Stuntflyer
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The two halves of the false keel are joined using 1 hour epoxy. A 1/8” x 1/16 rabbet strip is glued along center of the false keels edge. The false keel has been tapered from the bearding line to the rabbet strip.
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Welcome to my build of Chuck's HM Cutter Cheerful. Most of the parts will be scratch built. Others like the false keel, windlass, rigging material and blocks will be purchased directly from Chuck. The wood for this project (all sheet stock) was purchased from Jason at Crown Timberyard. The quality of his wood is excellent and I am looking forward to working with it. As with my other builds, there will be many new things to learn and I will rely heavily on the knowledge base from MSW to help guide me through the process. So please don't hesitate to post your comments along the way. Thanks!.
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Augie, your build is certainly on my must see list. Everything looks just great! Your excellent workmanship really shows itself as she slowly comes together. Mike
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Well thought out and superbly executed. I second the WOW!
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Thomas, thanks! I never thought of using a sanding sealer. Can you recommend a brand that I can try out. Maybe primer could be used over the sealer to prep for paint.
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Russ, thanks! I'm sure that you are right so I will do what you have suggested. Unfortunately, the 1/8" square boxwood strips I received were either undersized or not square. Since I didn't have any 1/8" boxwood sheet stock to cut one, I went with the kit supplied basswood strips. I figured that as long as the keel was going to be in basswood it would be all right to do the lower stem post in basswood too. We'll see!
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● Stem, Keel and Stern Post: I used both boxwood and basswood to make these parts. I'm hoping that this wasn't a mistake. Everything looks good right now but I'm now wondering if the transition point between the boxwood and basswood will look the same once painted. I think that it would be a good idea to harden the basswood in order to protect its edge and fill the grain with primer. Any thoughts or suggestions? The kit supplied laser cut stem post was used as a template for cutting the boxwood and then used on the bottom to complete the part. The stern post was done in boxwood since a small portion at the top will be unpainted. It has a slight taper as per the plans.
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Jim, Ken, thanks so much. I'm looking forward to next months meeting and hope to bring some of my girlfriends "healthy" cup cakes along. Mike
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I just came back from the monthly SMSNJ meeting in Millburn, NJ. This was my first time there and I cannot say enough about how nice it was meeting some of its members there, including Chuck. Take my word for it, Chuck's build log photos as good as they are don't really show how beautiful this build really is. Mike
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All of the deck planking, waterways, stanchions and pre-planking are now finished. It was more time consuming doing the upper deck this way. 1/32" edge joints are fragile. The only real advantage being that it's easier to sand the planking off the ship. Just something I wanted to try. The deck planking glued to the false deck The last 2 planks and those in front of the grating were installed and covered by the waterway. Upper deck with stanchions, grating, hatch and pre-planking installed. The bulwark template has been thinned down gradually exposing the inboard planking at its top edge. This will make the bulwark 1/16" thick after the second layer planking is completed.
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Russ, Nils, thanks for your comments and all the likes! I just started using Chuck's method of applying Wipe-on Poly. He uses the Satin finish and it's applied with a soft, lint-free cloth and immediately buffed before it dries. Since I haven't been wiping it off immediately it has a bit too much gloss. I've been using Dullcote Spray Lacquer on top of it to flatten the finish. Problem is that it prevents you from applying more W-O-P if needed. However, I can see places where using Dullcote would still be useful.
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● After Cubbridge Head: The After Cubbridge Head and false deck were completed with stanchions below the false deck in place. The false deck has a strip of boxwood glued to its forward edge to maintain uniformity.
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● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck. ● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.
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Mike, Thomas, thank You! ● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Poop Deck: The Waterway was done the same way as the Forecastle deck. The stanchions were protected with a coat of Wipe-on Poly prior to gluing. Rather than using PVA to tack glue the stanchions like those on the Forecastle deck, all of these were glued using only CA. The glue was applied with the point of a nail that was grooved using a Dremel cut-off wheel. A quick swipe with a Q-tip removed any excess CA, leaving the wood unblemished. In order to complete the pre-planking, the transom had to be raised another 1/16" or so. Otherwise things went smoothly. In preparation for the final layer of planking I started thinning the Bulwark Template. The photo shows where I thinned the bulwark template leaving the overall Bulwark thickness at 1/32".
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Very nice Thomas! Your attention to detail is excellent as usual. Mike
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Wonderful Chuck! Even though the videos were in front of you it all makes perfect sense to me. You explained things very well. I am definitely going to try and make the next SMSNJ meeting. It looks like you have a great bunch of guys going there too. Mike
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● Waterway, Bulwark Stanchions and pre-planking the Forecastle Deck: The wood strip for the waterway was made uniform by running it through the thickness sander prior to being installed onto the deck. The stanchions and pre-planking strips were given a thin coat of Wipe-on Poly where needed in order to protect the wood from becoming blotchy when glued. Four different spacers had to be created to keep the stanchions parallel and equidistant from each other. The deck is slightly smaller than the one shown on the plan and further adjustments had to be made to account for this. The stanchions were initially held in place using a tiny amount of PVA. Once the glue was set, the excess was cleared away using a #11 blade and CA was applied near the top of the stanchion. Installing each stanchion proved to be very tedious work. The pre-planking was boiled and shaped to the appropriate curve prior to being glued in place. After the remaining parts are installed I will give everything a final coat of Wipe-on Poly. To Say that I was happy when this part of the build was completed would be a bit of an understatement.
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● Finishing The Stern: I scanned the stern windows from the plans and imported the file into CorelDraw. I made a drawing of the windows using the scanned image as a guide. The file was then printed and trimmed to fit on the stern. I closed the 3 holes in bulkhead YY with some scrap balsa and adhered the windows using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. The remainder of the stern was completed as per the instructions. The four laser cut knees were replaced with boxwood. These were made by hand from a single piece of wood. Laser cut knees were glued to each end and used as a guide for shaping. 1/16" wide pieces were ripped using the table saw. Photo of window drawing
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Once the first ladder is set parallel, it's really a matter of being patient with the others. It took me three hours to set them all. A lot of time was spent waiting for the glue to set. You don't want to remove the shim too early before starting the next ladder. What I found interesting was how easy it was to remove any excess glue using a #11 blade without leaving a residue.
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● Beakhead Bulkhead and Deck Planking: I prefer to do the planking off the model, whenever possible, to avoid sanding into other parts. Here the deck planking is sanded and ready to be installed. The planks were glued to the bulkhead and sanded. The doors were replaced with ladders like those that are now on the Mayflower replica. I used this simple jig to align the ladders. Ladders were glued with 5 minute epoxy applied with a pin. A rather slow process, but I think it's worth the wait. The completed bulkhead and deck planking with no sanding necessary other than the outside curve and overall height of the bulkhead.
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I had to pull myself away from staring at that traveler Dan. I love the rigging too. Just great!
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I just checked the measurements. They are the same port and starboard. I didn't think to check this before installing them. I guess I just got lucky.
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● Bulwark Template Installation: I first glued the bulwark templates to the hull using CA at the area of the Great Cabin where the inward bend is most pronounced. Next, I glued the area at the Forward Cubbridge Head. These areas were not clamped as I found it easier to get a tight fit by using my fingers to push on the template. The area at the bow was done using CA and clamps. After that, it was simply a matter of working fore and aft using PVA to finish the gluing process. I lined the windows and other areas of the templates with boxwood to maintain uniformity where it will be seen. Both templates fit very close to the initial plank avoiding the need for a lot of filler. I still need to trim the templates where they overhang slightly. There are areas that will need a second coat of Wipe-on Poly, like the Forecastle deck, which I will do later after the remaining parts are in place.
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Augie, Thomas and Randy, thank you for all the nice comments! ● Upper Deck Planking: The strips I received vary by as much as .020 in thickness so I ran them through my new thickness sander until they were all 1/32" thick. This proved to be very helpful during the sanding process. I had to be very careful not to damage the area around the coamings and Capstan base. For this I used a "0" barrette escapement file which was able to get right up to these parts without damaging them. I'm not sure how important it is to have the deck planking be uniform in color. Does anyone have a comment about this?
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Those look great Randy. Can't wait to do mine!
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