petervisser

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.
 

 

 

 

I received my chapter nine parts, downloaded the monograph chapter, and finally got back to work after a long break. I added the quarterdeck inner planking, prepainted red. I then added the various cap rail parts after painting them black. The laser cut parts are great and make the work very straightforward. I sanded, filled and resanded the various joints and then repainted those areas. 
 
Bob

When lining off the hull, I saw that it would need a couple of stealers in the deadwood area. I made a simple sketch on paper to see how they could be arranged.

Then when I laid the next stake I edge bent it so that the gap at the stern post is just wide enough for one plank (7mm).
 

... and with the stealer fitted.

I recessed the ?bearding? line along the bow.  Also sanded the frames.
 
I gave a shot at bending the first plank. And look and behold, what is likely commen practice and utterly boring to most of you is giving me such joy.
 
The plank sits in place, curved, without any persuation 😁  
 

 
I uses my plane covering iron again, but need to give it a good clean. The covering glue residue rubs off on the planks.
 

 
Does anyone use a heated bed from an old 3D printer as baseboard for these bending operations?  It might help heating the planks more equally from both sides. Or are the planks typically soaked tranferring the heat more easily in depth?
 
It does seem to work when heating from a single side. But it would not hurt being able to shorten the heating duration.
 

 
Did I mention this build will be a slow one? 😋

Still having some issues uploading photos, (same error message keeps popping up... frustrating), but I've managed to get two pics uploaded today. Before Christmas, I wanted to post an update as I had completed the first belt of planking on the port side. After a little debate with myself whether or not to start the first belt on the starboard side (and a pause for Christmas), I'm still not sure what I want to do with the reveal on the starboard side, so in the spirit of giving myself more time to think about it (aka procrastination), I have now completed the second belt on the port side. As it is now, I'm going to finish off the port side planking before returning to the starboard side.
 

 

 
I'm managing between two and three strakes a day (provided I've made enough pre-spiled ones for the bow). Slow but steady work. 
 
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and a safe and prosperous 2022.
 
Andy

I wish everyone a lot of success until the new year 2022, peace of mind modeling and especially health!

Hello Dirk and welcome to this great site. I have built the Marie Jeanne by Billing a long time ago now. I really like the lines of this boat and it's colourful paint scheme. I ran across another site that had photos of the same model built by other modellers with totally different colourings. It was a treat to see! Anyway, all the best with your project. It was a fun build for me and I hope a fun one for you as well. Happy New Year!
Peter

Hello Dirk and welcome to this great site. I have built the Marie Jeanne by Billing a long time ago now. I really like the lines of this boat and it's colourful paint scheme. I ran across another site that had photos of the same model built by other modellers with totally different colourings. It was a treat to see! Anyway, all the best with your project. It was a fun build for me and I hope a fun one for you as well. Happy New Year!
Peter

Hello Dirk and welcome to this great site. I have built the Marie Jeanne by Billing a long time ago now. I really like the lines of this boat and it's colourful paint scheme. I ran across another site that had photos of the same model built by other modellers with totally different colourings. It was a treat to see! Anyway, all the best with your project. It was a fun build for me and I hope a fun one for you as well. Happy New Year!
Peter

I'd like to plug Oxford Companion to the Seas. Lots of wonderfull info in alphabetical order no less! It covers a broad range of topics and should answer all your queries. The book is widely available on the internet at a very respectable price.
Cheers,
Peter

Next, the oars were prepared. The blanks from Corel had to be sanded and adjusted quite intensively. It might have been easier to make the oars from a strip with a square cross-section. Since later the ship will be visible mainly from the starboard side, I assigned the slightly worse oars to the port side. Also between port and starboard was later differentiated in the simulated attachment of the protective boards (knots/gluing on the keel side of the oars). To fix the rudders better, small pieces of wire (diameter 0.2 mm) were first sunk into the shaft. However, it turned out that these wire pins made adjusting the oars rather difficult. They were therefore subsequently ground off.

To adjust the oars on the ship, I made a template that imitated the bend of the ship's side. The distance between the oars was marked. On the outside, the oars were brought to the same distance by a spacer bar.   



For the showcase I used acrylic glass. The showcase was mounted under a sloping roof. The easier sawing of acrylic glass proved to be advantageous here. Now in the showcase it becomes especially clear what dimensions the ship has. In retrospect, building the ship was a lot of fun even if the material from Corel sometimes left something to be desired. 
 


 
 

Just a little update with the masts of my Cutty Sark. It was quite the process getting the masts, tops and crosstrees assembled. I tried to prep them as much as possible before the paint came out. I decided to paint/stain them as they now appear on the actual ship in Greenich. They were first stained and varathaned and then masked off for painting. In the past I have always painted by brush and Humbrol enamel paint, but decided to invest in an airbrush and acrylic paint instead. The primary reason behind this is because of the many, many blocks which I will be painting in the future when the yards are assembled. What a time killer! Airbrushing them will be way more efficient! So with a brand new airbrush in my shop I opted to airbrush the masts as well. A bit to learn but I am very happy with the results. And no more "holidays"! A super investment that only took several decades to find out....
Here are some pic's of the results.
 

In this picture the masts are stained and varathaned, and some are masked with tape and saran wrap.
 

Here they are spray painted which went super slick.
 

The finished product with the deadeyes and mast bands painted.
 

The underside of the tops.
 

The topsides of the tops.
 

The crosstrees.
 

This is my new airbrush. It came as a complete set with the compressor as well. Beside it are a bunch of belaying pins. I can't believe I used to paint these by brush. And two coats at that!
 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Peter
 

Just a little update with the masts of my Cutty Sark. It was quite the process getting the masts, tops and crosstrees assembled. I tried to prep them as much as possible before the paint came out. I decided to paint/stain them as they now appear on the actual ship in Greenich. They were first stained and varathaned and then masked off for painting. In the past I have always painted by brush and Humbrol enamel paint, but decided to invest in an airbrush and acrylic paint instead. The primary reason behind this is because of the many, many blocks which I will be painting in the future when the yards are assembled. What a time killer! Airbrushing them will be way more efficient! So with a brand new airbrush in my shop I opted to airbrush the masts as well. A bit to learn but I am very happy with the results. And no more "holidays"! A super investment that only took several decades to find out....
Here are some pic's of the results.
 

In this picture the masts are stained and varathaned, and some are masked with tape and saran wrap.
 

Here they are spray painted which went super slick.
 

The finished product with the deadeyes and mast bands painted.
 

The underside of the tops.
 

The topsides of the tops.
 

The crosstrees.
 

This is my new airbrush. It came as a complete set with the compressor as well. Beside it are a bunch of belaying pins. I can't believe I used to paint these by brush. And two coats at that!
 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Peter
 

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.
 

 

 

 

Hi, After some months I can show the build results of  My HMB Endeavour.
I hope that you like it remembering me as a beginner. Feel free to advise .
The bark will not get the orange/yellowish/ blue  colours. I want to keep the wood colours.
Question is which colour do I use for the mirror side.  

I've shaped the bolsters for the hawse holes and wash cant for under the lower cheek.
 

 

 
Also the decorative molding that is on the stem in front of the figure head was added. Drilling the hawse holes was next. I drilled a small pilot hole on an upward angle from outboard in. If you drilled straight you would be way to low. After I was happy with the location and angle with the pilot hole I used a 1/8" bit in a pin vice. I then used a round file to enlarge the holes. The inside of the holes were painted black and then pencil graphite was used to to simulate the lead pipe. Lastly the the large knee was added inboard above the hawse holes. 
 

 

 

 
Lastly I did the inboard cleats and stag horn.
 

 

 
I thinks that completes chapter 5!  On to Chapter 6 and 24 gun carriages to build. 
 
 
 

Devastating news Mark. You've left a lovely legacy of beautiful ship models in your wake. Smooth seas and a following winds on your next journey my friend.
Peter

Devastating news Mark. You've left a lovely legacy of beautiful ship models in your wake. Smooth seas and a following winds on your next journey my friend.
Peter

Devastating news Mark. You've left a lovely legacy of beautiful ship models in your wake. Smooth seas and a following winds on your next journey my friend.
Peter

Thank you Glenn for the comment and for clearing up the tapering question I had.
 
There is a bit more progress to share.  I finished planking the bulwarks and as they were being painted I thought geez, that doesn't look bad with just the planks between the gun ports painted red.  I have seen this done on other builds where the spirketing is left natural.  So I finished painting the planking between the ports before installing the spirketing.  Then I had another thought.  Instead of having to cut the cap rail and shape the cathead to fit around things, I would leave a slot for it.  I haven't had much success going back later and cutting into things. 
 
The bow of Cheerful ended up being a little wider than the plans.  About the thickness of the planks.
 
 

 
 
The portion of the cap rail between the catheads ended up being split during the install.  Figured no problem, just fill the crack later.  
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
There have been clearance issues with the pin rail in other builds.  See how it goes when the time comes to install the bowsprit.  Laid out where the catheads would sit and started working around those areas.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
A fancy bit was glued to the cap rail to cover the split just in case just in case it won't be painted.  Going to live with this look for a while.
 
 

 
Then came some exterior work. 
 

 
 

 
 
After working with the cedar, that boxwood is some tough stuff.  Next will be finishing up the exterior trim and a little more sanding.  
 
This photo just kind of jumped in here.  I also cut the hole for the rudder

Everyone: Just a quick update on getting the sails on my Agamemnon. The deck is a mess but Im slowly getting to the final stretch. The square sails are up and now working on the jib sails.. More to come.. making that final push to the finish line! 🙂 
 
Mike Draper

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.
 

 

 

 

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.
 

 

 

 

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.
 

 

 

 

Hi All,
Just popping my head up after a long while with Cutty Sark. I have been in the shop from time to time, but that was for other projects. I have been working lately on CS's yards and they are now done except for the paint. I am now poring over the Campbell's rigging drawings, Longridges chapters on rigging as well as Underhill's book covering the same topic. All three are invaluable. Less so the drawing that accompanies the kit. That said, not everyone is a rigger and the drawings are adequate for a completed model.
Here are some pic's of the yards in place. They are dry fitted for the moment, so not all are level.