dodgeyhack

The results speak for themselves! Definitely a useful post, thanks for sharing.. I've filed away for the future.

Thanks all, appreciate the comments and advice. Fred, it is a lovely spot to sit with a frothy beverage and do some sanding. The summer has been fantastic so far after two years of very wet summers when the pool barely got any use. I have cleaned up around the bearding line and spent a third session fairing and I'm pretty happy with it now. I will refer to the plans and spend some time running batons and checking others photos to confirm, but I think the only area that could possibly use some further work is the very first bulkhead at the bow - I may want to sharpen the angle it makes coming out of the rabbet.... I plan to start framing the ports before deciding - pics to come.

Reading other logs... this may not be the slowest Cheerful construction, but it will probably come close. This is my first timber ship model, and I know I'm stretching the limits attempting something like the Cheerful, but I've always been one to aim high. How slow has progress been? Plans and timber ordered: August 2021 Built an extra table for the workshop and ordered lots of tools: August to December 2021 Keel laid down: December 2021 First fairing: April 2022 Second fairing: February 2023 Two young kids, house, work, cycling 7-10 hours per week. There's not much left, but hopefully progress will be more consistent from now on, if not quick. Look at all that lovely smelling timber, shipped from the US to Australia. Crazy shipping costs, but overall compared to the price of kits it's pretty reasonable, and the quality is fantastic. I got some extra to give me some wiggle room on mistakes. Keel laid - you'll notice I sketched the layout of the internal decks. Ideally I'll be including some internal structure below the skylight and hatch. Second round of fairing complete. I was hoping to get it finished in this session, but I feel like a third round will be worthwhile. My main area of concern being the bow. I look forward to your feedback... don't hold back, I want a good result 😃

Amazing. And what a gift to the community this post and the plans are.

Well done! She looks fantastic. I've greatly enjoyed your log, and although I'm only up to fairing, it has proved very informative.

Great tutorial on shaping the square stock. Thanks! I've one of those finger planes on the way. A very nice and slightly late Christmas present to really treasure.

Great job so far! Your Cheerful, and her fine details all look really well crafted. My starter kit arrived today, and it will be my first build, so I've really appreciated some of your more detailed descriptions of the processes you took and your discussions on tools. It's been very helpful (being relatively local, thanks also for the pointers on suppliers). I particularly love your home made lathe! I have been mulling over in my mind how well something like that would work.

DIscovered I never hit submit on my reply! So here it is... Thanks for the recommendations so far. Have spent the evening shopping for tools - just the basic stuff. With respect to timber, I'm not sure what I'm after at this point. I've ordered the Cheerful starter pack so will need to source timber to go beyond that. Most of the wood list can be satisfied with Bud Nosen stuff from Frontline (predominately Basswood), so I'm looking around to see what/if other pre-cut timbers are available, preferably in Imperial sizes. At some point I'll buy a selection of what I've found to play with and see what works. I'm going a bit on faith that I'll be able to find what is needed, but until I get the plans in hand it's just pre-emptive investigation. I'm not quite ready to invest in a thickness sander, though I am considering a scroll saw in the near future. I'm gaining a ton of insight from this forum in the mean-time and have just finished reading Ship Modelling Simplified - hopefully it's not too much more difficult than the author makes it sound!

Thank you for a very warm welcome. Good to see so many locals! I'm in Turramurra, so as good as it gets when being locked down I think. The 10km exercise radius is great. Other than that, I work from home so lockdown is not too different except the rest of the family is here making a ruckus. The build logs on this site are a real treasure. I've been devouring them the last week or so. I'll be sure to add my own. Question for the Sydney folk, are there any particular retailers you recommend for good range, quality, or value for this particular hobby? I need to expand my tool collection and currently looking at options for wood in the various milled sizes. Frontline hobbies seems to have a fairly wide range of sizes for basic woods, and Modelers Central has a bit of the better stuff like Walnut, etc.

Hello shipwrights! Though I am not one of you yet, I wish to join the club. I've always had an admiration of this hobby, because the miniature form can be so close to the real thing. I've decided to dive in head first and ... I've just purchased the starter kit, and a few goodies, for HMS Cheerful. I may be out of my league with this kit, but hopefully not. Let me tell you about my plans... I've been looking for a kit based on a bunch of requirements * some sort of internal areas - places you can peek into and that insight curiosity * roughly Waterloo era naval vessel * royal navy I've been searching for a short while, and some models piqued my interest - Artesania 1/48 HMS Surprise, but it seems impossible to get. HMS Bounty with the exposed interior, but it's not a war ship. HMS Pegasus. I was very close to buying HMS Pegasus, spurred on by the modifications I'd seen in Blue Ensigns log - especially because the price via the Amati website to Australia was very good. Then I found HMS Winchelsea. Stunning. Perfect. A real stretch goal - especially because masts and rigging are something I'd like to try (in probably 5-7 years time?). But she has the massive advantage of not being a kit, which is a freedom. Mistakes can be discarded, tasks can be done again and again until they are right, because sourcing the materials is a problem that is already solved, and it's an excuse to buy good tools! I almost jumped in and signed up for the plans and got started. But the prospect of a similar ship, with similar construction methods, and the same set of problems on a smaller scale swayed me to something I thought I wasn't interested in. So I've spent the day with the HMS Cheerful wood list, making sure I can get what I need here in Australia (in average quality wood as a minimum). In the end I ordered the starter kit because it seemed crazy to spend that much on shipping just plans. So wish me luck. I have a long journey ahead, and lots to learn.