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    ChrisF
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    Member No.#3875
    Registered๐Ÿ“…10th Sep 2016
    Last Online๐Ÿ“…12th Jun 2025
    City๐Ÿ“Warwick
    Country๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งUnited Kingdom
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    Age๐Ÿ‘ถ71
    Posts๐Ÿ’ฌ706
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    Liked Re: Fairey Faun - More on the Rudder 1 day ago
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    Scratch building 7 Faireys at a scale of 1:12
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    ๐Ÿ“ Brushed or Brushless Motors
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 20 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    I'm using a 30mm diameter 3 blade brass prop (as in all my builds but with different diameters) and I reckon one of those would be just the ticket. As for size the rule of thumb for brushed motors was not to exceed the diameter of the motor but with brushless they can turn a bigger one so 35mm could be a good choice.

    It depends to some extent on how much room you've got and what looks right - does the plan show the prop? But ignoring that for now a 35mm or 40mm would work.

    I see that your model can in fact plane, though in all probability they were used at mostly more sedate speeds so that the champagne wasn't spilled!

    As to Faireys. I don't know if this is accurate but I view them as our equivalent of your Chris Craft boats. The wooden hulled sports cruisers were built in the 1960s and 70s and were raced successfully.

    As to which one it depends on whether you want to build from scratch, from a wood pack as per Sarik or from a complete kit. Favourite? I like them all in different ways but do have a soft spot for the little Huntress but also like the Swordsman with the raised aft cabin a lot. SLEC do a nice kit for the latter but I think it's a little small at only 25" long which is why I'm building my own (started before the kit came out!) at 1:12. There are plans for a similar Swordsman at that scale if you want to scratch build.

    What could be a favourite though is the Huntsman 31 Sport which doesn't have an aft cabin, just a big open cockpit and was primarily built for off-shore racing. The hull is the sleekest of the wooden hulled boats and looks very nice. There were never any kits or drawings produced for one but it's easy enough to alter an aft cabin version as a few folks have done. I started to build one but then decided I'd got enough full cockpit Faireys and so modified it to the more common aft cabin version. Here's my side view that I used for the build.

    Chris

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    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Sea Urchin
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 12 Views ยท 2 Likes
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    Be interesting to see how you tackle the rudder. That in my Faun, which is a similar design and I guess size was a bit of a challenge!

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Weight calculation
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 21 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Hi ToraDog

    Aircraft yes, and yachts, but we are talking biggish planing hulls here and in my experience the hulls are so buoyant it almost doesn't matter. Having said that, I always try if I can to even out the weight along the hull with the battery towards the stern but with my Huntress stern-drive model that was difficult to do. I was so relieved when I tried it in the bath!

    The River Cruiser is basically the same hull but with more freeboard and has a conventional prop shaft and sits about the same.

    What you don't want is nose down but even then it will plane with enough power. Like skimming stones all you need is a flat surface and motive power!

    This is what this forum is all about, discussion and different views and experiences. Long may it continue!

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Brushed or Brushless Motors
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 24 Views ยท 3 Likes
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    Hi - it's 23" long and is basically a Fairey Huntress hull with more freeboard, so in essence a planing hull.

    The motor is an Overlander Batteries Tornado Thumper V3 3530/14 1100KV. It's over-powered really as a 28mm dia. would be fine, but as I said it's nice and smooth on take-off and I run it on a 2S. I was tempted to try it on the plane but as the full-size boat only had a 20hp engine for river and lake use I've managed to restrain myself!

    Infact I've got a couple of Huntresses which Dave Milbourn built with 28mm dia. motors which plane well on 3S. Not that you want planing performance with your gentleman's cruiser!

    I'm building a Fairey Fisherman 27 which is a bigger and heavier displacement model and I'm trying a 2826/18 1000KV motor in that, so it will be interesting to see how that performs. I can always fit another motor if needs be.

    But that's the good thing with brushless motors, their latitude and a whole range will work dependent on the battery voltage.

    ๐Ÿ“ Weight calculation
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 20 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Within reason with planing model boats I don't think the weight matters that much (takes cover! ๐Ÿ˜€).

    From my experience building Faireys the hull type is usually very buoyant and I think building heavy helps with how the boat performs i.e. doesn't bob around as much, sits well in turns and creates a good wash.

    For most of my builds the motor is in the cabin which I balance out by having the battery towards the rear. But with my Huntress, having a stern-drive and the motor right at the back I thought I was going to have problems with the bath test with it sitting stern down due to the substantial weight there, but no, it sat bang on the waterline as per my other conventional Huntresses! And it performs really well.

    Good thing with models and particularly if using brushless you can always fit a more powerful motor.

    With long thin displacement hulls weight and its positioning is usually more important if not critical.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Fairey Faun - More on the Rudder
    2 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 11 Views ยท 2 Likes
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    Talking of Faireys, with all the information I've collected for producing my build drawings i.e. kit drawings, drawings and articles etc. I've written a piece for Model Boat Magazine that lists all the kits and drawings ever produced. Should be in the August edition.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Fairey Faun - More on the Rudder
    3 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 13 Views ยท 3 Likes
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    Thanks Will, a bit different to our usual Faireys! ๐Ÿ˜

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Brushed or Brushless Motors
    4 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 38 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Hi Chum - no that's an outrunner. I'm using them in all seven of my Fairey builds. The only inrunner I've got is for my non-Fairey water-jet project which needs a higher revving motor and they are more effectively water-cooled using a water jacket. I don't water-cool my boats usually but the inrunner motor with high kV and the water jacket came as part of the water-jet.

    First photo is the River Cruiser installation and the second is the water-jet with the third being the boat it's going in.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Brushed or Brushless Motors
    4 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 42 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Hi - I've heard that mentioned a couple of times but as long as a decent quality ESC is used then it isn't a problem. I'm not talking expensive here as I use HobbyWing Quicrun and with my Overlander motors my boats can pull away smoothly at very low revs.

    As I mentioned I've used one in a boat in which a brushed would be an automatic choice, that's my Fairey River Cruiser. I'm also using them in my Fairey Faun (which is a small and slow river/lake cruiser) and Fisherman which is a motor sailer. River Cruiser shown.

    Don't know about the difference between outrunners and inrunners but the latter are generally used in race boats and water-jets where low speed running isn't an issue.

    ๐Ÿ“ Brushed or Brushless Motors
    4 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 42 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    The main thing you haven't mentioned is the greater power, size for size that brushless has over brushed.

    Also brushless will accept a greater range of voltages so if you need more revs you can up the volts!

    I'm a big fan of brushless, being late to the hobby, as I like their engineering, and in my own builds even use them where brushed would be perfectly fine. The only brushed I have are in my plastic race boats like the Club 500 which it came with and my other ready to run boats. In many cases both types will do the job, unless you want very high revs with very fast boats or water-jets where brushless are the way to go, so otherwise it's down to personal preference.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Fairey Faun - More on the Rudder
    5 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 28 Views ยท 4 Likes
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    After allowing the servo mount to dry nice and solid overnight I tried it out by piggybacking from one of my Huntresses. I increased the end points with the Tx but even then I could do with a bit more rudder movement ideally but I think it's Ok and will be fine for slow speed running on the lake.

    So I shall dismantle the rudder assembly now so that I can paint and varnish the hull and can then progress the RC installation so that I can give it a trial run before starting on the superstructure etc.

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    ๐Ÿ“ Fairey Faun - More on the Rudder
    6 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 34 Views ยท 8 Likes ยท 6 Comments
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    With it being raining it's been a good excuse to get back to the boats! Bit more done on the rudder after the Hitec HS40 servo arrived. It's titchy, not much bigger than my thumb nail!

    First job was to drill and file a slot in the transom for the rudder arm to pass through followed by making the rudder arm itself. I ordered some 1mm brass sheet and 3mm chrome plated brass collars to do this. A groove was cut into the collar to take the sheet from which was cut a strip which was drilled and cut/filed to shape. They were then soldered together and a test fit to the rudder made.

    Next job was to make a timber mount for the servo, not only to mount it but to make it easier to handle with big fingers! First thought was to mount it to the side of the rudder arm, against the transom and I shaped and glued a batten to the hull bottom to glue the mount to. But a trial fit of the servo threw up problems with the short distance between the servo and rudder arms due to the narrowness of the stern and I decided on a different approach. Earlier thoughts were to use an aircraft snake but this was discounted as was using a bell-crank. I started thinking about mounting the servo centrally and operating the rudder arm using a slotted servo arm acting against a bolt. The slot is required as obviously the arms both strike arcs and in different directions. I've glued the servo mount in place so hopefully it works!

    ๐Ÿ“ Battery options
    6 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 21 Views ยท 1 Like
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    As ToraDog says those motors are far too high a kV, something around 1500kV would be more like it, especially as you are running two motors. Lower kV motors would be shorter and therefore lighter.

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: More photos and dimensions on the Launcher
    9 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 23 Views ยท 1 Like
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    That's really useful as I must make one. Probably make it in copper pipe as I can solder that and don't need to worry about protection from water.

    ๐Ÿ“ For Multi Screwed Boats and Their Control
    10 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 19 Views ยท 1 Like
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    Depends to some extent on the model. If it's a planing boat and is usually run fairly fast you don't really need help with turning and so one ESC running both motors at the same speed is fine.

    With two or more brushless motors most need to have their own ESC anyway so the question doesn't arise.

    ๐Ÿ“ What Kind Of Tranmitter Do You Use and Why Did You Choose That Type
    11 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 18 Views ยท 1 Like
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    Cashrc - can you use Hitec receivers with it?

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ If Money Was No Object
    11 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 50 Views ยท 4 Likes
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    Nothing! I'm building all the ones that I want, namely seven Faireys and a non-Fairey water-jet project.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ What Kind Of Tranmitter Do You Use and Why Did You Choose That Type
    12 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 33 Views ยท 2 Likes
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    I mainly use Hi Tec as I bought a boat off Dave Milbourn which had a Hi Tec receiver in it but he recommended them anyway. Pity is though that they stopped producing transmitters and receivers but I've managed to stock up on the later for my existing and planned builds. The Flash 8 I have is very good as it has multiple channels and memory for many models.

    I've also got a Radiomaster wheel Tx which I use for my plastic race boats and Tamiya Unimog which is very good. And a couple of very cheap wheel Tx's that came with the ready to run plastic boats and they do the job.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Cheap Chinese Electronics Or Reputable Makes
    14 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 39 Views ยท 3 Likes
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    They are pretty much all Chinese so you don't have a lot of choice in where they are made.

    But the reputable makes are good. My mantra with buying all things is to try and get something in the middle price range where you should get better quality but still good value.

    I take the view that my builds have taken a lot of time and money and so I'm not going to risk using cheap electronics.

    Some folks use them without problem but with say the ESCs you have to take the max amp etc. with a pinch of salt.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Fairey Fisherman - Bow and Stern
    19 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 44 Views ยท 8 Likes
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    Stern pieces were fitted using the same method and balsa sheets/blocks glued in place and once set they were cut and sanded to shape.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Esc size
    20 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 72 Views ยท 4 Likes
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    What type of boat are you using the motor in, as that is a very high kV and as suggested the ESC needs to have a high capacity.

    Unless it's a very high speed boat or being used with a water-jet it might be better to use a lower kV motor with a lower capacity ESC?

    Chris

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    ๐Ÿ“ For our cozy a little Humor
    25 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 31 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Sent from one of my sons to the other. ๐Ÿ˜

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: SEMI SCALE FOAM AND GLASS MODEL OF MY 15FT 1953 SCHOCK US DESIGN DAY SAILER.
    25 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 56 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    Nice full-size and model boats. You have a good eye for shaping the hull.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ Animal and nature photos to enjoy.
    26 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 44 Views ยท 8 Likes
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    Thanks. The design ended up quite big to accommodate the inner room as at the time we had a squirrel that visited the garden regularly and they will take young birds so I wanted to make it as safe as possible.

    The robins like it and have filled the entrance area with leaves as well so it's nice and cosy!

    ๐Ÿ“ Animal and nature photos to enjoy.
    26 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 43 Views ยท 11 Likes
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    We enjoy having the wild birds in our garden and three years ago I built an upmarket nest box for the robins having seen them fail to build a nest in the garden hose reel. Having my model boat materials and tools available made this an easy task. They used the box the first year but not last and so were happy to see them showing interest again this year.

    We've also had a box for the blue tits for a few years though it had only been used once and on one occasion it was taken over by bees!

    We are very pleased to see that both boxes are being used and the respective parents are busy collecting food. The robin waits for us to dig in the border for tasty morsels.

    ๐Ÿ“ Fairey Fisherman - Breasthook
    27 days ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 58 Views ยท 11 Likes
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    Using CAD (the cardboard version) I achieved the shape of the breasthook, drew around it and cut it out from 4mm ply. After sanding to fit it was glued in place. Tomorrow I shall glue the balsa blocks in place.

    ๐Ÿ“ Fairey Fisherman Hull Off Building Board
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 64 Views ยท 8 Likes
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    As per the title I've just removed the hull for the Fisherman off the building board so that I can make and fit the breast hook etc. and form the bow and stern out of balsa blocks.

    It was obviously heavy when combined with the board but now it's off it's surprising light.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Fairey Faun - Rudder
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 65 Views ยท 6 Likes
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    Hi Phil - I bought it off Amazon for ยฃ40.99. Bit more than a simple soldering iron but cheap compared with a top quality soldering station and for my infrequent soldering it does the job well. It's a Lytool Soldering Iron Station and is rated at 60watts which is plenty for my needs.

    I've glued in the prop-shaft strut now as well. Will need to order some bits and pieces to finish the rudder off including an ultra-mini servo which is a bit smaller than the one I have, I'm sticking with Hitec and getting a HS40.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ’ฌ Re: Fairey Faun - Rudder
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 65 Views ยท 7 Likes
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    Bit more progress with the rudder. I decided that the straps were too wide and didn't need four bolts so cut them down and then bolted them to the stern. I also decided to go with the bought rudder (a Krick item) and cut it down and filed it to size and shape. The brass tube came from the Billings parts as that from Krick was steel.

    The stock will then need to be cut down and drilled to take to take the control arm which will be 2mm threaded brass rod which will pass through the transom. I then need to figure out where to install the servo, probably at the stern. I've got a small servo in my stock but may have to source a micro-servo, will shall see.

    Chris

    ๐Ÿ“ On my roof top this morning
    1 month ago by ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ChrisF ( Captain)
    โœง 67 Views ยท 5 Likes
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    This reminds me when I was in the garden a couple of years back. A squirrel used to come along the fence for food. On this occasion something spooked it and it jumped across to the brickwork of the house at the back of us and proceeded to go straight up the wall! It then climbed onto the roof and went along the ridge. After awhile it came down. Unfortunately I didn't get a photograph.

    I did have more time for another visitor though!

    Chris



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