Kevin

Hi
This is just a quick update to the build.
After putting in more deck beams the planking of the poop deck went ok.
I still need to clean the sanding dust and give the deck a coat of varnish.
Next, I will do the sky light. and the rail with the hammock cranes.
Do not know how to do the fire buckets because on a scale of 1:98 they will be very small I do not want to leave them off
If anybody has any idea please let me know.
 

Hi
Started work on the cabins, made a basic frame and built it up from there.
I did make a mistake by putting in an extra door on each side, but managed to modify so all is good.
A little wood stain and a coat of varnish to finish off and all that is left to do is the glazing.
 
The next problem is the ships wheels, the ones that comes with the kit are too big and i can’t find any smaller ones so looks like i will have to make some.
If anybody has any questions then please ask.

I'm currently working on the quarterdeck. I have  just started making up the ten gun carriages which now need to be completed. Progress on this may be slow as I need to finish painting the hull, as well as touching up a few patches I'm unhappy with.

Kevin,
 
I only have one word - WOW!!!!!!!!!!.
 
Best,
Steve

Good evening
 
still on the main deck, back to thoroughly enjoying the build again, oh where does the time go and a picture of me 
 

Good evening
 
still on the main deck, back to thoroughly enjoying the build again, oh where does the time go and a picture of me 
 

Hey Derek... How's the garden coming along?  Hope to hear from you soon
Best,
Jerry

well i was interested to see how this stuff worked on the 1/4 galleries, some of it is still drying
 

well i was interested to see how this stuff worked on the 1/4 galleries, some of it is still drying
 

well i was interested to see how this stuff worked on the 1/4 galleries, some of it is still drying
 

Yes, that's about what I got with Micro Glaze.  I like the effect.

well i was interested to see how this stuff worked on the 1/4 galleries, some of it is still drying
 

well i was interested to see how this stuff worked on the 1/4 galleries, some of it is still drying
 

25' Cutters Ver 2.0 (continued)
 
A minor update.  I have completed the keel/backbone assemblies.  This was a fiddly job to say the least!
 
Here is a couple of pics of one of the completed keel sections. The temporary hogging strip has now been removed.
 

 

 
I had to cut a slot into the stern of the plugs in order to fit the stern post in, which was essential to getting the transom in place:
 

 
Finally, here is pic showing a completed keel assembly on top of the plug. The space between the keel and the plug will be filled by frames and sections of hogging strip in due course.
 

 
So far, so good.  Next up......the frames............    

i bought this in the UK, and sorry i don't know if it is better or worse than other products

Hopefully you won't have a problem Kevin - i was just concerned that you would end up with the "excess" in a visible way.  When I used Microglaze (a similar product) on my stern and quarter windows, I applied it before attaching the window strips to the model, and hence was able to apply it from the back/inside.  Perhaps a quick test run on some scrap would answer the question for you.  With luck, it won't leave a visible residue.
 
I look forward to seeing the outcome.

That stuff works well Kevin - I used a similar product. You say you'll use it on the stern galleries as well, but as these are already in place you may have some difficulty. I would expect that you would normally paint the glaze on the back/inside of the windows - not sure how it will look when applied from the front/outside?

I used it 5 years ago on my Mamoli Connie quarter galleries. It worked out fine and still looks great.
 
Mort

Good evening everyone
 
back to the main deck and doing some of the fittings, i had to learn what a kevel is today, i could not find my kit belaying pins, so used some from the spares box, bit to clean, will tone down
 
i tried successfully using Micro Kristal Klear on the sky light, intentions are to use it on the stern gallery as well, as i forgot to put any acetate in, also lining up the stern hull decoration port side aft
 

Good evening everyone
 
back to the main deck and doing some of the fittings, i had to learn what a kevel is today, i could not find my kit belaying pins, so used some from the spares box, bit to clean, will tone down
 
i tried successfully using Micro Kristal Klear on the sky light, intentions are to use it on the stern gallery as well, as i forgot to put any acetate in, also lining up the stern hull decoration port side aft
 

Good evening everyone
 
back to the main deck and doing some of the fittings, i had to learn what a kevel is today, i could not find my kit belaying pins, so used some from the spares box, bit to clean, will tone down
 
i tried successfully using Micro Kristal Klear on the sky light, intentions are to use it on the stern gallery as well, as i forgot to put any acetate in, also lining up the stern hull decoration port side aft
 

Good evening everyone
 
back to the main deck and doing some of the fittings, i had to learn what a kevel is today, i could not find my kit belaying pins, so used some from the spares box, bit to clean, will tone down
 
i tried successfully using Micro Kristal Klear on the sky light, intentions are to use it on the stern gallery as well, as i forgot to put any acetate in, also lining up the stern hull decoration port side aft
 

absolutely fantastic work on the ships boats, and the case looks great

25' Cutters Ver 2.0
 
After terminating Cutters Ver 1.0, I thought long and hard about the various options for method.  I also recalled Remco drawing my attention to the tutorial written by David Antscherl when he and Greg Herbert offered a 1:48 scale 18' Cutter kit.  At one point, it was possible to download the instructions for this, although I don't know if it is still available.  Fortunately, I had previously downloaded it and, after some study, decided that I would follow this method with a few necessary modifications along the way - some because of the scale differences, and some because their kit offered a pre-made resin plug with features that I am unable to duplicate.
 
First up, Antscherl recommended that if one didn't own a set of Ship's Curves (sometimes known as French Curves), then one should make some from thin plywood using the templates provided.  Aye, aye Sir!
 

 
Next, I needed to make a plug (well, two actually - one for each boat).  I went back to my drawings/plans in my Warrior Practicum, scanned these into TurboCad and re-scaled them to produce the appropriate size.  By the way, at 1:90 scale, a 25' Cutter is just 3.3" long (or about 85mm).
 
I then printed the water line templates onto sticky label paper, cut out the waterlines from stock of appropriate thickness (I had previously prepared for this as an option when I ordered timber from Jeff Hayes at Hobbymill some time ago), and assembled the basic plug.  The dowel is to assist in aligning the plug components.  Each water line component uses a different timber.  The purpose of this is that the different colours of the timber show clearly where each waterline is (clever eh?!)
 

 
I then scored the station lines into the top and bottom paper patterns (using an Exacto knife) before removing the paper patterns. The scored lines are then easily traced over with pencil to show the station lines again:
 

 
I also used a template to mark in the Sheer Line, and scored this as well:
 

 
The plug was then shaped roughly using a sanding drum in the Dremel, and finished by hand to 600 grit. In this picture, you can see the effect of the different timbers in showing the waterlines.
 

 

 
Templates for the frames were printed onto sticky paper and attached to card stock to check the shaping of the hull at each station line, and along the keel.  The numbered lines on the frames represent the water lines, with the number 3 representing the Sheer line.
 

 
The station lines and Sheer line were then re-marked:
 

 

 
A piece of Tamiya masking tape was then applied to the excess plug above the Sheer Line before the hull was given several coats of sanding sealer.  The purpose of this is that the sanding sealer will help prevent the frames from sticking to the plug (I'll probably also wax this), while the masked off part will provide a good surface for the frame ends to adhere to the plug (they will be cut off later on).  I also attached a piece of scrap stock to the top of the plug to be used as a "handle".  This will come in handy for holding the pug in the vice during framing and planking.
 

 
Continued next post .........
 
I also
 
 

Thank you Mike, Shihawk, Bob, Augie and Michael, and also to all of the "likes".  
 
It's been a while since I posted an update - not because I haven't done anything, but because I struck a problem and had to make some tough decisions.  I've said many times that the support and encouragement of everyone here has inspired me to continue to strive to always do better, and not to accept poor work just for the sake of moving on.  And so it was with this in mind that I got to a point with building the two 25' Cutters, that I came to the conclusion that they just weren't up to an acceptable standard, and  there was no fix that was going to make them that way.  So after mulling it over for a while, I have binned them and re-started the Cutters as Ver 2.0.
 
I wasn't going to post any further progress pics of Cutters Ver 1.0, but decided that sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes.  So, in the hope that others may gain something from my errors, I will post progress up to the point of termination.  I'll then follow up with a further two posts to show what I've been up to with Ver 2.0.  So here we go.....
 
Cutters Ver 1.0
 
I have previously posted pics of the frames and keel assembly into the building board.  This was the same technique as used successfully in building the 28' Pinnace.
 
The next step was addition of the Hawse Timbers:
 

 
And then fairing these:
 

 
Now it came to the planking.  I used 1/64" Holly for the planking, cut individually from some sheet stock.  Here is the Garboard plank going in, and probably the major source of all further errors.  I had decided to try applying the spiling technique to see how it would work in this miniature scale. You can see in the photo where some of the frames have been marked out using the tick strip method.
 

 
Next up, Scotch "Magic" Tape was applied and the line of the previous planked marked, along with the tick marks for the next plank:
 

 
The tape was then transferred to a piece of card stock and the shape faired in:
 

 
The cardboard template was cut out:
 

 
And checked against the hull:
 

 
The shape was then traced around onto a piece of Holly sheet, and cut out with the trusty Exacto:
 

 
This photo show the plank being glued and clamped.  Because of the very fine and fragile materials, I needed a clamp with a very light pressure. I found these hairdresser's clamps quite useful for this purpose (not an original idea, but a good one ).
 

 
I got to about here:
 

 
....and realised two things.  Firstly, the placement of the Garboard strake was such that it was causing too much of a downward curve in subsequent planks.  Secondly, the planks were not sticking to the frames around the bow, which were too delicate to force into place.  At this point I released the boats from the build jigs and confirmed that that the only course of action was termination.     
 
Many rude words and a good stiff drink later, Ver 2.0 was commenced.  
 
Some observations:
 
1. This framing technique is not suitable for a clinker planked hull. 
 
2. Spiling actually works, even at this scale, and is well worth the effort. 
 
3. Placement of the Garboard strake is absolutely critical to a successful planking job. 
 
See next post for commencement of Cutters Ver 2.0............