egkb

I'm back!!! After a summer off from shipbuilding (gardening, lawn work, maybe a little fly fishing!) weather is cooling off and I can get back to work. Spent the last couple days installing knightheads and stanchions. Not the greatest fit but lots of shimming and fussing got them in!
 
I'll keep you posted!
 
Steve

Coamings installed and making progress on decking. Using the supplied basswood, I'm going to leave the finish natural. From what  can tell the Emma at Mystic now has the deck painted black; I'm going to paint the rest of the boat so I really would like to see some natural wood. Artistic license! I'm using a mat finish lacquer from a spray can and will rub it down.
 
BTW, I deliberately sorted out my deck wood by shade, and tried to vary the shades of adjoining planks to add contrast and "interest". I'm not sure that I'm happy with the result, it might be a little "much"!
 
You can see the importance I place on an orderly and neat work area!
 
The color to use for the bulwarks and sides of cabins is a pale off-white, cabin roof and hatch covers are a more yellowish "buff". I have a couple Floquil railroad colors in my stash that should work but they're up at the lake so I'll let you know what I will use over the next couple days.
 
I won't make much progress this coming week (I'm drywalling and taping my daughter's garage) but hope to finish the deck, do some sanding and filling of the hull, and start the bulwarks.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions!
 
Steve

Here's little Sullivan, 18 days old. Very impressed with my workmanship. But you'd be tired too if you worked on a chain gang all day............
 
Steve

All frames installed. Lots of temporary bracing to be removed as planking progresses. Note shims on frames 14 and 16
 
Steve

The framing continues!! Note lots of temporary bracing....the bracing was added before the frames were placed on the keel. I pinned the frames to the plan for proper spacing, then added the reinforcements. They'll be removed later as I frame the deck.
 
Steve

Since this was only my second build, I decided to forego all the interior details and completely close the boat up, concentrating on building my planking and rigging skills.
 
Here are shots of the keel being assembled, the jig for installing the frames, and a few frames installed. I was very particular to concentrate on the frames being at the proper level; note that there will be some shimming needed to have the frames smoothly meet the rabbet.
 
Also note that fairing will be done after all frames are in place, and generously braced.
 
Steve

Hello!
 
The Emma C. Berry is my second attempt at a model ship, my first being the Model Shipways Armed Virginia Sloop. The AVS was completed to the rigging stage, then put aside as life got in the way. 
 
My daughter recently had her first child, and to provide help to her (my wife and I are both retired school teachers) we were able to "house sit" a beautiful home on a lake near her, up in the Adirondack mountains of New York. No TV, just a big fireplace and a beautiful view of a lake. I had the Emma C. Berry in the stash so I figured getting her planked up would be a great way to spend time when we're not babysitting.
 
So, I packed up a small set of tools and began. She's coming along nicely although I've made plenty of rookie mistakes. I didn't originally plan on creating a building log at NRG but I have taken some pictures and kept a journal, so I thought I'd give it a try! Currently I'm home and the boat and building journal are up at the lake. Attached are a couple photos of her current state.
 
If there's any interest here, I'll dig in!
 
Steve
 
 

Post 9
Going off Piste - So to begin the next stage
At this point things start to get interesting.
I am departing from the kit arrangement of completing the second planking and then adding the wale.
I need to add the wale at this point because below this level the planking is Clinker built, above the wale it is carvel.
The lower hull planking will start at the garboard plank  because below the wale the planks overlap the one below.
 
If I sound confident and knowing what I'm talking about - always remember - appearances can be deceptive, and there will be plenty of time for me to bail out and revert to a carvel hull.
 
The Wale
According to the Goodwin book Alert had a single plank wale measuring 15" broad x 5" thick. (6mm x 2mm) This correlates pretty well with the kit dimensions of (2) 3mm x 1mm planks, which allowing for the second planking, is spot on.
 
Fixing the wales is one of the most critical parts of a build and it takes some time and adjustments to get it looking right to your eye.

1391
I used Tamiya tape to  initially mark the position of the lower line of the wale, this again correlates with measurements comparisons between the book and kit drawings.

1380
I then add a narrow strip at the lower edge of the wale position, to use as a guide to fit the wale. Actually this was the same strip as I used for my Cheerful build, pretty close for sheer but obviously shorter in length.
I am using 6mm x 1mm strips of Boxwood for the wales, each wale will consist of two layers to give a finished thickness of 1mm over the second planking layer.
The top layer will have the butt and hook scarphs scribed into the surface, but  these may not clearly show once the wale is blackened.

1377
The wales are shaped at the stern to allow for the lower stern side counter pieces.
These I cut out from some broad Boxwood Strip using the kit part (76) as a template.

1384
They are temporarily pinned into place until the upper bulwark top layer planking is completed.
I have followed the arrangement for these side timbers as indicated in the Alert Book.

1378
A funny angle but the photo shows the curve of the side counter pieces  to follow the wale line.

1383
Moving on...
 
B.E.
01/08/2019

I'm leaning very much towards having a go at tinkering with clinkering 😃
 
B.E.

Post 7
Moving onto the Garboard Plank
Back in the Boatyard I now invert the hull to start with the Garboard plank.
On this kit with two plank layers it's not really necessary as the purpose of the first planking is to provide a solid and properly shaped hull form onto which the second layer is glued.
However, the second layer will need to be properly planked for good effect so it does no harm to employ some of the techniques on the soon to be hidden first layer.

1169
The position of the Garboard plank at the forward end involves a little bit of best estimation. Because I have no rabbet the plank tapers to a near point at the bow end; I have it just forward of Bulkhead two and aft of the bottom end of the keel slot.

1171
The rest of the plank I have left at full width, but inducing  some twist towards the aft end to allow it to lie flat against the false keel and stern post.
If nothing else, fitting a specific Garboard plank will allow the correct position to be confirmed, and if it's a little out - well it will be covered up.
I also bevelled the plank back edge where it meets the keel, and thinned it down a little on the back face where it runs into the stern post.
Even so, a fair bit of thinning down will be necessary , basically down to nothing, to allow for the second planking.
 
With the Garboard planks in place the adjoining plank is fitted.

1261
This quite a tricky one as there is a  tight lateral curve at the forward end where it goes around the Garboard plank and into the stem slot. There is quite an acute  angle to the plank end.
I then add a third strake also requiring lateral bending at the bow end.

1264
 To achieve the required bends the curve has to be formed at least a third along the length of a strip to get the required purchase. The Lime wood did not lend itself easily to the lateral bending process with breaks occurring at fault lines along the grain.
 I did suffer quite an attrition rate of breaking strips, a problem not experienced with hardwoods such as Box. This resulted in several of the strakes being made up of two planks butt joined.
The final strip of a very irregular shape lies beneath the curve of the hull and was spiled to fit.
Using the provided strip of all one width makes avoiding  stealers almost impossible, but as a first layer  base this is not really an issue.

1270
At the end of the first planking I am left with a pile of off-cuts.
There is sufficient strip to do the job, particularly if you follow the suggested kit method of planking.
 
So here is the completed first planking in all it's rough glory.

1272

1273

1274

1275

1276
The sanding process now begins, there are a few hollows and ridges to sort out before I move on.
Then comes the really interesting bit.
 
B.E.
28/07/2019
 

Thank you Kurt, North Yorkshire was wonderful and the weather was kind to us.
Being retired, life is one long vacation for us, I am happy to say.☺️

0976
.... and the Fish and Chips at the Cod and Lobster in Staithes were delicious.
Glad we didn't order the large portion!
 
Back to the Boatyard.
 
B.E.
 

Good evening Maurice,
Looking good as usual. Enjoy your holiday and the Fish and Chips,something I really do miss living here. I'd give my eye teeth for a plate of fresh caught battered Cod and chunky Chips with brown sauce and vinegar. Steak and Kidney pie would also go down a treat.
 
Dave  

Post 6
Planking continues
I have inserted a balsa filler in the lower hull between bulkheads 4 and 5 which has the greatest space, but I don't think fillers are necessary elsewhere.

739
I planked the hull down to the lower deck level,  using a rule of thumb taper and bend method.
Below this where planking gets tighter I lined off the hull into two bands, the upper of five strakes and the lower of six planks.

737(2)
I used the tick strip method to determine the required tapers.

741
Once tapered water and heat was used to form the necessary edge bend and bow curve.

930
I have given up on trying to leave a space for the second planking in the stem slot, it just doesn't work for me.

931
I will work the remaining strakes up from the Garboard plank which will probably leave me with a spiled plank on the underside of the hull.

932
As with all such builds it is the bow area that is the trickiest, the run of planks to the stern is fairly straightforward.

933
This is the state after a light sanding, one or two lumps and dinks to fettle but I'll leave that until the planking is complete.
 
The quality of the Lime-wood planks is good, and they take a tapering cut very well.
 
I have twelve strakes left to complete and there will be three full lengths of first planking left when I've finished, barring any mishaps.
 I have scrapped a couple of lengths which snapped during the bow bending operation and another couple due to mis-cuts, but I am left with a small pile of shorter lengths which would come in if push came to shove.
 
I rarely enjoy this first stage of a build, but I know from experience that it will come right once the sanding is  completed.
 
On the subject of first planking it is refreshing to see that Chris has chosen to show in the build manual, the hull in all its roughness with ridges and hollows and clinkering, the point at which many new builders look and think Blimey, will this ever look right? - yes it will with careful finishing.
 

797
 
The shipyard is now closing for a week whilst we head up to North Yorkshire, looking forward to those fish and chips at the Cod and Lobster in Staithes.
 
B.E.
11/07/2019
 

Post 5
That fairing business.
With the underside of the deck strengthened I can now proceed to fairing the bulkheads.
This is one of my least favourite ship modelling jobs, and I never seem to achieve full satisfaction with my efforts. It is however so important as a basis to get the subsequent planking right.
These are fairly thin bulkheads so a reasonably gentle approach is required, no bashing away with a coarse sanding stick. These are a fraction of the size of the Cheerful bulkheads and there are less of them.
I did wonder if an additional bulkhead might have been appropriate between bulkheads 4 and 5 just forward of the mast hole. I may resort to filling this area along with bow and stern fillers.
The first plank of 1.5mm x 5mm lime-wood runs along 4mm below the tops of the bulkhead extensions.

578
In practice this is quite a tricky plank to fit; it needs to be both edge bent to follow the sheer, and have a curve at the bow end to fit into the rabbet slot.

583(2)
This first planking is quite substantial and I used water and heat to induce the necessary shape.
The induced curve for the bow rabbet is particularly necessary due to the inherent weakness of the stem piece, specifically at the top end of the rabbet /slot. Failure to take sufficient spring out of the bend around the bow will stress the stem and any flex may result in a  split along the horizontal grain of the 3mm wood.

581
To counter this I added 0.5mm Boxwood strips to the inner sides of the stem above the deck.
 In my view it would have been better if the stem slot were a true rabbet, or the stem made of better quality timber, but kits have compromises. On reflection I should have re-cut the stem out of Boxwood sheet.

582
With the plank pre- shaped  pegs are sufficient to hold it against the bulkhead, only one pin required at the aft end.

595
Attaching the Port side upper strake.
A strip of wood is inserted between the plank and the stem in the slot to hold it hard against the after edge while the glue dries. It also protects the slot for the second planking.
The second strake below also requires the heat and water treatment to take the stress out of the bow curve and sheer. Pinning as well as glue are necessary for this strake.
During fitting, as feared, the stem did give way along the grain line on the inboard  side at the top of the slot.

606(2)
I re-glued it but now a clamp is attached to hold it in position during strake fitting.

604(2)

611(2)
I did not taper these first strakes.

605(2)
With the first two strakes in place the hull is now quite rigid, but be careful with that stem piece folks.
 
B.E.
02/07/2019
 

BE, 
 
Is the Admiralty plan of the Alert or the Rattlesnake? 
I trust you and I, but some of those others........
 
Kurt

Post 4
Thinking about the deck
My preference is to make several outline templates drawn onto card sheet. These will be used to mark out the planking pattern and use as a template to form the margin plank.
The first thing to decide is the position of the deck beams.  For this I have used the Goodwin book, and my main concern is not to have a butt ending up at an incorrect point such as  mid way along the main hatchway where a main beam would in practice not be.
I will be using a three butt shift  with scale planks around 20' with shifts of around 5'+. Each plank within these constraints will of necessity have minor adjustments to take account of the closest appropriate beam.
Using standard repeated one length planks would result in the butts appearing at unlikely places.
If you're not over fussed by such considerations you can't go far wrong using the Deck planking article by Ulises Victoria in the MSW database, which I used albeit in a modified form.
I start with planks each side of the centre line, and planks wholly within the spaces between the deck encumbrances will have no butts as the lengths are within the maximum.

484
After some trial and error I eventually got a pattern I was happy with and this was transferred to the false deck.

489
At this point I also rough cut the margin planks using Boxwood sheet.
Once the false deck is in place I don't think it will be easy to remove. It is fairly flimsy (of necessity) and  there are notches on the bulkheads which will lock it into place.

490
Having said that, handled carefully it fit quite easily, the hardest part is applying pva over the whole framing, and setting the deck before it started to dry.
Handy to have a good supply of weights available.

494
The deck edges may be a little vulnerable to breakage during the fairing process so I think I will beef the underside up a little with strip wood.
 
The final addition in this section is the Platform deck over the rudder housing at the counter.

525
This slotted easily into place and does provide some support for those delicate stern frames.

532
The facing panels fit neatly into the frame slots.

531(2)
Temporary support blocks are inserted between the stern frames.

529(2)
This completes the initial assembly stage, mostly painless, but watch out for those stern frames.
 
B.E.
29/06/2019
 

Post 3
Assembling the skeleton.
Preparing the false keel
I have marked the bearding line and attached a strip of 0.5mm x 1.5mm styrene strip along the area to gauge the required 0.75mm each side reduction.

354
According to the instructions the keel and stem are not attached to the false keel until all the bits that make up the basic frame are completed.
I think it is easier to attach and clamp the stem and keel to the false keel flat on the bench rather than with all the bulkheads in place.

358
With the keel and stem in place the model is also better supported on the building board.
Once secured I added the stern post which slots into the false keel.

357
It is quite a loose fit and  the tabs need to be glued down against the lower slot to properly align with the keel.

364
The whole thing was then reassembled dry to check the fit before applying pva to the bulkheads and inserting the lower deck.

369
Whilst the glue was setting I temporarily fitted the longitudinal securing patterns to align the bulkheads.
The system of a slotted lower deck and securing patterns negate a lot of the work otherwise involved in ensuring the bulkheads are both square to the keel and vertical, so the initial assembly is fairly rapid on this build.
To complete the main skeleton filling pieces* are added at the bow and stern.
* if you pre-attach the stem it helps to fair the edges of these fillers before fitting.
 
The final part is attaching the rather delicate stern frames. The fragility of these fills me with some trepidation.

374
A point to note. On my kit the frames which come in three pairs were not placed on the holding sheet in the same configuration as in the build manual part identification drawings. As they are slot specific the parts need to be removed and checked against the drawing before numbering them up.
I would advise test fitting these very gently before gluing them into place. Even so I snapped one of the outer frames during this process.

375
One other point to note is that on my build all the stern frames are at the same height, the manual build photo's at this stage appear to show the two inner frames (17) lower than the others?

382
In common with my other builds I do like to have a glimpse of the lower deck thro' the various hatches/ companions etc; so I  have indulged a little kit bashing to facilitate this. Totally unnecessary  but it's one of my little foibles.

384
The next given stage is to fit the Upper deck, but I think I will consider fairing the bulkheads first, besides I want to plan out the presumed beams and planking pattern before  proceed.
 
B.E.
26/06/2019
 

Post 2
Getting to grips
First thing to note is that the part numbers are not laser cut into the mdf parts. It is necessary to mark all parts with the reference number before removal from the host sheet.

336
When starting a kit I like to dry fit the parts to get a feel for the build, and make up a simple build board to support the stem and keel.
 On my kit the bulkhead parts and the false keel are quite a loose fit so great care will need to be taken make sure that the bulkheads remain square during assembly while the glue dries.

338
The lower deck which slots over the bulkheads helps to stabilise the bulkheads square to the keel, but still allows  some movement in the vertical plane.
The stern post fits loosely into slots on the false keel and is glued into place, but before this can be done the instructions say to reduce the stern area  to half its thickness to allow for subsequent planking to fit flush against the stern post.
The actual area of the stern to be reduced is indicated as relating to the very aft edge of the false keel and the tabs attached to the stern post.

347
A specific  bearding line has not been indicated, but I have drawn one in for the purposes of my build.

348
Altho' there is a long slot down the stem piece which in effect is the rabbet for the bow planking, the set up doesn't seem to lend itself easily to a keel rabbet to secure the Garboard plank.
Any such rabbet would need to be cut along the actual keel leading up to the stem slot.
There is only a 3mm width of keel to play with so any rabbet would have to be fairly shallow and would inevitably reduce the gluing area to the false keel. I think faying the Garboard strake into the keel is the safe option.

345
It is interesting to note that the stem, rudder post and rudder are quite close to the  1:64 scale drawings in the Goodwin book.

343
I will scribe the section joins that make up the stem as indicated in the Goodwin book, onto the kit provided stem.
I had considered reproducing these items in Boxwood, but as I intend to paint the stem this would be a waste of good timber.
 
B.E.
23/06/2019
 

Post 1
I shall be building this model primarily using the following external reference sources.
1) The Naval Cutter Alert 1777 Book by Peter Goodwin.
 
2) Alert Provenence and Construction by N. Roger Cole.
 
3) Articles from the NRG journals Vols 44 and 45 by Roger Cole.
 
4) The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship by David Steel 1794.
 
Thanks to Greg(DVM) for the link to the Alert article by Roger Cole, and to Kurt for the NRG articles in Vols 44 and 45 regarding  clinker planking and coppering over clinker.
 
I will also draw heavily on the approach taken by Chuck, and followed by me, in relation to the Cheerful build.
I am also appreciative of the examples relating to Clinker planking provided by Dirk (dubz) in his Sherbourne build, and  Nils (mirabelle61)  for his Zeesboot build.
 
There will be modifications along the way both in materials and fittings and these will be covered at the appropriate point in the build.
 
Time to get the basic skeleton assembled.
 
B.E.
22/06/2019

The Cutter Alert Build log
The Alert kit arrived at a very opportune time for me as I'm fresh from my knowledge of cutters from my recent Cheerful build.
Ever since I acquired (1991) the Peter Goodwin book The Naval Cutter Alert 1777. in the Anatomy of the Ship series, published by Conway Maritime press,  I have long wished to make a model of Alert.
 
Chris Watton has now made that possible, without having to scratch build everything myself.
 
Before I start however, there are already things buzzing around my head, and points to ponder.
Clinker or carvel planking below the Main wale?
 
The kit indicates Carvel whereas Goodwin shows Clinker in his book but goes on to state that Alert was sheathed with copper at Deptford on 30 July 1777.
How would this work, I've never heard of coppered clinker, can this be right?
 
However, I'm tempted to look at clinker planking, but I've absolutely no experience of it or even how to begin, so it would be quite a challenge for me.
If I do opt for Clinker I imagine one has to start from the Garboard plank and work upward to the wale.
Should I  go for  a carvel base planking and clinker over the top, or go straight for a single planked job as with Cheerful.
 
I may well think it's all too difficult, and build her carvel, but these are all questions I need to resolve before I reach that stage.
In the meantime I have to get my build plan organised, which may be some time.
 
B.E.
20/06/2019

Hi all, a small update. I have to little time to spend on the Sherbourne:(
How ever I have finished the inside planking and sprayed inside with Tamiya grey surface primer. There is two reasons for this. The first is to give the red color a uniform light background (there are big different between the dark Walnut and the brighter inboard planking. The difference will be seen in the red color. 
The second reson is to find all of the areas that need to be fix before the red color. Quite many of them... 


This is all for now. Have also lot of boring sanding work to do on my Focke Wulf 190 D9....

To complete the quarterdeck I installed rudder stand and binnacle. The rudder stand has a tiller rope and the binnacle got a chimney roughly made from wood and painted copper. The binnacle was tied to the deck.
 
Planking of the fore castle was started. Waterways, made with 4mm strips, were installed first. I put the joints below the future gun positions. They will not be visible and are not detailed. The poop deck is prepared to be glued on.
 

mast position marked with a dowel
 
 

quarterdeck nearly finished
 
 

not many details of the latest work will remain visible after installing the poop deck - however I must change the lower ends of the binnacle straps and fix them to eyebolts
 
 

waterways installed and planking in progress

LS you'll have fun with Sherbourne 😆 it will be nice to have another in the fleet.
Congrats on finishing Ballahoo, you've  done yourself and her proud!  I've  already got my seat for Sherbourne and l will follow you til you launch her, make sure you have fun along the way!
Cheers and good luck

Looking forward to this build. I like your Ballahoo.
 
Tony

Hi all.
I have just completed my first wooden ship build and, as luck would have it, my second project arrived in the post today. I am hoping for an improvement on my first attempt and, providing l learn from my experience, l am sure l will manage it.
I have opened the box, identified the parts and dry fitted the bulkheads. The wood looks in good order as,  indeed, was the first project. 
This build will, l expect, take rather longer than my first as l won't be able to put in the same number of hours per day as l managed on build one. We are taking the Grandchildren on holiday Friday so won't be able to start in ernest untill we return.
Best wishes as always. 
The Lazy Saint.