Thistle17

I responded on Schooners MS thread that his steps and tips were of great value to me. I had not read your postings at the time. Your approach overlayed with his are going to save me a good deal of headache. These little boats are certainly a challenge for their size and can get one in some trouble without this acquired knowledge. Thank you. Joe

It occured to me to give one last try to see if anyone had built any of the Vanguard small boats. Just changing a few search words andIi found your detailed posting. I acquired 3 of the cutters to finish off a Niagara model I am doing as a tribute to a passed member. He never got past the hull completion. I experimented with the stacked Model Shipways small boat builds and was completely unimpressed. I am on my first cutter and I found the directions wanting. I even reached out to Vanguard and he recommended CA. I like your approach better. Your tips are of immense value and I shall keep refering to your methodology. Thank you so much. Joe

Haven't visited this portion of the site for some time Frank. Life has been a whirlwind of distractions and other ventures. I put Winchelsea away after I became frustrated with my attempts at executing a build of comensurate quality as others. I am my own worst critic. In the mean time I actually bought from a fellow MSW member a complete and brand new skeletal package of her and Chapter 1. I am going to start over. I may offer my current work to someone in our group after I advance the new one to this stage hoping to incorporate what was right and do over what was wrong. I may write an epitaph here and start a new thread. Have yet to decide. What is that saying? "If at first you do not succeed........!" Joe

Ron I haven't tuned in for some time. Life events have diverted me. Not surpirised to see your work progress with exceptional execution. You continue to amaze me with your ability to work with hand tools! Joe

Paul I plan to follow your build progress. I acquired the Florida Shapie Fishing Schooner that is recorded on this site. Panel #33 is where I finished off about a year ago. Still some rigging to do and a case. I acquired it from the estate of a fellow modler who found it in n antique shop about 5 years ago. The model is scratch and is done equistely so I am challenged to achieve the quality it deserves. David Bennett of the NC Museum sent me some pictures of rigging of models in his collection you may wish to study. The rigging of these vcessels is relatively simple but there are some gaff hauls that I have yet to find a home for since there are no logical termination points but at the masts. Joe

Any progress Paul? Joe

I attendd a session of the Modelswrights of Niagara yesterday and was made aware of this procedure. I am about to go through this procedure on my Byrnes saw which was upgraded with the wider table top. I shared the very problems you all relate and I have a drawer full of tortured blades due to the misalignment of the fence. As I think back this all became a problem when the table top was replaced. Of course I was not aware of this procedure. I will feedback my experience for others. Joe

I am sorry somehow I did not look close enough at themachining method as I seemed to think it was a laser. So another comment is that I had some blow out on the fback side of the material from the router cutter. I had to add some "face material to that side for those that became "cheeks" of gun ports. It turned out that the .015 material thickness deficit became a non problem when compared to the drawings as I used .015 AYC. Joe

Welcome to the group 'Archie"! I too took the route of fabricating my own bulkheads and "strong back". However I chose a CNC router route. It did not go well for a number of reasons. A couple of cautions. I did not have the witness marks for the gun ports added in. I hand scribed them using the drawings. Are your bulkheads laser cribed? Secondly the drawings depict 1/4" bulkheads. The material I used was .015 thinner. Where this showed up was in the transom area. Chuck has cleverly designed the transom assembly parts so when assembled yield a well registered framework. Check your work carefully and if you go to "Stuntflers" build you will see he had to build out the last bulkheads to align correctly as they were .015 shy as well. These are just cautions that I learned the hard way. Joe

Fine model! Fine woodworking! They do work together don't they! Joe

You are a brave and determined heart! I too gave up on my first build of Winchelsea after too many compromises. I started with my own frames, strongback etc and although relatively sucessful error started to creep in and things went slowly downhill from there. I am poised to start again but your restart is impressive. I will surely follow your journey! Joe

Indeed Gleen virtually impossible to get all the char off given the thickness of the stock and the "dwell" time of the laser. I too had to call it a day before i went too far. Joe

Glenn on Cheerful I ganged 4 canonn wheels of like diameter on a screw of prpoer diameter. Placed a nut on screw end to secure them. I placed the wheels so that the "fatter" diameter of two wheels faced each other. Then I carefully but ever so lightly turned/sanded them on my lathe. The key is to keep the pairings together once removed. Worked fairly well. Joe

You set the bar quite high Glenn. And I must compliment your photography once again. It compliments your model work so well. Joe

Glenn tune into Emser on You Tube you will see what grabs me about him! Joe

Your deliberate and informative sharing has become an invaluable reference for all of us. And I might add your willingness to share set backs as well as successes is apppreciated. I can't tell you the number of "do overs" I have experienced that have slowed progress and dampened enthusiansim. So when I observe your end result I am encouraged to press on. I get the same encouragement from Bob Emser (The Art of Boat Building) by oserving his methods of work. Don't know how to pay you any better a compliment! Joe

I had missed your posting of this build earlier. It is truly lovely!!!! I stopped my Winchelsea build for a number of reasons recently and went back to my Cheerful. It has so much merit as your build loudly proclaims. I will pick up the Winchelsea again as soon as I finish ny Cheerful after an unsatisfying start on the her. I made a number of mistakes as well and I think that has a lot to do with one's mindset about the project. From the looks of your work you are capable of any path you choose. Joe

Always marvel at your craftmanship with hand tools Ron. Joe

Hard to believe it was 2019 when I ventured out on this project. The skeletal work was completed during that period. It was put aside for other projects including the Florida Sharpie restoration, the Laura Goulart repairs (hard to consider that a restoration) and of course the Mark I PBR. I picked up this project in more ernst in the latter half of 2022. Things haven't gone well if you have read the log. As a result about 2 weeks ago I put the project aside after a cold hard stare at what I had wrought. The stare was somewhat of a one eyed look as I contracted shingles at Christmas that found its way to my left eye this February. I am on the mend but the journey's end is not yet evident. Cheerful has been sitting on the bench staring back at me. It is in its final stages of completeion with all deck furniture, cannon, mast and spars completed. It needs final riiging appointments and a case. So needing a "win" I have returned to it. So I made a decision with Winchelsea. I have decided to shut this build down for the time being. In this interim I came across the components for the skeletal structure and Chapter 1 from an MSW member who has decided against the build. I purchased his components for a very reasonable price. The package arrived yesterday. First impressions when I opened the box was that the plywood material was superior to what I had bought (I elected to fabricate my own skeleton). That is encouraging. So as the song goes "you have to know when to hold 'em and you have to know when to fold 'em"! But I am not walking away.!!!!!!! Joe

Trying again to make a log entry with photo(s). I have completed the port side planking above the first layer of the wales. The whole effort was an experience in working with this new wood AYC, the model complexities and my relearned or new techniques. Let me comment a bit about the material as I am a bit surprised no one has to date. Overall it is a good material to work with. It does have its own subtle characteristics beyond handling. In bending planking for the bow I did have a few planks shatter at their ends, even after heat bending on a form, at the bow. I suspect the billet end had dried out a bit. Cutting back the plank somewhat allowed usage elsewhere. The second more troubling but correctable problem with AYC I found is what I will term beam deflection tendency. Even with the closely spaced bulkheads it seemed in some cases to bow under the pressure of sanding. Not all planks, just some. The only solution I found was that I had to add a veneer backer across several planks internally to allow uniform sanding. It nevertheless is a easy wood to work with. Well here is the port side planking progress in the attached photo. The first layer of wales recall was salvaged after too anxious a start (and incorrectly so) of the second layer. I did not attempt the rather complex planking "tabs" above and below the gun ports as I thought I was at the limit of my skills. Also it was evident all that difficult work, even if successful was going to be obscured by the frieze application. Gun ports as many of you know, all 24 for a side are quite difficult. I had made a set of gun port plugs with a 1/32 frame around the perimeter that fit snuggly into each recess. The intent was to use them as a stop guide for the ensuing planking. For me, after a few attempts, they were abandoned. Any variation in match up to the banded perimeter became a glaring error when removed. It just shouted at you! To correct any of these early imperfections I ended up hand trimming the openings with a scapel and a guide as shown in the setup photo below. A metal rule with sand paper attached to the rear to add traction kept it in place along with the clamp. It was a tedious, nerve racking effort but I was loathed to rip out yet more planking off. After all that and with some manipulation of plank widths I ended up with the results shown. I was relieved the frieze tryout it came out correctly as can be seen in the stern area with its temporary placement. Joe

You folk are so supportive! I appreciate your kind words. All your works are inspiring and drive me on. It reminds me of when I was playing ball. I always wanted to play with those that were much better than I. It raised my game even though there were some hard knocks along the way. Anyway I am nearly finished planking the port side up to the sheer after fine tuning the wales and of course removing my incorrect interpretation of the 2nd layer wales. So far with a little retuning of plank width milling I am coming out quite well. Imagine that! Cutting out planking around ports is such an arduous and frustrating task. After more than a few plank discards I think it passes muster. I am using this shop made plank clamp to hold strakes that have been premarked for cutout and then one by one carving out the port opening. A little sanding using a dummy port plug with 1/32 built out sides gets me in the game. Joe