Ryland Craze

I was going to try and make the brake cable chain adjusters but the only chain even close is fusee chain for watches which is very expensive.
Stuck with what they give you but added aluminum tube and a nut..then thinned out some electric wire for the cable instead of the solid stuff they give you.

OK, interior build up. The instructions say to put on the caprail, the frieze and the molding strip before painting and before working on the interior. I know myself and I know I was going to have to be picking up and handling this hull a lot. Which meant I would most likely bang it, nick it and mess up all the exterior of the hull if I did it now 🙂 So, I did the inside of the hull first, and finished up the exterior of the hull afterwards.
 
#1, Paint the inside 🙂 Easier than trying to paint after the cap rail is on. 
A note on painting. I bought the paint set for the kit. I have only used the red, black and white. They included primer, but I did not use it. The only thing I did was to thin out the paint. I like painting with thinner paint and doing two coats, or touch ups if needed. Probably thinned it about 25%, but not sure exactly. I just thin a bit, try a test piece, then adjust adding more water or paint. Note: for touch ups and small pieces I would sometimes just put a small blob from a small stir stick on the inside of an old small plastic bottle cap and add a few drops of water next to the blob. Then I would dab the brush between the water and paint. Made clean up very easy.

 
Side note, I found this cheap, little vise on amazon and was helpful in this part of the build. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F5955K8 
 
I did prep all the bits that go inside. Got all the planks out for the risers, floorboards, decks and thwarts and pre-stained them all. I realize part of the reason for doing this is also that I had limited time to work at one stretch. So, made sense to do all the staining, then walk away and let it dry. I wanted a lighter interior and found that diluting my English Oak Minwax with water gave me the tone I was looking for. I think the instructions suggest mixing two stains. I tried a few I had on hand but preferred the simpler diluted version. 
Next... Started by adding the little indent shown in the instructions for thwarts and risers. I simply "eye balled" were the detail should go and laid down a straight edge, roughly were I wanted the indent, and scribed a long line near the edge. I started with an awl, but that was too sharp and didn't show well. Then found a pick with a slightly blunt tip and that worked nicely. Seemed pretty easy and is a nice detail.

When installing the floorboards I did moisten them slightly before laying down to help it follow the curves. Once you have one good floorboard down, and glued then adding the others is pretty easy using some scrap planking as a spacer. I was able to use the binder clips clamped to a frame on the side and pressing down the floorboard down while gluing.

I thought fitting the fore and aft decks might be tricky, but I found using a small bit of card stock to make the template worked out well as described in the instructions. I made the template in two halves. I roughly cut out two oversize pieces, one for a left side one for right of both decks. Laying in the rough cut and putting pencil marks at the frames them slowly trimming back the insets for the frame made it easy to fit. Once each side was fit, then I put them in place and taped them together to form the template. You can see one side of this one is not done and needs adjusting, but the other side is ready:

I made up the decks, and after gluing I did run a thin pencil at the joints to highlight it a bit. You'll notice in the next pics that I had to add an underside support, as well as taper and trim the supports holding the floor together because some of the initial supports either hit the sides of the boat or ended up right at a frame. 





 
Do glue in the floorboards before adding the risers 🙂   I found a piece of plank that was the correct width for the offset on the risers. So, was able to clamp that in place and then put the actual riser under it. No measuring needed!


I built the rear seats and locker next. Pre-painted and fit the seats and locker in with the prepared thwart to adjust as needed.

For the hinge details I used some thin brass strip and glued a tiny piece of brass wire across the top to mimic the actual hinge. Then dipped it in Jax.

 
Not much to add on thwarts, cut to width and add some notches. The one thwart with the mast supports was just a bit tricky trying to get the look correct, and fitting the mast brace, but just took several rounds of trimming and fitting. Since none of the thwarts were glued yet I could get my fingers in the boat while fitting the mast thwart. I used Jax to blacken the brass pieces. I like the look of Jax better than paint. I used a heavy dilution of Jax's so the coating was slow to form. I found that if it forms to quick it becomes a crust and falls off. Later I read the instructions 🙂 and they recommended cleaning with vinegar then brushing on. That worked well for later bits of brass. Once the mast thwart was done I glued them all in.

 
The caprail. Again I used some stiff poster board and made a couple templates as described in the instructions. The only tricky part was making sure the lengths were correct and that it met the stem and stern correctly. I made the bow section of both caprails meet behind the stem. I think the instructions use a filler piece at the bow joint. That would be easier to fit because you don't have to be so exact were they meet. Everything else is sanded into shape after it is installed. One tip I saw on the forum was to use wood strips to glue down the cap rail. I had some paint stirrers/tongue depressors which worked great with a couple rubber bands. Once glued on it just took a bit of sanding to get the final fit.

 
I got all the knees ready next. Of course, pre-painted them 🙂 I don't know if I did something off, but when I tried to center the knees on the thwarts they did not line up on a frame member. So I glued little bits to the backs so they were butted next to a frame or supported by the sides of the boat. I didn't want to see little gaps behind the knees.

There is one "knee" barely mentioned in the instructions for the bow. I think it is shown sitting under the caprail. this might properly be called a breasthook. If I recall, in the larger model it is flush with the caprail and that is how I installed it. That is similar to how an actual breasthook would be made. If I were to do this again I would re-work this section of my boat. I think that the bow section of my caprail is too wide, it comes aft a bit too far.

 

 
Here's another point I struggled. Trying to make the windlass. After I made mine a saw a tip that I think should be *required* 🙂 . They poster said they ended up making theirs from a hardwood. That could be key, because the issue I had was trying to get the lines on the windlass to stay crisp. Everything I did just looked terrible. You can see that from a few of the attempts in the pic below. There were several others besides those!! I finally got one I thought was acceptable and went with it, though not completely happy with it. I also decided to add some details I saw in the larger model with braces, or supports at the sides of the windlass. I decided this after the thwarts were in. Would have been easier before they were installed. I blackened a little bit of wire and inserted it into 4 small holes in the corners of the support to make it look bolted or nailed on. Later, I did the same thing to my mast step. May not be realistic, but I liked the little visual detail.


 
With the interior of the hull done I added the frieze, rub rail and bottom paint. For the paper friez I sprayed both sides with Krylon Satin Archival Varnish after I cut them out and fitted them. I wasn't sure if I wanted to add these at first. Thought it might look too fancy, and wasn't confident the paper image would work well. I was surprised! I really like the look and the paper strips went on very well. For the stern image I did make several copies at different scales to get one that fit well. The original size didn't look right to me. The side strips were perfect for the sides. The instructions also suggest painting the edge of the cap rail white. I knew my painting skills are not that precise so it is all red. I did, of course 🙂 pre-paint the 1/32 inch trim piece white before gluing it on. 

I marked the waterline and did two coats of white. It was close, but you can see not quite right. I did a little hand painting to smooth out the look and make it look level to the eye when turned upright.

Here's a view after the touch up, but it also shows my lack of shear I mentioned at the start, and how the bow section is a bit flat 😞 I guess that's how we learn. I decided to go with a simple display stand. I played around with some tapered wood pedestals, but ended up simply with some brass rod that I blackened with some Jax. I stained the wood with Varathane "Worn Navy" that I had lying around from another project. 

 I also sprayed the entire finished hull, inside and out, with two coats of the Krylon Archival varnish I used on the friezes. I can't attest to any long term benefits, but the marketing description on the can sounds like it is the right stuff to use 🙂 It looked heavy and wet when I first sprayed it and I panicked a bit!! But, it did dry nicely and left a nice matte/satin finish, even on the painted surfaces. I didn't want a heavy coat, or shiny finish.

 
Next up spars and rigging! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A few more thank yous, @Moonbug, @Blue Ensign for posting your logs I was there offten., and @flyer, your log is impressive,  thanks for your  help with block placement under the platforms. And of course  @Davidlester , but somehow his name doesn't  high lite , I give him a,  pm, but thanks all.

Rigging of the Mizzen mast is completed,  and the helmsman  is getting  course correction from the OOD.


On to the main mast, should be pretty straightforward  , just a couple  of yards. When I get to the foremast,  there will be cross lines and things I am not used to but learning  fast.
Rigging  is fun, tieing ratlines is the best, but I rigged  the Astrolabe  and then jumped  back and rigged the Pegasus,  so I am starting too get a little  rigged out, just a wee bit. Enough to make a disision for my next build. I hear Pile and Goober are Rum runners now, lol. I have to send the Harriet Lane,  the first Coastguard  boat in service I think, down the Mississippi River  to see what's up.
 But some rigging  left to do .

I have figured  out my confusion about the bowsprit lines so I am good to go there as well, thanjs to the Pegasus  logs here.
Take care my friends,  Sea you soon.

 
Knocklouder 😁 

Good start Danny and welcome to Model Ship World.

Good start Danny and welcome to Model Ship World.

This will be my build log for the HM Cutter Sherbourne by Vanguard Models.
 
This is the first model I have ever purchased for myself and the first time the entire project is truly mine from start to finish. Until now, I only helped with small tasks while my dad built his models. He sadly passed away in April 2021. Things were very difficult for the first few years after he passed, until I met my now-wife. Finding her and eventually moving to the UK to live together helped me rebuild my life, and only now do I feel ready to return to modelling again.
I kept some of my dad’s plastic models, but I haven’t touched any modelling project since 2021. As I currently lack the tools for plastic modelling—and have yet to bring everything from Prague to my home in Southampton—I decided to finally start a wooden ship, something I always wanted to try.
Choosing the right kit was surprisingly hard. I’m not a fan of galleons like Santa Maria, nor of ships that aren’t wooden. So I started researching here on the forum. I realised I like smaller vessels and frigates, which helped narrow things down. Another thing that mattered to me, coming from a family of aircraft modellers, was scale consistency. Some brands had ships in all sorts of unrelated scales, while others didn’t offer the ships I liked.
 
Then I discovered Vanguard Models. Most of their range is in 1:64 scale, and I instantly liked several of their kits. That made the decision much easier—so I ordered the Sherbourne, which arrived on the 12th of November.
Opening the box, I was really impressed by the packaging and the overall quality. I inspected everything and found no issues. I went through the instructions, tried to understand the overall process, and made a shopping list for tools—since all I had was a knife and tweezers! I’ve now stocked up on the basics, with a few things still on the way (pin vice, table clamp, calipers, etc.).
 
I cut and shaped the hull frame and pre-sanded the visible stern pieces before gluing them in place. Everything went smoothly. The deck also fit well, and I was able to do the major hull-frame sanding. I was a bit surprised to find some of the MDF parts slightly off, even though I followed the laser guidelines very closely. I noticed the same slight mismatch in the manual photos, so I just sanded things down to fit.
 
Next came the bulwarks and my first attempt at bending timber. I tested the bending iron on a scrap piece, and it worked well. Both bulwarks went on without trouble—though I was careful not to glue the section that gets snapped off later. During test-fitting of the next stages, I realised I had bent the bulwark curve a little too tightly at the prow because I mistakenly thought the outer bulwark slotted into the same prow slot. So my Sherbourne will end up with a slightly different bow shape. I added a small pearwood filler piece to fix the gap in the inner bulwark, and I’ll fill the outer layer gap later.
 
Another concern was the rudder: I thinned the keel deliberately so I wouldn’t have to sand the first planking layer down to almost nothing. And then—of course—my cats knocked the hull off the table, breaking off a bulwark and part of the stern. I’ll fix all that once I get to adding the outer stern structure!
Right now, I’m researching planking while sanding and preparing other parts. My main sticking point at the moment is how to mark the plank lines on the bulwark. I’ve seen Chuck’s videos, but I’m still unsure how to approach it. Do I simply measure the bulwark length and divide it by the number of planks, or is the spacing supposed to be nonlinear?
 
I want to do things the right way and honour my dad by building something I can truly be proud of. As saying this, I am very open to constructive criticism and will be happy if stuff I can improve is pointed out!
 

Getting late in the day and the sun is in the far west above the horizon. Worried steam pressure may get too high and explode so worked on the steam gauge. To give the glass look on the face of the gauge I copied the card stock gauge image (that comes with the kit) onto photo paper. I encased the wood plug body that comes with the kit with 2mm wide brass strapping then cemented the photo image to it. I also cemented a piece of wire in the back in the 12 o’clock position to aid in mounting it to the boiler dome.  Getting time to anchor up and admire the gauge. 
As Always (until tomorrow) Best Rick

It's available? Great! I'd like to see you build it. 
It's a very simple working steam engine. You solder some of the major parts together.  The intake and exaust ports open and close as the cylinder rocks side to side. Very clever. You fill the boiler with water and put a few drops of oil in the water and light the sterno chunks that you put in a cup under the boiler. As i recall,  the engine was a separate kit way back.

Today completed but not rigged the foremast. First the lower part

Then to do the supports for the upper shrouds made encircled the mast with strips then sanded down
 

 
Then the topmast


 
Pre sanding sealer
 

And after
 
 

Completed the painting of the hull. It’s gone slow because I painted this when also painting some other models. Next steps are adding pieces to the deck. 
 
(Still have a bit of cleanup to do with a 000 brush. Nearly all the painting was with an airbrush and masking.)

State of play, 23 Nov 2025.
 
 

Okay, starting in on the most complex set of rudder pedals that a kit has ever called upon me to build -- 32 pieces in all! 😬
 

 
And they are not big pieces, either!
 

 
The main portion is a shaft with a number of linkages connected to it, with spacers on either side of each linkage. As often happens in such instances, I ran out of space on the shaft to include all the spacers, so some fudging was called for.
 

 
Then we needed to add the pedals themselves, each made from six pieces.
 

 
Lastly, a test fit to make sure everything will fir properly.
 

 
That's it for now!

Swiss Pear 3D printed deadeyes are all now back in stock....enjoy!!!  Hot out of the oven....so to speak...
 

Once again, thanks for the positive comments and likes.  And now onto chapter 4.
 
Pretty basic stuff this week with the first few steps of chapter 4 leading up to the installation of the false deck.
 
Added the two sub decks and the beams.  I applied one coat of matt water-based sealer to the sub decks to test out if I liked the look.  Weighing using a matt finish on the deck, or just keeping it completely natural.  I would like to seal the deck planking with something but don't want it to be noticeable.
 
At this point all beams are only dry fit.
 
You can also see the center line I ran the length of the deck.
 

 
Next was dry fitting the false deck sheets.  As I placed the sheets and got them aligned, I followed Chuck's suggestion in the directions and drilled & pinned the pieces in place.  All of this still only dry fit.
 

 
Then it was time to pull it all apart and glue the beams and false deck permanently into place.  I ended up adjusting almost all the beams again during final assembly as everything was still just a little too tight and was pushing some of the beams out of alignment.
 
I was able to install the false deck one piece at a time relying on the pre-drilled pin locations for alignment.  I used several 1 Kg bags of shot to press the deck pieces down while the glue set.
 

 
Current state of things.  The bow filler pieces are installed.  I'm doing one last round of fairing prior to starting on the inner bulwarks.
 

 
Steve

I got the oval shape cut from the wood board I purchased. Glued two wooden pedestals on it, but wasn’t quite sure the wood glue was enough. I flipped it over and drillled from the bottom. Then inserted  some brass rods. I’m going to stick some felt over them to cover the holes.
 

 
Well that brings this build to a close. The Saturday after Thanksgiving I’ll be taking it halfway to its destination in Auburn, Alabama. My nephew is putting it in his office. Whether he likes it or not, that’s him and his family sailing:-) Thanks for all the views, likes and comments. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m up Suns Up Anchor’s Up and setting sail on another day of boiler and steam engine work. Without the engine and no wind and occasionally getting caught in the irons (with a very demanding 20 year old granddaughter) work must be done. Turning my attention to finishing the steam boiler! 

I had a full shop at my house. I have 14 British cars from Healy’s Triumps  MGS Jaguars but my favorite is a 97 Land Rover Defender. I don’t do it anymore since I am 77 and can’t get off the floor Glad to see you restored a TR6. I am sure you enjoyed it. I got most of my cars when people just said get them out of here. I find collecting cars art and ship building an affliction! Guess I should see a shrink. I won a bunch of shows and people wanted me to restore their cars. I REFUSED!!  A soon as you take money the fun is gone!
We ha a lot in common. Building model ships and car restoration are both creative and give a great deal of pleasure and pride. We also like the stain color. 
Thanks Terry I will have to look up your steam launch build. 

As Always Best Rick

No it's not.

The typeface of the queries looks to be the style used by computers 20 years ago.  What computer and operating system is being used.  We've had to buy newer computers along the way as things get more sophisticated in our increasingly technological world, as may commercial websites don't work well on old machines/operating systems ... or simply don't work al all.  'Used to be that a home computer was considered obsolete at 10 years old.  Now its looking like 5 !  Our "new" Mac Mini with Sequoia OS 15 has been set NOT to automatically install operating systems (or updates) and also NOT even to download them ... these are two separate functions.  Still, we're now bugged to install the new OS 26 ... still quite 'buggy' and subject to revisions already.  We may still opt for stable revisions of OS 15, but are loathe to risk OS 26 ... until 'forced' to by the inevitable 'wheel of progress' designed to make you buy a new computer.
  Once upon a time,  a person only needed one typewriter (kids don't know what those were) that would last them their entire life, and then be passed on to a son or daughter.

At this point, the topsides was substantially complete, so TWILIGHT was once again toted over to the friends' pool in order to take accurate measurements of her actual loaded waterline location.  When I had first floated the model without the top hamper, she weighed 18.5 lbs.  For the second (more complete) floatation test, she was again weighed and the scale settled at 23.4 lbs.  The latest test demonstrated that the WL should be painted 1/2" above the initial DWL.

The laser level was again utilized to connect the measured points at the bow and stern and a fresh upper line was marked.  Masking tape and film were used to shield the topsides from overspray, the hull was sanded and wiped down prior to giving the bottom a fresh coat of bottom paint.

The re-painting of the bottom highlighted the fact that the topsides of the hull also needed some attention to remove scratches, fingerprints and varnish/epoxy drips. Lots of additional taping and sanding were required in preparation. Once this portion had been painted, Vicky's steadier hands were again brought into play to paint the trim color on the cabin top beadings.  And to complete the saga of taping, I masked around the portions of the topsides where a fresh set of TWILIGHT's name decals were to be applied over gold painted "badges".  The application of the decals followed and when they were dry, a couple of light coats of clear flat acrylic were sprayed on to help seal them from the water.

Finally, the layers of the cocoons were stripped away.

To finish up mounting R/C switches, I built a small double-sided cabinet to fit between between the pilothouse and the main cabin. The forward face into the pilot house contains a wet foulie locker while the aft face of the cabinet incorporated bookshelves and that final switch, which controls the running lights, occupies a corner of the top.

One evening, the interior lighting and the running lights were tested. (My camera had difficulties focussing with this level of light - my apologies!)
Just imagine that it is the view looking aft on a slightly foggy night  😉 .

Scale crew members arrived to be experimented with for placement locations.

And to finish this update, here is a photo, taken a couple of days ago, with TWILIGHT posed in front of the initial Profile drawing of some years back.

We are awaiting a calm break in the weather to put the model in the salt chuck for some sea trials. Assuming all goes well, she will then return to the boat shop to permit the fitting of the main cabin joinery.
 
Thanks again for your welcome support,
 
Cheers,  Craig
 

It is, Keith. Not sure where I want to start, every side is a challenge.

For the strapping on the oak wood I plan on using satin black pinstripe in place of painted card stock. It’s on order and waiting for it to come in.