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[zooma]

Hi Zooma

I will be back to the printers next week and a resize to 30 and 1/2" (774mm).

As one of the members wishes to build one.

We agreed that 640mm is too small and 980mm(SPOOKY size) is too big.

Only have to draw up the bulkheads which is very easy.

Harry

Yours will be a Midi Stiletto........................

[ChrisF]

Well, it appears as though the cat is getting out of the bag, so may as well come clean to save you lads doing any unnecessary work, unless you want to! So much for watch this space!

That drawing is the same as Wills and is a cleaned up version (excellent job done by Circlip/Ian) of the drawing shown in the photo posted by Tony. I borrowed the drawing from Eraser, on the Model Boats forum, and got it scanned.

RedPMG/Peter is currently drawing up the templates for two versions. One as original and the other as a lift off superstructure for those of us that like that sort of thing. So there will be a full set of accurate drawings.

I hadn't intended building a Stiletto but it looks as though I will be now! To be honest will make a nice change as can paint the whole thing and less detail like window frames etc. Much quicker build than my Faireys.

Like Harry, I'm thinking of building a bit bigger though.

Chris

[zooma]

Well, it appears as though the cat is getting out of the bag, so may as well come clean to save you lads doing any unnecessary work, unless you want to! So much for watch this space!

That drawing is the same as Wills and is a cleaned up version (excellent job done by Circlip/Ian) of the drawing shown in the photo posted by Tony. I borrowed the drawing from Eraser, on the Model Boats forum, and got it scanned.

RedPMG/Peter is currently drawing up the templates for two versions. One as original and the other as a lift off superstructure for those of us that like that sort of thing. So there will be a full set of accurate drawings.

I hadn't intended building a Stiletto but it looks as though I will be now! To be honest will make a nice change as can paint the whole thing and less detail like window frames etc. Much quicker build than my Faireys.

Like Harry, I'm thinking of building a bit bigger though.

Chris

Nice to see you are having a go at a Stiletto - and if you are able to share the bulkhead template drawings etc with us it would save me a lot of time as I cut the parts for Will so that he can try to build a new Sea Commander/Stiletto of his own  

[ChrisF]

That was the whole idea Bob!

Chris

[madwelshman]

Well, it appears as though the cat is getting out of the bag, so may as well come clean to save you lads doing any unnecessary work, unless you want to! So much for watch this space!

That drawing is the same as Wills and is a cleaned up version (excellent job done by Circlip/Ian) of the drawing shown in the photo posted by Tony. I borrowed the drawing from Eraser, on the Model Boats forum, and got it scanned.

RedPMG/Peter is currently drawing up the templates for two versions. One as original and the other as a lift off superstructure for those of us that like that sort of thing. So there will be a full set of accurate drawings.

I hadn't intended building a Stiletto but it looks as though I will be now! To be honest will make a nice change as can paint the whole thing and less detail like window frames etc. Much quicker build than my Faireys.

Like Harry, I'm thinking of building a bit bigger though.

Chris

WoW!! You kept that quiet Mr Fairey.

As much as I love the Faireys, it's great to hear that you are building a Lesro boat and that it's gonna be a quicker build, meaning some sea time for you, instead of just building. Well done Chris and thank you too.


Will

[zooma]

That was the whole idea Bob!

Chris

Thank you Chris - your effort (and Ian and Peter's efforts) are very much appreciated by us all.


Bob.

[Circlip]

Sorry Chris, I had hoped that Peter's bits would have been available before the thing appeared on here. Hope everyone on the forum who is going to profit from your actions of un 'butting' is appreciated. As mentioned on the source forum, the actual plan quality is abysmal in comparison to the AeroKits drawings and  I originally thought it to be a tracing, but the same quality is shown on the photo which is a different rendering. Again, sorry Chris but thanks for supplying the info to the underground.


  Regards  Ian.


Would imagine anyone could hack a few bits of wood for the formers before Peter wastes his time.

[zooma]

Sorry Chris, I had hoped that Peter's bits would have been available before the thing appeared on here. Hope everyone on the forum who is going to profit from your actions of un 'butting' is appreciated. As mentioned on the source forum, the actual plan quality is abysmal in comparison to the AeroKits drawings and  I originally thought it to be a tracing, but the same quality is shown on the photo which is a different rendering. Again, sorry Chris but thanks for supplying the info to the underground.


 Regards  Ian.

Would imagine anyone could hack a few bits of wood for the formers before Peter wastes his time.

It's good to share and help each other whenever we can.

[ChrisF]

Sorry Chris, I had hoped that Peter's bits would have been available before the thing appeared on here. Hope everyone on the forum who is going to profit from your actions of un 'butting' is appreciated. As mentioned on the source forum, the actual plan quality is abysmal in comparison to the AeroKits drawings and  I originally thought it to be a tracing, but the same quality is shown on the photo which is a different rendering. Again, sorry Chris but thanks for supplying the info to the underground.


  Regards  Ian.


Would imagine anyone could hack a few bits of wood for the formers before Peter wastes his time.

No problem Ian. Once the lads, are on the case there's no chance of keeping anything secret!      What's the relationship between LR and Aerokits, did he use to work for them?


Chris

[zooma]

No problem Ian. Once the lads, are on the case there's no chance of keeping anything secret!      What's the relationship between LR and Aerokits, did he use to work for them?

Chris

It sounds like it wasn't too much of a secret anyway Chris if was already available on another forum as a PDF      -  that's where Harry found it and then kindly mentioned it to us all here on Mayhem as he knew we have been searching for info to help each other build some new Stiletto models.

You and Harry (and his pal in Tasmania) may have a better idea altogether by making your models a little bit bigger as it may well work better at the 30" sort of size and be less sensitive to our Great British weather - so the model could be used more often!

Good idea

Will and I hadn't considered making a bigger version of the Stiletto - but they could be much more usable and still be "car size" - which was the original reason for wanting to find one - and when we couldn't find one - we knew we would have to make one!

The unavailability of (firstly) a good used model to restore and (secondly) a readily available set of plans and templates is what sparked this thread off in the first place and it has shown us that there is a lot more interest in this quirky little model than we expected there to be.

Neither the Rapier nor the Stiletto sold in massive numbers back in the 1960' and 70's when they were both freely available , so it is really good to find such an interest in them in 2022. 

This is really good news for those of us that enjoy seeing classic model boat kits rescued from obscurity by being restored or by making new replicas.

[Circlip]

It was on another forum thanks to Chris, HE did the ground work.


  "The Aerokits range of boats were designed by Les Rowell and manufactured from the mid 1950's to c1970. They were all of a similar hard chine design constructed mainly from plywood. These models were established at Gorleston in Norfolk and distributed by Keil Kraft at Wickford in Essex."

  Regards  Ian.

[zooma]

It was on another forum thanks to Chris, HE did the ground work.


  "The Aerokits range of boats were designed by Les Rowell and manufactured from the mid 1950's to c1970. They were all of a similar hard chine design constructed mainly from plywood. These models were established at Gorleston in Norfolk and distributed by Keil Kraft at Wickford in Essex."

  Regards  Ian.

 


Credit and thanks are due to anyone and everyone who has helped us all by contributing to this thread and is why Mayhem is such a good helpful shared resource for us all to enjoy and benefit from together.

Chris, Harry, Will and yourself (to name just a few)  have always been ready to freely offer their help ..... and I am really pleased to see Chris preparing to make his first non-Fairey powerboat model.

The production history of Aerokits is good to know - so thanks for sharing that with us all on Mayhem.   

I had no idea that Aerokits had such a short production run of less than 20 years.  They certainly made a good impact on the model boat community at the time and they continue to be enjoyed by so many of us over 50 years after they ceased production.

[ChrisF]

Yes, thanks for the history Ian. I've got an Aerokits kit drawing that I used as the basis for my Swordsman build and as you alluded to the draughtmanship is first class compared to the Lesro drawings. At least there was a Stiletto drawing though and examples have been found.

The Stiletto drawing takes me back to my draughting days and all the lettering I did with my Rotring pens and stencils. I used to get really annoyed if I couldn't get my 8s right and couldn't wait for 1988 to come to an end! I've still got all my drawing equipment, though not used on the drawing board for must be 10 years now. I do use them for transferring my drawings to ply though.

So that looks like at least 5 Stilleto builds then, including Harry and his mate, which is good and makes it worthwhile, even if it does force me to deviate from my Faireys!   

[Dave_S.]

I'd have to dig some old copies of Model Boats to be sure, but I'm sure Aerokits lasted well into the 70s, if not the 80s.

[madwelshman]

I too iterate what Bob/Zooma says, in huge thank you to anyone who has contributed in any way to this(now these) project(s), it's hugely appreciated.
Again as Bob said, I too have found members on this and one or two other forums hugely helpful in sharing their knowledge and tips with me. I am very much a novice when it comes to building model boats. The RC side of things, I have a bit more knowledge of, thanks to a some years of flying both Rc planes and helicopters, but building boats, not so much. But, I am enjoying learning and also (very) slowly repairing some of the boats that I have bought to rescue, tidy up and then convert to electric because there's much more option to use them around here being quiet and pollution free in comparison to ic.


Thank you again guys.
Will

[Circlip]

Sorry, should have credited the comment on AeroKits to Model Boats forum. Existing kit stocks could well have been available into the eighties but JoTiKa took over the name and had stocks of the original AK printed plan sheets.


  Don't forget the original 'Pens' Chris, "Uno"


   Regards  Ian.


  Edit for spullin.

[ChrisF]

Hi Ian

Uno doesn't ring a bell with me. I started my proper fulltime job in 1972 and my first set of drawing pens were Pelikan (which I might still have somewhere) which consisted of a penholder and various nibs which you had to put drops of ink on to get going. They produced wonderful lines, especially the very thin ones, but they were difficult to draw curves with. The nibs for stencilling were very good and I found better than the Rotring pens. My drawing pencils were Stadler clutch pencils where you had to sharpen the lead with a small sharpener or more often small pieces of sandpaper.

Most of my drawing equipment was German and I certainly spent a few quid over my working life on pens, pencils, compass sets, scales, adjustable set-squares, ink and 10 metre rolls of tracing paper etc.

I've even got my very first compass set which I bought for technical drawing at school. I saw a very similar one in an antique shop last week!

Chris

[derekwarner]

..."clutch pencils where you had to sharpen the lead with a small sharpener or more often small pieces of sandpaper.

..didn't the Staedtler clutch pencil [with the blue plastic body - circa 1958?] have its own lead sharpener in the removable chrome-plated brass thumb pusher in the end of the pencil?

Uno drawing equipment was much later than Staedtler

[ChrisF]

I wasn't too far off with the spelling considering I haven't seen them for years!

You are absolutely right Derek but the inbuilt sharpener wasn't very good and blocked easily and the powder could fall out over your drawing if you weren't careful and took some cleaning off! Mine were somewhat later than 1958 though.


When I'm back home I must dig them out. I tend to use propelling and normal pencils now.

Chris

[derekwarner]

So many smudged drawings  if you weren't just so careful tap, tap & tap the chrome-plated end to rid of the carbon black


You are also correct Chris, the built in sharpener left a micro ball-shaped    end on the lead that needed rubbing off prior to continuing

Derek

PS..
the reference to 1958, was my Dads Staedtler pencil, my singular Staedtler clutch pencil was new for me in 1960
in High School, we also took a slice of stale bread into Drawing Lessons....to wipe over the completed Drawing to remove smudges and finger prints

[ChrisF]

CAD pah!

Not heard of the stale bread trick. What were you drawing on?

Chris

[derekwarner]

So this was in 4th year 1964...


We would complete the Drawing of 1st, & 3rd angle projections of block shapes with sections & cutouts, then make an Isometric projection of the block shapes with sections & cutouts] on conventional paper [AO?]


Then when accepted by the Teacher, we would trace the Isometric Drawing on a plastic [todays Mylar?] in 2H pencil, then carefully wipe with the bread, then go over and ink the Drawing [pen & ink]


That exercise [20 hours?] was the practical examination for the end of year Certificate of Competency


Similar Drawing work was completed during the next 3 years of Technical Training  [Apprenticeship], however remembering back    the quality of my School drawing ability exceeded that of the later years.....not really sure why?


Derek

[ChrisF]

I was only about 3 or 4 years behind you but we only worked with pencil and paper and cleared up any marks using an eraser.

I didn't do anymore drawing until I started work at an architect's practice and did my learning on the job and drew on mainly tracing paper and some copynegs. Did that for a few years and then became a building surveyor and project manager. I carried on producing architectural drawings though until and past retirement as family and friends call on my services!

Never did learn CAD because even though I produced building drawings at work our IT dept. in their wisdom deemed that I didn't need CAD! I used Microsoft Visio which whilst not ideal, I produced some good quality drawings and also used it for my Fairey builds. I have bought a copy of TurboCAD but haven't had much time to learn it yet.

Chris

[zooma]

Harry reckons CAD stand for Cardboard Assisted Drawing 

[ChrisF]

So I've heard!