Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Pleasure boats, Sports, Race, Power and Leisure Boats: => Topic started by: zooma on April 30, 2020, 11:40:46 am
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I have a sad and delapitated model of a Chris Craft Corvette that I think could be worth restoring.
The model of 48" long and 13 7/8" wide and I think it was made from an American Sterling Models kit some time in the 1960s'
I have not been able to find out much about this model boat or seen any pictures of any others that I could use as a clue to help with the rebuild.
The boat was mainly made with an all balsa plank on frame construction, and considering that this model had a huge two stroke trimmer engine installed (!) it has survived quite well, but the cab sides were made from a very thin veneer weight of ply and these have delaminated badly and would need replacing - possibly with a much more suitable thickness of 1/8 play that should survive better than these originals.
The unused prop shaft slots for twin drive electric power are still visible so I would like to rebuild this model with twin electric motors, but I need some help.
Does anyone have any pictures of this model boat that I could see please - or even better - does anyone have a set of plans they would consider selling or copying for me?
I would also consider buying a complete used Corvette model as I really like the look of this model, and it would be a more than helpful reference for me to work from as this one will take some time to rebuild.
Thanks for any information that anyone can find for me....and stay safe!
Bob.
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Is this the one? www.building-model-boats.com/42-ft-chris-craft-corvette.html
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Or?
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That's a lovely looking boat.
Zooma - it would be worth posting on RC Groups.com forum as that is an American site and Chris Craft models are mentioned often and would be interested in your model.
Chris
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Thanks Tony,
That is the model - and what a beauty she is!
Sadly my neglected hulk looks nothing like this, but it does show just how nice it could look if it were possible to restore it fully.
Bob.
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Just to give the theoretical value of a finished one, here's one on fleabay www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chris-Craft-Corvette-Handmade-Wooden-Classic-Boat-Model-48-RC-Ready/264681265457?hash=item3da03b9931:g:SewAAOSwcIpefnQl
Does it justify the effort?
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Thanks Tony,
That advert has given me more pictures of the Corvette than I have ever seen before and they will be more than helpful references when I get my restoration under way.
I see that the builder of this one has coated the inside of the hull with glass fibre resin - if not a necessity, it is certainly a good idea as although the balsa construction does keep its shape very well, I would feel happier with a similar treatment if the boat was to be given some regular use (and it will - if I can get it "sorted').
The model is lovely, but the price is eye-wateringly expensive, and that price would more than double with postage from the USA as it would attract import duty and the vat would be applied to the 1. cost of the model 2. the cost of the delivery and 3. the cost of the import duty! A tripple whammy!
And even at that price, the chances of it surviving such a lengthy journey are pretty slim!
If I had the cash and lived in the States I would jump at it - they are such lovely models.
........now if one were to turn up in the UK at a reasonable price I would buy it to save all the work that my "project" boat would take me to restore - and I could never get it to look like that one!
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Looking at my "new to me" copy of Model Maker magazine for April 1963. I see that Roland Scott (147 Derby Street, Bolton - not very far away from me!) had two of these new kits for sale at £10 each complete with 62 piece fitting kit!
Sounds like an amazing price these days, but Sea Queen kits from the same source were only 116 shillings and 8 pence!
Wish I could buy a new kit now for that price - or even a full size plan!!!!!
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I am told that there is a link to down load a copy of the full size kit plans and building instructions - does anybody have the details so I can access them please?
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Hi Bob,
Can you post some pics of what you actually are faced with? Then we could possibly help better with a feasible way forward with a rebuild.
Tony
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Hi Bob,
Can you post some pics of what you actually are faced with? Then we could possibly help better with a feasible way forward with a rebuild.
Tony
Sorry Tony,
I am not able to post pictures on here from my MAC - I have tried many times and failed - but I am taking pictures .
Tonight I took a good look at the superstructure.
The ply sides crumbled in my hands and are delaminating where they are not crumbling - strangely enough the balsa top (and also the balsa hull parts) are OK - but the very thin plywood used has not stood the test of time (very poor qaulity wood).
I quickly glued enough of the sides together to draw around them to preserve the shape.
Both of the long cab sides were supplied in two halves and fortunately when these fell apart the joint shapes were still OK.
At the moment I have removed both sides complete and I am trying to glue the delaminated layers of the cab bulkheads together to preserve the shapes long enough to copy them.
The cab floor just crumbled in my hands so I have nothing to copy, but I measured the size and worked out the shape before the sides came off and drew it on the back of a cereal box so I should be OK with that.
The cab front window frames fell apart so I spent a couple of hours placing the slithers of different ply layers together until I had a shape for the centre panel and then did the same to re-construct one of the side panels and drew around them both.
When I cut new parts from 1/8 ply it will be substantially better specified and much sturdier than the original flimsy kit parts!
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Hi Zooma , that model on e-bay is actually quite a reasonable price, I've only just started my build of a Fairey Huntsman and I've already spent at least £300 on the grp hull, running gear, plywood etc. and still have to get an ESC, Lipo battery and no doubt other stuff I haven't even thought of yet, add to all that a few hundred hours building, so 7 or 8 hundred pounds starts to look realistic.
Joe
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Hi Joe,
You are probably right - I have already put it in my basket to see what it would cost to get to to the UK and it is about £1200 - assuming no additional costs are added at customs or vat as this could make a considerable difference to the price.
Meanwhile I am making a start on copying the remains of the delaminated and crumbling plywood parts which are all beyond saving, but (surprisingly) all of the balsa wood parts are looking good, and as the model is mostly plank on frame balsa construction probably 60% of the boat is structurally sound enough to be repaired and to have enough information left to repair and rebuild in these parts of the boat.
There are no fly-screen parts - these rotted and fell off years before I rescued the hulk so a set of plans would save me having to "free-lance" the size and shape from the pictures I can see.
Some years ago I was given a down load link for a set of plans and the original building instructions for the Sterling kit.
I printed the kit building instructions just before a computer failure, but I was unable to print any plans before the problem and I can no longer find the link to down load them again.
If any has a set of plans to sell or even a complete model to sell in the UK (in better nick than this one!), it would help me enormously and a link to the kit plans download would be more than welcome as it should give me all the information I need.
Stay safe!
Bob.
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Bob
I've been asked by an old friend to pass this link on to you. I hope it helps. http://oldboats.tk/Sterling1.html (http://oldboats.tk/Sterling1.html)
DaveM
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Bob
I've been asked by an old friend to pass this link on to you. I hope it helps. http://oldboats.tk/Sterling1.html (http://oldboats.tk/Sterling1.html)
DaveM
Thanks Dave,
That link works a treat - and it was probably the one that I lost the last time.
Now that I have this saved as a PDF it should be easy to get it printed full size so I can work from it - if I can find somebody who prints plans.
Does anyone know who offers a plan printing service, or anyone with a printer that is big enough to print plans this size?
Stay safe!
Bob.
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Around 10 years ago I was lucky enough to purchase a Sterling 63 Motor Yacht kit from a lady in Germany via E-bay..... surprisingly no other bidders !!! maybe because it was an unknown entity at that time and the presentation pictures didn't show it in a g0od light..
Quite a few parts were missing but luckily the profiles were still in the box of original off cut sheets so I was able to copy them. Quite a difficult boat to build ... mainly plank on frame, bass wood and balsa.
The fittings kit left much to be desired but at least it was all there as this came as a separate item with the original kit... again I copied them in either resin or plastic to get a sharper profile where required.
Although I say it myself , when finished the boat was stunning and was well admired by fellow club members.
Sadly I sold it on e-bay for a song, much to my regret as it was a rarity and the kit was an exceptional find..... no pics otherwise I'd have posted them.
Regards
Terry H.
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I've always used these folk for my printing https://www.johnewright.com/print/ (https://www.johnewright.com/print/)
It helps that they're just down the road but I know you can E-Mail a PDF to them, so maybe they could post the hard-copy back to you. Might be worth contacting them or seeing if there's another similar copy-shop nearer to you.
Just had a thought - SLEC offer a plan tracing service - that might include printing https://www.slecuk.com/ (https://www.slecuk.com/)
Dave M
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Hi Bob, yeah totally agree about the postage cost, it's not part of the value of the boat which is what I was referring to, and of course components have got so much more expensive I paid £70 for a pair of prop shafts, good job I've a bad memory %% %%
hope all goes well with the rebuild there's something very satisfying about bringing a model back to life. :-))
Joe
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Bobs little project %%
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gonna need a bigger pot of glue %%
Joe
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You ain't seen the half of it!
Bob sent these over to complete the picture ...... :}
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I should have taken a picture of the hull bottom before I chipped the randomly applied layers of filler paste that completely covered it all over.
The paste had been applied over a mixture of several layers of paint, raw wood, various splits and holes and black mould.
I was surprised at how well the rough layer of filler paste has stuck to the various under surfaces and how the black mould had been able to penetrate the filler paste.
The paste must have been on the hull for several years and it had become rock hard and took me over 4 hours with a 1' wide chisel to chip it all away so I could see what was lurking underneath.
My guess is that this boat has had several previous owners. The first owner and builder of the kit had done a god job and the evidence suggests that it had twin shafts and electric motor drive.
A later owner must have damaged the centre section of the underside and replaced some of the balsa planking with some slightly too thick hardwood planking that can be clearly seen in the picture. This was not sanded down but left proud and painted over!
The last owner ripped out the electric motors and shafts (literally) and fitted a 50cc strimmer motor. This would have probably produced a good turn of speed as although the hull is 48" long it is has a very lightweight construction.
Several areas of damage were partly hidden under the generous application of glass fibre filler paste that was left the same shape as it was trowelled on (ie not sanded to shape after is had dried) so this boat started life well but has definitely had a less sympathetic later life.
The amount of work it needs to rebuild it is daunting, but I will give it a go by starting to repair and replace sections of the keel so I have a straight and solid central place to work from.
The original keel was 1/4" balsa, this would-be reasonably easy to patch and replace, but I may decide to let in some 1/4" plywood instead and restore the under-water keel profile that it would have had when it had twin drive shafts.
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Blimey, there's many who wouldn't have tried to save that! Good on you.
Chris
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Wow Bob, you have certainly taken on a project there. I hope most of the underlying wood is still in reasonable shape then you just (!) need patience, skill and elbow grease to bring her back from the dead. It can do no harm to replace some of the balsa with something a little more durable and even if you add a little to the weight she should still be a sparkling performer once complete. I shall watch with interest and wish you good fortune in your rebuild. :-))
Greg
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Thanks Greg.
Being at an "at risk" over 70 year old means that we have not been able to leave the house for some weeks now so getting supplies is a problem, but I found a small piece of hardwood (oak?) about 1/2" thick, 3 " wide and just over a foot long hiding in the garage. I have no idea how many years this has been there or where it came from, but it is a handy little off-cut that I probably picked up from a local garden centre that often used to have a small selection of wood off-cuts for sale that may have come from a local furniture maker (?) - this one had £1 written on it in pencil !
I put this small off-cut through my small bench mounted band saw and cut some strips about the same thickness as the section of hardwood planking that had been inserted during a previous owners repair.
As my eyesight is not quite as sharp as it was when I was younger, I am measuring nothing but aligning what I see and cutting and "making to fit" as best as I can and hope I can not only save this tragic hulk, but also end up with something that is not too shabby!
I will use these hardwood strips to repair the central rear part of the hull as the balsa is a bit dodgy in that area and as you suggest adding a little more weight with something a bit more durable would not be a bad idea!
The balsa that I have come across so far has been a bit grey and "brittle" and crumbles easily - possibly a mixture of old age and being previously soaked in the petrol/oil two stroke fuel that the strimmer motor ran on? I will double-up on the balsa formers as I come across them to add some strength, but most of these have lost their original shape so they will be done by guesswork, what looks right, and what balsa wood or other materials I can find lurking in the dark corners of my shed - basically I am mostly working with scraps and left-overs from previous projects.
The previous hardwood patch ends in a straight line on the edge of a thin balsa "bulkhead" (which is actually more of a low former) and is also crumbling away, so I will double this part to give more give more support and take a look at making this joint a little more "integrated" rather than ending in such a straight edge.
For such a large bulky hull, it is very lightweight so adding some extra weight will not be a problem, and may even save having to add some ballast when it is eventually time for it to get wet!
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From Bob
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Another couple
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If this is the restoration Tony, then I am sure it will be 100% :-)) with the labour of life saving work.........
Apart from the minimal actual cracking in the lower hull sheeting/planking....the discolouration/stain/dirty surfaces makes the project look a lot worse than it is
Using Titebond III?
Derek
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I think you're right Derek. I know Bob has got work to do but the framework seems to have been designed for lightness so he's got some tolerance in the weight to play with. I've suggested that if he's got any marginally dubious wood, he could use a dose of the wood-rot stabilizer resin such as Cuprinol. I don't know whet you think but it could link old and new areas together with a small weight penalty.
Tony
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I think you're right Derek. I know Bob has got work to do but the framework seems to have been designed for lightness so he's got some tolerance in the weight to play with. I've suggested that if he's got any marginally dubious wood, he could use a dose of the wood-rot stabilizer resin such as Cuprinol. I don't know whet you think but it could link old and new areas together with a small weight penalty.
Tony
Thanks for hosting my pictures for me Tony - I will keep them coming and you can delate any that are of no interest.
I took your advise and ordered some wood-rot stabiliser today from Amazon and (all being well) it will arrive tomorrow. They had no Cuprinol in stock but they did have an offer on the Ronseal type so I hope it will stiffen-up some of the decaying and fragile wood that actually looks better in the pictures than it really is!
The wood crumbles as it is touched so it is very fragile and is why I have made new "frames" to hold each section together and stabilise it before moving on to the next otherwise I would loose the shape of the hull.
This is made considerably more difficult to work with by the large amount of resin (or shallac?) that was liberally poured over everything. Over the years this has shrunk away from the edges and corners so it has to be chipped away as it serves no purpose other than to obscure the areas I need to work on.
I hope to fit the first pair of planks that I stripped from the hardwood off-cut I found yesterday to replace the rotten one that I have had to remove.
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Very well done for taking on the biggest basket case in model boating I have ever seen. Keep up the fine work, and in my experience most times by eye on a project like yours works better than trying to match measurements O0 O0
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Very well done for taking on the biggest basket case in model boating I have ever seen. Keep up the fine work, and in my experience most times by eye on a project like yours works better than trying to match measurements O0 O0
Thanks for your encouragement Phil. :-))
I have to admit that if it were not for the lock-down this hulk would not have made it out of the skip, but it is a comparatively unusual model from the 1950's and if I can actually end-up with a finished and working model boat I will be quite pleased - and it should be a bit "tougher" than the original kit built model would have been.
The original balsa construction used in this Sterling kit is more like that used on a model aircraft and does give a good lightweight and stiff construction, but its durability and resistance to the occasional bump if used every week on the local club lake is a concern, and the very thin low quality plywood used in the cabin construction is more delicate than the balsa wood and is very flimsy and delaminating.
Making the replacement parts "by eye" rather than measurement works for me on a basket case like this and can actually make a better fit too.
My model may not end up being a glamour-puss (I do not have the genuine Chris Craft fittings to make it a true scale replica) but it will have the correct outline shape and it should look like a Corvette - and that would be a good result for a "skip-dodger" like this !
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A few more.
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This retimbering rebuild is looking very strong, straight & square Bob.... :-)) ....good to see older floor plate frames removed, then replaced
What specie is the new [lighter toned] framing timber?...we see your old oak tree from your workshop ripped up into lower hull planking...
As Tony mentioned, weight should be a consideration, although from your earlier images.......the hull appears to be of quite fair proportions so may float on a very low draft?
Looking forward to your continued rebuild snaps
Derek
[PS..I did ask.....are you using Titebond III?
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This retimbering rebuild is looking very strong, straight & square Bob.... :-)) ....good to see older floor plate frames removed, then replaced
What specie is the new [lighter toned] framing timber?...we see your old oak tree from your workshop ripped up into lower hull planking...
As Tony mentioned, weight should be a consideration, although from your earlier images.......the hull appears to be of quite fair proportions so may float on a very low draft?
Looking forward to your continued rebuild snaps
Derek
[PS..I did ask.....are you using Titebond III?
Hi Derek,
I used 1/4" balsa wood when replacing or "doubling" the original balsa frames and I have used an Aliphatic adhesive (basically a PVA that can be sanded when dry) that has extremely good "grab" and gives a good powerful bond.
The opened rear part of the hull has now been planked over and a couple more areas have needed to have my home stripped planks inserted where the original balsa planking fell apart before I could treat it.
As I moved forwards along the hull cleaning up the inside I removed the delaminating front deck to expose the hidden front sections, I also noticed that the keal was crumbling away towards the bow so I cut a 1/4" plywood "insert" and cut away enough hull planking to make room for the clamps to hold the insert in place until the glue dried.
I took a couple of quick snaps so I will send them to Tony today.
Bob.
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Getting there :-))
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I have completed the lower front bow repair using laminated balsa to form a solid block.
This has now been sanded to shape and another hardwood plank inserted where I found a rotten area that I wanted to replace.
The stringers under the front deck have also been removed to make to easier to reach the inside of the bow to clean it up and to coat it with a layer of P40 chopped glass to stiffen the inside of the front planking that looked like it had been well done and was still intact, but as this is an area that will be hidden from sight once the new deck is made and fitted as I just want to make sure that it is well protected and watertight.
The outside of the lower hull is now solid enough and I am using a small amount of filler paste here and there to blend the old and new together after a few boring hours of sanding to produce a nice smooth surface before returning to do do some more work inside the hull to replace more of the rotten and missing cross members.
I have also cut away the softwood and thick ply that was put in with filler paste and resin/shelac to mount the 50cc two stroke as this wood was hiding sections of the hull that I wanted to see so I know that all of the hull is sound and restored. Its a shame that this was probably the most solid part of the hull (!)
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A better bow :}
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:-))
Well done Bob. Looks like progress is being made. Keep it up!
Greg
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Excellent restoration & looking good Bob O0 .....a very light glass cloth & resin over the hull externals?.............[balsa is very soft :o ]
Derek
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Excellent restoration & looking good Bob O0 .....a very light glass cloth & resin over the hull externals?.............[balsa is very soft :o ]
Derek
I am thinking about that option - I have never applied an external hull covering so I need to find out what materials to use and how to apply it.
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I decided it was time to knock-up some sort of “holder” for the Corvette as I hope at some stage (sooner the better) to be able to turn the hull over and start working on something a bit more interesting!
Keeping in the spirit of "making something out of nothing” I found a piece of scrap 20mm plywood that had been previously used as a “doner” for mixing some cement on, so I scraped off the dried cement and chopped it up to make the base and two ends.
The spruce ply is rough ( just like the boat) and is also very lightweight (again like the boat) so it was a natural choice.
I found another piece of scrap plywood that was just long enough to make a side from, so I cut it in half lengthwise on the bandsaw to make two sides and bunged it all together.
The underside of the hull has had some wood sealer painted onto the bare wood areas, and then I painted on an undercoat to highlight the many areas that still need surface filling - very depressing!!
I will tidy-up the two propshaft outlet positions and order a pair of 10” shafts and large rudders today and get them fitted as soon as they arrive so I can paint the inside with glass fibre resin and chopped mat to toughen up the inside and then I can make and fit the motor mounts and cut some plywood bulkheads etc.
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More like a boat rather than a car crash!
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I think I may have a change of plan regarding the prop shafts.
From what I can see, a pair of 10" prop shafts ( with 11" stainless inner shafts ) should work out about right for the twin brushless motors I have in mind to power the finished boat (maybe a bit optimistic about the finished bit), but I am tempted to buy a pair of 6" outer shafts with the two 11" stainless inner shafts and a pair of P brackets from Modelboatbits.
I intend setting the motor drive so both props turn inwards towards each other, but I have not made a twin shaft model boat before and so I am not too sure about the availability of left and right handed propellers of the size I may need, and if I need to have one of the inner shafts cut with a left hand thread to stop it "unwinding" when under power?
The other option I considered was making the shafts with a dog-drive collar fitted, to ensure both props remain secure irrespective of the rotational direction.
Then I have the problem of finding a "pair" of props to suite the brushless motors. With a single shaft drive it is possible to use inexpensive plastic props to use when testing to find the best size that works, but from what I can see I would need to buy a pair of brass props, and this could make testing a little expensive unless I happened to "guess right" first time!
I am using a pair of Turnigy 3648-1450 outdrive motors. If anyone has used these motors and can advise what prop sizes work the best in a large hull it could save me taking a "stab in the dark" when buying a pair of brass props and it could save me some time (and cash!) too.
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As I was moving some wood to cut the lower hull skins for my Wavemaster 34 build I picked-up the remains of the Corvette plywood sides to clear some bench space and was alarmed to find they had deteriorated even more - I didn't think that was possible!
I checked the 4mm ply that I had drawn these shapes on previously and took the opportunity to tidy them up and "fill in the gaps" as I refereed to the balsa wood cabin top to see how they would fit before the ply remains that I still have disappear completely.
After completing the shapes drawn onto the new 4mm plywood (with a little guesswork), I cut a new pair of cabin sides and the three front windscreen frames. I checked these newly cut shapes against the balsa cab roof and it looks like they can be made to fit OK. Result!
Now I have preserved the shape in some sold wood I can relax as I should have all the info I need to rebuild the main section of the boats superstructure. There will still be some research needed to work out the cab floor and open well areas but I should be OK with that, and then I only need to make the fly screen shapes so I can refer to the pictures of other Corvettes that I have saved and work that out later.
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More!
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I cut the cabin sides out yesterday and glued them back onto the balsa wood cabin top that has survived much better than the really poor plywood parts that have all more or less disintegrated over the years.
When I was gutting the hull, I was careful not to remove the areas where the cabin mounted as I wanted to keep these as reference points.
This morning, to my total surprise, when I removed all the clips and tape that I had used to hold everything in place while the glue was drying - it fitted back onto the hull perfectly !
The new cab sides sat absolutely level onto the two side mounting shelves inside the hull, the two forward mounting lugs plugged squarely into the remains of the slots on the main front bulkhead, and the cabin rear sides look like they will fit flat enough onto the rear deck when I get around to replacing it.
Something has gone well on this lengthy restoration job for a change, and will give me some encouragement to face up to the job again when I return to it after the Wavemaster comes off of the work bench.
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Hi Zooma try www.cornwallmodelboats.com for your props they do left and right hand plastic props in two and three blade and most sizes, only £3.59 each cheap enough for testing purposes.
Joe
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One more plus!
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Hi Zooma try www.cornwallmodelboats.com (http://www.cornwallmodelboats.com) for your props they do left and right hand plastic props in two and three blade and most sizes, only £3.59 each cheap enough for testing purposes.
Joe
Thanks for the info Joe - I will buy a couple of likely sizes ready for testing.
I was planning to fit a pair of Turnigy 3648-1450 out-runners, but I am not sure if this will be a bit too much power because although this is a large chunky model, it does have a very lightweight construction - although it will be a bit heavier than the kit maker planned it to be after I have rebuilt it!
Perhaps a pair of brushed motors would be a better option ?........it would certainly be kinder on my pension - but I do want the boat to make some white water when it is finished and not just dawdle along barely making a ripple!
I need to make my mind up quickly about this I am getting close to the time when I need to install the motors - or even make a last minute change to just a single motor drive ! I have a big 4030 880KV outrunner (a 600 helicopter size motor) that would probably shove it along at a fair old pace .............decisions, decisions!
Bob.
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Hi Bob,
Do you know what motor/s was/were in it originally, if so you should be able to get the power needed to reproduce the historic performance. Assuming, of course, that it wasn't a total dog!
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Hi Bob,
Do you know what motor/s was/were in it originally, if so you should be able to get the power needed to reproduce the historic performance. Assuming, of course, that it wasn't a total dog!
Yes I do Tony - it was a 50cc two stroke motor !
It probably went quite well, but I think the motor was bunged-in with no consideration for the model itself and its installation and use has been the cause of at least some of the restoration work I am having to do now!
Possibly the original builder used twin electric power, but that could have been as long ago as the 50s and I have no knowledge of the boat prior to the abused and rotten skip-dodging wreck that I took on - which is a pity - because from what I can see the boat was originally built quite well before its last "user" beat it up!
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I know it's a bit off the wall, but this may be interesting then! https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=81702
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I think that the almost "model aircraft style construction" of mostly balsa wood with a small amount of very light weight (and low quality) ply that Sterling kits produced this model with, probably made it one of the least suitable r/c model boats for use with a 50cc single cylinder two stroke engine, and the motors rough installation and heavy duty abuse that followed just about finished it off.
The petrol easily soaked into the balsa wood framework of the boat and the many "botched-up" repairs that followed (these mostly included wiping the outside of the hull over with various layers of filler paste and pouring some sort of resin or shalac inside the hull) has made the restoration far more difficult and time consuming that could be reasonably expected.
There is no doubt that without the Covid 19 lockdown (and my continued need for shielding), there is every likelihood that these fuel soaked and abused remains of what was once a magnificent classic 1950's model boat would never have escaped the skip, as in all honesty there was nothing on the model that was worth saving - apart from the fact that is is a fairly rare and quite desirable obsolete model, and I thought that it would be a shame to see it lost forever.
Having said that, I am still finding it quite a 'draining" project that demands far more time that it should do and is why I take a break from it now and again to work on something else - but then I see it needing some more attention and I get hooked back into spending a lot more time on it trying to resolve yet another unexpected problem that a well cared for example simply would not need!
In short, getting this model rebuilt back into one half tidy lump that can be sailed again one day has become a challenge and an addiction!
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Bob what ever the reason why you are doing it you are making a great job of it, and in the end that is going to be one rare bird, she's already come a heck of a long way and I look forward to seeing her finished and vid of her sailing would be icing on the cake. :-))
Joe
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Bob what ever the reason why you are doing it you are making a great job of it, and in the end that is going to be one rare bird, she's already come a heck of a long way and I look forward to seeing her finished and vid of her sailing would be icing on the cake. :-))
Joe
Thanks for the encouragement Joe.
The Mayhem has been a sound source of good information, help, and support for me - something that I really appreciate.
Tony H has also helped me a lot by posting my pictures on here as well. This is something I have not been able to do for myself using my fairly old MAC and my very limited computer skills!
Thanks to Tony's ongoing assistance, I will continue to take some snaps of the restoration and put them here for anyone interested to see - and hopefully that will one day include a short video of the boat sailing in the water!
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I know it's a bit off the wall, but this may be interesting then! https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=81702 (https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=81702)
That is an interesting comparison between a 50cc moped engine and the equivalent electric motor power.
I still need to decide whether to go for the twin shaft/twin motor drive that I have planned to go for, or to go for a late change of mind and have a single shaft drive with a 600 size helicopter motor that should shove it along at a good speed.
Decisions, decisions........................
Bob.
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Yesterday I cut a new 4mm plywood floor for the cockpit of the Corvette and now the glue has dried and the clamps have been removed it has strengthened the cab quite a bit and straightened the cab sides too.
I cut some glass fibre matting to sit inside each of the small box sections of the hull and after wetting the area with Bondglass I stippled them all into place to strengthen and seal everything.
The inside of the bows have also received the same treatment so that when I replace the foredeck stringers and cover this area with a new 1/16 plywood deck I can be reasonably confident that this sealed compartment should not leak.
Before I "called it a day" I cut and fitted a 1/16 plywood inner skin to the transom. I had to glue this onto the support spars with Araldite as this area had also been given the glass fibre matting treatment and I was not sure what else would stick it.
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Piccies!
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Yesterday I gave the inside of the bows area some more glass matting and Bondaglass to make certain that everything in this large front compartment has been well coated as the next step is to cover it over with a new 1/16 plywood deck.
Fortunately, the weather was good enough to do this glass fibre work outside so the fumes were much easier to cope with (almost none!) and the resin dried quite quickly, so last night the hull was back in the workshop (shed) again when I really noticed the glass fibre smell for the first time.
The 1/4" square stringers that provide the deck support snapped easily when I touched one by mistake - if I knew they were so rotten I would have removed them all much earlier as it would have made the glass fibre work inside the bows much easier to access >>:-(
I have some 1/4" square hardwood strips so I replaced the balsa originals with these and extended the central one a little further towards the bow to hopefully give a little more strength to the structure.
Today I will give it another "good coat of looking at" and hopefully prepare to get some ply skin covering in place over the bows area as getting this front deck covered with some new wood will begin to show some real progress and make it possible to cut and fit the front cab screens that need this deck to be fitted first as they need to rest neatly on top of it.
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I have replaced all three of the long 1/4 x 1/4 balsa wood longitudinal deck support stringers with 1/4 x 1/4 hardwood and lengthened them a little and joined them onto a short length of 1/4 x 1/4 hardwood to spread any frontal loading evenly as they are now all embedded into the upper front apron.
Some more 1/4 x 1/4 hardwood has been glued across the tops of the kit cross members/deck supports as the original balsa wood parts are weak and by laminating these they strengthen them and also give some good solid cross support for the front sides of the hull.
The lower fronts of the Corvette body sides have a tongue cut into them, and each of these plug into a slot to retain the cabin. These slots are in the front bulkhead and are just under the front deck. As the slots were cut into the weak/rotten front bulkhead, these slots have been encased and strengthened by using some more 1/4 x 1/4 hardwood and the bulkhead has also been given a coat of glass fibre glass and matting to toughen it up.
The hull is 12 1/2" wide and my 1/16 ply is only 12 " wide so I have cut the front deck in two halves. I have glued some 1/4 x 1/4 balsa wood strip along either side of the central hardwood stringer to give a wider bonding area as the front deck skins will be joined along this central spar.
My next job is to make and fit new decking from 1/16 plywood as all of the originals have delaminated and fallen apart . I am really looking forward to this bit as it will then begin to look like a boat and I can start to tie the superstructure into the hull.
The superstructure sits inside the side decking and on top of the front deck, so once these decks are fitted I can make and fit the front cabin screens and the rear cockpit well can be completed too.
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Update pics!
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The decking is now fitted and for the first time I can start to see more of the final shape of the boat starting to emerge.
I think after such a long time making repairs, chopping out the rot and solving one problem after another this is probably the first time I have started to see some real visible progress and I have been able to stand back and appreciate the bulky look of the Chris Craft Corvette.
This is certainly a "chunky" looking boat and shows its 1954 design origins very well. I actually think it looks a bit "spooky" at the moment (for some reason it reminds me of the car from the film "Christine") and I quite like it.
The temptation now is to get on with the superstructure, but the hull still needs some more work yet - especially cleaning-up and finishing-off the inside - even though that is the bit that has already taken most of my time, but at least the hull is now "stabilised" and strengthened so it is not likely to deteriorate any further - but it now weighs a lot more than it did before I started work on it!........and there is a lot of deck detail to be added yet!
Maybe I should just get the superstructure up to the same state as the hull so I know that it is also "safe" but try not get too carried away with the detailing just yet otherwise I may not want to revisit the hull that has already consumed so much of my time since I started this restoration.
Looking back on it, despite the price (about £1200 plus by the time it is delivered to the UK with import duty and vat) I can't help thinking what good value that "same size" Corvette advertised on eBay was as it is all new, has no rot, and is probably a lot better than I will ever be able to make this one - but is is still just an empty hull at the end of the day with a pair of M4 prop shafts and rudders installed and it is a lot of money.
I have no idea where these models are made, but I doubt it is anywhere in the USA and I would love to see the production line. Speaking to the selling dealer online (via eBay) they appear to have sold a few of them so my guess would be that they are made somewhere in the far east (China maybe?). If there was any way of finding out who makes these lovely models, it would probably be possible to buy them for a lot less as it is so expensive to import anything to the UK from the USA. Even at the same asking price, it would cost a lot less to buy it from China.
Having said that, this one has kept me busy during my continuing period of shielding and I will have saved another vintage model from the skip - even though I have at many times wondered if I that would have been by far the most sensible thing to do with it.
What this restoration has given me is the opportunity to solve problems that I would not have experienced on a new build, and keeping the mind active has been a good thing to do during the lock-down as it has kept me busy. My Corvette my not end up being a real "show queen" like the ready made one so clearly is, but I am looking forward to seeing it finished and I may even use a little "artistic licence" to personalise it rather than just try to compete with what is a factory built display model - even though it has inspired me quite a lot!
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Closing in on the target!
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I have been able to make some new front cabin screens to fit the front of the superstructure and fit them on place, so the superstructure is a lot more "secure" now as there is enough new wood to hold the shape whilst I work-out how to make the very characteristic deep horseshoe shaped fore deck "spray-screen".
The commercially available "ready-made" 48" Corvette does have this shape fitted to the fore deck edges, but it looks to be the same thickness all the way around the horseshoe shape, and this would be reasonably easy to make.
As far as I can see this should be very deep at the front and progressively taper back to a lower side profile by the time it is in line with the cab sides. This looks like it will be a difficult 3D shape to replicate unless I make it is balsa-wood, but I would like to make an effort to reproduce it if i can - and in a more durable material such as laminations of marine ply or hardwood?
I will see what I can come up with.......
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Last night I turned the hull over and bored some holes vertically down through the new plywood keel that I fitted at the start of this restoration.
These holes are deep enough to pass into the original wood and some brass rod was epoxied down into these holes to give a mechanical link to support the adhesive bond between the old and new wood. This is something I had always planned to do but this boat has had so many areas that needed patching-up that I got distracted and forgot about it - until now !
During the day I cut and bonded some plywood to make the foredeck edge "horse shoe" shape. Different laminations were added and then sanded back to give the taper (in thickness) from the front to the back. Lots more sanding needed here to give the rounded outside edge but leaving the inside edge vertical, and until this has had some more time spent on it I will not be able to see if I need to add some more laminations to give the profile I would like to see.
I have brushed some old grey undercoat paint that I had laying around onto the cabin as there has been a lot of areas where "old and new" have been mated together and when dry it will help me see any surface imperfections that still need filling as well as helping to build the start of a good base for future paintwork.
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Sorry, forgot to add this one!
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And now!
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What a difference you've achieved in a relatively short time!
Truly remarkable effort which is to be admired - looking forward to seeing more on this one.
Regards,
Ray.
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Thanks Ray,
Due to the lock-down and self isolating I have been able to spend some time on this restoration most days - but I was surprised when I checked this blog to see that I only started working on it at the end of April this year - it seems a lot longer!
I only checked this last night when I read your kind comments and your observation that it has only taken a "relatively short time" to get this far as it has felt more like a lifetime at times, (!) as everything I touched was rotten or delaminating and the more I looked- the more problems I found!
I could have made a 48" Corvette from nice new wood in much less time - and enjoyed it a lot more too (if I had a full size plan), but the exercise was to prevent this wreck from being lost forever........and to give me something to do during this Covid crisis.
It is nice to see it starting to get closer to being completed, and I have retained as much of the original Sterling kit construction as possible (as I know this is a rare model these days) but it as been difficult to know just how far to go with this as I suspect the original kit built models would have been a little delicate for day to day use on the club lake so reinforcing some areas seemed the most practical thing to do.
The original poor quality plywood all had to be replaced as it was either crumbling or delaminating and most of the balsa wood in the hull had also started to crumble away when it was touched so I am not sure why both these two types of wood became so weak.
The planked balsa wood roof of the cabin seems to have survived OK - even though the plywood sids and screens that were glued to it had either fallen apart by delaminating and /or crumbling away - very strange!
Whether or not this would be typical of any surviving Corvette that had been built from an original Sterling kit from the fifties, or if my example had been exposed to something that had caused the premature failure of the woods used is unknown. It would be good to hear from anyone that all owns one of these original kit built models to find out if theirs has survived better than this one!
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I have not logged in for some months, so have read build/restoration this for the first time. Many would have consigned this model to the bin, so top marks for a superb restoration in a relatively short time. As you say, it would have been easier to start from scratch, but inside your model, it carries it's history in the original members that were saved. It will look great on the water with those elegant lines.
Well done
David
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Experimentation..Too high? Too low? Just right?
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In the previous pictures (kindly hosted for me by Tony) my plywood copies of the distinctive air inlet scoops that fix just behind the cab side windows can be seen - glued together and ready for shaping.
However, I actually have the original pair of these Sterling kit air inlets as the original metal castings somehow survived - even when the cab sides around them collapsed (!) I am really surprised at just how heavy these are! To fit something this heavy onto such thin (low quality) ply cab sides seems a bit of a miss-fit, but remembering the time period when the kit was made available (1954) maybe this was how all castings like this were made ?
They probably have a fairly high lead content as this would have been inexpensive at the time and easy to cast?
I have fixed these original castings to my new cab sides with Araldite but drilled them in three separate places and epoxied in some 2.5mm brass bar stock as a mechanical anchor because if these were to become detached they would sink like a stone! (or a lead fishing weight %) ).....but I will keep my plywood copies I have made to replace them if they should go AWOL.
My next job is to refine the fly screen shapes that I was playing with last night and get them cut-out on the fret saw, but this morning I finally made up my mind about the power choice and decided that this boat should have a twin motor drive.
I have ordered a pair of 10" prop shafts from modelboatbits.com who also sell left and right handed three bladed plastic propellers, so I bought a pair of 40mm ones to try before committing to buying any brass ones as I have no idea what size would work the best.
A pair of large rudders were also ordered from the same source, so these will be installed at the same time as the prop shafts so I can then get the hull underside finished and painted. The rudders may need trimming down a little, but I will try them as they come first as they may be OK.
Meanwhile I will make a pair of water cooling pick-ups as I don't see any of these for sale anywhere other than the low profile/flush mounted types (usually from China) - or the moulded plastic types that I don't want to fit. All water pick-ups used to be made of brass - much nicer and more related to the time period, so if I can find any "old style" types for sale I will buy a pair of them as I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied without having to take some time out to make them myself.
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I have not logged in for some months, so have read build/restoration this for the first time. Many would have consigned this model to the bin, so top marks for a superb restoration in a relatively short time. As you say, it would have been easier to start from scratch, but inside your model, it carries it's history in the original members that were saved. It will look great on the water with those elegant lines.
Well done
David
Thanks David,
I doubt I will be able to match the quality of the professionally made version that can now be bought online from the USA, but I do hope to make it into a working model that looks like a Chris Craft Corvette - albeit one that may have been "personalised" by a fictitious previous owner (my excuse for not getting every detail exactly correct).
Stay safe!
Bob.
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While I am waiting for my two prop shafts and rudders to arrive from modelboatbits, I decided that I would take another look at the cabin and make my mind up about the shape of the flyscreen.
Continuing with my "fictitious previous owners modifications theme" I changed the height and the rake of the fly screen and also rounded the corners of the window openings as I think it looks more "period related" than the real thing! Maybe its the way Chris Craft should have done it, and if I had the cash to buy a new Corvette in 1954 I may have even asked for this small mod to my own dream boat!
Now I need to make some doors to replace the indented shapes that were stamped into the original kit panels to represent them - and then make some hatch covers to fit the new doors. For now they will just be some basic shaped doors because I know I can too easily get too wrapped-up in the small details and forget just how much more work I have to do to get this hulk finished and back on the water.
I can always revisit and make detail improvements later after I have go the boat working and bring it in for its first refit!
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The fly-screen....
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My prop shafts have now arrived so I can make a start on getting these fitted into the hull - and this has finalised my on/off choice of single shaft drive or twin - its going to have twin shaft drive drive. This will also be more "authentic" and will be my first twin brushless powered model.
I have been following the 41" Huntsman build by ukmike as that is another reasonably large boat that is being fitted with twin screw drive, and Mike was kind enough to offer some advice regarding the type of brushless motors that could suite this hull.
My Corvette is 48" long and 13 7/8" wide and has a round bilge hull form, so the comparison is not quite so obvious, other than the fact that they are both reasonably large sports boats that will both have twin shaft drive - and that was enough to encourage me to make the decision and to ask for some information about the motor choice Mike was using as I was not at all sure what to try first in this hull.
I will be fitting a pair of water-cooled alloy motor mounts and they have the advantage of being very flexible insomuch that they will accept a fairly wide range of motor sizes, so if I don't get it right, it will be fairly easy to unbolt them and replace with another choice.
Fortunately brushless motors of the size I think I will be using are fairly inexpensive and anything that may not shove this big lump along quickly enough will be more than adequate for some of my other classics that I am working on as they are all smaller (and lighter!) than the Corvette!
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The two prop shafts and rudders are now fitted and the water cooling pick-ups will follow next. I also cut a suitable plywood plate to fix a pair of alloy water cooled motor mounts, so that will be done next.
.......or it should be - unless I get distracted again!
Every time I fit the superstructure back onto the hull I look at the gap at the transom end where the rear cockpit will be. Looking at the various Corvette models that I can see online suggests to me that this is an area on this model that could be improved.
Various loose drop-in floors seems to be the order of the day and that is what I envisaged having to do too......but late last night when I should have been coming in from the workshop I had a "light-bulb" moment and a few minutes later the bandsaw was cutting out some plywood and I added a fixed cockpit to the rear of the cabin.
The whole superstructure/cabin assembly on the Corvette lifts off of the hull in one piece, and now the rear cockpit lifts off with it so basically the boat has a top and lower half making access to the hull very good and putting the" lid" back on really easy!
Maybe when I take another look at it this morning I will not be so impressed - but I went to be last night quite happy that I had solved this problem.
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Does anyone know how to compare the power output of a single brushless motor with a pair of smaller brushless motors?
I have had problems deciding whether to power this Corvette with a single shaft driven by a 3648-1450 motor or to use a pair of brushless motors. I have decided to fit two shafts so now I am thinking about the power I need from a pair of smaller sized brushless motors to give a comparable performance.
The 3648-1450 motor has plenty of power to drive this model along at a good pace, and make the white water that I love to see behind all my model boats (not my TID tug!) but trying to work out how a pair of smaller motors can perform against this known power is not proving to be so easy for me to work-out.
I would like two smaller motors to give the same power as my 3648-1450, but with two shafts to drive there will be a loss of efficiency to consider too, so I think they will need to give more power than the single motor to make a similar comparison.
Can anyone help with this please.
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Hi Bob
Should have put it on here but I've put my thoughts on your Javelin thread.
Chris
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Thanks Chris,
I will take a look.
Bob.
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I just cut and pasted your thoughts to put them here on the Corvette thread:-
"Twin motors over single don't really add much if anything to top speed and in theory will increase acceleration but that is usually enough with one brushless motor anyway. You could go slightly less power for each of the motors but as space isn't an issue I wouldn't bother. Better to have a bit more power than required as it can be regulated by the throttle or batteries.Number of engines etc. has more relevance with full sized boats whereas with brushed motors they are usually over powered and having more than one motor is more to do with a scale model matching the full sized. My thoughts anyway, which could be wrong!"
Hi Chris,
I am only running twin shafts as it will look more scale like (and make a nice change).
With a Turnigy 3648-1450 motor I know what sort of power it has and that it has enough "grunt" to give the Corvette a good performance.
I was hoping to find out what types of brushless motors would be needed to achieve a similar performance (if possible) when driving twin shafts, but I was not expecting any increase in performance at all - more like fearing that it would not have any "sparkle".
I have had some good advice about different types of Surpass motors, and their inexpensive prices (eBay or Bangood) will help to keep the cost of buying two motors no more expensive that buying one 3648-1450...and I may even get longer run times too!
This afternoon I made up a suitable (heavy duty!) motor plate and aligned a pair of Surpass motors on alloy water-cooled mounts.
Restoring an old boat means working with old (and often rotten) wood, and this has its challenges - especially this Sterling kit that originated in 1954. Some of the American model boat kits leave a lot to be desired in the quality department, and this example is one of the worst I have ever seen.
Finding really low grade wood is not good news in any new kit - but give it 65 - 66 years or so to mature (decay) and soak it in gasoline and you are left with what I have to work with!
I am at the stage now of installing good new wood as needed and the last job (sometime in the future) will be to remove any remaining rotten wood whilst trying to preserve as much of the original as possible . Knitting the old and new together will be fun when I join the old and new together inside the hull as this will mainly involve "bringing the gaps" that are currently occupies by fresh air!
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The heavy plywood motor platform has now been epoxied into position and the two water cooled motor mounts have been super glued in place on this platform after everything was in the correct position.
Everything was aligned using solid “alignment shafts” of the same length as the powerflex couplings, and now the motors have been removed so I can reinforce the joint between the mounts and the motor platform.
I have cut some short lengths of carbon fibre bar and pushed them through some of the holes that come drilled along the bottom of the mounts so when I epoxy or fibre glass over them they will give a wider footprint to improve the bonding area to make the mounts more secure.
Ongoing tests with a 120amp Car ESC and different Surpass motors should determine if I am happy enough to fit a pair of these and make this my first boat to run without water cooled ESCs.
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Latest Pics......
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Thanks for posting the pictures for me Tony, this restorative work takes time but it is making some progress.
The drop-on superstructure is latched on to the hull and secured with a hook formed as part of the front cabin sides that is located into a slot on each side of the front bulkhead.
As the superstructure becomes heavier this is a lot of weight for these small cabin side extensions to bear, so I have cut them off and will try to come up with a better solution and try to incorporate an idea to help prevent any water that is washed onto the foredeck leaking into the hull.
I don’t like performance boats with drop-on cabins (like lids) that just sit on the deck as they can all be prone to water ingress if they are run in rough water or driven at speed without some form of barrier being added to at least slow the ingress of water - so I need to come up with something for the Corvette.
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I have decided to try using a non water-cooled power system on my Corvette - making it my first large r/c power boat to run "dry".
The Surpass ESC have a good reputation and also provide a reverse function so I bought a pair of 120A to go with a pair of Surpass 3542 1450KV brushless motors in the hope that this combination will work well and have enough power to shove this big heavy barge along at a reasonable pace.
On arrival, I liked the look of the ESC and was pleased to see that they came pre-wired with gold sockets on the motor leads and Deans connectors on the battery leads, but I was surprised when I fitted the motor leads to the matching gold plugs on the Surpass motors to find that they were such a bad loose fit that they just fell out!
To test the ESC and matching motors I held the gold plugs and sockets together with masking tape (!) and everything works well with no problems. The moulded Deans plug was a very tight fit and proved to be a problem when trying to pull it off of the matching Deans LiPo battery.
With everything working OK, I will be changing the plugs and sockets to some that actually fit each other (!) and changing the deans plug to an XT60 ( or maybe an XT90) as they are basically gold plugs and sockets held in yellow moulded casings to prevent any accidental short circuit - either in the boat or in transit or storage - and they are the best connectors that I have found over the last 50 + years of working with radio control models.
I am surprised that the plugs and sockets from the Surpass ESC and motors do not actually fit each other properly as they are clearly the same size - just poorly made and out of a working tolerance. The moulded-on ESC Deans plug was overly tight compared with the other Deans plugs that I have been using for many years on various r/c helicopters and cars, and one was significantly tighter than the other!
Changing the gold plugs and sockets is not a big deal - I prefer to use a bigger size in any case, and this will keep all of my motors fully interchangeable so I can fit them in any models boats that I would like to test them in.
Changing the moulded-on Deans plug is not a problem either as having used Deans plugs for many years I am fully aware of their shortcomings and prefer to use the XT90 plugs on my larger models and XT60 plugs on my smaller models as I find them to give a much more reliable connection, and I also find them a lot less fiddly and easier to solder.
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Anyone who has been following my (slow) restoration of this rather sad Chris Craft Corvette will have seen the amount of work and different materials that I have used to bring the hull back into one lump.
The original 48" long hull was planked with balsa wood (original Sterling Kit assembly) but was rotten and fuel soaked in places and needed a fair bit of attention to replace these areas and to replace the badly repaired patches and remove the coating of filler paste that was roughly applied over everything including the balsa wood, rotten and fuel soaked woods, filled patches, planked hardwood, black mould and various layers of paint!
Surprisingly, the filler paste needed to be chipped off of some areas with a chisel, whilst in other places it was happy to almost peel-off in large lumps, but the areas to which it adhered the best included all of the pre-mentioned - so there was no real logic to how or why the filler stuck to some areas and not others.
Since then some areas of the hull have been re-planked with hardwood that I stripped on my bandsaw, and the lower bows have been re-made and carved from solid balsa wood laminations, but this still leaves some areas of the original planked balsa wood.
Recently, I have been thinking that I would be happier if I could coat all of the hull exterior with a lightweight glass fibre cloth that could be laminated onto the hull to give a uniform outer-surface and to toughen-up the balsa wood areas. The finished "shell" would also help to protect the hull against any of the knocks that r/c boats can suffer when sailed every week, year-in and year-out.
Having never coated any hull previously, I have some concerns about what the glass fibre would and would not adhere to permanently as I have so many different materials that I would like to cover, and at the moment, none of these surfaces are "bare" as they have all been painted to make it easier to see where areas needed to be sanded and blended-in to give an acceptable surface.
Rubbing the paint down is not a problem but it will reveal a variety of materials that I would like to cover.
Does anyone have any experience of coating an old hull with any form of cloth and resin over a variety of surfaces? Any recommendations about what cloth and/or resins to use along with a proven application method would be greatly appreciated as this is a large hull and I would like to find out as much as I can about it before spending a lot of time on it.
........maybe it would be better not to bother and just see how things go and make any small repairs as and when they happen...........?
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Hi Bob
I use Eze-Kote resin (water clean up) and 1oz/34 g/m2 on my builds but that's new timber and P38 filler.
Z-Poxy 2 part finishing resin and the same cloth would probably do the job on your multi-material hull as it covers all sorts of materials including plastics. If that doesn't cover something then paint won't!
You can use it on your new builds as well so in the unlikely event it doesn't work it won't get wasted. See Deluxe Materials for the cloth.
Chris
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Thanks Chris,
I will take a look at Z-Poxy - it sounds like it could be worth a try.
Bob.
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Hi Bob, Hows the Corvette coming along ? I also have one, but mine has a fibre glass hull. I also have another wooden one. Mines going through a very slow restoration ! Few other things going on at the moment !
John.
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Hi John,
It is really nice to hear from another Corvette owner as it means that I am not the only one that is "enjoying" working on one - and you have two of them!
Are they both the same size as my Sterling kit model by any chance - and if so - where did you manage to find a GRP hull?
The Corvette is a big model for me to work on in my workshop (shed) as I cannot get to see both sides without lifting the model to turn it around and this is not very helpful when I want to "eye" something up!
Progress over the winter will be limited as I cannot take the model outside to do some of the jobs that i would like to do, and as recently as this morning I was considering putting it in the loft until the spring until I can get it outside to do some of the jobs that are not so easy to get to do in a narrow shed (workshop!) and this would clear a lot of bench space that I could use for the smaller models that I am currently building.
I see you have also put a small "barrier" in front of your windscreen to prevent any ingress of water from "deck-wash" - something I have just done on mine.
It would be good to see some more pictures and comments about your two Corvettes on this thread as there really are not too many more than ours in the UK.
Bob.
.........forgot to say how nice it is to see one in one lump - and with the right fittings on it too! :-))
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Hi Bob, the model is as i purchased it (flea bay !) There are quite a few non standard additions that have been added by previous owner, who I think was the original builder. I purchased it of his son who was dealing with his estate after he had passed. Work has been done to a very good standard, I think it just spent a lot of time in a dusty loft or garage. I do have a wooden one as well ! also bought from good ole flea bay. It was listed as old wooden model. that one has never been finished. Also have a 63ft, but that's for another day! lol ..also got a Catalina! Very smart models. Mine probably going to have to wait until spring now as well, so flipping cold outside at the moment! Nothing dries, paint glue, filler ! I will use the next couple of months to do as much research as possible. Plus all the other jobs i should be getting done ! Was also considering taking a mould of it and maybe make a few other hulls. Where are you located? I'm in the UK Covid hotspot..Isle of Sheppey kent !
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The barrier, was to hide a not so good joint ! lol
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I am in Rossendale Lancashire - quite close to Burnley.
Good luck with your research - if your two models were built from the American Sterling kit they will be 48" long and have a beam of 13 7/8", although your glass fibre hulled model may well be a copy (not a bad idea !).
If your wooden model has a hull that is mostly diagonally planked balsa wood, and the same size as mine then it will almost certainly be made from a Sterling kit like mine was. Some pictures of your wooden Corvette would be good to see - its unlikely to be as rough as mine was when I first started working on it!
There are a lot of good pictures and video of the Corvette online to whet your appetite - most of them are in the USA, but thats where this classic Chris Craft boat was made and I guess its the American equivalent of our Fairy Swordsman or Huntsman in terms of popularity for a home made product.
Stay safe!
Bob.
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Sometimes I think this model boat is just a bit too big for my limited space!
Work can really only be done on it outdoors and it seems like every time I lift it in or out of the shed(workshop) I gain another small dint in the soft (old) balsa wood hull skin.
If it would be possible to cover the hull with a hard covering of some sort or other to prevent "dinging it" doing normal handling then it needs to be done to make this a practical boat that can be used and enjoyed on a regular basis.
I always thought that the hull was bit too big and heavy to have a planked balsa wood hull, but this one now has a mix of hardwood planks (used in the repaired area), planked balsa (the original construction) and a block balsa lower bows area of the hull - and of course a little P38 here and there as well.
What it really needs is a strong coating to cover the mixed composition of the hull to toughen it up and to make it more "user friendly" as it is a fairly large model boat that will be transported to the club lake in a car so it may well get a few more 'soft knocks" during its day to day life, and so it needs to be made just a bit more durable.
Can anyone recommend a cloth coating that would be suitable for covering this large hull, with a resin that will adhere securely to the various materials that this hull is now made from?
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Hi Bob,
Well I’ve finally looked at this thread from start and wow! What a transformation from such a rough start to now and mostly done in a short space of time last year! Given me no excuse for moaning about my second Javelin hull that looks so much better than this.
Also some great pics to help me. Mould, rot, filler. Crumbling ply! <:(
And now looks great. :-))
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Hi Bob,
Well I’ve finally looked at this thread from start and wow! What a transformation from such a rough start to now and mostly done in a short space of time last year! Given me no excuse for moaning about my second Javelin hull that looks so much better than this.
Also some great pics to help me. Mould, rot, filler. Crumbling ply! <:(
And now looks great. :-))
Thanks Stuw,
It has been a while since I last dragged this "rot bucket" out from my shed as I have been enjoying the comparatively enjoyable (and manageable) Javelin and Rapier restorations along with the new build Swordsman.
I also have an almost completed Remora that stopped some time back when Humbrol decided to stop making the French Blue spray paint that I was using to finish it with, and a new-build Wavemaster 34 that got as far as skinning the hull only!
Sometimes I think all of these "distractions" are purely there to give me some relief from this particular restoration (something that I very much needed) and they have worked well and been very enjoyable, but now I need to do some more work on it......or leave it under the bench for a bit longer! :embarrassed:
Some time back (when I was last motivated and had some suitable weather to work outside) I asked a similar question regarding the possibility of cloth covering this large Corvette hull and ChrisF kindly suggested using Z-Poxy. This was the only response I had and it came about the time when I had decided to give this restoration a rest for a while - but I did buy some Z-Poxy and some cloth!
I am still a bit worried about the bond strength that could be achieved between all of these (mostly old) and varied surfaces - and of course I doubt that one pack of Z-Poxy would be enough to cover this size of hull........and these are the excuses that my mind has given me to keep putting this job off!
I have seen Z-Pozy used on nice clean new-builds, but I have not heard of any applications like this on an old hull where it is basically needed to cover-over all the repairs and to toughen-up the old (fragile) balsa wood planking and blend it (constructionally) into the other materials that now make up the hull shape.
The cloth does look rather thin, so maybe this size and weight of hull will need more than one layer to genuinely "armour" it up against all the "day to day" scuffs that a boat like this can expect to suffer if it is to be a regular sailer, and with the time it has taken to get this far I would like to see it on the water as I still think it is a good looking classic powerboat - but I still wish it was slightly smaller at 1/12 scale as it would be a more usable size for me to handle!