This boat was built from Vic Smeed's Silver Mist design, from the fifties I think. The boat is 36'' long by 9''. it is planked in obeche on 6mm birch ply frames with solid blocks for the bow and lower stern sections, epoxied on the inside. it is powered by an MFA geared 500 motor- 2.5:1 I think with a 7.2v NIMH battery. There were one or two details to complete when these photos were taken at Crealy in Exeter- there still are to be honest! I thought I'd add this in as I'm so Impressed with the look of this new site.

I have admired this design for many years, along with a lot of Vic Smeed's drawings.
This model is enlarged by 1.7 giving a length of 36'' and a scale of 1:16. The finished boat weighs about 15 1/2lbs and is powered by an MFA 919D 540 with 2.5:1 reduction, using an Mtroniks ESC and Planet 2.4ghz radio.
The hull was planked in obeche on 6mm ply keel and frames with mahogany blocks at bow and stern. The photos were taken on her maiden voyage at Crealy in Exeter.

first time on the water for my latest build, 23" model of british power boat co. 68ft type 3 hants and dorset raf high speed launch,
power is speed 400 driving 35mm three bladed prop, 7.2volt 3300mha nimh planet 2.4 ghz radio,
scratch built, I used scaled down drawings from my aerokits plans then gave the frames more shape to replicate the curves of this boat, the forward section where diaganally planked.
then sides and bottm as normal with sheet ply, deck is teak planks.
I sail on the rotary pool at penzance.

Had a full refurb but still need the window frames making when I can get round to it . Goes really well with a Graupner 700BB Neodym on 14.4 volts. Still trying to find the right prop, but pretty close now to getting it right . Aim to getting it up to 19.2 volt
Should really fly then.

This boat was scratch built from Harold Underhill plans, available still from Brown,Son and Ferguson. The hull was mahogany on 6mm ply frames. The engine was a Caton from Maxwell Hemmens supplied bya gas-fired Cheddar Puffin boiler. The propeller was a two inch four bladed brass job from Rivabo I think. The displacement of the boat is 25lb- a bit of a lump to carry to the water but it does work well once in the water. She has now been converted to electric using a MFA geared 540 type motor witha 7.5ah lead acid gel cell. Looking again at this video I begin to wish I had left it as steam but there is something to be said for 'switch on and go'.
I started building the boat in the mid nineties and it has now had a repaint- it always been a favourite. This video was taken in the early noughties at Crealy in Exeter.

puffer scratch built made from old wardobe plywood
for the frames then plated up in thin ply like it would be when built looks nice in the water.

puffer scratch built made from old wardobe plywood
for the frames then plated up in thin ply like it would be when built looks nice in the water.

This is BG Coulies built by Geoff Lewis. its a French Harbour tug that he built following an article in a well know magazine, advertising a set of plans, thanks to the office photocopier he saved himself several quid.

Coullies is driven by 2 550 motors driving Graupner scothell drives (not yet independantly controlled). 12v 4ah Gell battery and some roofing lead makes up the balast.

The frames are 3mm MDF with a balsa and ply skin built to 1/32 scale, the figure sat on the anchor winch used to be a German infrantry man. He recently obtained some Beccs transfers to add some more finishing touches including the french flag.

What does Coullies mean? (pronounced cooee) find a dictionary...

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.