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Author Topic: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?  (Read 4403 times)

SwordsmanDreamer

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Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« on: March 05, 2018, 03:12:24 pm »

Dear all


I thought i might have a go at the MM1061  Huntsman 31 plan. The web site https://www.sarikhobbies.com/product/huntsman-31-MM1061/ doesn't indicate a degree of difficulty, whereas it does for the Huntsman 28.


I have been working on the Dave Milbourn 24 inch Swordsman, which is coming on well, if very slowly. I have the hull planked up, the superstructure yet to do. I didn't encounter too many problems. Would I be ok with the MM1061 plan ?


I notice as well that the same plan appears to be available from here:


https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/323109404339?rt=nc


I suppose this is some kind of copyright infringment ? Or perhaps there is no copyright/it has expired ?


Thanks



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tony52

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2018, 03:34:13 pm »

I had a look at this one in an old (1996) Model Boats plans handbook and it is listed as two star difficulty. One star is for beginners and four star is the most difficult. Two star reads as being for someone with a little experience or the willingness to read up constructional techniques.

The text with the plan reads - Fairey Huntsman 31 - A 1:12 scale model of a handsome fast cruiser 31" in length and 9.5" beam. For engines up to 8cc, ply construction.

Today the star grading system is open to personal interpretation and the 8cc would probably be replaced by a brushless. Someone with more technical expertise than me would advise.

The plan is drawn by Model Maker Staff, which would probably be Vic Smeed, Alec Gee and Phillip Connolly. I did a check in the index to see if there is a Model Maker magazine article to accompany the plan, but couldn't find one. If there is one it would be in Model Boats magazine (after April 1966) and as I don't have an index for these later magazines and it would involve looking through all the editions on the Magazine Exchange website.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2018, 04:02:22 pm »

Why not simply get the recent Huntsman plan drawn up by Dave Milbourn to 1:16 scale and either build 'as is' or have it scaled up. The prototype is the basis of the SLEC kit.

https://www.sarikhobbies.com/product/fairey-huntsman-mm2111/

http://www.slecuk.com/balsa-wood/Fairey-Huntsman-31-PR814.html

Colin
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SwordsmanDreamer

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2018, 08:37:12 pm »

Thanks very much Tony52 for your advice.
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SwordsmanDreamer

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2018, 08:46:33 pm »


Thank you Colin Bishop for your advice. I'm afraid I have no knowledge of how one would do "scaling up", though I think i remember from technical drawing lessons at school all those years ago that it was a pretty tricky business, but perhpas some kind of CAD package can facilititate this nowadays ?


I wonder which of the two, i.e. the Dave Milbourn, and the older plan 1061, would produce a more asthetically pleasing boat ? My ideal is in fact a Spearfish, but there are no plans for that boat (as a model), so i was going to build a Huntsman 31 and make it rear cockpit etc.


I have read that supposedly the Spearfish was taken from a Huntsman 31 hull, at first I accepted that on face value, but on reflection, one is a 30 and one a 31, though I appreciate that that  may just be marketing / labelling and that they may indeed be the same, though there again, I have noticedd some line drawings on the internet that appear to give the Spearfish a slightly shallower forefoot.


By the way, what is going on with the text box that one types one's replies to on this forum ? It is grindingly, heartbreakingly slow. I have taken to writing replies in notepad and pasting the entire content into the reply box.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2018, 10:26:56 pm »

As far as scaling up is concerned, just buy the plan, take it to a print shop and ask them to reproduce it at whatever length you want. You don't have to redraw it yourself. It shouldn't cost very much either.

Dave Milbourn's plan is taken directly from the original Fairey Marine drawings and is therefore very accurate. It has all the constructional detail you need for building a working model. A no brainer really. And if you can get hold of the January & February 2016 issues of Model Boats then there is a wealth of advice on actually making the model.

Colin
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ChrisF

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2018, 11:50:56 pm »


Thank you Colin Bishop for your advice. I'm afraid I have no knowledge of how one would do "scaling up", though I think i remember from technical drawing lessons at school all those years ago that it was a pretty tricky business, but perhpas some kind of CAD package can facilititate this nowadays ?


I wonder which of the two, i.e. the Dave Milbourn, and the older plan 1061, would produce a more asthetically pleasing boat ? My ideal is in fact a Spearfish, but there are no plans for that boat (as a model), so i was going to build a Huntsman 31 and make it rear cockpit etc.


I have read that supposedly the Spearfish was taken from a Huntsman 31 hull, at first I accepted that on face value, but on reflection, one is a 30 and one a 31, though I appreciate that that  may just be marketing / labelling and that they may indeed be the same, though there again, I have noticedd some line drawings on the internet that appear to give the Spearfish a slightly shallower forefoot.


By the way, what is going on with the text box that one types one's replies to on this forum ? It is grindingly, heartbreakingly slow. I have taken to writing replies in notepad and pasting the entire content into the reply box.


Hi - the Spearfish was a more recent boat with a glass fibre hull and as you say was based on the Huntsman 31 hull with it being used as a mould and reduced in length to 30' for some reason.


With it being a glass fibre hull there are no plans available though there was a kit, the MFA Spearfish, which has a glass fibre hull and plastic superstructure - it is only semi-scale though. These do come up from time to time on Ebay and in Model Boats magazine.


Good to see another Fairey fan posting, it's gone rather quiet in here on that front recently.


Chris
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ChrisF

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2018, 08:13:43 pm »

Meant to say also that whichever plans you choose you will end up with an aesthetically pleasing/accurate model as the earlier drawings look as though they were based on the original Fairey drawings as well.

The advantage of Dave Milbourn's plans though is that you build upside down off a flat deck, like the Swordsman you're building, which makes it an easier build and easier to align the hull components up and you already have experience of that method of building.

I assume that your Swordsman is the full open cockpit version and am wondering why you would want to build the Huntsman 31 as open cockpit as well? Fairey did build a handful of full open cockpit Huntsman 31s, called the Sport but it's going to look very similar to the Swordsman. The differences in hull design won't be that noticeable at model size unless you have them side by side and the superstructure is very similar.

If you want another open cockpit boat you could consider a Huntress 23 which Dave has recently produced plans for which again is built upside down off a flat deck. 

Only a suggestion as obviously it's your call.

Chris
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SwordsmanDreamer

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2018, 11:02:14 pm »

Hi Chris


Thanks for your information, sorry for the delayed response, i didnt realise that you had responded.


Yes i have seen those MFA Spearfish, but i think they are badly designed / molded (IMHO) , the superstructure in particular, and as to the colour of the deck and superstructure - what were they thinking ?


As to the comparison of the Swordsman and Huntsman 31 - think they have quite a lot of differences ,but for me the main thing is the rake of the stem, which is nicer on the H31. But sadly the H31 is a bit more "Cod's head" in plan view of the decks , which i dont like ,but its not the end of the world, but might modify that a bit. I think that the aft-cockpit version is infinitely more appealing than the aft cabin H31, but again thats just my opinion. Also the Swordsman is more or less the same width from the transom forward (well, the Dave Milbuourn 24 inch one is, but i thik they are all like that), whereas the H31 and SPearfish etc swell in the mid-lenght, which isnt so nice.


https://get.google.com/albumarchive/116493500049865636778/album/AF1QipPVQvYf98p-_JlBJ4aN-dhKGWETTtLBXWcgQC0l?source=pwa


I have the plan for the H31 from Model boats, i think it is 1061, i noticed that that has a camber on the decks, so as yuo say that wouldnt help to build it upside down (perhaps one doesnt), thought the sheer looks to be straight (though i havent put a straight edge on it). So its interesting that you are saying that the new version from Dave Milbourn, is built upside down, i have sent off for that plan, so we will see.


Cheers.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2018, 11:33:46 pm »

The SLEC Huntsman kit, and I think, the corresponding Model Boats plan, have a flat deck to ease construction but this does not detract from the realistic appearance.

On the original boats the moulded veneer construction and frames proved to be long lasting but the plywood deck in most boats has now been replaced with alternative deck planking arrangements as the Fairey Owners website shows.

Colin
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ChrisF

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2018, 06:45:28 pm »

Hi SD

Yes, the Huntsman 31 hull is very elegant and the aft cockpit version is a very pleasing looking boat, so I can see why you'd want to build one. The "cod's head" look is due to the flared bow (also seen in the Swordsman to some extent) which is more difficult to replicate in smaller scale models.

The drawings showing cambered decks are meant initially to be built right way up, but they can be built upside down by temporarily extending the frames/formers to a common datum or incorporating a temporary spine along the top of them.

The sheer on the full-sized Huntsman 31 isn't straight but again on small models this would be harder to do and most, if not all, drawings show it as straight. The larger 46.5" Precedent kit has the curved sheer but I don't know about the 34" version. 

Totally agree about the Spearfish kit. I wasn't going to build anything other than the timber hulled boats but a kit came along and I bought it. But what I'm going to do, as Fairey did with the early Spearfish builds, is to put a timber superstructure on it.

Chris
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SwordsmanDreamer

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2018, 10:38:04 pm »

Thanks Chris, Colin Tony for your advice. One of the things I wonder about is the materials, for example, I think its correct that the newer Huntsman 31 plan (Dave Milbourn) recommends the use of liteply. If one were to scale the boat up by getting the plans printed at a larger size, so as to make it for example 31 inches, I assume that there would come a point where one might have to change materials, or size of materials, i.e. either go to birch ply, or a thicker lite ply etc. Perhaps though this is less of an issue if it is going to be glass-sheathed ?
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ChrisF

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Re: Huntsman 31 MM 1061 Plan - Difficulty of building ?
« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2018, 11:22:11 am »


Yes, that is something that has to be considered and some folks like Liteply and others don't because it has to be adequately water-proofed which the application of matting and resin does.


The larger models i.e. 1:12 and above were designed and drawn on the basis of using birch ply and that's what I'm using. I'm not too worried about weight (within reason!) as with brushless motors power isn't a problem and LiPo batteries are light for their output and the all up weight shouldn't be any more than the IC engine, silencer, fuel etc. that the earlier models were designed for and hopefully less.


Obviously for smaller models weight and power can be an issue and hence one of the reasons (as well as easy workability) Dave specifies Liteply to give a lively performance.


Chris
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