Hi Everyone, I'm new to this forum and new to boat modelling. Hope that won't make everyone's heart sink – 'Oh no, another ignorant beginner!'.
Anyway, the very welcoming 'welcome message' said get started and put some info on the chit-chat forum. So, first test is to see how to post on a forum! If you're reading this it means I have passed the first test. Next challenge is how to put a photo on with the post.
For a bit of background, I come from the UK and still visit there most years to see my son and grandchildren. In fact, I am in England at the moment, in the Bristol area, leaving again in late July (2019). Most of the time I live in New Zealand, in the Waikato close by the Kaimai Range.
My interest stems from family history. Ever since I was a child just after the second World War I remember an old wooden model boat and a steam engine and boiler. My father told me it came from his father, but it was all a bit vague.
After he died, the boat and bits sat in boxes until about three years ago when I was sorting out stuff and came across it again and thought it would be interesting to try to repair it and get it working again, with a modern electric power plant and radio control. (The steam plant is much too heavy for the hull, which accounts for why my father said it would never work. It seems he tried it once and it nose-dived to the bottom of the lake!)
If I can get some photos on here it will be a bit clearer what I've got. LOA 39.5", beam 7.7".
The hull was quite damaged and had a crazed (shellac?) finish with lots of dents, holes, scratches and dirt. There are burn-marks from when the boiler was used. The prop shaft and tube were bent, as was the rudder post.
I decided to remove the running gear, which wasn't too difficult once I found it had been assembled by soldering. I even managed not to singe the hull with the blow torch.
Next was how to make the hull water-tight. The planks were well dried out after however many decades in the attic, and had long, narrow gaps between them. I tried caulking with hemp left over from a (full-sized) Folkboat I rebuilt in the '90s. I now know from experience that you can't scale down caulking cotton, even by un-twisting singe strands.
Next idea was to seal inside and out with liquid epoxy, which I've done, then fill the gaps with something.
It is also clearly quite old, as my father had it before I was born. I guess maybe 1920s or 1930s. Any thoughts on age, design, manufacturer/builder? There seem to be at least two different species of wood used in the construction, but I don't have the knowledge to identify them. So that's why I don't want to use anything that would spoil the appearance. Also don't want to paint it, as I do like the look of the varnished wood. Sorry to be fussy!
Simultaneously, I am thinking about how to fit a new prop-shaft and propeller, while staying with more-or-less the original look. The original propeller is some copper alloy and looks ok at first glance, but actually is rather poorly made, with the blades irregular. The keelson and keel are quite narrow, so not much meat to accommodate the shaft and tube.
That's about where I am at the moment with this project. The hull is in England, so I can only work on it when I'm here. (The steam plant is in NZ).
If anyone has read this far, thank you. And I do hope you can offer some hints and tips to an ignorant beginner.
Richard