Stunning weather most model boaters would be jealous of. Warm, but not hot! Very gentle breeze. No rain! But not many showed up. Wait 'till the summer comes" No complaints about it being too hot for model boats!

Anyway, I wanted to get back to my trawler with another video. This time on board with my old GoPro. Had some issues with the battery packs slipping inside the hull. I'm going to remove the one for the lighting as I don't use them anyway. Then I will add some fixed ballast in the bottom. The video with the camera (and waterproof housing) on the top of the pilot house made the boat heel quite a bit. Going to try for some more on board videos in the near future on my other boats.

Got the 4 minute YouTube link here:
I hope you enjoy it!

Lew

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After about 6yrs of the model being 'laid up', I thought it was about time to get it back in 'survey' again, and get some better videos with new camera. Checked it over, cleaned the smoke system (glycerin mixture had separated) oiled everything up and off to the pond. Ran as well as ever and everything still worked which was pleasing.

For those who missed the build blog way back, the model is 36", glass over strip planked balsa, has twin 28mm 2000kv inrunners with twin 60A car escs, twin GT Power sound units, a smoke and water exhaust system (developed by myself and Graham 96, -which he and Mike Turpin successfully fitted to their excellent fireboats) and lighting. Uses 2 -2s 2200mah LiPos for the motors, and an 1800mah 2s LiPo for the air and water pumps.

Boat was shipped to the RNZAF in 1940 and was eventually sold to a private owner in the late 50s. It is still around in Auckland after suffering 3 major modifications to the coamings, and is now fully airconditioned, and can be operated from an I Pad. Today powered with a Detroit 8V96 in place of twin Grey Marine (Detroit) 671s, which replaced the 3 original Napier sea lions. Did 38knts with the 3 Napiers, (1500hp) and does 22knots today with a single 500hp Detroit. It was the only one of the 22 built to be sold in the southern hemisphere. The only other one running is HSL 102 in the UK

I have been on board once in 1968 when it was still in original form, and then again 50yrs later in its' present form.

JB

Just answering a question about the club run at night & yes some guys go overboard with lighting hope I can photo some of the more exotic lighted model boats. Here is my Gumboot Cloggeroo lobster model boat with a few lights . That name is a song by Stompin Tom Connors a Canadian song writer .

Did this lighting a while back LED's

Our club has a "Parade of Boats" day every June. Club members bring boats to display, and there are scheduled events throughout the day. A lot of locals bring their lawn chairs and spend the day enjoying our boats. The two floating lighthouses are used during our two "Lighthouse Day" events, which go until dark so we can display our boat lighting.

Out for a "chilled" afternoon with the "Wee Nip" - testing various camera settings and filming techniques from the camera boat under various lighting conditions.

She is a bit tender as the 12V battery makes her top heavy. If I lay it down she is bow heavy...will sort that out I redid the wiring and lighting

Hi. This is my 2nd scratch built boat since lock down began. The first was the H S L 103 finished 6/7 weeks ago. Still waiting to be tested outside of workshop. This one is built on a fibre glass hull,and has a length of 44 inches and a beam of 16. My power plant is twin out runner motors purple power. 600kv, running through twin 70 amp ESC and with 4 cell 5000 amp lipos feeding them. All accommodation is made using 6 mm three ply. And every fitting you see on the boat was scratch built by me. Lighting system is 12 v grain of wheat .props are three bladed brass 45 mm by prop shop

The first trial of my Aeronaut Pilot Boat. The trial went very well. The evening lighting video is on the build blog.

Boat is Scratch built 36" British Power Boat 64ft High Speed ASR Launch which belonged to the RNZAF. The launch was one of the 22 built and was shipped to NZ in 1940. it was the only one of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. Model has twin motors, ESCs, sound units etc. Has remotely switched water pump for water cooled brushless 2000kv in runner motors and remotely switched lighting. Uses 2x 2200mah 2s LiPos for drive and 1 1800mah LiPo for the pump (also a separate battery for the LED lights. Boat is built with strip planked balsa on ply frame and fiber glassed. Deck is ply, wheelhouse is varnished balsa. The colour is as it was for most of its time in the RNZAF . Took about 5 years on and off to build and finished it last year. (please ignore the time date - can't get rid of it .

This is my scratch built 36" RNZAF British Power Boat 64' HSL (arrived in NZ 1940). I actually went on board this vessel in 1968 when it was still in original form (the RNZAF having disposed of it in the 50s) This vessel is still around and has been recently re modelled (2nd time since early 70s) and I was lucky last year to have met the present owner and go on board (2nd time in 49yrs!)and take a few photos. The vessel was modified a number of times by the RNZAF over the years (air intakes, removal of the fore deck machine guns, wheelhouse turret etc so I sort of went in the middle. I found a few drawings of the type in an old mag which had side and top views plus the bulkheads and their positions, so I took them along to a copying shop and kept enlarging them until I had the desired proportions. This worked out quite well and using a few methods from other models I had built, managed to frame (ply) the hull and then fully strip plank it in balsa. it was then fiber glassed. The deck is ply, lined and varnish stained. The wheelhouse is varnished balsa with the top removable for access. The wheelhouse interior has detail such as controls, instrument panels, skipper, steps to wardroom etc but is not too detailed as it is not seen. The boat has full lighting by remote switch, lights are all LED.
The propulsion side has dual everything (motors, ESCs, sound units), would have had 3x but ran out of space! Motors are 28mm 2200Kv water jacketed in-runners (cooled by remotely switched pump) using 30A Chinese ESCs (have 5A BEC, Fwd and Rev). Twin sound units are 'GT Power' car units which have around 40 different sound selections, from Cosworths to diesels and are computer programmable (as well as manually on the unit ) for various functions. I am using one of the v8 sounds (8 cyls short in my application) which I think is as near as you are going to get to 3 Napier Sea Lions (for which there is obviously no sound available) They 'start' 'Idle' and are fully proportional in fwd and rev and can sound quite realistic (will attempt to put up a vid later).
Batteries are 2x 2200mah 2s 20c LiPos which will last around 2hrs at least of sailing (they also run the sound units) Still have a few small things left to do (have just made wheelhouse air intakes) but don't want to get too fiddly. Just want to keep it a practical model.