Today 16th June 2025 and this boat that I was gifted for my last Birthday back in Nov 2024, finally underwent proper trials on water, and thankfully after all the issues experienced during the building process it came through them with flying colours. There are a few little tweaks to do as a result of the maiden voyage, but this will only go towards making it a far better and less stressful task on future excursions. Boy was i nervy about today, what with all my family watching.
A nervous owner placing his boat on the lake…
And off we go…slowly
I only have the one battery for the boat so time was limited, and I probably managed about 15 minutes with it nutting about, before it stopped and had to be rescued by my Brother in laws boat that just happens to be a tug, a seaborne version of the RAC.
Luckily the seaborne version of the RAC were on hand
Anyway prior to that minor mishap the boat performed quite well, the motor is hellishly powerful and I thought it would go either of two ways. Either it would launch itself out of the water like a missile or it would go nose first into a deep dive towards the bottom of the lake. Luckily it did neither, however I did learn that turning at speed is liable to capsize the boat, so care needed to be taken when performing turns under power.
And she works…..
As usual I have learned a lot. It needs some minor tweaks such as a better centralisation of the radio gear in the hull, it needs some Baffles to be put in around the front deck where the hull and the superstructure join, to prevent water ingress at speed. The front does sit low in the water but at speed the contours on the hull do create lift, and this does work very well, so I am particularly happy with this.
A great day out, at the start of the holiday, and the fact I didn’t have to go wading to rescue a failed boat is also an added bonus. Really looking forward to showing the videos and pictures to the elderly friend who purchased this fantastic gift for me. They will be as pleased as punch, as they know about all the hard work and care that has gone into getting this project finished.
Thanks for following the journey with this project. As always it is very much appreciated.
I have just finished a run of night shifts, as we are heading out to the coast for a few days with 12 others from the wife’s side of her family. I’ve kind of been in that frame of mind for a few days when people get closer to a vacation or break away when they just slip into “Holiday mode” at work, you know that feeling when the not so important stuff gets shoved to one side in the hope that one of your colleagues will pick it up, when in fact it will probably still be waiting for you to complete on your return. Yep I’ve been in that frame of mind for a few days now. I need a break, no matter how brief.
It’s going to involve an early start tomorrow as we head out to the east coast, first stop Gorleston in Norfolk where us old farts in the family gather at the local boating pond for a break, before moving on to our destination further up the coast. Gorleston is a beautiful part of the UK with one of the finest beaches you will ever see, it just seems to go on forever.
Gorleston beach
At Gorleston as I’ve previously mentioned, there is a very large boating pond. Here the older specimens of the clan take a break from driving to float their model boats. I’ve been watching them do this for years and have always threatened to build a model warship to jokingly blow them out of the water.
Gorleston boating lake
This year I have built a model boat, it is a torpedo boat, I know it floats but this will be its first true test of operation, it could go either way, it’s so damned fast that it could either just take off or dive into the depths of the lake. I hope it doesn’t though. You can read about the build of this boat in the two posts I created about its construction: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – construction and the last part: PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – finishing. I hope to post a video of the actual “Sea trial” pending its maiden voyage or ritual sinking.
The boat
Anyway that’s tomorrow and to be totally honest I’m really looking forward to it.
Yesterday was a busy one, I rose fairly early considering I was working nights as there was a special event taking place. One of the younger members of the family, Jude who is only 14 was going to have his first flying lesson, purchased for him by his parents as a Christmas gift from last year. Luckily we have an airport close by that used to be a base for American forces back in the day, that was visited by Dwight D Eisenhower, and was also the home to a squadron of old Stirling bombers. Today it is a local aerodrome, but keeps the title of Leicester airport.
I love having a wander around old airports and in one hangar I found a beautiful old plane tucked away under tarpaulins, a MkIV Harvard built in 1952 for the Canadian Airforce but currently wearing the colours of the California ANG. Registered as G-CJWE (NG481273) known as “Dazzling Debs”.
Pic courtesy of Steve CoeSitting in a corner of the hangar
Jude was going to be heading off from Leicester up over Oakham and the Burleigh estate and Rutland water on a flight that was to be approximately 45 minutes in duration. His parents had paid for two passengers to accompany him, and I was asked if I’d like to be one of those passengers. I politely declined, as much as I love aircraft I’m not a good passenger and don’t really want to fly if there is not really the need to. This refusal worked out quite well as it now allowed both of his grandfathers to be those two accompanying passengers. How lovely is that, I never even got to meet either of my grandfathers, now Jude, has both of his grandfathers sitting proudly behind him.
A walk around with both Grandfathers “J” just about to get airborne
First flight ✈️
Needless to say, he created some lasting memories this day and was full of smiles on his return, in fact they all were. And to top it all it was a gorgeous day, with some cracking food and fun company.
Blog wise I’ve got the backlog down to ten posts in draft now, and by the end of next week that should be reduced by another couple as two older posts come to fruition. It’s been a busy week, no more estate agent tours as yet, we’ve requested a strict viewing criteria with them now, to deter the time wasters who most definitely have spare time in bucket loads.
Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and try to stay happy.
Morning all, I hope I find you all well. I must admit I’m only dipping in here at the moment to see what’s going on and to update some old posts. I currently have 16 posts in draft and that’s down from 21 a couple of months back, so I am actually starting to clear the backlog if not at an exceptionally slow pace.
About right….
Failure: I deleted one project last night that had been in draft since May of last year, it was a work in progress and I was hoping to complete it last night when I confirmed the issue was terminal and there was no way it could ever be fixed. It’s a shame as it was a big post and I had learned a lot from it but it just wasn’t to be. I’m not happy at spending so much time on a project just for it to be a failure, and you good people don’t need to see that either. So I’ve just put it down to experience and chalked it off. Today the whole project will be dismantled and parts will be salvaged with the absolute minimum going to scrap.
Time wasting: I don’t know if anyone else out there has experienced the estate agent tourist phenomenon. We’ve had our house up for sale about two weeks now and have so far had a number of people allegedly showing interest. I say allegedly as I think the whole estate agent “thing” is farcical. There used to be a time when you had to prove to the estate agent that you had the funds, or your own property was itself on sale before viewing a property on their books.
Well one of those people who “Viewed” opened up to me by saying he had no intention of buying our house, he didn’t want to buy any house, he and his wife have days out where they just pick an area and go and have a nose around other peoples property. Yes, for them it’s a bloody day out, just like you’d visit a stately home or a pub, they just go to nosey around peoples homes, with absolutely no intention of buying.
To say this kind of boiled my piss is an understatement. The estate agents really got it that day. The bloody cheeky sods. I suggested they sell tickets and maybe we could sell ice creams as the clients came through the door. I don’t think he understood my sarcasm…
Apart from all of this things have just been so busy that unfortunately word press has had to take a back seat. I still get notifications, some very annoying, considering some of my posts have taken weeks, even months to put together someone manages to read about 15 of them in about 30 seconds, serial likers, the one thing I find incessantly annoying about this platform.
Hey ho, I need to go now as you can probably tell I’ve not had a lot of sleep and I’m acting a little out of character. Time to go before I become bitter and twisted.
Did you know Arsenic used to be used as a green pigment back in the day? This is an interesting read by the guys at Hackaday. Thousands of books have been quarantined over concerns of the amount of poison in the pigment, this post covers what they are doing to separate the good books from the bad. Do you have any of these green stained books on your shelves? Don’t worry if you do, just refrain from licking them for too long…
You probably do not need us to tell you that Arsenic is not healthy stuff. This wasn’t always such common knowledge, as for a time in the 19th …
Yes another one. Anyone that reads what I post will realise that these little cameras have really become popular with the youngsters within our family. I recently posted about a family get together: The garden gathering and in this post I stated that a young member of the family liked these cameras so much, that she went out and purchased a damaged one and asked if I could fix it for her. How could I turn down such an offer?
Another Instax mini 8 and that Iris should be closed
And here it is. Needs a little clean and immediately I can see an issue, what I’ve noticed is that the little iris lens protectors that close when the lens is retracted are missing, or not operating and opening properly. Everything else seems to be doing what it should, motor, film transport system etc, however the initial issue reported with this camera was that it’s exposure was sometimes hit and miss, it most definitely all related to the lens issue. A good clean wouldn’t go amiss with some extra attention paid to the light sensor area.
Anyway, enough chat, let’s crack on.
Assessment:
A nice tidy camera, needs a little clean, flash fires, film transport mechanism inside is working and the motor runs. It gives the impression that it is working fine, however….
Here’s a reminder from the young family member who made the purchase, regarding its issues:
I’ve just remembered, I think the advert said something about the photos coming out dark no matter what setting it is on! x
I’d already noticed the little iris mechanism on the front of the lens didn’t open and close when the camera was turned on, so I was going to be looking in this area anyway. But when I looked a little closer and moved the aperture ring on the side of the lens, the relative apertures in the lens were only moving to roughly the half way point, off centre, hence there was no corresponding fully positioned aperture, and in relation to the lighting situation that was presented, they were stuck and blocking the incoming light. In a nutshell there was not a sufficient sized aperture “hole” for any light to get through, resulting in the exposure issue stated above. This needs adjusting. You can see what I mean in the photo below. The lens aperture leaf does not sit central in the lens.
Incorrect aperture settings and positioning in the lens
Apart from the highlighted problems above, i don’t believe there are any other underlying issues. So I’m going to concentrate on the front of the camera solely in the lens turret area.
Let’s get on with the repair.
Repair:
The iris issue is within the lens turret so this will need to be dismantled to access the iris.
Lens top cover removed exposing the iris mechanism below
It was a bit of a head scratcher this one, as I spent a lot of time just staring at the mechanism trying to figure out how it worked. When the iris lids were manually manipulated to the closed position when the turret was retracted all was fine. When the turret was opened up the iris lens did the same, but then if you again retracted the lens the iris remained open exposing the lens. I was thinking it must be missing a spring somewhere and I was about to be proved right.
I found a replacement iris turret in my spares box for instax cameras
I found a replacement iris mount that fits within the lens turret. I had this in a spare box and used this as a reference to compare to the old non operating one. Here is where it was confirmed that there was a spring missing and this is why the iris was not operating.
Spring missingSpring in place The old iris mechanism compared to the working one
I replaced the old mechanism with the new one and this was installed back in the camera, this now works fine. I have however found a suitable spring for the old iris so I do now have another spare ready should another be needed in the future.
Iris mechanism installed and now working
The issue with the aperture positioning has been sorted by ensuring that the aperture ring is correctly positioned in relation to the cog mechanism in the lens turret area. It’s a bit like sorting out the timing belt in a car, it just has to be in the right position to achieve the correct aperture settings.
Springs and levers everywhere, and the “Timing” cog on the right that is in the turret area
This sorted, the last thing to do was to give the viewfinder a little clean. You have to be very careful here as the viewfinder is connected to the camera “ready to shoot” indicating light, and there are very fine wires all around this area. Be just a bit too clumsy here and you’d have a difficult soldering project to also add to the original problems. Anyway, no such issues today, the viewfinder was un clipped and prisms and glass cleaned and reassembled. All looking good.
Viewfinder and lots of little wires
I’m now happy that all the issues have been attended to and I’m just going to reassemble the camera ready for a quick clean. Luckily all the screws that came out went back in with none leftover. Result!
Result:
We now have a nice little unit, all aperture settings are working as they should and the lens iris is operating as it was always supposed to do. The viewfinder has also been cleaned and it’s now a nice clear unobstructed view. It just works.
All cleaned and now working, a lovely little camera
I’m guessing this camera will be coming away with the owner on a family holiday that we are all about to embark on shortly. I’m hoping to run some film through this soon but I am ultra confident it will work as all the issues have now been addressed.
I’ve just got some film and rattled off 4 quick shots, one of them indoors. Exposures are fine so I’m happy this is a perfectly good working camera.
4 quickly produced shots
I’m sure there will be one younger member of the family who will be very happy with her new camera. And may she have many years of capturing good times and fantastic memories. This is what these little cameras are made for after all.
Thanks for passing by, it’s always very much appreciated.
I arrived home from work last evening to find my nephew at home. He’d been looking around his mum and dad’s attic to find his old star wars toy collection he had from the 80s-90s. Whilst in the loft he found this old toy from 1985 by a company called Yonezawa being sold under the Grandstand branding, and it isn’t working. Here is where it passes over to uncle Dave.
Uncle Dave, it’s not working
There’s no real value to these toys as they were produced in massive quantities off the back of all the transformer type toys that were available at the time. There are some accessories missing from this one that are obtainable via the auction sites, he may well ask me to source these, but at the moment he just wants me to get it working to pass onto his boys. The video below shows just what it does….and that’s not a lot. But the one I have here is totally dead and needs reviving just like Frankenstein.
Deltatron what it should do
So here we go…
Assessment:
My overriding surprise is that this has been in a loft space for close to 30 yrs and does not have that expected damp mustiness that usually comes with such an item. I must say, my brother in laws loft space is an exception, it’s obviously free from excessive moisture, mind you it’s only about 40 yrs old so building standards had probably advanced somewhat from when ours was built about 90 yrs ago.
It’s in a good condition and all its parts are there minus a few little additions that originally came with the toy. But as I have stated earlier these parts can be obtained on line if required.
Right, let’s have a look at what is or isn’t happening here…
Repair:
When batteries are installed and the remote control is operated, all that happens is that a light comes on in the toy. The motion that is required is non existent.
The motor unitMotor removed, there is a cog mechanism to move the unitThe motor unit removed
When examined closer you can see there is a lot of surface rust on the side of the motor where the contacts go into the unit.
Really rustyQuick clean later
The contacts were so rusty inside the motor unit that you’d get an intermittent running of the motor if you moved them. I’ve checked continuity and solder joints and they were fine. I’ve injected some contact cleaning spray into the motor and sat there manipulating the motor in both directions for about 5 minutes, this was sufficient to get the motor running freely once power was reapplied. The contacts were dirty and restricting the flow of power to the motor. I decided to use some IPA around the area to give it all a good clean and once again sprayed more contact cleaner through the motor.
Contact cleaner and silicone grease
Once I’d run the motor for a few minutes in both directions I then applied some silicone grease to the cogs and moving parts to allow a smoother operation. It’s worked. A nice simple fix.
Result:
It’s working and here’s a small video to prove it.
It’s now working
I’ve already handed it back and it’s a joy to see the smiles on my nephew and his dad’s face when they watched it working. Such a simple thing, bringing back treasured memories and laughs. Another old toy saved for another generation and best of all another item not going to a landfill.
Thanks for passing by, as always it is very much appreciated.
How it looked in the last blog post prior to finishing
This post covers the finishing, that is the priming, painting and installation of the radio gear to complete the build of this wooden model boat.
I have to give a couple of coats of high build primer to the hull and deck sections, and for this task I will be using Guild lane high build primer.
This will seal the already sand sealed wood and give it a good foundation for the final paint application. I will give a good initial coat, lightly sand and fill any imperfections and then give a final second coat prior to choosing the colour scheme I’d like for this boat.
Today I have given the first two coats of primer to the hull and deck, and I’ve primed all of the cabins and guns and torpedos in preparation of individually painting them. I need to do a light sand on the hull and I believe a third coat will then suffice.
All deck weapons primed and painted
HullInner battery plateInside hull
I’ve given a light sanding to a couple of spots on the hull, I’ve filled a couple of tiny holes, sanded again then re sprayed the hull. I’m happy with how it looks at present. I’m not following a traditional paint scheme, so there will be no comparison to its original appearance. I’ve hand painted some of the deck fittings, put in the cabin windows and started to fix these items into place.
Hull painted deck fittings to be put in place. Deck dinghy painted and weathered Super structure addedDinghy placed Weaponry attached
I’m just awaiting some red paint to finish the hull, then I can get some decals in place. Then I can seal it all to finish the exterior of the model and then I can concentrate on setting the motor and the internal electrical elements up. Next I have to mask the area of the hull that I will paint red, I’ll do this now before the paint arrives as it just has to be right first time. I don’t want to be touching up too much if I can help it.
Masking of the upper deck in preparation for a red belly
I’ve made a pair of support struts out of balsa that sit behind the aerial, I’ve changed this area completely as it was too delicate and would have been a nightmare to transport. I’ve built a modern style array for a radar, I know it’s not going with tradition but again it makes for easier transport and reduces the need for repairs on the go.
First coat with mask in place
I’ve done the first three coats of red paint for the waterline, I’m going to leave this 24hrs now before I peel back the masking to reveal what mess I have underneath. Fingers crossed on this 🤞
Masking tape all removed
Fingers now uncrossed I’m really pleased with the outcome. The masking tape has been all removed and we now have a nice crisp line around where the red joins the grey. There’s some like marking up by the front end that believe it or not are finger nail marks when I was applying the mask. I’m not worried about this though as I have some sharks teeth decals coming that should cover this area. One of the little additions I wanted to make, to put my own mark on the build. Once all the decals are placed I will then give a final coat of a yacht varnish to seal all this work. I’m going to test a small area first as the last thing I want is for all this hard work to run into a gooey mess.
I have done the tests and commenced with coat one of the varnish. It looks gorgeous. Im probably going to do a further two light coats and that will be the hull complete. I haven’t put the decals on yet, I will probably do that prior to putting on the finishing coat.
All decals placedVarnished
All decals applied and final varnish completed. I can now look at getting the rudder and electronics installed. I’m happy with how the whole hull area looks.
Motor, prop shaft and rudder now in placeLooking good on her stand with prop and rudder in place
All that is needed now is to place the battery, receiver and ESC in place. I have quite a strict time on this build and I must have it ready for “Lake” trials when we go to Norfolk in June.
I will also be borrowing my brother in laws pond for 30 mins or so to do a balance and water tightness test.
Let’s get the electrics installed.
Having never really done this before, I’m quite amazed by the amount of gear I have to fit into such a small area.
All this has to go in there….i need a bigger boat
It’s in – just needs sorting
I’ve managed to put these items in-situ, in a rough position inside the hull. I need to shorten some cables, I need to somehow position the rudder servo, but I’m sure that will not be an issue. I’ve already tested the centre of balance and I’m happy with that. Later today I shall start to really tidy the layout by working from the front to the rear of the hull.
Front RearThank the Lord for Velcro tape. All complete apart from the rudder connection. I’m still working on that.
I’ve had to purchase a small bracket for the rudder servo along with a couple of connecting rods. Hopefully we can now complete the electrical connections within the hull and get the rudder operational, then I can get it water tested to check for leaks and balance.
Rudder linkage in place, just needs shortening
Rudder linkage now adjusted and in place
I’ve just had quite an annoying and inconvenient moment. The rudder linkage is all now in place and working fine, however the issue lies with the propeller shaft. I’ve rather foolishly connected it all up but left the propellor flush with the shaft end so when I put on full power to test, there was a burning smell as the propeller wizzed past my ear across the room and the shaft seized up. There was such a build up of friction between the propellor and shaft that the propeller melted and bent the 2mm prop shaft out of place. A stupid mistake, caused by my rushing to get this completed.
A melted propeller with the screw mechanism missing
A small video that shows the rudder mechanism working
I’ve now had to order a new prop shaft and propeller, hopefully these will arrive in the next few days and I can then get the build finished.
New prop shaft in place, and all electrics and functions are now operational with the motor purring away nicely. I’ve adjusted the distance from the prop to the shaft to reduce Friction and this appears to be working fine.
All functions working nicelyLeak can be seenWeak point found
Now to sit her in some water for leak test.
Floating nicely After 30 minutes we have water ingress
The leak test was going so well, all functions worked well and she was sitting nicely in the water.
Water test
The positive here, is that there is no leak in the front end there was no water present here. All the water was in the rear, however it was not entering via the rudder mechanism or the drive shaft.
I removed the hull from the water, tilted it in such a way for the water to gather at the rear, and dried the underside of the hull. After a few seconds you could see a drip starting to gather at the top of the mount that holds the drive shaft in place. I knew it must have been a slow leak as this took almost 30 minutes to build up, I’ve caught it just before it impeded on any of the electronics.
I’ve now emptied the hull of remaining water, it’s now drying off naturally and I have a plan in place to repair the issue once the hull has fully dried. I’m probably going to use some epoxy resin to seal around the whole drive shaft fin, and then I’ll paint and seal this part again. We will then repeat the trial.
Back in the water the following morning at 07:50 after being sealed with epoxy resin on the hull, let’s leave her alone bobbing around for 30 minutes to see what occurs. It’s not good news….again.
Timelapse over 15 minutes
As I’m impatient, I set up my camera in time lapse mode to see if I could pinpoint where the water was accessing. My suspicions were that the water was coming up the drive shaft however I’m quite pleased that the timelapse shows this is not the case. the water appears to be accessing again from the very base of the hull. This area was sanded to quite a thin tolerance so i suspect, that even with all the sealing, two coats of paint and a coat of varnish there must be tiny holes along the hull. The previous sealing I did cured the issue at the rear, it now appears that I will have to carry on with the resin coating or something similar, along the length of the hull. To make things entirely water tight I’m going to remove what I can internally and also seal inside the hull as well.
One good soaking of polyurethane varnish later…
Three days after all this varnish has dried, I have done another float test and this one was with all equipment on board for an hour…and it was successful. We seem to be dry. I’m now putting the whole boat back together now ready for its maiden voyage at Gorleston boating lake in a weeks time.
Ready to go…
I will do a separate post regarding the maiden voyage and its outcome whether positive or negative shortly after.
Thanks for passing by, as always it’s very much appreciated.
It’s all been work, work lately and yesterday this old lady arrived at our depot to have some work done.
Class 37 Diesel- 37407 (Blackpool tower)
I’m not a train spotter, no way, but there is something special about these elderly beasts. No concern for clean air as they spew smoke and clag into the atmosphere, they are true old workhorses of the rail network and it’s always nice to see a well presented example arrive on site. this one was built in October of 1965 so it’s older than me (and better looking) here’s a little bit about it:
May 2019 – One of DRS’ most famous locomotives has been renamed ‘Blackpool Tower’ as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations for the North West’s most famous landmark.
The vintage ‘Class 37’ loco’ (37407) first carried the name back in the 1990s, when it became part of a fleet of locomotives running ‘seaside specials’ taking thousands of holiday makers and day trippers from Manchester Victoria Station to the seaside town known as the ‘Las Vegas of the North’.
Rail enthusiasts will be delighted to know that 37407 is one of several DRS locomotives that has been re-painted in the distinctive yellow and blue British Rail ‘large logo’ livery.
The locomotive will continue operating on the national rail network working on a range of DRS services, from freight and passenger services through to supporting the work to decommission and clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites.
Gov.uk
I spent the day yesterday ensuring “enthusiasts” behaved themselves and didn’t wander onto railway infrastructure, it’s fair to say it attracted a lot of attention.
Meaning just where the hell have the last six months gone. Sit back and blink and that’s half the year already gone. It’s amazing that once the better weather kicks in just how quick it just all seems to cascade by, if only you could put the brakes on time and just enjoy it a little bit longer.
The garden has bulked up after the perfect mix of rain and sunlight, and is about to abruptly burst into colour, some of them are impatiently exploding already and it’s starting to look lovely. But it will all be over too soon and that barren, bleak lack of colour will soon be on us. Oh for year round colour, if only.
Butterfly in my garden
The house is warming up, and as we are in quite an old house it’s the one time of the year when the environment isn’t controlled by the heating system, allowing a welcome break from the claws of the energy production companies. We now have the windows open.
That’s another issue. Opening windows. If like us you currently live near the intersection of two major road arteries then you will know what I’m on about. Opening the windows means you let every speeding, inconsiderate motoring manifestation into your home, like it or not. And the dirt and dust produced by vehicles throttling past your door 24hrs a day means no matter how much you dust, there will be more for you in a few minutes to remove. Maybe time goes so fast as the amount of toxicity we must be inhaling is controlling just how long we have left? Who knows?
Digitalis in the garden
Well the windows can’t stay open forever as you’d never get a good nights sleep if you wanted to, because of the boy racers and bike demons who constantly insist on revving their two and four wheeled steeds as they race off into the distant night.
We have a lovely family getaway coming up this month when about 18 of us are heading off to the East coast for a few days. The nice thing is that there is a great mix of ages from about 21 right up to the late 70s and that is wonderful, it’s great to know the youngsters want to spend time with us old farts, to be honest it’s pretty much down to them that this holiday is being arranged, oh and the usual organisational craft work of my dear wife.
On this holiday all the old fellahs, take a boat to float on the boating lake at Gorleston on the east coast. On the day we travel up, it’s always been a quick stopover and a tradition for two of the older members to float their radio controlled boats they have spent a lot of time and patience on. I’ve always jokingly threatened them that one day I’d build a submarine or military boat that would blow theirs out of the water. This year that veiled threat has been achieved and I will hopefully be joining the ranks of the family boating fraternity when I let my torpedo destroyer loose on the good folk of Gorleston. I’ve been building this boat since it was brought as a present for me by a very good family friend on my last birthday. Its construction has already been touched on, through my blog : PT109 wooden torpedo boat kit – construction and I’m hoping the build and testing of the boat will be completed and published within the next few days. It was always my goal to have it ready for this break. Let’s see what happens.
Pt109 boat kit
About now, is probably my favourite part of the year as I have discussed on here before, May & June, that period when spring kicks in and is a precursor to the oncoming summer. But as I’ve said earlier it is all over too soon.
And what a perfect canvas is currently in place for the ongoing sale of this property, yes that is in full swing now and the footprints of strangers should start being witnessed around this property very shortly….but in a way I’m not really bothered if it sells or not. I love this place apart from the negatives I’ve stated above, and as you can see they are few.
No doubt the Christmas stock is already sailing the oceans of the world to be in all our supermarkets very shortly. As if summer is not already short enough.
Whatever the season is wherever you are on this little ball of rock floating around in space, enjoy it, have fun and always spare a friendly outlook to those looking in. It doesn’t last long, so enjoy it whilst you can.
I’ve had this camera sitting around since March 2023, when I first wrote about its purchase along with a couple of other cameras here: New old stock 📸
Barnet Ensign Ful-Vue II
I’m not sure what I paid for these cameras but it wouldn’t have been a great deal. I love the Ful-Vue due to its looks and the kind of Art Nouveau feel it has about it. It’s a very basic mass produced camera of its time and It is an old 120 film camera, and the bonus is that this film type is still readily available, in fact I still have a few rolls in my fridge at home today.
The shutter is an all mechanical, spring loaded system which swings a piece of metal over a hole to create the exposure. The approximate timing is 1/30th of a second and that’s slow. It is understandable when taking in to account that ISO 400 wasn’t that common in the 50s and would have produced very noisy results. It was far more common to use ISO 50-100 film and that would’ve required a slower shutter speed at the approximate f11 of the lens of this unit.
I obviously want to get it back into full working order. And want to do as sympathetic a restoration as possible. It’s a 120 roll film camera with a 6cm x 6cm frame inside, it was a cheap and cheerful camera of its day, sold as, “Easy, even for a child to use.”
In the meantime, here’s some history about this little camera:
Barnet Ensign Ross Ful-Vue II
Originally released in its initial form in 1939, this version was introduced in 1950 after further improvements were made. The new flash synchronised shutter, the turn-able lens barrel allowing three different distance settings instead of two, an all-plastic front panel, and an optional flashgun. The improved version was called Ful-Vue II. Pictures were 6×6cm on 120 film. It has been stated that colored models (red, white and blue) were sold in 1952-3, to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II; However, no other evidence for these cameras has been seen: in particular, the Ful-Vue is not mentioned in a coronation advertising supplement to the BJP Almanac of 1953. Colored Ful-Vues were advertised as ‘Ful-Vue à la Mode’ in late 1952. Examples of the regular Ful-Vue II, repainted and presented as the colored model, have been seen in online auctions.
Camera wiki.org
So I estimate this camera to have been produced sometime between 1950-54 when this particular model had its production run, just prior to yet another version becoming available. Making this particular camera approx 70+ years old. Let’s have a look at the unit that I am now in possession of.
Assessment:
The case is leather and is very dry and brittle, it’s complete, so I may well look at revitalising this one just as I did to an old Kodak camera in this old post: Kodak Brownie reflex. If I do, I will cover its repair in the following section.
The old leather case, very dry and brittle
The camera itself is in quite a good condition cosmetically, it has chips off the paint and a little wear and tear that will require some attention. There appears to be a screw missing on the front plate, this will be replaced.
A little wear and tear, nothing too worrying
The mirror inside the viewfinder seems to have moved and will need reseating, all glass and mirrors appear quite foggy and need a good clean, all workings within the camera inside appear ok. Light seals appear ok but may well need replacing purely due to their age.
Glass dirty and mirror has movedInternals all okNo issues on the winding mechanism
The lens barrel and shutter mechanism will be checked over to check correct operation, however at first glance, all seems to be ok. There is a little red window on the rear panel where you can see the film exposure numbers. A little thumbscrew can be turned to blacken this window out, this will be very handy for when we try to install a colour film to prevent any fogging issues.
Repair:
I want this to be a sympathetic restoration, so I will endeavour to keep the look and feel of the unit as original as possible.
The case:
I’m starting with the case as this is probably going to be the most time consuming and will require numerous periods of drying and moisturising, it’s probably about 70 years old now and to be honest has probably had no care taken of it during that time.
Mild soap sud wash to clean and introduce some moisture – see the dirt on the used cotton pads
Using some mild detergent, but just the soap suds on a cotton pad I have gently wiped all over the case, paying special attention to any old folds in the material. This has had a dual purpose of removing ing a lot of age related dirt (As you can see in the photos above, that show the dirty cotton pads) as well as adding a little bit of moisture but not too much. I want to do this in stages to minimise any more damage. I will now let this dry for 24 hrs and I will then do the same again.
24hrs later I have cleaned the case again, in exactly the same manner. let’s leave it another 24hrs and then apply a little polish to give it back some colour and a little bit more moisture. I’m keeping it as low cost as I can, no doubt a brown shoe polish will suffice for the result I’m looking for.
I’ve treated the leather and polished it twice using a black shoe polish. The third coat I have given is a tan regimental high gloss polish. I’m leaving this for a few hours and then I will buff the case up. I’m not repairing stitching or holes as I want it to retain age and it’s old look. I just want the leather to look healthier, last a while longer and to get some moisture back into what was a very brittle leather case.
Before and after treatment
I have today buffed the case up after all the treatments of the last couple of days. The case feels lovely and soft and much more pliable than when I first started on it. I’m now going to bring this part of the repair to an end as that’s as far as I wish to take it at this time. I want it to still carry its signs of age. Without further a do, let’s move on to the camera.
The camera:
I have decided to totally dismantle the camera and work on it bit by bit. In this case there is not a great deal to dismantle.
Unclip this spring inside the body Off pops the entire mirror and optics headLoosen the spring to release both optics
Firstly I release a retaining clip inside of the main body and this releases the “Viewing head” on top of the camera. This part of the camera contains the mirror that has become detached, and two glass optics that complete the viewer section of the camera. There is a single spring structure that holds both pieces of glass in place, release this and they just fall out. Easy.
All the glass and mirror removed Rear of the mirror, caked in muckRear of mirror has cleaned up nicely
I’ve started by placing the three optical items above in a mild warm detergent soak. I will leave these there for about an hour, in hope that a soak will help in cleaning that muck off the back of the mirror. The two other optics are in great condition and I’m sure the soak and then a final rinse will be all that they require. This treatment worked just fine, and now onto the next part.
Next I’ve removed the shutter mechanism from the camera body.
Front viewRear viewTaken apart The camera has a beautifully simple mechanism that is a work of art to look at
Here is a very small video showing the simplicity of this shutter mechanism
A The mechanism is beautifully simple and is such a lovely piece of work to look at. To think im probably the first person to look in here in the last 70 years is special. All I’m going to do here is very carefully get rid of as much old ingrained dirt as possible and very gently clean the shutter leaf. I will use a minuscule amount of clock oil on the mechanism only, I will use some fine graphite dust on the actual leaf part of the shutter.
Gently does it, in minute quantities
The lens and mechanism have been cleaned now and reassembled, all tested, and working as expected.
The body work is fine apart from some small chips and paint flakiness. I’m going to retouch these missing areas with some enamel paint and a bit of thickener to enable me to obtain the stipple effect of the original paint job. Then I will finish with a nice black polish.
Touching up missing paintwork, mechanism now attached to body
Let’s now get the mirror back in place and the head back on the camera unit.
Mirror and optics all in place
And that’s it. Apart from a little polish we are now done here
Before and after
Result:
I’ve put quite a bit of work into this little camera. Some people will ask why bother as it was only a cheap mass produced camera? Well, I like it, it’s a lovely little camera and it deserves to be displayed. Now, as it’s also working it’s a big bonus. It gives me something to do, and it’s how I relax, as I’ve been shoulders deep in DIY at home recently and doing my shifts at work, so this is a welcome distraction for me.
All done, just needs a polish once the paint is dryIn its 70 year old leather jacket – nice
So that’s another one saved from scrap. This camera will now go into storage where I will vacuum pack it with some silica packets to prevent it from getting damp. I’m surprised just how good this camera “smells” considering its age, there is no mustiness at all compared to some cameras I get from this era.
Many thanks for popping by, you know it is always very much appreciated.
Foxes Den 
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