glbarlow

Badly worded, of course I’d mill my own strips, nothing to it after Cheerful. I meant the wood to cut the strips from. I thought the second option was Pear, I see it’s now it’s instead Cherry. So if I chose Cherry, and mill my own strips, the Cherry to do that you can provide as well as all the Winnie version of mini-kits. I guess I can see this all for myself once the store opens.

When the store opens will you have all the past parts packages in stock including these? Do you offer the strip wood or planks for stripping in both boxwood and pear, or just in pear? I'm thinking about this after Cheerful, I love the project - just not sure I can go so big.

Amazing as always. What brown paint did you use? It’s such a perfect match to the wood. An interesting thing about this ship is the lack of a rail or high transom. It seems like the duchess could easily be blown off the stern during her morning stroll about the upper deck. 🤣😂

Can you mail me the three that will go with Sphinx 😂🤣😂🤣

Nicely done Tim, it looks great. I’m sure you are justifiably proud of your work. I’m impressed with how much you’ve learned and how far you came form your start. It’s a great model!

Ordered on Jan 28, got it today Feb 4. Pretty quick.

Never seen any other version but that - or what else you'd other wise do. Best of luck in your search. I'm a bit surprised Chris doesn't include this in the instructions.

I describe the weathering powder process in my Cheerful log. It is Doc OBriens Rusty Red from MicroMart. It is done after painting with soft brushes. Nothing more than brush on brush off, but as it’s powder done off ship so as not to spread.

Breech rope is often enough, there’s plenty of visual appeal all around on this model. Crisp work as always. I should use more towels. congrats on the vaccination hub. I got my first shot today at the Texas Motor Speedway as provided by my county. Very efficient and fast.

The diagram is correct, you need one eyebolt for the breeching rope and another for the training tackle per side as the diagram show and where they show them. At a minimum you want the breeching rope rigged - the rest is your decision on what level of look and tackle you want.

It isn't an age thing, all of us are challenged by that. A quad hands is essential to working with blocks and rigging, do you have one? Here's the one I have from Amazon, its a US link but I know Amazon in the UK also has them Quad Hands By the way, I'd definitely paint the cannons, the cast metal would seem unfinished to me, something you might regret later. Most cannon of the era have red trucks with black metal. If you choose not to do the weathering definitely use a paint that finishes as simulated metal, not something glossy. I use Admiralty Flat Ironwork Black and Admiralty Red Ochre for the trucks you can get both here, and its local to the UK. Admiralty Paints. There is a lot of things to learn and experiment with for your first model. I'd suggest not overthinking it and learn the basics on this one. I'm on my 10th and still learning something new on this forum every day. Enjoy the process.

Yes, while it’s my workmanship, as I frequently do in my build log all due credit goes to Chuck. As I also noted I was initially a little reluctant to use weathering powder now I weather everything simulating metal. While this discussion has been focused on wire, blocks can be seized with rope and the loop created by seizing it on a drill bit then the resulting loop stiffened with CA. Easier to work with and though it will give, probably about the same as 34 gauge wire though I’ve never compared them.

The Boom Crutches I had to sort through how to get started on the boom crutches, the monograph picks up with how to approach the angles, which is essential to the process, but has the basic crutch already made, I had to figure out how to get to that point. I started with some rectangular blanks of ¼ sheet cut a little larger than the finished width and height then, with my pencil and paper constructed a series of measurements and lines to work from to create the initial Y. I suppose some can free-hand such things, I cannot. I wanted a precise beginning to get me to a precise end. I used a router bit on the mill for the half circle and the jewelers saw with the blanks in my small vise to cut out a starting point. As Chuck points out these need to be extra thick, the ¼ barely covers it. The reason is distinct angles that have to be accounted for and the resulting sanding and cutting to get those. The monograph starts with the side, I found it easier after a couple of false starts to start with the back angle first, then the side then the front. The two remaining angles, the top and the turn in towards the mast are best done after mounting. I had to get it to a size that seemed in scale. The crutches are not on the plans so I was eyeballing it based on the monograph photos and mostly what looked right to me. I went through several of my blanks, in fact I got one (show in the photo) very close to a final product only to decide it was two wide, so out it went. Once I sorted out a process and the scale and finally got one about 50% near what I wanted I stopped and made the second one. One of the many challenges of these things is making the second one identical to the first. My approach, rather than finish one at a time was to bring two along together. There is a lot, a lot, of sanding to get from the Y blank to the shape and size I wanted and get the angles needed. I kept the two in balance with frequent measurements at key points with digital calipers, and kept track on a series of small papers (only the final one is shown) kept next to the sanding tools. I used of different grits, blocks, sticks and holders and a needle file or two here and there. It took two days of taking my time, slowly reducing the blanks into identical crutches resulting in what the photo shows finally attached to the stern then finished it all off with wood filler along the seams of the stern rail. Did I mention there was a lot of sanding. I recommend this approach. Rather than make one and copy it, make two together, reducing and shaping slowly just tenths of millimeters at a time. As I noted, I had several false starts on the first one - but once I had the basic Y blank right I had no repeats on the second crutch. I pinned and glued them on then made the final adjustments, filing the tops parallel to the water line and then turning them inward on the angle the boom, connected to the mast, would rest, Finally I lightly smoothed and rounded all the edges and it was ready to paint. Stern Complete I’ve reached something of a milestone. The stern of my Cheerful is complete. I’m pretty happy with how its turned out so far. One challenge after another has been met, I’ve learned more new things than I can count and used tools I didn’t know I needed (ok, wanted). I have more challenges ahead, like how to shape and file brass strip for the stays which is up next. So I’m off to do that, but I can look back (see what I did there) and see a portion of the hull now finished. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks everyone for the likes and comments. I appreciate your stopping by. Working on the boom crutches now, they are fun fun.

That’s interesting, it’s my Z one that’s the issue too.

Nice rope work Tim - it's looking great. I like the crisp look of a well painted model, the black and red are a nice contrast to the wood and white hull. Very nice looking ship you've got there. Well done! BTW where did you find your build board stand? I've looked for those and always seem to get an out of stock notice.

I get items from Chris sent to the US via UPS in a few days. Items from a UK model shop sent via Royal Air Mail can take weeks or months. Items sent within the US from Chuck via US Post can take two days or two weeks. It makes little sense these days. I could probably purchase the books for Chris and send them to him via UPS and get them there sooner than the US - Royal Mail route - granting that might cost as much as the books. Note none of this is the fault of the senders.

Yes I always do this. I’ve had no problems getting accurate cuts. I mentioned I cut a bunch of timber heads easily within a .1mm accuracy by carefully establishing a zero start point, all of which came out identical. My comment was only in regard to stiffness of the zero set sleeves. The knobs turn just fine, the table moves smoothly and the axis settings are quite accurate. It is a small thing, I shouldn’t have mentioned it or at least described the issue more clearly.

It isn’t the turning knob adjusting the table, but the black collar on each of those turning easily to set the zero mark while not moving the adjustment of the table. Yes I know about that gibs adjustment (forgot they’re called gibs). The table moves smoothly. And if you told me about gibs before yesterday odds are I don’t remember🙃. Anyway, I’ll Google it or contact Proxxon. It’s not a big deal.

I’m thinking not as I don’t know what gibs are🤣

Small things take time and iteration to get right. That’s the lesson I have to remember at this stage of the build. The Tiller V.2 I decided to re-make the tiller. As I did the last time I started with a square length of boxwood, a couple of inches longer than the tiller, and turned it on the lathe after following the 7-10-7 rule to remove the edges with my mini-planer. I wanted a different tiller handle and did most of that on the lathe with needle files and sanding sticks. Out came the bending station. Just as it is for planking, the heat of the iron made for a relatively easy bend, though it did require a couple of iterations to more slowly work the shape than with a standard plank. By using a metal clamp in the center I was able to tilt the iron onto it so the iron didn’t physically touch the round tiller - I used steam, it worked well and took very little time to get right. I got a better result the second time around, more of a bow instead of a bend, beefier, and a better handle so I’m glad I took the time. I checked it’s height with mini-me on the deck, it looks right to me now. And then off it came and along with the rudder up on the shelf it went until I install them later. I have a lot of stuff on the shelf now, install day is going to be fun whenever that is. The Knees These were not simple and serve as a reminder this is mostly a scratch build, I doubt even if they were laser cut it would have helped much. I started by duplicating the drawing from the plans with the scroll saw - it wasn’t even close and I tossed it aside. Back to card stock to determine the angles, always the angles. The first step is getting the stern and sides and to decide on the length for both. I settled on 25mm on the stern and 20mm on the bulwark for no other reason than it looked right and it was more or less in line with the plans. I used my Byrnes saw to cut the blanks from 4mm sheet. There were a few iterations as I discovered the various angles and notching I had to account for, it wasn’t initially obvious to my untrained eye. I quickly determined the yellow cedar was a bit soft for all the shaping, sanding and beveling required (my problem not the wood’s) so I turned to my precious and limited store of boxwood. Before cutting them to their ‘knee’ shape I worked to get the proper fit snug into the corners and just below the cap rail. More angles, the transom curve and the flat cap rail required beveling both top and bottom, and then there are the stern frames, the knees are a tight fit between the rail above and the frames below. It wasn’t pretty - I notched the bottom of the knees and had to remove a bit of the frames, seaworthiness is assured by the tight fit, or so I decided. I scraped some paint off the transom just to ensure good surfaces for the glue. I chose TiteBond for this, I needed a few minutes to get them seated with the proper angle along the bulwarks and I didn’t want to test the strength of just PVA. These knees are there to stay. The boxwood sands nicely into shape, I gently rounded the outer edges before I glued them in. I was momentarily tempted to leave them natural - it would make no sense but they look nice. I added the smaller cleats as shown on the plan. I’ve used three different sizes on the model so far, all from Chuck’s store. As before there is some sanding to remove the char and to shape them a bit. Like the other cleats these are pinned on using the stem of an eyelet. Having gotten past my natural look impulse, I painted it all my usual Red. The knees were another of those things I had to stare at and think about to decide the process and order of things. It was a good move to get the fitting right before cutting them into their final ‘knee’ shaped, it gave me something to hold onto as I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked again to get the required tight fit, top, bottom. left and right. It took a good deal of time, several days, to get through the iterations for something seemingly so simple and maybe not that noticeable in context of the larger ship. I will say though it was rewarding when they were done. Something I can look at, know what went into it, and think to myself - I made those. I showed my wife, who took a look, looked at me, and said “those are nice…..” and walked out. Timber heads I’ve come up with my own way for making pillars and by result, timber heads. I know there are better ways in using the mill for the total job, Derek has been kind enough to share one of those. My method is a hybrid. For the timber heads I’ve cut the “cap” by cutting in .8mm from the top and .4mm deep on all four sides then dropping down 4mm and cutting a .3mm deep all using a 1mm cutter bit. I usedmy freshly sharpened chisels to slice from the top down to the cut to shape the timber head, which of course isn’t square. At this point I’m just more comfortable, and considerably faster, cutting it partially by hand with the chisels. I really like the mill, I’m learning more how to use it - but it’s a process to set an accurate zero on two, sometimes all three axis and repeating that for each side after I flip it and again for each of the 5 additional timber heads (actually 6 additional, I choose the best six after cutting seven) so that all are completely identical. While it’s true I can make .4 and .8mm cuts, that only happens with an accurate, repeatable zero starting point. The Proxxon mill is great, but I wish the zero turning dials were a little bit smoother as I set those zeros, maybe they wear in over time. Anyway. In addition to the chisels, I finish them up with files and sanding sticks. You might notice the paper below in the photo, I spend a little time, and that iteration thing again, getting to the sizes and cuts I think look right. There is no clear design and the size is a bit flexible. I once again got to exercise my - if ‘it’s not right rip it off and do it again’ motto. After making all six timber heads I decided they were too wide and tall so I tossed them and started over. I guess I could have figured that out after making one - but I didn’t until I saw them sitting (not glued fortunately) on the cap rail. I drilled holes and pinned them all into place using those ubiquitous little nails from past models with the heads removed. The four on the bow were straightforward, once I got the size right, the two on the stern are a little tricky - they need to be perpendicular to the water line, while mounted on a cap rail that has a significant sloop at the stern. I leveled the boat in the Amati working stand then used another level (these little ones come in handy over and over) and some scrap wood to determine the angle, cut the scrap on that line as a template and transferred it to the timber head.. I had made all the timber heads intentionally long to give me grip when cutting and filing and plenty to work with to cut the angle. BTW, that’s light glare, not bad painting on the wales and fashion piece, along with a little dust which will all get cleaned up later. …close up photos reveal all … I have “The Cutter” I normally use to chop small pieces on exact angles, but in this case it would not get as flush a cut as I needed on the thicker wood. I got this jeweler’s saw to cut the stern frames way back when, it’s coming in handy again now. In addition to this cut on the stern timber head I used it to cut the knee part of the knees (much too small for the scroll saw, at least for me) after I had fitted the pieces as described above. It makes short work of cutting wood too thick for my #11 blade and is accurate in staying on the cut line. Here they are all glued on and painted with Admiralty Dull Black, its all good and on to the next thing. I’m betting this is more than you ever wanted to know about timber heads. Everything is more interesting to me when I made it from scratch I guess. Speaking of which, time to move to the next fun item, the boom crutches - and guess what - there are a lot of angles involved. Thanks for stopping by, the likes and especially the comments are always appreciated.

I just ordered Vol 2 of the Rogers Collection, let's see how long it takes to get to me.

Wow, so this is why you had to let the butler go, paying all that crew must weigh heavily on the estate. My captain works on half salary due to current economy.

I think you should copper it😁🤣 Although it’s pretty boxwood it’s more how it looks as a ship accessory on display so in my opinion I’d paint it, at least below the waterline. I’m sure it will look great either way. Congrats on the ratlines. I have an actual boat at our Lakehouse. I’m pretty good at full scale clove hitches at that scale. It’s the tedium of one after another that gets to me, and the forced labor of Just..,Do...One...More...😩

I agree, but isn’t that what this thread was becoming. Either way, I’m good.