niwotwill

Back to working full time on Cheerful. Finished the windless which was started some time ago. I'm not sure if I mentioned that the small assemblies are Syren Model mini-kits. Finished the bowsprit step and finally got everything painted. Windless and bowsprit step in place not glued until the bowsprit is made then the parts will be pinned and glued to deck. and finally finished painting the seats and cleat

Just back from a wonderful vacation. Started in Quebec City for a marvelous 3 days of touring the 17th century city. Walking in Quebec City is a lot of hard work as it is very hilly as everything is uphill from the St Lawrence. We watched the 32nd stage of a professional bicycle race just as I think the Tour do France would be. Hundreds of racers team sag cars etc. The did 16 laps up and down the steep narrow streets, just amazing. We boarded a cruise to Nova Scotia and then down the coast to Boston where we rented a car for 5 days in Maine. Staying in Boothbay Harbor as our home base to explore. If you get the chance go to the Maine Maritime Museum we spent almost two days so much to see. Bath ME is the home of the museum on the grounds where many ships were built. In 1909 the largest sailing ship built in the US was launched and the ship was lost March 1924. Wyoming was a 6 mast schooner and was 450 from tip of bowsprit to tail of after boom. To understand the size of the Wyoming a steel sculpture was made to it exact size. Spent time trying to remember what I was working on prior to vacation. Then spent too much time to find the cleats from Syren Model Ship and yahoo I found them in the Cheerful tub of wood and parts. Sanded the largest cleats to shape and drilled a hole for a brass wire. Drilled a hole in the stern frames and placed the cleats with superglue. looking at the photo I see more shaping needs to be done

A lot has happened since last post. First the knees were sanded and into the final fit and the first coat of red paint to seats and knees and then preparing for a vacation trip to the east. First three coats of red paint in the spare time. Now on to vacation

Transom knees simple parts to be put into place, RIGHT. First thing is studying the plans and others building logs. Finally found a post that had actually shown the process of modifying the the transom frames to allow the knees proper seating. Again using the plans I made a card template to mark the knees unto the wood. Cutting the knees from the wood with the scroll saw making sure I left sufficient wood beyond the pattern for shaping. Using the knee I started the nerve wracking process of cutting the frames. Using a new blade thin slices were cut until the knee slid under the cap rail. When both frames were cut I carefully started slicing the frames allowing the knee to fit under the cap rail on the side. As you can see no matter how carful you are the cutting process left a mess. Next taking the knee and started shaping to the final fitting shape. Sand test, sand test, sand test until the knee fit under the cap rail and flush to transom and bulkhead. Starting knee from saw. Knee fitted ln postion ready for finish sanding and gluing into place. This whole process would have been much easier before the boom crutches and timberheads were attached. I kept fearing the I'd knock one off damaging the mounted surface with the securing pin.

Chapter 10 starts with the seats on each side of the tiller and the monograph suggests using the drawings (which are in 1:48). I made copies of the top view and the side view on the drawings making copies without cutting up the original drawing as only one copy was furnished. First was to plane a sheet of boxwood down to the 1/32" thickness for the seats. Once ready I made templates of the inner side and top using the drawings as they are at 1:48 scale. Preserved the drawing by folding to fit on the copy platform. Using elmers school glue stick I glued the prints to a card from my wife's menu file supply. After cutting the card to make the patterns I glue sticked them to the wood. The copy with the pattern removed While the template was a very close fit there was still a lot of filing to get the radius fitting the transom. After glueing the sides using the same method the tops were sanded and filed to fit without any gaps The harder part was the front as there was no way to make the pattern so a piece of wood cut to basic shape was used. Starting with the inside piece being a straight surface the bottom was fit to the deck radius The inside of the bulwarks not being flat were the most difficult. Many attempts made, five to be exact, before a part was close enough to be used for final template and sanding. Last thing was the hole in the seat and glue it all together. One side done with templates for the port side to start with fitting. Tomorrows another day and woodwork is so much fun after the strops and chain plates.

CHAPTER 9 IS COMPLETED!!!! Back stays and chainplates blackened and installed. These 8 parts have been one of the most challenging things of the Cheerful. The blalck smudges are easily wiped off the planking since the wop has made the finish sealed and very smooth. The process of making the deadeye strops the same length and shape was a days work. The chainplates brought their own problems of length, shape, and loop. Getting the lengths correct so the deadeyes all align with the top rail was completed with many parts in the bin. Finding a needle nose small enough to make the loop another process until finding the pliers from a jewelry set allowed loops small enough to appear correct in scale while fitting the strops. I found that if I annealed the chainplates this allowed the bending of the loops without distorting the chainplate. Four days of mind bending work later it is completed. Chapter Ten is mostly woodwork so this will be better on my soul and mind.

Now with the deadeye strops ready for finishing I started on the chainplates. Using the same methods as the backstays I made the 8 chainplates. I just realized that it has been a month since my last post as I was in Arizona visiting my daughter along with a little holiday travel so the last two days have been filing the chainplates and now the backstays and chainplates are ready for blackening. Just a photo of one aligned with the print. Next is to blacken the parts and then make a simulated mast so the chainplate angles are determined with string.

Well the block buster arrived the other day so now on the building 6mm deadeyes. I've used Syren block kits before so the deadeyes were no problem just more of the same. When I used my old block buster on kit blocks without removing the char from the edges the sawdust was black and stained the blocks. With that in mind the edges were sanded removing the char before the block buster. When complete of the 28 deadeyes made I had 5 come apart. When completely sanded I applied WOP giving the deadeyes a nice golden tint. Deadeyes Now it was time to make the strops. Reading other logs a user said a 22mm length of wire was used to create the strops. I found the diameter of a 22mm circumference and started the with the appropriate drill bit. Taking a length of wire wrapped around the drill bit to form a strop. Silver solder was used to complete the circle and then placed the deadeye and wire in a vice that allowed the wire to be squeezed into a strop. I found it necessary to have a .5mm overlap on the wire giving it strength to hold during the squeezing. The joint was squeezed into almost not seen and when placed on the deadeye at the top it will be hidden bye the ropes. I like the strop on the bottom and right side in another and I may give a slight squeeze to bring more into shape as the drawing. Tomorrow will be making all the strops and blackening them.

With the backstays complete except blacking it was time for chain plates and dead eye strops. After the backstays the chain plates seem fairly straight forward but the dead eye strops appear to be another story. So on to looking at what others had done and it seems that everyone has their method. I found one method that appears that it'll work and keep me within my abilities. I'm using Syren Shipmodels 6mm deadeye. So I have to make the deadeyes before I can make determine my strop length. Once again I know I had a block buster but can't find it in my boxes, so ordered a new one. Making the deadeyes from the Syren kit it very straight forward. While waiting for the block buster I made belaying pins. Rather than Boxwood I decided to use Swiss Pear to add some color character. I had a sheet of .05 Pear so I ripped .05 strips, or as close as I could get, for the pins. A note on my table saw I had micrometers on the saw from Byrnes Model Machines, but since Jim died I not sure if you can still buy parts. So with the micrometer I was able to make strips .05X.O49. Also while writing this I went the Byrns website and the micrometers are still available in metic and english. Enough talking let's make belaying pins. A short stick was chucked into my Proxxon hand machine and guessed the shape of the belaying pin making multiple until I found one the looked good to me. Using that one pin as a pattern I marked each feature on a new stick. Pattern pin alongside the next strip Strip ready for shaping I used a flat file from my swiss file set to shape the pins. I made 20 pins before I realized I had made the pins so the top would not be curved when the holder was cut from the pin. So another 20 pins made so the small end was held and the top was curved. Top row second pass bottom first pass Carfuly sanding the tops and now ready for some WOP After WOP Now wait for the mail to get the block buster and on to the chain plates

Per Glenns suggestion I went back and looked at his and others Cheerful and decided to follow their lead. Using a small set of Veritas chisels I slowly removed the protruding hatch until nearly flush. Next with 220grit the grate was brought flush with the deck. Several coats of wipe on poly were applied and tomorrow I will wipe the deck with WOP. I'm really glad that I did this and like the way it turned out.

Thank you Glenn. Your work has always been my inspiration. Now I'll look at your Cheerful for the bread room hatch.

Started backstays with a sheet of .016 copper from K&S Metals. The monograph calls for the backstays and chain plates to be 3/64" thick and 3/32" wide strips. The first step was to rip the strips from the K&S .016" sheet using a 296 tooth slitting 3" blade on the table saw. After putting blue painters tape on the backside I ripped several .1 strips. Next a .04 hole was drilled in the strip and the end radius'd. The strip was brought into shape per the monograph. With the 6 backstays shaped they were annealed using a propane torch before bending the end loop. A needle nose pliers was used forming the loop. With parts completed the loops were silver soldered closed to ensure from opening when rigging pulled taught. Image is of the backstays after pickling and before ultrasonic cleaning. Parts will be painted and coated with aging dust after the chain plates are completed

Been awhile since the last post so here's what's been happening. I didn't mention that while in Arizona I thought that I could do two models concurrently and started Cheerful while in the middle of the Syren brig kit, BAD IDEA. I had gotten Syrens standing rigging complete and then the move. So I've been working on the Syren and neglecting Cheerful. The work I've done was the make the boarding steps, channels and rigging eyes which I completed today. Port picture which I now realized that I had not painted the step on the black wales. Starboard side step painted Next on to chain plates etc. and I'll dry dock Syren.

Not much to report on. Spent time making some black .019 line for the foot ropes had to make sure to have enough for the 4 yards foot ropes. To male the stirrup loops I used a .028 drill bit and used a tight half hitch to simulate the loop. On other places I've found that a tightly pulled hitch gave a close approximation of a seized loop. With the stirrups hanging with an alligator clip creating a straight drop a small amount of very fine CA was used stiffening. Threading the foot rope through the stirrup loops creating the foot rope. Again CA was used to create the hanging appearance. Two vises used holding the yard while being worked making a easy process. main course yard

The fore and main course yards and stuns'l are complete. Painted the yards black and the stuns'l were wipe-on-poly. While everything is drying started the foot rope stirrups and will then stiffen so they hang properly. Stuns'l with WOP Ready to paint Painted