olliechristo

I have made a bit of progress. The hull is painted and came out pretty decent. I brush painted it but next time I will use the airbrush.
 
I also installed the gunwales, thwarts and mast partners. I glued up the gunwales over the plans in accordance with the instructions but they were too narrow to fit the hull and broke while trying to make it fit. Four hands, several rubber bands and pencils were needed to hold it down. I used wood glue and tacked it in place with some super glue.

 
The mast partners were pretty easy and straight forward and seem to look ok.
 
Al D.

Arrr ...
 
CaptainSteve hast only these past five minutes ago popped the Launch from yon Build Jig. She didst cometh free with no problems whatsoever. The wax from the Purple scented candle hast done its' job to perfection.
Whatsomore, a comparison with the top-down view on Sheet 3 showeth this Launch hast not fattened in any way, and doth conformeth perfectly to the plan.
So here be a couple of pics:
 


 
Plenty of work still awaiteth our hero. There be glue spots to be dissolved and removeth with Isopropyl and thence the frames shalt be added.
THEN, the real work shalt commenceth !!!

All Righty Then.. Big News Update.. Brace Yourselves !!!!
 
Margin Planking is Done  (well just about)
 
All that is left is to fair them a little add the Caulking and sand to a nice finish.. after that go lie down for a week or so till the nerves recover  
Broke the point off of 3 #11 Xacto Blades doing them ! they aren't perfect, but are about at the level of my current ability I think (I could spend another day doing them and not improve them significantly if you follow me!  ) there is Spirketting to go in place too so don't be too concerned about the Margin Planks not quiet being snug to the Bulwarks  so I had to allow for it in doing the scarf joints !
 
Photo Time.. WooHoo !
 
All The Best Folks
 
Eamonn
 
PS the dark lines at the scarf joins are just 'construction' pencil marks,, and are not the Caulking Lines !

I had a lazy day today.. no model work !
I have my shift pattern drawn up on a 'deck' paper template I made up to get a feel for things, but first I might need to re address the Margins as I spotted a gap I don't like and I might not have enough overlap for the scarf joins.. tomorrow should tell !
 
All The best
 
Eamonn

The mental fog is lifting slowly; important puzzle parts are coming together. I’ve spent a lot of time reading logs and books about rigging. Finally I could lay my hands on a copy of Petersson’s “Rigging Period Fore-and-Aft Craft”, which I had seen mentioned before. Beautiful to look at, but more importantly to me it’s like a Rigging Guide for Dummies (that’s meant as a compliment to the author). It answers in many drawings the most important beginner’s question: “What happens if I pull this string here?”
I’m really glad now that I copied (almost blindly) Dirks pin arrangement, it’s almost exactly the one from Petersson’s book, and I was very happy to see that Petersson’s cutter is the same one (from the Science Museum in London) as the one in Goodwin’s Alert book, around 1785. Details of this kind of rigging can also bee seen in John’s beautiful, much younger cutter Stag.
 

 
Although I know from our discussions and from the NMM plan that the historical Sherbourne had almost certainly an older version of rigging (there is a spread yard listed on the plan) like the one of the cutter Hawke from 1777, I wanted to give my Sherbourne a modernized rigging for her Second Life. It’s not historically accurate, but it’s also no anachronism. The earliest picture of this kind of rigging arrangement I could find is again the Fly from 1779.
 

 
Fly’s rigging shows crosstrees and futtock staffs for the topmast shrouds, while the nameless cutter from around 1785 (the hull! the rigging might have been added later as it uses many more metal parts and hooks than older ones) only has one rigging spreader.
I assume there existed a wide variety of rigging methods used in cutters at the same time. Crosstrees without futtock staffs can be seen also in the Trial, around 1790, and then many more in younger vessels.
 

 
Of crosstrees there are also different shapes, mine come from Jotika’s Pickle, and are slightly rounded, which I like. But there are many drawings of straight crosstrees in cutters and other vessels.
So for the first time I can see my Sherbourne as a sailing caft.
 

 
Gaff and Boom are not yet ready; it’s too cold outside at the moment. But I have made mast and yards. I simply borrowed my neighbour’s electric drill from his power tool collection, sat in the sun on the roof before it went AWOL and let the spars slowly rotate through two files and/or sandpaper, always checking with plan and caliper, while I gave my fingers time to cool down.
 

 
The yards are made quite simply: Following George Bandurek’s suggestion I made the battens with paper (two layers of sticky labels); the clamps are leftovers from my gun project.
And finally the kit’s original guns came to glory again: I sanded down one of the original wheels and put it on the topmast.
 

 
Cheers,
Gregor

Before this all happened, I worked a bit on my ship an she's quite different now. Thought I had some more pictures in here, but nope. Well, soon I'll bring more pics.

The seat pieces were cut and trimmed to fit and glued into place. The “hinges” are nothing more than pieces of black paper that were added when I Poly-wiped the wood. The remainder of the thwarts (seats) were supported by the risers (support strips). The forward thwart had a half round notch cut out for an optional mast.

It seemed to me that all ship’s boats are basically the same at this stage of the build. Looking at all of my 46 Rattlesnake models images that I have collected from the internet, I selected the ones with clear/detailed images of the ship’s boat. Not one of them duplicated any other’s boat. Everyone was different. That meant I had free rein as to what mine was going to look like. Taking elements from the kit itself, the Practicum, other boats on or off the Rattlesnake, and reference books, I came up with my version.
 
Like most boats, I created a backseat with two side seats. Some of the models I had seen had a lid over the back seat so I thought that would be neat to have. The lid was simply etched into the wood. Additionally I added a mast block (my own design since I didn’t have much to go on) and some brass rings fore and aft colored black with a Sharpie pen.

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These final shots of the boat show the raw planking complete. The last shot, the boat has been removed from the building jig. The outside has had a preliminary sanding. The planks still hang over the stern and the interior desperately needs to have excess glue removed and sanded. No treatment to the wood surface has been applied yet.

Hold on there Ollie.. is that a flaw I spot in the stern !! Tell you what, send it to me so I can have a closer look !!  
 
I'll send it right back... Honest...
 
Take Care Mate
 
Eamonn

I agree with Eamon on this.  I have always had problems doing a clinker hull not enough patience.  Job well done.  PS do not trust Irishmen or Iowans on a nice model you might not get it back    
David B

Really don't know wot you mean David... am almost offended   .. I mean it wouldn't have been my fault when it accidently got lost in the post on the return journey !!  
(By The Way, how long do you think would have been a safe period of time before showing to MSW my snazzy new clinker built boat that I built in secret for Ballahoo?)
 
Could have been The Perfect Crime !!  Oh Well..
 
All The Best
 
Eamonn

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Thanks so much gang. Really happy with the way the baby is coming along. Few bits of ca to clean up.
 
. Unlike the internet which is a disaster, our network is pretty atrocious. Lots of corrosion from the high rainfall I think.. Gonna be a waiting game..
 
Wondering about oarlocks.. What suits this era? Grooves through cap rail or.pins..??
 
Anything else you think I should add? Tie points etc.. Will make some oars... Any inspirations welcome.. Many regards ollie

Thanks so much Jeff and ZyXuz.  I appreciate it...  I only use basic tools and a keen eye.
 
I am well into scratch building the barrels for under floor.. It s been 3 hours at least over 2 evenings..
 
I cut strips at angles and made them all in one tube.. because the lengths are wedges, when i sand the curve at ends of barrel it gives the appearance of planks narrowing and in fact they do, just not as they really woud, but working at this size you cant build like you would a fulll size item, so one has to improvise a little.
 
I used "sika" super glue. it is good quality, then i filled tube with an expanding glue that helped hold the small bits together.. These are not going to be seen from alll angles so i thought better not get too carried away,, i tend to do that..
 
The bands i'm not 100% sure on yet, i made prototypes out of hammered soldering wire but think i need a thinner guage,, the effect is great.. and very nice to bend around two angles
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Thanks so much gang. Really happy with the way the baby is coming along. Few bits of ca to clean up.
 
. Unlike the internet which is a disaster, our network is pretty atrocious. Lots of corrosion from the high rainfall I think.. Gonna be a waiting game..
 
Wondering about oarlocks.. What suits this era? Grooves through cap rail or.pins..??
 
Anything else you think I should add? Tie points etc.. Will make some oars... Any inspirations welcome.. Many regards ollie

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Thanks so much gang. Really happy with the way the baby is coming along. Few bits of ca to clean up.
 
. Unlike the internet which is a disaster, our network is pretty atrocious. Lots of corrosion from the high rainfall I think.. Gonna be a waiting game..
 
Wondering about oarlocks.. What suits this era? Grooves through cap rail or.pins..??
 
Anything else you think I should add? Tie points etc.. Will make some oars... Any inspirations welcome.. Many regards ollie

Thanks so much gang. Really happy with the way the baby is coming along. Few bits of ca to clean up.
 
. Unlike the internet which is a disaster, our network is pretty atrocious. Lots of corrosion from the high rainfall I think.. Gonna be a waiting game..
 
Wondering about oarlocks.. What suits this era? Grooves through cap rail or.pins..??
 
Anything else you think I should add? Tie points etc.. Will make some oars... Any inspirations welcome.. Many regards ollie

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Bloody nice work mate. The clinkering looks spot on. I fine complement to your fine model. Bet you've got a big grin on your face looking at it!

Thanks so much gang. Really happy with the way the baby is coming along. Few bits of ca to clean up.
 
. Unlike the internet which is a disaster, our network is pretty atrocious. Lots of corrosion from the high rainfall I think.. Gonna be a waiting game..
 
Wondering about oarlocks.. What suits this era? Grooves through cap rail or.pins..??
 
Anything else you think I should add? Tie points etc.. Will make some oars... Any inspirations welcome.. Many regards ollie

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