The hull sides have been painted white and will now be left for a week or more for the paint to harden. Reason I leave it that long is I prefer using 3M masking tape which sticks well and so I don't want to risk pulling off any paint! I have plenty of work to do on my other builds and so it isn't a problem.

So I've now turned my attention back to the superstructure. I've been itching to get a coat of varnish on the rear cabin roof and after fitting some mahogany trim to the rear and rounding it off and that to the coamings I applied a coat. Just need to make another pair of doors and I can paint the inside of the cockpit and start fitting it out.

Chris

Who was the muppet building a Huntsman 31 who said there was a danger of the mahogany sheet twisting if steam was used to bend it? 🤔

I managed to find a piece of mahogany sheet without a pronounced grain pattern on a part of it and cut out the roof capping/screen former. As before I made many saw cuts to help it bend but this piece of timber was quite dry and liable to snapping so I dampened the top surface before trying it on the roof. It bent OK but there was still quite a bit of resistance so I thought I'd try steaming it using my usual appliance the kettle. With gentle steaming it bent a bit but wouldn't hold the bend much. So gave it a longer go and big mistake as it curled from front to back (as the grain runs from side to side) and I couldn't bend it straight by hand. Fortunately the sink was full of water and so I gave it a good soaking which helped a lot. So I clamped it to the roof and it fitted fine but as it dried out, given that I could only clamp in one place each side, it started to curl again, drat!

The iron and board was already set up in the other room so nothing to lose I gave that a go on the steam setting and did both sides. This pretty much straightened it out and I was able to bend it so I then used my wife's hair drier to dry it out whilst I maintained the bend. Yes, she was out! 😀 This maintained a bend good enough to allow it to be glued in place. Whilst I used contact adhesive again I'll leave it clamped overnight.

So whilst clamped I made the pair of doors for the front cabin having made those for the rear sometime ago. Before gluing in place I need to paint the cockpit so that I can fit the floor in case I can't get it in once the doors have been fitted.

Chris

Managed to do a spot of painting this morning before the back room got too hot. Was keen to do this as you shouldn't leave it too long between gloss coats and it's been a couple of days since I last applied any.

So painted a couple of things on other models getting another coat on the front window and back of the rear cabin of the Swordsman having finished the cabin and coaming sides and removed the masking tape. Another coat or two will be required on the rear after which I can progress the superstructure more.

Applied another coat of gloss to the rear of the superstructure and left to dry. It's been a few weeks since I painted the hull sides so the paint is nice and hard now and so I can paint the hull bottom. Applied some mastic tape, always a fiddly job I find, and applied the first coat of grey primer-undercoat. It's drying really fast in the heat but will leave until tomorrow before applying the second coat.

Three coats of primer-undercoat applied and given a light sanding before applying the first coat of gloss. Woohoo!

5 coats of gloss on now with a sanding before the last 2. Frustrating as usual because with the last but one coat I ended up with hardly any bits in the paint but with the last one I did, despite using another new brush.

But as I've said before I’ve given up with chasing perfection or anywhere close. That's why I mainly use blue on the underside of the hull as the white is much more forgiving. I shall forget about it when I start using the boat and overall it looks nice. I just don't know how these guys painting a car in a shed produce such a great finish!

I've left the stern for now, which will be blue as well as it was difficult to mask off accurately where it met that on the chine rails.

With the pleasant lower temperatures and odd periods of rain (even better as I can't do anything outside!) I've been able to return to painting. Coats of primer-undercoat are being applied to the cabin roof and transom.

Once the transom has been glossed the plan was to test it on the lake along with the Huntsman 31 but I think that will now have to be put on hold due to the low level and difficulty in launching and retrieving, especially with bigger/heavier models, as the jetty is now out of bounds. However the ramped launching winch is in the process of being extended to reach the lower water level so I will have a look at that.

Phew, so glad that's the transom finished! 5 coats of gloss applied with one 400 grit sanding during the coats and a 1000 grit sanding before the final coat. It took so many coats to get good coverage over the light grey primer-undercoat. For the final 2 coats I thinned the paint a bit and used a new brush which I washed and dried first. So with this and the thinned paint I've done the best that I can though it won't be perfect. I was pleased at the nice sharp and straight line between the blue and white as I thought I might get some bleed through.

The transom was a bit nerve-wracking as it's big on the Swordsman and the dark blue is more prone to showing bits and defects etc. On my other builds I've chickened out to some extent by using white or mainly white on the transoms, which is more tolerant, but this build is based on a full-sized boat which has a fully painted dark blue transom.

Just got some small areas of bleed through where the strakes meet the chine rails from when the hull bottom was painted which need remedying and the hull will be finished ready for installing the rudder, prop and gear for lake trials.

Looking at the transom this morning I'm pretty happy with the finish, so that's a relief!

Last big paint job is the cabin roof which I primer-undercoated awhile back. This will lift the colour scheme as it is a bright blue as used on other Faireys including the full-sized boat which mine is loosely based on and which I used on the Fairey River Cruiser.

The other one of the trio of larger classic Fairey models didn't want to be left out, so after making the battery box for the Huntsman 31 I've made one for this build. Even though it's inside the hull I used some nice birch ply. Needs to corners sanding flush, holes for screwing down and a couple of coats of Eze-Kote to finish off. Battery is a 4S (my first one) to give sufficient revs as the brushless motor has a lower kV than my other sports cruisers.

I'd made the cockpit floor, cabin doors and fitted the hatch sometime ago and so it is at a very similar stage to the others. Roofs needs to be glossed and windows made and fitted to all three.