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Pearla Malta - Precedent Fairey Huntsman 31 aft cabin 34 inch
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About this boat
A Fairey Huntsman that I recently won on a well known auction site.
There are a few things that need sorting, the superstructure is way too tall to be accurate and scale, so I fear a new one will have to be made, but that means 'TRYING' to find a set of plans or templates for the Precedent Huntsman.
Can anyone help with this? Pretty please 🤞
The extra skegs underneath? No idea why they have been added, certainly won't help anything other than straight line running.
Plans are, sort the above items, brushless conversion, then just enjoy using it.
Will
There are a few things that need sorting, the superstructure is way too tall to be accurate and scale, so I fear a new one will have to be made, but that means 'TRYING' to find a set of plans or templates for the Precedent Huntsman.
Can anyone help with this? Pretty please 🤞
The extra skegs underneath? No idea why they have been added, certainly won't help anything other than straight line running.
Plans are, sort the above items, brushless conversion, then just enjoy using it.
Will
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Will
So am I right in saying all of your three that you mentioned are all running brushless outrunners now?
Will
Which one was the brushless motor in as brushless is the way I'm intending going?
Very nice models though, fair play.
Will
Brushless motors can be picked up so cheaply these days, the same with props, unless you want something really top quality. So it may just be a case of some swapping components, testing and re-testing until you get a balance of both performance and on water stability that you are happy with.
Will
I think I was expecting too much performance wise, I often run speed boats.
where this hull is more of a leisure craft design for sea conditions rather than racing at speed on a pond.
Regards Roy
But with the right set up and not running too heavily loaded, a twin screw set up would still give considerably more than scale speed and a good run time still.
Will
The setup of my Sportsman was cheap and nasty, it was running on a pair of 2845's running 3S, on two 3mm shafts. My plan is to use a pair of 2860 I have either pair of 4050kv or 2150kv most likely use lower kv ones.
If I can't get them to fit I may revert to a single propshaft.
I did want to keep the underside the same as the real craft, 2 rudders and two propshafts, but it does cause a lot of dragg.
I have two other boats on the go so it may take a while before it touches the water again.
https://model-boats.com/blogs/43841#86348
https://model-boats.com/blogs/79067#85538
Regards Roy
That is a very strange "W" shape piece of bent plate under the prop and in front of the rudder.
Along with the two fixed "vanes", it may have been some sort of "straight running" device - perhaps?
Maybe the rudder also had a ratchet quadrant on it at some time before it went to r/c ?
It would be interesting to run it with all this under-water furniture still in place to see if it has any benefits that are not apparent - after all, the previous owner could have removed them when running with r/c if he felt the need!
Bob.
It certainly is a strange example.
Someone has put a good bit of detail into it at some point, just a shame that such a big part of the boat isn't right. Painted curtains onto the inside of the glazing, some interior and a couple of other things I noticed.
Delivery didn't do it many favours, but it was too far away to collect, so was a chance I had to take.
The damage is all confined to the superstructure and fittings, so because I need to remake the cabin/superstructure anyway, it's not the end of the world.
As well as two skegs undeath aft, there is also another 'thing'! 🤔 Now I don't really get what the person was thinking when they fitted these, or how they thought they would help performance of stability, but I can tell you one thing, they're coming off again, that's for sure.
I have never seen a Fairey model with them on, and set up properly/as the plans describe, they perform, turn and are stable enough.
The Fibreglass Huntsman hull is quite heavy, but with the right set up, it has been proven many times that they will perform many times above scale speeds.
Knowledge of brushless set-ups is increasing by the day and even in the short time since I got hold of my 34" version of the Huntsman, I easily found numerous power plants that people have fitted to both 34" and 47" versions of these models.
Thankfully, prices are coming down too and more powerful motors, esc and lipo batteries are getting more and more affordable.
I hope you find the enthusiasm to have another go at yours at some point. I'm sure you will find a set up that gives you the sort of performance you are looking for.
Will
Your idea about converting your Huntsman 31 into a Swordsman is interesting as I am converting a 34" Huntsman 31 into a Huntsman Sport.
This has a very similar side profile to the Swordsman but retains the Huntsman hull shape.
The Sport was also the model that was raced so it could look really good and authentic at speed too!
Bob.
Once I have made the front screen more like the right sort of size and shape, I can make the roofline of the cabin less "dome" looking too.
While I am at it, my plan is to integrate the hull and superstructure together to give it a more water-tight construction with access via removable cabin tops. (like the Aerokits Swordsman construction).
This would be an advantage for "fast work" as no deck wash will get into the hull, and with brushless motors being so small these days, the reduced access is not so much of a problem as it was when we mostly run ic engines.
Bob.
The 34" Huntsman 31 does not look anything like as nice as the larger model (from the same stable!).
It looks too tall at the front and it has a "domed" roofline too so it does not look much like the real craft.
There is some chat about this at the moment so I think there will be some "improved" 34" Huntsman 31 models being made or converted shortly because it is a nice looking craft - but the smaller model of it is a bit "numb" looking.
Bob.
https://model-boats.com/places/60518
Yes I converted a Huntsman to a Swordsman, I used the plan provided, scaled it up using a open source program called PosteRazor then printed it out on A4 and stuck the pages together.
please check out the blog
https://model-boats.com/blogs/44658
The boat was free and had a heavy glass fibre hull, the real boat's hull was originally designed for off shore racing.
I never finished it as I was disappointed with its performance (speed) and I killed one of its brushless motors.
One day will refit and paint it.
regards
Roy
Thanks for the extra pictures.
I have great interest in Fairey marine boats anyway and already have a good collection of both images, line drawings and a few brochures too.
My original question was more of was this how Precedent intended the 34" version of the Huntsman 31 to look.
I also have a 47" version of the Precedent Huntsman 31 and that cabin is much more scale like, so I presumed their 34" would have been the same.
The additional fixed skegs are most certainly being removed. They won't help in any way other than straight line stability, so they will be coming off.
Most of the Precedent Huntsman models that I have seen, have had what appears to be a fairly steep departure/stern tube angle. For now, unless the current item is bent, I won't be changing it, not at least until I have done some sea trials to see how she behaves.
You converted a Huntsman to a Swordsman?
So you made a Huntsman Sport/aft cockpit then yes?
The standard Swordsman had an aft cockpit, but you could also buy a Super Swordsman and that had an aft cabin.
My Uncle had a Huntsman 31 aft cabin in the late 60s and that was replaced with a Swordsman 33 in the early 70s.
Will
I have uploaded a few pictures that may help you scale down the superstructure.
Also a plan of a Fairey Swordsman which may be a option as a superstructure, I converted by Huntsman to a Swordsman.
https://model-boats.com/blogs/44658
Can I add some comments about the hull which you may wish to change:-
1. The shaft angle should be 10 degrees, yours looks a little more.
2. The real boats had twin prop shafts and rudders.(but single on most models)
3. There seems to be two fixed skegs either side of the propeller these will cause problems when tuning and will add unnecessary drag slowing the boat.
Kind regards
Roy Burton
This does seem to be the general opinion.
I'm glad it's not just me.
As you say, maybe the early Modav kit was acyually like this. Can anyone shine confirm or deny that theory?
My thoughts were that with a plan, I could like you say, alter some of the lines to correct them before rebuilding.
Whoever built this one, went to quite a lot of trouble to do a tidy job of it, so I do wonder if the Modav kit was actually like this,who knows.
If you do manage to get your hands on a set of plans and can compare them to how mine looks, that would be much appreciated.
many thanks.
Will
I agree that the Precedent 34" Huntsman 31 looks too tall - just look at that gormless looking front windscreen!
As you know, I am working on the same model at the moment, and changing the superstructure is the number one item on the list to improve it.
Looking at pictures of the full size Huntsman 31 - the front windscreen looks nothing like the kit and the cabin top is not as 'domed" either - this follows the line of the front cabin windscreen - so no surprises there then!
How they got this so wrong beggars belief.
The original kit was made by Modav and a set of these plans may or may not help (as it could be the same?) but at least with the plans you would have something to refer to and draw your own cabin front and superstructure onto.
The later Precedent "improved" kits never came with any plans as they were jig-fitted together and could be assembled with the assembly sketches that came in the kits.
Copies of the Modav plans can still be found - I hope to have a set later this week so I can check to see if they look any better or if this is an inherent fault in the kit that was always there and was perpetuated in the Precedent kits.
Stay in touch!
Bob.