A Very Special Discovery 1954 Hammersmith Wave master

Probably one of the most interesting and historically important models I have ever owned or seen. This is a mid 1950's Hammersmith Models Wave Master. Its one of the very first generation of models of any kind to be designed to take this new fangled radio control equipment. The model itself is quite a common to find model and by no means rare but its the build and the contents inside that make this boat a bit special. Over the years old models tend to have the radio equipment updated, removed for another model etc so the original install tends to be long gone when these models re-surface for restoration. you occasionally see a model for sale with an actuator/escapemant (pre servo) or a valve receiver in it but nothing else remains. Also due to the eye watering costs of the radio equipment back then and lower disposable incomes, you tended to see them built as 'free runners' with just a battery, motor and pre set rudder. This one however has been totally preserved to almost perfection with a full setup. The engineering on these first generation commercially available/home built old radio systems was epic with some components & circuits being totally home designed and built. Although it bears no visual resemblance to a modern format radio set (separate modular cross compatible servo's, multifunction receiver and crystals etc) the seeds of the concept can be seen even at this early stage. The motor control system in the middle copper clad compartment is all home designed and built. I have no idea as of yet as to the origin of the main motor or its original purpose but its a hell of a lump of engineering with built in oiling tubes and beautifully machined from a solid lump of steel. I found this in an auction house in the midlands and missed the first chance to grab it by one hour ! I was contacted by my friend Keven after the auction who had got excited as I promised him I was 'Avin the bu**er come what may' He was a very disappointed when I told him I had stupidly missed it. BUT due to bad pics and poor exposure it did not make reserve. It was re-listed for sale at a lower price :) I fired an email to the auction house and made a deal. I even got them to deliver it. Its very well made but not a standard construction. The deck is supposed to be fixed to the hull and the roof of the superstructure is supposed to lift off, but this model has been built in a way that allows the whole top to lift off for better access to the radio equipment for tuning and twiddling. There was a rubber seal that sandwiched between the top halves but this had gone as hard as concrete and had to be literally chipped off. I will try to find a bronze phosphor weather strip to replace it with as that is more in keeping with the age of the boat. I intend as usual with me to service, run and preserve this boat as is. It does not really require restoration but needs a little tidying on the superstructure. As for the radio gear It has an E.D (electronic developments) reed valve receiver coupled to an escapement that I have not yet Identified. The motor is controlled by a multi-vane switched home made speed controller with large capacitors and banks of resistors for a true variable speed controller. This was absolutely rocket science state of the art in its day with the norm being a free running or single speed on/off single channel control sometimes even with no reverse. The main motor room is lined with copper plates soldered together with an earthed copper plated lid to stop the un-suppressed motor playing hell with the old wide band equipment that would probably pick up everything in a 2 mile radius. This system had no specific frequency crystals as such and just received everything in the 27mhz frequency and has no white noise filtering like the modern receivers do. There where no servo's back then but a simple precursor called an actuator escapement. This was just like a servo but they where not proportional and often had the no on-board control board as the power was sent direct from the receiver to the motor (hence the relay switches in the reed receiver box) The reed receiver was a newer invention as the first single channel receivers where full size valves. Beyond this I have to get Radio man Keven64 to have a butchers too, to figure out how we are going to bring this back too life. I have managed to get a few period books on these systems so I can get a head start. The finish has that real patina that cannot be replicated, it only comes with genuine age. I will update this entry as the project develops but for now I have to finish my Sea Commander and make a start on my Sea Queen.

The thing to bear in mind with this is, in the years this boat and radio gear where being designed by Lesley Rowell & ED electronics, King George was still on the throne and television had only been around for 20 or so years ! It was finished and released to the public by 1953/4 the year Lizzy Mk2 was crowned the top totty. Thats proper Vintage ;)