This Higgins PT boat was built and sailed by a good friend of mine. it is scratch-built. it uses a single Turnigy 3639 1100kV brushless motor and LiPo battery. it is pretty new and has not had its number painted on as yet. its performance is excellent.

One month on, new photos showing progress made to date lower superstructure and wheelhouse made motors,props,shafts and Korts fitted in hull.
see you next month.

Zoom 1 (Interceptor) Mono boat.
Built from a Glassfibre hull, brought on Ebay for £35 the hull is a slim mono racing type with a self-righting side cabin it runs a 1400W 14V 2958 4200KV Brushless Motor and 29-S Water Cooling Jacket with additional air cooling fan.
I did not want to use a flexi drive as high maintenance and prone to failure so the shaft runs via two universal joint one at each end. the propeller is a 38mm copper alloy
The ESC is a 200W and water cooled the twin rudders supply separate water one for the motor and one for the ESC.
The rudder are positioned to reduce prop-walk and are hinged to prevent damage if you hit a object in the water and also for ride adjustment.

Turn fins and trim tabs for ride adjustment were provided by a spares kit for another boat. also foamed and added an inner sealed hatch, a rubber bump strip and safety loop.

Brought this vintage Aero Kits RAF Crash Tender for £50 from Newcastle area, it is the 34in version.
To my surprise at home I found that it had a Bullet 30 motor installed these motors were the top drawer motor of early fast electrics in the early 1980's and its the only one I've ever seen, it can run on 24v and pull around 15A giving 300w not bad for a brushed motor.
due to the power of this motor I have modified the hull under the water line with turn fins and trim tabs to reduce torque roll and improve turning stability, the underside is incorrect already as it only has one propshaft, where the original had two and I believe that both props turned in the same direction.

The Pictures here show some of the work in progress I have remounted the motor and added a speed controller rated at 24v
I have remade the stern compartment and rudder gear under it.
I have blocked windows and foamed the front half of the boat.
made missing parts and repaired delaminating ply.

Note old ply is not as good as modern, the glue is not as water resistant.

Have painted the hull and have just ordered the decals from Cornwall model Boats :-https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=hose%20fire&PN=becc_fire_tender%2ehtml#aB_2dFTS1_2e32

The 34in is 1/16 scale

Fitting can be brought but many are cast white metal and can add weight to the boat, I have made two water cannons and plan to buy plastic fittings from this site.

This has turned out to be a task that is difficult to assess how much effort and money to spend on a hull that has been built by someone else (say no more).
Have just finished the steps for the stern compartment.
Painted and now for the test run.
the Bullet 30 motor ran well between 14 and 18v,

PT 109 was one of the hundreds of motor torpedo boats (PT) of the PT 103 class completed between 1942 and 1945 by Elco Naval Division of Electric Boat Company at Bayonne, New Jersey. The Elco boats were the largest in size of the three types of PT boats built for U.S. use during World War II. Wooden-hulled, 80 feet long with a 20-foot, 8-inch beam, the Elco PT boats had three 12-cylinder Packard gasoline engines generating a total of 4,500 horsepower for a designed speed of 41 knots. With accommodations for 3 officers and 14 men, the crew varied from 12 to 14. its full-load displacement was 56 tons. Early Elco boats had two 20mm guns, four .50-caliber machine guns, and two or four 21-inch torpedo tubes. Some of them carried depth charges or mine racks. Later boats mounted one 40mm gun and four torpedo launching racks. Many boats received ad-hoc refits at advanced bases, mounting such light guns as Army Air Forces 37mm aircraft guns and even Japanese 23mm guns. Some PTs later received rocket launchers.

This Proboat PT 109 model was brought in 2013 for £100 these boats are rare now, This one had a few faults with the propshafts they were bent and noisy both were replaced, with quality 4mm shafts, motors twin 600s were also replaced by Graupner versions along with mounts and couplings, basically all the running gear, also two ESCs by Aquapower were added and a 2.4G RC system.

A 3 boat rowing rescue - a yacht that lost radio link, a rescue tug that got tangled in it's own rescue rope, and a stranded motor launch!

Perkasa MTB

A favourite model boat there must have been hundreds if not thousands made.
When I brought mine there was a choice between two sizes 36in (90cm) or 48in (120cm) and then you could choose between a wooden hull or a fibreglass hull. I went for the smaller boat with the fibreglass hull. this was back in the 1980s.

Background of the boat
The boats Perkasa class consisted of three motor torpedo boats built by Vosper (UK) for the Malaysian Navy as follows:-

Perkasa 150
Penula 151
Handalan 152

This model has 3 motors, port & starboard are Graupner 600s and one 700 type in the centre runs 3 ESCs front and rear guns operate via servos, with flashing LEDs down the barrels.

The Model is scratch built from Photos and profiles of the internet it is around 52 inches long and currently runs on two Graupner 700 turbo motors (14.4v) and dual Mtroniks 25A ESC (12v) running twin contra rotating 45mm props, this model can spin on its own axis like the real boat but does not use waterjets due to cost. Completed in 2017.

Whats a CB90

Its a Command Boat 90 originally built by Docstar in sweden and later also built in the USA under licence.
The boat has a multi role capability and has be used by the Army, Police, Coast Guard and Ambalence Service

Originally a Military craft for coastal waters and rivers with a shallow draft and powered by twin water jets this 15 ton Aluminum boat can deliver half a platoon directly on to beach heads via its landing craft type single man door at the bow.

This craft has excellent manoveraility and can crash stop ( go into full reverse and stop) in 1.5 x its length. No-wonder the american's wanted this boat.

Video of real boat

built from a Vernon plan using lite ply
27" Long x 6.75" Wide
30 amp esc
3 cell 5000mah lipo
1000kv Brushless Motor

Just about finished and soon to feel the water 'neath it's keel

Note the Futaba FG7 transmitter now converted to 2.4 ghz and has performed faultlessly since I acquired it in the 80s

Sorry about the mouthy woman on flog it and the noisy motor...greased it but still makes a lotta noise (the motor...not 'er)

As requested I have obtained some pics from Brian Clewes's Hovercraft.
The motors are 900 Kv with 80 amp Escs the lift fan is a 7 blade ducted fan, the thrust prop is a 12in x7in cut down to 10in.
Battery is 14.8v 5000Ma.

Just ran across this (compared with most others from the era) incredibly sharp photo, (right click the photo then left click 'Show photo' and then'+' and you'll see what I mean by sharp!!😉) apparently (allegedly?) a
'Vosper 70ft Motor Torpedo Boat V-252 at Greenock in January 1942. in the background is the Flower class Corvette HMCS Trillium(K172)'
(Which makes me wonder if OUR Trillium served on her!?)
+ 2 others! Research continues, I have an interest in both types 😉
Cheers Doug 😎