Bluebird & Other Scale Models

[Black Knight]

Any photo's of your Miss England II Ernie?

[Renegadenemo]

I will be very happy to acknowledge in my next article the asistance given to me by Bill Smith very recently when I visited North Shields and was allowed to photograph K7 again and watch the engine being run up. Surprised? you should not be Bill Smith and I are all grown up! I enjoyed meeting the team. It was freezing cold but the engine warmed me up- fingers in ears though! We talked 'boat' not politics.

Was good to see you again, Ernie. Don't leave it so long next time, eh? And how much fun is it spooling up a genuine Orph' in the yard...

Just a thought for all the modellers out there. I would be happy to open the workshop on a Sunday on our day off if a group of you wanted to get organised to visit. You could measure and photograph and I could talk you through all the shapes that modellers get wrong most of the time. Maybe our chief of anal widgetry, Mike, would also come in to run a master-class on how to get the details spot on?

Just an idea so let us know if it's of interest.

[Black Knight]

Sounds like a fab idea that

[longarmedgibbon]

Heres some photos of dads (ernie lazenby) 1/6th k7. Ian lazenby

[mickday]

Bill getting a close up view of the boat and look at some of the details is a great idea. Count me in.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Some modellers may find the following interesting. 24 years ago I had a lengthy chat by phone with Ken Norris. At the time I was making my first model of K7 using model boat magazine plans, not the best by any means but that's all there was available at the time. We chatted about the chamfers, amongst many other aspects of the boat, on the sponsons and he suggested I do away with them to assist stability at speed. The chamfer was designed to reduce wetted areas as she rose onto the very back edge of the sponsons. I have made three models of K7 and have not included the chamfer on any. On the other hand I know someone who has made a 1/12th scale Touchwood kit and left the chamfer on and the model runs well. A gas turbine powered model running at speed needs to be predictable, flipping it over is not going to do the engine any good at all. Not so much of a problem with small electric motor powered models that can be sealed up.

My son will insist in putting photos on here from time to time but no matter. Looking at the one showing the back of the model you can see the amount of detail I was able to produce because of my visits to see the wreck. I believe its fairly accurate and includes details of the small plate near the water brake. Having seen K7 rebuilt it is very apparent that some aspects of the front of the model are not correct, if I live long enough I may rectify that. There are better exact scale modellers than me around however what I do is get scale models to work well at speed and be representative of the full size boat. I once wrote an article in which I said you can get a plank of wood to move under RC but getting high speed models to run well is a whole different ball game. Joergs 200 mph fast electric boat is an example of what knowledge and ability can achieve.

BTW as a makem by birth and thus a Sunderland supporter I have barely forgiven him, and now my grandson, for supporting Middlesbrough
I love saying 1937 -1973 whenever we discus football, it gets my grandson wound up.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Any photo's of your Miss England II Ernie?

Hi I managed to find this one.

P1010311.JPG

[Ernie Lazenby]

a couple more. BTW I borrowed the plugs from Fred Harris, of replicast fame and a top exact scale modeller to produce the model. Note the two rudders one forward one at the rear.(Fred produced static models)l

P1010315.JPG

P1010315.JPG[/attachment]

[Ernie Lazenby]

Getting Miss England 11 model to run correctly was a challenge. The rudders and drive shaft etc are all exact scale. It took me ages to get them right and several ended up in the bin. Having a lathe helped.


BTW I go long periods when I am not very active due to health problems so forgive me when I feel okay I tend to post a lot of I hope interesting stuff.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Last one of this model.

P1010317.JPG

My favourite shot- could be the full size boat!