AnobiumPunctatum

I was really suprised that I did not find a build log about the Naval Cutter Alert on MSW 2.0. I know that there exist some pictures of a model on the old MSW
 
The first source for building a model of this small vessel are Peter Goodwins book "The Naval Cutter Alert, 1777", published by PhoenixPublications Inc. 1991 and the two original drawing of her sister Rattlesnake (1776) which you will find on the homepage of the NMM.
There also exist two paintings of Joseph Marshall of the ship, which are exhibited in the Science Museum, London.
I found also an Sheer and Profile drawing of Alert which was published by the NRG.
 
The sheer and profile of the NRG and Goodwin differ from the original drawing. They show the maximum width of the ship not at frame 0. Perhaps my Engish is to bad, but I could not find any reason for this. So I decide to draw my own lines. which were based on Goodwin and the original drawing.

 
The drawing is not finished, because I decided only to draw what I need for my build.
 
Next step was the keel. Goodwin shows for the pass between keel and lower apron a solution which I could not find on any original cutter drawings.

 
For the after deadwood he does not offer any possible solution

 
I decide to follow the original drawing of Cheerful 1806 for the pass between keel and lower apron. The flat joint at the foremost keel part is shown on original drawings of this period (for example on HMS Triton). For the after deadwood I decided to use a bearing line. I am not sure if this is common for ships of this period.
The next picture shows my completed keel drawing:

 
Goodwin uses for his design the common frameing pattern of double and single frames. I am not sure that this design was used for the original ship. For the Swan class sloops only single frames were used. This you will also find on the drawing of Cheerful and other cutters. Also the wide of the frame parts are not clear. In his drawing he uses much smaller futtocks than he descibed in the text part of the book. In his "Construction and Fitting of Sailing Man of War" he gives a third solution.
What now? Alert is a practice model for me to get the experience to continue my HMS Fly build. Marshall shows on his paintings an simplified frameing design, so I decided to use this. Every frame is 8'' width followed by 8'' space. For the port side I like to show the clinker planking.
On my drawing the final design for the last frame and the hawse pieces is missing in the moment.

 
The drawings for every 31frames and 21cant frames are finished.

 
I am not sure in the moment if I will use the original practice with chocks or the simplified method of Harold Hahn for my build.
 
It will be very nice if you have further information about the cutters of this time. I found the Marmaduke Stalkartt on Google-books, but they didn't scan the plates. Perhaps one of the MSW user can help me to confirm my decisions.

Hi Daniel,
 
very impressive progress in the last month

I think the fore most shroud would do the most damage.   Its a mystery.  There are other cutters I have examined and its usually both the fore shroud and the aft shroud or none of them.  I have never seen just the aft one served.
 
The way the stay is rigged with two deadeyes....plain with three holes is also a curious detail I have not seen before.  I am going with the more tradition rig.  Based on the Surly in the other museum.
 

 
Chuck

I also wanted to post some photos of the Rogers collection model.  I should have done so earlier on in this log.  It is identified as Cheerful but after much scrutiny it is not.  At least in my opinion.  The measurements on deck match but thats about it.  There are too many stunning discrepancies when compared to the original drafts.  But its very close.  It is a cutter of the same period and for research its very valuable.
 
The rigging is quite odd as well.  Nothing I have ever seen on a cutter of this period.  It is interesting to note that until recently this model was identified as an unknown cutter circa 1770's.  I am not sure who actually mis-identified it as Cheerful but it has changed at least three times in literature that refers to the Rogers collection.
 
Its a great model non-the-less.  What I was glad to see was it is not Clinker planked.    One of the reasons I chose this subject.  I also have many photos of the square tuck...note the vertical planking back there as opposed to the usual diagonal.   This is a detail that is also shown on the original draft.  Also note the gunnades on deck.  These are the carronades on carriages rather than sleds.   This model does not have long twelves at the bow which Cheerful did have.  Instead it has more gunnades.  Also note such peculiar things such as the aft most shroud being served but the fore shroud is not.  Go figure.
 
Any question and I would be glad to try and answer them.  I have tons of photos.   I also have some photos of the only sister....in this class,  Surly.  This is another contemporary model in a Canadian museum.  It shows this class after a major refit.  One that Cheerful never had because it had such a short life.
 
Chuck
 

 

 

 

 

 

@Rich,
 
I fixed the broken picture links. Hopefully all pictures are now visible again.
 
@all
Sorry that I didn't make an update for a long time. Sometimes real life lets not really time for modelbuilding.
In the moment I am waiting for the original plan of the Rattlesnake which I ordered at the NMM. There are a lot of details where I am not happy with my design which I made on basis of the AotS book. Last year I traced the lines as described in an article of the MSW database. But meanwhile I learned a lot about doing an new reconstruction on basis of an original drawing. This I will try to do for the cutter after the original drawing arrived.
 
Perhaps one of our admins can change scale in the title, because I like to build the model in 1/32. The bigger scale gives me a lot more possibilities for makeing the klinker planking.
 
At last I have a question:
Roger Cole refers in his article about his model on an article which was published in Nautical Research Journal Vol 29, Number 4 December 1983:
Kingman, Irving H: Modeling HMB Cutter Alert - 1777. Perhaps someone can help me with a copy. Thanks.

@Rich,
 
I fixed the broken picture links. Hopefully all pictures are now visible again.
 
@all
Sorry that I didn't make an update for a long time. Sometimes real life lets not really time for modelbuilding.
In the moment I am waiting for the original plan of the Rattlesnake which I ordered at the NMM. There are a lot of details where I am not happy with my design which I made on basis of the AotS book. Last year I traced the lines as described in an article of the MSW database. But meanwhile I learned a lot about doing an new reconstruction on basis of an original drawing. This I will try to do for the cutter after the original drawing arrived.
 
Perhaps one of our admins can change scale in the title, because I like to build the model in 1/32. The bigger scale gives me a lot more possibilities for makeing the klinker planking.
 
At last I have a question:
Roger Cole refers in his article about his model on an article which was published in Nautical Research Journal Vol 29, Number 4 December 1983:
Kingman, Irving H: Modeling HMB Cutter Alert - 1777. Perhaps someone can help me with a copy. Thanks.

My holidays are over so the progress is much slower than before.
 
I did the keelson before building the frames. So it is in my opinion much easier to adjust it with the fore and after deadwood.

 
Before glueing the keelson on the backbone It take a long time. All frames have to be installed first.
 
Today I worked on my first frame. It took quite long to find my way to build the frame. The result is not perfect, but I think doing the next frames will be much easier and faster. If it's interesting for someone I will do a step by step description from building one of the next frames.

@Rich,
 
I fixed the broken picture links. Hopefully all pictures are now visible again.
 
@all
Sorry that I didn't make an update for a long time. Sometimes real life lets not really time for modelbuilding.
In the moment I am waiting for the original plan of the Rattlesnake which I ordered at the NMM. There are a lot of details where I am not happy with my design which I made on basis of the AotS book. Last year I traced the lines as described in an article of the MSW database. But meanwhile I learned a lot about doing an new reconstruction on basis of an original drawing. This I will try to do for the cutter after the original drawing arrived.
 
Perhaps one of our admins can change scale in the title, because I like to build the model in 1/32. The bigger scale gives me a lot more possibilities for makeing the klinker planking.
 
At last I have a question:
Roger Cole refers in his article about his model on an article which was published in Nautical Research Journal Vol 29, Number 4 December 1983:
Kingman, Irving H: Modeling HMB Cutter Alert - 1777. Perhaps someone can help me with a copy. Thanks.

After the drawing works it was time to make sawdust.
 
First part is the keel, which is a little bit tricky. The keel has a light curvature and the joints are perpendicular to the base line.
I cut some small stripes with my cirular saw, make the joints and glue the parts together. Next I added the parts for the stem.
The picture shows the step on the building board. I use Tamiya Tape to avoid that the keel glues on the paper during the build.

 
The next pictures show the complete assembled backbone for the small vessel,

 
the stem with with the changed layout of the parts,

 
the keel and the rising wood,

 
and the stern post with the after deadwood.

 
The next steps are cutting the rabbet, the keelson and the building board. Then I can start with the frames.
 

@Rich,
 
I fixed the broken picture links. Hopefully all pictures are now visible again.
 
@all
Sorry that I didn't make an update for a long time. Sometimes real life lets not really time for modelbuilding.
In the moment I am waiting for the original plan of the Rattlesnake which I ordered at the NMM. There are a lot of details where I am not happy with my design which I made on basis of the AotS book. Last year I traced the lines as described in an article of the MSW database. But meanwhile I learned a lot about doing an new reconstruction on basis of an original drawing. This I will try to do for the cutter after the original drawing arrived.
 
Perhaps one of our admins can change scale in the title, because I like to build the model in 1/32. The bigger scale gives me a lot more possibilities for makeing the klinker planking.
 
At last I have a question:
Roger Cole refers in his article about his model on an article which was published in Nautical Research Journal Vol 29, Number 4 December 1983:
Kingman, Irving H: Modeling HMB Cutter Alert - 1777. Perhaps someone can help me with a copy. Thanks.

Fore Cants up to #10 have been installed, now to make #11 with the 2" cast top timber for the forward gunport.

Ben

I was really suprised that I did not find a build log about the Naval Cutter Alert on MSW 2.0. I know that there exist some pictures of a model on the old MSW
 
The first source for building a model of this small vessel are Peter Goodwins book "The Naval Cutter Alert, 1777", published by PhoenixPublications Inc. 1991 and the two original drawing of her sister Rattlesnake (1776) which you will find on the homepage of the NMM.
There also exist two paintings of Joseph Marshall of the ship, which are exhibited in the Science Museum, London.
I found also an Sheer and Profile drawing of Alert which was published by the NRG.
 
The sheer and profile of the NRG and Goodwin differ from the original drawing. They show the maximum width of the ship not at frame 0. Perhaps my Engish is to bad, but I could not find any reason for this. So I decide to draw my own lines. which were based on Goodwin and the original drawing.

 
The drawing is not finished, because I decided only to draw what I need for my build.
 
Next step was the keel. Goodwin shows for the pass between keel and lower apron a solution which I could not find on any original cutter drawings.

 
For the after deadwood he does not offer any possible solution

 
I decide to follow the original drawing of Cheerful 1806 for the pass between keel and lower apron. The flat joint at the foremost keel part is shown on original drawings of this period (for example on HMS Triton). For the after deadwood I decided to use a bearing line. I am not sure if this is common for ships of this period.
The next picture shows my completed keel drawing:

 
Goodwin uses for his design the common frameing pattern of double and single frames. I am not sure that this design was used for the original ship. For the Swan class sloops only single frames were used. This you will also find on the drawing of Cheerful and other cutters. Also the wide of the frame parts are not clear. In his drawing he uses much smaller futtocks than he descibed in the text part of the book. In his "Construction and Fitting of Sailing Man of War" he gives a third solution.
What now? Alert is a practice model for me to get the experience to continue my HMS Fly build. Marshall shows on his paintings an simplified frameing design, so I decided to use this. Every frame is 8'' width followed by 8'' space. For the port side I like to show the clinker planking.
On my drawing the final design for the last frame and the hawse pieces is missing in the moment.

 
The drawings for every 31frames and 21cant frames are finished.

 
I am not sure in the moment if I will use the original practice with chocks or the simplified method of Harold Hahn for my build.
 
It will be very nice if you have further information about the cutters of this time. I found the Marmaduke Stalkartt on Google-books, but they didn't scan the plates. Perhaps one of the MSW user can help me to confirm my decisions.

So after lots of holes and filling them up again .....
 
The hull ready to be sanded
 

 
Close up of the end result 
 

 
 
Remco

Really wonderful Remco

Guys,
 
Thank you for all the positive comments of the outside planking. 
 
Jan you are right I should not whine over a 0.5 micron fault. It casts a shadow over what the hobby is really about:
enjoying  building something with your hands, whether from a kit or scratch, of a subject we have interest in, share here on MSW and learn to make the next build better than the one in the shipyard. And of course having fun with this merry band of mad man
 
And let the other four behold my sore thumb
 
And this is what I learned, first draw the run of all the planking on the hull before starting to plank. This would have avoided my 0.5 micron mistake. 
 
And because I don't like to post without a picture, I have a severe outbreak of Anobium punctatum in my shipyard. I try to repair the damage done with size 400 micron treenails
 

 

 
Remco

The stove and the cabinet are looking really nice. Perhaps the cement joints are a little bit to thick.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 77 –Middle Deck Framing continued
 
It has been almost two weeks since the last post due mainly to the similarity of the lower and middle decks – not a lot of new stuff.  However, the middle deck framing is proceeding quickly – perhaps it’s the learning curve.  The first picture shows beam installation progressing from the bow aft.
 

 
The beams, hanging knees, pillars and carlings are all being installed progressively – leaving the lodging knees and ledges until later.  This has helped with the pace.  The next picture shows a carling being fitted.
 

 
The carling seats were cut out at the bench based on marks made on the model with the beams pinned – so the carling fitting goes very fast.  The next picture is a close up of the carlings for the above beam.
 

 
The wet spots are from washing off excess glue.  The pillars are set at the bottom on a piece of wire fit into a drilled hole – after adjusting the length to fit.  They are then glued top and bottom.  Wire “bolts” into the top will be added later.  The pillars were offset to permit long through bolts that were used to hold the beams tightly when side hull stresses would tend to separate them.  In the next picture wire “bolts” have been epoxied through the beams at the ends and into each pillar.
 

 
The bolts at the very end pin the beams in place.  The bolts just inside of those are inserted at an angle, down into the hanging knees to give their connection additional reinforcement.  
 
The last two pictures show the current status of the work on the middle deck.
 

 

 
The work will now continue from the stern forward.  It is easier to do the small end beams starting from the stern deck hook.
 
 
 Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 76 –Middle Deck Framing
 
Since the last post eight middle deck beams and one pair of half beams have been installed – along with their hanging knees and pillars.  Lodging knees will follow.  The first picture shows the first four beams and two pillars installed.
 

 
The beams are glued bolted to the clamps with copper wire - epoxied in.  There will also be copper wire bolts through the beams into the tops of each hanging knee for extra strength.  The pillars are reinforced with wire into the beams top and bottom.
 
The next picture shows the first of the carlings installed.
 

 
These are going in after the pillars to leave space for fitting those.  In the next picture, the next beam has been glued in and is awaiting its hanging knees. 
 

 
Once the beams are in place to support the clamp over the view openings, they can be cut out – as in the above picture.  The next picture shows the first two of three openings cut into the forward view area.
 

 
The next picture shows those openings from the inside.  This area is now ready for the headers around the fore mast and the half beams to those headers.
 

 
The areas below the middle deck are having wax finish applied progressively as the work above is finished. In the next picture the two headers and half beams have been installed astride the fore mast opening,
 

 
The beam, knee and pillar bolts mentioned above were also in when this picture was taken. The last picture shows the current extent of the work completed.
 

 
This work is going faster than the lower deck framing, mainly because there are no knees on the pillars.  Patterns for the middle deck knees were also lofted more carefully using a different process - meaning the initial fits are better.  Also, deferring the lodging knees is probably more efficient.
 
 
 Ed

Really wonderful progress

The main wale is composed of three strakes.  The upper most is a straight board.  The lower two interlock with anchor stock planking.  The ends are all butt joints.  Several of the planks have either severe bends or twists in them.  My basic technique for plank bending if the bend is mild is to soak the wood and then clamp it into place, allowing it to dry.  I will then final fit and glue into place.  The bends at the bow are anything but mild.  For these planks I soak them for a few hours and then use my ancient Aericopola plank bender to bend them.  I over-bend them and then allow them to finish drying off the model.  Then I final fit them and glue them into place.  One trick I have learned is to leave extra length (1/2") on the bent end (the bow in this case).  The plank bender will not work well at the end of the plank and the final result is usually a broken end.  By leaving the extra length, the extreme end of the plank can be left straight, avoiding breakage.  I use a 16 oz soda bottle because it is tall enough to soak a long length of wood and it does not waste too much water.  Floating the wood in a pan of water results in one side staying much drier than the other.  The plank shown is 0.95" thick and was bent in about five minutes.  In the second photo the plank is offered to the hull without forcing.
 

 

 
The first row of the wale has been installed.  The lower tape is left for reference.
 

 

 
The middle row of the wale planking has been installed.  Since I plan on painting the wale I decided not to highlight the plank edge with paper or chamfering.  You can see the saw-toothed appearance of the anchor stock planking in the second photo.
 

 

 
For the lower row of planking I first fit the top of the plant to the middle plank.  After I was happy with the fit I marked the lower edge with a compass and cut the plank down to the line.
 

 

 
 

Hi Christian,
 
Thanks, if you go to the Model Ship Builder website forum the practicum is under the Older & Inactive Projects section as a free download.
 
Mike

Thanks guys, girls,
 
Sorry Karl, we have a very strict guns regulation in The Netherlands so I will not be dwelling in that direction.
 
Greg, you obviously now more about domestic cats than I do, so I'll change the story and will name her Patches. Forum rules will not allow me to show hi res pictures of the parts you would like to investigate for the greater good of science.  But here's a better one for everybody to study....
 

 
Mark, just show the admiral the musket holes in my riding bitts and if she still persist on having a cat I can send Patches (aka kitty soft pawns) over to you. This 5mm critter will do no harm to your beautiful Bellona.
 
So enough fun and to keep myself out of the asylum I continued making the sheer strake, update will follow soon.
 
Remco 

I found on my hard disk some old 3D drawings for the project. I think they give some very interesting views about the frameing of the POF model. If I remember right Don has drawn them:
 
 

Thanks Ben and Sjors. Only two coats of paint and when viewed up close you can see the differences
in the coverage. Several more will be needed.
 
Well this is the start of Chapter 5, planking the hull below the wales.
 
Chuck describes how to plank the hull with no drop planks at the bow and no stealers at the stern.
This is something I have never been able to accomplish. The description is very detailed and I'm
hoping to duplicate it.
 
First a paper tick strip was to be made and divide it into 5/32” increments. To keep as many errors
out of this process as possible I made my tick strip from 5/32" graph paper printed on card stock
instead of using a ruler and  pencil and transferring the marks to card stock.
 
 

 

 
 
Next I positioned the strip along bulkheads “1” and “A” and marked the increments. There are a
total of 24 planks so there will be 4 "belts" of 7 planks each.
 
Chuck wrote;
 
I had some yellow pinstripe tape so I used that to mark off the hull belts. After applying the tape and
tweaking to get a smooth even run I sent these pictures to Chuck.
 

 

 

 
His sharp eye caught some runs that weren't the best and sent this back which I used to adjust
the belts run.
 

 
Now I'm off to do the starboard side.

After the drawing works it was time to make sawdust.
 
First part is the keel, which is a little bit tricky. The keel has a light curvature and the joints are perpendicular to the base line.
I cut some small stripes with my cirular saw, make the joints and glue the parts together. Next I added the parts for the stem.
The picture shows the step on the building board. I use Tamiya Tape to avoid that the keel glues on the paper during the build.

 
The next pictures show the complete assembled backbone for the small vessel,

 
the stem with with the changed layout of the parts,

 
the keel and the rising wood,

 
and the stern post with the after deadwood.

 
The next steps are cutting the rabbet, the keelson and the building board. Then I can start with the frames.