"BAT" a working scale model radio controlled steam launch 41x10x12in(104x25.5x30.5cm)
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Find your local specialist"BAT" a working scale model radio controlled steam launch
Hull of timber, plank on frame, painted white to the waterline and red below with a dark green boot top, a varnished top strake with a gold leaf caveta. Fitted with a three blade brass propeller. Laid timber decks with notched king plank and wide mahogany covering boards.
Engine: Specially developed compound, with 3/8in stroke, six columns. Balanced web crank shaft with split big end bearings, five bearings, the outer two being miniature ball races. Copper vertical boiler with mahogany cladding, incorporating a heat sink and low-profile gas burner, from special propane tank. Fitted with level glass, safety valve, pressure gauge, steam whistle and Windermere kettle.
Forward cockpit, lined with beaded panelling and fitted with slatted mahogany bench seats, central engine space, with removable laid decks for access to gas cylinder, engine and radio control gear for engine, steering and whistle. Aft cockpit lined with beaded panelling and fitted with slatted mahogany bench seats. There is a removable green surrey top on brass poles. Inventory includes a custom travelling case with steaming cradle, a polished slate and brass static display plinth, radio control transitter and charger, toolbox and documentation. 41x10x12in(104x25.5x30.5cm)
Footnotes
This is a superlative example of the work one of the finest model makers active in the UK today. Care of construction and painstaking attention to detail are evident throughout. Another example of this model is to be found in the Windermere Steamboat Museum collection.
The steam launch "BAT" was built by Brockbank of Windermere to the design of her owner, Alfred Sladen in 1891. In 1904 she was used by Isaac Story and Jack Kitchen to conduct experiments in early radio control on the Lake, where she was steamed around the northern end with only a stoker on board. It is believed the first example of a vessel being controlled by radio. Found derelict at Bowness in 1966, she was rebuilt and now can be found in the Windermere Steamboat Museum.