Boat Page One

I am getting old (some say past It and I refute that!) and worse still, disabled. Oh well, it can happen to anybody, but the simple fact was I could not luff exhibition model railways about, as light as they might be when made of foam core board. I need one hand for a walking stick otherwise I develop a serious list to starboard. In fact I left modelling altogether for a while but got bored. Once the bug has bitten it never goes away.
Having been well and truly involved with things that float in the not too distance past I wondered if that might be the opening I was looking for.

This is a Panart Venus kit duly completed. My first ever kit boat. She looks great and sailed like the wind, a super boat to handle in practically any wind conditions.

And here she is on the water. Excuse the angle, must have been too many pink gins, and that should give you a clue as to which arm of the Services I was in.
As can be seen it was fairly windy but she is almost upright (at least more upright than I was !) This is Hampton Court boating lake from which anglers are barred - but not ducks and geese and swans - which can cause problems (see Corvette).

You may recognise the J Class yacht �Endeavour�. This is (or was ...) the bigger of the Amati kits priced at about �200 then. It is meant to be a static model but having read an article about converting this lovely craft to radio control I couldn�t resist having a go. I admit it stretched my modelling capabilities and I had to be very inventive - but she sailed!
With just the slightest whisper of wind off she�d go whizzing across the water, a wonderful sight to behold. The sails are split between 2 winches, both foresails on one with the main on another. By utilising a Robbe/Futaba F 14 Navy Twin Stick these winches were easily controlled. The sails are of Ripstop nylon, hull is plank on frame.

And to prove she really does work, here she is on the Hampton Court lake. There was a need to create a longer ballast fin and this caused a problem on this water due to the limited depth. Endeavour often ground to a halt!
So she was taken to Black Park where she sailed perfectly. She was shown at Beale Park on at least two occasions and Richard Howard (the owner) fell in love with her and bought here on the spot.
So away went another sailing boat.

Oddly at the same venue later that year I saw the Revell kit of HMCS Snowberry, a Flower Class Corvette and workhorse of the Atlantic convoys. Once again this model was intended as a static exhibit but I had the bit between my teeth and took on the challenge of converting her to RC.

Revell made a good job of this kit and it has maintained its popularity even though it is long in the tooth. It has a large hull that will accept all sorts of extras as well as the standard elements need to make it �go�. Certainly a destroyer siren and with ingenuity possibly a smoke unit. Now that a new trader has come into the model boat arena there are all sorts of options available that were not when I built this boat. She is pretty stable and if a gel-cell battery is used this will act as most of the ballast..

Unfortunately she was sailing one day when the swan cob had a cob on and decided to chase a goose across the lake. My corvette was right in their line of approach as both skipped across the water�s surface, feet splashing and wings flapping. I tried to get her out of harms way but she is not a fast boat and failed to clear. Luckily one of our sailing �group� had his waders with him and went paddling to retrieve most of the major parts. So she went into dry dock for a a rebuilding session during which all upwardly mobile parts (masts) were rebuilt in brass. If that swan tries the same stunt again it will know all about it! But it didn�t, because once again this boat was sold to make room for further projects. One reason was I had begun writing article for boating magazines and found it very absorbing and rewarding, so more projects were looming on the horizon.

My next thought was to have something a little smaller, quite small in fact, a conversion to radio control of the Revell New Jersey battleship @ 1:700 scale. And here she is folks complete with a posh background. This build included yet another magazine article published in the MMI I believe.

Recommended links