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[xrad]

Found this gem online for 500$. Came with remote, bumper and light kit, and Cheddar pintail. Good deal I think. Put in batteries and steamed right up. She has a really great old wood/oil/dust smell......

Built about 10 yrs ago and not run in ages.  Could not leave good enough alone so stripped her down, scraped the decks, cleaned off the 3 different glues, pulled out the old fishing weights, and removed the too big door hinges.

Came apart pretty easily. Nice wood components with mahogany veneer.  Epoxied the rudder post and stuffing tube, scraped the decks(as the finish was peeling off everywhere), rewired the lights , rebuilt the rudder servo links and installed Cleveland Steam's servo holders (very nice units). epoxied in shot ballast and repositioned some of the engine components, batteries , and receiver for better balance.  Still some minor work to do, then to the pond......

Once the motor mount was shimmed correctly, the pintail ran very well with about 5 psi steam, both directions.  Nice!  I also modified the brass plate the boiler and motor sit on by brazing in copper drip guards fore and aft of the pintail. This keeps the drips from spilling onto the deck...

[kiwimodeller]

That was a good score! I have found of late that poorly finished or abandoned projects are a good way to get steam plants at a fraction of the cost of new gear. Keep up the good work and dont forget to post some pictures or video of her on the water when you have finished. Cheers, Ian.

[xrad]

Agree, Kiwi.  Kits like Krick and another I found for a good price, Latina kit Helen (not steam but still fun) are good to rebuild because the initial material quality is excellent, and taking them apart carefully generally results in few damaged bits.

pic of the Art. Latina kit 'Helen."  The hull on this kit is very thick GRP (pretty sure it's GRP). Super strong and could easily take a small steam plant like the pintail if someone wanted to make a conversion...

[xrad]

Almost done rebuild:   I like to know what I am working with, so I need to see inside of pretty much everything. The original builder did some really great work in certain areas, and others not so good.

For example:
1) the rudder mechanism would lock at full throw
2) the wiring was a bit rigged
3) balance was off so much bow deep that the po added  a several hundred gram round lead weight to the stern. this had come loose and was against the servo arm. The only way to get it out was by removing a bit of the rear deck, which entailed removing the rear seats. She was still listing moderately to starboard with the engine and stern weigh removed. Turned out that there was a handful of odd sized fishing weights(some with fishing string) glued to the keelson.  I shot ballasted in the tub with full load of water and all parts of the ship in the correct location.
4) The radio batteries were originally located in bow locker (probably where the instructions said to put them). The radio batteries were relocated to under the cabin table and the radio under one of the cabin seats. 
5) replaced and rewired the lights to 3v grain of wheat, which give off a dull orange-white light and look more like oil lamps.
6) the cabin roof was smashed in during shipping breaking out 2 windows and cracking the roof vents. this had to be repaired.
7) the engine was screwed in a bit canted which required shims, and now turns smoothly.
8  ) repositioned the condenser so that a very small person can now walk out of the cabin and up to the bow.
9) the rope surrounding the deck edge was nylon and looked out of place. This was replaced with 'wall mart' cotton rope (excellent product in sewing section) which is more period correct.
10) The throttle servo was loose and glued in a way I was not satisfied with. This was removed and another Cleveland Steam stainless servo mount utilized. The servo is mounted in a way that the whole unit can be removed by just removing the 4 brass screws and sliding the servo wall/mount straight up and out.
11) PO had 2 plimsoll lines. One was painted over with a higher line. I have yet to repaint the red part of the hull
12) Other little things like big door hinges reworked. etc.
13) Appropriate flag copper socket set into hull (which won't break off easily...flag pole easily removable)

In order to get to the deep hull parts, the deck was removed in areas and unfortunately, some thin deck planks broke.  I sanded and repaired and reset everything.  She looks like a well used but fairly kept boat. Runs like a champ!

Worst part was breaking 2 of the cross bitts. These are exactly like the ones made by model shipways MS2398. unfortunately, very hard to get. So had to break out the micro drill and drill and pin w/epoxy both bitts, which worked out OK.

[kiwimodeller]

Hi Xrad, just two quick questions :-
1) What size is the Helen? I did a quick search and found several retailers that sell Latina kits but none of them listed the Helen so perhaps she is out of production?
2) Can you give me a link to the Ebay listings section that has steam boat stuff or wooden kits listed in it. I gave up on Ebay some time ago as they seem to be "dumming it down" to almost all cheap plastic ready to runs and searching through both Ebay UK and Ebay USA it seems even harder these days to find this sort of kit. I am particularly interested in larger wooden or GRP kits suitable for steam power and also in steam plants and accessories to suit.
Thanks,
Ian.

[xrad]

out of production in 2004 or something. too bad, great kit. they pop up for sale now and then. One time selling for as low as 57$!

http://addlestone-models.co.uk/acatalog/6027a.pdf

As far as Ebay sections, there are no specific sections for steam. I always do searches for :

live steam engine
steam model boat
live steam marine twin
antique steam engine
model steam engine v twin
steam boiler pump
or if you know the specific model, you can search for it.

Yes, many inexpensive Chinese steam engines and beginner simple kits. I would avoid the cheaply designed kits as no real inherent value in the build or kit.  I don't know anything about the quality of the Chinese engines, never had one. I did have a recent Chinese motorized boiler pump that did not work well and I sold it w/ a bunch of spares on ebay. Might have been a one off mistake or a common issue.

BUT, there are also other great steam engines on ebay for sale from known good dealers such as:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/P-M-Research-8-Live-Steam-Marine-Engine-Ready-To-Assemble-/141412465560?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item20ecd6fb98

they sell other varieties of fairly inexpensive engines and boiler kits....

If you have some basic skills, I strongly recommend getting a hull Anthony Fildes hulls from Orion Mouldings in England. he ships around the world, ships fast, excellent fiberglass hulls (I have two large 50 in from him) and his prices are very good for the work. then you can easily design and build your own version, with the hard part, the hull, already done. great time saver. 

There are some  Au model boat companies supplying fittings, boilers, etc.. I also look through Craigslist/addhuntr/and steam clubs for boats for sale. just have to search the net a few hours a week.

[xrad]

have to balance a bit further, first pond action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzi3ef5jmb0&list=UUYQskpmHyALB5hsentYB_6g