Only worth getting a 3D printer if you're going to use it a lot, otherwise it makes the parts very expensive.

Mayhem forum has a section on 3D printing as does RC Groups.

Need some deck fittings. Selec have them but the postage to
Australia is £17 which is the same price as the 3d printed parts .

I’m considering Getting a 3d printer but I know nothing about them . If I do get them are the files downloaded and press print ? Is that how it works?
I can’t seem to find many options online .
Alternatively if someone wants to print them for me I’m happy to pay .
Cheers

I used everyone’s advice to get to this stage today - I went with 3 rails and removed the paint to stick them down . Soaked and steamed some .
Still need to trim the lower ones where they meet in the middle - not sure how I’m going to finish them if I fair them flush with the hull .

These rails are Australian hardwood and were very difficult to work with . My fingers are full of splinters and ca glue but I’m happy 😊

You could well be right Len!

Chris

Chris Just an FYI, I think the rod you are referring to is called brazing rod and not welding rod.

Hi Schmango, the advice from Zooma re attaching spray rails is spot on. Wood becomes easier to work when it is wet, and/or when hot. So dipping in hot water works well, or steaming. Then gently bend the wood and hold it in place, eg. with pins knocked into a baseboard. Don't expect too much ! You can always re-wet or re-steam the wood and bend it into a tighter radius. Ideally the wood should already be shaped to the curve of the boat before you start to glue it on, but you can always apply a little more pressure when actually gluing. You will find that as the wood goes around the tighter curve of the bow it not only needs to be bent into the correct curve, but a twist is required. This is best achieved when wetting or steaming and shaping on the baseboard. Use a small adjustable spanner to hold the wood at the bow end and turn it through 90 degrees. You will have to hold the spanner in that position with a weight or clamp.
Putting on the chine and spray rails was the worst job when making a hull recently. I was jolly pleased when it was all done ! 😉

I'm going to make mine from brass rod and then paint it. I think some folks have used welding rod to make them?

Yes - mine is 33”. I think the rails need to be made from brass so they can be soldered . I tried soldering a coat hanger wire - didn’t work.

These builds are at a scale of 1:12 (that's assuming yours is 33" long as well?) and as I'm a little way off needing them yet I've only had a half-hearted look so far and have forgotten where I looked!

Must make a list and look properly! Any suggestions for suppliers welcome.

Have you had any thoughts on fitting a windscreen and bow rail?

Thanks for this - I think I will take your advice and do 3 to keep it looking cleaner . So far I’ve wasted about 6m of hardwood for the gunwales and chine strips snapping but I’m done now 😊
Side note where is a good place to get all the fittings for the deck ?

Hi Schmango

I'm assuming you were also asking about the layout of the strakes? I wouldn't go for 5 on each side as that is too many.

I based mine on Tireur, a well known Swordsman, which only had 3 each side and thought that will do me! The layout of strakes does tend to vary from hull to hull so you could use 4 if you want. In your case you have strakes very close to the chine which looks odd. They look better if evenly spaced.

I steamed my chine rails and strakes over a kettle. You need to use some method otherwise you will have a real fight on your hands as I also found out!

When fixing strakes (the underwater ribs on the bottom of the hull) to older hulls that I am refurbishing - or just adding them to hulls that never had them fitted before - I always mark the positions of them on the bottom of the hull first.
When I am happy with the positions, I scrape away the paint in a channel that is just a little wider than the strake that I am going to fit.
This gives a nice clean channel to fit the strake into and ensures the glue being used has some good clean wood to bond onto.

When fixing strakes, spray rails, or deck edge rails with "dry" (non soaked or steamed) wood it is important to navigate the bow curve very slowly, and to start working from the tip of the bow.
I have found that fixing the first 5-10mm at the bow end with extra thin superglue anchors the strake/rail in position firmly.
Then the next 5-10mm can be super-glued into position and when dry the next 5-10mm or so until the curved section of the bow is successfully navigated.
After that the sides are a lot easier to fix when longer sections can be glued into place, step at a time, but I still only work in short lengths or 20 - 30 mm or so and hold the strake/rail in place to the marks every time until it is firmly fixed in place.
Marking the position that the strake/rail is to fit against before starting to glue anything down is important.
I mark the position with small marks every 10 - 20 mm apart or so before I start any glueing so the strake/rail will always be glued in the correct position.
Tip:- I have found that a Biro gives a nice clear mark that is easier to work to and easier to see than a pencil mark.

Spray rails perfect as for bending I like to sink them under water for 24hrs then use a heat gun to keep the bends in place

So do these spray rails look right to you ?
Sanded back 35 years of paint today and decided to add spray rails. I’ve been snapping timber strips all day - what’s the secret to bending these around the gunwale and waterline ?

Nice to hear about another competitive Swordsman EdW. They are reliable and competitive models that perform really well.

My first Swordsman was powered by an OS 40M marine engine and later by a Merco 61 Twin-Plug.

It performed really well with both of these engines. I think the OS40M had good power for a .40 size glow engine and the Merco 61 Twin Plug was OK for a .61 glow engine but probably didnt have the power of some of the rival Webra 61 engines etc.

I think torque was an important factor when shoving the Swordsman through the sea and it never looked "second best" to any of the more exotically powered rival models I ever competed with.

I fitted trim tabs to the red Rapier hull shown pictured here for a while, but later made a front hatch to hold a little ballast weight so I could adjust the angle of the boat at speed without the trim tabs.

I never needed trim tabs on my Swordsman - it ran beautifully without them.

My father ran a Swordsman for many years with a water cooled .60. He added spray rails using balsa trailing edge. This was then given a coat of thinned 2 pot polyurethane clear. They were then blended in with filler and the hull was then painted with polyurethane. He added a few drops of castor oil to the polyurethane to plasticise it. The other addition was fitting adjustable trim tabs to the transom. He ran this boat in endurance races in ranging from calm to very rough conditions. Extremely competitive and reliable boat.

Hi Schmango,

I made my spray rails and deck edge rails from 1/8" x 1/4 " obechie hardwood and found them easy to fit to the shape of the hull.

For the "strakes" I used triangular shaped obechie strips and spaced them as per the Aerokits /Philip Connolly plans, and fitted them as follows:-

Start at the bow and only fix 10mm or less at a time (using thin superglue) and hold each small section until it is fully bonded before moving on to the next small section.

This is time consuming, but I have done several hulls this way and they have all worked well

I have also added similar spray rails to some of my older hulls that never had them originally (such as the LesRo Rapier shown here) and found an improved performance.

I think they are worth adding and the constant Deep Vee (mono-hedron) hull on a Swordsman works especially well with them fitted.

Bob. 👍

I’d be happy if a boat moved along like that at a nice scale speed. It’s not a jet ski but a pleasure cruiser.

I have an a swordsmen built late 80’s and it’s never had spray rails or gunwales. Consequently it sits quite low under way.
What is the best way to fit these and what distance off the keel are they supposed to be. I thought about using styrene but also have some hardwood but it might not bend the way it’s needed to.

As a matter of interest, I actually entered and run my Aerokits Swordsman in one of the early British Off-Shore Championship races that was held in the sea at Torquey in the late 1960's.
The boat performed well and returned safely after each run in a sea that had a 6ft swell !!!!!
This was the only time that Roland was unable to run his Connolly plan built Swordsman alongside my Aerokits Swordsman as his had already had the superstructure blown off when we were running them together on the River Avon on choppy water, so we both realised that his hull was unsuitable for this event.

These plans by Philip Connolly are to 1/12 scale and will build into a model that is the same size as the Aerokits Swordsman.

Back in the late 60's my friend (Roland Steemson from Trowbridge) built his Swordsman from these plans and I built mine from the Aerokits kit.

We ran our two Swordsman together for some time and both looked the same and ran the same, but the plan built Swordsman had a lift-off superstructure that made access easier, but was useless for rough water sailing when the waves would simply blow the top off and swamp the hull.

This "problem" will probably never bother most Swordsman owners, but it is something to consider as these models simply excel on rough water and the model can easily be built with fixed cabin sides and removable cabin tops (like the Aerokits Swordsman) to make it more water-tight if rough water running is anticipated.

Many thanks for the plans they looks nice The last but not least step is to go to the workshop
Alain

Yes, I was going to say that for anyone that wants to build one those plans are better as the other ones are too small really.

I used these plans along with the Aerokits kit drawings as the basis for my build.

Chris

Hi Lads
Full size plans of the Swordsman.
Canabus

If you have a copy of the article, I'm interested. Tell me how you are able to transmit it
Many thanks