58 years of designing and building model boats

[Jerry Dunlap]

Here is a photo of a free run electric outboard runabout I built probably around 1953/54. It was powered by one of those small 9V batteries like the ones in fire alarms. I build similar boats for guys in the neighborhood so I'd have someone to race at the wading pond at a local park. Nearly 60 years later I'm still running model outboard boats.

JD

 

[David Bryant]

Very cool Mr. Dunlap. That ("free-running") outboard model boat is a true relic, and should be installed into the Smithsonian

 

[Bob Kensill]

I guess when you find something you like, and are good at it, you might as well stick with it. Besides, you really can't teach an old dog new tricks. Keep it up and enjoy life

Bob Kensill

 

[Kevin Krogness]

Very cool Jerry! You are a true inspiration too many!

 

[Bob Morton]

Here is a photo of a free run electric outboard runabout I built probably around 1953/54. It was powered by one of those small 9V batteries like the ones in fire alarms. I build similar boats for guys in the neighborhood so I'd have someone to race at the wading pond at a local park. Nearly 60 years later I'm still running model outboard boats.

JD

That does not look like an outboard ??

 

[Ray Sametz]

Cool old outboard, what the boat made of, paper mache???

 

[Roy Munoz]

By the look of your first Boat your building skills have goten a bit better..LOL..

 

[Mark Poole ModVP]

1972....my first operational model boat was also a free running outboard. It was one of those little replica Molinari tunnels sold by Mercury Marine through Merc outboard dealers. The scale Merc outboard was powered by two D batteries. Still have the one from when I was 10 years old and several more collected since. Even before that I was building "yard racers", boats pulled around the yard on a string. I built some cool yard racers, wish I had saved some of them. We all started somewhere!

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Cool old outboard, what the boat made of, paper mache???

Balsa wood and painted with model airplane dope. I loved the smell of that stuff. I suppose I'm fortunate not have suffered brain damage from inhaling fumes from all the model airplane glue and paint. Or, maybe I did. :huh:

I built one Miss Thriftway kit when I was 13 or 14 and then scratch built other .049 powered hydroplanes from balsa wood using the same construction technique.

JD

 

[Mark Bullard]

Cool old outboard, what the boat made of, paper mache???

Balsa wood and painted with model airplane dope. I loved the smell of that stuff. I suppose I'm fortunate not have suffered brain damage from inhaling fumes from all the model airplane glue and paint. Or, maybe I did. :huh:

I built one Miss Thriftway kit when I was 13 or 14 and then scratch built other .049 powered hydroplanes from balsa wood using the same construction technique.

JD

I remember the airplane dope and paint also. Maybe it why our friend always wondered why we were so happy. And guess I have been doing almost long as you. About 50 years or more.

 

[Greg Hahn]

can you say long in the tooth! seriously though you're awsome. Not a bad Photog either I might say!!

gh

 

[HOTWATER]

Cool! Did not see the O/B at first..ha,ha!

-Kent

 

[Ray Sametz]

Cool old outboard, what the boat made of, paper mache???

Balsa wood and painted with model airplane dope. I loved the smell of that stuff. I suppose I'm fortunate not have suffered brain damage from inhaling fumes from all the model airplane glue and paint. Or, maybe I did. :huh:

I built one Miss Thriftway kit when I was 13 or 14 and then scratch built other .049 powered hydroplanes from balsa wood using the same construction technique.

JD

I remember the airplane dope and paint also. Maybe it why our friend always wondered why we were so happy. And guess I have been doing almost long as you. About 50 years or more.

My mom always got pissed when i stunk up the apartment with airplane dope.... We used our brains, not a joy stick and tv screen. .....==={}

 

[Slideblues]

I still like SIG sanding sealer and clearcoat

Nice pic Jerry,

Gene

 

[Bob Morton]

Here is a photo of a free run electric outboard runabout I built probably around 1953/54. It was powered by one of those small 9V batteries like the ones in fire alarms. I build similar boats for guys in the neighborhood so I'd have someone to race at the wading pond at a local park. Nearly 60 years later I'm still running model outboard boats.

JD

That does not look like an outboard ??

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

On the topic airplane glues and paints:

In a health class my sophomore year of college we had a chapter dealing with "huffing glue." When I started to chuckle, the guy next to me asked what was so funny about "huffing glue?"

I told him I cut lawns, baby sat, and delivered newspapers to purchase model building supplies. The last thing I'd ever think of doing was squeezing a big tube of Testors Glue(which probably cost around a dollar back then) into a paper bag and inhaling the fumes.

The other model scent I really liked was from one of the airplane fuels back in the 50s. It might have been Blue Blazer or there was another fuel that came in a purple can - Missile Mist.

I'm beginning to think "JD" stands for "Jerry the Dinosaur."

 

[moparbarn]

if that,s true, jd there are a few of us dinosaurs here . my first "power boat" was a free run round nose hydro powered by a cox or testors .049 pusher prop. red deck, white hull, abs. can't for the life of me remember who made it. used to take it out to biscayne bay in miami with my dad in our boat. we spent hours chasing that thing ! finally hit a piling & sank. about 1965 ( i was about 12 or so), i'm thinking. loved the smell of nitro & castor & hot fuel proof dope ever since. oh yeah, i remember green full scale mercury ob's also, worked on quite a few as a marine mechanic fresh out of high school in '69.

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

if that,s true, jd there are a few of us dinosaurs here . my first "power boat" was a free run round nose hydro powered by a cox or testors .049 pusher prop. red deck, white hull, abs. can't for the life of me remember who made it. used to take it out to biscayne bay in miami with my dad in our boat. we spent hours chasing that thing ! finally hit a piling & sank. about 1965 ( i was about 12 or so), i'm thinking. loved the smell of nitro & castor & hot fuel proof dope ever since. oh yeah, i remember green full scale mercury ob's also, worked on quite a few as a marine mechanic fresh out of high school in '69.

I'd go out in a lake with my .049 hydros with the rudders set to make a left turn(that was the directions the unlimited raced on Lake Washington). I would flip start the engines using my middle finger on the knurled flywheel. Sometimes I was able to get two running around in circles at the same time. I'd end up with a small blood blister on the end of my finger after a day of running and rowing.

JD

 

[Andy Greene]

On the topic airplane glues and paints:

In a health class my sophomore year of college we had a chapter dealing with "huffing glue." When I started to chuckle, the guy next to me asked what was so funny about "huffing glue?"

I

The other model scent I really liked was from one of the airplane fuels back in the 50s. It might have been Blue Blazer or there was another fuel that came in a purple can - Missile Mist.

I'm beginning to think "JD" stands for "Jerry the Dinosaur."

They memories of Missile Mist and that purple gallon can - will be FOREVER etched in my brain JD .

My father , rest his soul, and my next brother up flew rc planes since I can remember- drug along at maybe 4-5 yrs old to the field,

that smell and the fuel proof dope will live with me forever. B)

 

[El Zorro]

Ahhhhh, the smell of Ambroid glue and Aero Gloss dope! Built my first balsa airplane ( 1/2 A controline Combat wing ) exactly 50 years ago. I taught a few of my friends to fly, too. I remember many times I would go around the neighborhood collecting for my paper route just to get enough money to go buy a pint of fuel ( Cox " Blue can " ) so we could go flying. Won my first contest with the same airplane................had to beat my older brother to do it. I ran the Fox " Missle Mist " fuel in my Fox Combat engines during the 1960's. Some of the guys from up north ran fuel in their Rat Racers that smelled like shoe polish. Much later we found out that nitrobenzene was some pretty bad stuff to fool with!

First model boat I saw run was a hydroplane that my Dad built with a K&B Allen .049 outboard. He would start it and had the engine turned a bit and when he put it in the water it would do big circles until it ran out of fuel. Pretty cool, I thought.

Jerry, thanks for all that you have done for our hobby. You certainly have been an icon for all of us model boaters for a long time. See you in Hobart.

Dick Tyndall