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Martin, Find attached a few pictures of my first ever build, it’s supposed to be a VT Halmatic M160 in service today with the Royal Navy as P284 HMS Scimitar. I used the Model Slipway Shamrock kit which was a good base to start with but my limited modelling skills mean the model is not a direct representation of the real thing. The real thing, along with its sister ship P285, make up the Gibraltar Squadron and are used for various duties including SAR, escort etc.. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001001008009006 <<P284 hull and radio view.JPG>> <<P284 fresh out of the paint shop.JPG>> <<P284 and Atlantic.jpg>> <<P284 on water.JPG>> <<on the plane.JPG>> <<lake side.jpg>> I used the pictures on the RN website as reference which due to their quality means I am missing the smaller details, but at the end of the day I am happy with the end result, as is my 9 year old son even if it does go considerably faster than his Atlantic RTR tug. It uses a Graupner Speed 600 ECO along with a Viper Marine ESC and a Futaba 4EX (although I currently only use two channels). The main scratch build part was the bridge, I simply copied the photos from the RN website and made most parts from plastic and brass rod. The GPMG are from Deans Marine, they supplied me with 3 GMPGs (one as a spare) from their small gun kit. The navigation lights and search lights work and were purchased separately along with the radar. The hull has extra framing as I moved the bridge forward and this required me to add an access panel in the aft deck to access the rudder if need be. On the water it is considerably faster than I expected, the Speed 600 with the two blade prop and hull profile really do make this move with the bow lifted out of the water, just like the real thing. One thing I have learnt is to be very steady on the rudder at high speed, it can't handle being chucked about and even with wide turns the deck becomes awash. I added extra framing on the deck around the bridge which keeps the water out effectively. I would like to add a rubbing strip along the hull/deck line to closer match the real thing and this may also help reduce the amount of water on the deck. Run time is around 30 mins on a 3700 pack and so far it appears to outperform all those RTR 'power boats' on the lake in a straight line so it is a bit of a head turner. Painting has been my downfall though, I have not quite mastered that yet. Now if I could just get a few good detailed pictures of the real thing to finish it off that would be great, I have suggested a fact finding visit to Gibraltar but the wife couldn't really see the need ..... I need to work on my justification story ! Thanks for the great website Peter Donaldson |
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