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.