Model Boats Blog » Fairey Marine Huntsman

Fairey Marine Huntsman Model Boat Build (6)

Steve — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:55:14 +0000

Making all the edges flush

Well at last I have made some time to revisit building my Fairey Marine Huntsman. I managed to get an hour in the garage today and decided to spend some time finishing off the keel. Having glued all the sections to the main keel I decided to file and sand down the uneven edges to provide a flush smooth finish. The keel is now quite heavy and a lot stiffer and several positions were necessary in the vice to get at all the angles.

Having now made a decent looking keel I decided to start adjusting the other sections and bulk heads to ensure a proper fit. The plan shows the need for a breasthook. Having already cut one out I spent several attempts at shaping it to fit exactly as the plan suggests.

Having made the adjustments and compared them against the plan I think it looks right!

Checking the bulhead against the plan

I then spent some time with the first bulk head and filing and adjusting to get a square finish. Having got these pieces the correct shape I put them loosley together on the frame to check alignment.

So far so good but I will have to repeat this with all the other bulkheads before I dare attempt to glue them in place.

The next job will be to repeat with the remaining bulkheads

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Fairey Marine Huntsman Model Boat Build (5)

Steve — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:14:04 +0000

Fairey Marine Huntsman was a classic sports cruiser and I am trying to replicate one in a model. This blog record my efforts to date. I have been absent from the garage for several weeks now due to many reasons including a increase in sales in my wife antique silver business but at last today has seen some progress on the build at last.

Following a recent visit from my brother Mike who is the real model engineer in the family I decided to take his advice and build a frame to start the assembly of the model following completing the cut out of all the bulk heads from the plan. Mike is building the seal engines which will eventually power this boat.

I had already built a bench for the model and started by marking out the position of the bulk heads and keel on some grease proof paper and then transferring this onto the chip board bench. These marks gave me the position of where the supports needed to be. I then had to decide the thickness of the supports in order to assemble the keel level to the board.

After much trial and error I created supports for the 5 bulk heads using spare timber from the garage as can be seen from the pictures. You will note I am no model builder and will use as much waste or odds and ends as I can to keep the cost down!

Having measured and cut the supports to size I screwed them to the bench in the positions copied from the plans.

I then was able to loosely assemble the bulkheads and keel to test for level. To my surprise the keel remained level with only minor adjustments.

I can now understand why Mike suggested I spend some time on this frame to make later assembly easier. I hate it when he is right!

Now with the supports in place I started the build proper. I commenced gluing the 4 keel supports to the main keel.

I also learnt that this process eats glue as I ran out of the small pack of resin glue I already had and therefore the pictures show the rear sections glued and clamped together whilst the last forward section will have to wait until I purchase more glue!

Still I have started the build proper and all I need now is more time.

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I will update the website earnings and traffic in a seperate blog.

Model Boats | Fairey Marine Huntsman Build (4)

Steve — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:36:58 +0000

Model Boats | Fairey Marine Huntsman Building project has been very slow of late and I have had little time to dedicate to the project. We have had a major engine failure on our real boat Blue Marlin II which has absorbed my time together with a once in a lifetime trip to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this year and some very busy times with Karens antique silver business.

In the meantime Mike has been cracking on with the Seal Engine build and I have been left feeling guilty about slacking.

Well I can now report that most of the template pieces have now been cut out from tracings from the plan.

As you can see from this display on the garage floor most of the pieces of the jigsaw are now cut out. (you can tell I am no model engineer!)

Mike has been over and advised me to build a frame to support the boat as I build it.

I have started to attempt to make a frame so that I can start glueing the keel together to start to build the boat proper. I must say building the frame is going to be as much effort as building the boat but mike tells me it will be worth it!

I shall post again when this bit is complete. I have not done an update on the traffic and earnings this month due to the reasons above and the fact I changed blog templates and lost the tracking code for most of the month. I will however update after a full months traffic.

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No Progress On The Boat Build

Steve — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:11:24 +0000

A hole where our engine should be!

Well I have not had any chance to continue the build here of my Fairey Marine Huntsman due to big problems with our real boat a Quicksilver 630 SD. I wont repeat it here but if you visit our Dartmouth Fishing Blog you will see why.

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HMS BELFAST AIRFIX MODEL COMPLETE WITH PAINT KIT 1:600
£7.50

100 Feet of 200 Pound Test Tubular KEVLAR Shock Cord
£10.04

HMS BELFAST AIRFIX MODEL 1:600 1976
£3.19

AOSHIMA USSR AIRCRAFT CARRIER KNEB 1:700
£16.99

Kevlar Shock Cord 750 Pound Test A MUST for ROCKETS
£4.20

Model Boats | Fairey Marine Huntsman Build (3)

Steve — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:37:04 +0000

Little progress to report this week due to the weather! Have just spent an hour in the garage in the freezing cold and have decided to call it a day.

I have managed to trace and cut out the mian keel section though. This is one long piece of 1/4 inch marine ply and was quite tricky to get right .

Cutting from a large section of board and trying to avoid waste in not one of my greatest skills but at least it is in its raw state and will need sanding and finishing when the weather warms up and I can get into the garage again.

As the picture shows I have now progressed to having the main bulkheads and transon cut but not in a finshed condition yet. I know the plan is 1.5 feet to 1inch scale but this is going to be quite a big model boat.

Mike is making the seal engine and you can follow that build here.

Below you will find a selection of model boats for sale on ebay. You can save a lot of effort by buying one ready made!

Model Boats | Fairey Marine Huntsman Build (2)

Steve — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:41:42 +0000

Having attempted the first bulkhead I will admit to making a bit of a pigs ear with it. Having cut it out with the Axminster Jigsaw I was quite pleased with it until I held it over the plan for comparison. It was not quite of the quality and accuracy I was hoping for. It has now become a piece of scrap for use later in the build!

So it was back to the drawing board, or should I say tracing board and start all over again. This time I was hyper cautious with the cutting phase and B1 has now been cut and sanded down and is remarkably accurate (in my humble opinion).

Flushed with the feel of success I progressed onto the other main bulkhead members. What is it about success that it always proceeds failure! The next bulkhead was much more intricate and despite my best efforts this time I was over cautious and cut it too large. I do not know which is easier, throwing it onto the scrap pile or sanding and planing the excess off. Now intending not to spend too much on this build I decided to sand and recover the piece to avoid waste.

I am only able to spend a couple of hours a week if I am lucky on this build so any mistake adds a delay to completion.

Still despite these frustrations I have now mastered the delicacy needed with the Axminster Jigsaw and we now have 4 bulkheads out of 5 on the board. If you look closely in the picture you will see the first bulkhead now discarded on the scrap pile! Still I always learn better by making mistakes.

The difficult thing for me as a novice is not having any instructions to go with the plans. There is clearly an assumption from the author of a degree of knowledge I do not possess. I intend to avoid asking Mike too many questions as it would defeat the challenge "Even you could build this" so I can expect many more mistakes. I have found the easiest way for me of transfering the drawing to the wood is to actually lay the tracing on the wood, secure it in place then use a bradle? (a sharp pointy thing) and push small pin prick holes into the wood. I then join the dots. this seems to work on hard and soft woods very well.

Mike is making the seal engine and you can follow that build here.

Well thats as far it goes for update number 2 .

I am sure the easy way would be to buy a ready made model. Below is a selection of model boats currently for sale on ebay if you want to avoid the painful process listed above.

Model Boats | Fairey Marine Huntsman Build (1)

Steve — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:50:17 +0000

Well the first problem I have encountered is finding somewhere which stocks the raw materials in sensible sizes for building this model. I need 1/16, 1/8,1/4 plywood of the right grade. I had tried the local builders merchants and none stocked the smaller thickness ply.

I eventually discovered Totem Timber in Cattedown Plymouth who not only stocked the wood in sensible sizes but also have a specific "model Shop" within the builders merchant. You have to find a staff member to unlock the "shop" which is set in a mezzanine at the rear of the main display store. I had limited time to browse but they seem to have a lot of goodies in here for the model maker.

Below are the first materials purchased for the build. Total spent so far £35.

Now I have to decide on the method of transferring the impressions from the plan to the timber for cutting. I have read about a number of methods from tracing paper to photocopying. I have decided on the tracing route but have borrowed Karen's greaseproof paper which seems to work just as well and cost me nothing!

Having laid the greaseproof paper over the plan I have traced the shape of the first bulkhead B1. Slightly confused me as it only depicts half of the shape on the plan and it took me a second to realise that you have to turn the paper over to trace the other half! I told you I am an absolute beginner.

Once traced I chose to pin the tracing onto the correct thickness plywood and draw the shape traced to leave an impression on the wood below. I then checked the tracing was working having ensured at least 2 of the drawing pins remained in place to stop the tracing moving.

Once traced and happy with it I reinforced the outline with the pencil and ended up with an almost exact copy of the B1 bulkhead from the plan.

Now comes the tricky job of cutting out the shape using Mikes Axminster Jig Saw. Now I have to admit I had a little practice with a piece of softwood first to get the hang of the jig saw.

Practice over it was onto the real thing and cutting out the first piece of the boat for real.

So there you see the very first part of the jigsaw copied from the plan and cut to shape. Goodness knows how many more to do and at the speed I have taken to get this far I am glad I have not set any timescale for the build.

Mike has started the seal engine build from scratch and you can watch its progress here.

Below you will find a selection of boat plans for sale on ebay.