First of all the original manufacturer was Nor-star so its probably not as well known as some of the Aerokits models we all love.
This was my first real boat kit and was purchased in the mid to late 70s. Looking back as a novice builder I didn't do a very good job (raised - brass tack heads etc.) I do remember on the box lid it stated suitable for 0.5cc motors and up or electric. When I started the kit I had every intention of using elec but ended up using an Enya 0.19 with a couple of turns of copper tube wrapped around the barrel as a make shift water cooling jacket.
Was it fast - to me, it was extreemly fast... but there again I didn't have much to compare it against. in the end I had to put trim tabs on the back to try and counteract the torque twist.
The downside was the glowplug motor. it had a habbit of cutting when the boat was in a bad spot to rescue. Also the engine was far too big for the engine bay so that re-starts meant that burned fingers were envitable when passing my leather starting cord around the flywheel. Due to the weight of the motor it also sat a little nose down when at rest.
As time passed the boat gathered dust in the garage. in 2001 I moved to the US and unfortunately it didn't make the trip and was disposed of.

In the summer of 2008 I re-discovered the original plans at my parents and decided it would be nice to have a go at re-making it. The original kit had thick pre-cut profiled chines, which I remember were tricky for an un-experienced modeler to plane.

I had already reverse engineered the Aerokits Fast Patrol Launch and set about the Kingfisher on the CAD. I kept the overall shape but changed the design to use a laminated chine and gunwale stringer. Also the original design had 1/4" thick side decks, these were replaced with conventional 1/16" ply skins.

The overall dims are approx 24" long, 8" beam
I'm planning on a std direct drive Graupner Speed 500 (1799) $10.50, RPM no load = 17,600, No load A = 1.5A, Stalled = 9A, Max efficiency = 66%.
Graupner single articulated UJ
Graupner prop shaft & tube (Have already checked the length).
Graupner rudder, two sizes shown on the layout, currently undecided which I will use.
I will have a go at building a water cooling set up for this one.
Battery power will be from six sub C cells configured as two 3 cell packs for ease of install. Maybe 3600mA.

I'm still not happy with the spacing around the motor as currently its pretty hard up against the forward bulkhead, also I have had to excavate a fair amount of the keel in order to make the hardware fit. At the moment Im looking at the front bulkhead and wondering if I should cut a big opening in it. While that would dramatically Improve access. its a lost potential air pocket that could keep the hull afloat in the event of a problem.

I had taken on board a tip to cut the bulkheads with flat tops. This enables the hull to be built upside down over the plan. The curved tops are simply added a convienient time later in the build,

Progress so far, both gunwale stringers in place. While the method of building inverted on a board means its relatively easy to build a straight / square model, the down side is that you don't get to clean up the excess glue until the model is removed from the board. Ugh! Nasty.
I glued the chine stringer to the bow of the keel and B1, then while pulling them round to B2 got scared and quickly cut and inserted some gussets to the back of the chine stringer to help prevent them pulling away from the bow.
Currently glueing the inner chine to B3. Temporary clamps hold the chine to the transom.

While building the FPB, on one location, I got into a bit of trouble as I had not left enough depth on the keel to butt the bottom skins into. With this in mind I added some extra depth to the keel for this one. Looks like I have gone over the top and will have plenty of triming back to do.

Well the chines are on and 99% sanded and I ran into a problem.

Where the chines run into the bow, the edges onto which to glue the bottom skins were very narrow. As a result I Imagine that trying to glue a skin to it sucessfully would be difficult.

I looked at adding an additional strip of material below the chine to allow the width of the joint face to be widened but in the end opted just to block fill.

Not ideal and I will still apply a skin over the block.

was able to pick up some supplies this morning from my LHS including some hardware for the water cooling.
I was a bit suprised regarding the design of the water scoop, in that the tube is straight down and not cranked forward at the inlet. I hope Octura know what they are doing.

Also picked up some brass tube to make the cooling coil 5/32"(3.97mm) x 0.14 (0.355mm). I'm hopefull that it will be a close enough match to the inlet and outlet connections.

Provisional hardware install and alignment.

Home wound cooling coil.
Crimp the end of the tube, fill with salt, crimp the other end closed and then from the coil. it should prevent the tube collapsing.
I stopped the coil short so I didn't block the vent in the can.

Progress to date:
Side and bottom skins added to the hull & provisional sand.
The oversize depth of the keel center member proved to be a very usefull feature for setting up clamps while glueing the bottom skins in place.
Next run a bead of resin to form a fillet between the keel / skins and chine / skins.

I have added some stools to the rear section to support my radio plate.

I applied tape to protect the future joint faces and applied three coats of fuel proof to the inside of the hull. I did it now because when the cockpit sides are its going to be more difficult to reach all areas.

The keel has been provisionally planed / sanded down. I have left a little taper up toward the prop tube.

Once again its apparant that during fitting the bottom skins there was approx a 1/32" gap in places between the edge of the skin and the side of the central keel former. Rather than fill with "wood filler", I prefer to use 15 min epoxy glue. I apply tape to each edge of the "crack" then knife the glue over the tape to fill the crack. After a few mins but before the glue has cured, remove the tape and viola ! the crack is filled with resin
and no mess.