1973 Pay 'N Pak U-25 Unlimited Hydroplane - 1/48 Resin kit

[Calvin]

I got another 1/48 Unlimited Hydroplane resin kit from Craftmasters today! Its one of my favorites...."The Pride of Pay 'N Pak" U-25 - the driver Mickey Remund. This 1973 Pay 'N Pak is the same team as the 1968 Miss Eagle Electric boat which was owned by David Heerensperger. Pay 'N Pak was a home improvement store chain in the Pacific Northwest back in the day, I've actually been a few back when I was a little boy....it was a neat store but as time went on the big Lowe's and Home Depots took over. Up here in the Northwest this boat and name is actually pretty well known.....a lot of hydroplane fans build 1/6 RC scale boats of the 'Pak" boats...

This 1973 Pay 'N Pak was one of the first successful boats to use a rear wing designed by Ron Jones, everyone called it the "The Winged Wonder" and it was very fast and won the national championship in 1973, 1974, and 1975.....Then Bill Muncey bought the boat in 1976 and renamed the boat "The Atlas Van Lines" and won the championship that year with it as well.....After Muncey was done with it he sold it to the city of Madison, IN as it was appropriately renamed as "Miss Madison" which they used clear up until 1988!


And of course this boat had the all mighty 1,600 c.i. Rolls Royce Merlin WWII surplus engine that cranked out a staggering 3,000 HP!





I'm going to depict this model as the 1973 Seattle World Championship winning boat.





The kit in its raw form....


and I've already super glued on the cockpit/rear wing struts and nose cone.


It should be a fairly easy build as it comes with very nice decals an is a basic white paint job.

[Patrick]

With it being 1/48 I bet there is a highly detailed engine kit for this Big Boat.

Patrick

[Calvin]

Nov 29, 2013 21:23:39 GMT -5 Patrick said:

With it being 1/48 I bet there is a highly detailed engine kit for this Big Boat.

Patrick

Oh I have something good I'll be using....I'll show you...

[Calvin]

I thought I would give an updated on this one....

I've been just filling and sanding mainly but also I got an aftermarket Rolls Royce aircraft engine and turned it into a marine spec....basically I just cobbled together a bunch of Rolls Royce parts



Next I need to scratch build the fuel tank (I think its the fuel tank) that sits up in front of the supercharger...

[Calvin]

This is the race that I'm depicting this boat after.

1973 Seattle World's Championship race.

It was a rainy misty day on Lake Washington. The whole day was a battle between Miss Budweiser and Pay'N Pak.

[racerbrown]

wow!
don't know how i missed this one as this has been one of my all time favorite unlimiteds to see race.
great now there 's something else i need to buy…
duane

[sam198]

Calvin,

That is way cool, and the paint job should be a snap compared to Miss Budweiser   The guts those guys had to pilot those boats is something else. You're going that fast on water, with an airplane engine five feet in front of you, and if something goes wrong, you've also got to worry about drowning.

Scott

[Calvin]

Feb 6, 2014 0:30:24 GMT -5 racerbrown said:

one of my all time favorite unlimiteds to see race.

Did you even know what Pay 'n Pak was back them? Becuase they were only in the Northwest......Everytime I show one of my family this project and they always LOL and say "I remember that store!"

great now there 's something else i need to buy…
duane

Good luck - I bought this boat last Nov. and since then I cant seem to get a hold of Craftmasters anymore....

[Calvin]

Feb 6, 2014 1:48:41 GMT -5 sam198 said:

Calvin,

That is way cool, and the paint job should be a snap compared to Miss Budweiser   The guts those guys had to pilot those boats is something else. You're going that fast on water, with an airplane engine five feet in front of you, and if something goes wrong, you've also got to worry about drowning.

Scott

Heck yes! White and nice orange decals!

Yeah it was so very dangerous back then. They truly thought back then that being thrown from the boat was the best way if the boat got air born! They also wore decelerator shoots also - that in hopes of going feet first into the water.

[Patrick]

Hey! Calvin,
I just came across this and thought of you!
www.internetmodeler.com/2002/may/first-looks/craftmasters_hydro.htm

Patrick

[Calvin]

Thanks Patrick.

I like the first paragraph of that page - it explains how popular the big boats were in Seattle back then.

In the dark ages(1950's & 60's), before the Seattle Mariners, Seahawks, & Sonics, the only major league sports the Seattle area had was unlimited hydroplane racing. The annual event in Seattle was(and is) an event called Seafair, with parades, shows, and concerts, concluding with the annual Seafair Trophy Race(or Gold Cup race) for unlimited hydroplanes. Fans were positively rabid about the sport, attracting upwards of 500,000 at the shores of, and on, Lake Washington. All 3 local TV stations that broadcast on a daily basis had coverage of the time trials and the race itself. Kids carved hydros out of wood and raced them on the grass in their back yards or towed them behind their bicycles. Housewives knew about quillshafts and nitrous oxide. As far as Seattleites were concerned, the hydros from Detroit were the "bad guys" and were better off at the bottom of the lake. Our heroes then were Mira Slovak, Dallas Sartz, Bill Muncey, Lou Fageol among many, many others. When Slo-Mo IV, the first hydroplane from Seattle, was destroyed in an accident, thousands of people turned out to view her remains. The hydroplanes of the time were built of wood and aluminum and powered by Rolls Merlin or Allison engines, which were in great abundance after WWII. They were loud and some had a tendency to break down, but when the one minute gun went off before the start of every heat, it was a very exciting time. Today, the boats are different, powered by turbines (they "whoosh", instead of roar), are made of exotic materials, and run really fast. But, it's just not the same...

[Calvin]

[indy]

Feb 12, 2014 1:20:44 GMT -5 Calvin said:

Man, those decals jump off the screen and punch you in the face! Sharp looking build there, Calvin.

Jordan

[racerbrown]

great job calvin!
now that's one sexy racing boat!
duane

[Calvin]

I finally got this one done! I'm very happy with it. Its the most fun I've had in a while. (mainly because its my first finish Hydro build.)

[indy]

Looks great finished up, nice to see you feeling like building!!

Jordan

[Calvin]

Jun 12, 2014 14:02:13 GMT -5 indy said:

Looks great finished up, nice to see you feeling like building!!

Jordan

Thanks, I'm actually back to the same ole' deal. I'm building about 10 things all at once and going out to the shop every hour and do a round of resin casting.....theres a lot of hard work that needs to be done...no time to worry about my aches and pains!

[clm1545]

Way cool, Calvin. That looks great! Looks like you even got the color right.

[indy]

Jun 12, 2014 18:06:57 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

Looks like you even got the color right.

Are you sure it isn't metallic, pearl, or glitter white? LOL

Jordan

[racerbrown]

well done young man!
i hope these guys are still producing these kits.
does anyone know?
duane

[Calvin]

Jun 12, 2014 20:48:11 GMT -5 racerbrown said:

well done young man!
i hope these guys are still producing these kits.
does anyone know?
duane

Thanks!

Duane I actually recently got ahold of them and I always try my best to get as much info as possible....
I know for sure that the 1973-75 Pay N Pak, 1976 Atlas Van Lines, 1978 Miss Madison are available.
also, available is Kit #48004 28.5 Round Bow but only with 1955 Miss Thiftway decals.
Kit #48001 30' Round Bow is also available.

I'm sure others on that outdated page are available, but I know for sure the ones I listed above are.

[Calvin]

Jun 12, 2014 20:43:33 GMT -5 indy said:

Jun 12, 2014 18:06:57 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

Looks like you even got the color right.

Are you sure it isn't metallic, pearl, or glitter white? LOL

Jordan

The other day I heard from the grapevine that someone was calling me a model weenie.

[clm1545]

What's a model weenie, a 1/25 hot dog?

[Deleted]

That is a very cool model! Might look into building one, but it might end up in the bathtub like the battleships I used to build as a kid, I'd create rough seas and then watch them sink as they filled up with water-I think the Aurora models of the Missouri and Iowa had a full molded hull though, so less likely to go under!

[Calvin]

Jun 12, 2014 21:20:38 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

What's a model weenie, a 1/25 hot dog?

No its a person that lives and breathes model building and is nit picky about colors......I'm not that bad are I?

[2lapsdown]

Yes. Yes you are

John

[clm1545]

I'm afraid so, you are a "model weenie". Could be worse, I have known people who were just total weenies.

[macsparty]

Love seeing these WIPs on the hydroplanes. My dad grew up in Bay City (Michigan, I now live just up the road in Midland), and still talks about how as a teenager he and his buddies would get up before dawn to get out on a boat on Saginaw Bay just to watch Les Staudacher test out his latest creation out of Kawkawlin while it was still calm. Very tempting to get one of these kits.

Here's some more on Staudacher: www.thunderboats.org/history/history0418.html

[mjjracer]

Growing up in San Diego in the '70's Bill Muncey was legendary. I used to watch them race (from afar) on Mission Bay every year.

Here's an odd hydroplane fact: in the '80's Renault decided to enter Unlimited Hydro. Seriously. They were into every level of racing back then. Anyway, I was driving Renaults so I finally went to the race (rather than watching from afar) and these things were awesome. The sound. Miss Renault was badly outclassed, but Miss Bud was flying.

kndu.images.worldnow.com/images/163913_G.jpg

Hopefully the link works. Renault went without the rear wing, less drag, but then didn't use an engine cover (??)

MJ

[indy]

Jun 13, 2014 11:04:09 GMT -5 mjjracer said: