olliechristo

Fascinating.. I really love what I am learning along the way. I need to do more reading, i just started the Nutmeg of consolation..
 
The kit supplies two canons, do you think this was what she had most of her life? Just the two canons and culverins John?  Many thanks Ollie

Yes I know what you mean, I am thinking of painting the dummy ports on the painted side.. I don't think there was actually any need for more canons and any room to fit them..She is a very small vessel..  i dont think we had too many pirates on our coastal waters of Australia so nut too much need for defence etc... I'm sure John could bring some light on this, when he's about.. ...    Ollie

I haven't any information on the actual number of guns she carried, Ollie, but she wouldn't be heavily armed.  Even some of the English revenue cutters, which went to sea expecting to have to fight heavily armed smugglers, sometimes only carried two or four carronades.
 
I think sticking with the number of kit supplied guns, would be fine.
 
John

Ah, you've discovered one of the banes of our hobby... the macro lens.    Seriously, we are our own worst critics and the macro does us no favors.   You're planking is looking pretty good and the treenails are the frosting on the cake. 

Thanks everyone, really looking forward to the journey ahead. In no rush to complete it, as they always say: enjoy the journey rather than the destination!
 
Progress has been slow at the shipyard but plenty of activity in the adjacent pub where plans, manuals and other build logs are eagerly studied before the tools are taken up. Of course, all this is done whilst consuming a certain amount of themed ale! :-)
 

Okay guys, had some time off work, some good time in the shipyard. Did a full 9 hour day of planking yesterday,, plus another 6 added also..
 
I am a very happy modeller.. I only ended up having to use 4 half stealers on the keel.. No planks are less than 2.9 mm wide.. planks were 5.7 x 0.6 mahogany
 
Photos make it look glossy but its a satin finish.. There are some minor glue marks through clear coat but overall im 92.5 % happy and don't want to risk sanding anymore...
 
I thank my sponsors and support crew..   I won't say it was easy, but I relish in a good challenge/ learning experience..
 
I will mask off and sand where wales get fixed.  Moving onto starboard side next and now to get it's planking on and think about water lines, paint and  coppering.  Regards Ollie

Ollie,
 
Guns were needed in the north as defence against Maccassan pirates or to put the 'frighteners' on any native peoples who were encountered and proved to be unfriendly.
 
John

Ollie your gunports look splendid.  I kind of wonder though that I should perhaps be seeing 6 ports a side even though only 2 were filled.... I can't quite get away from that...used as wash ports I suspect.....sorry...most of my plans (I have 6 different cutters in my collection) have the 5-6 ports a side!?!?!?!?  Go figure!
 
Tom

Thanks John.. I know i'm on the right track, just get a bit paranoid at times.. 
 
Eammon, Yes i will add more tree fake tree nails, these ones have not been puttied yet.. just full of sawdust. On the painted side i think i will just let the paint fill the holes and hopefully leave a slight impression, if they look too obvious i will putty them some... Ollie

Here is how it looks.. Please tell me if i could have done my ports a better way.
 
The side shown here is to be the painted and coppering side so some changes still could be made.. You may notice i was provided with one length of walnut that is considerably darker...
 
The natural wood finish side i am yet to fix the top wale trim.. Regards ollie

I have encountered a small problem, or misplacement..  
 
I got out the rudder parts and seems two sleeve parts are too small.. And if i have lost the two larger sleeves (which i doubt) then what would the two smaller ones be for???  
 
Please correct me on terminology of these parts,, just named 'rudder parts' in kit..
 
I will email the supplier and order more if i have lost them..  Ollie

They are known as "sky hooks' Eamonn..
 
I have gone ahead with wales looking at the historic painting i noticed the gun ports actually intrude into the wales..
 
I hope this is okay as it looks a bit funny and i noticed this does not happen on many other ships. In the instructions and other builds ive seen the wales are continuous..
 
The painting with dummy gunports shows them going about half way,, In other pictures it shows gunports right into wales.. I couldnt have achieved that with deck heights to rails etc but in hindsight they could have been placed a little higher..  Scratch building my gun ports threw me a bit instead of using the cast ones.. ...
 
I assume it is unlikely wales continue on gun ports lids?  Regards Ollie
 
 

I emailed the supplier and they replied straight away, sending some out on monday... Good service..
 
i thought they were gudgeons, but they are also a fish in my fishtank

Hey Ollie, take a seat!!! She is a view, really. I have to confess I know little about chinese ships in general and, since I´m focused on medieval ships, my red dragon have to show that. Lots of study on my horizon. I´ll give a look on the sampan ^^
 
Jerome, let me see... got some port wine and sake, or some coignac, maybe? Beer, there´s always beer on my fridge.

Hi again and well, I coundn´t hold myself that much. 3 days after finishing my caravel I´m beginning a new project and hope you all enjoy it. Took me 3 months and some days to my last ship to be finally complete, and, today I started a new counter ^^ (not that I want to beat it).
 
So, first thing first, I´ll say my impressions on the kit. I bought it from an e-bay auction. The box is a little bit worn, with some small scratches on the fringes. Since the kit is from the 80´s, there´s that look in it:
 

 
Opening we can see a good care with pieces and wood, all arranged in a practical manner. My last experience was a bit disappointing regarding opening the box, cause the fittings and everything else were almost thrown in the box, with no preoccupation about the pieces´ overall look. AL, in other hand, do know how to sell it´s fish.
 

 
Unboxing the fittings box I found a beaultifull set of small wooden and metal parts. Loved the distribution and care. Didn´t like the brass fittings for doors and windows, or even the lanterns - decided those will be made by me.
 

 
The wood planks with pre-cut parts are easy to cut. It´s not laser cut, since in 1989 it wasn´t that common, lol. There´s a fine selection for woods, all woods. I detached the first parts to take the false keel and mount the structure.
 

 
For this build I just designed a holder - Big change for better, for my last ship was builded almost in my lap, or on the kit´s base, which devastated my hull, as I saw sometime after the mistake. So, false keel on holder ready to receive framing.
 

 
After cutting and sanding the frames, got numbers to them so I could follow the instructions - and make no mistakes.
 

 
So, I took care to align all frames with the false keel, since some of them needed some fixing to go smooth with the keel. After that I glued them and the girders, as follows
 

 

 

 

 
I got the impression that it was a little bit crooked and drawn a line to compare, but was just an impression. Began first planking but need to buy a small hammer, so, all paused till I buy one.
 
Other consideration - after studying the plans I found it easy to give the ship some cabins. With a little modification on the castle I can put some nice furniture inside the ship and, following Doris inspiration, will let the windows and doors show the inside (after scratching my own windows and doors, of course).
 
Well, that´s it!

Sounds like a cunning plan Ollie.
 
All the Best Mate
 
Eamonn

Thanks John.. I know i'm on the right track, just get a bit paranoid at times.. 
 
Eammon, Yes i will add more tree fake tree nails, these ones have not been puttied yet.. just full of sawdust. On the painted side i think i will just let the paint fill the holes and hopefully leave a slight impression, if they look too obvious i will putty them some... Ollie

Thanks for all the encouragement and the 'Likes' folks, am just back from work (with a little cooking time and catching up on the Winter Olympics thrown in) and this is my first opportunity to say Thanks!
Never have a worry about offering advice Ollie, I positively encourage it! so much so that I actually picked up more sandpaper after lunch to follow your suggestion and remove some of the more 'obvious/prominent' filler to have a better bonding surface for the next lair.
 
Yea Kester, it is indeed getting near time to remove those pesky timber Heads/Horns, I'm sure a gentle tap with a Sledgehammer should do the trick
Hopefully my new timber shouldn't be too far away next week and I'll make a start on 2nd planking! (after fitting the Keel and Bow of course)
 
Thanks again for stopping by, have a good one!
 
Eamonn

Ahhhh the old Sky Hooks (darned hard things to rig)
 
Some nice colour contrasts going on Ollie, I particularly like the little nail details holding the lower wale in position, are you going to do the same for the top one?
 
Incidentally that Norfolk Cutter  looks a solid wee boat!
 
All the best
 
Eamonn

Ollie,
 
King was an experienced naval officer; King commanded the Mermaid; King painted your picture - I wonder whose interpretation of the Mermaid you should trust?  
 
John

Here is how it looks.. Please tell me if i could have done my ports a better way.
 
The side shown here is to be the painted and coppering side so some changes still could be made.. You may notice i was provided with one length of walnut that is considerably darker...
 
The natural wood finish side i am yet to fix the top wale trim.. Regards ollie

They are known as "sky hooks' Eamonn..
 
I have gone ahead with wales looking at the historic painting i noticed the gun ports actually intrude into the wales..
 
I hope this is okay as it looks a bit funny and i noticed this does not happen on many other ships. In the instructions and other builds ive seen the wales are continuous..
 
The painting with dummy gunports shows them going about half way,, In other pictures it shows gunports right into wales.. I couldnt have achieved that with deck heights to rails etc but in hindsight they could have been placed a little higher..  Scratch building my gun ports threw me a bit instead of using the cast ones.. ...
 
I assume it is unlikely wales continue on gun ports lids?  Regards Ollie
 
 

I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the (slow) progress on my Sherbourne. The pictures were actually taken about a month ago, and my wife and I are now at our cottage, so work won't resume on her until the autumn.
 
I've now finished the shrouds apart from the ratlines, which I'm leaving off for access until later, and have in place some of the running rigging, including the burtons, top rope, boom topping lift, and throat and peak halliards for the mainsail. The latter is bent to the gaff and brailed into the mast:
 

 

At Tony’s suggestion I checked out Blue Ensign’s beautiful Pegasus and found the rudder coat, done a bit differently than on Dan’s Vulture. After finding another detail in another forum (I just googled) I made my own version.
 

 
 
It consists of a painted metal ring (a bent copper strip cut from a 0.3 mm sheet), bolted to the hull around the rudder hole. The tarred tarpaulin is made out of a paper tissue, formed in place with the help of the ring, and made durable with PVE diluted with walnut stain.
 

 
 
It’s quite a good feeling for a beginner having done something that’s not in the kit! I will sadly miss my Sherbourne till August, when I can finally start with the deck (or delay that again with more furniture…)

Eamonn,
 
Agreed. Very good job on your first planking, and a good basis for the outer layer. As the pictures show, I can see the signs of one very good model here. They also remind one that the 'timber head removal time' draws ever closer!