I have just acquired this model via a swap for my Al Khubar Tug. I am in the process of deciding which actual lifeboat to model. This is based on the Metcalfe Moulding and is 1/12 scale at 52". in its present condition it has two Buhler motors and some early ESC's. Power is from a 12v 7Ahr dry cell. it looks great on the water but duration is not that great. I am preparing for a complete rebuild including re-prop shafting and different motors. I may rebuild the cabin as the moulding I have was only used on 5 Arun's and I may not be able to get enough details. I have sourced a plan and have detail pictures for City of Glasgow 111 (needs new cabin). Awaiting a book "RNLI Motor Lifeboats" from Amazon to help me progress. The present crew will have to be relocated to a 16th scale model! if I remember to take photos I will post a build blog.

A friend, found this boat in a junk shop, Unloved and done up as a cabin cruiser.and asked me if I could rescue if for him. So I did, id just like to thank everyone on the site for posting there pictures and information as it made the job a whole lot easier for me.

This is my Sea Hornet which was rescued from Ebay see photo 1. Gray (Froggyt996) recognised it as a Sea Hornet even with the hideous cabin attched which the prvious owner had made. Also see the propshaft angle in photo 1 - would this have ever worked? Gray again restored this for me, I wanted a mahogany boat which looked like an italian speedboat and this is what he did for me see photo 2. Photo 3 sees the Sea Hornet on the sea at Southsea just after the start of the Round Britain Race in 2008. The receiver battery failed and a very nice Lifeboat Man from Southsea happened to be watching me run the boat and rescued it when it stopped running. it was put in dry dock over this winter to be tidied up again after a couple of years constant use and photo 4 sees it with its 2 new screens, re-varnished and 2 new rubbing strake. it is powered by 2 Graupner Speed 600 motors, a Ripmax sea sprint watercooled speed controller and 2 x 3 blade prop shop props on 2 x light weight shafts. it is also filled with bouyancy foam it case the inevitable happens which makes it quite heavy. it is ran on 2 x 8.4 volts nicad sticks and gives me a running time of approx. 20 minutes with quite a good turn of speed.
Marie (alias Mrs Froggyt996)

a few more photos of my crash tender, mainly of interior layout which I hope is of interest to you all, the bow section and foreward cabin I have filled with expaded foam, just in case the unforseeable happens. would like to see how others have done interior fit out.
chiffs

this model was from the sixtys just got the hull and cabin
the cabin has been wired 12v it has an m f a 850 motor which
is water cooled just been tried once the speed controller
failed so try again ? will update as I go along

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.

This is my ** version of the Sea Queen. My father owns one of the originals and when one lunch time I saw one on the ** web site I knew I had to get one.
It was to be a winter build project and work started in the autumn of 2006 and it was launched in May 2007. I was very disappointed to see the all white paint finish used on the ** advertisements and decided I was going to re-create the look of the original. Cosmetically the big problem was that the original used mahogany finish ply for the cabin sides and the ** version was just plain birch. However after a bit of staining I was quite happy with the finished colour. This was contrasted against clear coated lime wood deck planking.
Also ***a€™s bag of fittings missed out on the signature life belts so I had to make my own.

One Improvement that I did make was the inclusion of a dashboard, instrument panel and throttle slide.

The graphic on the transom was a custom cut from callie-graphics.

The supplied motor was replaced with an MFA Torpedo 850 which is a direct replacement. ( Same mount, same screw fixing centres etc ).
Battery is a 12V 7A gel cell, ESC is an Mtronics Marine Viper 40A

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.

She's an RAF Seaplane tender, Scratch built from FROG plans and is around 30 years old.

Power is now by Electric motor, but it was originally "Diesel" powered. I sail on Southchurch park pond, Southend on sea Essex.

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.

John called this model "Nancy Dancer". it started of with plans from 'Nexus Plans Service' for Vic Smeed's 'Vivacity'. John used the hull only plans and created everything else himself. it ended up LOA 49" with a beam of 17". With the 12VDC battery the weight came to 23 1/2#.

Because of his basic 'Sedan Cruiser' he designed all the mechanicals and electricals beneath the main cabin floor, including the battery. There was quite a bit of detail put into the main cabin - unfortunately not shown in the photos - including a galley, eating area, furniture and the helmsman's station. The scale is 1" = 1ft.

This hull is plank on frame using 1/8" pine planks. Below the waterline there's epoxy & glass and above there is just epoxy. All the brightwork, cabin housing & decks is natural Cherry with a clear urethane finish.

The power is a Dumas 12VDC motor with a mechanical speed control. The bottom photo shows that he added a 2:1 gearbox to the motor and ran it in reverse to increase the prop RPMs. He also included a constant running fan to cool the motor due to the confinement of the space.

The single propellor is 2" - 2 pitch - 3 bladed bronze. As on all his models he used a 2 channel JR XR2 75 mhz.