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[jwmachon]

Hi All,

Please could somebody help me identify this boat and give me a rough value of how much it is work it is 3ft 10inchs long i have been told it is a trinity house pathfinder in this correct?

How is the kit/plan by and what should i look at to tell it

the build quality and condition is fantastic

Many Thanks,

Jonny

[Colin Bishop]

Yes, it is the Pathfinder, almost certainly built from the Model Maker plan No: MM/393 by Vic Smeed and first published over 40 years ago. Difficult to put a value on it but should be worth more than a kit as it is scratch built. Assuming it is not fitted out with radio you might get up to £500 under the right conditions at a guess.

Colin

[Shipmate60]

If it is in a glass case and cleaned up PROPERLY, if you want to maximise your return put it in one of the "Christies" specialist auctions.
If it is desireable about £4000.
Unfortunately now isnt the time to sell as the floor is dropping out of most things, model boats included.

Bob

[Colin Bishop]

I'd say that was too high Bob. It's obviously a nice model and well constructed but the original plans were nowhere near the museum quality that you'd need to get a four figure sum. A friend of mine built one 40 years ago and still has the model and this one looks very similar.

But yes, Christies Marine Auctions are the place to get the best prices.

Colin

[barriew]

I believe Christies may have stopped their Marine Auctions - seem to remember Robert Wilson saying so. I know he now uses this firm to sell his miniatures - www.charlesmillerltd.com

Barrie

[Colin Bishop]

Some interesting achieved prices there Barrie. They've certainly come down quite a bit in recent years and you have to have something really outstanding to fetch anything near top dollar. I reckon my estimate above isn't far out then!

Colin

[Liverbudgie2]

The model or any model is worth only what someone will pay for it - which in most cases is nowhere near the the "proper" value i.e. cost of materials and time. I have seen, even in the "good times", outstanding models that have won gold medals galore go for less than £1,000 at auction.

In todays market I would suspect that even £500 for this model is being over optimistic though, of course it, depend on the day and how many are bidding.

LB

[Shipmate60]

Perhaps I am a little out of touch with specialist auctions, but I never used them.
Model boats especially with Radio gear in are worth a fraction of "display" models.
But if the specialist auctions are no more then expect no more than Colins valuation.

Bob

[jwmachon]

thats fine i won be selling it anyway i have been offered it for £125 with radio gear.

I will be sailing it just didnt want to pay more that it was worh

Many thanks guys when i get clued up on the hobby i hope i can help people on here

[Colin Bishop]

£125 including radio seems like a very good deal to me. It will look good on the pond, not many of them about although there was one on display at the Warwick show recently.

Most RC boats these days are kits of one sort or another, frequently displaying signs of use, and the there is thus no "uniqueness" hence the low prices. A high quality scratchbuilt model will obviously do better but the top of the heap are the traditional builders models which have both rarity and historical value and are really unique.

Buyers have become more discerning. 15-20 years ago you could get silly prices for kits at Christies but those days are long gone. Also, as LB says, it does very much depend who is there on the day at the auction and what their interests are.

Another interesting place to visit is the antique shop in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. They have a lot of old models there, most of which are rubbish, but they still seem to think they can ask way over the odds for them. I don't know if they actually sell any though.

Colin

[westcoaster]

Dan, my recollection is that we changed to decimal currency in February 1971. This was the month before I got married, thats possibly why I remember it ! HTH

[Colin Bishop]

I remember it too - I was lead cashier in a Midland Bank branch that day. Oh, what fun!  

The boat looks to be a mid to late 1960's kit - Wavemaster? Somebody on here will know. The Taycol motors were being phased out around then but the MacGregor gear was still on sale. It may have some value as an antique but don't try using it on the pond as the radio could mess up anything else around on 27mhz and be affected by other radios in turn. One expert on possible value would be Dave Wiggins who writes for Model Boats and specialises in old models and gear. I can PM you his email if you want it.

Colin

[roycv]

Hi Sea.mariner  thanks for showing us the photos.  The kinematic servo took me back to when I was in the Services in Germany and I bought one, this would be in 1957.  I got used to using it and it takes quite a knack to get used to it.

I would not try to use it with a powerful motor unless you put a lot of protection around the model.

You are continuously bleeping the control switch with long and short pulses.  The short pulses partly rotate a clutch type mechanism that goes through a sequence of fwd. - stop - rev. - stop and the rudder has to go through port before starboard.  You will need nerves of steel and the reflexes of a 10 year old X-Box fan.
So one pulsed channel gives steering and motor control.

I would be surprised if the contacts on the kinematic would last long with a Taycol motor, all sparks and back EMF even if the interference can be conquered.  Also check the kinematic for free movement in the clutch area.

We changed to decimal in February 1971, I remember it well as I also decided to give up smoking (Successfully) on that date as well.

I rather suspect that the value is not very great, but there cannot be many boats in the U.K. with a kinematic servo in!

I can't remember if the radio has a soldered in crystal,  Otherwise you will be the only model able to operate.

But good luck with it,  if it were mine (I sort of collect old RC Gear), I would either keep it as a museum piece and demonstrate the way things used to be, or strip out all the RC and drive motor and start again.

regards Roy

[DickyD]

Hi Dan its a 1960s kit.

Most likely a modifide Aerokits Sea Commander

[DickyD]

Could possibly be a modified Sea Queen also by Aerokits

[alan colson]

hi sea.mariner
I would say that it is an aerokits model that has been slightly modified having the extra conopy over the open cockpit. If it's the sea commander it will be about 34" in length, if it's the sea queen it will be about 46".
Alan

[kiwimodeller]

I have its big sister, the Sea Queen, still running the original Taycol Double Special  motor but with modern radio control and Electronize speed controller. It took a bit of sorting to get it to reverse and to suppress the interference from the old motor but with lots of help from people on these forums it worked out fine and was not expensive to do. It has a 12volt 7A/H sealed lead acid battery and will give a couple of hours of running without any problems. Obviously a modern motor would be more efficient but I liked the idea of running the original but these days you cannot use the old radio gear. If you want to try using the original motor I am happy to post some advice and a link to a good article on suppression of interference. Cheers, Ian.

[toesupwa]

Hi Sea Mariner

These two sites are worth a look for Aerokits information.
http://pic6.piczo.com/fireboat/
http://modelfireboats.com/