Sutcliffe 12" post war Cruisers.

More elaborate than the Hawk , the clockwork Commodore is one of my favourites. Again , the beautiful artwork on the box compliments this lovely boat.

The Hawk is a very pleasing clockwork cruiser. You can see the clear stopper over the winding hole indicating that this Hawk was one of the later issues. The Merlin cruiser is an electric motor powered version of the Hawk.

Merlin. Identical structurally to the Hawk but battery powered. Uses two 'C' cells , but I would use 2 'AA' batteries with adaptors.The circular cover towards the stern of the boat is removable and allows light oil to put on the linkage between the propeller shaft and the motor and also the propeller shaft itself. Earlier versions of the Merlin had a much smaller removable cover.

The Kestrel is structurally identical to the clockwork Commodore but with an electric motor powered by 2 'C' cells.The Kestrel proved not as popular as the Commodore.Maybe, this was because any parent buying the Kestrel for their child had to purchase batteries too !

A not too clever video of a Sutcliffe Kestrel sailing a wide arc of a sailing pond near Runcorn Cheshire.