control were used with a JR XR 2 control.
The reduction in battery weight made a very large speed and appearance difference. Availability of the AA cells was an economic plus.
"BOO BOO Kitty" is a scale model of a Crosby designed Cape Cod Cat Boat.[USA] it was built from scratch at a scale of 9.04" = 1"; the model being 26.5" oal.
The dimensions were taken from a book that highly detailed the building of a real Cat Boat.
The hull is plank-on-frame with epoxy and glass cloth as the final surface. A separate and detachable fin keel was used for sailing of the centerboard model.
Radio controls were a Hitec sail winch [HS-785HB] and one servo for the rudder with a 2 channel JR transmitter.
Copying the book plans, scaling them down, and construction took up the winter of 2006/2007. The model is sailing better than anticipated on a local lake in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
This boat is a cabin cruiser. it is powered by 2 dumas 12 volt motors, one motor fried. This boat minus elecs and motors is for sale at 75.00 plus shipping.
Had it in water this year about 1 month ago. This boat you will not find anymore. The plans are included with it.
These pictures are of a scale model of Captain Joshua Slocum's "Spray". it was sailed around the world, singlehanded between 1895-1898. Slocum re-built a Delaware oysterman hull in Fairhaven, MA and had been a gift to him.
After reading of his exploits in an original copy of his book, 'Sailing Alone Around The World' 1899 The Century Co., John copied the drawings that were in the book, established a scale for each and then converted those scales to just one - 1"=14.6" and proceeded to make a model of the famous boat. At that time [2003-2004] there was a commercial kit available but after much research John concluded that he had enough information from the book to build his own version. Actually the available kit contained some mis-information about the boat and that settled the matter.
The model was built plank-on-frame and then covered with epoxy/glass since it was intended for RC. He sailed her during the summer of 2004 and was quite pleased with her performance. An opportunity to sell the model came to him and he did so in January 2005.
