Good progress, helped by some good painting/spraying weather around here for a change...
Certain members on this excellent forum will be delighted to note that I have now, finally, ditched the dry cells! The pic shows the final layout and installation of the electrics. The whole of this compartment was then sealed from the open cockpit by judicious use of silicone sealant. The cover for this lot is a good 'interference' fit and with a wipe of vaseline around the edges I'm sure (hope) everything will stay dry in there.
I finished the hull with a further 3/4 coats of clear acrylic and buffed and polished to a good 'scale' finish. For whatever reason, really high gloss mirror finishes on the hulls of this type of period runabout never seem to look quite right to me - I dunno, just a personal thing.
I did have one minor disaster though - I did the deck with polyurethane and the hull with acrylic - you can guess what's coming here can't you... When it comes to different paint types reacting I've been there, got the shirt and learnt my lesson.
I carefully masked off everything so the two different finishes would never meet - well everything except that I forgot the rubbing strake
. I'd done this by using a permanent black marker and gave it a semi matt polyurethane finish to represent rubber. Worked like a charm until I shot the acrylic all over it - best paint stripper I'd ever seen. I just let it dry off and a after a bit of refinishing it was job done.
Next up was the screen and the frame, which was just made from bits from the scrap box - the surround being a thin piece of plastic 'angle'. It looks a bit on the chunky side - and the lack of any suitable brass paint led me to finish it in the hull colour which kinda accentuates the rather substantial look - but I'm pleased enough with it.
So there we are - apart from lots of little scale details, she was ready to go. I'm lucky enough to have friends with a large, covered swimming pool - Oh lucky man! - even better, they're neighbours, so a quick hike up the track (it's rural around here) and before long she was gently plopped into the Mediterranean blue water.
Quick system check and off she went. Didn't need to trim anything at all, it just ran perfectly from the off. Very relaxing and responsive - she can practically turn in her own length and overall I'm very pleased.
It's no speed demon and even at WOT won't get up on the plane (no doubt due to the relatively high payload for the size of the model), but the scale speed looks authentic and the ride is nice and dry.
Sorry - haven't worked out how to control the model and shoot a video at the same time - when I do I'll post a link.
So there we have it - designed in 1959 - maiden voyage 2009. I'll finish the scale detailing and post a pic when that's done. Just like to say a quick thanks to everybody who helped me out with my electrical problems and to all who maintain this most excellent forum
.
Cheers,
Robin