What happened here?

I'm not quite sure how it happened but, while browsing the web 2 days ago there was an old yacht kit for sale at £130. The new price of the equivalent kit here in Norway is £750. Should I have 'turned the page' and left well alone?

It was only 20 minutes drive from my flat so off I went. I could see from the photo on the web that the box had been stored for years -and maybe even been a bit 'damp' at some point.

I have bought another Colin Archer RS1 kit . It's a lifeboat damn-it, abandoned and left to it's own devices. I had to rescue it!

There is a little mildew on the sailcloth which I have treated with a good dose of 7% white vinegar. The paper drafts and the woodwork smell a bit 'fusty' so I have sprayed all with Cavicide which is a 'surface cleaning antibac'. It should kill the mildew causing the niffy smell.

The hull on this model is ready formed (ABS ) so the problem of cutting/shaping/sanding 24 frames and then planking them is elliminated . Nearly all the parts are laser cut. What's the problem?

I can hardly bare thinking about what I've done so I had to confess, sorry.

By the way, the Billing Boats kit Colin Archer is a model of 'RS1' = rescue ship nr.1 built in 1893. It was later named "Colin Archer" -after the designer.

This new (fusty/old) kit will be built as RS14 = rescue ship nr.14 built in 1901, which was named "Stavanger". RS14 is 1' longer than RS1. Don't know why yet, hope it' just the bowsprit!

The RS1 is still in comission as a training ship / tall ships races etc. The RS14 is on land at the Colin Archer museum in Larvik, eastern Norway.

I'll go away now...

George

Here we are. A true modeller at heart.

Tim R