Something "COMPLETELY DIFFERENT"

[modelman]

I dug out some pictures of a scale model I built back in the late 70's. My brother and I built a boat for the "super ship racing team" in 1977. The boat was made from wood with fibreglass cowlings. It was 17' long, weighed 250lbs. and was powered by a V-6 mercury engine. This boat went on to set an A.P.B.A. kilo record in 1978 of just under 120 m.p.h. The model I built was for an R/C customer of mine who was a big fan of the "super ship" team and he wanted a static model to sit on his mantle. Here is a few pictures of the model-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn216/modelman/Boat%20pictures/100_1120.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn216/modelman/Boat%20pictures/100_1116.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn216/modelman/Boat%20pictures/100_1113.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn216/modelman/Boat%20pictures/100_1118.jpg

[Thorsteenster]

Nice work, great looking cat. Although I'm a little disappointed that beautiful wood finish isn't on the top side!

I haven't built a wood boat kit in probably 20 years, but I have a couple Dumas kits in the closet I hope to get around to pulling out one day. One's a Trojan cabin cruiser and the other a Sk'daddle jet/ski kinda boat. Second one I'd like to do a nice wood finish, so feel free to post how you did the bottom.
:D

[dirtpusher9]

Wow, record setter, nice work Tom. I'm amazed at the diversity of craftsmanship on this site.

[modelman]

Thor-thanks for the comments-actually this is not a "cat".A catamaran is larger and has higher freeboard and runs offshore. These boats are known as OPC (outboard performance craft) tunnel hulls. They are lite-weight sprint boats that run on relatively calm inland waterways and lakes. The entire model is sheeted with the same plwood but I had to paint the top to be like the real boat. I coated the model with 2 coats of "west" epoxy to seal the wood then applied the color an coated the entire boat with clear urethane.
Joe-thanks, I was involved in setting world records with the full size boats and with the R/C boats. I think I am the only person to hold records in all 3 boating organizations (APBA-NAMBA-IMPBA). Don't mean to brag but I am quite proud of these accomplishments. I found something I could do pretty well on water and stuck with it for 25+ years!

[Thorsteenster]

Doh! Yeah it's been awhile since I've looked at boats, cats almost look like a V hull with a slice taken out of the middle.
There are some beautiful boats in the Scale Boat section on RCgroups.