Just purchased a new "Kit" from SLEC to build a Fairey Huntsman 31. This is only the second boat I'm building, the first being a Mowe 2 from an Aeronauts kit. 😆

I opened the box, eager to start and quickly assembled the keel and base deck following the excellent and easy to read instructions and picture manuals....easy...I'll finish this in a week or two with a following wind and the wife and daughter being away on half term holidays!

OK..... so after the first week and the excitement of getting the skeleton of the hull and keel in place I hit the first problem.....this is not a kit where everything is cut to the exact size, length, dimensions of the model. You have to do some cutting, sanding and getting out a modelling plane to get the parts supplied fitted.
This now requires some skill and careful fitting of the stringers. Basically they are 2 pieces of hardwood 1/8" x 1/4" cut to length and glued together and need to be shaped and held in place while the glue sets overnight...….not a simple task.
Next, to start fitting the hull skins, the stringers need to be shaped to 2 angles. One for the bottom skins and a different angle for the side skins.
Taking too much of the stringers off by using a plane will mean the skins don't lie at the correct angles for gluing….gently does it!!
I take my time and check angles after each pass of the plane over the stringers...WOW stressful, but all's well with the first 2 bottom skins!
In addition the Keel needs to be trimmed to the exact angles of the bottom skins so they overlap or butt up against each other.
My advice here is to follow the instructions to the letter or you'll probably be using far more P38 in the later stages filling holes and gaps!!
NOTE: The bottom and side skins are cut oversize, so they don't fit exactly to the stringers.

OK, so the last 2 posts on the blog were from work undertaken three weeks ago. I am now up to the present day and have spent the whole week and weekend in getting the bottom and side skins on the skeleton of the hull and putting on the transom. Because the curves of the hull are quite specific on the Huntsman, only one piece of skin can be fitted at a time, and then trimmed into place before the next piece of skin will fit.
In the previous post I mentioned all the laser cut pieces are cut oversize.....fitting the skins was a real challenge!
Following the instructions at this stage went out the window and I fitted the skins in the reverse order, but feel it was the best option. The instructions say built from the bow first and work back to the transom, but impossible to fit the pieces in this order, so I started with the aft and worked forwards.
It also mentions to overlap the side skins with the bottom skins, but all I could manage was to butt the pieces together with a tight fit and fill with P38 afterwards.
The pictures show the completed skins, trimmed, sanded and gaps filled with P38 and then sanded again.
It now takes on a good shape, however the difficult pieces on the bow are still to be completed. These are formed of 4 pieces of solid balsa wood that need to be cut and sanded to multiple curves...… next weeks job!
Once this is done then its on to filling again and re-sanding and finishing. Hopefully it would look more like a Huntsman Hull rather than a hammer head shark!

This week has been about getting the basic hull construction completed and especially the tricky bow. This was done in three stages; the first group of pictures shows the four balsa blocks being roughly sanded to shape. The instructions were good here as they recommended the required curves be shaped using sandpaper wrapped around an aerosol can....This being achieved, the next stage was to fill all the gaps around the balsa blocks with P38 and sand back to smooth out the curves. The 3rd stage was to fully coat the entire hull with Balsa Lite fine surface filler and sand back to wood so that all the fine grain imperfections are filled. I'm very happy with the results, but now concerned that too much has been sanded off the bow to get those curves...What do you think? 😉
Next stage is to apply a couple of thin coats of sanding sealer and then onto covering with 35gsm lightweight glassfibre fabric and Eze-Kote to give the hull more strength and durability.

The Huntsman Hull has now had the finishing touches applied...Sanding Sealer, Eze-Kote, glassfibre sheet and hull chine bars added. The inside of the hull has been given a good dollop of Eze-Kote to seal it and waterproof it so next job is to fit the prop tube and motor before the whole hull gets a coat of primer...
I've only just realised, but the kit from SLEC does not contain any decking, so I need to sort out whether to just go for plain mahogany veneer or try to find teak decking which is laser cut to fit with plank marks....any help or advice here welcome for a novice! (I can't find anything suitable on the internet). 😡

Following the completion of the basic hull build, I installed the prop shaft and motor ( Mtroniks Hydra 15A) and all lined up nicely. Next, drilled the hole ready for the rudder assembly to be inserted and it all fits perfectly vertical to my great delight. Its now masked up and ready for the hull paint job which will start with a primer filler layer followed by white primer, then brilliant white gloss with an Ink Blue design and black anti-foul keel.
I'm just waiting for the shed to warm up a bit and reduce the humidity as the wife wil definitely kick me out if I spray indoors. She just about allows me to do the build in the dining room, but only when she's out!

So.... Patience is not one of my strong points and paint spraying is definately not. I don't have the facilities or the right equipment to create a first class excellent paint job, so this part of the build was always going to be a challeng and it proved to be right.
the first primer layer went on great and it looked good, followed by a layer of brilliant appliance white from a large can from my local Halfords.....all looked perfect. Then came the masking and application of the Capri Blue hull and pinstriping at deck level. Well, this didn't go great as I couldn't get the hull line correct as it shows on real life Huntsmans or the instruction sheet. In addition, the Frog tape I used, lifted in places over the hull stringers and was a real mess......it had to come off!
A re-application of primer and white gloss coat followed, and with more patience than I thought I had, managed to mask up again for the Blue Hull. I learnt from the first mistake and made sure that the stirngers were masked on all sides first, then added a solid masking strip all the way down the hull.
Although not perfect the results can be see here in the pictures.
I decided that I'd add a couple of layers of Halfords clear laquer to finish of the paint job to create a tough, clear, glossy finish, but before this decided to name the boat by using lettraset. Here I learnt a second and third valuable lesson.....make sure the paint is completely dry first and also don't spray too much laquer in one place......it makes the paint run into the laquer!!! The results can be seen on the bow.
Oh well, I tried my best and not going to re-do it now.
So, Rosalie hull is now painted and its time to do the decking.
For this I am going to use thin sheets of mahogany. They were not provided as part of the kit so had to appeal to SLEC who kindly sent me two sheets of mahogany for this purpose. Thank you SLEC for being understanding that a "Kit" should contain all that's necessary to build it and not have to go and find more pieces to buy.
Judge the paint job for yourself and don't be tooo critical as its only my second boat build.😋

With the Hull paint job complete, the next stage of the build was to add the decking and rubbing strip. Being a novice at this I decided the best option was not to go for a complicated deck....KISS!!
So I opted for solid mahogany. Veneer was not included in the kit, but the nice people at SLEC sent me a 2mm solid sheet to make the decking out of. The instructions said to make the decking out of 6 pieces, 2 for the aft deck, 2 pieces port and starboard and 2 for the bow. I went for just the 2 pieces, one port side and one starboard as I didn't want to see too many joins. Cutting was a little tricky as I didnt want a large piece splitting, but a solid support for the cutting table and a sharp scalpel did the trick.
However, as throughout this build I learnt another valuable lesson, dont use a water based glue to attach bare wood to bare wood, especially one so thin....result are it bows and curls and distorts in all the wrong places. Use a two part contact adhesive! I weighed down the two pieces of decking for the entire deck and it eventually laid flat.
I finished it off with mahogany 1/8" x 1/4" strip all round the deck for the rubbing strip, sanded and then varnished with 3 coats of satin yatch varnish. I think the results are good, but judge for yourself....
Now its onto the superstructure....😎😜

Now the hull is complete, instead of putting in all the electrics, I decided to start the superstructure build. As per the instructrions and to get a good snug fit on the hull, it has to be built on the hull. It's going well at present and no real worries yet!
Skeleton is complete, now onto the roofs and cockpit. I have decided to do roof in sheets of balsa 3mm thick rather than the 3/32" planks that the instructions suggest....that seems like a disaster waiting to happen for a novice! 😎