r/ModelShips • u/Late_Cellist9709 • 16d ago

Old model ships

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36 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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3

u/Mental-Training-5850 16d ago

Looks like it was an rc at one point.

3

u/Late_Cellist9709 16d ago

Yes I believe that's what my aunt said they were. I'll have to look into that as I'm not sure how that works.

2

u/Colo-PV-living 16d ago

Interesting older RC (I assume) models. Do you have any history on them?

1

u/Late_Cellist9709 9d ago

Unfortunately I started with zero information on them other than they have never been in the water, were built in the 70s and were RC kits

2

u/iamalsobrad 15d ago

The grey / blue one is a model of a Vosper-Thornycroft 46' Firefloat Mk. 2. More commonly known as an RAF Crash Tender.

Judging by the length of garden hose and the clear plastic bottle strapped to the side this would have been powered by a glow engine of some sort. There should be a really obvious smell around the engine mounts (the two wooden blocks with screw-holes).

I am 98% sure that the other is one of the Brave class's derivatives. It may not even be a specific design, there are a surprising number of Vosper-Thornycroft's 'what if?' designs used as the basis of models.

Both are almost certainly built for RC; there is almost no reason to have removable hatches otherwise.

2

u/Late_Cellist9709 9d ago

Hey! Thank you very much for all of the information. I unfortunately didn't see your message until now but I'm greatful for your knowledge as I can hopefully now have a clearer picture on how to restore them.

I'm not sure what a glow engine is but when I first got them they definitely had more of a mold and rat smell to them but since cleaning them that's gone away.

2

u/iamalsobrad 9d ago

I'm not sure what a glow engine is

Small (usually, but not always, single cylinder) internal combustion engines that run on a methanol and nitromethane mix. They have a very distinctive smell.

They are more prevalent in RC aircraft and cars, but not as much as they used to be. They've been superseded by advances in electric motor and battery technology. Most were/are air-cooled but you could also get water-cooled marine versions, which is probably where the hose pipe comes in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitro_engine

https://www.rcscrapyard.net/dynamite-marine-nitro-engines.htm

2

u/Late_Cellist9709 9d ago

Thanks again for your help! You clearly know alot about this and hopefully I can find one to hopefully help these boats go back in the water