Aerokits Sea Hornet and 34 Fireboat. Took 30 yrs to finish !
I began these kits when working overseas in the late 70s and never got to finish them off but a chance meeting members of Knightcote MBC in Warks this summer rekindled my interest and have readied both for their first run in the New Year at the club which I'm planning to join..... John Saunders
this boat started as a kingston mouldings hull of the
p28 fast patrol boat you get hull and plan the rest is up to the builder it is twin shafts twin rudders one speed controller a jel 6v 7amp battery AND two
545 motors
This is a video clip of my Fireboat at Southport boating lake in June this year.
The idea of an on board cam was thanks to another member who submitted a video last year of their Sea Queen (see video gallery), I liked the effect so thought I'd give it a go myself. it seems to have worked?
Further to discussions on the forum these pictures show measuring speed with a Garmin Geko 201.
They were taken 30/11/08 on a partly frozed lake, Bradford Moor, West Yorks.
The boat is a scratch built and started life in the shed. it is a semiscale model at aprox 36inch, built with balsa wood.It is full remote control and fitted with two Mtroniks Vision 600 motors one 12volt 7ah battery,one seasprint esc.
It was built as a fun boat so I could sail with my friend Peter thomas with his variuos boats.
Several things have now been added since this boat was first built, IE smoking stacks, fireing torpedoes and magnetic pickups for colecting them. Also has working radar/moving gun + a home built bec.
Flag poles and flags/compas has been added on the superstructure.
Each motor draws 6amps at full power, I have measured the speed from one point to another at a spacing of 60mtrs, and timed at 15 seconds, but this is a bit fast for this boat as she starts to plane out of the water.
We sail her at New Brighton lake on the wirral most wednesdays. As the weather is now a bit cool I have just purchased a simular model to this at 1:48 scale 110ft island class USCG Patrol boat so I can look at them both in action when the weather picks up. Anyone wanting info can contact me via this website.
Following a significant amount of restoration this old and original Aerokits 36" Fireboat was rebuilt from a wreck to a nice, working model. A full (new) white metal fittings kit provided all the deck clutter. Like my Sea Commander, featured elsewhere on this site, I have considerably lightened much of the internal structure. it's powerd by an 800 electric motor and runs on 12v. Performance is OK with 2 channel 27Mhz radio. Perhaps the best bit is a superb triple V12 sound unit (speaker under an additional hatch behind the wheelhouse). it sounds great on the water although someone did wonder why, having gone to all the trouble to remove the old unsilenced I/C engine and go for a quiet electric unit, why then add the noise back??. The pic of the boat underway has the battery externally in the rear compartment whilst doing sonme tests. it runs at Warminster Model Boat Club, Wiltshire.
This Sea Comander was another disaster, rescued from fleabay a couple of years ago as a 50s/60s bare shell. Whilst the hull was basically sound, the model needed considerable surgery. I resisted the temptation to cover it in modern fittings and have kept it original looking. Power is an electric 800 motor on 12 volts with 2 channel 27Mhz R/C. Performance is reasonable, particularly as I have lightened the original internal structure considerably. A big 7AH battery lasts for ages but for speed I use a small 2.5AH one. Owner sails at Warminster Model Boat Club, Wiltshire.
Interesting thought. I don't think there was a specific finish and most of the advertisements I have seen for the kits in period were of course in black and white. The only consistency in the various advertisements appears to show the boat with very light colour (white?) hull sides and the cabin roofs in the same colour. Deck, windscreen surround, handrails and cabin sides are in a light wood finish. The lower hull colour is dark and I always assumed red or blue. Not much help I'm afraid but it does look good. Peter
Here is a video of our boat (Vigilant star) sailing at New Brighton boat lake on the wirral every Wednesday.
The boat is a semiscale (Coast Guard Cutter), designed by Hal-Harrison in Marine Modelling. I have doubled its size and put two 540/1 Mfa motors in, driving quanta 45mm props. She is 36" length 8" Bow, runs of one 12 volt 7Ah SLA battery.
It is made from Balsa/Fibreglass resin. Runs well no leaks to date. Gerry.
This is a video of my re-make of the Aerokits Sea Queen. Build commenced in the autumn of 2006 and it was to be a winter build project for when the weather was too bad to fly R/C elec planes. The boat was finished mid 2007 and was launched in May.
My closest water to sail on is Lake St Clair, but one slip up and the boat's next stop would be Canada. its seen here sailing in the confines on an ornamental pond in Wahby Park, St Clair Shores, Mi, USA. The music has been added to cover up the sound of fountain just out of picture to the right.
The supplied motor has been replaced with an MFA Torpedo 850 which has substantially more power and 3x the RPM.
A week before the video was taken I lost the prop and its seen here running on a temporary prop while I awaited a replacement. The performance on the video is a little more sedate than normal.
BRAVO ZULU! I CAN RELATE, MY LATE FATHER BUILT RC AIRCRAFT INB THE 60S & 70S. HiS BUDDIES COMMISSIONED HiM TO BUILD THEIR KITS BECAUSE HE HAD A GREAT HABIT OF OVERBUILDING. IF THEY MISSED THE LANDING, THE PLANES WOULD LIVE TO FLY AGAIN! MY DAD WASN'T A GOOD PILOT, SO HE HAD OTHERS FLY HiS AIRPLANES. I BUILD MY BOATS IN SIMILAR FASHION. OVERBUILD!
46 Inch Crash Tender Rescued From E-bay By Peter Harvey
46 inch Crash Tender rescued from E-bay. Currently in the process of total restoration and have had to scratch build the entire super structure. Have fitted a Merco 61 engine with tuned pipe (the noise is awesome).
Have gone for it with the radio control- - employing a Robbe F14 plus an extra 8 channel module with decoder. So far extra controls are : each monitor (scratch built using brass pipe & sheet) left & right (using Robbe pulley set to give me 270 degrees travel), two Irvine water pumps, (real car) hooter, winch (using gearbox from Maplins) and movement for jib and search light.
