Paul Le Wol

Hey SUBaron, great build log. I like that you’re overcoming the challenges and having fun at the same time. It is going to turn out beautifully. Paul

Hi Ian, thank you very much for your generous comment. I have been quietly following all of your build logs for some time now and have been greatly inspired by them. No matter what subject you decide to build it always stands out. Paul

Hello Everyone, many thanks to all of you for your comments and likes. I said I was going to do the timberheads, but I kept hearing the Syren anchor mini kit calling me. After a couple of failed attempts at applying the pudenning to the supplied anchor rings I used the supplied wire for the buoys to make the anchor rings. I tied some .018 Griffin rigging line to the wire and then applied CA along the length of the wire that was to be wrapped. Wrapped the line around the wire. About an inch and a quarter. Wound the wrapped wire around the shaft of an appropriately sized screw driver. Cut the ring leaving enough bare wire to fit into the hole in the shank of the anchor. The stock was attached and the ends were drilled and pinned under the outer "iron" bands which were made using heat shrink. The seizing on the rings was done with 30 wt brown cotton thread and brushed with diluted white glue. I guess the pudenning should have been brown. They are easy enough to take off and put on so maybe if I have nothing going on they can be changed. See you later....Paul

Thanks very much rudybob. I have been enjoying watching your innovative problem solving in your Pinnace build log. Paul

Hey rudybob , I’ve only planked one hull using the tick strips and planking fan but this is the method I used. After putting the marks on the tick strip, I would only transfer one mark to the bulkhead for the next strake. After finishing that strake I would check to see if the tick strip could still be used for the next strake. If it could still be used I would put one more mark on the bulkhead. If the the same tick strip couldn’t be used again because I had not been right on the money with the previous plank, then I would make a new tick strip. By only putting one mark at a time on each bulkhead I wouldn’t have to get rid on a bunch of marks if I messed up. Hope this makes sense. Paul

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all well. Thanks very much to All for your comments and Likes. For a couple of weeks now I have been knee deep in rigging. It was going good until I got to the standing rigging and decided to use the brown Griffin rigging line that I had. Going to put it on hold and see about getting some better rope. Griffin line is kind of mushy and just doesn't look good when you seize it. Very disappointing. Other people's mileage may vary but that's just my opinion. When I built my Bluenose, I had bought a book that had lots of photographs of the gaff being lashed to the boom when she was in port. Can't remember the title of the book. The only pictures I have of her were taken just before she left for a new home. Lots of reflections from the glass case. So that is the way I want to rig Cheerful. Not sure how it was done back in the day so I made a loop on each end of a piece of rope. Slipped one loop over the end of the gaff, wrapped the rope around the boom a couple of times and slipped the other loop onto the end of the gaff. If anyone has any thoughts on how this may have been done I would be more than happy to hear them. The block for the flag halliard was slid onto the gaff and the rope will probably be coiled on the deck. I picked up some Falconet 11mm belaying pins because the 9mm Falconet wood pins that I had were very small. Wanted to use wooden pins instead of the brass 9mm pins made by Technell even though the brass pins are very nice. The 9mm Falconet pin measures more like 8.5mm and the handle of the 11mm Falconet pin is very close to being the same size as the 9mm Technell. The 11mm pins look bigger in the photo than in real life. While the rigging is on hold I will probably work on the timberheads. See you next time. Paul

Hi Capella, I think at Modelexpo you get 12 pieces @ 500 mm equaling 6 of the 1000 mm strips from Modelers Central. So about the same price if I’m not mistaken in my math. Paul

Thank you so much for your kind words Johann. I hope you are mending well. Paul

Hi Gary, I’ve had that happen before on several different sites. Usually because something went wrong during the registration process and when I tried to start over I was told that the email address was already used. I would just make a new email address. You can never have too many. 🙂 Paul

Hey SteveL, I usually post using a PC but I have made a couple of posts using an iPad. After typing the text, press Enter a couple of times to move the cursor down to where you want to insert your image(s). Insert image that you uploaded. Press enter again to move cursor down to where you want to add more text or another image. If you press enter a couple of times between inserting images you will get a space between them and it will be. easier to distinguish between them. Paul

Hey Bob, yes it was cherry red and it went straight into the blackener that was cut with water

Hello Everyone, thank you all for your great comments and likes. This week I was pecking away at the chain plates busily breaking drill bits on the brass strips. Spent some time reading Moonbug's "A bit of advice" thread and druxey mentioned annealing brass. So I went over to the Canadian Tire and picked up an Iroda mini butane torch. They are usually on sale over there. Had one of the smaller torches that uses a refillable butane lighter but the flimsy trigger mechanism did not last long. This one is a lot better' It made a huge difference with the drilling. After the holes were drilled in the chain plates I annealed them again but quenched them in the blackener. The finish is very durable. Been using Novacan blackener for these small parts. Got it in a stained glass shop. The owner of the shop was nice enough to try it on some brass for me before she would let me leave with it. This brass strip was a test piece. The left side was annealed and quenched in the blackener and the right side was not annealed. Did some other small parts to see how they liked the process. Still shot the chain plates with dullcote for some added protection. They are all made. Just have to install them. One last thing that was worked on were the cleats(?) in the center of the topsail yard. Getting very close to rigging. See you next week.....Paul

Hey Bob, I think I read somewhere that perfectionists can have fun too. Looking forward to your Flirt build. Paul

Hi Ron, thanks very much for your Likes and comments. Even though it has been fun, I think after she has been rigged I am going to have an XXL dram of scotch.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your comments. I guess this will work as long as Chuck keeps making his multi-part deadeyes 🙂

Hey Cisco, very nice work on the transom, counter, and fashion pieces. I saw you were asking Andy about the metal hand screw clamps he is using. I saw them at Widget Supply in Oregon. ($6) ( widgetsupply.com) I’ve never ordered anything from them but they have a lot of neat stuff. Paul

Hello Everyone, hope you are all well. Thank you for all of your great comments and Likes. So appreciated. This week was spent focusing on the stropping the deadeyes. Rings about 1/16 inch thick were cut from a 1/4 inch brass tube with 1/64 inch walls. After sanding them down to around 1/32 inch they were given a bit of a squeeze to make them oval. A #53 drill bit was taped to a 3/16 inch bit and the oval shaped ring was slid over them and crimped with end cutting pliers. The Syren deadeyes were then assembled as usual while installing the blackened strop in the process. They just need a little more buffing up. Between making deadeyes the boom, gaff, and yards were worked on a bit more. This week I plan on working on the chain plates. I ordered some Testors Dullcote from Sunward Hobbies to see if it helps make the blackening more durable. See you next week.....Paul

Thanks very much Glenn. I know the feeling you’re talking about. Funny isn’t it, you’d think it would be the opposite. I guess building anything like this becomes such a big part of our lives. Paul

Allen, thank you so much for your comment. I could not agree more about Syren products and the amount of work that Chuck has put into them. I also have to acknowledge the fact that even though the monograph is so well done, I still lean heavily on all of the build logs of the members that pioneered the building of this model. Paul Ron, thank you for your generous comments. I’m still laughing about the eating off the deck comment. Paul Bob, thank you very much. I have the feeling that eventually, there will be a cutter in your future 🙂 Paul

Hello Everyone, thank you for stopping by, commenting and Liking. As usual I've been jumping around all over the place with Cheerful. Started the week by finishing the top mast. Used a spare truck from one of the carronade carriages for the mast cap. Painted the appropriate places black. Using Tamiya Dark Iron (X-84). Goes on very smoothly and covers well. Was using Liquitex Basics Ivory Black when painting the wales but it needed/ needs so many coats that I made the switch. Also made the tiller out of 1/8 inch cedar sheet. Not much to see there. Just lots of filing and sanding. The Elm tree pumps were remade because the iron band I tried to paint on them didn't turn out very well at all. This time I used art tape that was picked up at Staples. One of the motivations for making new pumps was the fact that there was an octagonal offcut just sitting there after shaping the topsail yard. The yards were shaped because I was on a roll after making the boom and the gaff. The jaws for the boom were cut from 1/8 inch cedar sheet. Used a piece of what I believe is #14 copper wire for the ..........horse (?). Mounted the pumps and ladders on deck Next comes the chainplates and the back stay plates. See you next week. Paul

Hey USNCHief013107, thank you for your kind words. I think a lot of it has to do with the Alaskan Yellow Cedar. Looks nice and so easy to work with.

Hey Everyone, hope you are all well. Thank you very much for the much appreciated Likes. This week I focused mainly on the carronades. The decision was made not to rig them with tackle. Spent a couple of hours trying to make one and it just was not happening. Once they were all mounted attention could be turned to working on the deck furniture. For some reason the winch caused me a world of pain. After disassembling and assembling it three times it finally looked ok. Here it is being test fitted. The winch was made in a similar fashion as Chuck's bowsprit step mini kit. The uprights and standards were cut as one piece from a sheet of 1/8 inch cedar sheet and then 1/32 inch strips were glued to both sides of the upright part I got out the laser and mounted the mast. Slid the mast coat on to the mast. Just put a touch of pva where it where it goes through the deck and then slid the mast coat down to the deck. Have to make the pumps and the tiller to finish the deck. This week will be the laying out of the chain plates and the backstay plates. See you next week...Paul

Hi Everyone. I hope you are all well. Thanks to all for their encouraging likes. This week the catheads were made and installed. Put a pin in both of them after a couple of join failures. The carronade carriages were made a while ago. I had bought rope from Model Expo but as you can see it has a mind of it's own if it is not under tension. Bee's wax, heat, you name it, it would not behave. I think it got too used to being wound around the spool. Tried some rope from Crafty Sailor. It is three strand polyester. It looks good and is nice and relaxed. Because it is three stranded I wrapped it around the knob of the cascabel. A piece of a 1/8 inch thick strip was glued to the front of the carriage and then glued to the spirketing. The carriage trucks end up being about a 1/16 inch away from the spirketing. That is one complete. Still not sure about adding the tackles. Took some time to think about a display case. Picked up some extruded aluminum 1/4 round T-slot channel and tri-corner brackets thinking that it would be an easy way to make a case. Oops, who would have thought that the slots aren't continuous around the corners. Filed away some of the registration tabs to see if an acrylic panel with it's corners relieved would look alright. This product certainly isn't meant for the use I wanted it for. Might be able to figure out this case by next week. Paul .

Hi Cisco, if you look at Chapter 3 of Chuck’s monograph for the Cheerful, it shows the planking above the wales being finished up to the sheer before any thinning of the extensions is done. In my case having the planks to support the extensions saved a lot of grief because there wasn’t a whole lot left of some of them after fairing. I also think that leaving them thick will make it easier to convince the first layer of planks to stay in place if they are not bent spot on. Looking at your photos I’m assuming that you only have the one 1/8 inch strake above the wale so far. If not then please disregard anything I’ve said 😀 Paul

Hey ships88, you are doing a beautiful job planking the Galleon. Would it be possible to lower the hole for the rudder/ tiller so that it is below the light colored plank (wale?) . Doesn’t look like it needs much but it may mess up your rudder. Paul