AnobiumPunctatum

Thank You...
 
The cabins on the aft lower platform are completed.   No detailed explanation since they are built exactly like the others.   Each partition wall is built up with two layers glued together.   Then they are detailed with hinges and door handles as required along with any upright timbers 1/8" x 1/8" strips.   Their heights and widths are adjusted to fit under the deck beams etc.   Finally they are assembled and glued into position.
 
Here is the tiny powder and filling rooms completed.  These walls are slightly thicker than the other cabins as was normally the case.  An extra laser cut sheet of parts shows how all the cabins are prepared for you.   They are all numbered and shown on the plans.  I built them in the order that they are numbered.
 

All of the cabins completed.
 


Next up is to complete the remaining deck beams carlings and ledges.
 
 

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.
 

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.

Thank you Fred, I appreciate it. Life has forced me to halt work on Portland, but I’m trying to get back into it shortly.
 
Just received my 3D printed QG’s. Will be posting an update soon. 
 
JJ

It was mentioned earlier that it's best to sand pieces prior to removing the from the billets. The way I do it is with a sanding block. I use 180 the 320 grit sandpaper. It's self-adhesive. It is also handy for finish sanding completed pieces like the stem. I usually use Minwax wipe on poly. My local store was out but they did have Watco satin wipe on poly. I've used other Watco products and liked them so I gave it a try. It's a little thicker than the Minwax but covers nice and looks the same.
 


 
Next I'll start working on the keel. Oh this is fun!

I diverted from the steps in TFFM to build the knee of the head.  I will work on fairing this piece to the stem and then put it away for safekeeping until the fore cants and hawse timbers have been installed.  It still needs to be tapered in both directions and the slot for the gammoning cleaned up a bit.
 
I used druxey's recommendation of painting the edges of the joints brown before gluing.  I like the way it turned out.  I am expecting some powdered brown pigments from the Amazon guy today that I will try mixing with glue going forward.
 
Adam
 

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

If I see your new kit and some frome CAF and other manufacturers I asked myself why I started scratch building.
Really wonderful with a lot of innovative ideas.

Just a quick update.  It might not look like a lot of work was done since my last post but you would be surprised how involved the deck beams can be.
 
With the cabins on the fore lower platform completed,  you can start adding deck beams above them.  No reason to wait until everything is built below deck to do so.  In fact, waiting to do it all at one time wont be very enjoyable.  Doing it this way breaks up the task a bit.
 
This kit will be very simplified compared to the books.  Because we will be planking the gun deck in the "classic" contemporary model style,  there is absolutely no need to make and add the hanging and lodging knees.   In fact, this would up the difficulty factor by about ten.   So we will just be adding the deck beams with all of the carlings and ledges.  You can however follow the Seawatch books and scratch build the knees should you really want the total experience.
 
 
The photo below has a lot going on that was completed.
 

First, The first four deck beams were glued into position...
 
Then the carlings were added between them as shown on the plans.  The carling are cut to length using 3/16 x 5/32 strips.   
 
Lastly you may notice that the after most beams have a column under them at the center.   These are just 1/8" x 1/8" strips cut to length.  The corners are chamfered as shown on the plans.
 
With the first four beams added you can now add the ledges.   These are the thinner "partial beams" that extend from the carlings to the deck clamp.  They are laser cut for you with a special "leg" on the outboard ends.   This raises each ledge to the perfect height so it will be flush with the top of the gun deck beams.  So when you are cleaning the char off these...DONT sand the bottom or even the end with this "leg" on it.  Otherwise you wont have level ledges with your beams.    Hope that makes sense.
 
Now in that same photo above you can see the first few ledges (cleaned of laser char...no need to clean the bottom at all actually) resting in position.  All you have to do is cut the end that sits against the carling and glue it on position.
 
NOTE:  Now yes indeed...all of the carlings should be notched in the deck beams.   All of the ledges should be notched into the carlings.  But you know what...I am not going to do that.  And you dont have to either.  It simplifies things so much this way and those many mortices and notches are not so easy to make.  They will also mostly be completely covered up.   So you can decide.
 
 
Now this may all seem simple enough.  But finding the exact locations for these beams, carlings and ledges is super important.  Time and care must be taken to get their location correct....otherwise you will end up with hatches in the wrong  position and mast holes too!!  It could get ugly.
 
So use the plans.   If you have a second set printed.  Go ahead and cut them up.  You can see strategically placed cut outs on the template that allowed me to mark the locations of the carlings on the beams....and the ledges on the carlings.   This template also helped me position the deck beams properly which is the very first thing you need to do.  Finding you center line on those deck beams after they installed is also a huge help.  Gluing the parts in is easy enough...but the marking, measuring and planning takes time and patience.

 
Then its just a matter of cutting all of those ledges to length and gluing them in position.   There are a lot of them.  I believe 86 in total.   Note that these would also be down the center between the carlings and hatches also.  But once again they will be entirely covered up and its just a repetitive exercise that nobody will ever see.
 

To show you how the knees and other details like the ledges wont be seen...here is a look at this area with the deck planking cut and placed on the model as a test.  This shows what will be very close to the final appearance using the "classic contemporary model appearance".   But everyone can always deviate from that should they want to.
 

 
 

Tafrail complete

You’ll notice that I don’t try to sanitize my work, however humbling that of so many on this forum is to me. The dirt, dust and imperfections, however, are the real thing. The important message I try to convey in sharing my stuff is that there are no short cuts, that the time and effort, as well as the imperfections, are there, in plain view. While I follow many of your builds and am inspired beyond words by your images, which render me speechless, I will continue to share my progress and learn from your example. Thank you.
Henry

Yes, Richard Endsor's excellent books are from the 1670 to 1690 period - about a century earlier. Look at some of SeaWatchBooks' offerings that cover the 1760 to 1790 time period. 
 
There were excellent articles on 18th century ship construction by David White in Model Shipwright years ago. They appeared in issue numbers as follows:
 
On Traditional wooden shipbuilding:  47, 49. 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63
 
Understanding ships' draughts: 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 58
 

Pegasus emerges

Plankshears, swivel gun mounts and head cheeks.

Thank you guys...
 
I took a crack at the sailroom.
 
First I had to make the posts for the partitions.
 
There are thin laser cut strips that need to be glued to the sides of some 3/32" x 3/32" strips.   It might be hard to see but the laser cut strips are wider than needed.   You have to line up the open side with the edge of the 3/32" strip.  Let the other side hang over.   The upright on the left shows this.  Once the glue dries, you can sand that overhang down flush with the 3/32" strip.  This will leave rows of slanted slots for the louvers.   They should be open on both sides after sanding off the overhang.   There is also a long slot down the front edge that is created.  This is for the planked bottom of each partition.  
 
It is all shown on the plans.   The corner post gets two of these laser cut strips with the notches.  Just be careful when you glue them on so they are facing the right direction and the louvers will be able to slip into the slots easily.
 

Next I added the laser cut planked bottoms.  This essentially makes a nice two-sided partition.  The planking will fit into those long notches on the posts.  It is probably easier to see them in the photo below.  Keep a nice 90 degree corner with both sides.
 

Then its time to fit all of the louvers...for ventilation.
 
They are 3/32" x 1/64" strips.  Just cut them to length and start adding them.  Eight on each panel.
 

To finish off the sailroom..I made the door.  This is in two layers like all of the other bulkheads.   I made the door up and added the hinges and door handles.  Then I glued it to the louvered section of the sailroom.
 
Like this.
 

 
Now I could easily position the entire sailroom...hopefully.  It should line up and fit onto the 3/32" post already on the boatswains cabin.     And yes...we can finally glue the riding bitts into position permanently.
 

This pretty much finishes the cabins at the bow.   I was originally going to add a sail rack in the sailroom.  But after a lot of thought I realized it would never be seen.  The sailroom is pretty much covered up entirely by the deck planking and the deck beams.
 
In this photo I have fitted the deck beams as a test.  There will be several more between these larger deck beams too.   There are thin 3/32" deck beams...sometimes 3 or 4 between each of these larger deck beams.  They will obscure so much of the lower deck items.  But hopefully you will get a glimpse of some of this stuff as it is quite a bit of work to build it all.
 

 
The contemporary model with its many deck beams..
 

 
 

Yes indeed.   I am however probably going to stick with the how the cont. model was portrayed.  Its easy enough to add a few more swivel stocks for folks who want to add them.  Builders choice.  Aesthetically, they just ruin the elegant run of the sheer to my eye.   If I were to include them however I would certainly add a rope railing with stanchions along the poop as shown on that draft detail I posted of "Fly".    I think it would make sense to my eye anyway.   But I am going to stick with just the few swivels mounted at the bow.  I have gone with the model for so many other things.....number and position of timberheads etc.  Although I have also been swayed on some other things shown on the original draft as opposed to the model.   Its a trade-off.   Once you start looking you will spot so many differences....between all of these primary source references.   I forget how many swivels you ended up with per side.   Seven or eight?  
 
The draft for Cruiser does show a heck of a lot more swivels...as shown below (bottom).   Just to show folks who will build the kit and want to go another way.
 
Cont model with two swivel stocks per side.
 

Speedwell draft with two swivel stocks per side.

 
Cruiser class draft with 10 swivel stocks per side.  Very different appearance with the open sheer rails as well.
 

Concerning the low/lack of bulwarks on the quarter deck, there would have been stanchions with man-ropes along the sides there.

Yes thats what I figured.  I usually dont have so many original drafts or
contemporary sources as is the case with Speedwell.  And when they are so different it makes for too many choices.  LOL
 
But she will be pretty when all finished no matter which way you choose.
 
Chuck
 
 

Lovely work, Chuck, but what the heck is that officer doing forward in the galley? Warming his hands?