Nick Cripps

My first thought on assessing the damage was that a complete new fuselage and tail unit would be required. However, as I think it was Peter Miller once said, it’s always less work to repair a broken model than to build a new one, I thought I would have a go and see how it went. The first task was to remove all the Solartex covering from the fuselage so I could clearly see the extent of the damage. The left hand side of the fuselage was broken at the trailing edge bulkhead with the right hand side sheared off at the leading edge. There were also a few broken fuselage fragments (and a few missing!) and the impact with the water had collapsed the base of the motor pod due to the weight of the fuel tank. The wing bolt mounting plate had also loosened and I was concerned that this might be difficult to repair with adequate strength. There was nothing to do but try and piece it all together and see where we get to. I can always revert to plan B and build a new fuselage if all else fails. It was clear that the model had originally been built by a very competent modeller, using a good choice of balsa grades in much thinner section than I would have expected for this size of model. For example, the fuselage sides are only 3/32” balsa with the top and bottom of the rear fuselage sheeted in 1/16”. There was evidence of a previous repair to the left hand side and stripping back the covering had also revealed some water damage to the lower rear sheeting which had swelled and buckled in places. I decided to start with the motor pod where, in addition to the damaged floor, the sides had split away from the motor mount and rear panel. I’ve never been a great fan of cyano for general building work, preferring aliphatic glues, but it was the ideal choice in this case, especially as there was some fuel soakage in places. Apart from one piece missing from the left hand side, the sections were easily coaxed into position and held by hand while medium cyano was wicked into the joins. A triangle of scrap 1/8 “ balsa was used for the missing fragment which was again cyano’d into place and the motor pod was put aside before tackling the next task. Next up was the wing bolt plate. It looked like this had also been repaired at some point so I cleaned off some old glue, smothered it in epoxy, clamped it all up and hoped for the best. Luckily it seemed to work ok so I moved on to the challenge of joining the 2 fuselage sections together. Trial fitting the 2 fuselage sections showed that a jig would be needed to keep them reasonably well aligned. The spray rails on the bow section ahead of the step were too wide for the jig so it had to be supported by an old battery while the remainder of the fuselage was clamped in the jig. After tacking in some odd fragments, the 2 sections were offered together. Superphatic was wicked into the joints with spots of cyano in strategic places to help hold it all together while it dried overnight.

The Seamaster was designed by Ken Willard and first appeared as a plan in RC Modeler magazine. Ken was a prolific designer with dozens of published plans, many of which are waterplanes, and you’ll find examples of the Seamaster at most waterplane events in the same way as you will see Wot 4s at the flying field. With a thick, parallel chord wing, large tail areas and simple layout, the Seamaster will fly as slowly and gently as any trainer, but wind up the power and increase the control throws, and it will aerobat with the best sports models. Like the Wot 4, the Seamaster has been copied by many and has been produced in a number of forms and sizes: as a kit by Ace R/C, as an ARTF by Thunder Tiger, and in many other versions with various names such as Lochmeister and Neptune (the latter still available from Maxford). Plans can be found on Outerzone or from RCM magazine if you fancy your own model - a Seamaster is the perfect first waterplane. My own particular version was bought in September 2015 from Lancaster Models & Hobbies on the way back from a Windermere Model Waterplane Flyers meeting at Ullswater. The model was scratchbuilt, and is itself a clone, and came complete with 4 Futaba servos and an old OS40FS for the princely sum of £85. Its first outing was at Billing Lake near Northampton where the LMA/BWA hold their monthly meeting, on a fine, late-Autumn, November day later that year. As the day edged towards a close the wind dropped, giving perfect conditions for such a lightly-loaded and somewhat low-powered flying boat. The photos below were taken that day, the late-afternoon sun perfect to show off the Seamaster. Unfortunately, the model met its demise the following year when I spun it into the lake, breaking the fuselage but leaving the wing intact. The Seamaster will tolerate a lot of abuse but too much elevator on a low level, downwind turn was pushing it too far. I couldn’t bring myself to scrap the model so it was left in a corner of the garage while I decided what to do with it (even surviving a house move!). Salvation came in the form of MattyB’s suggestion to recycle rather than build a new model (link) and this gave me the impetus I needed to tackle the repair described here. By the way, there’ll be no Haribo-eating reprobates or French-speaking plastic mannekins helping here, and definitely no rivet counting, so you’ll just have to be satisfied with my inane rambling and crude balsa bashing…

Thanks Doc, but SLEC only supply obechi in strip or sheet form up to 100mm width which is not really suitable for this purpose. Balsa Cabin stock veneer at £6 for a 50" x 19" sheet. You could just about squeeze a Wot 4 wing out of 2 sheets but, for anything bigger, 4 would be required making it quite an expensive option.

An 8'x4' sheet of 50mm foam can be bought from B&Q for £16 - that should be enough to cut 2 or 3 Wot 4 size wings. It's not perfect, I think it is recycled as it has a few black inclusions which can cause the cutting wire to drag momentarily but works well enough. I used it to cut some floats for a waterplane a few years ago. The problem for me now is finding cheap veneer. Can anyone suggest a good source?

Glenn, I believe your problem is due to initially binding the receiver with the retract switch set in the "up" position. Rebind the rx with the switch in the position you require and it should be fixed.

Still time to crash something, John

Great idea, Matty, I'm in. This is my Seamaster which bit the dust, er, water, a couple of years ago through over-enthusiasm on the elevator during a high speed, downwind turn and has been languishing in a corner of my garage ever since while I decide whether to scrap it, repair it or just build a new fuselage. Looking at it again, I think a new fuselage will be the best option. More work but I don't think a repair is feasible. And, just to whet the appetite, here's what I'm aiming to get back to:

Dale, I've added some dimensions from the Carbon Cub undercarriage to the Robart drawing referred to by Martin, below: Hope this helps. Let me know if you need anything more.

Thanks, John. I thought it was but it's been a few years since I last visited. By the way, that was the day Dave Johnson flew the big Lancaster and lost a wheel during a touch and go

Sunday looks promising. Which wind direction best suits your site, John?

Valiant - with floats!

There's some good information on this subject on the Windermere Model Waterplane Flyers site here: WMWF