glbarlow

All of us started with little experience, as others said sometimes “nice work” is enough. We all hope someone’s reading our logs. A simple comment let’s us know there is.

A few quick comments: The time to create a butt shift pattern in the deck was as you laid it, I don’t think any method will turn out very well after it’s already installed. On this small ship you won’t notice much anyway after the furniture, guns, and rigging are installed, check mine out as an example. Your first planking looks rough because you didn’t taper the planks, a single plank should run from the bow to stern without interruption. That’s done by tapering the planks to fit based on measurements. I describe this some in my Cheerful and Nelson logs. I did it by following Chuck’s tutorials which you’re already familiar with. Filler blocks at the bow are always helpful in models like this one that don’t provide enough bulkheads. I shape mine from blocks of balsa. It takes no more than a modeling hand saw and an exact knife. I place the guns with a dab of medium (gel) CA on each wheel. It doesn’t take much to keep them there, I haven’t lost a gun yet. I agree on this little model the breaching rope is enough. I like to paint with a brush, I only spray the guns. I think it gives a more natural look to the wood, but to each his own. Careful with the stem, at least on mine it was soft wood, I broke it and had to repair it, I’d never had that happen on any model before. Glue will stick to areas with WOP, but it’s best to rough sand it for better adherence. WOP is oil based, there are water based polyurethane products, those aren’t typically referred to as WOP o this site. I use both depending on the circumstance. But one is not the same as the other and it’s generally one or the other. PVA and CA will generally both adhere in almost any circumstance (a little tougher on two already painted surfaces maybe). You’ll find a lot of debate on which is better for what. For your next model I’d recommend cutting out the hatches and mast openings as you lay the deck, I think it will be challenging to do that after laying the whole deck, not something I’d do. Hope some of this helps.

Once again I agree. I always try to thank everyone who comments on my log because I appreciate the time they took to do it.. That’s best done by the quote selection option Chuck and I just used because that creates a notification back to the poster that he has a reply. It’s all about being active and having conversations, not a request line.

Totally agree with Chuck and VHT. On my signature line below you’ll see a link to my completed Lady Nelson, by clicking on I hope you’ll find some helpful information for your own build. So the first suggestion is to use the search function to find other build logs of your same model. Often you’ll find not only answers to your questions but answers you didn’t know you needed. I use several completed logs to see how past builders accomplished certain tasks on my current Cheerful before I start that same task. Leveraging the ideas of others is one of the best parts of the forum. Were you to comment on my Lady Nelson build I’d likely reciprocate by checking out yours, this back and forth is how communities are built of people of similar interests and my second suggestion. In fact VHT and I are in a shared community which started when I searched for builders of HM Alert. The key to this is using the signature option in settings to add a hyperlink to your build log in your signature line which is then included in every post. We aren’t ignoring you, we just don’t know you’re there. With just 27 posts, and none on any other build log, how would we. I’ll go check your log. Have a look at my Nelson log. Bottom line, it’s on you to build your community, not “management.”

I have already determined I don’t have the patience for this model based on sanding and beveling each little crook of those frames. So I will just enjoy watching your build. 😊

Yours looks like an interesting adventure, it will be interesting to see how it goes. Might want to pre-check where your channels will go amongst your protuberances and ensure the dead eyes have clearance. I “painted with wood” on my Fair American, no stains though and it does have guns. I’m glad I did it then, I don’t think I could find all the exotic woods I used on it now.

So that’s what dividers are for😁. I’m just about at the margin planks stage on Cheerful, this just showed me an excellent technique. Thanks Rusty!

Nice work, often times scratch built turns out better. Seems it did here.

I don't mean to fail to mention this: I appreciate all the likes as well as the comments. Thank you for taking a look.

Excellent tutorial there Derek. Thanks!

Yes, you can definitely edge bend the second planking. Both my Nelson and Cheerful build log describe how I do it using Chuck’s method. Absolutely no soaking, water,steam, or special heat tools required. I used it on Walnut as easily as on Alaskan Yellow Cedar with nothing more than a travel iron.

Outstanding!

I have a different way of doing this but yours is much better. I'm going to have to read it a couple of times more when I get to this point on Cheerful. I'm not exactly clear on how you finally closed "the circle" (right photo two up from bottom) on the bowsprit once you have the four deadeyes seized. As usual, very nice work. I see the quad hands is working out well - glad I have one now. Beats the old beat up third hands thing I've had for years.

Sorry Bob, hope things get better soon.

Amazing work, well beyond anything I’d ever try. My patience is tested enough as it is with my models. Nicely done!

Thanks, that I think is a tribute to the extra time spent on fairing at the very beginning I wish I had a good answer other than good tweezers, 2.0 yellow tinted (improves contrast) reading glasses, and two bright Daylight lights on the bench. I fiddled and fumbled about dropping and losing little wire hinges and 1mm brass tubing quite a bit. I like how it turned out, but glad it’s done.

The HMS Surprise prototype has been shown on their website as coming soon for over 5 years. They’ve not made a single update to that website in all that time. Years ago I sent an inquiry and got a similar response. I will be surprised if the Surprise is ever released, but we can all hope.

Thanks BE and Derek, I appreciate your comments! I was only able to enjoy ship building in short increments over the last several weeks. Water is a tough thing to deal with when it doesn't go where it's supposed to go.

The kitchen was a pain, but we did use the opportunity to update it so at least there is the one upside. I thought about adapting some of the Clear Alder used in our cabinets in the model, but its way to hard and too much grain for ship building, but it would have been funny to do.

I elected to take what I thought was a short diversion, and at the same time had a larger diversion thrust upon me. The large one was a long undetected leak in our dishwasher drain resulted in a six week demolition and reconstruction of our kitchen. Not fun, lots of contractors, noise and dust to deal with every day and not much ship time at all. But enough of that. What I though was going to be a short diversion while all the above was going on, was completing the stern port lids. I used Chuck’s hinge mini-kit with the instructions printed from his website. It all seems pretty straight forward, but as our British friends say there is a lot of fiddling to get all the tiny pieces to come together. First I glued three strips of planking together, long enough to cut more than two lids. I measured, cut, and gently sanded to get those planks to fit flush to the opening (the WOP will bring out the seams as its done on the rest of the planking, they show up faint here). Once that was done I measured, cut and glued and painted red a smaller set of planks to to fit within the interior of the port (the difference of the 1/64th rabbit), shown here inboard with a photo also designed to display the most possible dust particles (I cut the bowsprit hole earlier today, more on that later). I created the lid lift ring by wrapping 24 gauge black anodized wire around the right size drill bit and with a little snipping, shaping, and bending, pulled it through the lid. So far, easy and fun. The fiddling comes not in following the instructions to paint, mount and install the hinge plates or cutting 1mm lengths of tiny brass tubing for the hinges along with very short pieces of 28 gauge wire, it’s getting it all fitted together and mounted. Nothing difficult in concept, just working with tiny pieces and tiny holes. Between dealing with contractors in the kitchen I managed to get it done over a longer period than I had anticipated. Anyway…patience tested and passed. Every stern on every model I’ve build has been an adventure. It seems on many kits it’s an afterthought, just that thing at the end of the ship. At least in my case it was always an adventure in adapting and overcoming little challenges to get everything to fit and call it a stern. None of that’s true with @Chuck Cheerful. It is a well guided process from the initial base, to adding the counter, completing the planking as it rises up then finishing it off with a fun to make square tuck. Then there’s the fit of the transom to the counter and the addition of rail and moulding strips. There’s my choice to follow Chuck with a RED painted counter with me adding black to the fashion pieces either side meeting the transom rail and the contrast of my choice of a natural stern post, and of course those fiddlely port lids. It all works, it looks like a stern should look in my humble opinion. I’m kind of pleased with the final finished stern of my Cheerful (still one more coat of WOP to go). I hope you like it and decide to build one of your own. The contractors are gone, now I’ll do the port side moulding.

Very sharp looking deck, very crisp work. I don’t see any reason to leave the swivel guns free. You won’t move them once the model is complete and on the shelf. I don’t even install them on the mounts until almost done with the final rigging, they get in the way and become great at snagging lines. It’s usually one of my last steps.

Shapeways.com. Lots of people in multiple scales. I have a mini-me.

I have always been inspired by your work, all the way back to the Confederacy. Now I need to go back and improve the sills on my gunports after adding the spirketting

Do you have the masts already installed on the hull? That would make adding block challenging, but seems like you’re solving the problems as you come to them. I also thing it’s always good practice to drill out the blocks before installing them, if nothing more to give the rope a smooth passage as it’s being run. I’ve also been away from the bench due to having to reconstruct and renovate our kitchen due to a major water leak. Not fun.

Gluing on these long thin strips is such fun... You made nice work of it.