Evening All.
On Christmas Day in I think in 1962 a little boy opened a big box and there was an RAF Rescue/Fire launch kit in all its glory.
The smile was from ear to ear.
That little boy along with his Dads help built the kit over time and sailed it for many years.
Sadly,like a fool I sold the boat many years later,something I regret to this day,especially as at that time we lived within a stone’s throw from RAF Mountbatten,Plymouth where many were stationed.

I turned my building skills to mainly RN builds which I still do.
However of late there seems to have been a resurgence in blogs on RAF launch builds.
These blogs rekindled my wish to rebuild one.
With a little help from Colin H on our site (Thank you Colin) he pointed me in the right direction of a 35 inch model.
Yesterday (5/10/23)I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I collected my winter project.
Please see pictures as collected.
So what’s the plan.
Basically,a total refit from top to bottom.
1)Remove the Nitro motor and single shaft and rudder and replace with two motors,shafts and rudders.
2)Strip the entire boat back to naked hull and start again.
3)Refit and replace all original fittings including missing items.
4)Replace deck with planked version.
5)Fit running lights,possible working fire hoses etc,sound generator etc.
Plus much more.

I hope to give you a step by step update as we progress.
As always please feel free to offer help,especially those that are building similar projects or have in the past.
Take care all.👍

Regards
Bill.

Afternoon All.
Trusting you are all well.
This refit like most jobs always finds that what you think will be relatively straightforward has already thrown up a time consuming issue that had to be overcome with gentle persuasion.NO room for a lump hammer here 👍😂.
The easy part was removing all the deck and cabin furniture/fittings.
As always being gentle and taking time pays off and I only slightly damaged one porthole!Most of the fittings being white metal and well glued on by the original builder.
The first pictures show the fittings laid out.
These will be refurbished in due course.
As you would expect the hull interior has many coats of thick red gloss and a lot of glue especially around the joints.
The plan this morning was to remove the old engine blocks.Propeller shaft,rudder tube and redundant water scoop.
The motor came out easily,just six screws along with the old fuel tank (incidentally if anyone wants the fuel tank drop me a PM with your address and it’s yours,no charge.if there is more than one wanting it then names in a hat by this time tomorrow 13.30.Sorry free UK postage only)
Then came the problem of removing the old engine blocks which were not only glued in but screwed thru the bulkhead into the hardwood blocks.
Absolute nightmare!,in all it took me nearly 2hours to persuade them out without damaging the integrity of the hull skin or frames.
After a lot of huffing and puffing they came free with no damage.

I then removed the rudder tube water scoop and single shaft.

These items were then refurbished and will either be used again or sold on in due course.
Again you can see the pictures of the shafts etc just after removing and after refurbishing 👍.

Sadly the search light does not work,but last evening I was trawling eBay and found an identical new one in a job lot which I managed to purchase.

So a good mornings work today which I am happy with.
Please see all the pictures which I hope are all in the relevant order.
Take care all and stay safe.
Regards
Bill.

Good afternoon all.
Someone once said patience is a virtue.
That rings true with our hobby and paint stripping this launch is no different.
It’s not my favorite pastime but has to be done to get back to the bare wood.
I estimate there are at least four different coats of paint on this hull.(Photograph 5 shows one RAF roundel I found under one layer)
To remove them I have used a combination of heat and paint stripper.
Care has to be taken to not damage the hull integrity with the heat or it will become a real Fire boat.☹️☹️
The problem as always is getting into the nooks and crannies,but slowly the layers are coming off.
As you can see once the paint is off it is revealing a good sound hull.
In the main the original builder used real brass pins,but there are a few metal ones which to be honest have come out quite easily(This was talked about in another members thread this morning headed…steel nail removal 👍)
The work continues on stripping the hull but this short post just gives an idea.
The video’s show the hull in a better light
Take care one and all.
Regards
Bill.

Good afternoon All.
I am still in the process of stripping many coats of paint from the hull which like many of you I find becomes laborious and is certainly time consuming but nevertheless has to be done.
Having stripped the bottom and sides I decided to have a break and build the drive shafts and position the rudders.
The original boat as built had the standard single shaft and rudder.
I wish to have twin shafts and rudders so set about this task.
Please see the pictures which explain my written description.
I firstly marked out the line of the shafts and rudder positions on the exposed hull.
I had a set of two shafts and rudders in my stores box.
The rudders needed no modification re size at 4cms x 2.5.cms
The twin holes were drilled and rudders dry fitted.
My two shafts required modification.
Both were 19cms tube length and 26cms shaft length.
I needed to reduce the tube length by 3cms to obtain the maximum shaft exposure outside the hull for realistic effect.
This was achieved by heating and removing one end bearing. I then turned down the tube and refitted the bearing as a compression fit.
Two holes were then drilled in the hull bottom and suitably filed to take the shafts.
Once the correct angle was achieved with the shaft and propeller in place I made the P support to support the shaft at the prop end.
Simply made on the lathe by turning the cut off from the shafts and fitting new bearings at each end.
Then taking a length of brass strip I bent around the bearing and formed the support.
Once made the upright strip was soft soldered to the tube bearing.
This gave me two nice sturdy P supports.
Once again please see the pictures.
The final pictures show the two shafts and rudders DRY fitted to the hull.
I still have to make the oiler tubes for the tubes.
Once the hull has been full prepared with all holes filled and paint removed then the running gear can be fixed permanently prior to sealing and painting.
This I will discuss in due course.
Hope all this makes sense,and enjoy.
Regards
Bill.

Good afternoon All.
It’s been a little while since the previous update due to ill health ☹️.
As we have discussed previously on this forum it is offen more challenging refurbishing than starting from scratch.
With as much of the old paint removal done as I can without damaging the hull integrity and the drive shaft tubes made and dry fitted along with the rudder posts to ensure all is true I decided to fit those components.Like most of us there is only so much tinkering you can do before you commit yourself.
Shaft tubes and rudder posts fitted and allowed to set fully.
I then dry fitted the rudder servo to ensure a good position.A quick test was conducted and there is a good movement on both rudders.
I wanted to ensure the servo position as low as possible in the hull to give me more upper deck depth on the stern section.
I then began to refit the interior of the hull.
The original hull has had so many parts cut out and holes drilled in it that it looks a real mess.
To that end I am basically making new sections,bulkheads and internal decking to fit.This will also give me a sound base for all the internal fittings.
Not an easy task as nothing is straight ☹️.
Once again hopefully the pictures tell the story.
Slowly the rebuild progresses and finally a first spray coat of primer from the rattle can was applied.
Time to stop at this point to let things dry and settle but once again I dry fitted the motors to ensure they sit correctly.
There will be a delay before anymore work is done as hospital calls tomorrow for a new hip,and it’s snowing in Sunny Devon ☹️.
Take care all and stay safe.
Regards
Bill.