Jack12477

Foremast port side main shroud ratlines complete. They need some tidying up, though.

This model is actually not that small.   At 1/4" scale the hull is 17 3/4" long......fully rigged she is 29 1/4" long....and 25.5" tall.
 
Chuck

Not Really Kurt
 
There are a few magazine articles,  the Peterson book on Rigging,  A few other books may have a nugget or two, but thats it.  Its pretty much spread all over the place.  You really cant count on the AOTS book for Alert.  Its much earlier than Cheerful.  The cutter didnt change all that much but there are still vast differences in some areas.   Its also has a few errors in it which have been discussed to death.  The windlass is one of them.
 
Luckily there are quite a few contemporary models of cutters out there.  There are also tons of plans for cutters on the NMM site.  AND the Cheerful plans are excellent in every respect. Very detailed which is why I chose it.
 
I pent the day planking.  Got the first belt done ob the starboard side.  It went quickly.  Only eight planks.   The starboard side is now half planked.  I must complete the square tuck on the starboard side next before I can plank the lower belt.  Luckily because its a POB design and NOT a fully framed model,  I dont have to follow actual practice for building the square tuck.   So based on my design I can do one half of the tuck at a time.  I am eager to get it done to see how it will work out.
 
Once the square tuck is done then I will plank the remaining 10 strakes in the lower belt....then I must repeat the process on the other side.  
 
Chuck
 

 

 

 

 

Turns out I made the two hatches the wrong size.  The forecastle false deck has squares marked on it for the placement of these hatches. Instead of adding the 1/16" square strips outside of these markings I placed them inside. My thinking was that the markings represented the overall size. Wrong! Chuck's watchful eye caught the mistake.
 
Before and after
 

 

If you have been to Woodcraft check out the pfeil Chisels.  And ask the help for some advice.  The one I go to in Livertyville is very knowledgeable and will help you get the ones you seek.  Remember when it comes to a good blade you pay for what you get.  Plus they will have to be resharpened before you can use them.  The japanese chisels in my opinion are very good.  But they can be the wrong type for the kind of wood you are going to carve.  Sheffield made are also good as well. and easier to take care of.  Will you be using your hand most of the time or a mallet.
David B 

Update:  Bow stem repaired. Temporary braces removed, Cap rail installed and sanded. Red tape applied to mask off areas to be painted. I'm going to paint the cap rail, inside and stern red as the others. Interior I think I will stain (not sure which color yet). Have not decided whether I will paint the lower hull white or leave it "natural". The red "masking" tape I'm using is Great Planes brand 1/8" EZ-Mask Flexible Masking tape. I started using it when I was building the plastic Tamiya armor kits. It's very flexible, low tack and applies easily.
 



 

Update:  Bow stem repaired. Temporary braces removed, Cap rail installed and sanded. Red tape applied to mask off areas to be painted. I'm going to paint the cap rail, inside and stern red as the others. Interior I think I will stain (not sure which color yet). Have not decided whether I will paint the lower hull white or leave it "natural". The red "masking" tape I'm using is Great Planes brand 1/8" EZ-Mask Flexible Masking tape. I started using it when I was building the plastic Tamiya armor kits. It's very flexible, low tack and applies easily.
 



 

Shucks Jack, now you have spilled the beans Jude was trying to keep this present a secret
 
Michael

As promised the short video of the gearbox in action.
 
michael

Michael,  very impressive work ! 

What !? You don't have a Gleason Gear Cutting Machine in your garage, Michael !  (Just kidding of course).
 
Many (and I do mean many) years ago, I was shopping in a department store in my home town of Rochester NY where Gleason is located and on the main shopping floor Gleason had set up one of the smaller gear cutting machines and was giving  a demonstration. The machine was cutting the beveled ring gear for a Sears Sewing machine. When the machinist finished cutting the gear he gave it to me. I have it on my key ring - well worn. It was interesting to see exactly how the machine worked - it did not cut each slot sequentially but rather stepped about 15 degrees (or so) and cut another slot then another step of about 15 degrees and another slot; when it finally finished cutting the final slot was adjacent to the first slot cut.  Photo attached below:
 

 
I am really impressed and envious of your machining skills. The engine is magnificent !

Keep pressing on. I got the formast main, top, gallent and royal up and hung on the masts. I then completed rigging the hallyards for all the formast yards. 
 
My next step is to do all the foresheets etc and hten finish up dressing the pinracks. A good ay of work tonight though.
 
****I have one question. As per the diagram I attach here on this post it appears to be diagramming the sheets coming off of the corners of the sails which then go through blocks and to the deck. However, with that rigging through the holes in the yards all those sheets will do is make the sails go 'more straight' for want of correct terminology. It seems that the rope should go from the end of the sail to the block to the deck so when you haul on the line it would trim the sail in....Does that description make sense? Any idea what's up with this particular diagram? If I rig up the formast as per this diagram it doesn't seem like the rope will be 'doing' anything....Help please.....****

A good weekend of progress.
Whenever the Lady has to work and I have the weekend off I get a lot done. It's a good trade off. I get to build and my wife knows I'm out of trouble. All I have to keep an eye on me is the rabbit and as you can see she's rarely impressed with my work.
 
I got the rest of the sails ironed and got the 'rough draft' done on all of the yards for the ship. I got them all shaped and then I'm gonna get the blocks on them as I go along.
 
Next I finished the stays and the spritsail. It's crazy how much line is just on the front of the ship. Then i got in all of those staysails. Mine hang a little differently than the rigging diagrams, but I like em anyhow. I was starting to get tired but I had a little more juice so I went ahead and rigged the foremast mainsail and did my loops for the bow pinracks. Good progress overall. I got the hallyards for the foremast main yard but will have to wait on running the other lines until I get the top / gallant / royal foremast yards up. Maybe I'll find a couple hours this week.
 
To anyone else working on this kit: The rigging diagram on this kit is pretty good, but I'm noticing all the kits make the assumption that you have some knowledge of ship rigging before hand. I recommend really looking at the diagrams and being completely sure what every line is and what pin they all run into. On my rigging diagram I labeled them all so as I go along it's just one line at a time.
 
What a fun hobby.

Ribs added using 0.5mm x 1.5mm styrene strips.
 

 
An outside plank (styrene) added to support cutting the oar locks.  The upper plank saturated with fast C/A to prevent splitting.
 

 
With template for deck planking. Also an inside reinforcement for the base of the oarlocks.
 

 
After a little work on the computer, I'll finish the launch.  Thumbnail is the third photo. Cheers, Gil

JoTika specified double planking, however after the first planking, I couldn't see the advantage in repeating the procedure.  The only concern seemed to be damaging the planking when removing the bulkheads.  However, with fast C/A applied between each row of planks, the hull was firm enough  to sustain no damage.
 

 
I did a trial run with Dap Plastic wood and Minwax Wood Filler. The Plastic Wood dried very quickly and required more sanding, while the Minwax was easier to apply and sanded more easily.
 

 
Minwax Wood  Filler.
 

 
A second filling and sanding with Micro-fill.
 

Thanks for the likes .
 
I did make the casing today and fitted the gears inside.
 
the gear for the prop through the end that will be shaped with the cone recess.
 

 
The casing with the pinions and the drive gear which will be pinned to the crankshaft.
 

 
The cone end with the pinions dropped in and the gears lined up for the casing to slip over.
 

 
All dry assembled I also spotted three holes for some 0x80 bolts to ensure the casing and cone stay together and do not move relative to each other.
 

 

 
I did check the reverse by rotating the prop to see that it actually worked to this stage. still a long way to go to get it all mounted and working in situ.
 
It did work though so I am pleased about that.
 
Michael

What !? You don't have a Gleason Gear Cutting Machine in your garage, Michael !  (Just kidding of course).
 
Many (and I do mean many) years ago, I was shopping in a department store in my home town of Rochester NY where Gleason is located and on the main shopping floor Gleason had set up one of the smaller gear cutting machines and was giving  a demonstration. The machine was cutting the beveled ring gear for a Sears Sewing machine. When the machinist finished cutting the gear he gave it to me. I have it on my key ring - well worn. It was interesting to see exactly how the machine worked - it did not cut each slot sequentially but rather stepped about 15 degrees (or so) and cut another slot then another step of about 15 degrees and another slot; when it finally finished cutting the final slot was adjacent to the first slot cut.  Photo attached below:
 

 
I am really impressed and envious of your machining skills. The engine is magnificent !

Okay, I'm finally back to square one. The "restoration" is complete. Planks didn't fit as nicely into the rabbet at the bow as originally but it's passable. In the process I broke off the top of the bow stem, so I have to either fabricate a new piece or use the "spare" stem that comes with the kit to graft a new top piece onto the existing but broken stem. I'll work on that next week. And I have to remove the frame braces I installed to protect the frames while I was trying to reattach the planks.
 
For now, here's the results:
 


 
Ryan: The Admiral gladly contributed the sponge to the shipyards tool chest
 

Continuing planking.
 

 
After rough sanding.
 

Planking the launch. Pre-bent planks.
 

 
Lightly glued, since the bulkheads have to be removed later.
 

I've looked at Jerry's lovely ship's boats, and he even makes it look easy. Why is it that I always make things complicated?
There are a few pitfalls along the way (such as breaking the bulkheads) but these can be repaired and the results should be much the same.
For the Launch, the bulkheads are placed and aligned.
 

 
Shaping and narrowing the planks at the bow by sanding
 

 
The 0.5mm x 3mm walnut planking supplied with the kit is rather rough and splits easily. Bending these around the first bulkhead dry tended to produce fractures or splitting of the planks. After soaking the planks, they tended to produce a sharp angle over the first bulkhead. I found preforming the planks by soaking and drying with a genlte curve gave better results.
 

 
 

What !? You don't have a Gleason Gear Cutting Machine in your garage, Michael !  (Just kidding of course).
 
Many (and I do mean many) years ago, I was shopping in a department store in my home town of Rochester NY where Gleason is located and on the main shopping floor Gleason had set up one of the smaller gear cutting machines and was giving  a demonstration. The machine was cutting the beveled ring gear for a Sears Sewing machine. When the machinist finished cutting the gear he gave it to me. I have it on my key ring - well worn. It was interesting to see exactly how the machine worked - it did not cut each slot sequentially but rather stepped about 15 degrees (or so) and cut another slot then another step of about 15 degrees and another slot; when it finally finished cutting the final slot was adjacent to the first slot cut.  Photo attached below:
 

 
I am really impressed and envious of your machining skills. The engine is magnificent !

Nice job, Rich. I like the "tablet paper" as a template/guide !

I finished the framing on the front wall.   now the objective here will be to get the wall sheeted and the side rails on.
 

 
after sheeting the port side lower portion,  the side rail was installed.
 

 
then it was to continue sheeting the wall with the bits and pieces I have lying around.
 

 
the starboard lower portion was put in place.
 

 
then the starboard side rail was added.
 

 
outside of the trimming around the door and windows,  the wall is done.
 

 

 
 
 
 

● Forecastle Deck:
 
I started the deck planking today using a #2b pencil to simulate the tarred seams. All of the deck planking will be done using boxwood. I applied a coat of Wipe-On Poly to bring out the color.