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[richardabeattie]

Started the build but the instructions are a bit of a joke - weird sequences (fit the deck and then fit the reinforcements under the deck) and lots not covered at all.  Far too few exploded diagrams.  So how do I get some closeup photos?  All that is supplied is the big photo on the box. Can anybody help?

[Colin Bishop]

Richard,

Sir Kay does seem to have the reputation of being a bit of a challenge but it can produce a very good model. You must be very careful about top weight though as the model is very tender, See reference in the links below.

There are some references to Sir Kay on this forum, notably this one:

https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1375.0

The model was discussed on the old Model Boats Forum and much of the material can be seen on the new one here:

https://www.modelboats.co.uk/forums/topic/caldercraft-sir-kay/

Colin

[Neil]

i built both the armed and civilian version of the trawler many moons ago, and the  Milford star was built as a reveiw model for one of the model; boat magazines of the day in the 1980/90's and i cant in the fogging of time remember it advogcating fitting the deck in that order.but as i say it was at least 30 years ago.
however my one best tip is to make sure you have the running gear, prop shaft, and motor bed and motor fitted before the deck goes on permanently.
Also as a help I made a waterproof hatch incoroporating either the fish hatches [civilian ] or the box mounting for the 4 pounder [armed trawler]on the fore deck to allow the placing of the propulsion motor batteries, as if you dont the possibilities of doing any maintenance is very limited, because the access under the main superstructure is very very limited indeed.

[richardabeattie]

Thanks - that took me to three quite helpful photos.  I have put less lead than usual into the hull and will add an external removable deep keel to put the additional ballast much lower down. More photos would help as the best of these three seems to be missing some of the detailed castings - to save top weight?

[Colin Bishop]

I think some builders have used the heavy white metal fitting castings as patterns for more lightweight scratch built alternatives. When the kit was originally designed, white metal was the bees knees when it came to producing cheap fittings as opposed to expensive plastic injection moulding, so several manufacturers were a bit over enthusiastic in using it for unsuitable applications such as rudders and props among other things so the fittings were very heavy and if there were a lot of them, as on Sir Kay, then it had an adverse effect upon stability. If the model was a deep draught design like Talacre or Imara it could absorb the extra weight but with Sir Kay, the hull was relatively fine lined but carrying a lot of heavy white metal fittings which did compromise stability.

I still have a couple of Caldercraft white metal rudders sitting in my 'bits box' as potential ballast having used them for patterns for plywood/aluminium replicas which eased the load on the servos.

Colin