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[zooma]

When we got married in 1971 we moved to Exmouth and found a place to rent just off of the Exeter Road that was halfway between a nice pub (The Park Hotel) and a really nice little model shop (Exmouth Models ).  Both provided plenty of temptation and both received regular visits over the time that we lived there.


Exmouth Models was a super little model shop that was run by Ian Davies and one of my first purchases there was an Aerokits Fast Patrol Launch kit. Our "winter-letting" was not a huge flat and didn't really lend itself to me making this kit, so it was put safely away - to be built when time and circumstances permitted.


That was in 1971 and it is now 2021     so I am thinking that I should really stop dithering around and get it finished and out on the water - just 50 years after I bought it from Ian's shop all those years ago!


I don't suppose the building of a small old kit like this will throw-up too much in the way of problems to solve, but I will describe the build and take some photos in any case as it will be the smallest size of r/c model boat that I have ever made - and it is a model that has been very popular over the years and is still available (in a re-kited format) from another source.

[TheLongBuild]

Personally not sure if it has matured enough yet to build..

[zooma]

Personally not sure if it has matured enough yet to build..

I am not too sure if the wood has "matured" or if the quality as not too good back then - but it is dry old brittle stuff with plenty of grain 


The temptation is to copy the parts in some decent wood - but I think I owe it to the kit (after all this time) to build it as it comes in the box .......so here goes.........

[Colin Bishop]

In some cases with these old kits people have found that the plywood has delaminated or warped. If so then you will need to replace it. Don't be sentimental, if the material is past its best then you won't get a satisfactory result and you will still have put all the work in.

Colin

[TheLongBuild]

I am not too sure if the wood has "matured" or if the quality as not too good back then - but it is dry old brittle stuff with plenty of grain 


The temptation is to copy the parts in some decent wood - but I think I owe it to the kit (after all this time) to build it as it comes in the box .......so here goes.........

Yes go for it. Good luck..I have an old Fireboat from around the same period still to do..

[Nordlys]

I bought a 41 inch original Fireboat kit on ebay, all parts were there and the box was in good shape but it contained a lot of delaminated plywood incl the keel.
I never got round to making it after the initial inspection....
N.

[zooma]

I bought a 41 inch original Fireboat kit on ebay, all parts were there and the box was in good shape but it contained a lot of delaminated plywood incl the keel.
I never got round to making it after the initial inspection....
N.

Thats the sort of kit I look for these days N. - semi basket cases of classic powerboats that nobody else wants to build as I enjoy building (or restoring) classic models that originate anywhere around the 1960's time period, because  that was when I first started making r/c model boats and I like to preserve (and use) models from that age.

Most of the kits that I have "rescued" had been stored for many years in lofts or outbuildings and have got damp (or even wet in some cases) despite never leaving the kit box!  The amount of warpage some of the parts I have seen is quite surprising - some parts have positively curled-up and dried-out in their new form. I have found I can "wet" parts like this and leave them to dry on a flat surface whilst being pressed under a heavy weight.

The above process will not remove any distortion, but once the parts are not quite so curled (semi-flat) I can draw around them and refer to the plan to make the replacement part shape right.

I would copy any delaminated parts onto fresh plywood and build the kit - but only replace the parts that cannot be used to keep the model as "authentic" as possible - even though the kits can end up being a bit like "Triggers brush" on Fools and Horses!

Every early saw-cut kit like the Aerokits (and most others from that time period) have bulkheads that are non-symetrical as the saw will have drifted off of the line slightly, so after drawing around the delaminated bulkheads etc, I reverse them and draw around them again, and it is surprising just how much variation you can see.

A check against the plan will confirm the best line to use - or average them out if neather fits the plans dimensions!

Every early kit will have been cut this way (by saw) and so none can be perfectly symmetrical, but they all build nicely and sail well enough so its surprising what little difference this makes and how tolerant the designs are - but also some correction is done "by eye" as the builder puts his kit together to alleviate most of this inaccuracy.

Fortunately, none of the bulkheads have delaminated in this Fast Patrol Boat kit so I will use them "as they come".  The poor quality of the kit wood does tempt me to replace some of the parts - but they are flat and so I can use them all (I think).

[Colin Bishop]

I built an Aerokits Fast Patrol Boat back in the 60s. one of my first models. It went together reasonably OK but never looked quite right on the water having a nose down attitude.

I think most of the other Aerokits were rather better looking.

Colin

[zooma]

I built an Aerokits Fast Patrol Boat back in the 60s. one of my first models. It went together reasonably OK but never looked quite right on the water having a nose down attitude.

I think most of the other Aerokits were rather better looking.

Colin

I will keep that in mind as I fit the hull out Colin, and try to keep some of the weight biased towards the stern to see if it helps.


Bob.

[tonyH]

Heavy engineering from Zooma......

[tonyH]

The missing link.... Pic 1!

[zooma]

I found the old dry side skins quite tough to encourage to bend around the shape of the bows - a job that I find much easier on a larger hull, but the old wood probably made it bit harder than it would have been if I was using new 1.5mm skins, but they fitted OK with the help of a couple of wood screws and washers to hold them in place until they got the hang of being in a new shape!

The bottom skins would usually have been fitted first, but I could see that these side skins were going to be a problem so I chose to fit them first. The bottom skins stop short of the bows at the first bulkhead (the hull has carved balsa wood nose blocks on the underside of the bows) so they are really easy to fit.

[redpmg]

Still have this kit of much the same vintage - was a crib from the Aerokits one - hull is exactly the same but has detachable superstructure - made of African substitute for Balsa - very dry to begin with but still feels much the same - hopefully grandson will build it one day ....Think the superstructure is better looking than the original - but that's my opinion - heres a picture of the kit & plan in pdf'. If anyone wants have the parts drawings too.

[zooma]

Thats interesting - never seen one of those before!

[redpmg]

Was made in Rhodesia under sanctions - think this must be the very last remaining example - found along with a couple of others in a warehouse clearance early 80's . They were made in the late 60s /early 70s by a friend who produced the sheeting etc , made the diecutting equipment from old steel strapping - used a childs toy printing set for the numbers on the parts.

[zooma]

Was made in Rhodesia under sanctions - think this must be the very last remaining example - found along with a couple of others in a warehouse clearance early 80's . They were made in the late 60s /early 70s by a friend who produced the sheeting etc , made the diecutting equipment from old steel strapping - used a childs toy printing set for the numbers on the parts.

That is a brilliant story and has good authentication from you too - excellent

[zooma]

I forgot to mention that I fitted some buoyancy foam in the bow compartment that would be hidden under the side skins before I covered this void  - hopefully never to be seen again!

With the side skins and bottom skins fitted I aligned the 4BA (!) prop shaft and the motor and fixed them into position.  A Mabuchi 385 motor was fitted via a red Huco coupling to maintain the correct "period" type drivetrain, but I do have a small out-runner that could be substituted at a later date if this classic motor should fail to deliver.

I have seen a Fast Patrol Boat powered by a 540 size motor running on the club lake, but it is a fairly big lump of motor compared to the 380/385 size and given the warning about the "nose down" attitude of the boat, if I need any more power I will fit a small sized out-runner to keep the weight down in the engine bay.

[zooma]

The balsa wood nose blocks were fitted next.  The kit supplied balsa wood blocks were very roughly "chopped-out" and one was quite soft and the other was a little harder. 


As these blocks are over-sized and needed sanding to shape the accuracy of cutting is not so important but the rearmost ends were not cut square to the front bulkhead and the blocks were not long enough to sand them to fit snugly against the bulkhead and leave enough block wood to shape the lower bows, so some filler or thin strips of balsa are needed to be added to fill the gap.


I chose to keep the bow end solid and leave the gap between the balsa block and the front bulkhead and when the PVA glue had dried, I filled the gap with a wedge shape of balsa wood taken from the scrap box.



This completed the lower hull and when the decking is fitted and the rubbing strips and spray rails are added this part of the build will be finished.


The removable cabin was assembled quite early in the build and went together "OK" so the patrol boat is now taking shape and reminds me of the old type of small Thames Police river patrol boats, but I could also see this small launch being used for many other inland tasks too.

[tonyH]

Pics as required. Bob assures me that the timberwork is poor materials.......

[zooma]

Thanks Tony, the poor quality timber work came in the box - but the poor quality workmanship is all my own doing. 

The pictures clearly show the quality of wood found in the kit and the small details like the notching in the breast hook that were not symmetrical.  The slot to fit the keel into was also too long. Both these areas will be filled before being covered by the decking.

The somewhat wayward fitting side skin shown in the picture was eventually coaxed to sit flat against the bow at the overlap with the other side skin before the PVA glue had set.

The silicone motor wires were passed through the engine bay firewall into the next compartment where I plan to sit the ESC - and possibly the battery depending on the balance of the boat.  I was going to use a 7.2 volt Tamiya type battery but it would have to be fitted on its side and diagonally as it is longer than the cabin.

I could open the battery pack and re-solder the cells into a "hump" pack to make a better fit........or I could just use a small LiPo instead.........

[Nordlys]

I had similar problems with my Fast patrol boat. Engine is mounted quite far forward making bow over heavy.
I did use a 7.2v nimh and placed it under a seat on the rear of the open well deck on the false floor.
I would post some pictures for you but it's in the loft at moment!


N

[Circlip]

"A Mabuchi 385 motor was fitted via a red Huco coupling to maintain the correct "period" type drivetrain,"
[/size]
[/size]     Sorry Zooma, correct drive train would have been an ED Bee/Hornet and a ball and socket coupling.
[/size]
[/size]  Regards  Ian.

[zooma]

"A Mabuchi 385 motor was fitted via a red Huco coupling to maintain the correct "period" type drivetrain,"

     Sorry Zooma, correct drive train would have been an ED Bee/Hornet and a ball and socket coupling.

  Regards  Ian.

Ha ha - if only we were allowed to use ic engine now - it would be my preference of course!

These small boat models were built by most with an electric motor (maybe they could foresee what restrictions lay ahead for us all in the future ?) and as they paid for their little 380 motor they were probably also sold a Huco coupling to go with it as it seemed to be the 'standard fit" back in the 1960's - and like Aerokits, they were supplied to the model shops by Ripmax so the shop keeper probably bought and stocked them both together.

Most builders did not understand or want to be bothered with ic engines - especially diesel engines in their model boats - but some did and probably had a lot of fun with them. For those with the luxury of a two channel radio, glow engines would throttle better than the small diesel engines too.

Glow engines were also easier to start and generally less temperamental, but they were not as freely available as the British made diesel engines at the time and in those days we still generally bought British if we could, so ED and Frog ( along with many others) did very well in the 50's - 60's with their small diesel engine sales for control line and free flight model aircraft in particular.


Happy days............

[tonyH]

God, how I hated the ED Bee I had in the old Thornycroft MTB.

[zooma]

The decking is fitted and only the rubbing strip and spray rails need to be fixed after all the brass nails have been removed and the final sanding to shape has been completed.

The rear cabin roof and rear cockpit floor need to be made and fitted and some undercoat will come next to seal the wood and prepare it for its final finish.

I have no idea what colours to use yet, but most seem to have black sides and grey cabins with white tops. I would like to find an alternative if I can that will look good and suite the model..