Graupner Tornado: never run, what would you do?

[Shawn]

I'm slowly coming to the end of my hydrofoil rebuild and I'm already eyeballing my next project.

I have this Graupner Tornado complete with the stock straight shaft drive, plastic hardware and an unused Tekin marine speed controller. Old skool! :)

What do you all think? Is it just a shelf queen? The ABS seems really thin and appears to be compromised in some of the seams. I'm nervous the hull could literally blow apart at speed.

I suppose the first thing will be to plug any driveline and hardware holes to do a float test in my pool.

Then what? CA all the seams or is there a better way to strengthen it? I don't see too many of these old boats on the forums. Pics attached, hope the quality is okay.

81933

81934

81935

81936

[iamandrew]

Ive actually got something very similar to this, but i think it was a hobbyco or something brand product, all ABS hull, was thinking about trying to heat up the seams and mold it using fiberglass!
how old is this thing?

[dana]

If you do build, make sure you don't sink much money into it.

[Shawn]

I'd say it's from around 1994-1996. I remember an old issue of Radio Control Boat Modeler the writer, John Rist, did some speed tests with one and liked it. This is of course relative to the tech available at the time.

I figure I'd just build it as a retro stock boat.

To lay glass down on an abs hull would I not want to foam fill it first to add rigidity? I'm thinking the ABS could melt and warp.