First post, advice on repairing Sea Queen

Hello all,

This is my first post and indeed my first venture into model boats.

A little background....

My sister and I have acquired a Sea Queen model boat as seen here: http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/sea_queen.html

However, ours is a little bruised and redundant on features as you can see here:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/photo2800.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/photo2801.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/photo2805.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/photo2803.jpg/

As you can see there is a bit of work that needs doing. I am attempting to sand the paint down and clean up the inside then restore with paint and some kind of 'varnish' to give it a waterproof cover. My sister's keen on the film 'The Life Aquatic' and wants it restored accordingly in the colours portrayed in the film.

There is a small hole, about 1cm square on the starboard side which I assume can be repaired with wood filler?? Any ideas?

Finally I have some old Remote Control devices from a model car which I assume that I can use to power the boat, not looking for any speed as such, just something that works okay and looks the part, the prop will be driven by an electric motor and have a Servo arm linked to a rudder.

So, any ideas on how to sort this fine vessel out?

Help would be much appreciated, I will update with progress in die course,

Thanks in advance,

Ed.

we don't use wood filler any more, ed......

the best way of repairing the hole is to patch it on the inside using a scrap of 1.8 mm thick ply and use a waterresistant glue such as evostick blue bottle.....any club member at a local model club would have some....and if not pm me your address and I'll put a piece in the post to you...once you've patched it from the INSIDE........you can fill the outside with some polyester car body filler and rub it down to match in with the boat hull.

as for the electrics.....I'll let someone more knowledgeable on that score, fill you in on that,

nei

Ed. Without knowing exactly what your car bits do it is very difficult to say if they will be suitable for your boat.

It may be much easier to buy a cheap 27MHz r/c set and an Mtronics ESc (for instance), as you then cant go wrong.

Neil..Not heard of evostick blue bottle!!

Araldite is what I would use...not saying thats best, but its what I have got and should be ok.....

Actually.. thinking about it, I have some gorilla glue... that would be good...and it foams up and MAY just then eliminate the need for so much filler !!

Ashley

Hi Ed

Check the glue joints between the frame and skin as some of the old glues fail after time. I have had this problem on Sea Queen, Commander and Crash Tender rebuilds and now always strip the skin off and start rebuilds from scratch.

Paul

Hello Ed,

I can find your pictures to view the state of Sea Queen ,

if the skins are allin place , try a running a coat of polester resin round in side hull

just poure it in and then move the hull to get in all the nooks and crannies use a pait brush to coat remaining , also poly varish can be used. i do this on all my hulls plugs any small defects and gaps, here is exsample of a sea queen i am building at the moment using plank on frame using Ikea blind slats se pics ....larry .....

it's just evostick that comes in a blue bottle, ashley, as opposed to that thet comes in a green bottle ( which is for inside use only)

Neil, didnt know that ! I dont use evo-stick that much, when I need to glue rubber or something similar i use Wilkinsons all-purpose glue (Bostik, looks and smells like) as a contact adhesive, works quite well.

Wouldnt like to recomend it for boat hulls though !!

Ashley

It's not the usual  Evostick contact type adhesive, Ashley......it's a quick grab white adhesive....looks like PVA but bonds like aliphatic resin........just a bit slower though to work.

neil.

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 28/04/2012 22:16:37

Thanks for all the replies and the images,

I am currently sanding the hull down, and cleaning her up, the hull paint is actually quite bright and in good condition once the grease and dirt had been removed. I checked the hull for leaks and she seems to float without any water intrusions so thats good.

Thinking of fitting the inside with some plyboard for mounting points using the side ridges (running from the bow to the stern) as the existing points in the middle are in bad condition. The R/C motor and Servo is from a Tamiya Fighter Buggy RX, which shouold be okay in my estimation.

Any ideas on what to replace the window glass with and where to find any accessories? As there is only one segment of the glass remaining, looks like quite thick glass tbh so I am assuming that the model is actually quite old.

Cheers in advance,

Ed

HI ED

some 2mm clear plastic for screens , i have used cd cases or any clear sweet boxs ..Larry.....