Erik W

I reached a huge milestone on my Cheerful build yesterday.  With the completion of the winch, I'm now finished with the inboard details and fittings and ready to start with the bowsprit, mast, spars, and rigging.  It's taken 15 months of daily work to get from where I had finished the exterior planking to here.  So in celebration, after a morning of touch up, and careful dusting, here are a ton of photos.  Haha.  The top photo is roughly where I picked up 15 months ago after a 6 1/2 year break.  I've spent time since my last post making the winch from scratch, and the bowsprit step (which is not yet glued down) from Chuck's mini kit.  I built the bowsprit step first to get the shape of the top of the timber heads and then copied those on the winch, so they'd look the same.  The last photo is my humble little work area.  To all those contemplating a Cheerful build, all the tools I've used fit in about a 3rd of the pictured plastic tool box, so you don't really need much, besides time, to embark on this project.
 
Erik

I reached a huge milestone on my Cheerful build yesterday.  With the completion of the winch, I'm now finished with the inboard details and fittings and ready to start with the bowsprit, mast, spars, and rigging.  It's taken 15 months of daily work to get from where I had finished the exterior planking to here.  So in celebration, after a morning of touch up, and careful dusting, here are a ton of photos.  Haha.  The top photo is roughly where I picked up 15 months ago after a 6 1/2 year break.  I've spent time since my last post making the winch from scratch, and the bowsprit step (which is not yet glued down) from Chuck's mini kit.  I built the bowsprit step first to get the shape of the top of the timber heads and then copied those on the winch, so they'd look the same.  The last photo is my humble little work area.  To all those contemplating a Cheerful build, all the tools I've used fit in about a 3rd of the pictured plastic tool box, so you don't really need much, besides time, to embark on this project.
 
Erik

I reached a huge milestone on my Cheerful build yesterday.  With the completion of the winch, I'm now finished with the inboard details and fittings and ready to start with the bowsprit, mast, spars, and rigging.  It's taken 15 months of daily work to get from where I had finished the exterior planking to here.  So in celebration, after a morning of touch up, and careful dusting, here are a ton of photos.  Haha.  The top photo is roughly where I picked up 15 months ago after a 6 1/2 year break.  I've spent time since my last post making the winch from scratch, and the bowsprit step (which is not yet glued down) from Chuck's mini kit.  I built the bowsprit step first to get the shape of the top of the timber heads and then copied those on the winch, so they'd look the same.  The last photo is my humble little work area.  To all those contemplating a Cheerful build, all the tools I've used fit in about a 3rd of the pictured plastic tool box, so you don't really need much, besides time, to embark on this project.
 
Erik

I reached a huge milestone on my Cheerful build yesterday.  With the completion of the winch, I'm now finished with the inboard details and fittings and ready to start with the bowsprit, mast, spars, and rigging.  It's taken 15 months of daily work to get from where I had finished the exterior planking to here.  So in celebration, after a morning of touch up, and careful dusting, here are a ton of photos.  Haha.  The top photo is roughly where I picked up 15 months ago after a 6 1/2 year break.  I've spent time since my last post making the winch from scratch, and the bowsprit step (which is not yet glued down) from Chuck's mini kit.  I built the bowsprit step first to get the shape of the top of the timber heads and then copied those on the winch, so they'd look the same.  The last photo is my humble little work area.  To all those contemplating a Cheerful build, all the tools I've used fit in about a 3rd of the pictured plastic tool box, so you don't really need much, besides time, to embark on this project.
 
Erik

I reached a huge milestone on my Cheerful build yesterday.  With the completion of the winch, I'm now finished with the inboard details and fittings and ready to start with the bowsprit, mast, spars, and rigging.  It's taken 15 months of daily work to get from where I had finished the exterior planking to here.  So in celebration, after a morning of touch up, and careful dusting, here are a ton of photos.  Haha.  The top photo is roughly where I picked up 15 months ago after a 6 1/2 year break.  I've spent time since my last post making the winch from scratch, and the bowsprit step (which is not yet glued down) from Chuck's mini kit.  I built the bowsprit step first to get the shape of the top of the timber heads and then copied those on the winch, so they'd look the same.  The last photo is my humble little work area.  To all those contemplating a Cheerful build, all the tools I've used fit in about a 3rd of the pictured plastic tool box, so you don't really need much, besides time, to embark on this project.
 
Erik

After preparing the part, it is necessary to weld:
 

To give it its final shape, I used an old, suitably shaped iron plate

Don't worry, the other side will be without planks and partially open, so the inside of the hull will be visible.

I continue planking and nailing the hull. All that remains is to glue the last 4 planks and make the final sanding.      

Just finished up the bench lockers. I really enjoyed making them

Mike

Ditto!

Looks great Erik! I'm taking notes here. All these fantastic build threads give lots of solutions to things that may pop up when I've got a few builds under my belt and finally build my own Cheerful.
 
Cheers,
 
Todd

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Nice looking tiller.

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks Gary and Tiziano, other photo Anson.

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

In the last couple of weeks I've finished the gun tackles on 9 of the 10 carronades.  It took some trial and error to get these the way I wanted them.  My first attempt at seizing both blocks might have been more prototypical, based on the photos I was looking at, with a noticeable small gap between the block and the rear of the attached rigging hook, with the seizing in between.  This though made the two blocks on the sides of the carronades closer to one another, which to my eye, looked less visually appealing than having the blocks spaced further apart.  So, I settled on rigging the blocks with the back of the hooks nearly touching the blocks and with the seizing done using 72 denier 8/0 W fly tying thread (see bottom photo), rather than small sewing thread.   This also kept the seizings from looking too bulky, which I've noticed from looking at photos of other builds, can tend to happen when rigging smaller blocks. 
 
One accidental challenge I made for myself is not paying attention to Chuck's instructions for using 28 gauge wire to make the eye bolts on the carronades.  I inadvertently used 24 gauge wire, but formed to the correct outside diameter as shown on the plans.  When I realized this, I thought it would be no big deal.  The problem is that it left a hole that Chuck's 3mm black plastic rigging hooks barely fit into.  Some eye bolts wouldn't take the hooks at all, or the hooks broke while trying to attach.  So . . . . I had a sheet of the old brass 3mm hooks.  I super glued two of those together so they're the same .020" thickness as the black plastic hooks, and then was able to bend them as required.  I only used these on the rear blocks where the hook is vertical, so intermixing the black plastic hooks with the brass hooks wouldn't be noticeable.  And I figure accidentally using the thicker 24 gauge wire for the eye bolts vs. the correct 28 gauge wire isn't noticeable since the outside diameter of the loop is the same as it would be with the smaller diameter wire.  Anyway, that's my cautionary tale of why reading comprehension is important in model building.  Haha!
 
Also, between the making the breech rope and the gun tackles, I'm feeling much more self-assured as I approach the rigging phase of the build.  I'm more confident that the outcome of the rigging will be of the same standard I've achieved for this build thus far.
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik

Thanks for the nice comment Al, and thanks everyone for all the likes.  My latest progress was fashioning the tiller.  I cut the extra tiller from the plans (Chuck has 2 tillers drawn on the plans), and using double sided tape applied it to 1/8" boxwood sheet.  I cut the tiller out to a slightly bigger size than needed, and then just took my time removing material and shaping it over the last week.  I'd say the most challenging part of this was getting the ball shaped at the end to be as close to spherical as I could.  It's not perfect, but close enough.  I had not attached the rudder permanently to the ship when I made it months ago.  This turned out to be a good decision since it was easier to get the tiller fitted to the rudder off the model.  The joint between the rudder and tiller is reinforced with a short length of .032" diameter brass wire.  I securely glued the rudder in place with wood glue applied to the gudgeons.  I'm on the home stretch now with the deck details!
 
Erik