This is a aero -naut toben tug it is kit built it has a aero-naut 6v geared motor it runs on a 6v 4amph sealed battery has a old type speed controller sliding arm type the battery last in excess of two hours its great with korts nossole steering the hull and cabin are abs and the most water proof boat I have ever sailed on Southport model boat club one of the fleet have changed the set up have a old mfa electro thottle esc in instead now yet to try the new setup
The way that I do my hull plating is......to use printer paper about 90gsm, and divide the hull up into approriate lines horizontal and vertical to represent the plating once the hull is sanded and smooth of course.
then cut the paper into the sizes that you need to represent the hull plating.
then thin down waterproof PVA glue so that is like double cream and then to represent the plate joggling lay each piece onto the edge of a steel rule so thar about 1/8th is overlapping and then run your thumb nail along the edge of the rule this will give you a joggled edge, repeat if you need more than one joggle per plate, have a practice first and see how easy it is.
then just stick tmen onto the hull using the PVA glue remembering to overlap the joggles ( I like that word). Easy peasy.
once every thing is really hard and dry ,give the paper two or three coats of the PVA all over and it dries like glass.
Hi, I'm sorry if these pictures are on here already, I did search through and couldn't see any.... I'm after a few peoples opinion on colours etc 💭 As the pictures are all black and white (grey scale) it is difficult to get the colours correct. A lot of model boats seem to be grey on the deck with white roofs, some with wooden decking, some just white and any number of variations. I'm trying to rebuild mine to be as close to the real thing as possible. in my opinion it looks like the top is all in white (as it matches the shade of the "FIRE" sign). The handrails appear to be brass ends with wooden rails?? Most of the other fittings seem to be either white to match the boat or silver for the tie-offs. The spot light seems to be darker than the monitors so I'm not sure if that is a dark silver or maybe black? Any thoughts??? 😉
I was sailing my 34" fireboat at Portsmouth's Canoe Lake a couple of weekends ago when someone came up to me and said he had been a member of the crew on one of the two actual Vosper Fireboats, and that the cabin sides should be a light blue colour and not grey as on my model - ( I still like the look of the grey though! )
Regards
Chris
There is much talk about colours on these old craft,some say Grey, others say Light Blue, and again White also comes into play, These craft were only in service for between 5 and 6 years, during their time in service they underwent maintainance and modification, I have spoken to guys who served on them and on one occasion they had not got enough paint to repaint the mast white, so it got painted Brown, how many of you out there have ever seen one of these craft with a Brown mast?, also you will see that 93 had no breeches connector behind the main cabin, 94 did, most photo's avilable of 93 show no suction hoses on the aft well foam boxes, 94 did, look closely at the photo's and you will clearly see two different types of monitors fitted and in one photo you can clearly see one of each, for what its worth my opinion is Pick a date Pick a colour, I know what we painted ours as taken from V/T drawings.
Best of luck, kind regards,
Pete D.
Since my last posting I have spent weeks stripping the paint, refilling where required and have had to make new roof and floor sections, worst part has been been the front windows as these were totally rotten once the old paint was removed, and making new ones was hard because the old frames they attach to is warped. I still have not fitted them yet as I'm looking to paint and glaze first.
Another boat the same as mine seen on a local auction site. Anybody have any ideas as to the manufacturer ?. The dimensions are L 31", W 71/2", H 7" and by the looks of it were Ic powered (or at least mine was and was later changed to electric). Hulls are balsa and planked to 1st 1/4 then finished to the stern with with longer angle cut 'planks'. Cabin top is ply sides with balsa roof and deck is ply and has printed ? planking.
Someone will know but I haven't been able to pin it down to any kit even after going through all my 60s and 70s Model Boat mags.
Thanks for that bit of info Steve, will head off on that tack and scour the high seas of the internet for any sightings of a vessel of that name. Will let you know if I find her.
HI Steve, thanks for pointing me in that direction, you were close with the Maycraft and they do look a bit similar, but sorry, no cigar. Your suggestion led me to the Vintage Modelworks site and I was told it is a 'FAIRACRE 11, luxury Thames cruiser' built from Modelmaker plan 709 and designed by Philip Conolly (late 50s - 60s) you were correct on the date though and now I can give it a name, (even if it does sound like a piece of farmland!)
Mystery solved and thanks to Mike Cummings of Vintage Modelworks for his info. I have found there are still plans available as well and I may purchase one just for the hell of it to go with the boat. Bit of a coincidence to find 2 of these unusual subjects here in NZ, be interesting to know when they were built and where, (may have even been Imported by people coming to live here) next question,- has anyone built one ?
Purchased from ebay and as you can see the boat has many problems paint peeling middle roof missing engine seized rudder Broken, but on the plus side the wood is undamaged. The boat comes from the original owner who built from a kit in 1964 And kept in his loft for years, I will post more pictures as rebuild progresses.
HI fellow model boat people,just a couple of photos showing a rescued aerokits sea queen circa late 50s.
This was in poor condition, work was started mid January to strip down the various parts that required to be remade, deck/superstructure/roof panels/windows etc.
The hull needed stripping back to give a good surface for the finished paint work.
Completion of the basic boat is now getting near, and ready for fitting out with motor radio etc.
Hope to give more details later.
Cheers for now.
Hello Bob ,Finally got started on the fireboat. Have stripped all the paint and varnish from the deck up and also inside the hull. Now have separated all the cabin roofing and upper bulkheads for access to the keel which has delaminated in places. The complete shaft just pulled out of the hull, the glue had no adhesion at all and a new oil fed shaft will be fitted. The next job will be to strip the paint on the hull, check it out and glass laminate it. More photos soon. Regards Graeme.....
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...
