Built from a Stirling Models Kit (USA) around 1971/2 to help my dad work through a physical breakdown I lay-by'd it at the hobby shop I worked at at the time with Radio and everything needed to finish her $600 was a lot of money back then years later when I got married he gave her to me.







I did sink her once when a squall hit her broad side ooh the water was cold mid July (winter)Emma 100ft from bank 4ft deep top 2" of mast visible in wave troughs not leaving her behind was sick as for months after.

that is truly a beutifull vessel Damien no wonder you were sick when she went down. still at least you got her back

Phil retrieval was a must dry she weighs 8kg I'd hate to think what she weighed completely full of water I was a newby to sailing back then I didn't know to pin hatches or that scale cotton sails when wet have high surface tension when she was blown on her side the sails got wet and the hatch covers floated away the 2 x 6" sq hatches allowed quick water ingress and down she went & into the water I went.
Upon arriving home I changed clothes and to my wife's horror I commenced stripping the radio gear and home made winches and drying everything with a hair dryer I was successful she is still fitted with the original 6ch Futaba FPT-6 gear.

At a quick educated guess I'd say in excess of 16kg or she wouldn't have gone down given that to float she displaces 8kg or 8ltrs of water she has to take on that much to go under. can't imagine modern radio gear surviving that dunking (they don't bulid them like they used too)

Very nice model Damien

Thanks Alan She's a survivor I've rebuilt her 2 twice and once I accident when I bumped the stand she was on during re-painting and stove in 8" of her bilge the re-builds were a result of damage incurred in house shifts by road 3500km across OZ
She last had her bum in water about 15 years ago

Damien You and your Dad did a great job on the build and she seems to have had an

eventful life. Reckon it's time to get her bum wet again.



Geoff

Thanks Geoff I'm thinking on it i'll need to make a new battery pack for the winches and motor she originally had 8 x D cell 4Ah pack that have long since died as Nicads do. I have enough 2800mA AA cells to do 2 sets of 8 in parallel I might even replace the original Futaba speed controller big bulky beast it is.

the phrase if it aint broke don't fix it springs to mind mate! although those old speed controllers did use a lot of battery power so a modern esc might be a good thing assuming the rx is a 3 wire affair and not the really archaic 4 wire things

Hadn't thought that far Phil, or remembered the System is 5 wire 29Mhz with S3 servos with switches on top for winch control with limit switches each end of the winches.

dim and distant memories for me that technology is as Yoda would say

LOL who says I'm a horder I still have a Futaba 2ch brick Ooooh dear really showing my age

hey its not so long ago (well 4 yrs) that I let an old home built single channel tx go to a horder (er I mean a collector) it had been built by one of my clever childhood freinds for my slope soarer. the rx disappeared over the horizon still in the aircraft many years ago I still think I forgot to rewind the escapement after a short flight hmm lesson learnt the hard way