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Paul Le Wol

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Everything posted by Paul Le Wol

  1. Paul Le Wol
    It’s good to have you along Ian.
  2. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Everyone, I have started my next project. About a year ago when I saw Ekis’ beautiful completed model I decided that I would like to give it a try. The build board was started about a month ago. Picked up a 12”x 36” pine project panel at Home Depot. It was surprisingly flat and straight. The aluminum T-channel, T-bolts, and knobs are from Lee Valley, the sticky-backed measuring tape is made by Starret and is from Amazon and the 2” aluminum square tube is from Aircraft Spruce. The first thing the directions tell you to do is remove the frames and bulkheads from the carrier sheet and mount them on the build board, then plank the boat. If Billings ever published a recipe book, all of the recipes would say- Step 1: Put in pot Step 2: Boil Step 3: Eat Because the two center channels are proud of the board the frames have to be notched. The notch also keeps the frame centered. I didn’t need the piece above the notches so it was not removed. Blocks of wood were glued to the various frames to help with the assembly. The frames were then screwed to the crosspieces. Used some pieces from Cheerful’s carrier sheet to support the front of the cabin. Glued in the kit supplied strips that support the frames. There are two triangular shaped pieces that are glued in at the stern. The side that is glued to the keel/ frame has to be sanded at an angle. Clamped a small piece of wood to the stern post to support these pieces while gluing. It’s difficult to tell if you’ve sanded enough when everything is upside down. The two frames toward the bow are just for support and nothing is glued to them. To keep them from moving around, the keel was tie wired to them. I transferred a line from the plans to the keel that indicates the bottom of the garboard. As you can see there needs to be some adjustments made to something. Just need to find one more 1/4-20 nut for the stem clamp. Now it’s ready to plank. Hope to see you all soon.
  3. Paul Le Wol
    Thank you Chris and Bob, your comments have meant a lot to me. Not quite in the new boat groove yet but I’m getting there 🙂
  4. Paul Le Wol
    Thanks Ian, it will be good to know that you are there.
  5. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Chuck, thank you very much. Cheerful has been a very enjoyable experience for me. I was really hoping that you would have developed another vessel similar in size to Cheerful by the time I was finished. I don’t know how you find the time in the day to do everything you do but here’s hoping maybe by next year 😀
  6. Paul Le Wol
    Thanks Glenn for your comment and for reminding me about the gallery. I’ll see if I can get the files renamed. Ryland, thanks for your comment. I know how much value I got out of everyone else’s build logs so here’s hoping my next one will be a little more fine tuned. ct mike, Dave_E, Nunnehi(Don), Jean-Paul, DanB, thank you for your great comments. BobG, thank you. I started today setting up a build board for the next build. Time to start thinking about what comes after that. I do find myself looking at a lot of J-Class yachting videos over at the internet.
  7. Paul Le Wol
    Thank you everyone for your Likes and Comments. You have all been very generous with them and I appreciate that so very much. Dave, by the time I thought about rigging the anchors it was already too late to cut holes in the grating for the rope. It does kind of look sparse at the bow, especially without the cannons. Maybe when it’s time for a refit things can be added 😀
  8. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Everyone, today I am declaring that my Cheerful is finished. This build has been a lot of fun and a great learning experience. A big thank you to all of the people who joined me on this journey and to those who have guided me along the way. Hopefully we can do it again one day.
  9. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Chief, I am very sorry to hear of your Mum’s passing. Your Mum and Dad must have been wonderful people.
  10. Paul Le Wol
    Hi svein erik, I am so sorry to hear of your Mom’s passing. Glad to see you restarting your Cheerful build. Your pup must be all grown up by now
  11. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Everyone, I hope everyone is doing fine and thanks to all for the very appreciated Likes. Well another week, another rope coil revision. There can only be so many ways you can make one of these things and I think that I have attempted all of them. Finally settled on this way. Just glued a small loop onto the coil. Made the usual coil but tied the top together with cotton thread. Pinned the coil into another jig and attached a small loop with CA. Just glued it at the orange pin. Flipped it over and pinned it into another jig. Washed it with diluted clear acrylic and let it dry in place. When it was dry (20 minutes) it was mounted with a machine screw weighing it down to give it a bit better shape. Applied more acrylic and removed the screw after everything had dried. At last count there were ten more to do. The next update will definitely not be about making rope coils.😃
  12. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Dave, everything is looking great. I would wait a while before mounting the anchors and the rudder.
  13. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Glenn, it’s always been that way. Someone could show me twenty times how to tie a knot and when it was my turn to try it I would inevitably say “OK, show me that one more time”
  14. Paul Le Wol
    Hello Everyone and thank you for all of your Likes . Just a bit of an update. Firstly, thanks to Glenn Barlow for getting me dialed in to using the clear acrylic instead of diluted pva. Looks and works way better. Picked up some of this at Dundas Valley Hobbies. Never seen so much paint in one place. Started out by replacing the coils on the bow sprit step. Changed from cotton to polyester rope. The cotton didn’t like the pva or the acrylic. No matter what I tried I couldn’t make it decent looking coil to hang over the cleats and pins. So I gave up on the jig. Made coils the same as on the bow sprit step but made a small loop of rope that is hitched on itself to attach the coil to it’s hanging place. Wrapped the rope around a 3/8” diameter pencil and applied CA to an 1/8” overlap. The joint ends up being behind the coil. Doesn’t really look like it’s supposed to but I know when I’m whipped 🙂
  15. Paul Le Wol
    Thanks very much James. I was just over looking at your Speedy build. It looks so good. I hope you have the opportunity to finish it one day
  16. Paul Le Wol
    Thanks Glenn. I am going to give the clear acrylic a try. Your rope coils look great and I don’t want to drop the ball at this stage.
  17. Paul Le Wol
    Hey Everyone, decided to make a coil with the cotton rope without using diluted PVA. Used CA on the knot at the bottom and to stick the small loop at the top to the back of the big loop. To me it looks better and is easier to shape. The coil on the left is cotton.
  18. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Cisco and Bob, thank you very much for your comments. Cisco, I copied a jig that Glenn used in his Cheerful build. Still trying different configurations. The coil hanging on the mast is from Crafty Sailor. It is 100% polyester. When coated with diluted pva it it kind of behaves but doesn’t really stick together which actually makes it look more realistic. The coil on the bow sprit step is 100% cotton from Ropes of Scale. When coated with diluted pva it really sticks together well but it needs a lot of work to get it sit right. This is the way I seem to be getting along with….. Started in the middle of a piece of 12” rope at the bottom of the center 1/8” tube. Crossed over between the center and top tube. Crossed again on top of the top tube Wrapped around all of the tubes in opposite directions and put half a square knot at the bottom of the 1/4” tube Painted with diluted pva. When dry I put a bit of CA on the knot and cut off the excess. Wrapped the small loop in the center around the top of the big loop. Gave it a test fit to show the difference between the different ropes The cotton rope still needs a bit of tweaking.
  19. Paul Le Wol
    Thank you so much everyone for the Likes. Ian, SUBaron, and Glenn, your comments are appreciated very much. Today I made a couple of rope coils and started taking pictures of them as I went just to see what they actually looked like. Not going to post everyone but it’s amazing how much tweaking they need when you zoom in. Talk to you soon
  20. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Everyone, thank you very much for the comments and Likes. Just thought I would post a few photos of the rigging. Didn’t want to post too much on this part of the build because other members have documented theirs so well. Only have a few lines to secure and then on to making coils of rope. See you all next time.
  21. Paul Le Wol
    Very nice planking Cisco. Will have to remember your technique of beveling the edges of the planks to pre-fit them and then make the edges square.
  22. Paul Le Wol
    Hey SUBaron, everything is looking great. Every once in a while I get an uploaded picture that needs rotating. I found that if I delete it, go back to the original (on an iPad) and crop it a bit, then re-upload it, usually it ends up in the correct orientation
  23. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Dave, thanks so much for your comment and thanks to everyone for their likes. I have to tell you that the only reason I got through the rigging in one piece is because I keep a tab open to Glenn Barlow’s build log. Thanks Glenn
  24. Paul Le Wol
    Hi Alan, thank you very much for your comment. Building Cheerful has been a lot of fun and I learned a lot following Chuck’s monograph and videos. I highly recommend this model to anyone wanting to build a good looking, well documented little ship. I have a warm spot in my heart for Billings Boats and last year after seeing Ekis’ beautiful build I picked up a Nordlands Baaden 416. The planking looks like a challenge but I think I’m up for it. Whenever I look at a kit from any manufacturer I always think of what it would look like if it was done with different types of wood. That’s why I think that Syren’s offerings are so appealing. Buy the parts that you need and get a lumber package from your favorite supplier. I don’t have the work space or tools to cut bulkheads and things so this system works for me. Maybe other manufacturers will eventually offer this method as an option. This week was spent rigging the yards. I took the easy way out and drilled holes where the stirrups are mounted. It made it easier for me to make them hang down the same distance. When I look a the photos I realize that more care should have been taken determining where the wraps started and ended but when you stand here looking at it, it’s not that noticeable. The tiller was mounted and then I made my first rope coil. The entryway stanchions are glued in place and now just have to try not to break anything (again). See you next week
  25. Paul Le Wol
    Thank you everyone for all of your much appreciated Likes. Glenn and Ian, thank you for your great comments. You know when I started the rigging I thought that I was in the home stretch but not so. It seems to be getting more challenging every day. You really need to be a bit of a gymnast to get to the finish line. ( If gymnasts have finish lines )

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