Spirit of Australia

Hi all, This is another model I have been wanting to build for years. I finally got around to do it.
It is Spirit of Australia driven by Ken Warby from Tumut.
Warby designed the hull of his record-breaking boat, Spirit of Australia, himself and built it in his backyard.
Warby was able to obtain the Westinghouse J34 jet engine himself as military surplus; obtained from an auction for only $69.
On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby drove the Spirit of Australia on Blowering Dam in Australia to a speed of 317.596 mph (511.11 km/h).

This is 1/24 scale made from 1.5mm plywood, Evergreen plastic and a piece of conduit
Hope you like

























The real one!





the black and white pic below shows a me as a 10year old lad in the crowd.
My dad had a crash boat on the course we also had a paramedic on board with us.
we got to see it real close as it flew past.
I am wearing a white tshirt standing behind the kid with a black shirt and white sleeves  near the 2 guys holding the boat.

Nice one mate, nailed it. Remember this event quite clearly, big news I back in the day.
Is that you staring at the other kids a#se, mmm, seems about right

Fantastic work

I Remember this well, excellent build Shoey

Just up the road from my place. He's built a new boat and was going to try and beat the record, last I heard his son is going to pilot it so Blowering might roar to life again once the levels and weather come good.
Great build Chris, last time you came to visit we went for a lap to the dam.

Great build , your modelling skills always amaze me . There was an article in the local Newcastle paper a few Saturdays ago about them and their new record attempt . The old man now lives in America and commutes back and forth .

Very cool Power boat

Very clever build, nice one

Thanks for the comments,
Yeah Rob Enjoyed my time with you guys,
Hey Silverfox, I am contemplating building his new boat.
it might have to wait till I finish Stefan's pink offshore cat.
Tubbs,......No comment!

Nice. Is there anything you can't build?

zenrat wrote:Nice.  Is there anything you can't build?

He couldn't build my van. Started but never finished and put in the too hard basket.................(if I stir him up enough he might finish it but I've been stirring for a long time with no results).

Even a WB van would be nice.............

Waist of time Rob, he just ignores you. I send him texts and sometimes get a response

That's the problem with celebritys Tubman, they forget the little people.......... I hear he was in the Rocky paper again for the model show, all the media coverage has him on a higher level than us mere mortals.
At least I reply to you mate, hope that '32 shows up soon.

Just got it mate, thank you.

Very nice build and replication, another superb job sir..

Looks sweet!

Really cool model of an Aussie icon.

Nice work!

Great model, even if it has no wheels.