Well I was just about to start transferring the templates to the plywood when I got a right humdinger of a sore throat and cold which has been going on for a week now and I’m not over it yet.
So when I haven’t been feeling too bad I’ve gone back to the Huntsman 28 drawings and have done enough on them, like the Swordsman, to begin building the hull. Plan was to build the Swordsman first and then the Huntsman but have now decided to build them both at the same time. Reasoning being that I can work on the other whilst waiting for glue etc. to go off.
Like the Swordsman I’d picked up the kit drawings for the Huntsman (Veron in this case), again with poorly drawn templates so I decided rather than copy and downsize from 42” to 28” that I might as well draw them from scratch based on the original drawings.
Getting back to the Swordsman, I decided to order a longer prop shaft which arrived today. Earlier I mentioned that my drawing was smaller than expected (due to the drawings I was working off being scanned at less than full size and not realizing it) and having ordered the first prop shaft based on my drawing ended up with one smaller than ideal. I’m pretty sure it would have done the job but with the longer one it positions the motor better and gives more clearance between it and the keel for getting the mounts in. It also has the benefit of reducing the prop shaft angle a little more. I shall probably use the shorter prop shaft in the Huntsman 28.
When laying out the new prop shaft etc. I found that the prop I’d bought from the show was only 35mm rather than the 40mm I’d asked for. Thought it looked a bit small! I could exchange it but should be ideal for the Huntsman, so no problem.
I thought I use a couple of methods for transferring the templates; the carbon paper method for the keel etc. and the glue on method for the bulkheads etc. Mindful of the possible distortion with the latter I’ve tracked down what should be the ideal glue. It’s a spray glue called 3M ReMount which has the advantages that it doesn’t stick too hard, can be taken off/repositioned and when removed finally, doesn’t leave any or very little residue. Downside is that it’s quite expensive and needs to be applied outside due to fumes and overspray. I shall print off some duplicate templates to check for distortion. Has anyone used it and what is their experience?
Today I did the keel and will try the glue tomorrow. As you know the carbon paper method is tried and tested and so no problem. Well, apart from peeling back the drawing after carefully tracing around the bow section and then realizing that I’d forgotten to put a sheet of carbon paper there! What a plonker!
With regards to the drawings you can see I’ve added a couple of things to help with the build. Firstly I’ve added a temporary spine (thanks to earlier advice) and also some tabs to the keel for fixing to a length of timber which in turn will be fixed to a building board. Due to the curved deck the first part of the build needs to be the right way up and the keel will be kept straight and take out the slight bow in the ply sheet. I’d considered getting a keel cradle for building but think this simpler method is better.
I’ve modified the Huntsman drawings in the same way and the construction of the hull will be very similar.
Chris