This week at Little Radford MBC we had two versions of RNLB Inner Wheel, RNLB The Princes Royal (Civil Service No41) and RNLB Elizabeth Rippon out and about they were accompanied by an Aerokits Diva and a RNLI Jet Ski.
I didn’t get the phone position quite right for the best quality photos.

Aerokits Sea Commander, built by my father in the 50s , stayed in the family ever since , restored by me about 10 yrs ago, recently been out on the boat pond in Gorleston on sea whilst on a short holiday 👍

More changes, (not again you say😐) this time the original nozzle was re fitted, as I found that the very clever improvement I made, (a flasher, smaller, better fitting brass one), wasn't so clever after all (can't be brilliant all the time😁) and was restricting the flow. The performance was quite a bit better today (still not startling) and it seems obvious now that MORE POWER will be the next step (have a higher KV, 35 sized brushless coming on the sampan to try).

Had a chat with a long time expat UKer (ex British army) at the pond today, and he mentioned that he has an Aerokits fireboat 'kit' still in the box he hasn't started, (you might be able to hear the conversation) and that he was modelling in the 60s in the UK, running diesels in his boats. He was sailing a Kyosho Seawind today (as was the other guy),- and they look like a nice little yacht, and sail well.

Buxton Model Boat Club member Dave Cole displays here his 1960`s "Aerokits" model Huntsman 31 .
Further information on the video commentary.

Vosper Fire Boat (Crash Tender) a Vintage Aerokits Model 1:16 scale and is 34 inches long, produced from 1950's to 1970's.
This model uses a Vintage Ripmax Bullet 30 DC motor that can run on 24v here it is only on 14.4v it becomes lively on 16.8v.

Brought this vintage Aero Kits RAF Crash Tender for £50 from Newcastle area, it is the 34in version.
To my surprise at home I found that it had a Bullet 30 motor installed these motors were the top drawer motor of early fast electrics in the early 1980's and its the only one I've ever seen, it can run on 24v and pull around 15A giving 300w not bad for a brushed motor.
due to the power of this motor I have modified the hull under the water line with turn fins and trim tabs to reduce torque roll and improve turning stability, the underside is incorrect already as it only has one propshaft, where the original had two and I believe that both props turned in the same direction.

The Pictures here show some of the work in progress I have remounted the motor and added a speed controller rated at 24v
I have remade the stern compartment and rudder gear under it.
I have blocked windows and foamed the front half of the boat.
made missing parts and repaired delaminating ply.

Note old ply is not as good as modern, the glue is not as water resistant.

Have painted the hull and have just ordered the decals from Cornwall model Boats :-https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=hose%20fire&PN=becc_fire_tender%2ehtml#aB_2dFTS1_2e32

The 34in is 1/16 scale

Fitting can be brought but many are cast white metal and can add weight to the boat, I have made two water cannons and plan to buy plastic fittings from this site.

This has turned out to be a task that is difficult to assess how much effort and money to spend on a hull that has been built by someone else (say no more).
Have just finished the steps for the stern compartment.
Painted and now for the test run.
the Bullet 30 motor ran well between 14 and 18v,

😆Hello everyone. I’m a relative novice with 3 projects on the go at the moment. Project 1 is a Riva Aquarama, which stalled at the stringer stage. Project 2 is a smaller Riva Aquarama which stalled at the planking stage. Project 3 is an Aerokits Sea Commander, photos to follow. Kit delivered Tues last week and spent about 4 hours on it so far. Keen to hear of any motor/shaft mods anyone recommends. Thanks

so here is the long awaited video of my scratch built Solent Class lifeboat based on the vintage Aerokits plans purchased on ebay. Sailed today for the 1st time and went like a dream, so pleased with it.

This is my just finished Solent built from the original plans and templates which I bought on eBay. Like many others on this forum, I have come over from aircraft, so that knowledge gave me s head start building this. She will hopefully get her first outing next week weather permitting!

Nice sunny Sunday Sail at Boundary Park so took the Crash Tender for a spin
28XX brushless 11.1v 2200 Lipo 35mm three blade brass prop.
Uses 30 amp cars ESC with small fan.
Tx set to 55% on throttle otherwise it takes off. Rudder throw at 50% for same reason. Switchable to 100% for slow speed manouvers.
Great fun.
Dave

This Aerokits "Sea Commander" was built C.1961 by my father with ED Mk4 diesel engine and his own scratch designed and built radio/receiver ( I have all his design documents). He raced it successfully in the early '60s but hadn't used it in years when I inherited it. Have now replaced the IC motor (mothballed carefully) with MFA Torpedo 500 but it runs a bit slowly ("river cruising" scale speed). Looking to obtain semi-planing but not racing speed.

Decided to sail the Solent so took some video to share. Uses 2 Bhuler 12v brushed motors with 4 bladed 45mm PropShop props and 12v 12AHr SLA. Twin Electronize ESCs. Radio is Futaba 6Ex but I will probably change to the Taranis so I can get better control using some bespoke Tx settings to co-ordinate the props and rudder.
Lifeboat crewe had been on a night out so not quite vertical. Aplogies for the shaky video, it's difficult to sail and video at the same time.