MEDDO

I finished adding the fancy molding to my Cheerful.  I planned ahead with the lower molding and didn't glue the portion that will be removed for the addition of the top boarding ladder step.  I spent a few evenings thinning and fairing the inboard bulwarks.  Yes, this was a messy pain in the butt.  There was a bit of a learning curve to sand/fair the inside of a curve vs. fairing the hull planking.  The bulwarks framing/gun ports measure in at a hair under 1/16" of an inch thick, which is what Chuck recommended in his monograph.  I also faired the bulkhead tops so the false deck will sit flat on them.  Lastly, I added the keel plates.  I still haven't touched up the paint on the hull exterior, so the build still looks a bit rough at this point.  I've decided I'll do that after the deck planking is finished.
 
Erik

I just kind of figured that those windows were all blacked out mostly because glass was pretty expensive back then and basically all it would be doing is putting a window behind you when you were using the toilet it’s not like you were looking out at a nice view behind you while taking care of business.  Maybe in very large for second or third rates it would be different. I don’t know I’ve never seen a definitive reason either

The Cheerful is a wonderful little cutter.  Seems the cedar is an outstanding alternative.  I wonder if a bit of a sensitivity to western red cedar translates over to the alaskan yellow

Thank you for the great review.

ho ho... finished the inboard planking and also the paint is dunn,
am working on making the caprails, for that am using boxwood.
thanks for the likes gyes😊

Time to start building the deck structure, which will help solidify the sides of the hull. I had been thinking about installing temporary spalls, but the shape of the hull seemed very stable without them and it didn’t seem to change much when I was fitting the deck beams at the point of maximum beam.
 
I made a pattern template for the curvature of the beams to match the camber of the deck on the actual ship. On one of my visits to the Mary Day, I strung a string from one side to the other at the point of maximum beam, secured with tape to a stanchion on each side. I then dropped the string on each side until it barely touched the deck in the centerline, then measured the height at each stanchion. The rise in the centerline was 4.5”. I then used the method described by Chapelle in his Boatbuilding text to draw out the appropriate curve on cardstock. Which is challenging to do at this small scale. This was then transferred to a piece of wood for additional stability.
 
Some of the beams were made with Castello boxwood, while I started to splurge with some English (Buxus) boxwood for some of them so I could see if it was noticeably different from the Castello. The pattern was transcribed onto stock of appropriate thickness, for both the upper and lower surfaces of the beams. Multiple pieces of appropriate length were created, and the center point on the curve was also transferred to each piece.

The joint of each beam with the planking and each beam shelf was often very complicated and called for a lot of trial fitting. Trimming at each end was very gradual and symmetric in order to try to preserve the position of the centerline marks.

There were multiple facets of the joints that had to be trimmed in a symmetric fashion, as the beams articulate with not just the beam shelf but also with the frames themselves.

This beam is almost completely flush with the sheer strake.

A lot of work just to install the eight deck beams, and that was after I decided to neglect some beams normally found near the stern.

These Castello beams have their center points marked. There is a fine thread strung from stern to stem, and it appears that they don’t quite line up. The difference is about 1/32”. I am thinking that the stem may be leaning to one side a tiny bit.

Next up are the carlings that make up the support for the deck houses. This will be my first opportunity to cut joints. The plans indicate dovetail joints, but I decided to cut square joints.

Marking off the joint locations and cutting the carling to length.

The microscope was a huge help in cutting these joints.

This joint actually has a bit more of a gap in it than I was shooting for. But overall they made for a very rigid deck structure, and it was a very satisfying process.

Time for the ledges. In the areas of the deck that are to remain unplanked, all of the ledges will be installed. But in the areas to be covered over, I decided to install every other ledge.

This particular carling was a lot of work, with ten joints in it. Each had to be placed accurately, so that the ledges would stay parallel and would articulate properly with their corresponding frames.

Due to all this trial and error, I set the model right next to where I was cutting the joints under the microscope so I didn’t have to keep getting up from the microscope and go back to the workbench.


Each ledge was of course unique, as they had to be of the proper length, they had to have proper camber, and they had to be notched on the underside to articulate with the beam shelf.

Port and starboard side surrounding the forward deckhouse is done. Also installed are coamings for a forward hatch, as well as the mast partners.

Now moving towards the stern, with all but one carling trimmed to length and installed.

All carlings cut to length. But not glued in place yet, until I was satisfied with how everything articulated.

In order to make sure that I painted all interior areas that would be visible following deck planking, I covered the entire deck with the exception of the area that would remain unplanked, then visually inspected the interior. Fortunately it looked like everything was covered.

Pretty happy with how the frames have turned out.

Painting this area accurately will be tricky, since I will want the exterior surface painted accurately, but the cut surfaces of the planks will need to be brown.
 

All beams, carlings, and ledges were dry-fitted to make sure everything is shipshape. Then, the ledges in the area that will be exposed were removed and everything else was glued into place.

Before painting the areas that would remain exposed, I addressed cutting down these two bulkheads at the stern to appropriate height. The more forward of the two was marked using a template of the deck camber.

The excess was carefully chiseled away to allow for a fair run of planking as dictated by this batten.

Painting of the exposed deck structure was then performed. The beams and carlings were painted, sanded, and re-painted while in place. The ledges were painted to appropriate smoothness prior to installation.

The unpainted ledges indicate where the planking will cover.

 

All painting and installation is complete.

 
Several spalls were added to two forward bulkheads to provide support for the deck planking in the bow. This area was also sanded with coarse sandpaper in an effort to start the deck fairing process.
 
That was very satisfying! And even more exciting will be when the deck planking begins to take shape. But at the same time, I am obsessing about fabricating the covering boards, which are very complex and delicate in shape. Next post!
 

Looks great!  It is so exciting to be getting the masts in and the rigging started.  After seeing a master demonstrate the 7-10-7 method I don't think I would ever use anything else

I have been using the kit supplied basswood on the Pinnace. It is really brittle and dry and not uniform throughout. I have been using amodified Chuck method for the bends.  
 
First I soak the wood in water just for 30sec or so just to get it damp.  Then I clamp it to a flat piece of something (here it is some fiberboard).  Using a bunch of clamps and bending it a bit each time. Need to be careful as then wood will tend to rise/curl up on the inner radius a bit.  I just use a clamp to smash it down.  There is a fine line between this and the wood either folding and/or splitting.  After a few you get a feel for the limit.  Once all clamped up I then use the heat gun to warm the whole thing a bit and then alternately remove a clamp and dry the wood in between.  Once dry replace clamp and then do next clamp. Once entire piece is dry I remove all clamps except for the 2 on each end and then go over the wood again with the heat gun to make sure it’s dry then it is done.  Then wood does spring back a bit but if I needed you can repeat process for greater curve.  The edge bent basswood piece below was made in less 5min.  
 

 

 
One thing though I am using a heat gun and not a hairdryer.  It will definitely burn you and it scorched wood a couple of times when I got too aggressive.  Also kinda melted the edge of the plastic clamps a bit.😳

Wow! All I can say is...Wow!

I personally would attend a NRG Conference in Mystic on a regular basis:
A beautiful hotel.
A town that my wife feels comfortable exploring while I attend the meeting.
There are always enough new things happening the the Seaport to keep me coming back.
Other things to see nearby- Submarine Force Museum, Coast Guard Academy.
Good restaurants
A reasonable drive to Herreshoff Museum
Accessible to NYC LaGuardia Airport with nonstop flights to major Airline Hubs
 
Roger
 
 
 
 

I agree with Roger with regards to a regular NRG meeting in Mystic (or Newport News or Annapolis). But to be fair I would think it could alternated with a West Coast NRG meeting. If memory serves me well all the largest NRG meetings I've attended have been on either coast. Perhaps not fair to our interior members but we need to attract as many members as possible to our annual meeting.

Once I shaped the and sanded the proper sheer it was time to add the fairing cap.   I did in fact sand the top of the sheer as Greg describes.  Either a side to side sanding with the stick posted in the last update or by holding the stick on one side as a pivot.  Then sanding on the opposite side with the stick moving it in an arch fore and aft.  
 
The fairing cap will now be added.  This serves two purposes and I discovered with the Winnie project that this is a great design element to help me when fairing inboard.
 
First it establishes a consistent width along the entire sheer.  It will be hard to screw that up as long as I dont sand into the strip.  The fairing cap is 5/32" wide.
 
In addition,  the fairing cap is glued to the top of each frame which really strengthens the hull.  There is no wiggle in any of the frames as you fair inboard or out.
 
There are 2 sections of fairing cap for the waist.   I added the forward piece first (#1)...then the aft section (#2).   These must be added first because a hance piece sits on top of the forward length.  We will add that later.  These are labeled #1 and #2 on the laser cut sheet.  When gluing these on the outside edge is flush with the outboard framing which should already be faired.  You can see below what remains inboard to be faired.  The only fairing I have done inboard up to this point is whatever I managed to get done progressively after raising a half dozen frames.  I had reached inside under those cross jigs to at least get rid of the heavy stuff.  But the cant frames are virtually untouched.
 
The qdeck fairing cap (#3) needs to be beveled on the aft end to sit flush against the transom.   The bow section of fairing cap is self explanatory.   Just make sure its flush with the outboard framing for all four of these pieces.   Then you will know exactly how much material you need to remove inboard.   
 


In this photo after the fairing cap was added,  the two hance pieces were added at the bow.  You can see how it sits on top of the waist fairing cap.  Also check out the framing plan for clarity.  Its at the break in the waist up to the fcastle sheer.   A scroll will be added much later after we finish planking everything.
 

I originally thought that I would need to wait until all the outboard planking was completed before I could fair inboard.  But the hull seems so strong with the fairing caps glued on so I just decided to go for it.
 
The gull has now been completely faired inboard...or about 98% there.   There are still some areas that will require some "noodling".  But I really wanted to get this done because it makes so much dust and its a pain in the butt.  I started with 60 grit sandpaper to get rid of the heavy steps from frame to frame.  Then I switched to 150 grit and then to 120 grit.  Remember when you are doing this NOT to reduce the fairing cap.  Its inevitable that you may hit it from time to time and you may remove the laser char but try and keep the width of the sheer as consistent as you can.   The fairing cap helps you do this.  Here is a picture after finishing up the inboard fairing.  Now I can return to the outboard planking with a much cleaner hull. Although I am compelled to add the keelson first just to make the inboard area even cleaner.   Its nice NOT to have to look at all that unkempt framing and laser char.  It cleaned up rather well dont you think?  
 

There is no real official protocol and we just put it where we think it will fit nicely.  Most of the time if the question is very specific to a problem you are having in your build then the build log would be a good place (my gunport template won't line up with my frames any ideas?).  If it is a more general topic then the specific sub forum would be nice as an independent topic (want to start using an airbrush to paint where to start?).  
 
Sometimes question in a build log become so interesting and consuming with so many posts the mods will split it off into its own sub forum as a new independent topic.

One more thing for the newer members I have said before.  This is a world wide forum with people of all skill levels.  We literally have some of the best modelers in the world post regularly here.  People who literally wrote the books on our subjects.  Sort of a basketball forum with Lebron posting daily or a swimming forum where Phelps is all over the place.  Sometimes this is pretty intimidating.  Us mere mortals must always remember everyone starts somewhere and we all want to improve.  Some of those "pros" are the nicest and most helpful people here.  The tone and encouragement from everyone here on the forum makes this the best place to be

I definitely agree with this advice.  This forum is so big that new posts get pushed off the front page so fast many will not see them.  Chucks 2 build log challenge is a great way for some of the people who have been here for a while to get some visibility on some of the new builders.  Even a quick "great job" comment does help encourage the builder.  Responding to them with a simple thanks in your build log helps complete the circle.  It gets even better if you go to their build logs and start leaving likes and comments.  The circle gets bigger...
 
As Chuck said
 
 
p.s. Also linking you current build in you signature makes it significantly easier to people to get to your log.  For the original poster I know you are working on the Lady Nelson but with no link I have to now go to the search box and search for your log along with all the other Lady Nelson logs.  A link in the signature makes it so much easier

hmm not sure.  It seems to be there on my page.
 
(btw I am using Safari on a iMac, not sure how to do it on other browsers)
 

To put a webpage link into your post you:
 
1  type what you want for example
 
Check out our club Shipwrights of Ohio
 
2  highlight the words you want to link
 

 
3  goto the tool bar at the top of the post and select the icon that looks like 2 links of a chain
 

 
4  after you highlight the word and then hit the link (chain icon) you get a pop up
 

 
5  now copy/paste your webpage url into the space
 

 
6  then hit the button insert into post
 
 
7 now your post (and/or signature block) should have those words underlined and you will see the weblink if you hover over it.
 
 
 
Check out our club Shipwrights of Ohio
 
 
 

Under the drop down tab at your user name select account settings then the tab named signature.  
A text box opens up and you can add whatever signature you want.  
Highlight the text you want to link and proceed as normal to link the specific page.

Thank you Glenn, JJ and Greg for the advice on achieving a realistic look to the rope hanks. I may yet have a further fiddle around with them but for the time being I think I'm going to call my Cheerful finished. Here she is.
 







 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 




I have yet to make a base. That's next up but I'm also thinking about my next project. These are the contenders.
1. Finish the Winnie I started a while ago. I have two issues with that. First some parts I made are just not good enough and will bug me hugely. Secondly I have come to the conclusion after much thought that I prefer fully rigged models.
2. Start over with Winnie, scatch building as much as I can, but make provision for masts and rigging and avoid the mistakes I made on the last Winnie. I think I can make the masts. For the hull I have all Chuck's hard work and expertise though I would like to scatch build as much as I can.
3. Stretch myself and try my hand at a scratch build - I wonder if either Speedwell on bulkheads rather than frames or a Swan class sloop are within my skill range. I have the David Antscherl / Greg Herbert for the latter. I think frames are probably too complex for me however. I don't have their  2 volume Speedwell books which include building Speedwell on bulkheads which may be build-able by me: at least I can have a go. I think I'll get the books and have a think about things.
 
In the meantime: thank you Chuck for Cheerful. I loved building her.
 
All the best everyone
Fred 
 
 
 
 

A small batch of longboat kits is now available.  But they are going super fast....so .....
 
The masting and rigging installments will be coming really soon.   I just have to bang out a whole bunch of Winnie chapter sets first.
 
Chuck

Thanks @druxey, I ended up not trying other woods and sticking with the bamboo - I started getting slightly better at drawing it...slightly. I can't fully understand why some of the treenails seem larger than others. I assume it had something to do with my drilling/trimming/sanding technique as I got more consistent the further along I went. It may remain a mystery though.
 
Appreciate the comments @glbarlow, have some Castello in my shop but still looking for the right tool (or should I say right priced tool) to cut it down 😄.
 
Small update - I finished the treenails on the section so far which means that I can't put off the deck clamps much longer. I am trying to decide if I should start adding any finish coats yet or not though. I still need to glue a few things down so I suppose I'll put that off a little longer.

 

I finished the first layer for the wales.  Basically I added two more strakes below the first that was added.   I show this image because its the first that gives you a good indication of what the hull will eventually look like.  This is as low as the planking will reach on the hull.   Everything you see below the wales is left unplanked and these frames will remain visible.   I do love a fully planked hull though.  Its my preference actually.  But like everyone else,  I would be crazy to cover up all of that hard work with the frames.
 
I will add two more strakes now above the wales.   They are also 7/32" wide.   Then it will be time to remove all of the top jigs.   Yippeee!!!
 
Chuck
 

Yeah.... I am getting scared of this build.... Good thing I have so many great build logs of the Pinnace and the Longboat to follow along with.

Figurehead, 64 Gun Ship, Scale 1/48
 
Karl
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have completed the port strakes from the wales to the molding. Certainly not perfect, but better. I can really see how fairing and having all of your planks the same thickness  is a requirement. I’ve done a light sanding and can see mostly dips where the planks are a little thinner, it really stands out and makes a huge difference. Good thing I like to sand. 😏
 
Best Regards …. Rick