This model was scratch built from US Coast Guard plans. The boat is constructed of balsa wood and the hull coated with fiberglass resin. All the deck gear is scratchbuilt from brass, the propellers, led's and figures are the only commercial parts. Scaled at 3/4=1 foot the model measures 42 inches in length.
It's powered by a Pittman 12 volt motor and controlled by a 4 channel radio. Working features are running and spot light, siren with flashing blue light, sweeping radar antenna and deck lights. Built in 1985 the model the lifeboat is accurate in appearence for that time period.(The prototype has been modified since).
The actual lifeboat is attached the the Coast Guard's Motor Lifeboat School at Cape Disappointment and is one of four boats of this class.
Owing it's origin to the RNLI lifeboats of the 19th century, the US Coast Guard 36'MLB saw service from 1900 to 1987. The USCG built over 300 boats of this class in various "mods" spanning it's life history. Constructed of wood and fitted with a bronze keel it was powered by a 4 cylinder engine later modified with a diesel motor. Early powered 36' boats carried oars and sails as auxillary power. My 36500 model was based on the famous Chatham Lifeboat Station in Massachusetts, USA. On Febuary 18, 1952 the CG 36500 rescued the 32 survivors of the tanker PENDLETON during a night time nor'easter storm. Without radio or radar the Coast Guardsmen found the stricken T-2 tanker in the blizzard, taking the crew off one at a time. With each pass of the lifeboat a tanker crewman climbed down a rope ladder and "fell" into the lifeboat. With all on board, the 36500 found it's way back to Chatham harbor much to the delight of the towns people and the Coast Guard! The most amazing fact regarding this rescue was that the 36 footers were only designed to carry 19 people, including the 3 man CG crew, without capsizing.
The model was scratchbuilt of balsa strips and aircraft plywood, using official USCG blueprints. Powered by a 6 volt motor and a 2 channel radio, the Chatham lifeboat is pleasure to run in my local pond.
Thanks Mike, I must try balsa. Just now I'm using 3mm pine planks which take some clamping while the glue dries. Like you, I resin wash the finished hulls inside and out.Regards, Ian.
Purchased secondhand, upgraded to a proper motor esc rather than the original/factory on/off micro switch for the motor power. Running a graupner 600 race motor and 7.4 lipo, basically just to run the brushes in on the motor before raising the battery voltage,
bit of a shaky video but try holding the transmitter and filming at same time on your own [ha ha].
it does have the capacity to move a ot faster, but would sooner work the motor in fully first
Hi" to all model boat builders. I thought I would add my new project to this fireboat website for all to see ! I bought this from fleabay as a total wreck. She is a rare Scratch built from a plan of a Walton Thames RAF ASRL launch at 36 inch long & 8 inch wide.took me approx 6 months to do the rebuild. Brush painted with 5 assorted colours with decals working lights ect.
Walton Thames is now running on a new Johnston speed 600 electric motor. 50 amp speed controller 45mm pitched propeller.A 6 volt at4.ah which gives good running time & good scale speed. Photos are taken at Eaton park Norwich England. Enjoy. 😊
My next project will be a 1950s Aerokits/Keilcraft Sea hornet. " So watch this space "
Thank you fellow model boatmen for your kind comments.
on my model boat builds
Yes it would be a very good idea for a build blogg on my next project . 😉 A Prestney
this is my new build of a 60inch fire tender,bought plans from a ebay member in canada who resized them to 60 inch very large boat,don't know what size motor or prop to install so if anyone can help please advise me. would a 60 to 70mm propellor be okay on a boat this size? I will post more pics as I progress with the build. this boat is now in the build blog section with more pics of build
Yours will be a jolly nice craft when completed, its large however, and with the proper turn of speed it will use up a lot of water space very quickly. My fireboat is a mere 46" propelled by two Johnson 980's on 12v but it fair gobbles up water space and my local pond at Sheringham is completely useless.
Keep up the good work.mdlbt.com/sys_files/graphics/smileys/027.png
I agree, that's why my 46inch is kept in Tynemouth where ther is a large lake compared to my local club in Warwickshire. Still it gives me the excuse to have multiple models of different sizes and my Derek old mum loves the idea she keeps my boats for me in the NE. Too muh information ????
bought this 50inch hull off ebay and thought I would try a make a boat just with my own idears and this is how it turned out,powered by a 720bb motor,12inch propshaft and a 60mm 3 blade brass propellor.all built from odd bits of wood in my shed. installed wood in bottom and then filled with a two part epoxy resin
My own Dusseldorf,powered by origninal robbe navy direckts as these give more than sufficient power to propel the boat at a reasonable speed, all fire monitors operate to fire water and rotate, nav lights, radar, engine sound and fog horn.
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.
It is a Sirmar limited edition (100) semI kit at 1/48 scale and some 6 feet in length. When he bought the model it was already constructed, but as a static model. So out came the jigsaw, Manual NOT powered.
The deck around the aft gun turret was cut to allow a good inspection of the inside of the hull. He tried to remove the bridge superstructure but this would have meant destroying it to remove. Out came the jigsaw again and cut an access hatch in the main deck.
The steering servo was fitted and attached ( by keyhole surgery ) and 2 x MFA 800 motors were fitted. Scale Prop Shop Props were fitted and the radio gear just jury rigged for her first trial. She was roughly ballasted with 2 x 12volt 7Ah batteries and she was ready for her first trials.
She sailed well with no water ingress to the hull, so the radio gear was installed properly with individual speed controllers to each motor. The results are as seen here.
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.
