niwotwill

Finished painting the ports and also finished the forward most ports which I had left with the plywood exposed. Might not have been the best but it is what I did so I sanded between coats of paint and added gesso before the next coat. You can still see the plywood layers but not as visible with the surface being smooth. Now on to planking the wales and up to the cap rail. I had bought the wood from Syren to mill my own so I spent the afternoon making planking. The wales call for 5/32" (.156) by 3/64" (.047) and when I measured the 5/32" wood it was slightly oversized. Decided to use the Byrnes thickness sander to get the sheet down to .156 I know that the couple mils would creep up and may cause problems up to the sills and the 1/64th strip so anal or not I did it. Then I ripped 18 strips a little oversized so I could again use the thickness sander bringing them to .047. Tomorrow I'll start planking slow and steady here. Last year an old modeler in the Phoenix area sold me his lathe and when we were talking he said that he had box of wood I could have. I never turn down free wood. To my amazement the box was a wooden crate filled with Pear, Cherry, Walnut, Lime, Ebony and many pieces I still don't know. So I decided plank the wales second layer with Ebony. After ripping and sanding the shop was a mess of sawdust so I took a piece of ebony to the bandsaw and ripped a strip off. We will see how it goes as I've never worked with ebony. Ebony plank 2"x3-3/4"x 33 Ebony strip ready to be finished I used a covid mask when cutting the ebony any ideas of how to sand and finish for the wales

Made progress today really happy how its coming out. I faired the transom and ports installed the square tuck. Added the fillers behind the square tuck and faired them into the flow of the sides. When cutting the port sills and lintels I clipped a batten to the frames after measuring and making sure they met the plans. This made it easier to cut and trim the pieces as the frames were held in place so the sills and lintels slid in without friction. I did take a picture of a little tool I made to align the lintels to sills. It was a simple 3/8" square piece at the exact length to rest on the sills for lintel alignment. Ports before fairing Ports after fairing with square tuck placed and faired to the sides. Next the afternoon was spent marking the wale lines per the monograph. I ripped a 1/32" x 1/8" batten out of a 4" by 24" basswood sheet that allowed me to line the length of the frames. Pinning the batten showed only one minor alignment on both port and starboard sides at the same frame. It was great how the battens crossed after touching the counter and transom line as monograph described. That done I moved on to painting the ports using the crimson paint. I spent a lot of time and effort making the joints in the ports and am very happy how they came out after the first coat of paint. Waiting for paint to dry second coat tomorrow and when satisfied with painting start the planking.

Back from Colorado and had a great time visiting friends but the weather was hot for the first 2 weeks and then rained for the next 2 weeks as we were leaving the Colorado spring returned. A little excitement on the way to our apartment when we got a first hand look at a tornado forming and touching down. Fortunately it was in farms fields just a few buildings down but really amazing to watch. Back to the Cheerful I spent the day making the stern sills and lintels. All the angles made it difficult to get nice cleans joints but after any tries I got it done. Now to fair the counters and transom and add the 1/32" start of the square tuck. I think I need to add the filler piece behind the square tuck before starting to fair the sides. Not much to show for a long days work started at 7am and finished at 4pm Back to work tomorrow.

Congratulations Glenn on a beautifully done FIRST SCRATCH model. I can't believe this is the first scratch model. I've followed along since I started my Cheerful and have used your work as a guide and inspiration along with your techniques to help me along my way. Magnificant job I look forward to the closing photos.

Love the cat head sheaves. Glad to see you’ve found sculpy you’re right play dough for modelers

Like so many people we complain and bad mouth Model Shipways but I must say that their customer service really came through for me. I've been away for a month visiting friends in Colorado but before I left I sent a scorching email with photos to Model Shipways about the poor casting quality of the gallery windows. While away I received an email apologizing and that there would send new hand picked pieces. Today ai received the new gallery pieces of much better quality. Pictures of original pieces notice the windows filled in cornice bottom missing and floral rope not distinguishable. These are the replaced very acceptable pieces. Some cleaning and painting is all that is necessary A BIG THANK YOU TO MODEL SHIPWAYS CUSTOMER SERVICE

ONE MONTH LATER

Glenn watching your work while I'm away from mine makes me want to be home quicker. I really don't know how to add any comments after all the others except I keep being amazed each time I come back and visit.

Sea Hoss is correct the twisted eyebolts stay in better but if glue is added they become almost impossible to take out. Make sure it is correctly positioned speaking from experience. Still like the antifouling paint that will lend itself to the diorama of being on the ways.

I want to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions. I've taken them to heart and bought a set of good water color brushes. I also started to use acrylic artist paint in the tubes and if the color is correct I used Winsor & Newton Crimson and a cup palette. Below is my first attempt on the Cheerful windlass mini-kit from Chuck. This is three coats and its looking like one or two more will do the trick. Again a BIG THANK YOU this forum is fantastic.

A big thank you to Glenn, Chuck and others for the nice comments and all the likes. I finished the skylight this morning and thought I say how well the mini-kit came together. I've decided to paint the Cheerful with Winson & Newton crimson acrylic paint. It is a bright color without being overbearing. Completed skylight No matter how careful I was handling the plexiglass windows you will notice I left a partial fingerprint. Oh well, recorded forever who built this Cheerful. I completed the windlass maybe another coat of paint or two and it will be done. I bought some paint locally from a hobby shop that was supposed to be cast iron block grey and it looks more like gunmetal. So because of the grey color I'll wait until I get home to paint and dust it with dirty rust powder to glue it all together. Windlass currently I brought the pump kits with me but realized that I forgot to bring appropriate sized drills so instead I'll do the anchor kit. Might have to wait to paint the windlass today as I have to do it outside the apartment (spill prevention) and its 102 degrees in the shade. Too hot for the paint to flow. 102 degrees in Colorado. Yikes

john as allanyed mentioned liver of sulfur does not stain wood surrounding the copper you are coloring and is very easy to use.

Magnificent work on the yards and you are right on the Proxxon lathe. I've done both but being able to have the work piece go through the lathe is great.

Looking good Maury. I like using the AYC as it is not a hard a boxwood and when treated with wipe on poly it really comes to life.

Good catch on the pins. Have run into similar problems with kits and pins. A while back I bought some from different suppliers and got varying sizes. One web store I use almost entirely is: modelmotorcars.com. In the Hardware Store they have rivets from .4mm up. The heads are round like the nails. Just thought it'd help.

I want to thank everybody for the nice comments and likes it provides great motivation. 👍 All's that left is to paint and assemble, snip off rod and glue on end caps.

Completed segments D, E and F. Practice does help when cleaning the second segment E it only took 3 hours to clean the char and I spent some more time on the first segment E char. Segments D and F were straight forward as the others with only segment F a little harder to hold because of its size. Only one more part to build which is segment F. segments A, B, C, D, E (2x) assembled on square rod Segment F added to assembly I may redo the first segment E as I'm not very happy with show the bracket and standard fit together. Fortunately Chuck furnished spares just for this purpose.

It doesn't look rough but if you wish making another is not too hard. Before giving it up try to dry fit the coaming. It sit fairly low below the deck and you might be surprised. If Basswood is a problem many craft stores sell good quality wood.

More work on the windlass got the largest section completed and as the monograph says sanding edges gets easier with practice. While sanding the angles to the slats I carefully removed the char from the octagonal disks in the B part. Once removed I glued the disks to the ratchet wheel taking care not to get glue in the square hole or on the 1/16" square rod used for alignment. Ratchet gear and disk assembly (B) Ratchet assembly B on square rod The completed "C" assembly on square rod ready for sanding " "C" assembly sanded and on rod with the "A" and "B" assemblies Next I removed the char from the brackets and standards "Segment E". The brackets have fairly intricate shapes and presented quite a challenge removing the char without softening or loosing the curves and corners. I spent 4 hours removing the char using files and sanding sticks but the shape were kept sharp. Segment "E" in position on rod Next segments D & E

I've had some luck with Elmers white school glue thinned to a fat free milk density. Painted on and does not change color of original substrate. Good Luck

Well we're settled in our air bnb apartment close to Niwot where used to live. Got set up and started working on the windlass mini-kit from Syren. Spread out the parts to inventory and make sure all was well. There are 50 parts into the windlass and spares for us (me) who get carried away. All parts were there and nothing damaged but it was like putting a picture puzzle together as you can see some parts came free from the sheet and were loose in the bag. After getting everything back in place I put clear tape on the sheets keeping the parts in place. Read the instructions several times looking at parts to identify them fortunately Chuck has labeled each sheet A thru H. You have to be very carful as some of the end disks are slightly smaller than the other end and some of the slats are wider at one end. The wide end goes on the larger octagonal disk. Started with the smallest section without holes in the slats. I found it easier to use a sanding stick to bevel the edges of the slats as you can hold the part on the sanding surface while holding fingers are over the edge of the sanding stick. First slats glued on the disks All the slats assemblied Carefully sanded the ends and the sides making sure to keep sharp corners on the slat joints. On the next section tomorrow

Great catch on the chainplate. Always nice when the fix is relatively an easy fix. Great photo is that Emma? and where did you find it?

Looking good Maury. It will be fun to watch your progression of the interior

Thanks Glenn for the nice comments and all you others for the great likes. It helps me keeping motivated. While I'm away (6 weeks) I brought Chucks mini kits for the deck fixtures and while working of those making posts. Just a note that before I left I started the aft port sills and lintels. Noting Chucks reference for having tight joints but not so tight to move frames I started on the sills. I soon realized that they are going to be a real sniggly job since the frames angle in two directions. Left that work until I return. Next post when I get settled in our place.

John the deck and fittings look amazing. I like your description and pictures of the the fittings made of wire. As to the hull, I don't think a shipyard would sand the planks. It seems as they would just remove the old and clean up the adjoining good planks. The weathering looks perfect as it would in a refit. I've seen pictures on the web that show this condition you might search to find a ship on the ways. I think the black should be weathered also but not as much as the anti fouling paint. Another thought is when she's brought out the first thing that would be done is washed off with high pressure hose and then scraped before repair work. Looking Great