reilly

This will mark the beginning of my project to build the prototype for the Cutter Cheerful.  The plans are completed and I am getting ready to release the plans in a few months.  I will be building her out of Boxwood or possibly even Pau marfin.  I havent decided.  This project is a POB build as you can see from the details in the plans posted below.  Its not a very cumbersome project with just a cutter rig to deal with.  She is carvel planked and not Clinker planked.  This is one of the reasons why I chose it as a subject.
 
Once I have the skeleton built and the hull planked,  the plans will be released. The remainder of the project is pretty straight forward and doesnt need much of an explanation.  I just need to prove out the design concepts for the hull skeleton.  It shouldnt take too long.  I will be writing a monograph as I build her and posting it on my website for free download as well as here on MSW should folks want to read it.  But as I stated,  I wont need to finish the entire project to release the plans as they are really straight forward.  At a 1/4" scale...the hull will be 28 inches long and 26" tall.  A nice size yet built at a larger scale to show some great details.  
 
I am finally at a point with the Syren store where my inventory is quite full and I will be able to enjoy working on both the Winnie and the Cheerful for several hours each day.  I just cant wait to get started.  Having a laser cutter doesnt hurt either.  It will save me much time.
 
Chuck
 

 

 

Well, little did I think a year ago when I started my first wooden ship build that I'd ever be posting in the scratchbuild forum, but here I am.  I've been contemplating a scratch build since mid-summer 2013, from looking at all the wonderful scratch builds on MSW and from the amount of scratching I've been doing on my Conny build.  I wanted to try a scratch build. I think I have the woodworking skill as I've been building in wood my entire life.  The thing I still lack is detailed shipwright knowledge, but I'm learning...  The one thing I know for a fact though is a fully detailed POF build is not for me, I don't have the knowledge or time to do so.
 
I bought several books that everyone seems to quote as bibles for wooden shipbuilding, including Goodwin’s "Constructing an English Man of War".  Next was selecting a subject to model.  I first thought of the HMS Surprise, and bought “The Frigate Surprise” book to do some research.  I also thought of buying the Latina 1/48 Surprise kit and scratch-bashing that.  I then thought about the Essex.  I had been in contact with Sam Cassano about his MSW kit earlier and decided to ask his advice.  Not only did he offer any help he could, but also sent me a set of his drawings which I could use as a basis for my build drawings.  Sam’s kit is of Essex in her 1799 launch configuration, my attempt at Essex will be as close as I can come to her 1814 configuration at Valparaiso.  I bought Portia's AOTS Essex book and "The Frigate Essex Papers" which contain William Baker's wonderful drawings and Josiah Fox's detailed measurements of her from her 1807-09 rebuild.  I'd like to thank Sam Cassano and Steve, (Frolick on MSW) for giving me invaluable help on acquiring info and dwgs.
 
My build will be a POB, but with a different twist.  One side will be fully planked, but the other side will show her frames from somewhere near the bow to near the stern, and from a point several strakes above the garboard (I haven't determined where yet).  The reason I chose this method was to show her frames, but to not have to build all the intricate framing of the keel, floor timbers, deadwood, all cant frames (both bow and stern) etc.  There also won’t be any internal details below the gundeck.  This may seem to be cheating, or an "easy way out" solution, and I guess it is but for me it's the way to go.  I'm achieving this by placing plywood bulkheads at each frame location, but on the frame side I will cut off the ply and glue on hardwood frames, probably Pear.  This should give the look of individual frames and their futtocks from the outside, which is what I'm going for.  I chose 1/48 as the scale as I wanted to build in a larger scale.  It will be a big one, maybe bigger than I want, but 1/48 is what I’m going with.  I hope to fully mast and rig her, if I have the years and patience to do so….
 
I'm drawing my own build drawings, still a lot of work to do, and will post some images when they are far enough along.  I am cutting the center bulkhead and bulkhead blanks right now and will post pics when they're done.  It’s as much a proof of concept as it is a chance to get started!  Some may wonder how I can start building without completed drawings, but I pretty much have the design finished in my mind, I just have to create the dwgs so I can build her.
 
This may be a bumpy ride but we'll see where this goes!
 
Here is William Baker's dwg from 1808 or 9.  This is the overall configuration I'm going for.

 
Here is Baker's redrawn lines based on William Hackett's original draughts.  This is the dwg I used as the basis of my layout, along with Sam Casanno's dwgs.  I used Portia's framing dwg as a guide only.

 
(These are a gif and jpg, resized down from original size so I don't think I'm violating any copyrights by posting them)
 
Edit 4/15.
I decided to add a pic here at the very beginning of this log so future readers will know what the heck I'm doing.  Here are Essex's frames before I cut them down and sanded them.  I now call this method either the "alligator skin" or "Godzilla" method.  Looking at the frames before they're trimmed will show you why.


 
Reading through the beginning of the log where I'm just making frames and bulkheads I'm sure had a lot of you stumped as the what the heck I was making.  Hopefully this :before and after (frames) will give an idea.
Here's the hull after initial fairing.  Better, huh?


 
Edit 12/31/15
Here's after cant frames have been added and more fairing done.

 

As a diversion, I've started an 18' cutter with a plug and instructions from Admiralty Models.  I don't think they offer the plug any more, but the instructions can be found via a Google search.  The various parts of the keel assembly are each a different thickness, so I used my Byrnes thickness sander to get the right dimensions.
The keel is 3 1/2" sided, the stem 3" the stem apron 4 1/2", sternpost 3" and the sternson knee and transom are 1 1/2".
I chose to make the apron separate from the stem and getting it to match the after side of the stem takes some care.  I thought it easier than cutting it in one piece as David Antscherl did in his practum.  Lining the pieces up for gluing was a matter of sanding several shims to get the pieces centered on the keel with a proper fit.  No rush job here.  Prepping the plug is easy, with  adjustments where the apron fits...just a series of sanding the inner slot equally on both sides (count the strokes) until the apron fit snugly.  Once that was done, I used the keel assembly in the plug to align and glue on the transom.
Maury

Hi Maury. Looks like a great start for a model that looks like it'll be lots of fun to build. I like the fact that it's at a small scale, too...
 
All the best!

My first ever model boat build and first MSW post. I was in Bluejacket's shop two weeks ago in Searsport, ME and marveled over all their kits and thought I would jump in feet first and give this one a try. Maybe this is the standard and it gets easier with experience but the directions are really more highlights of the build rather than step by step. Regardless, I'm looking forward to each stage and now get to tackle hull planking, woohoo! I'm using a walnut stain instead of the maple color for the inside of the hull, it will nearly match the mahogany seats, hope that will look ok (mostly because I had this handy and didn't want to drive into town). Thinking of adding spar urethane also to give it the shiny poly look, maybe that will lighten the inside also.

Here's the profile plan of the Gannet/Belette(2nd of that name) which seems to show the bow platform, but not the one at the stern. The more digging I do, the more confusing this is...

I wouldn't mind doing a Roman merchant vessel in the future, as they seem to be a more conventional hull form.