Mike Y

The completed stem post and keel assembly is now glued to the false keel. I used a # 4b pencil to darken the seams. Treenailing was done using Chuck's method as described in chapter one of his Cheerful practicum. Once completed, the stem post and keel were given a coat of Wipe-on-Poly. The WOP was buffed immediately in order to prevent a gloss finish.
 

Welcome to my build of Chuck's HM Cutter Cheerful. Most of the parts will be scratch built. Others like the false keel, windlass, rigging material and blocks will be purchased directly from Chuck. The wood for this project (all sheet stock) was purchased from Jason at Crown Timberyard. The quality of his wood is excellent and I am looking forward to working with it. As with my other builds, there will be many new things to learn and I will rely heavily on the knowledge base from MSW to help guide me through the process. So please don't hesitate to post your comments along the way. Thanks!.

Hey Group 
I've moved into our new house - I've attached photos of my new workspace (which needs to be set up - I also have a three car garage and a large deck for workspace) and my study where I have a big wall to house a ship model (you can see the profile of the plans of the 118 Commerce de Marseille which would easily fit in this space at 1/48).  Its either this ship or the 74 - funny  aside -  I bought a smaller Weber gas grill this past weekend - the Spirit - and I'm trading up for the Genesis because the wife said it was too small.   So maybe I should go for the 118 built as the 120  L'Orient - since she says go big or go home ! 
Chris

Hello,
 
the capstan is now completted. Here are some close up images and overall views.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Alex

A bit of more progress: started the planking of the upper deck.

Trimming the top timbers and adding gunport sill, upperwork side planking on both side of hull.
 
Cheers, Lee

Hi Thomas,
hi Remco,
 
in addition to your previous postings I show here again the whole artillery of the Corvette.
As can be seen, there are a total of four 18-pounder guns and twenty 30 pound carronades.

Hello,
 
many thanks for your nice comments.
By the way, that's not a 18 pounder, but a 30 pound carronade.
 
After burnishing is the "Baille à Drisse" completed.

Equipped with a coil of rope, it looks like this:
 

 

 

Continuation: Rigging the 18-pounder
All components for rigging of the four 18-pounder guns of La Créole were completed.

   
You can see the double and single blocks of Seitentaljen, the eyebolt and the hooks on the inside are attached to the bulwark and the block hook, for hooking the tackles on gun and the bulwark.

 
Until next time ...

Hello,
I am very glad for your positive comments, thank you for that.
 
So here are all the hooks before they are blackened.

The next picture illustrates a comparison between the 1st version 2 and version
of the block with hook.

Thanks, all, for the kind words. I have completed the last update and photos follow. The starboard axletree and winches are installed, along with the unusual rhodings displayed on the Annapolis Swan class model. Exterior planking to follow. As a reminder, the entire port side is left in frame to represent the Echo cross-section timbering package provided by Admiralty Models. The starboard side shows will show her fully fitted out.
 

Hi Guys,
 
Thanks Carl, Grant, Greg and mobbsie as well as the "Likes".
 
Well, once again real life is getting in the way of my model building.  I used to build multiplex cinemas before I retired and I have had a consulting gig looming for a while.  It has been encroaching on my shipyard time to some extent but lately it has taken on a life of it's own.  I have not done any work on the Bomb Vessel since my last update.  I have been in the shipyard but my workbench has been converted into a desk.  It is covered with paper instead of sawdust, very sad.  
 
I have been prepping for a 6 to 8 week job site stay to finish off a small cinema in a small town in Oklahoma.  I was the consultant for the original design several years ago and it makes sense that I should come back for the finish (shorter learning curve).  I start next Sunday and I hope to get home on future Sundays but I am not counting on it.
 
The good news is that it will help extend the retirement money and I have been thrilled to realize that I still remember how to do this.  The job site exercise will be good for me too.
 
I will still check in to MSW from the hotel room, watching with envy as Grant and mobbsie continue to get even further ahead.  Grant is right about the benefit of have their roadmap to follow when I do get to work on mine again.
 
Talk to you soon.  
 
I'll be back! (Terminator2)

Hi everyone,
 
At last, the woodwork is done on the carriages. I am showing all 28, fully assembled and together for the first time. I still have to glue the quoins to the beds, but I realized that I will need to do that individually to ensure that all muzzles are neatly aligned for height. I have to think about a helpful jig.
 
I now have to start all of the metalwork, following my prototype in the last two photos.
 
In the second photo, I am showing how I used my beam measuring tool to set a distance for cutting wooden pins to a constant length. I had to pin the axles and the transom to the carriage sides, and this helped enormously to cut out a large number to the right length as opposed to measuring each one.
 
Getting closer, still a long way to go.
 
Mark

Port side aft bulwark planked...   I'm cleaning up the shop a bit and I'll start on the hull planking.
 
Critiques, laughing out loud, pretty much anything you want to say about it is allowed, as always.   
 
I do notice that there's a couple of place that need a touch more sanding, but those places are on hold until after the rest of the hull is planked.  Might as well get everything at once....
 

Update time.    Starboard side aft outer bulwark is done..  sanded and has one coat of Wipe-On poly drying.    I'll rotate the hul around and turn to on the port side aft.  I'm debating over when this part is done whether to finish the hull planking or turn my attention to the stern planking.  I guess I'll just wait and see what mood I'm in.
 

One small step for Licorne, one big step for me.    I got the forward outer bulwark planked to my satisfaction.   Happy Dance!!!! 
 
The planking goes from one plank to three.  I got the middle one cut in as a proper stealer topmost goes under the ebony strip per the planking diagram (a different French frigate, but it showed me how it was done).
 
Here's the pic of the starboard side, and onto the aft ones.... The pic is super macro from about 4" out.  Looks better at galloping on horse back scale.
 

 

It's been a while since the last update. Recovery from my hip surgery has certainly slowed things down a little, but I have managed to make some progress.  The next stage was construction of the Mortar Pit.
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit commences with the six Mortar Pit Deck Beams that sit atop the Shell Room.   These were cut from 1/4" Pear stock.  Six rectangular blanks of identical size were cut and then spot glued together. A single paper pattern for the beams was then glued on to the gang of blanks and the notches for the Shell Room headers (5/16”) and the Mortar Pit Boundary Timbers (1/4”) were cut on the mill to take advantage of the still square faces. The round-up of the beams was then shaped using the spindle sander for the inside curve and the disc sander for the outside curve.  After test fitting, the Deck Beams were used as additional support to ensure the Shell Room was squared up for final fixing. Once the Shell Room was securely fastened, the Beams were given a coat of Wipe-On Poly and glued in place.
 

 
The Mortar Pit itself is fairly straightforward construction, consisting of two Boundary Timbers of 1/4” x 5/16” Pear, a Primary Layer of planking (3/16” Holly) and a Secondary Layer of planking (1/8” Holly).  I decided to use pencil along the plank edges to simulate the caulking with these decks, rather than the black paper used on the deck of the Shell Room, partly because I was concerned about glue adhesion, and partly because I wanted to see what it looked like.  Once again, the “drill and fill” method was used for simulating treenails. In retrospect, I should have sealed the Holly before applying the filler for the treenails as some of the filler has gotten into the grain of the deck and slightly discoloured it.  Here are the component parts prior to receiving a couple of coats of Wipe-On Poly.
 

 
The Primary planking has a 1/8” brass spigot inserted – this will locate the base of the turntable in a later stage of construction.  The Secondary planking has a circular cut out for the turntable. This was formed by cutting roughly to shape on the Scroll saw, and then finishing on the spindle sander. 
 

 
Once both decks had been completed, it was a fairly simple case of finessing them to size to fit the space defined by the Boundary timbers.  Here are a few pics of the completed Mortar Pit in place:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up, fitting of the Upper Deck Clamps and preparation for construction of the Upper Deck.  Stay tuned.....
 
 

Slowly progressing with the keel / stem / stern assembly.
 
Finished the deadwood and the slots for the wing transoms. Instead of chiseling, made that slots by gluing a wood strips and sanding it down to a smooth surface. (Tar simulation is done with a black paper again).
 

 

 
Simulating the iron bolts with 0.5mm black monofilament:
 

 
It is a little bit not to the scale, should be 0.52mm instead of 0.50 (assuming that original bolts were 1 inch thick). But that is the biggest monofilament I found.
Maybe on a next, true replica model will use the real iron bolts (with the heads). But this time - a small simplification.
Only one side of a frame has a bolts, because another side would be fully planked anyway.
 
Lots of sanding ahead - need to go through 240 -> 320 -> 400 -> 600 -> 1200 -> 2000 grits to achieve a consistent thickness of a frame and a smooth finish. 

Albert,
 
I just caught up with your Progress again, its masterly performed work, very impressive.
That joining technique and the prefabrication for the deckbeam parts is smart and of such profession that I presume this accuracy is related to your Profession ? (unknown)
 
Nils

Hi, Kurt. I didn't use any jig but eye measurement. Just try and you will find the way.
 
Thank you, Nils for the interest about fishing ship. I add some more close up pics. The large capstan seems to be used to haul heavy fishing net. Actually, there was no information about the deck beam structures, so, I did them with imagination.

Mike,
I add my little contribution as well the combination of the mini-vac with air brush compressor.
Pressure setting is around 60 psi, good enough to remove the dust but nothing else.
I use this this feature and it works well.
Good luck to find your solution.

Just a quick note:
If anyone wonder about the hideous wallpaper on my model, here's a pic from the real ship:
 

Cabin construction continues.
 
Not much to say here.
 

 

 




 
next up is furniture.

Small update:
 
new piece from Turkey

 
Door openings still too small. Turkmodel: "Doors not meant to be functional. Glue them to wall."

 
Fitting the upper cabinswalls. 

 
The walls have a strong curve upwards at the aft that the deck, or anything else has, have to fill up with strips.

 
Painting and fitting some other stuff

I guess it's about time I did something....
 
Gunport stripe (for lack of a better nomenclature) has been sanded, re-sanded, ports cut, re-sanded some more, gaps filled and sanded again...  I've applied one coat of wipe on poly to the stripe and to the counter to protect it.
 
Anyway... onward to the port side.
 
Once the port side is finished, I'll add the ebony chain wales and the French version of the billboard which runs from the stem, past the first port to the start of the second port.
 


 
As always, feel free to enlarge the photos by clicking on them.  Any advice, etc. is always appreciated.