My Boats
Mini Patrol RIB
This boat came about as part of the large patrol boat project. I originally built it to be the rib that launches off the stern of the patrol boat but when it was finished i realised that it was just too small to pass as 1/16th scale so i started building a bigger one for the patrol boat project and converted this one to 1/24th scale. It features twin m240 machine guns on the bow, full radio control and is powered by a brushless engined waterjet. The following photos include the transmitter that goes with the boat so you can judge the size which is a total length of 13 inches.
Airboat
Many moons ago i bought very cheap a rather battered hull and deck of the old lesro airboat. This has been decorating various shelves over the years but i have now decided to do something about it. I am currently converting it to a military styly with guns and missiles and powered by a brushless motor powered ducted fan. Hopefully i can keep it on the water. Here's a few photos so far with progress to come.
Having started in this hobby at the ripe old age of 12 albeit after failing at model flying, (gliders no problem but put an engine in it, hopeless) now being in my late 50's you could say i've been around a while. Having been secretary of a large club for quite a few years and organising quite a few shows and events you could say i'm quite involved but my main interest is in promoting the hobby. When you look around the clubs you see very few younger people, by younger these days i mean under 65. This cannot be good for the hobby as a whole so my main interest is in promoting what we do to the wider public. Trying to show it can be interesting and enjoyable. When i lived in the southeast i was attending more than 20 shows and open days a year. Since moving to the west country that has dropped off because there seems much less activity in the area but i am still attending as many as possible. So if you have an event let me know i will do my best to make it.
Having large clumsy hands and no longer the best eyesight i have started specialising in larger scale models. My current active scales are 1/16, 1/24 and 1/32 which can give some good size boats but with plenty of sensible size details. My main interest is warships but i do not limit myself to them having a number of non warship models.
1/72nd Perkasa
While at the Yeovil Model show in march i saw for sale a 1/72 model of thge perkasa for a mere £10 so being me i snapped the buyers hand off thinking that will be useful someday. Recently i was looking for a second build to do while i was waiting for the glueing on my big patrol boat project to dry and thought of the little perkasa. So here it is working and ready to go. Has a small brushed motor and speed controller, two channel radio and a rather small but still 7.4 x 1600mh lipo. Here's a few pictures for information.
RTTL
About 5 months ago i recieved a phone call from by daughter saying that one of her work colleages had a model boat in the loft they did not want. A couple of months later and daughter is driving down to visit with the boat in the car.
This boat is the Vosper Thornycroft RTTL range target towing launch and it must have been made in the 50's or 60's. Its a lovely piece of work all in wood and was powered with an old taycol electric motor with a set up for straight running.
Now it's equiped with a probably too large brushless motor but i can always throttle back. Twin radio controlled rudders and had a repair and repaint session and is now looking good but still original hopefully. The pictures show before including the taycol motor and after the refit.
Before
After
