Very Rare Floaty Thingys

The piston powered ones were NOT well loved by the racing plane folks. Blowing up an engine on a hydro isn't a big deal; doing so at 500 mph in a P-51 one hundred feet above the desert not so good. The engines have become very rare.

    A big hydro in styrene would be fun. One of my other" holy grail" kits. Back in the 70s they used to race hydros on Lake Couer d' Alene in Idaho. I know they still race on the Columbia in Richland or Pasco Wa. every summer. Stationed at Whidbey Is. in the late 80s early 90s but never seen the races.

Was into Thunder Boats for a while. Got to see the U-1 Miss Budweiser with her RR V-12 at a show (can't remember just where) and was priveledged to meet Bernie Little and get his autograph. Still have it hanging on the wall in my workroom. Very nice guy. He didn't just scribble something on the pic. He took the time to actually sign it.

Jim   

Hi Rick!

 Well, you see, that's the point. Lake Union saw many of these monsters! I was stationed in Bremerton for two years while the Navy tried to create a " Better Ship" out of our Gearing Class Destroyer. I should've moved up there and stayed. I loved the area.

     I ran into one of the creators and his boat in Concord, California some years ago. You're right of course . Even he said, he missed the sound of those Merlins at full throttle!

    Instead of pulling the model they could've just changed the Decals, fer heavens sake!

Now you're hitting me where I live.  Seatle is one of the anchors of the Unlimited hydroplane racing circuit, going back to the 1950's. 

A modeler from the Seattle area created some beautiful 1/48 resin kits of the boats from the classic era of late 1950s through early 70s, using the Craftmasters label.  It doesn't seem that Craftmasters still has an online presence, but I'm pretty sure that he still sets up a booth at the annual IPMS Seattle Spring Show.  There is a review of one of the Craftmaster hydros at http://www.internetmodeler.com/2002/may/first-looks/craftmasters_hydro.htm.  

I still haven't built one, but a couple sit on my shelf of dreams.  The one I have here is a 30' rounded bow version, a design that had several copies cranked out in the late 50s.  It is around 7" in length and has a variety of parts and decals to make ten different boats, over the years.  The decals and the color artwork are gorgeous.  The instructions are of typical 1999-standard, really basic. 

As I poked around on the web, it seems that Craftmasters also made some in 1/25 scale, and I imagine they are not cheap.

Most of the boats were not unique.  In 1968 a design was built that had five or six nearly identical boats on the water at the same time.  One of these was Miss Budweiser, and the MPC/ Testors kit could be used as a starting point for the others, if only there were decals available.

There is tons of more information about unlimted hydroplanes at the Unlimited Hydroplane Museum website.

Rick

Used to see Miss Bud on the road all the time coming and going from her home base in Seattle.

Lost most of the interest when they went to turbines.  The speed is still there, but just not the same without the Merlins .

I remember that kit from back when.