The police used to have a Brede down at Poole, on the same pier as the lifeboat - I don't know if they still have it. It wasn't an ex-lifeboat however, it was built especially for them.
The Metcalf Rother...where to start...
<anorak mode>
For a start, it's marketed as the Dungeness boat 'Alice Upjohn', however, this is one boat it isn't - as the forehatch is offset to the side on that one but on the model plans it's on the centre line - fine for some boats, but not the Alice Upjohn.
</anorak mode>
The white metal fittings aren't that great - I've still got a huge box of unused fittings, because I remade a lot of them. All the stanchions and cabin rail mountings are now made from brass tube soldered up for example.
The cabin interior is not at all scale. It was designed for easy access into the hull (the whole interior lifts off with the cabin), and fideliity suffered as a result - I completely rebuilt this area to scale (it was good having the real thing around to measure from!)
Having said all this, it was the first kit I'd made, and now unfortunately, mine's really too fragile to be carted around and so I stripped all the radio gear and motors out of her and turned her into a static model (allied with the fact that I cocked up calculating some angles and the cabin top is now a real pig to get on and off and something usually breaks if I do it). As the kit is designed it's a lot more robust.
To sum up, I am pleased with what it turned out like. I enjoyed building it and solving all the little problems that it threw at me, and even though I rebuilt a lot of it, I don't think I could have built a Rother from scratch - it helped having a framework to work around if you see what I mean.
Cheers
Lance
