Aeronaut Queen kit. Finished this September. I have not been adventurous but tried to keep very close to the Aeronaut suggested colours etc. I have tried it out on my above ground temporary 5 metre pool and it really works although going round and round in circles at a low speed is frustrating. However there were no leaks and the electrics behaved impeccably. We have a rather large lake nearby at Hourtin in France which I hope use shortly so that I can open her up. Thoroughly recommend this manufacturer. The kit is superb, very good quality and the instructions, (once you have downloaded the English versions), are very thorough. Really enjoyed this project. it is a return to the hobby that I had 40 years ago, but gave up because of kids etc. Now I am retired I intend to get back in again.
From my knowledge of the Keil Kraft range this should be somewhere around the size of the Mermaid or the Cresta etc.
I remember the Otter Tug and the Terrier M.T.B also from the Ezeibilt series as well as all the Marinecraft balsa models, eg the Police Launch, Tern, Cormorant, and Thornycraft M.T.B.
Last time I saw a Curlew on the water was in 1961 on Coronation Park Lake in Crosby when I was 8.
I had a Victory industries Vosper Triple Screw Express Turbine Yacht at the time. it was an R.T.R plastic thing, 20 inches in length and powered by a Mighty Midget turning the three props via an elastic band and costing a kings ransom for the four U11 batteries which expired quickly.
Despite the triple screws and the immaculate plastic hull,
in terms of the performance the Curlew left it for dead especially when it came to speed and satisfaction.
The mind boggles when I think of all those balsa models of decades ago and what can be done using 21st century technology i.e motors batteries, ESCs and affordable r.c equipment.
Have loads of fun with your Curlew and I hope it inspires many others to follow and build similar models.
Thanks for your comments, I have built the Terrier, Mermaid and one other in addition to the Curlew, I didnt carry on with the other one whose name escapes me because I felt it was too narrow in the beam. Personally I think the Curlew and Mermaid are the best of the group.
I dont think Mermaid would take rough water even though I sailed it on Loch Ken when I was on holiday up in Scotland, using small motor, Mtronics speed controller od 10 amps it copes with the weight rather well. I did make an en;arged version but I wasnt too thrilled with how it looked when enlarged, so no further work was done on it. I've also made the tug boat Beaver and even enlarged that to 150 %...its enormous..:-) The original is a nice little thing...I've made use of a lot of cardboard and balsa skins on these models. its my personal effort with re cycling of materials, as they say what is one mans scrap is another's raw material.
Guess most of you have heard of the Khetanna, Jabba The Hut's sail barge from Star Wars. I looked around on the net and to my big surprise, the search engines did not spit out radio controlled versions of this model. Which made me think, and then decide to built my own.
It is scratch build, based on a "scudder" hull, a design by Glenn G. I printed a few pictures of Khetanna from the net and used those for guidance in the process.
The superstructure is a combination of balsa and ply wood. in the Star Wars tradition, the boat is propelled by a jet propelled engine. To finish it off, a Lego version of Jabba was added for extra detail.
It was a fun and fast project to built, maybe a dozen or so evenings.
(scratch) building is my passion and only sail the boats with my son about once a month. We've got a pond near Newcastle (AUS) harbour which is pretty good (providing there's no weed in it) but the disadvantage of this pond is salt water, meaning a proper rinse of the models is needed after each sailing session. Recently we have moved our sailing sessions as well to the liberty pond in town. The model captures the audience, the vast majority recognize the Khetanna immediately.
Happy sailing.
Found this Dense block of foam, floating in local Ashton Canal, whilst sailing other boats with my brother, whilst rescue a stuck boat from the reeds, in 1996 was temporarily on the dole at the time, struck by her Landing craft shape on turning it over plus realised I could carve it like wood, later using my bits box, after carving a couple of box shaped groves, for battery, motors and rc equipment, literal rammed a prop shaft, and rudder shaft through hull, and fashioned some balsa sheet into superstructure suitable camouflaged , I had a "US Army Vietnamese River Craft" of sorts and with its 1 1/2 to 2" thick Hull virtually unsinkable, hence its name :-). Here she is in 2000 sailing at Ethrow Park. May in the future alter her superstructure, she makes a handy towing barge for both mine and my brothers Tug Boats, and if rc left connected can even act as rescue boat if they pack up or get weeded up :-) - Have delete this from You Tube and replaced with slightly clearer version, but it seems to be still working here mysteriously, may cease working eventually, new version above :-)
An electric conversion , was originally I.C powered believed to be from China . it has since been stripped out again and is awaiting another rebuild , possibly water jet drives as this is what the hull was designed for in real life . Model is 56" long and at the time of these pics weighed 15 kg five of which was lead acid batteries . I have however become educated in the dark arts of Lipo usage now
This boat has now had a brushless motor fitted and single prop . Running on 2 * 5000mah Lipo 4 cell batteries . Goes very well , will try to get a film on come summer 😎
This boat is currently being cleaned and minor repairs to be carried out. Twin electric motors are going into hull and will be a r/c conversion. Super detailed interior.
Hi,
I am also trying to build the Robert Thelwell. its been three years now, but I don't seem to be getting on. Too many problems regarding detail and availibility. May get to it again later this year but unfortunately it does'nt look too hopeful. I did go to Wells-next-Sea the other week to find the Mabel Alice there, with three other lifeboats, an unusual coincidence. Good luck with the build - Gordon
HI I am not sure what kit this is or was but I know that its not the Aerokits version. it was bought on Ebay about 2 years ago and it has been restored to what you see attached. it is running on a Johnson 600 and a 35x prop, power is from a 11.1 volt Lipo.
Hi! Fellow modelers, The Vosper kit was matketed by KeilKraft a British agent some time during the 60's, I actually was their agent in South America, but I believe that now they are no longer in business. it is a beautiful model. I did have a good run at my previous home in Guyana, in a cane field then flooded, it worked beautifully with the diesel engine/ screw prop assembly by Graupner. Now I have to look at electric of which I know very little., but I am hoping that the model shop will help when I am ready. Thanks Ray
HI Ray, The sail at Cwmbran today was a success the boat out performed the previous setup. Several members run Vosper fireboats all running electric power, one with a gearbox 2:1 reduction and two models like mine with 700 size electric my run time on 7.2 volt 3600Mah battery is about 30 to 35 minutes with some fast runs, shorter with all fast running. On 9.6 volt 3700Mah (4.8 x 2 in series) runtime is about the same but model is very quick. On 11.1 volt Lipo 2200Mah battery run time is about 15 to 20 minutes but very very quick. I buy most of the Johnson motors that I use on Ebay the prices vary but all are cheap and I have had no problems with any of them. Our Club is all Electric, but that does not mean slow boats. Electric power has evolved in leaps and bounds over the last few years.
Regards Graham
this is my boat built from the aerokits plans. she is the 46 inch version, power is from a brushless motor and lipo set up. sailing trials over easter hols weather permitting!
Stunning model! What more can I say,superb.No doubt I will be pestering you with more ifs,what's and why's if that's o.k.
I am a member of Derby model boat club,we have a membership of around 45,but like most clubs it;s the same 10-15 of us who sail each weekend.We do all get together for socials and regatta days and venetian night in September.
Do you get to many of the shows? Three of us from Derby usually go to Ellesmere,Doncaster,Warwick and a weekend at Blackpool show.Not been to Haydock yet but hope to make it this year.
Regards Andy
Thanks Andy for your comments. I will put some better pictures up soon. Still some detail work left to complete. I do get to some shows when I can. Last one was Ellesmere port. Any questions you have please ask. I will be taking her to the fire boat day later this year. Regards Alan
This is a lighter version of my MK1 previously posted, lighter by some 80g, and having a slightly larger prop, I assumed it would be faster, the reality was that the X438 was too much, so will go back to an X435. it ran a bit wet as well, so now I have adjusted the angle of attack on the prop, which should sort things out. The 6 inches of boat tip in the pond was my Arowana 22.5" mono, it flipped and a hatch clip failed, and that was the end result, so I was trying to nudge it in, and I failed, luckily my brother is good with a fishing rod and recovered it.
based on a Lesro kit of the MK21 Sun tug. This slightly later version was fitted with fire monitors for handling tankers in the thames esturary as well as normal docking duites of liners and freighters.
Fitted with a decaperm 3:2 geared motor and twin 12v 7amphr batteries, it can run for several hours, even when towing other boats around the pool.. Fog horn installed, lighting system, working decca radar, Illuminated map desk and decca unit on the bridge.
In the process of converting a revell 1/400 version of the Queen Mary2 into a working r/c model using pager motors in the pods instead of using propshafts to keep it as authentic as possible. Have put gearing in to turn pods so dont have to have a rudder. So far all tests have been successful and will shortly have all detailing done and have ballast sorted ready for test runs.
