Erik W

After pulling some hair out, and the remainder going gray, haha, I have finished the backstay plates and chain plates . . . on the port side anyway.  I revisited blackening them, using advice here and on the internet.  My test brass strips looked OK, but I couldn't avoid bare brass spots being rubbed off after lightly wiping them down with a dry cloth.  I'm pretty sure I didn't clean the brass well enough beforehand.  After being left frustrated by that, I just went ahead and followed what Chuck had done on his, and painted them black and used a rust brown weathering powder to give them that iron look.  I'm happy with the results.  A trick I learned years ago as a model railroader with brass, is to bake the brass after painting.  Just put the parts under a hot halogen or incandescence light bulb, about an inch away from the bulb, for about five minutes.  This hardens the paint on the metal surface and makes it much more scuff resistant.  The nails themselves I ordered from ModelExpo (being my first ship build I didn't have any extras from prior builds to use).  They are the smallest ones they offer.  They're slightly rounded on the bottom of the heads, so don't appear the sit flush when pushed in.  So I used a larger diameter drill bit than the holes in the brass were drilled with, and counter sunk all the holes in the backstay and chain plates.  I also ran a sharp angled file on the underside of the heads of each nail.  This helped get the nails to snug down flat when pushed in.  After getting the parts mounted and nailed in place, I went ahead and touched up the paint and weathering powder.
 
Of all the processes involved on this build, metal working is probably the one I have the least experience in.  The backstay plates and chain plates have taken a lot longer than I thought they would.  That said, I've learned a lot, even with the error part of Trial and Error being frustrating at times!
 
Erik

This week I decided to mix things up a bit, taking a break between making the backstay plates and the chain plates.  I made the 22 eye bolts for the hull exterior and cap rail top.  While I have every manner of small diameter wire -  lead, brass, copper, phosphor bronze, steel - down to .002" diameter, I didn't have the type of wire best used by ship modelers for these types of things.  So after some research on this forum I ordered both 24 and 22 gauge Hillman Group dark annealed wire.  I must say, trying to make 22 identical eye bolts was more of a challenge than I thought it would be!  I never did get to a point where they were consistent.  That said, I selected groups that were close to identical to one another to fasten in the same area.  I figure if the port side eye bolts are slightly different than the starboard, a viewer would never know since you only see one side of the ship at a time.  I followed what Mike (Stuntflyer) had done in his Cheerful build log, and filed a little channel around the holes so the eye bolts snug down a bit.
 
I also drilled the scupper holes in the outside of the hull.  This was pretty straight forward, other than when I went to photograph the model I could see the bright wood on the inside of the bulwark.  I wound up taking a fine brush and painting the interior black, followed by running a pencil around the plank edge of the hole.
 
My next step will be to drill the scupper holes on the interior bulwark/deck area.  Does anyone have any advice or wisdom on that?  Am I drilling all the way through the interior planking?  I know I need to make the holes so they notch into the lip of the waterway at deck level.
 
Erik

A little bit of progress this week.  I'm new at metal working, so it took some trial and error to figure out how I am going to make the backstay plates and chain plates.  One of the main issues to getting the ball rolling was figuring out how I was going to make these without the availability of 1/64" x 3/32" brass strip.  It would appear that K & S has discontinued nearly its entire line of brass strip, and I couldn't locate any of the size I needed in my internet search.  Many years ago I had bought a package of various sizes of 6" x 12" brass shim stock (used to shim the plates when molding parts in plastic injection molding machines so that they align correctly) just in case I ever needed sheet brass.  These sheets came in thickness of .001", .0015", .002", .003", .004", .005", .006", .007", .008", .010", .012", and .015".  The .015" thickness is the decimal measurement of 1/64".  So I have my material.  I used a pair of ancient tin snips I have in my toolbox to cut 3/32" wide strips off the sheet.  I then had to flatten the strips since they curled both along the face and the edge.  Next I filed the sharp edges flat.  Then used flat pliers to eliminate the lengthwise cupping caused in cutting the strips off the sheet.  Now that I had my self-made strips ready, I then shaped the backstay plates following Chuck's instructions in his monograph.  Since the strips I created were rough and with blemishes, I polished the finished backstay plates with a fine file after shaping was complete, just because I'm a perfectionist, and that's how I roll!  Yes, I know they'll be painted black.  Haha.
 
Erik

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

I did a variety of things over the last week.  I built the jib outhaul block (shown in the painfully enlarged photo below . . . warts and all, haha).  Mike (stuntflyer) has an excellent tutorial for that on his Cheerful build, so I followed that.  I then made a card stock mock up of the starboard side seat.  I used the card stock templates as a pattern to cut out the parts.  As others have said this is a bit finicky.  I have a feeling the second one will be more of a challenge as I try to get it to match the first.
 
I spent some time this week reading ahead in Chuck's monograph chapters to get a list of the last little bits I need to finish the build.  I ordered some Albion Alloys brass tube.  I also messaged Chuck, Mike, and Glenn (glbarlow) with questions about the thread type/size/color they used with Chuck's scale rope for seizing and serving.  Today I went on a region wide road trip to fly fishing shops and fabric stores.  Most of my dark brown rope is Chuck's old style rope, other than the .012" new Ultra for rat lines (so I don't need thread for seizing or serving the brown Ultra rope).  My tan rope is a mix of his old rope and the new Ultra rope.  These tan colors are close enough in shade to mix on the model, but I wanted thread for seizing that matched each shade.  The photos below are color corrected to be as close to accurate as I could possibly get the images.  The Gutermann thread is for most serving and seizing.  The smaller diameter UNI-Thread fly tying thread is for tiny serving and seizing.
 
Here's what I came up with based on what I could find locally.
Using with Syren old brown rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 593 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Dark Brown
Using with Syren old tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 512 - UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
Using with Syren new Ultra tan rope - Gutermann 50wt CA02776 Polyester thread Color 509 - also UNI-Thread 72D 8/0W Tan
 
Also, as Chuck had answered, the thread he uses for seizing and serving his new Ultra rope is as follows (I researched what actual size/diameter it is in wt and tex).
Ultra Brown rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 682 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
Ultra Tan rope - Gutermann Mara 150 50wt/20Tex  Color 263 or for smaller uses Mara 220 77wt/13Tex
This is hard to find in the US, so Chuck recommended this place: https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/
 
Erik
 

Thank you gentlemen for your likes and comments.
 
Here is a small update on the hair brackets and cheeks. I thought I would paint them blue with a yellow facing. It seemed like a good idea but it didn't work out - and sanding the paint off was a bit of a disaster. Chuck very kindly sent me replacements.
 
I didn't entirely follow the building order set out in the instructions. After ages of fiddling about trying to line things up I settled on starting with the upper hair bracket and using that as a datum point as it were.
 



I painted the friezes off the model.

 
And this is how they came out. I painted my initials (JFH) on the starboard hair bracket - just behind the figurehead's upper arm - for a bit of fun. 
 


And here is the port side. Some tidying up of the scruffy paint work required but otherwise I'm happy with the outcome.
 
 


All the best 
Fred
 
 
 
 
 
 

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

The swivel gun mounts:
 







 

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik

I finished the deadeyes and deadeye strops this week.  And set a new personal record for the most discarded/rejected parts.  Haha.  I can laugh now, but at the time, it was the height of frustration.  I think to get the 8 usable deadeye strops shaped correctly and mounted, I wound up with an additional 15 or so I scrapped.  Admittedly most of that was trying to get the first couple formed.  Once I had a system down for shaping them, things went more smoothly.  I wound up chipping the paint off some of the chain plates, so had to touch that up.  And I wound up rubbing off the finish of the annealed wire I used for making the strops from handling too much, so had to blacken those again . . . which made a bit of a mess on the deadeyes from blackening smudges coming off of my fingers.  So, I had to re-sand some of the deadeyes to remove that.  All in all not the most fun part of the build.  So, I'm happy that buttons up Chapter 9 of Chuck's monograph, and I look forward to getting away from handling metal and back to working with wood for the next parts of the build!
 
Erik

After pulling some hair out, and the remainder going gray, haha, I have finished the backstay plates and chain plates . . . on the port side anyway.  I revisited blackening them, using advice here and on the internet.  My test brass strips looked OK, but I couldn't avoid bare brass spots being rubbed off after lightly wiping them down with a dry cloth.  I'm pretty sure I didn't clean the brass well enough beforehand.  After being left frustrated by that, I just went ahead and followed what Chuck had done on his, and painted them black and used a rust brown weathering powder to give them that iron look.  I'm happy with the results.  A trick I learned years ago as a model railroader with brass, is to bake the brass after painting.  Just put the parts under a hot halogen or incandescence light bulb, about an inch away from the bulb, for about five minutes.  This hardens the paint on the metal surface and makes it much more scuff resistant.  The nails themselves I ordered from ModelExpo (being my first ship build I didn't have any extras from prior builds to use).  They are the smallest ones they offer.  They're slightly rounded on the bottom of the heads, so don't appear the sit flush when pushed in.  So I used a larger diameter drill bit than the holes in the brass were drilled with, and counter sunk all the holes in the backstay and chain plates.  I also ran a sharp angled file on the underside of the heads of each nail.  This helped get the nails to snug down flat when pushed in.  After getting the parts mounted and nailed in place, I went ahead and touched up the paint and weathering powder.
 
Of all the processes involved on this build, metal working is probably the one I have the least experience in.  The backstay plates and chain plates have taken a lot longer than I thought they would.  That said, I've learned a lot, even with the error part of Trial and Error being frustrating at times!
 
Erik

With longer days, and warmer weather, progress has slowed down as my focus has shifted a bit to being outdoors more as spring arrives.  I do still work on Cheerful daily though.  I'm working on the chain plates.  As with the backstay plates, I cut strips out of a 6" x 12" brass sheet.  I then cut the 8 chain plates longer than needed.  Next I shaped the tops of all 8.  Being my first ship build, I had to do some research when I got to Chuck's instructions, "Assuming this isn't your first ship model, the angles for each chain plate were found in the usual way."  Glenn (glbarlow) had some good photos in his Cheerful build log that show how to rig a temporary mast to get the desired chain plate angles.  I made a jig to get the rake of the mast correct, when compared to the plans.  Then I secured the mast in place with temporary fore and aft stays.  The simulated shrouds are tied off at the correct height and spacing on the mast.  Knowing the chain plates are not exactly the same length this process was key to do before I cut them to length and drilled the lower 2 holes on each chain plate.  I have the port side chain plates finished more or less (they do still need a little tweaking).  Each one is marked on the back for which position it belongs in.
 
Erik

One last photo for the week.  I drilled the interior scupper holes.  This was a bit nerve wracking.  I hadn't anticipated how easy it would be for the 1/32" x 1/32" waterway strip to split while being drilled.  I wound up starting with a much smaller drill bit and then using three more progressively larger sizes to only take a slight bit of material off at a time.  I made sure to turn the pin vice really slowly.  If the waterway split, the split part was still attached at one end.  I took a sharpened toothpick, applied a tiny amount of wood glue, and glued the fragmented sliver back down.  I had to do that with three of the holes.  The splits are invisible.  Glad I'm done with that part!
 
Also, I'm not sure of the properties of wood in general, but I'm curious if my boxwood, which I've had for 9 years in an inside climate that has a humidity of around 25% most of the year, splits easier because of that.
 
Erik

This week I decided to mix things up a bit, taking a break between making the backstay plates and the chain plates.  I made the 22 eye bolts for the hull exterior and cap rail top.  While I have every manner of small diameter wire -  lead, brass, copper, phosphor bronze, steel - down to .002" diameter, I didn't have the type of wire best used by ship modelers for these types of things.  So after some research on this forum I ordered both 24 and 22 gauge Hillman Group dark annealed wire.  I must say, trying to make 22 identical eye bolts was more of a challenge than I thought it would be!  I never did get to a point where they were consistent.  That said, I selected groups that were close to identical to one another to fasten in the same area.  I figure if the port side eye bolts are slightly different than the starboard, a viewer would never know since you only see one side of the ship at a time.  I followed what Mike (Stuntflyer) had done in his Cheerful build log, and filed a little channel around the holes so the eye bolts snug down a bit.
 
I also drilled the scupper holes in the outside of the hull.  This was pretty straight forward, other than when I went to photograph the model I could see the bright wood on the inside of the bulwark.  I wound up taking a fine brush and painting the interior black, followed by running a pencil around the plank edge of the hole.
 
My next step will be to drill the scupper holes on the interior bulwark/deck area.  Does anyone have any advice or wisdom on that?  Am I drilling all the way through the interior planking?  I know I need to make the holes so they notch into the lip of the waterway at deck level.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the likes.  I do appreciate you all following along.  After all the metal work of making the chain plates, backstay plates, eye bolts, and deadeye strops, I decided I'd work on a relatively straight forward sub assembly.  I went ahead and installed the rudder, and gudgeons and pintels (I had shaped the rudder itself a couple of months ago).  I used Chuck's mini kit for those.  You have a choice in the mini kit of .010" thick paperboard material or .028" thick plywood.  I opted for the thicker plywood and sanded it down to .018" thick.  By my eye that's a good compromise.  I used .020" diameter styrene rod for the bolts.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably sacrilege among purists to use plastic on a wooden ship build.  Haha.  But since the bolt heads are covered in paint I chose the easier to cut and work with styrene rather than metal wire.  Everything was painted with black paint and then once mounted I taped the simulated metal straps off and applied rust brown weathering powder. I haven't glued the rudder on yet.  I'll do that at a later date after I drill the final hole to mount the tiller (I did drill a small pilot/locator hole though).  That said, the rudder sits correctly straight and true with the pintels snugged down into the gudgeons.
 
On a related note, I received the last few packages of blocks I'll need for the build, and a serving machine, from Chuck this week.  If I'm inventorying correctly, I think that may be the last stuff I need to complete the build.
 
Erik