ORIGINAL: R.J. West

You know, if theres any young modelers out there reading this, I would say go for it, I would recondmend this boat to anyone, young & old alike.
Back in the part of Chicago when I was growing up there was this small ma & pa hobby store that had a bunch of Estes model rockets and Goldberg rc planes in the window and I was always drawn to it. I cut grass during the summer and spent my money there. They had a good selection of small Dumas boats & I bought an Atlas, one of those 12'' cabin cruisers, and an arsenal of model rockets...Man I miss those 3 stage rockets!

This was even for me back then, an easy boat to build, any 12 yr old can build this one...The only hiccup was trying to decipher Dumas's instructions when it came to rigging the thing. The boat is laid out upside down over the full size plans, I had the framing and stringers up within a day...The frames and skins were all mahogany, the main ''backbone'' and stringers are balsa. The front nose section is birch I believe. The quaility of all the wood was good, with some sanding before I popped the parts from the carrier sheets, they came out good and no splinters. I had to replace the main mast cause the one in the kit wasnt straight, but thats just around a buck at Hobby Lobby for a 21'' hardwood dowl.
I sealed the inside of the hull with 50/50 mix of 30min epoxy & 91% rubbing alcohol, took several coats. The outside wood got the same treatment, except I sanded between coats and built it up until the outside was smooth and I shot the bottom sky blue, and above the waterline glossy white, the mast and boom painted aluminum, I used testors enamel paint.

I had my first ace sloop for nearly 20 yrs. I dont recall sealing the inside wood, however I do remember using a brush and painting the outside hull several coats of furnature sealer like polysomething from minwax...
It held up and I took it with me whenever I went fishing at the forest preserve lakes & ponds..
Dumas still makes the Ace sloop & the 12'' Cabin cruiser among others...just look under discounted boats...
Check them out if anyones interested....www.dumasestore.com