Have had this boat in my shed for 2yrs,so I decided now to start doing it up. The boat was given to me by my friend who had it in his garage for 20 yrs, and it was given to him by his boss as it was sitting in his garage for along time.So I am not sure how old it is I think it is a Yeoman 34" model, because it has all metal cast fittings, as shown in the photo with rest of fitting which were on the boat. The hull paint work and decals are the original one that came with the boat, the motor which came fitted to the prop is a Johnson made in Hong Kong.So if some can tell me the approx, year that would be helpful. Could some one tell me where I can get the fire hoses for the stern well please.
re suction hoses , Ive just made ours by using a section of sink unblocking snake (from tescos A£ 1.27 ! ) stretched out and covered in 7mm heat shrink tubing before being heated / shrunk , the ends will be made up in brass tubing . jon
HI Tugboat
Just seen your post. Very nice looking model. 😀 Yeomans were the official supplier of white metal fittings for the Aerokits fire tenders and from the pictures it certainly looks like an original Aerokits model. I sold just such a kit and the Yeomans fittings on this site last year.
here's some pic's of my fire boat, it's taken me about 18 months to get it to look like this, not happy with the air vents on top of the boat but have got hold of some of the original vents, so will be taking a mould of these and then I will put them on the boat, then I can start the painting
Hello all you Fire Boat restorers, I carefully noted the rather belled style of the vents as less streamlined as compared to the bought ones and when the vent front edge is carefully sanded flush, I found suitably thickened in section, silicone "O rings" from my big box of multiple o rings pack as sold by car part and engineering shops. A small piece of plasticine was used to hold the rings in place and super glued to affix.With care the small dab of holding plasticine was uppermost to not stick as the glue ran around down due to gravity. When a few hours later the usual re paint of the modified vent was done,the paint adhered. I Oz I have to run in salt water at the lake entrance and no effects at all ( obviously). I love my I/c Fire boat ( some 34 /39 years or so) with its third engine now and I still cannot help myself as I did hinges for the rear hatch roof to now open. All the best for detailers. When Peter Dimberline stayed with us some years back he ran it at ballistic speed, which shocked me as I run it just up un the plane. (Secret) you can cheat and add an extra wide strip along the chine up to almost an additional 1/8 inch extra wide without visual loss to the lines of the vessel to help her get up and stay in a hard chop as mine is the 46 inch version and some 18 to 20 pounds in weight, so perhaps the smaller 34 inch version and electric may benefit from this idea as the smaller versions tend not to sit too well and seem too far out of the water exposing too much of the f'd keel for some reason? I really enjoy all the Fire Boat resurgence of you guys. Lyle.
Hi, I was so surprised at your having some printed pictures and two reference pages of the Fire Boat ? is a set of emailed copies of the two reference pages displayed on the right hand side of your picture available to be sent my email if your are inclined, please ? (I can forward my address for email) Certainly very nice to have . Regards Lyle.
Finally finshed my jet star after buying her off ebay she was full of expanding foam and allsorts of other rubbish, but managed to get it all out and refit jet drives and motors etc
whilst being off work with cancer have spent three months building my polar trawler which I had to remake a lot of superstructure with plasticard due to the old ply delaminated. it has twin screws powered by two 400 motors and 40 amp esc and 6v sla. I think she looks quite good
thanks basher, sails really well, unfortunately have been Ill health reitired, cant say too much about company as have had gagging order on me, think you get the picture
Hiya mate ,I too gave up building while I waged war with cancer,but I'm back. I find its Impossible to stop boat building and sailing .That looks a superb model very well built.Ismail a 4 foot chemical tanker.took me 2 years.
Built from light ply and balsa from a plan available on the Model Hovercraft Association website (under resources) www.modelhover.org it is powered by two 540 brushed motors with dedicated speed controllers.
This model has now been sold and replaced with a newly built Canadian Coastguard Griffon 2000TD built off a Mark Porter plan but using two Graupner Speed 600 motors, one powered by a 3000 Li-Po battery for thrust and the other on a 7.2v Ni-Cad for lift.
Check out the website at www.rc-hovercraft.com where construction details in photos show how I built the griffon 2000TD
and also the military version 2000TD(M).
The police hovercraft is from a Griffin 600 kit by Palaform Limited. 600mm long, hence the name. it is run on a single brushless motor for both lift and thrust. it is built from depron so is very light. I use 11.1v Li-Po to save weight. Great on land too, in fact very fast on tarmac. Fantastic fun.
HI to all you Fire Boaters,
I have decided to finally bring my Fireboat out of the closet and up for inspection.
This is the first of my many boats I am showing, I will probably show others in the future.
I started to build her back in 2006 after being off work and having a shoulder operation. She was not going to be a R/C boat, just a bit of something to do whilst on recovery.
I have a 34" still in the box unmade, purchased back in 1994 from Aerokits.
I drew round all the parts and then shrunk them on my scanner. She is 27" long I think that's
just fraction over 1/20th scale . She is almost all balsa except the 2 under skins that are balsa laminated with 1/64th ply. The hand rails are 1/4" balsa blocks I cut from a strip and the rail is ally tubing.
The mast is made from plastic strip from packets from the model shop.
When I returned to work she was put into the shed and left unfinished.
I stumbled across the Fireboat website and registered in 2009 when I was off work once again. This then made me think more about working on her again and I decide to turn her into an R/C model. So out she came and I fitted an Electomax Delta 480bb motor and a M3sonik esc.
I also purchased a couple of Robbe fire monitors, put them together shortening the nozzles and cutting the bottom of the base of to try to look a bit moreto scale. I know they are not the correct type but if I want to go down the road of getting them working then these ones will.
Then off I went to Wilkinson's and bought some paint. Then set out to paint her, as I brushed on the paint it seemed to be drying almost as quick as I was painting her. Dragging the paint I had just put on with next brush stroke. What a TOTAL DISASTER !!. I gave up on her and back into the shed she went.
2010 arrived I started again rubbed the paint down a bit and bought some Tamiya spray acrylic and started spraying, underside red, it seemed look all right. I used a nice new roll of low tack masking tape, taped up the underside and the decking and sprayed on the black on the sides. I thought that look all right. Took off the masking tape, which also took off the red paint and the dope from the decks. Another DISASTER. Back in the shed she went once again.
A couple of months went by and I was up in Norfolk on my own boat and watching the workers in the boatyard, ideas came to me and when we returned home, out she came and I repainted the sides
and then with red oxide paint I painted her undersides to make it look like antI foul paint. I used some white stripe to cover the join of the two different paint colours.
I had bought some roundels in Anglia Model Shop in Gorleston and some lettering in a shop in Norwich and after painting put these on.
Not looking fantastic but passable I was a little happier with her, but still not satisfied, back in the shed she went again.
Now after so much nagging from my brother out she has come, I've started again. He talked me into changing and trying a brushless motor and a smaller esc he had in his tool box from his helicopter he was shelving as its rota head was damaged beyond repair.
I have now fitted them and if they work I will change the esc to a forward/ reverse esc in the future at some point.
Sea trials are still away off more than likely in the spring, because the decking has yet to be painted. That will be the next job.
I think that's all for now, as I have probably bored you all to tears. I hope update as I progress further.
Just to let you know I'm Tom (alias BOATSHED).
I was cruising the blogs, and saw this from 3 years ago, I'm guessing you're retired now%uD83D%uDE06! We're able to finish it? Your perseverance is commendable.
HI Squirtgun, up to no she still hasn't changed, and is still unfinished.
I did take her out and try her on Clapham Common Long Pond, a bit of a disaster ☺️ , the prop that was on her was a 4 blade 40 mm, was a bit to big and would not steer and tended to react to the torque and pull one way 😭 .
I have since purchased three smaller prop's 20,25 and
30 mm 3 bladed brass props. will have to experiment with these at some point.
Sadly what with work and trying to get some work done on a classic car I have, I haven't had chance to do anymore 😭 .
Haven't retired as yet, that date isn't until August, but as the law has changed, you do not actually retire anymore I'm told from work, you either work on until you decide or you just resign now.
So I will get some more done soon but have just been to busy on the classic car.
Thanks for asking and when done more I will post it.
Kind regards Tom (alias BOATSHED )
Built from Aerokits kit originally but rebuilt/modified many times since then!
Twin 540's (geared) 6V Pb Gel battery for drive. 3 Blade 50mm props (contra rotating) lights (cabin, running Ights and searchlight) on 4.5V Deacs. radar scanner and winch on same supply, radar display screen on a single AA 1.5V.
Fleet Systems radio and speed controllers, Futaba rudders servo, RCME servo driving cam/micro switch unit for lights etc.
Hi" I am very lucky to have a nice local pond at Sheringham for sailling. But it do get very busy in the summer with holiday makers during the days .But I chose to take my model up for sailling with the older boys in the long summer evenings or Sunday mornings. I occasionaly sail at the megga big lake at Eaton park Norwich. There is a club meet up there every weekend. With events on though the summer months . I talk to a lot model boat enthusiasts from all over the country so you are welcome to join us here for a sail . 🙏 APrestney
This boat was built from Vic Smeed's Silver Mist design, from the fifties I think. The boat is 36'' long by 9''. it is planked in obeche on 6mm birch ply frames with solid blocks for the bow and lower stern sections, epoxied on the inside. it is powered by an MFA geared 500 motor- 2.5:1 I think with a 7.2v NIMH battery. There were one or two details to complete when these photos were taken at Crealy in Exeter- there still are to be honest! I thought I'd add this in as I'm so Impressed with the look of this new site.
I finally got round to adding more photos! Thanks for your help.. and by the way I have spent many happy holidays sailing on the Broads, twenty consecutive years, usually staying at Martham or on Hickling and pottering in my clinker dinghy- magic!
Ian
Hi" I thought I would put my new rebuild on for all to see ! I found this old Marblehead yacht as a wreck. She was gathering dust in an old reclaim ferniture wherehouse whilst we were on holiday last summer. Been told the yacht had been originaly scratch built in 1950s from a plan. She took me about half a year to rebuild. New parts as follow hiteck sail arm winch with 18lbs of torque. New futaba servo for the rudder. New sails & booms rigs & fittings. New deck made from plank strip wood & varnished. Also finished in painted Ivery white. She sail well in lite to strong winds At my local boating lake at Sheringham Norfolk .
works well on a Spekrum DX5E But can work on any other 2 channal transmitter .
Hope you enjoy the photos .
WOW VERY NICE IM LOOKING FOR ONE JUST LIKE THAT ONE U HAVE,.,.,.';';'][][ 😎 👍 ARE YOU WILLING TO LET HER GO SOON IM HERE IN SARASOTA FLORIDA (Email removed pm only. Admin)
that is a nice chinned hull Marblehead you have there I built a similar one called HAREM from a Vic Smeed plan
I have a Nylet Marblehead called INIGMA with a carbon fibre hull sails are on a swing rig they are great yachts to sail
Just seen your post. Very nice looking model. 😀 Yeomans were the official supplier of white metal fittings for the Aerokits fire tenders and from the pictures it certainly looks like an original Aerokits model. I sold just such a kit and the Yeomans fittings on this site last year.