Yes, the strakes are fiddly and time consuming. I used square timber on my Huntsman 28, just sanded the corners off, but on my other builds I've used triangular styrene. I reckon the flare is fine, many builds don't have enough.

Be interesting when you start on the superstructure. Have you decided on a motor yet?

You're making good progress and the hull looks really good.

You said in another post that you scaled up a 1:16 drawing. I'm guessing you must have modified the area just back from the bow to produce the amount of flare that you have (which looks great and reflects the full -size boat) as I think it was less at the smaller scale.

Did you make your own strakes/spray rails as they are good as well.

I shall be painting the hull on mine soon when I've done the other three.

Chris

It's a Robbe kit from the early 1970s of a Chris Craft Cavalier ll. So no plans and yours looks like the only one known about as it is the same one I saw on Mayhem. The seller provided some history about the kit when he advertised it for sale recently.

As I said it's an unusual design for Chris Craft as they are usually more sleek with plenty of curves.

Probably American as the wheel is on the right. Maybe another ChrisCraft?

Chris

That's a coincidence. One of those turned up on one of the Facebook groups recently, may have been Mayhem?

Quite a bit of discussion as the superstructure looks like a modified Fairey Huntsman 31. The guy posting had built it himself many years ago so knew it was a ChrisCraft albeit an unusual design for them.

Chris

I know someone in Mallorca who has RC boats but he sails them in sheltered areas on the sea.

Might you have problems taking your Tx etc. through customs?

Does the superstructure lift off? Reason I'm asking that if it doesn't it will be difficult to fit planks along the front of the front cabin and there isn't much clearance to the underside of the potholes.

I've used 5 x 0.5mm Tanganyka planks from Cornwall Model Boats on a couple of my Faireys at 31" and 33" but did the planking off model on thin ply sheet as I was bending them.

Finished with International Paints Schooner varnish.

Chris

My only use for canopy glue (Deluxe Materials) so far was to stick styrene strakes to Eze-Kote resin on a number of ply hulls which are being painted over.

Holding well and I will be using it to fix styrene window frames to painted ply.

Duncan - white and green appear to be different manufacturers. The green one has the ZAP logo on it and if you look at the details it lists metal so that is the one I'd go for. Prices are very similar.

Chris

Given that it shouldn't be under any stress I would guess it would be Ok. You could always do a test.

I see that ZAP 560 Canopy Glue sticks to metal and lots of other materials. Will have to get some as I need to glue some brass to timber.

Chris

Could be one of my Fairey hulls! Which do of course have links.

I know what you mean about the flare, had a right game with my Huntsman 31. Used thin birch ply and had to slit it and fill with P38 to get a smooth curve. If doing again would use more formers like you have.

Your build is coming along well and looks great.

Chris

Good to see you making progress after your original posting in My Harbour. You've made a good job of the bow flare.

Great to see someone younger building! Especially a Fairey which are my passion.

Chris

To be fair though Ron the pacemaker would be in contact with fluids continuously. With a model boat there would only be contact with water for short periods of time and coating with epoxy resin is a tried and tested method.

I had a similar situation with painting my Faireys having decided to brush paint them. I decided on International Paints as for full-size craft but it is not recommended for use below the waterline even though it's an oil based paint. Having put several coats on it has produced a wonderful and hard finish and I've got no concerns about it being water resistant for the time the models will be on the water.

Back to coating the inside. If I was building a sailing yacht, especially if plank on frame, as they tend to get water inside and there are nooks and crannies, I'd epoxy resin it. For boats with good access and ply sheeted I'm happy to use Eze-Kote, even though it's water based, as any water ingress can be easily mopped up. Others may disagree though?

Chris

I think it was me that caused this with my comment on the Outboard Cruiser thread. Myself and Boatshed had gone off on a bit of a tangent and posted more than the OP. I was concerned we were hijacking the thread and would start a new thread on my build.

I was polite about it and certainly didn't intend to cause any worry to Boatshed or any criticism and I had made a number of posts as well - I've deleted mine as well to make sense.

Boatshed, please accept my apologies and please continue to participate in the forum for both yours and our benefit. You're welcome to comment on my threads as much as you like!

Chris

I coat mine with Eze-Kote as that is what I use on the outside. But I've read that is not completely water resistant so resin should be used. But I'm not expecting to get much water in and will dry it off straightaway.

I'm going to add paint to the rear compartment of my build with a stern-drive drive as there is a good chance I will get water into that due to the number of holes I have through the stern. Will be using silicone sealant to stop it though.

There is an argument to coat both sides of timber to stabilise it, maybe if planked but would think ply is Ok.

If the area at the front under the deck is fully enclosed I wouldn't worry about it.

That's some serious modification there!

Hi Duncan - just remember reading a post on Mahem where some were saying that the quality had dropped. If you Google Humbrol paint quality it throws up a few comments.

Also complicated by Humbrol having to stop supply earlier this year and shops not being able to sell it as one of the chemicals, MEK, was banned on safety grounds, until the paints had been reformulated.

Don't know exactly where they are with that now and Humbrol is now under the HornbyAirfix banner. Would be good to hear from someone who has used the latest offerings.

Chris

It took me awhile to get my head around all the different types but eventually got it cracked!

Chris

Nice model of a Huntsman 31 Roy.

Chris

Bear in mind that Humbrol have changed the makeup of their paints and there has been reports that it is not as good now.

Hi Derek - yes, I became friends with Dave, a sad loss to the modelling fraternity.

Chris

These are the two prototypes of the Huntress that Dave built. I have the one on the left and Dave kept the other.

I got interested in the hobby getting on for 5 years ago as something to keep me occupied during the winter months.

Soon after I bought a 47" Fairey Huntsman 31 off Ebay. It was a lovely model but I found it a bit cumbersome and so eventually sold it to a fellow club member. Before I sold it though I bought one of Dave Milbourn's prototypes off him that he'd used for producing the plans for his 1:12 scale Huntress. I found this to be a nice scale for the Fairey range of boats and set off on a mission to build a number of them all to the same scale. As well as scratch building them I produced my own drawings because they either weren't available at that scale or I wanted to modify them. A case in point being the Huntsman 28 where I wanted the whole superstructure to be removeable.

As well as the classic Faireys; Huntsman 28, Huntsman 31 and Swordsman 33 I wanted to build the more unusual ones and those, as far as I'm aware have never been built. These are the River Cruiser 23 (using a modified Huntress hull) using a black and white photograph, a Huntress Long Cabin fitted with a stern-drive, a Fisherman 27 motor sailer and a 17 foot Faun lake and river cruiser. The first five are being built and the last two I've produced drawings for. Instead of concentrating on the first builds I kept starting others!

You have made a fantastic job of her, a credit to your skills. Boats of this era and into the 60s and 70s are my favourites.

Of course it's got to be Faireys for me!

Chris

Ron - it tends to be used instead of CA not aliphatic which I use a lot as well as Titebond III. It's the CA that tends to be a problem for a lot of folks.

Chris

Can't remember how quick it dries, I'll have to try some out! Been a few months since I've done any building, before our summer and I've started painting the hulls now.

Trouble is with my builds I have long periods of inactivity and forget how I do things! Fortunately I photograph my progress and use for reference on other builds!

Chris

Thanks Trev

I've planked three decks using very thin i.e. 0.5 x 5mm planks (and managed to stick my fingers to the deck and to themselves 😠 using CA) but on my next build wanted to try thicker planks.

I might be wrong but I thought yachts generally had straight planking and other boats had curved but there are always exceptions. My Fairey sports cruisers etc. all being curved.

I have problems with CA as well, causes my nose to run, and have started using Super Phatic which has the benefit of being water wash up as well as being low odour.

Chris

Hi Trev - what thickness of planks are you using and are you having to steam them to form the curve?

Looks good.

Chris

Interested to see how this progresses. I'm soon to start building something similar but smaller and slower, being a river and lake cruiser. It will be 17" long.

It was designed for an outboard but it's been difficult getting a decent outboard at a scale of 1:12 so I've changed to it being an inboard.

I like how you have dealt with the flare to the hull as can be difficult to get right.

Chris

I've seen foam blocks being used but not spray foam. But you've made it work well and ended up with a nice model. With inbuilt buoyancy as well!