Thunderboat - U-76 Atlas Van Lines by CraftMasters

[Gene]

CraftMasters kit #48009b – U-76 Atlas Van Lines – 1976 National Champion (optional markings for 1978 Miss Madison).

Driven by Bill Muncey to win 5 of 6 National races and the 1976 National Championship.

Back around the turn of the century, Shawn McEvoy of Seattle Washington offered a series of very nicely detailed 1:32 scale multi-media resin aircraft kits under the banner of CraftWorks.  His line included the Curtis P-40C, Curtis P-36/Hawk 75, Curtis P-36 9 cylinder, Mitsubishi A5M4 'Claude", Heinkel He 162 'Salamander", North American T-6 Texan, Macchi C.202/205, Macchi C.200, Messerschmitt Bf 109K, Lavochkin La-5/5F/5FN.  All have by now reached the status of being kited as injection-molded kits, with the exception of the Lavochkin which has been kitted with considerable refinement by HpH.  Alongside aircraft McEvoy offered just two hydroplane kits in 1:48 scale, the 30' Round Bow and the 30' Pointed Bow hydroplanes with a half dozen decal options in each, all under the banner of CraftMasters.

The CraftMasters label lives on with several 1:48 scale hydroplanes and recently two 1:24 scale boats, the history making Slo-mo-shun IV and Miss Bardahl.  All his offerings seem to be limited to boats utilizing Rolls Royce Merlin or Allison modified aircraft engines (no ‘jet-boats' yet).   So far the only place I have found any of his kits offered is on eBay under the store label ‘smseawa'.  I am not aware of any web page (the old CraftWorks site seems to be gone).

This kit, went together well with the usual care demanded by limited production resin kits.  For display purposes, I built a tilt-trailer from scratch guessing from internet pics the overall dimensions and configuration.  I found no pics of how the U-76's trailer supports the boat or tilts – all just blind guesswork of info culled from other boats.   The wheels are copies of the 1:48 Revell White Gas Truck – seems to work well.  All in all, a nice change of pace from aircraft (but it does have an aircraft engine!!).

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by Gene

[CANicoll]

Always loved the unlimited hydroplanes!  Lots of fun to watch and very cool.  Thanks for posting - looks great!!

[Gazzas]

cool!

[LSP_Ray]

Looks nice! I was wondering if Shawn was still producing kits.

[NFiler]

Shawn is still very much active in the hydroplanes. The difference is that he is now concentrating on the 1/25 scale boats.

Bardahl U-40 is done, Pay N Pak (1973-75) U-1 and U-25 is in the works, as are Slo Mo IV and Hawaii Kai.

I am doing the decal artwork and the to-do list  is rather impressive. Lots of stuff coming, but it is going to take some time.

To my limited knowledge the only way to obtain these right now is through the Hydroplane museum in Kent, Wa. I'll check with Shawn about other options and post more later.

[NORMCO]

I've got the 1/48 Miss Thriftway in the stash. Excellent model, and the decals look great.

After seeing this, it's gonna advance on the build list.

 

Lusting after the 1/25 Miss Bardahl!

[LSP_K2]

Looks cool. I have a pal that's really into these boats, and I'm sure he'd approve.