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[Neil]

some might have seen the lesro Atlantic 21 hotch potch of parts for spare or repair, that sold on Ebay just before Christmas for £209.00p inc. postage and thought that the buyer must have been insane..............well, to be honest I thought the same when I pressed the buy button with three seconds to go................but with a deep intake of breath I resigned myself to the fact that I had committed myself [ some probably believe that I should be committed] to buying it and told the seller that I would do a cash transfer to my daughters ebay/paypal account on Wednesday when the banks opened............


the "spares/repair" box of "junk" that looked on the advert as though it had been dropped from about 3000 feet was opened this afternoon, and I found to my great satisfaction, joy and glee that it was, although in parts, absolutely complete......the plans, instructions and eve the small slip from Duplex models stating the blackening of some plastic was due to electrolysis discharge was still in the box. All plastic parts are there, motor prop shaft, linkages, etc..........just all there...even the original tube of glue supplied with the kit, and the small screw driver.


sadly it looks as though someone built it to an extent but could never take the plunge of joining the sponson halves together in order to finish the model, and in lying around it has suffered some damage.


I have ideas and intentions for this beauty..............so a good 200 sobs well spent.

[Netleyned]

Looking forward to a build blog Neil
The dogs have control


Ned

[Fred Ellis]

That was a lovey boat , I do miss the one that I had back in the 90's, I just would love to get another one some day.

[Neil]

That was a lovey boat , I do miss the one that I had back in the 90's, I just would love to get another one some day.

made the mistake of selling an untouched, still in sealed plastic bags kit some years ago, and regretted it ever since..........so am going to refurbish this one with some new parts and power it with a little brushless motor eventually.

[kees de mol]

Nice to see You found one. See needs a lot of attention and care but she is in the right hands I believe.

[Bibo]

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/derbibo/sets/72157626968713066/
I have taken the pictures by myself of the RNLI - B Serie - Atlantic 21 - B-531 - "Waveney Forester" roughly about 1985 in Gorleston / Great Yarmouth.
At this time I have been a sailor and I have been visiting the RNLI Station.

Best regards from Germany 

Bibo

[BFSMP]

Wow!!!..........you didn't tell me about this one last time we spoke, Neil. you lucky boy, 


Jim.

[Fred Ellis]

I see that there is one now on Ebay along with Tractor carriage kit, they are asking £200 + £10.00 p/p
ebay number 202167685007

[Neil]

I see that there is one now on Ebay along with Tractor carriage kit, they are asking £200 + £10.00 p/p
ebay number 202167685007

if it stays at that price, which I doubt, it will be the steel of the century........the tractor unit s for the D&M kits that are included with the lesro 21 kit...........but they are small 1.72 scale white metal kits..........they themselves regularly reach 20 - 30 quid individually..........as I say, a steel at that price.

[colin-stevens]

Well done you, glad all was ok. You have a classic there and its a shame its no longer available.

[MOXCY]

Looking forward to seeing it when it’s complete Neil

I must get mine on the water this year

[Neil]

got a few to build before this one, i'm afraid.

[MOXCY]

I know the feeling got a MBD rib to build and a Tamar and Shannon when I get my hands on one 😀

[Neil]

well, after some joker who's name shall not be printed asked me if I would take an offer on the box of bits of an Atlantic 21, and then continually stalled in making an offer I decided to take a look at the kit, with thoughts of building it myself...............I WISH I HADN'T!!!.........who ever originally put it together was either blind or a monkey in training to work for peanuts. the bottom half of the sponson was not glued to the deck properly, the transom was not glued to the deck, the underdeck was not glued level to the deck, the raised seating part didn't fit the deck at all and to get even worse, the bottom sponson left gaps between the sponson and the deck with holes in the bottom of the sponson to allow water ingress.......a complete botch job......no wonder it was dumped in a shed for years..........as for the painred deck and surrounds..............it looked as though it had been applied with a stiff toothbrush............oh yeh........and the deck was 3mm too short for the access hole, lol............OH I DO LOVE A CHALLENGE!!!

So, first job was to sand off the majority of the deck orange as I don't know whether it is enamel or cellulose..........ready for strengthening the structure..........next was to glue the ridged hull onto the sponson and deck, plus re glue the transom to the deck as this was coming away from the deck.........and finally before I start cutting out the w/t sectioning for the sponson supports I decided to run a fillet of silicon rubber between the deck and the sponson bottom half to give total waterproof barrier and more support.....let the rebuild begin. I made the joint between the latter using the tail end of a small teaspoon.......i'll clean off the residue once it has all cured.

[Neil]

referring to the last post and in continuum for photos I cut and trimmed the internal "bulkheads" for joining and supporting the top and bottom halves of the sponsons. however over the years the bottom sponson half has "collapsed" outwards a little and so along the long length of the structure I have cut 2 more bulkhead strengtheners in addition to those 8 supplied. they are held in place using masking tape.

[Neil]

The "bulkheads" have been reinforced with buttresses fore and aft and I have started to add a reinforcing strip on the insides of the lower sponson as the only lip on the upper sponson to join both together is about 2.5mm in depth.......not enough for me......I like building mine strongly, lol.

[Tugboat adam]

Looks great Neil

[Neil]

thanks Adam.............anything would look better than how it did when I opened the box.......


the kit was a beautiful little thing when released......had an untouched one some years ago, and although the instructions need a little reading and digesting, they are quite adequate for building without being overpowering and waffling..................and as long as one cut the plasticard with a sharp knife..........TO THE LINES printed.............there is no problem..............but whoever had this kit either had delirious tremens or couldn't use a knife to save his life..........hope he wasn't a surgeon,  .....gawd help the patient if he was.

[Tugboat adam]

Yeah, what motor are you going to be running in it?

[Rottweiler]

got a few to build before this one, i'm afraid.

erm did I misread this that someone wasn't going to start building this model yet ? lol

Mick F

[Neil]

Yeah, what motor are you going to be running in it?

a little brushless outrunner, adam.


well...........the workshop is full of steam lifeboat, moulds and plugs, and heaters that just can't cope with this extraordinary weather..........so I was having withdrawal symptoms from building, so I thought I could build this sitting on the sofa watching TV........and going together reasonably well.......but it was a very good kit in its day.

the supportive strip to help join the two halves of the sponsons has been added and the top half was dry fitted.......it actually went together very well with no adjustment, surprise surprise!!........so, using some plumbers hard plastic glue for this one I ran a seam of it right round the lip of the moulding, applied it to the bottom half and taped it up...........gone has the fragility of the thing when I first started this morning ant it's now looking like a worthwhile contestant for entry into my collection of lifeboats.........and all in the warmth of my back TV room, overlooking a very cold and snowless garden..............still bl***y cold though, lol.

and that's about it on the hull for tonight......wait till it all sets firmly.

[Neil]

using a little modellers licence..........no rivet counters here...........


I stripped the paint off the deck and then removed the old uprights for the seat which was originally a vac formed unit, as the original builder had made the hole in the deck too large. on removing the vac formed seat the rest of the forming fell off from lac of spittle.........won't use the term glue anymore as i'm convinced there wasn't any in the build, 


I trimmed back to the size of the hole in the deck which made the new structure a total of 5mm wider, and 2mm longer in total.............but it gives these old arthritic fingers of mine easier access to the under deck without need to remove the deck...


but there in lies another tale.........I have decided to use a Vaseline bond between the outer and inner deck to hold in place, rather than the 39 tiny screws that originally held the inner deck and seating control pod in place, wit possibility of just 6 screws in th corners and mid deck to hold it..........the screw holes that are there will be masked with dummy bolt heads.


then I made the seat pod to slip over the permanent structure to give quick access to the motor/servo/receiver section..


I am also thinking of shortening the prop shaft/tube to give more space in the hull for electrics/batteries etc.

[Neil]

the seating and console has been put onto the "superstructure", ad the transom extension and the bracket plate for the outboards has been restored with scrap plastic..............all will be sanded smooth tomorrow once the glue has set.

[Neil]

The brackets for the outboards were completely kaput [for want of a more polite word], with moulding missing and cracks across the holes supporting the outboards, so clearly I had to strengthen and rebuild them so that they can support "working" as in steering outboards............this I have done with 0.5mm plasticard, all round.


this will mean enlarging the recesses in the actual outboard motors to take the now thicker bracket lugs, but hardly seen when the boat is in the water.......... the brackets now just need to be sanded and then filled to make good.............just undecided whether to use polyester filler or milliput white for this.........


but two days in to the restoration and I'm enjoying it more than I thought, as I normally hate trying to rectify or restore or even alter a model that someone else has built.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Neil,
So glad you are enjoying that 're-furb' upgrade build! It's looking good - what else would we expect?
I have put my one to one side at the moment [my plastic looks a lot more brittle than yours] - along with the Trent, Arun, Mersey and Solent, as I am too busy 'rivet counting' on the Shannon at the moment!! Like you, enjoying what I am doing though, and that is the key element!
Kim