JesseLee

Evening, 
 
Thank you, Steven and BD!
Thanks, MSW for all the likes as well, I see you folks watching!!!
Hope everyone is well. Another Monday done.
Niagara continues. 
 
With the Bowsprit done, time to move on to the stays running from the main mast to the foremast.
As seen before the main and its preventer stay are attached. Moving upwards has the Topmast stay and Its preventer stay installed. 

Per the plans, these attach to bullseyes in the deck near the fife rail. 
The plans show to eyebolts near the fife rail for the fore main mast course yard, but no mention of eyebolts for the stays. 
Looking for an acceptable "fix", I attached them to either side on the outside of the fife rail. 
I probably missed somewhere in the plans that mention these, oh well, senior moment, I guess. 

While some areas are drying, I've started to attach the fore lift and sheet ropes. 
Most of these are static lines and once attached they should be done.
Not going overboard here. The one's I can attach are, holding off on others until later. 

I've got fuzzy ropes!
Alot of these ropes have been pre-installed on the mast for a while. 
Feels good to actually attach some and see how it looks. 
The below photo may look like there's some twist but that's the angle. 
Rope coils will be added later. 

The topgallant and royal stays will be next. 
We're getting there.

 
Be good, 
 
Tom E 
 

Over the last week I planked the port side bulwarks.  I spent a few hours today doing the final sanding of both sides of the bulwarks which included thinning the areas of the bulwarks tops that were thicker than the others in preparation for adding the cap rail.  I carefully thinned the 1/32" thick spirketing to a thickness somewhere between 1/32" and 1/64".  I then rounded the edge of the top spirketing plank a bit.  Lastly I softened the edges on the stern frames to reflect the look of Chuck's visible stern frames on his Cheerful build.
 
Erik

Thanks for the likes.  My progress this week has been to get the bulwarks painted.  I used Vallejo brand Flat Red 70.957.  I can't recommend Vallejo paints enough for brush painting.  The pigment is extremely fine, and they're easy to apply without any visible brush strokes.  I used a new 3/16" wide flat brush to apply 6 thin coats of paint.  Every handful of strokes I dipped the brush tip into water to thin the paint, and then applied the paint over several seconds with around half a dozen strokes in a given area.  It's important to stop brushing over the area before the paint starts to thicken (thickening causes the brush strokes to be visible).  I didn't worry too much about how well each coat covered the surface knowing that I'd continue to apply more coats until I achieved a solid coverage.  The important thing with each coat is even coverage with no visible brush strokes.
 
Erik

Morning, 
Hope everyone is well. Beautiful cool fall morning. It's just begging for a good old-fashioned hearty breakfast. 
The breakfast that sends you back to bed for a nap. Coffee and tea. Egg, potato and green pepper omelet's, bacon, sausage.
You can't do these types of breakfast too often.
I would get a stern finger shaking from my primary care doctor as my cholesterol shoots off the scale! 
 
Anywho, 
 
With the main and Its preventer stay in place, I will work upwards but still just rigging items that are on the centerline of the ship.
The topmast stay and Its spring stay are next. 

Only working on the center line rigging as it seems logical. 
The lower shrouds can still be moved out of the way. Easier to work with an open field of view than around in place rigging. 

While working on one set of stays on inherently starts to tinker with the next set. 
I've noticed a firmness forming in other ropes already in place. But a pleasant firmness.
Everything so far, including the bowsprit rigging, has a pleasant tension to it. Not too hard, not too lax.

It is a balancing act when tensioning off ropes. 
Constantly checking other ropes to see how they react while I apply pressure to whatever rope I'm working on. 
Feel like I'm missing something. Or is the usual for me, I'm over thinking it. 

Below is her all dressed up for company coming over. 
Show her off a bit!!
The spanker boom makes a rare appearance.

Below is a little show and tell.
The wrinkled old hand is mine. But, with a genuine Stanley Cup winning ring from 1970 with the Boston Bruins hockey team. 
A friend of mine, her grandfather, ran the old Boston Garden from the 1950's thru the 80's. Back then, he would have been considered the GM.
They knew all the old Bruins and Celtic players. Pictures of them with Bill Russell, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, Reggie Lemelin. 
The ring is no bigger than my high school ring. The rings these days look silly, gawdy. 
Thats as close as I get to 15 minutes of fame, and I'm cool with that!!!!!

Go Bruins!!!!
 
Tom E
 
 
 

Evening, 
Hope everyone is well. Absolutely beautiful early fall evening in New Hampshire. 
Warm cup of something, radio buzzing in the background, ship building happening. 
Update needed. 
 
Continuing with the forward stays leading from the Fore mast thru the Bowsprit to the hull.
Minus braces and footropes, this will mostly wrap up what I have planned for the Bowsprit. By no means done, just it will return at a later stage. 

The Flying jib stay, and Royal stay are the most fragile. 
Once you get them mounted, they do steady up nicely. 
Not the best pic of the bow, but my lines look "appropriate" for the shape of the ship itself. 

No ropes are too close to the others and looks "square" with the hull mountings.  
The eyelets are out of scale. I know i know    Still learning!!!! 

With the Bowsprit essentially in place.
I going to follow down the center line of the ship as towards what to rig next. 
Main and Its preventer stay are next. 

Rigging forces in the bowsprit are already pulling the fore mast gently forward. 
Rigging the main and Its preventer stay are a bit of a balancing act as it's now going to start pulling back on said bowsprit rigging. 
A gentle touch here attaching in anticipation of more forces pulling when lower shrouds and the like are installed as well. 
Anticipatory forces, if that's a term.  

A small cleat will eventually be attached to the fore mast gently tightening the preventer stay.  
I'll form one out of scrap wood. 

As many bullseyes as possible were pre-installed. 

Using a "third set of hands", the stays were tensioned off to an appropriate length with the bullseyes. 
Nothing too fancy. Bullseyes wrapped and stropped at two points and trimmed.

Be good, 
 
Tom E 
 
 
 

My progress over the last week has been to plank the first layer of planks of the starboard bulwark.  With my extended time off from this build, 6 1/2 years, I sort of forgot how long it takes to get quality planking done!   I had to break out the hair dryer again to get the bends toward the bow in the planks that sit below the gun ports.  There was a bigger gap than I was comfortable with between the false deck and the bottom of the planks between the forward two gun ports, so I used 7/32" wide planks for the lower plank in that area.  I wasn't too concerned with the finished look of the planks below the gun ports since they'll be covered with a second layer of planks.
 
Once this first layer was sanded smooth, I measured the total thickness of the bulwark at the top.  It comes in at 5/32", or a hair less.  With this new layer of planking I then painted the frames of the gun ports.  This revealed areas that needed sanding to hide the visible seam between the gun port frames and the interior planking.  I used a hard sanding stick to do that.  Then I applied another layer of paint.  It seemed like a good idea to paint the gun port frames at this point as it also gives a good opportunity to visually confirm that the port frames are a proper shape and thickness.  The next step is adding the layer of 1/32" thick planking below the gun ports.
 
Erik

Ian, Thanks for the kind words!  I have had your Cheerful build bookmarked.  I like the way your Cheerful has more bare wood showing than most.  It looks great!  And thanks for noticing my efforts at getting good photos.  It actually takes some time to set everything up.  Since I photograph on my work surface, I have to move everything out of the way.  And I can only really photograph on the weekends when I have time during the day while the sun is shining, as a good portion of the overall lighting is from a window.
 
I added the 1/32" thick planks below the gun ports.  I did these as hull length single planks to keep the plank run looking smooth.  I also wound up adding a 1/32" x 1/32" strip along the bow area between the 1st and 2nd gun ports beneath the two main planks.  This was probably unnecessary, but when I measured the gap it came out to be pretty close in height to what will be the 3/64" thick deck plank plus the 1/32" thick waterway.  So, better safe than sorry.  I then did a bit of sanding to thin the 1/32" planking as Chuck suggests in his monograph.  Once I have the port side planking to the same point, I'll further thin both sides slightly, and round the hard edge a little.  I've always found when modeling 2 sides that are supposed to be symmetrical, completing them to 90% or so, while working on first one side and then the other, and then finishing both sides at the same times helps make it easier to get them where they look identical.
 
Erik

Decided to add one last detail. Wanted whoever ends up owning this to know what it is so I hand painted it on a strip of wood to go on the stand. It just about drove me crazy as I kept messing up & had to go back over it many times. Finally ended up looking like I wanted it to.
 

Nice work!

Thanks for the likes and nice words guys.  And it's always nice to get an 'Outstanding' from Chuck!  I installed the false deck this weekend.  I used a piece of 24" x 8" x 1/16" basswood.  I cut it in half lengthwise and taped the two halves together.  I cut the false deck template out of the plans.  I then cut all the square deck furniture locators out of the paper plan.  I used clear tape to tape this onto the Cheerful (The plan is wavy in my two photos below.  It was reattached after the fact for these photos).  The clear tape made it easy to locate the center line running through the cutouts.  I then followed Chuck's instructions in the Monograph and used masking tape around the edges to get the actual size of the false deck.  I removed this carefully and taped the false deck plan to the two basswood sheet halves, again using the clear taped sections of the deck furniture cut outs to locate the center line.  Once that was done, I carefully removed the clear tape one section at a time and used the cutout borders to draw their locations on the wood false deck.  Reapplying the tape to that square when finished and moving on to the next opening.  Once the false deck was cut out of the basswood sheets, I faired the edges to get a good fit.  I also wound up adding a thin basswood strip to the stern section of the deck.  There had been a bigger gap than I wanted there.  I installed each half of the false deck using the visible center of the middle of the five plies of the piece of plywood running lengthwise on the center line as the true center line.  Lastly I enlarged the hole in the deck for the mast to it's actual size.  I had left it slightly under size when attaching the decks halves, and trued it up afterwords to make sure it was precisely placed where it should be.
 
Erik

I finished adding the fancy molding to my Cheerful.  I planned ahead with the lower molding and didn't glue the portion that will be removed for the addition of the top boarding ladder step.  I spent a few evenings thinning and fairing the inboard bulwarks.  Yes, this was a messy pain in the butt.  There was a bit of a learning curve to sand/fair the inside of a curve vs. fairing the hull planking.  The bulwarks framing/gun ports measure in at a hair under 1/16" of an inch thick, which is what Chuck recommended in his monograph.  I also faired the bulkhead tops so the false deck will sit flat on them.  Lastly, I added the keel plates.  I still haven't touched up the paint on the hull exterior, so the build still looks a bit rough at this point.  I've decided I'll do that after the deck planking is finished.
 
Erik

Welcome back! I doubt anyone has forgotten your build of this. I was wondering when you would return. Lol
Steve

Phil and Glenn, Now I don't feel so bad.  Haha.  I always seem to find my way back to projects I set aside for a while.  I try not to have too many things half done at once though! 
 
Eric, Thanks for the nice words!  I'll try to post updates regularly.  The interaction with forum members helps keep me involved. 
 
One nice thing with picking Cheerful up again this late in the game is there are many other excellent builds to reference as I progress with mine.  The plethora of photos are invaluable as visual aids.
 
Erik

Welcome back. I started Vanguard, got fed up with copper plating after one side and didn’t start on the other for over three years (building nothing else in between), many of us know the feeling. Cheerful is such a nice model and your looks great, well worth finishing. 

I'm so glad you're back! I certainly haven't forgotten you, since I was the last one to check in before your return! I admire your extraordinary work and am thrilled to see it return on this project. Looking forward to progress.

Erik,
 
Your Cheerful build is very well executed!
 
You are nowhere close to having the longest build. I am working on a model that I started in the 1980s. A new job, new wife, new house and new family really interfered with model making! But I am back at it and enjoying it very much.
 
I may not have the longest build going either. I recall someone else saying they were working on a model they started in the '80s, or maybe earlier!

Thanks Gregory.  Yeah, at this rate I might win the award for longest time spent on a build start to finish.  Haha.
 
Erik

After a short, er . . . 6 ½ year break, I’ve resumed work on my Cheerful.  I imagine few of you actually remember my build.  It was sort of unexpected to be bitten by the wooden ship building bug again.  In August I was on a vacation in the Netherlands visiting the Museum Kaap Skil maritime museum in Oudeschild on Texel Island, off the north coast.  They have a huge 60 foot long diorama of the Texel Roads as it appeared around 1660.  It looks to be about 1/100 scale.  There are 160 ships/boats represented in the diorama!  Seen here: https://kaapskil.nl/en/discover/expositions/ship-in-sight-the-roads-of-texel-and-the-world/ That led me back to Modelshipworld.  And here I am.
 
I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long sleep.  This website itself has changed.  Yellow Cedar is a new wood of choice. Wood suppliers have changed.  No more Crown Timberyard, but it looks like a good replacement with Modeler’s Sawmill.  Chuck is a few projects further along after the Cheerful (the laser cut fully framed Speedwell is a fascinating project, by the way).  There are still a lot of the same faces here, but the skill level on current projects has kicked up a few notches.  So, my hat is off to you folks.
 
It’s been an interesting few years for me.  We had this global pandemic thing.  After 14 years at the local government, I changed jobs a few times.  I was a bicycle tour guide in Boulder for 7 months (a great way of keeping in shape as a 53 year old).  Was the accountant for Left Hand Brewing here in Colorado.  And finally settled into being an accountant for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
 
Though not working on Cheerful, I’ve still been active modeling from time to time.  One thing I seem to gravitate towards is building things in smaller scales than the norm, and detailing them to a level of the larger scale (which is why Cheerful is unusual for me, I’d be more comfortable building something 1/96 to 1/144 scale! Haha).  A few of my latest projects - A resin tugboat featured on this website: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22995-ytl-45-taiwanese-navy-tugboat-by-erik-w-finished-1350-scale/    For my model railroad, an N scale (1/160) 3d printed boxcar that I scratch built full underframe details: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55256.msg758608#msg758608   and finished here:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55365.msg760492#msg760492   A 1/72 scale WWII F6F Hellcat on a carrier deck with super detailed engine and cockpit:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/f6f-5-hellcat-wwii-usn-fighter-plane-1-72-scale.10858/   And probably my favorite, a 1/72 scale M1A2 Abrams tank with over 400 individual pieces of styrene and wire add by me to customize the tank.  Scroll down to see the scratch built stowage items:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/m1a2-sepv2-w-crows-ii-lp-1-72-scale-kitbash.10777/
 
Well, I’ve prattled on enough.  Where I had left off was having finished the hull planking.  The next step is supposed to be tree nailing.  I’ve put a lot of thought into that and I’ve decided to skip it.  It’s not because it’s time consuming and tedious as much as it’s a process that you can’t pull out and redo.  Most things on the build can be pried loose if you’re unhappy with them.  That, and I’d rather jump right back into cutting wood.  That’ll help maintain my motivation to keep making progress.  There are a few really good Cheerful builds out there where the builders have skipped tree nailing, Mike (stuntflyer), Glenn (glbarlow), and Ian (Seventynet).  You all have some outstanding other builds as well by the way.  Something to really aspire to for us newbies.  Ian, I particularly like your Hayling Hoy.  Never thought I’d desire to build a fully framed model before, but now . . .
 
So, where I am now is I’ve done what I’d call an almost-final sanding of the lower hull.  There were a few spots that needed attention.  I’ll do an absolute final sanding and paint touch up later.  That’s why the planking and hull still looks a bit rough.  I’ve also been adding the fancy molding.  It took a little trial and error to get my brass scraper made the way I wanted it.  I’ve added the molding to the stern, and port side.  Feels good to be building again!!
 
If you’re new to viewing this build, it’s good to have you along.  And if you’ve followed along before, welcome back!  Without further ado, here are some proof of progress photos.  It's hard to get the lighting right to show the contour of the fancy molding, but you get an idea from the last photo.
 
Erik
 

Evening, 
Been a while. Has been one heck of a summer, but not in a good way.
Back in July I caught covid. This will be my third bout of covid. I work in medicine and am probably exposed more than the normal civilian. 
It is what it is, I accept it, doesn't bother me. I wouldn't do what I do if I was scared of bugs!!!!
Plus, I'm fully vaxed for covid plus all the old guy boosters. 
But this last episode really sent me for a loop. Kinda shook me to the core a bit. Not in the hospital bad, but sure close!!!
But it's time to move past this.
Modeling keeps me centered, but admittedly, not much has been done.
 
Anywho....
 
Back to Niagara.
Rigging of the foremast stays thru the Bowsprit continues. 

Slow and steady.
Working my way from bottom of the Foremast to top. 

It's amazing how this ship is starting to look.
Never thought I would get this far!
All rope at this stage is from Syren. 

It's the jungle gym of rigging that goes from the foremast thru to the Bowsprit seems where one can lose control.
Constantly checking which line goes thru which hole to which bullseye and lanyard. 
Constantly....

The Royal and Flying Jib stays are the most delicate. 
These cap off over the Bowsprit and end with a loop after the dolphin striker.

Be good, 
 
Tom E 
 

Made a stand for the boat & stained it. Added the rowlock blocks & oar locks. Glued the trap, buoy & oars doen & the Main Peapod is completed.

Afternoon, 
Hope everyone is well. Going to be stuck at home for the 4th of July. 
A Doctor I work with made a trip to Italy last week, came home with the "sniffles" per him. 
The "sniffles" turned out to be covid. As of today, the office is now down 2 doctors and 1 tech (Me!).  
Irony is, I just started to relax using a mask at work this week. I was hesitant and other people did there thing, but I just kept wearing them.
Sheesh!
 
Any who, 
Niagara needs an update. 
 
With my "inside out" mentality approach to the rigging. I decided to get the Bowsprit rigged in.
After this I'll work backwards and do the stays off the Main mast. 
Starting with the Fore and Preventer stay.

Nothin fancy.

Rinse and repeat. 
I've been keeping an eye on how all the other rigging reacts when I apply pressure to the rope I'm working on.
Trying to maintain a proper balance to everything. 

Topmast and Inner jib stay are being worked in as well. 
The alligator clips are holding the Topmast stay as it goes thru the starboard side bee on the Bowsprit, per the plans. 

I'm trying to control myself in tightening things up too much. 
I imagine when I set in the stays off the main mast it should, in principle, tighten up the stays off the fore mast. 
My goblins!!

Here she stands in all her glory. 

 
Wash your hands!
 
Tom E 
 
 

79 years ago today 5000 vessels took part  in the largest combat landings ever made.   Ships and sailors from MANY countries took part and many made the ultimate sacrifice along with their soldier brothers,  Pics below are from our recent visit May 23 -25, 2023
  
 

Coming along brilliantly Tom, looks like it was easier to do the rigging of the yards before installing masts 👍
 
Regards
Richard 

Evening, 
Hope everyone is well this Friday. Work week is over.
Take out pizza in the belly, tall glass filled with ice and orange soda near by.......simple treasures my friends. 
Niagara needs another update. 
 
I'm continuing with the "inner" rigging. 

I've rigged in the Fore Course truss falls and Fore Topsail sheets. 
These seem to be mostly static lines. Not fully attached. I can still adjust if needed. 

 
Inevitably, filling in the Fife rail meant cleaning up the Fore course yard sling and truss.  
Nothing special here. Just kinda did the best I could with my amateur eyes. 
the Fore stay and Preventer stay have been folded over the top and out of the way. 
The sling itself has been tied off. That's the big wayward length of rope below the top. 

The sling and the like are attached at the Fife rain as well. 

She's getting there. 
Never thought I'd get this far. 

Be good, 
 
Tom E 
 
 

Hello MSW!!!
Sheesh, feel like I have to re-introduce myself. It's been so long!!!
Sometimes In our chosen hobby, we can lose the breeze in our sails once in a while.
 
It's usually something external that reignites the modelling itch. Received the latest Nautical Research Journal this week.
That woke it up!!!!
One of the promises to myself.... get this, and my Titanic build, up to date. 
 
Both masts have been stepped and glued in place.

I tried my best to get the rake just right.
Albeit not perfect, but not bad. 

I used a white glue. It gave me the most time to play with the angle and the like before it set in.
For some reason I don't have a pic of the glue dry, but it is barely visible.

Per the plans. 
The angle of the masts is roughly 11 degrees for the Main and 7 for the Fore.
I did the best I could. 

One the masts were set in and secure. I continued with setting the "internal" ropes. Those being ropes that terminate at the Fife rail. 
I imagine it would be a beast to get to these with shrouds already set in.
The Fore Topsail yard lifts were first. Secured with blocks and eyebolts already in the deck. 

Rinse and repeat, both sides are done.
I can then move forward with setting other ropes to the fife rail.
All rope is from Syren. I have both the old stock of Syren rope and some newer Ultra.
The Ultra rope is beautiful, but being a stubborn New Englander, waste not want not. The older stock will get weaved in. 

Once my "inner" rigging is done on the Fore mast. I want to move on to the Bowsprit.
Get that rigged in and work my way fore to stern setting ropes. 

Glad to be back!!!
 
Tom E