Stuntflyer

Upper bulwark planking
With the hull planking completed I decided to hold off on the wales and do some upper bulwark planking.
 
I made the hance pieces in three layers rather than two. I might have gotten away with two but it would have been close regarding width. I added the first two upper bulwark planks at the forecastle. Around the area of the bowsprit there is a tight 3/4" radius. Those 3/32" cedar caps are just sitting on top of the shear to give you an idea of what they would look like once I add them.

Mike

Upper bulwark planking
With the hull planking completed I decided to hold off on the wales and do some upper bulwark planking.
 
I made the hance pieces in three layers rather than two. I might have gotten away with two but it would have been close regarding width. I added the first two upper bulwark planks at the forecastle. Around the area of the bowsprit there is a tight 3/4" radius. Those 3/32" cedar caps are just sitting on top of the shear to give you an idea of what they would look like once I add them.

Mike

Upper bulwark planking
With the hull planking completed I decided to hold off on the wales and do some upper bulwark planking.
 
I made the hance pieces in three layers rather than two. I might have gotten away with two but it would have been close regarding width. I added the first two upper bulwark planks at the forecastle. Around the area of the bowsprit there is a tight 3/4" radius. Those 3/32" cedar caps are just sitting on top of the shear to give you an idea of what they would look like once I add them.

Mike

Hull planking
Fairing the outer hull was fairly straight forward. There is plenty of extra meat on the frames which gave me lots of wiggle room. The fairing cap edge should remain untouched, if at all possible. Easier said than done! Final sanding was done with 400 grit. Btw; I totally forgot to take some photos of the outer hull after the fairing was completed. Sorry!
 
Once everything looked good I added the first strake (the upper wale). This was done with three planks. I did my best to eyeball the run as I added each plank and not to strictly rely on the drawn line which I made from Chuck's hull template.

From there on it was just a matter of adding the two remaining wale strakes and a few more strakes above the upper wale. I also added the small filler piece which goes between the lower wale and the square tuck.

With the added support given by these strakes, I decided to fair the inner hull. This ended up being more time consuming than I thought it would be. It took me several days to complete the work. Working the bow timbers, even with a Dremel or 80 grit, was slow. Once I was close I switched to a miniature curved scraper to smooth out the work.
 
You can see just how thick the wood was in places.

When fairing the area around the lower gun port sills, I found that a simple depth gauge came in handy. Including the 3/64" outer hull planking, the width of the sill should be 3/16” or maybe a hair less. I made this simple “T” shaped jig that I could place against the frames and then mark the width of the sill from inside the hull.

Ready for the keelson

Mike

Upper bulwark planking
With the hull planking completed I decided to hold off on the wales and do some upper bulwark planking.
 
I made the hance pieces in three layers rather than two. I might have gotten away with two but it would have been close regarding width. I added the first two upper bulwark planks at the forecastle. Around the area of the bowsprit there is a tight 3/4" radius. Those 3/32" cedar caps are just sitting on top of the shear to give you an idea of what they would look like once I add them.

Mike

Give me a few days and I will make about a dozen packages for the Winnie.  I will post when they are ready and available in my store.

I'm continuing to raise some frames while cleaning and assembling other frames.
 
Here are five "tall frames in place with the two "short" frames waiting their turn. 
You'll notice the blocks for the sweep ports there too.

 
The two short frames have now been added and the sweep port blocks have been roughly shaped. More fine tuning is needed.
I'm also checking the frame locations with the supplied templates and my height gauge to check the sweep port and gun port locations.

Rusty,
 
Something that you might want to consider with regard to those top timber jig pieces. Not that you are, just don't assume that by clamping them together that the frames automatically square up. They might need to be tweaked a bit with a toothpick or something like that. I know that Chuck did and so did I.
 
Mike

Rusty,
 
Something that you might want to consider with regard to those top timber jig pieces. Not that you are, just don't assume that by clamping them together that the frames automatically square up. They might need to be tweaked a bit with a toothpick or something like that. I know that Chuck did and so did I.
 
Mike

Thank you Rick and Ben.
 
Thank you for that information. One reason I haven't taped them together yet was I was wondering about that but had yet to confirm it.
 
Thanks again!  

Rusty,
 
Something that you might want to consider with regard to those top timber jig pieces. Not that you are, just don't assume that by clamping them together that the frames automatically square up. They might need to be tweaked a bit with a toothpick or something like that. I know that Chuck did and so did I.
 
Mike

Rusty,
 
Something that you might want to consider with regard to those top timber jig pieces. Not that you are, just don't assume that by clamping them together that the frames automatically square up. They might need to be tweaked a bit with a toothpick or something like that. I know that Chuck did and so did I.
 
Mike

When doing the belaying pins, I found that paper backed fingernail files in various grits worked out nicely. They are great for smoothing out the wood as you’re turning them on the Dremel. Depending on what section of the belaying pin that you are doing, pillar files come in handy.

When doing the belaying pins, I found that paper backed fingernail files in various grits worked out nicely. They are great for smoothing out the wood as you’re turning them on the Dremel. Depending on what section of the belaying pin that you are doing, pillar files come in handy.

When doing the belaying pins, I found that paper backed fingernail files in various grits worked out nicely. They are great for smoothing out the wood as you’re turning them on the Dremel. Depending on what section of the belaying pin that you are doing, pillar files come in handy.

Mike, Thanks for the tip.  I had figured out using fingernail files when my regular files were leaving gouges in the wood.  I have a pillar file I'll give a try as well.
 
Erik

When doing the belaying pins, I found that paper backed fingernail files in various grits worked out nicely. They are great for smoothing out the wood as you’re turning them on the Dremel. Depending on what section of the belaying pin that you are doing, pillar files come in handy.

When doing the belaying pins, I found that paper backed fingernail files in various grits worked out nicely. They are great for smoothing out the wood as you’re turning them on the Dremel. Depending on what section of the belaying pin that you are doing, pillar files come in handy.

With outdoor temperatures up to 98 degrees (37 Celsius) here this week, it was easy to want to stay indoors and work on my Cheerful.  After procrastinating for a bit, I tackled a couple of things I've been putting off.  I built the ladders.  These were a bit of a challenge as they are not straight, even though they look straight.  They actually lean aft with the sheer of the deck.  It took a while to get all the steps cut to exactly the same length, and the notches filed into the ladder sides, since I did all that by hand.  They wound up turning out the way I had hoped with the right amount of lean and both ladders being symmetrical when compared with one another.  I know the model will rarely be viewed from dead ahead or dead astern, but hey, you have to put your best foot forward.
 
The other thing I had been procrastinating was making the belaying pins.  In my 45 years of model making I've never fashioned a part using a power tool.  So, the photo you see below is my first attempt at making a belaying pin.  I used the Dremel rotary tool my dad gave me as a gift in 1985 when I was fifteen years old.  I followed the dimensions Mike (Stuntflyer) had used for the belaying pins on his Cheerful build.   The pin is .375" long, or 18" in 1/48 scale.  I turned the square stock down to .045" in diameter, then shaped the top.  The bottom shaft was then reduced to .030" in diameter.  It looks rough obviously, but turned out OK for a first attempt.  The little collar between the lower shaft and the handle looks a little clunky, so on the production pins, I'll reduce the width of that a bit.  I still have some playing around to do with which specific files I'll use, but I'm happy I got over the mental hurdle of giving it a try in the first place!
 
Erik

Glenn,  Thanks for the compliments.  I think it's just the angle of the photos for the pin rails.  They're made/shaped exactly to size from the plans.
 
Erik

Completed the Aft Bulkhead and installed the QD beams behind it.
You can see I used the laser cut door handles from Chuck, I think they look much nicer than the normal knobs.
Now on to the next Bulkhead.
 
ben

I've been assembling some frames, and they are going well. I just couldn't resist placing first frame (Aa) on the keel.
For the picture I moved the left square to the back of the frame so you can see the how it lines up with the plan.
It's now back where it belongs. Back to assembling more frames!
 

 
 

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I've finished up the starboard hull planking and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. So far it's been sanded with some 180 grit sticky back sandpaper attached to soft sanders. You can find them here, just search for "soft sanders" https://www.woodcraft.com/ I prefer the coarser grit as it allows me to even out the undulations in the wood more easily than if I went with a finer grit. I'll finish up with some 320-400 in order to remove any scratches that can be seen.

I still need to add the hance piece at the quarterdeck. Once that is in I will final shape the shear of that last filler plank.

Mike

I'm continuing the char clean up and bagging the frame pieces until assemble.
Below is a set all cleaned and ready for assembly later. The laser cutting is clean and precise.
There are a total of 42 "square" frames to be made up in chapter 1.
Back to scraping and sanding.