I thought I'd share my experiences of scratch building this delightful boat as there doesn't seem to be a lot around.

I built the Fairey Huntsman by Precedent back in the ‘70s. it must have been a very different kit to the one being sold now. I had few resources back then but somehow managed a half decent job of it with a glow plug engine for power. Never could start it, and eventually sold it to someone prepared to persevere with it. it must have had a few fittings, and plans, unlike the current one, which is really poor quality. After some consideration and a timely article in Model Boats magazine, I ordered the plans from Myhobbystore.com. I still wanted to make it the size of the kit so had to get them enlarged to 11th scale.; not a problem.
So this build blog is to encourage anyone wanting to build this delightful classic boat not to get a kit but to scratch build it. Better and much more satisfying. You’ll probably have to scratch build all the fittings and detailing anyway. I didn't manage to take detailed photos all the time but hopefully there will be enough to be useful.
I got lucky with supplies of appropriate ply at my local Menshed, and got on with cutting out the frames on their scroll saw. I had plenty of materials accumulated over years and lots of cedar from venetian blinds, which is really good for planking etc.

The plans are more accurate than the kit and have much nicer hull lines. Fitting the frames was straight forward, and double cedar chine strips were epoxied in.

To get the nice reverse curve in the bows, large blocks of balsa were used; luckily got given plenty of them years ago.

I did use the thin ply supplied for the hull skin as replacing it is expensive, just recut to suit. After carving the bow shape and sanding everything true I covered the hull with fine woven glass cloth, after coating the hull with spray adhesive and letting it get tacky.

After 2 coats of epoxy resin and lots of wet sanding, time to fit the rudder tube and prop shaft (with 3d printed oiler) and motor mounts, then the inside was sealed with epoxy.

The pictures are slightly out of sync but no matter...Now ready for the chine (cedar) and spray rails from triangular section plasticard strips glued with rubberised cyanoacrylate. Paint used was auto acrylic spray cans; lots of filler primer sanded back and a couple of topcoats.. I thought masking the waterline would be a problem but using thin lengths of blue masking tape to get the line then adding full width with paper mask, it worked out fine.

Next was the deck. First I glued some light coloured veneer I had available, and after sealing it drew lines on with a fine marker, but I didn't like the result. Luckily the next day down at the Menshed they were having a cleanup and were going to throw out a roll of paper backed teak veneer! Lucky or what? So I borrowed a rotary guillotine and cut lots of 6mm strips. Also lots of black card strips 1mm wide for the caulking. Had to use a conventional guillotine for them or they were too curly. Rapid pva worked well here. I used cedar for the bow detail. Sanding sealer rubbed down to 600grit gave me the finish I wanted. Cedar again for the rubbing strips; it bends easily with a bit of heat from a heat gun.
Superstructure next; the bulkhead uppers were taped in place and the sides, front and back walls glued and taped nice and snug with the coaming.

When set the cockpit sides were fixed. Next came the roof. The plans show a proper double curve unlike the kit, so it has to be planked…. cedar again. A thin slot has to be left in the planking at the cockpit sides to take the windscreen, so you need to know its thickness before doing this. I used .5mm rigid PVC as I could not source acetate. The superstructure was painted next. I had some problems here as the later coats of paint were softening the glue and showing up the planking. Many coats and sanding later I thought I’d use an enamel for the white top coats. it wasn't too smooth so I sprayed it with what was supposed to be clear PU varnish, but it was horribly yellow. I gave it a fine rub down and reverted to good old humbrol and a wide soft brush. Worked out fine!

More side strips on the roof in cedar, then onto the fun stuff.

For ease of access and construction I built the control console bulkhead on a seperate sheet of polystyrene card, mahogany detailing from old billings kit leftovers. Aluminium sheet from the tops of large Milo tins made hinges and louvres etc. I always save these as they are just the right thickness and softness for small parts.
For the compass; the bits box produced a ballbearing and a piece of brass tube just the right sizes. Heat gunned a piece of acetate and pressed it with the tube over the ball bearing. instant hemisphere for a handy scrap of aluminium tube as the base. All instruments are from a google search and inkjet printer.I parted off some tube for the larger instrument bezels.

The anchor is all plastic card. The winch from various bits of scrap. All the other fittings and handrails are stainless steel. I thought the soldering might be a problem, but got lucky again with a gift of a suitable aggressive flux. I had some silver solder in powder form, which with the flux worked a treat. Just a matter of holding things together with clamps and props. The Rails are SS welding rods, another gift.

The cabin windows are rigid .5mm pvc sheet framed with white polystyrene .5mm sheet. The tinting is from car tint off cut. I push fitted the glass flush with the outside and ran a bead of ova round the inside using a syringe and needle, then spray glued the back the frames and stuck them in place. Easy!
The seat frames are bent up from stainless wire and hard soldered. The cushions are just carved balsa.

Hatch covers are built as close as I could work out to full-sized practise, but I didn’t bother to make them actually moveable.

The windscreen can be tricky. I used the .5mm PVC with polystyrene strips cut to shape and glued to the bottom edge. Had to use a perspex solvent/cement for that as not many glues are compatible with both plastics. The mast has a pin in the base and along with the side slots holds the screen in place for glueing, first with pva and then flushed with white acrylic gap sealer. The top of the mast is secured to the screen with a small screw. The moulding on the top of the screen is an ‘H’ section moulding heathen softened for bending, with a strip of veneer laid in the top and fixed with varnish. Finally the name and Fairey symbol were printed on decal sheet and varnished in place.

The first trial on the water was with an 11.4V lipo which went OK but i thought it could do with a bit more oomph, so ordered a 14.8V and that proved to be just right for a realistic scale speed, and it handles beautifully. Being single motor and rudder it doesn't have a very tight turn at slow speeds. Not too good for steering competitions! Too bad but good for just buzzing around.

The figures were built up with balsa and wire covered and sculptured in Fimo.

All in all I'm quite happy with the results. Definitely better than my first attempt; B/W photos.