glbarlow

Very kind of you to say so, but I’m a long way from that.

Extraordinary!

Nice looking ladder, I don’t see any flaws. Your scratch made parts are impressive work!

Time to rig the cannon.....😁

I'd once again wish to thank everyone for the likes, comments, and following along with my build. On I went to making the Deck Furniture, actually six mini projects and a nice change of pace. The hatches and skylight are based on Chuck’s mini-kits, the companionway was scratch-built. I first made the cross-hatches from boxwood using the Syren mini-kit. These made up into much nicer than the traditional jigsaw kit pieces I’ve used before. With the hatches made and sanded I had the measurements needed to make the frames. As Chuck points out, it’s easier to make the frame second than to force fit the hatch into an already made frame. I elected to pull out my limited supply of boxwood to make the hatch frames, both to match the hatches themselves and to provide a little contrast to the cedar deck. Plus who doesn’t love to work with boxwood. I made a simple jig both to help square up the frame and more importantly to notch the frame to fit the deck. On Cheerful the deck furniture mounts directly to the false deck with the planking fitted around it. I used my chisel, #11 blade and a jig consisting of planks from the batch I have already cut for the deck glued at 90 degrees to some smooth scrap to round off the corners while leaving a 90 cut matched up with the decking. You can see the resulting corners in the photos. The hatch material is curved, so the frame is rounded as well. Corners on the hatches are done with lap joints. This is a nice exercise in precise cutting, with my Byrnes saw and cross table accessory it’s no problem than other than getting the math right. I think the rounded corners, lap joints, slightly rounded hatch tops and frame all in boxwood made for pretty nice looking hatches. A couple of coats of WOP followed after these photos. Next up was the skylight - the four pieces in the photo are actually eight pieces, each being two layers. I used PVA white glue applied with a needle to give me time to keep things aligned and to keep it neat. The lower layer of the frames is the inset for the “glass” (acetate) and glass frame, a brush dipped in water cleared away any excess glue. This mini- kit is very well designed, its amazing to me how the laser cut pieces all fit so perfectly together (when it’s done it consists of six layers). I got a little caught up in the doing and forgot to take photos, but next was squaring up and assembling the pieces, including cutting the corners identical to the hatches using my handy jig. I've noticed Cheerful builders vary here. Some opt for natural color on the skylight and some forgo the coaming. My including the coaming and RED paint is purely personal choice. Last up is the companionway, fully scratch built based on the plans. I used 1/32 board cut into planks, The width of the planks is determined by the plans, divided by six. I then edge-glued those planks with PVA after first penciling one side of each edge (I used black sharpie on the edges where the doors and top would separate if they actually worked). Although I was painting it red, this helped to keep some definition to the planks - otherwise I could have cut solid pieces. I made up the four sides, all larger than needed, used double sided tape to connect the plans to the planks, then made the required cuts with a #11 blade. Precision is important with making any cube, in this case there’s a little extra challenge added since the sides are angled to correspond to the slope of the deck. I cut a piece of scrap MDF to the interior measurements, this made it much easier to square up my “box” along with my mini-engineering triangles and squares. I’ve had these for years, they come in handy a lot. The back panel was made up a little different with narrow outer edge planks to distinguish the doors. Since the top is wider and longer, but still six planks I cut a different width from the 1/32 cedar board, again using the plans (the top in this photo ended up being a reject). Here is another point where Cheerful builders vary, either no coaming, integrating the coaming as part of the the sides or leaving it natural. I chose to have the coaming stand proud, but only a little bit by using .025 board. For the latch handles I simply bent a couple of eyelets 90 degrees. The hinges are made up of 1mm wide black card stock. I went back the Syren hinge mini-kit and cut 1.5mm lengths of the micro brass tubing I still had left. Though 24 gauge wire was suggested I thought the brass tubing is a crisper (looks good on the stern ports so...). All of this was assembled using white PVA glue to ensure I could align everything properly. So here are my completed mini-projects ready to mount. I like the look of the boxwood hatches and marvel at the precision cutting of the skylight kit (which is also angled to meet the slope of the deck). Here they are sitting loose on their future homes. I simply painted black squares below the hatches, not much can be seen through them. A long while ago just for grins I’d put a bit of decking on the frame below the cutout of the skylight and painted black around it. I was please to find out that flooring can be seen through the skylight, adding a little depth and well worth the five minutes it took at the time. Now I’m thinking why didn’t I build a checkered floor, a table, a small beer stein, and a seated 1/48 character down there (well, it’s not that visible….). Now I glue these down, hopefully all in a straight line, and begin the process of planking the deck.

That you know what any of this means is impressive enough on its own, I have no idea what you said 🤣😂

I join James in recommending you start a build log of your own, it can get confusing for us following to see two different models in the same log. You can learn a lot by reading others, often you learn more by sharing your own. Best of luck on your build.

Likely we’ll founded, this can be tricky. A wire jig as a spacer helps but it’s about care and balance tensioning. Resist the urge to over tighten, it’s not a guitar string. I admire your going a level above on the rigging, nice work. Aside from rat lines I enjoy this stage. I have no idea how I got every historically standing and running rope installed on Pegasus, I’m hoping Cheerful proves a little easier, but I’m months from that. I mentioned this somewhere recently, my most used rigging tools are two large and medium needles with the threading end cut off, leaving a fork, and the sharp in glued into 6 inch dowels. I can maneuver the rigging even tying off on belaying pens. That and another dental tool, long but small scissors.

I played around a lot with that plank. It’s a challenge to get it right for sure.

It does get a bit tricky at this point, your eyes seem to tell you one thing but that doesn't correspond to the tick marks. You really have to trust the marks, I found trimming based on the second bulkhead vs. at the bow worked better, plus constantly rechecking the remaining distance. Your planking is looking great, nice and tight.

My Cheerful coat has lots of coats. Apply it thin, hence the wipe on, it can take as long as 36-48 hours to fully dry. At any time sand it with 400 grit and apply a second coat. Generally 2 coats, but more doesn’t hurt. Just don’t let it gunk up when you apply it. Wipe on, wipe off. It’s great stuff. Doing some practice runs to get a feel for it off ship is an excellent plan.

Hope everything works out and you’re better soon.

You can get that second plane with your iron. Clamp one end of the plank to your table and gently twist it while running the iron along the board, like “air ironing.” I did this a lot on my Cheerful, it’s less precise but it gets the job done. Just be careful not to iron your plank holding hand ...he said from experience... I just wet the board with my finger dipped in water. edit...what I said is essentially what BE described

Not at all expensive in the US. I also use water based in some applications. I have no problem with it, but the WOP is better.

Minwax Satin Wipe on Poly. Ronseal is a UK thing, not used in the US. I think Home Depot may have a different brand, doesn’t matter, the Wipe On Poly Satin is the key thing. Wipe On is different than other varathanes. It will specifically say Wipe On Poly on the can. It by far is the modelers choice.

Your first 2nd planking looks great, nice job! The common approach used by many modelers on this forum and the one I use is Satin (not Gloss) Wipe On Poly. It seals, looks great, and can be painted over or applied over paint. Your posts don’t indicate where your from, WOP is commonly available in the US, any hardware store has it. There is a UK version, but I don’t recall what it’s called.

I use Admiralty Paints, I like it so much I order it from a store in the UK as I haven’t found a US source for it. Humbrol also seems popular. I went wit Golden Paints for the red on Cheerful, because for it I wanted, really red. I dip the brush in the paint, it a drop falls off it quickly when I pull it out then a second drop slowly forms that’s when I have it thinned enough. Your work is very crisp, nicely done.

I recently bought a lathe I don’t know how to use yet, up to now I’ve used your same method for years. You’ve done it well, your masts and spars look great as does your serving. I don’t know how Chris describes it in the instructions but typically shrouds are a doubled, one line from dead eye, up around mast, back down to the next dead eye then that now double line seized at the mast. Maybe I’m missing something.

Creative work, nice adding these details.

I'd think the market for that is very very small. I had three choices, including the figureheads, when building Vanguard. I am quite certain I'd never build it again just for a different name on the stern and figurehead on the bow, though I was tempted the first time to use the elephant figurehead, it was kinda cool.

Another fine work. Still think you need fish in the hold, each one hand carved 🤣

I’ve read all of both series, both were great. I have both sets of books on the shelf in my workshop.

I’ve always wondered why HMS Africa was so out of position

I appreciate and thank you all for the likes and kind comments. Always nice to read and inspiration to keep moving forward with the log.

I hope you both go for it, I don’t regret it a bit (well there has been a moment or two, but I got over it, lol). With the monograph, mini and starter kits, some good build logs, and Chuck’s ready advice you have all you need. I write my log with the hope of inspiring/helping someone to build Cheerful, so I hope you do.