Sweet Sue II

As just mentioned in another thread (**LINK**), I'm about to begin my next model boat build, which will be a 1/16 scale Fairey Huntsman 31 from Dave Milbourn's set of plans that were first presented in the January and February 2016 issues of Model Boats.

When I decide on what to build, there are usually two main considerations.

The first one is of course quite simply that the subject is one that I find attractive. I am on the whole not a major fan of motor or speed boats – de gustibus, and all that – but the Fairey family are certainly an exception to this rule: I find them very pretty indeed!

The second consideration is what challenges I want the build to provide, and with this one that is going to be the use of a brushless motor and up-to-date (read: LiPo) battery technology, neither of which I've any experience with.

So. The other day I got out the plans and the relevant MB issues, both to re-familiarise myself with the project, and to figure out what building materials I would need to get started ...

An order was subsequently put in with Slec for i.a. lite-ply and some balsa blocks, and I am now waiting for them to have time (surprise, surprise: with all UK model builders in lockdown, mail order suppliers are very busy right now) to fulfill said order.

In the meantime, I'll keep re-reading Dave's two articles and also some of the other documentation that I have collected over the last couple of years.

Oh, and I should perhaps explain the choice of name for the boat, too?! Well, Sweet Sue (Just You) is of course a jazz classic, written in 1928 by Victor Young and Will Harris, but also, as my wife's name is Susanne, a song with a certain personal resonance (f'rinstance, my wife's mobile phone ring tone is me playing and singing Sweet Sue ...). And as I believe it to be not uncommon for vessels of this kind to be named with reference to an owner's significant other, well, Sweet Sue II seemed appropriate enough to me ...

To be continued ...

Mattias

Ah-HA! I shall sit back, crack my knuckles, pour myself a large JD and watch this unfold..... I have been looking forward to having a Banjoman-build of one of mine for a long time!

Dave M

Mattias

You will need all of your plan reading and building skills for this one

Paul

Dave,

In which case I think I'd better refrain from pouring any JD (or other amber liquid of equivalent effect), at least pre-any building session ...

Paul,

Is this where I say "I have a cunning plan"?

Mattias

Paul

How's the one you started getting on? Run out of Plastic Wood, is it?

Mattias
I usually build best when I've had a couple of scoops.......or at least I think I do.....

DM

Mattias

It will have to be a plan so cunning that you could put a tail on it and call it a fox.

Dave

Plastic Wood........wash your mouth out with a pint of best.

Paul

Hi Mattias,

Welcome back, we have missed your boat building, "nobody does it better" to coin a phrase

All references to Allo Allo more than welcome, I just love that series and have the DVD box set, and your in the right place !

Regards Ray

I would finish those round boats first, as the planking is a bit, shall we say, open....

Ashley

Hi Mattias,

Its good to see you back on the forum and about to start another project. I am sure your model will put even Dave Milbourn's Fairey in the shade when its finished to your usual high standard.

Seeing the clock on the wall of your apartment reminded me of the one I made some years ago. As a small boy my favorite toy was Meccano and I was fascinated by gears and gearboxes, In my final year at university I designed a transfer gearbox for a lorry as my design project. However it was not very good as I was never very happy starting anything from a clean sheet of paper.

One day thirty odd years ago, I told my wife I fancied building a clock from a kit. What I envisioned was assembling lots of brass gears into a working mechanism. However, what she bought me for Christmas 1989 was a complete clock mechanism and chimes plus the plans for a Vienna regulator case. Progress was quite slow as I did not have a lathe to make the columns and finials but eventually, after some improvisation the clock was completed 10 years later.

For Christmas 1999 she bought me an engraved brass plate to fit inside the case.

The clock is still on our dining room wall but very rarely gets wound up these days.

Gareth

Edited By Gareth Jones on 09/04/2020 11:36:37

Very nice quality Wall Clock

Well done Gareth

Regards to Elizabeth

Sadly, we won't be meeting you this year at Ellesmere Port Show

Bob