They say that people either love or hate Bovril and so perhaps the Tamar should have been called the Bovril Class?  Some like it  some hate it, very few undecided's!
 
I didn’t like it at all when it came out and I was struggling for inspiration I have to say but when you get into it a bit more, things really start to change and I know think it’s better than Mothers Pride.

Its actually the thoroughbred racehorse in the RNLI fleet and I could just see one racing round the Isle of Wight with me driving of course!

From a modellers point of view it has a lot going for it.  It’s fairly uncluttered all round but has a wonderful flying bridge.  The fenders in their rack, the life raft storage area, the folding mast, the stairs, the wheelhouse door,  mast storage boxes and the engine room vents are really interesting features and I think we have caught them really well.

All over the boat are areas of detail of course and we have all that too naturally.

Have  a look at the model photos and you’ll agree I’m sure.

Underneath, the brass, five bladed props run in new ball raced shafts.  The props are well protected against hitting the bottom by the main keel and the bilge keels,  so if you run it aground the 4 h.p. in the motors won’t do any damage!

The Tamar of course is a slipway launched lifeboat and we had that very much in mind when designing the kit.  
The rear end of the centre keel (with the hockey stick shape) is made from five layers of laminated Perspex, all glued together and supported by a brass tube.  
The two bilge keels have etched brass support plates along their undersides and brass brackets are bolted to the transom so we can go play with it on a slipway!

(Phil Locke and I plan to build a slipway with a boathouse on top and you can launch it down the slipway and drive it around the pool for £1 in the lifeboat collection box).

She is a dream to drive .
Very stable with a quite unerring flat turn even turning tightly and flat out!
Designed with high power, brushless motors on 24Volts in mind ,she performs like the true  powerboat she is.
You can see my ‘flying test-bed in action on You Tube.  Copy the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuv0Pktxqe4 and see for yourself.   
Remember that’s a 52” model out there!

Manoeuvring just on the props is predicable and straightforward and the bow thruster is very affective being a prop driven one.

The big feature on this class is the cunning way in which the RNLI have tried to hide the Y boat!

“I know” they said, “we’ll brush it under the carpet out of site”.  And so they did.  Its under the deck!  

To get it out, the transom is in effect a big door mounted on some hefty hinges which is raised and lowered by hydraulic power via two powerful rams mounted one at either end of the door.
The cut-away of the transom necessitated a means of re-enforcing the hull and the big (six inch diameter) tubular fabrication across the opening was introduced.
Originally I was going to supply some brass tube for this but I found it very difficult to do, requiring special skills with measuring, cutting and soldering which made it very difficult to make so I decided to make the item as a cast resin part.  It works wonderfully and really makes a difference.

The ‘Boathouse under the floor is fully detailed too of course so the model looks great when displayed statically with the deck open,  the door down and the Y boat on the ramp.

I am currently building my ‘show’ model and the photos are of this model to date.

Because its a show model I decided to ‘show’ just what the kit is like.  No fancy paint jobs or glossy finishes just the whole thing in grey primer.  You can see all the detail clearly so watch out for it at the shows.  
Warwick will be her first ‘finished’ outing, though she did put in a swift appearance at Ron Deans open albeit not finished.
The one on You-Tube will get some added  detail (eventually) and this will be the demonstrator on the water.

I have added a link here so that you can see a sample of the instructions (and a peek at the plans) so you will get a very good feel for what you have to do and what’s in the kit.
Have a good read.


How big is she?
The model is 52” long and 17” wide and with her mast and aerials down is approximately 20” high.

What you get in the kit.
Five GRP mouldings comprising the hull (complete with the deck moulded on), the wheelhouse, upper driving desk, transom door outer skin and the boat-house under the floor.

Thirteen sheets of laser-cut Perspex in a wide range of thickness, four sheets of etched brass and three sheets of etched stainless steel make up the bulk of the detailing in the kit.

There are over 35 castings in the kit, all of which are made from finecast resin.   No metal castings at all in this model.  One of the castings is the large re-enforcing bar across the transom, a very trick bit to make.    

The seats, seat bases, engine room access door, fuel filler recesses and the curved top on the rope reel housing are all vac formed styrene.

The kit was designed from the outset with high performance in mind and new ball raced prop-shafts and brass scale-like five bladed propellers are included.

The rubber fendering that goes all around the edge of the deck has been made especially for us and is the correct scale size and section.   No more making do with ‘D’ section!

The hand-railings and two ball stanchions around the boat are supported on kick-boards and on the model they are made from ‘T’ section extruded aluminium.  In the etched brass sheets are the mounting plates for the railings and stanchions .  A pack of 100 12 BA brass screws is supplied so that the stanchions and railings can be bolted in place.  The two ball stanchions themselves are brand new CNC turned brass and are true scale.  Being brass, they can take a good beating too!
Brass rod and tube is supplied for the mainmast, railings and miscellaneous brass items.
The mast itself is made from 6mm tube and the curved sections are supplied pre-bent.

Naturally, the windows are the famous Speedline windows and are stunningly accurate and very simple to make.

A powerful, 33mm diameter bow thruster with brass propellers is included.

A complete kit for the ‘Y’ boat  (see the Y class page ) is included.

A decals set which includes translucent images of the main display screen on the bridge is available but is not included in the price.  They are £36 and you can have any Tamar of your choice when you need them.
Carriage in the UK as far north as Glasgow is £30.  
Shipping to most of western Europe is £50.

Price is £990

My build of the show-boat in progress.  
Got to be finished for Warwick in November!