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Blue Ensign

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Everything posted by Blue Ensign

  1. Blue Ensign
    A fine job Michael, and a beautiful model to enjoy. Well done. B.E.
  2. Blue Ensign
    Just picked up on this build Ryland, your pace of work may be slow, but the result is a fine model, much to be admired. B.E.
  3. Blue Ensign
    Hi Martin, I only usually bother with the vac if I'm making serious dust; all the Proxxon machines take my Henry vacuum cleaner connection, but I have been toying with the idea of getting the Proxxon version which comes on automatically with the machine. Nor sure Mrs W of the Shires would appreciate industrial grade extraction equipment running around my office cum workshop. although she likes the idea of the Proxxon cleaner, has visions of using it around the rest of the upper floor, when I'm out of the way I think. B.E.
  4. Blue Ensign
    It's a nice plan Kurt, much larger than the scale plan provided, they do look good framed. My attention is fully engaged in the fairing process at present, but I think Chuck has it all covered as far as the detail is concerned. B.E.
  5. Blue Ensign
    They are all there Kurt, if you go back to the site and enter ‘Cheerful’ in the search box all the plan variations come up to select from. B.E.
  6. Blue Ensign
    Hi Kurt, Here is the link to plan I purchased. http://prints.rmg.co.uk/art/534442/lines-plan-of-vessels-surly-1806-and-cheerful-1806 Cheers, B.E.
  7. Blue Ensign
    Post 5 Bulkheads. Nice to have these heavy cleanly cut bulkheads provided for me, I particularly like the scored reference lines for the ports and wales. All the Bulkheads slipped easily onto the false keel. 3820 At this point I made a simple support board to keep the keel upright whilst I fitted the bulkheads. Bulkheads not glued at this stage. 3823 Get my first real impression of what a chunky little vessel she will be, lovin' it already. The b/h's should have the scored reference lines for the ports and wale facing either forward or aft depending on whether they are designated by letters or numbers. Forward for numbers, aft for letters. Chuck has confirmed to me that b/h ⊕ can be placed either way around. 3835 Starting with b/h ⊕ I work fore and aft to glue them into place, checking for square and level as I go. 3837 3839 I use a high quality pva for this purpose, which has a 5 minute grab, sufficient working time, but short enough to hold quickly once positioned. With the bulkheads fixed it remains to fix the Bow and Port fillers. 3934 So far so good, then........ When it came to the Port fillers I hit a problem. The fillers run between the external edges of bulkheads J and M., leaving just a wedge of the shorter bulkhead L protruding, which will be faired away. 4013 On the starboard side of my cutter they fit perfectly, as above. ...but on the Portside seem a tad short. Hhmm have I got either Bulkheads J or M slightly out of square, I spent so much time squaring them up, or has a bit of warp crept into the bulkhead. Annoying and barely a mm but sufficient to need a filler to make up the difference. Rather than try to get the bulkheads off again and perhaps end up with more trouble I added a sliver of Boxwood to the aft end of the filler pieces. 4008 To bring the filler sets up to the level of the Bulkhead extensions I split a spare filler piece and used one thickness of ply. 4012 Onto the far more testy business of fairing next. B.E.
  8. Blue Ensign
    That is from a painting by John Dews the Yorkshire Marine artist, depicting the Sir Winston Churchill off Whitby. She is wearing the Flag of St George, the English Flag. As she is not a naval vessel, where the flag and position may have more relevance, it may simply be indicative that she is an English ship. At the stern she wears the Red Ensign, of the British merchant marine. B.E.
  9. Blue Ensign
    Hi Paul, I didn't coat the plates I wanted them to gain a natural patina over time. I was careful when handling the model not to touch the plates with my bare hands. Cheers, B.E.
  10. Blue Ensign
    She's coming together very nicely Lukas. B.E.
  11. Blue Ensign
    Cheers mobbsie, Whatever the limitations of the Proxxon machines I have are, at my skill level I doubt I will ever test them. Best wishes to you and yours for Christmas and the New Year. B.E.
  12. Blue Ensign
    .....and necessary I think Michael to support the hull whilst working. I will end up with three different supports, the one above, one that holds the keel, stem, and stern in a fixed position, and a third that supports the hull inverted. I used the Band saw because the material was quite thick at 9mm but the curves were relatively gentle which the Band saw could handle. I also find that the more rigid blade allows me to cut straight lines freehand better than the scroll saw. The downside is that the Band saw is quite noisy compare to the scroll saw. B.E.
  13. Blue Ensign
    Don’t know how one can fair those fragile bulkheads without bracing strips, but once in place you can proceed with confidence. Still need soft hands tho’. 😉 B.E.
  14. Blue Ensign
    I’m late to this party Peter, not quite sure how I missed it. You’ve taken on quite a beast, and made a lot of progress in what seems to me to me a very short time. Nice idea to use ‘false port’ gun carriages, will give a far more authentic look. I’m not a fan of dummy plug in gun barrels. B.E.
  15. Blue Ensign
    Thanks Martin, been 2013 since we had any significant snow in my small area of England, an area that would no doubt slip into a corner of Oklahoma and not be noticed for weeks. Great for taking seasonal pictures of William, but it's all gone now. Been busy in the shipyard this morning making an additional support cradle for the Cutter. 3927 Haven't used it for months but the Band saw came into its own today, I so love these bijou Proxxon machines. 3932 Set the supports for bulkheads H and 8. 3933 Rough and basic from a bit of scrap 9mm mdf, but it will serve the purpose. Winding operations down now for the Christmas break. 2659 Not before time for some of the Dockyard workers. Cheers, B.E.
  16. Blue Ensign
    Hi Chuck, I am just about to start fixing the bulkheads on my version of Cheerful, and I am mindful of your warnings about ensuring that the scored reference lines on the bulkheads face forward for numbers and aft for letters. This is probably a stupid question but which camp does bulkhead Ø fit into - numbers or letters? I have trawled thro' some of the build logs and there seems to examples of both. Regards, B.E.
  17. Blue Ensign
    Thanks Martin, I can't make out the signature on the plan but this is what I know. Cheerful (and Surly) were designed by Sir John Henslow, Surveyor of the Navy, who had served as a young man as draughtsman to Sir Thomas Slade; The Cheerful Class were the last of a varied class of ship designs produced before he retired in 1806. The plans were produced in The Navy Office 16/4/1806, approved by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty 17/4/1806 and a copy of the draught sent to the Merchant Builders James and Joseph Johnson, Dover 30/5/1806. The keel was laid in June of that year, the vessel launched in November, and commissioned in January 1807. She was sold on 31 July 1816 after 9 years service. Surly her sister ship was commissioned at the same time but had a much longer and more exciting early career, finally sold in 1837 after some 30 years. The moral of this tale if anything, is, if longevity is your goal, it's better to be surly than cheerful. Happy Christmas to you and Mrs W. B.E.
  18. Blue Ensign
    Post 4 Attending to the stem I am grateful to Chuck for the laser cut parts that make up the stem and keel, saves a lot of time faffing around with the scroll saw; nice Boxwood and need for very little fettlin', the most time consuming part is removing the quite heavy char on the pieces. I did this mostly by scraping with a sharp blade. I followed Chuck's example of filling the treenail holes rather than use dowel pegs. 3772(2) 3609 They are very small, he suggests a #76 drill equivalent to 0.508mm Ø I used a 0.6mm Ø drill. 3603 Once I was satisfied with the fit the two stem pieces were glued together. 3608 and then to the Rabbet strip on the false keel. 3772 All went together very nicely. 3774 The two keel pieces were then added. 3779 Impressed by the fit of the stern post and rudder, although these will be put aside for much later in the build. 3776 There seems to be a slight kink in the forward section of the keel, I hope this doesn't prove to be troublesome, the false keel looks true sighting along from stem to stern. To complete this part of the build, a light sanding and sealing with wipe-on-poly. 3786 3783 Note: Chuck makes reference to the use of Minwax wipe-on Poly to seal the Boxwood finish of the stem pieces once they have been fitted. For those in the UK Minwax products are horrendously expensive (£36) for what is essentially a thinned down oil based Polyurethane Varnish. Normal oil based Poly is readily available in the UK. Thin it down 50/50 with White spirit to make your own wipe-on. I used Blackfriars satin poly - 250ml cost me £8 effectively 500ml once diluted. There is loads of stuff on making your own w-o-p on the internet. 3771 Finally as with Pegasus I obtained the Admiralty plan for Cheerful and Surly which now sits above my workbench as additional inspiration. Next up fiddlin' with my Bulkheads. B.E.
  19. Blue Ensign
    Nice touch Steve B.E.
  20. Blue Ensign
    Good to see some progress Martin, I found drilling the hawse holes a testy moment in the build, something that stuck in my mind even tho' the detail of my approach had faded, and I had to refer to my log (page 3) This is what I wrote at the time: Hawse holes and bolsters This is a good time to attend to this job before other stuff gets in the way . The Hawse holes are 10½” ø equating to 4mm at scale (ffm). The anchor cables are 13” circ = to 1.65mm ø. A formula exists for determining the size of the hawse holes; diameter of cable x 9/4 = 3.7mm. Always best I think to start small and work up. The task of positioning the hawse holes and bolsters proved quite tricky and somewhat tense with the risk of a slip with the Minicraft drill. Even so little bits flaked off from the surrounding planking, and I could feel my stress levels rising until I had the four holes completed. Not too sure about the kit arrangement or the shape of the Hawse bolsters (120). I don’t want them fouling the lower/ekeing rails and I suspect that the kit set up is too far in towards the stem, and that the two holes are too far apart. Hope this helps rather than confuses. B.E.
  21. Blue Ensign
    Nice progress Jason, very pleasing to my eye. B.E.
  22. Blue Ensign
    Having just looked at Rusty's completed Cheerful, two come along at the same time. What a stunning model you have created Mike, beautiful work, and another fine reference for those who follow on. Thank you, B.E.
  23. Blue Ensign
    Beautiful model Rusty, and great photo's. Fills me with some trepidation as I start out on my own Cheerful journey, but relieved that I have such an example to inspire me. Just one curiosity, why did you display the Union flag at the Gaff, rather than a naval ensign? beautifully fashioned flag by the way. Regards, B.E.
  24. Blue Ensign
    Cheers Kurt, I've got to work So the build begins The two keel halves are glued together and the Bearding line marked on the Starboard side to match the Portside. The Rabbet strip is now ready for fixing. 3112 I used the False keel fret cut out to make a former to shape the rabbet around the bow shape. 3120 Using the wet/heat method I pre-bent the strip to take the stress out when gluing. 3122 Because the strip has to be centred along the keel not having to fight it or apply too much pressure is a great bonus. 3256 Only light clamping is required. 3258 The stern rabbet strip is then added. 3262 and finally the bearding line taper sanded in. 3263 I can now move onto the Boxwood stem and Keel. B.E.
  25. Blue Ensign
    Cheers Guys Well a week or so has passed and nothing really to show, but I have been busy reading logs and I feel grateful for three fine builds by Rustyj, rafine (Bob) and Stuntflyer (Mike) in addition to Chuck's own initial build, to refer to. If I come anywhere close to those examples I will be a happy man. As an aside I have treated myself to a couple of Proxxon goodies to add to my collection. A Thicknesser/sander, (DH40) and a Surface Planer (AH80) plus some spares, and mill bits. As with previous purchases I obtained the machines from Germany. https://www.tbs-aachen.de/ .....and saved myself £118.00 over the UK supply price. I always feel a certain trepidation whenever I start a new build, and I tend to spend a fair bit of time fiddling with the first stage bits before I get the pva out. 3079 Looking at the two false keel halves, they don't seem to join square at both top and bottom. Maybe the tongue of the Jigsaw join is a tad long. 3078 The second task will be to glue a Rabbet strip (⅛" x1/16")- 3.2mm x 1.59mm along the stem, bottom and up the stern of the false keel. This strip doesn't seem to have been provided in the Crown Timber package but they do supply a 1/16"" thick sheet of boxwood which would require a ⅛" strip cutting off. 3104 Fortunately I do have some 3.4mm square Boxwood strip and this provides me with a perfect opportunity to bring my new Thicknesser machine into use. 3103 It brought the 30" length of 3.4mm boxwood strip down to 1.59mm consistently along its length. Being new to this machine I took quite a few light passes to familiarise myself, but I think it will be a very useful addition. A question to those who may have this machine, when feeding narrow strip thro' is it normal for it to move across the planing table without maintaining a straight line? it doesn't seem to affect the cut but is a bit disconcerting to a new user. B.E.

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