petervisser

The hull trim has also been added. The strips were pre-bent and prepped with paint or stain before they were nailed/glued to the hull. This whole process was pretty tricky and it did not turn out perfectly, but it will have to do. Next time around I think I will glue them on while the hull is bare wood and paint or finish them in place with masking tape. I did however rough up the paint with sandpaper so that the glue had a better chance of holding.
 
 

Well, work has been progressing albeit slowly. The decks are finally all caulked and several layers of varathane applied. This is what they look like now...

Good evening  all,
not working today. I made 1 anchor out of 2, as couldnt find big anchor,,,i opted for one with wooden part....atached admiral stick from much smaller anchor, and installed nameplate. it was quite difficult and time cnsuming, its made of square  brass profile to step out of flat surface. that is from 1.5 mm plywood, not steel.  Lady on the nose is not yet born. and wont be so soon I guess.
meanwhile I was studying rigging by a lot. about that > 
I am at the point of thinking how to mast / rig her.  But we at home decided that when Hull is ready, its alwazs I love rigging part fart more that woodwork, as played with ropes since being kid. looking forward to.
it would give her a credit to get  standing rigging up to the topmast at this point. ....and i will see from there......but definitely will do standing rigging, and would like to go only jigs for running rigging.......surely not other  sails ....but to the point it is not cumbersome to move comfortably. Despite its longitude, she is surprisingly light / apart of stern. Im thinking of mast her up to topmast. most likely not topgallant. I would like to install jigs...but that is concerning me with forepart of ship. definitely much longer. I could be able to install 1 and that would be pointless. so still thinking. what do you think would be most siutable?
she is half deck anyway ! can be 3 quarters masts as well....BUt i want to cripple her to the beauty. well i have to slow down.,
many parts left so im preparing standing rigging, want to go as close to original design, making deadeyes block stanchions , than I want to solder small plate to the bulwark to attach it and relieve rail completely from the strain transferring it to the bulwarks.
I made all stanchions yesterday , drilled hole, .. turned out fun { probably 30 minutes. )
oh by the way, muntz sheathing is started but im not to continue at this point as that can be done anytime when rains outside. turned out pretty easy at this scale, only time consuming. opted for brass , i made sure to buy not too thick to cut with scissors but ot too thin like tape.. it was cheap on amazon from china, perfect to work with...to show yellow gloss...
 
 



 

The hull trim has also been added. The strips were pre-bent and prepped with paint or stain before they were nailed/glued to the hull. This whole process was pretty tricky and it did not turn out perfectly, but it will have to do. Next time around I think I will glue them on while the hull is bare wood and paint or finish them in place with masking tape. I did however rough up the paint with sandpaper so that the glue had a better chance of holding.
 
 

Well, work has been progressing albeit slowly. The decks are finally all caulked and several layers of varathane applied. This is what they look like now...

Finally, here are some photos of the gunwale stanchions and trim along with the attachment of the foc'sle deck. I didn't think I would bother with the trim and stanchions but other builders of this model added them so I had to try and keep up. I have finally found a re-purpose for the styrofoam trays our meat gets packaged in. They are perfect for holding tiny fittings while they get painted!
What with the foc'sle deck being added, I had to afix the bowsprit in place. This made the model instantly longer by 8.5" so it is alot more susceptible to damage. Yikes!
 
 

The hull trim has also been added. The strips were pre-bent and prepped with paint or stain before they were nailed/glued to the hull. This whole process was pretty tricky and it did not turn out perfectly, but it will have to do. Next time around I think I will glue them on while the hull is bare wood and paint or finish them in place with masking tape. I did however rough up the paint with sandpaper so that the glue had a better chance of holding.
 
 

Well, work has been progressing albeit slowly. The decks are finally all caulked and several layers of varathane applied. This is what they look like now...

Finally, here are some photos of the gunwale stanchions and trim along with the attachment of the foc'sle deck. I didn't think I would bother with the trim and stanchions but other builders of this model added them so I had to try and keep up. I have finally found a re-purpose for the styrofoam trays our meat gets packaged in. They are perfect for holding tiny fittings while they get painted!
What with the foc'sle deck being added, I had to afix the bowsprit in place. This made the model instantly longer by 8.5" so it is alot more susceptible to damage. Yikes!
 
 

The hull trim has also been added. The strips were pre-bent and prepped with paint or stain before they were nailed/glued to the hull. This whole process was pretty tricky and it did not turn out perfectly, but it will have to do. Next time around I think I will glue them on while the hull is bare wood and paint or finish them in place with masking tape. I did however rough up the paint with sandpaper so that the glue had a better chance of holding.
 
 

Well, work has been progressing albeit slowly. The decks are finally all caulked and several layers of varathane applied. This is what they look like now...

Hi all continuing to plod on with this



Made a start on the main mast.

Good evening Everyone,
 
no 10. Machinery and bulwark stanchions and windows.
 
There is no plethora of eyes or iron parts on Cutty, but what it is is marvelous piece of vintage casting industry glamour. Unfortunately I am really beginner at iron work, but I did try my best , with an window that I could possibly rework some of it. I would like to learn specially how to blacken or burnish brass, as I did not find any cloloring or spraying satisfying enough to be acceptable. If someone has a tip or can lead me to some tutorial on web on that topic i would be really thankful. I did mix iron with some  wooden parts  to easy an effort....thank you for any comment etc...I have to highlight one piece that I like most . 
Bilge pump with its vintage S wheels is an eyecatcher and really characteristic on this ship. I decided to color S supports parts black but left wheel frame on its brass color. I find it pleasing to look at. what I have dilemma are the actual eyebolts going into deck. 
sould I make original simple round eyes as on actual ship? I have those modern eyes at hume with pins already installed, but seems weird a bit from aesthetic point. what do you think?
For the winches or how is it called I used most parts from old bolts and rivets I found at home, also for various size bollards. I put brass nail with cap into bolt to replicare brass ending on bollards. There is still many parts missing on boat like sheaves, and small bollards on rails, I am not going to make now intentionally, as Lifeboat and lifeoats elevation ramps.... I intend to make after I decide whether to rig the ship or not ...and Capstan is out of scale slightly. Catheads are not yet completed so I will post those later on. tomorrow I will post decoration and that would be catch up to where I am about to be now. From now on it will be sparer posts depends what progress do I make. well, if not rigging, only muntzter sheathing remains rudder,,  two parts on back deck with window, installing doors and that would be it I wont post decking capitol as It is nothing to write home about. as I am not at decking yet, I will probably include some pics, I did install individual planks around hatches , building ,rest is from lime wood strips 70 mm wide. I can make individual planking later any time, and this would provide solid base especially as original decking is elevated a bit with metal ending frame ....
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi all started in an upwards direction.

Mark, Omar, and Others,
 
thank you for interest. Well best thing I could have done was to put her on this forum becuase since than I return back and repair what I did make hastily. This panel website and Your sneak peak look makes me commit to her even more.
U thought how to proceed further , It is shortcuts Omar what I post , otherwise, it is long project, Im trying to get into real state of her, so ....Mark, I envy you, I lived in Ireland in 2007, making plan to visit London with friends and I put Greenwich to the list, but for some reason that did not materialised so....never been there yet. Regarding masting that is right on the spot what I am about to think nowadays.
I am thinking firmly that rigging would make her justice as well as I dont f. up the stern and nose decorations as those are prominent parts I guess. I never thought of putting sails on her but more people start telling me to it. I did measure her again , and guess what ? It is not 1:30 scale but 1:24 !!!!! as hull is 270 cm.-.....I had wrong numbers at the start. holy ****. at this moment Im thinking this - If I rig her , it would be only vertical rigging to make suitable compromise...so I can move her thru doors....
but even in this main mast height would be 1.80 cm plus her hull cca 27 cm and that would not make it thru doors. I have room 5X 5 meters so she can live there comfortably besides I am doing most of work now in my room, she moved to dry dock:))) First ideas was to build some glass table around her so she can  lie in living room as a glass table next to the couch. I dont want to put her next wall as there will be only I side visible. something like center of the room but glass would be dear...ouch...that is far future...I would definitely love to see her rigged vertcally at some pooint but probably not this year. I want to finish her to the point of cedoration without rigging. great paradox is that Covid 19 now gave me desired time to slow and put some more effort...not that I am happy about it. sort of. now controvertial topis. Big model is like big painting in gallery. step back and wow, come closer and make sure  you did it right because photo wont fool you, but everyone knows that. :))) I made one grave mistake I had to repair , will put some pics of it.that is pain of every starting builder cut thru finished part, but so far it is repairable and very important. I had to remove bowsprit eye as made it too thick. causing metal sheet turing arout it was too far causing nose looking more like titanic than cutty sark. making new out of seasoned maple wood I had from violin making, repairing it now.
 

 
I read somewhere that model boats building is art. that curiosity grabbed me to ty it as I did not understand what can be artistic in more engineering work than art. Now I understand better. Of course there will alwazs be polemic how far should one proceed with material and leaning away from oroginal design - but we all know especially with far smaller scales, that big portion of model building is inventing with materials and ideas to help to make similar or exact part as original. I am mentioningit as  Specially cutty sark artistic parts are important domination of the boat from drawing desk of the original inventor of the ship orrect? she was designed to be trading success , and her beauty should have promote her trade ability, showing off potential of the company doing thade finantial stability etc....and her postvictorian era decor make a significant part of the boat. Curvy ending of her railing tops, rounded angles and corners.....and most dominant halfround decor of the deck buildings, all this typical for Heydays of postvictorian era but reaminding me start of "la Belle epoque" ! ....
sometimes wire helps to replicate wood etcetera - in this case with small models of this ship right? 
There are ornamenatal parts in most especially wooden boats  and in my opinion what is artistic about all this is the vision of maker  - to the point how to achieve a pleasing look - there is big constroversy if the goal is to replicate MOST realistic look or choose lets say mode of decoration similar in painting art lets say  there was realistic romatic and van gogh or picasso era for example - same for example deck cecoration would be same by measures and technical drawing parts but visual detailing will be diferent from the visual point - hyperralistic or just blurry or imaginary - or slightly cleaner or hollow similar to japanese carpentry look.  I will leave this to theoretical debate i dont want to continue about it. my opinion is,  but i am mentioning it so you can better understand what aproach did I take with replicating deck buildings etc.....
 
no 9. Dressing up a lady /3 parts - carpentry, metal work, machinery /
 
carpentry - I have to say I did not have exact idea of final look how to achieve important 3 dimensional layers of decckhouses decoration structure, but I knew I have to acheve that somehow to be visible , specially at this big scale you would call me looser if made it just cartoonish :))) I tried to inlay small columns finally.  furthe ideas came up one after another...not that precise but hope I did replicate important parts....barebone blonde layer, maple and lime wood, first layer /should simulate original layering but without smallish framing decoration at the corner of each rounded columns lines - thus my deck houses replicate more illusionary art rather than hyperrealistic approach . third layer . casettes with inlays. finally I used a mahogany framing for the columns to give justice original wood of shp so it is there I inlaid doors and stern deck, but I did not replicate it exactly...hope everyone can live with that ...:)
 
  I used cap from old windows hinges to make cap of wooden stanchions . - and rest for rudder .
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
























 

Hi all was about to start on the fore mast, but then thought I better sort all the lower stuff before going in an upwards direction.
So first I thought about the problem of doing the portholes heres my answer to getting them all in the right place.





Then to  do the rudder.

Have a good sunday.
 
 
e a
 
 

Your ship must be getting to be a challenge to lift and move. She looks amazing!
 
Peter

Hello everyone.
chapter 6. planking. sanding etc..fillup of stern _ skip in time to finished stern
let me please know what you think.
many thanks
V.
 
from now on i will sneak peak every time one some small familiar detail without whole frame as not to spoil it, -  from very opposite side of build  :))
heeey she is born, showing her sexy curves, hooray !
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 










 

Dear fellow builders,
thank you a lot for encouraging words.
chapter 5. deck instalment. I used nails, did  center deck evevation, masting holes, bowsprit hole,  zero plank is installed. ouch. and her sexy bottom from some old wood glued together. I put it together with screws, it strenghtened stern part by good margin before planking.  
she starts to show off her curves doesnt she  as a distraction before planking I started deck houses out of junk cardboards,, last pic from the windows, its christmas time.
last peaceful breath of air before planking. next part will be full of  painfull irreparable errors
from future look I regret enormously that I did not fill up space between last bulkhead and stern to make olanking easier but will see next ...
all best
Vlad,

 
 
 
 

I used the Zinsser sanding sealer to prep the hull and get it nice and smooth. That took several coats, but with this scale of hull I wanted it perfectly smooth. Then several coats of Humbrol enamel paint were applied by brush. Finally the copper plates were applied to the hull. I picked up the copper tape from a shop that specializes in stained glass supplies. The roll of 3/8" tape is 36 yards and cost me about 20 bucks Cdn. That process was a bit of trial and error, plus more errors and some more trialling. But finally I had them all on to my satisfaction, Good from far, but far from perfect. Anyway, here are some pics of the process...

Well with winter round the corner, it's time to hunker down and get back into the shipyard with Cutty Sark. This is a model I have always wanted to build since starting out in this hobby with Billing's Mary Ann. Thanks to Kip (aka Sawdust), I was able to acquire this second hand model which he purchased from a neighbor for 2 bottles of wine. He also sold me Nepean's book and Campbell's drawings so I have lots of info over and above what Billing supplies which isn't much. Thanks to Lou's lead, I have also purchased J.J. van Griethuysen,s drawings which are spectacular.
 
As you can see from the photos, this is an early Billing kit , from the 70's I would guess. Einar Billing includes a little intro with the Reader's Digest version of instructions they are known for. In them he states that the kit is intended to be built and not merely assembled. He expects the builder to exercise skill and imagination in the building of the kit. Sage advise indeed.
 
As with all earlier Billing kits, the hull and fittings are sold separately. Billing believed some modellers might want to create their own fittings. They also recognized that many models are never completed so why buy a bunch of fittings that might never make it onto the model which will never be used.
 
The majority of the wood in this kit is mahogany, which you can imagine is now rather dried out and a little warped. I have decided to replace the hull planking with obechi which I have used on previous Billing kits. It's not expensive, bends easily with a little steam and will be painted, so no need for top quality timber. As the build progresses, I will decide what other wood needs replacing.
 
As can be seen from the photos, the kit is already started. The original owner of the kit did get it stared but then realized he no longer wanted to continue. So I have the kit framed and with the false deck installed. The rest will be all me. He has done a first rate job, and the keel is straight so it is a good point to resume where he left off. Job one will be to bevel the bulkheads.
 
So here's a couple of pictures of what is to come...

Holy cow! By that I mean your model is going to be the size of cow! Amazing. I am building my Cutty Sark at 1:75 scale which means yours will be twice the size. And I thought I had my hands full...
At any rate, you have done an amazing job so far. The engineering alone of building a ship to this scale is very impressive and I wish you all the best in going forward. I have to follow along as this is one of the most impressive builds I've seen.
 
Cheers,
 
Peter

Done some of the panels round the top rails and made a start on the bowsprit, even added the figurehead.

Hi Peter
Thanks for your comment  
yes I am finally raising the masters - it is almost 2 years since I started doing the masters  . - but it is something you do when you have time and mood so there have been long breaks along the way.
 
Cheers
Jens