Craigie65

Why you doing a Cutter deal! 🤣😉 I might have to sneak that past the Admiral, she is only just accepting of a HMS Surprise in the next year or so! 🤣

I think the best thing to do, if you are undecided, is to buy both! lol

Now this looks an interesting little model!  My first wooden kit was the Sherborne and for some time I have been wanting to do another Cutter as I was never happy with my Sherborne effort. I was thinking of the Alert, but now I’ll see what the Trial looks like! 😁👍

Cheers!
 
I am a little rusty when it came to doing a nicer model, rather than speed built just for pics for jim.
 
The designs are 100% done. I have changed a few things whilst building this. For example, I felt the 1mm pear was just ever so slightly too thick, so have put them on a 0.8mm pear file (inner/outer bulwarks, main wale, upper rails and gunwale)
 
All of the planking is very easy, and all is painted. All above the white painted area are pre cut.

Wonderful how you turn out these new vessels.  You are a machine Mr W!
Very interesting design. Looking forward to seeing this one being developed 

Wonderful how you turn out these new vessels.  You are a machine Mr W!
Very interesting design. Looking forward to seeing this one being developed 

The Trial Class Cutter (1788) was a vessel with three sliding keels' Agreeable to a plan suggested by Captain Schank, She was just over 65 feet along the main deck and 121 tons. She was initially armed with 8 x 3 pounder cannon, but in 1793, 4 x 12 pounder carronades were added, bringing he armament up to 12 guns.
She was launched in 1790, and hulked in 1810. She became a depot ship at Waterford; by the 1840's to Callao in Peru as a coal depot, being finally sold in 1848, after well over half a century in service. (Sailing Navy List - David Lyon)
 
I wanted to develop a smaller cutter. I even thought about doing a much improved Sherbourne. However, I have little stomach for treading old ground when there are still so many wonderful subjects that have not been tackled. One such subject was the Trial Cutter (quite a bit larger than Sherbourne), and I thought it would be more of a challenge and more unusual, due to the three drop keels. For the designs, I have utilised both the original plans and the contemporary model. I wanted to develop not a simple beginners kit, but a nicely detailed smaller kit, with etched planking and treenail detail on the inner and outer hull, just to see how that kind of detail would work out.
 
So, I started designs way back at the end of February. I had three stabs at the hull design before I settled on the forth. The original designs were to have the drop keels fitted very early in the build, and they dropped down to a pre determined level. That was pretty cool, but it would have meant adding the rope to the tops of the keels and keeping them free of glue and paint and whatever else throughout the hull build. I ditched that idea and came up with a simpler solution, where the keels are added only after most of the hull is complete.
 
So here is where I am up to. I cannot do much more until I have my photo etched samples arrive, but I did manage to cannibalise some parts from scrap sheets, like eyebolts, winch handles, belaying pins etc.
 
Here are some pics!

Ejector seats done and installed in the cockpit tub.  Thanks to Craig for blazing the trail in posts #47-#68, there appears to be subtle difference between the kit part and the 3D printed aftermarket part, but given how much they will be visible once enclosed in the fuselage, only we will know!
 
I decided to loop the long blue straps at the base of the seat and turn them into "leg garters" / "ankle restraints" as discussed in the tread when Craig was adding his.  Finished off with a coat of flat varnish to hide my C-A. glue seepages in places from under the straps!   Time to glue together the front section and get on with the rest of the fuselage, which looking at it won't take long.
 
Thanks for the likes and popping by. 😁

Here's a couple of the finished hull.
 

And finally, for today.
 
Stanchions on ready for cord, which I'll add when I do the next update.
 

 
 
 
Grecian comes with a LOT of choices for armament. Carronades feature heavily and paint is scraped away from where these are to be fitted. There is a small shelf on the exterior for the carronades, hence the paint removed.


 
 
 
Next two 6 pdrs and two 4 pdrs are added.

 
 
 
Here is the supplied 3D boat, with timber parts, nicely painted by my friend Mark who does my figureheads and cabin furniture.
 
 
 




 
 
 
And here is what Grecian now looks like!



 
 
 
It's chainplates etc. for next update, and maybe the bowsprit too.
 
Soon..
 

good evening everyone
 
thank you for comments and likes
 
at last i have started to recover from this flu bug, totally wiped me out for the last week, but thats enough of me
 
progress has continued on my build, slowly, but i am happy with what ive achieved, hopefully the problem area, like the tuck will look better when sanded, oh and the boi wanted a mention
 
 

Second Planking – Very slow but steady progress
The second planking is proving to be a task that requires a great deal of patience. I have completed the planking from midships to under the transom on the left-hand side. I have not made a brilliant job of it but it is much better that any of my previous models.

 
I have removed the excess planking material from the left-hand side gunport openings, noting the opening still require sanding to get a nice smooth finish.

 
I should have taken more care when selecting the planks as there is quite a bit of colour difference with the boxwood planks. However as the area above the waterline will probably be filled and painted black and yellow it is not really an issue for me.

 
The bow planks are a good fit in the stem rabbet. I have now started to taper the planks complete with a lateral edge bend which is slowing the progress down somewhat.

 
The next plank to be fitted is currently having the lateral edge bend applied.

I'm not prepared to risk it Jason, it also has implications for the keel.
Knowing when not to meddle is a valuable skill in our business.😉
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Post Twenty-three
The Sanding business

0811
This is a lovely hull to sand, large enough to sweep along it with flexible sanding sheets and blocks.

0812
At the stern the planks are feathered into the false keel to receive the top layer.

0815
There were a few low spots that I filled and sanded and once I was satisfied with a blind feel test I deemed the job complete.

0819
The whole process was completed over two days, and the hull was finally given a coat of sanding sealer.

0821
Sanding sealer contains Xylenes, and is nasty stuff, best done in the open air and wearing a mask and gloves.

0822
At this point I dry fitted the stem, keel, and sternpost parts.
The stem fitted neatly into place with a light tap of the hammer, but before final fitting I was interested to see how the facings related to the curve of the bow planking.

0810
These facings of 1mm stuff are engraved with the lines that denote the various parts of the head and provide a rabbet for the second planking.

0830
I fined down the plank ends a little to provide more leeway in the rabbet.
I find it always pays to constantly look a few steps ahead in a build, and check what’s coming up.
 
B.E
18/03/2023
 

Capping rails are now fitted. Together with the cat heads and the forward swivel gun mounts. Also added the stern board and much of its trim. I’ve put a plank in below the stern board as per JPalmer and Thukydides great advice. 
 
I’m not adding the sides of the rough tree rail until later as they’re fragile and I’m bound to break them at this stage. 
 
Lots of touching up to the paint required. She’s looking a bit scruffy! 
 

i used frames 4 to 14 
so on attached photo working forward F- Frame number in MM
tuck to F13 about 200
F13 to F9 220
F9 to F5 220
F5 to bow 195
 

Post Twenty-two
Countdown to completion

0762

0766
Three strakes left.

0768

0769
Two strakes left and getting a little tight at the bow.

0771
I could get a fit but I decided just for the fun of it to add a drop plank here.

0774
It extends from the stem back to the fourth bulkhead.

0776

0779
One strake only left to abut the drop plank.
Things have worked out pretty well with the remaining strake sitting below the hull round.

0783
A good supply of lime was provided in the kit; I have a fair number left over, but I did use a few wider strips, to form planks like the Garboard and drop planks.

0784

0792

0790

0787
It’s now a case of sand, sand, and sand again.
 
B.E
17/04/2023

As there are already 3 excellant blogs foing on for this build I will keep my meager attempts to some pictures ,comments and questions.
First thing is i have never planked a baby whale before but even worse is having to sand it . My fingers feel rougher than the sandpaper .
I find that in my old clumsy way ,MDF is extremely fragile !
Still some sanding to do and my planking comes from the school of doing before thinking😁
I have now approaching the second level of 4 wales and in the manual James states that the bottom 3 should be tapered but as far as i can see on the drawings  they are not  . Is there a right or wrong way please ?

A bit dusty and in need of a wee bit of maintenance

A bit dusty and in need of a wee bit of maintenance

good morning everyone
 
thank you for comments and likes especially for my mum, she is coping in Hospital, but quite weak from the effects of Covid, the shock of what has happened.  Was meant to be transferred to the BRI in Bristol today to have a stint inserted, but will be delayed as she tested positive again on Sunday, but needs two concentrative  negative results for this procedure
 
as for the build, im quite happy with the results on the port side a couple of sealers to still be put in. As  its my first ever hull to be left unpainted, i have made some mistakes, the obvious one is that i started tapering far to early and did far to much,  the result is that i had some silly planks to insert under the hull, we all live and learn, it would be a shame to paint it now, i just hope i can make it look far more presentable to allow her to be in just varnish

Thanks for the comments and likes guys,
Especially now that I wasn't doing so well and progress was minimal.
I kept toying with the idea of doing something with the friezes.
I thought about editing in PC, but I'm not a graphic designer and I couldn't do it. It would take experience with graphics and a graphics tablet would probably be useful.
Then I thought what about getting some waterslide decals made.
Expensive and uncertain result.
Today I tried hand painting but I'm not a cartoonist either,
and my magnifying glass isn't strong enough.
And I also don't have such micro brushes yet
How the hell did they do it at the time?
 
So I guess I gave up, and today I put the first friezes in place.
What do you think?
 

 
 

First Planking – Left Side Completed
After a few day work I have completed the first planking on the left-hand side. I decided to abandon the planking in bands and continued to plank upward.
 
I now have a few days more work to complete the right-hand side.
 
I have attached a few photos.  I am really pleased with how this has turned out.

For your info, my HMS Indefatigable build will be published as a two-part article in the Model Boats magazine, with the first part available in this month's mag.
 
It's the Model Boats mag that first drew me into this hobby with Keith Julier's period ship builds. If it wasn't for him, then I doubt MSW would exist, and my interest in this hobby. 

https://www.modelboats.co.uk
 
Here's the intro pages for Part 1 of my article.
 

 
 

First Planking – Planking Garboard
Yesterday I had to attend to a plumbing issue as the water in our kitchen sink disposal unit was not draining away. After removing the unit and cleaning it there still seemed to an issue with the water drainage, so I ended up buying and fitting a new unit. I was therefore unable to spend much time in the shipyard.
 
Having completed planking under the stern counter area today I decided to add the garboard plank. I was very pleased with how the first three planks looked around the bow area.

 
The stern area is only being planking up to the dead area which avoid the need to taper the keel.

 
I am working with an inverted Indy which is resting on two spacers to stop the bulwarks resting on the work bench.

 
I am using pins to secure the planks to the various bulkheads However I am also using clamps to ensure the plank edges are aligned which should reduce the amount of sanding required.