Beef Wellington

Time for another small update. Small because of late I've found myself sitting staring at the model when I get a little time to work on it, and not achieving much beyond that.  Oh well, the ship's patient with me!
 
Anyway... For a break in the channels, I've been looking at the head rails. The top rail needs to be made up before you can see where the other rail, and all of the parts that sit on top of the beakhead go.
 
I wanted to make these parts up so they reflected the AOTS / NMM plans shapes more closely than the kits parts. To that end, I stretched the plans (which started at 1:64) around the bow by 114% on the x-axis, which by my calculations allows for the angle the rails are at on the plans. Then I printed them out, made a card mockup to trial it, and then pritt-sticked them onto some cherry (in two parts so that the grain was running along each part) and cut them out.
 
And here are the results...  (roughly taped in position for a trial)
 
The redeeming feature of these headrails is that they're straight when you look at them from the top. It won't be so easy for the middle rail, which seems to bend in every direction possible. This will at least give a good reference point for starting out making that part!



 

It's been a while since I posted an update.. that's for a few reasons. Firstly, I've been agonising over the deadeye strops. The kit includes some pre-bent wire, which can be soldered shut - the problem being that the joint ends up at the bottom, where the chains connect... It may be my soldering, but I found that the joint was coming loose, and that meant the chain just fell loose. That was irritating at this stage, but I didn't want to start the standing rigging and find deadeyes were coming loose, and I guess they're going to have a fair amount of tension on them by the time they're rigged. So... I scratched my head... and waited while I thought about it.
 
The second reason was that I went away for a few days, and took a model with me, and I still haven't finished it I haven't put a build log on here, becuase it's just for fun and I'm chucking it together. It's a 1/350 Tamiya Prince of Wales with _some_ photo-etch from Eduard on it and a wooden deck. Those of you who know the ship well, or know the photo-etch kit, or know pretty much anything about plastic / photo-etch builds, will see a myriad of problems ... and I don't care it was just for fun!
 

I had a bit of a play making a seascape for it, to make it a waterline model... and here's the current state of it. I'm going to finish it off so I have my boat building desk back to get on with Ethalion. It should be done in the next week or so.
 
Back to the deadeye strops, and I've found a solution. Caldercraft sell them as photo-etch sets separately, so I've ordered a bunch, and that should take the cork out of the creative bottle as they say!
 
I'll let you know how I get on.
 
Rob

Today I managed to add the decoration onto the port gallery so that it matched the starboard. I've also added the capping rails onto the forecastle. I added walnut strip to the edge of the capping strip to widen it before pre-painting it and then fixing it onto the hull.
 

Hi all,
 
First of all, thanks very much for the likes
 
Just a little update. I've been working on the channels and chain links that pass the pull from the stays and deadeyes down to the hull sides.
 
The first job was to get the plates at the base of these links in place. So I put the stub masts in, clamped a 30cm ruler to it them and used cotton thread to show the line the stays would follow. The thread was weighted down with small bulldog clips and passed through the notches in the channels. Masking tape on the hull side allowed me to mark the locations of the pins, and then drill them without marking the hull sides.
 


 
These are fiddly blighters. I blackened all the photo-etch parts, and now I've made up the brass wire links that complete the links I'm ready to blacken those. Just the 5mm deadeyes on the fore and main channels done so far and dry fitted. To strengthen the parts, I soldered the parts surrounding the dead eyes to make them a closed loop. So far, so good... none of the chains, lined up to follow the lines of the stays, obstruct the gun ports! 😅


 
And in other news, I had a surprise on Saturday. I turned 40 a few days ago, and my wife had organised a surprise party... in Bristol... a harbour trip on the Matthew (the replica of John Cabot's caravel from 1497)...  they even let me steer! (brave of them!)
 

 
Not something I ever thought I'd do, but a nice way to start a new decade!
 
Rob
 
 

Hi all,
 
I've been spending a little more time transcribing the master's logs for Ethalion. It's a fascinating process... Lots of it is repetitive but then you find passages where the entire rig of the ship is taken down and set up again... As others have speculated in the past, it is clear that lots of knowledge was simply assumed - the passage below logged when Ethalion was moored in Hamoaze demonstrating that nicely...
 
 
Tuesday
18th December 1798
Varble

NNW
Light Winds & Cloudy, fitted the Bobstays and set them up. Riggd the foretopmast and Mizen Mast, Sway’d up the fore & main top Masts and set up the fore and Main stays &c. &c. AM Modt and Cloudy, Got the top sail Yards across & Rattled Down the Fore & Main Rigging, Recd 354 Pounds of Fresh Beef Recd also Boatswains stores.
 
It's nice to see the humanity of the Master (James Duckworth) creeping in too... (Not quite a month of Sundays, but seemingly a week with two Thursdays!) . The error continues to the end of the page (with Saturday rather than Sunday) and then suddenly skips back to the correct day... but perhaps the error was never spotted? There have been a few places where that happened. A sign of the similarity of days aboard a ship of war?
 

I found myself writing about putting on the dead eyes on the same day I've been starting to set these up on my build. A pleasing coincidence!
 
For those who would like to read more about the order in which the ship was re-rigged (having had considerable amounts of the rigging condemned), you can find it in the December 1798 entries in the following PDF (a work in progress).
 
LogTranscription.James_Ducker_Masters_ Log17980701-17990630.ADM-52-2983.20190325.pdf
 
More on the build soon.
 
Rob
     

Hi all,
 
A short update. I've completed planking the forecastle, gangways and quarterdeck. The next task was to plank the bulkheads, which were pre-painted red ochre. These could have been yellow ochre, but I figure light levels aren't an issue on an open deck, and I like the contrast.
 

I planked the bulwarks on the quarterdeck, which was simple enough, but when I reached the foc'sle I realised that I'd cut down the hull too far. A good while has been spent building this up again so that the sheer rails look right next to the rail at the top.  I think I'm nearly there, but it's tedious, fiddly and time-consuming... I'd work harder to avoid this in the future. Thankfully it's on an area of the hull that's painted.
 
To break the tedium I decided to add the channel supports. As others have noted, there are 22 supplied, and _at least_ 26 are required according to the Caldercraft planks. I reused some of the rudder hinges (which I'd replaced with black card because they seemed too bulky for that) for this purpose. Even then, I reduced the six supports on the main channel to five so there were enough to go round. (One could buy another set of the Diana photo-etch, but at £95 it's a bit steep for 6 channel support brackets!
 
The brackets were blackened first. The channels themselves aren't glued onto the hull yet, so they were removed and the brackets stuck to the bottoms, then the channels temporarily reinstalled. These will need gluing on soon, and once glued on, then I'll drill the holes to pin the brackets to the hull sides. (After a good sleep, and when I'm feeling confident I won't leave the hull looking like a swiss cheese!)
 

 
I'm very pleased with the results so far.
 
All comments welcome, and all likes appreciated.
 
Rob
 

Well, the quarterdeck is planked and the starboard gangway. I've also managed to tidy up the edge of the deck where it meets the hull side at the waist. Really pleased with how that worked out. Not sure whether it needs a yellow ochre trim... I can add that later if I want to.
 
The gangway planking is wider than the quarter deck planking, as per AOTS.
 
On the bottom photo you can see a box strip laid tranversely in front of the gangway planking - I'm still not sure whether I like this effect. I may revert to a narrower maple strip to match the rest of the planking as the contrast is too great. Something needs to go across the deck there, though.
 
Happy building
 
Rob

The chain pump's fixed in place, and the cleats on the bulwarks are finally there (I scratched them out of box)! A couple of stanchions to go, and I want to get the channel supports in place before I put the top deck on. Not far to go on the gun deck now! Feels like a major milestone! (Someone needs to get a broom out by the looks of it!)
 

Test fitting the quarter deck / foredeck and gangways.

Rob
 
 

Good morning.

That much joinery, all of it completely flawless... I'm still going with Amalio being an eight-armed alien. Maybe 12 arms. And at least 16 eyes.

Good morning.

Catching up, really nice progress Ben, planking, painting and headworks turned out very nicely.

I've been working on the bow decorations for what feels like ages... The plans are kinda not helpful because they aren't consistent from picture to picture. So I'm kinda just sanding and fiddling around until everything seems to fit.
I've got the cheeks on and it turned out way better than I could ever hope. The rest of the head and decorations are going to be a hard few hours. The slots for the Gammoning didn't line up at all so I widened them on part #60 just like the folks from other builds.  I'm still looking at everyone else's builds to see how they fared.  I'll do my best, If it turns out bad I can always scrape it all off and scratch build some new decorations.  

I didn't quite like the CalderCraft Yelow Ochre so much so I decided to edit the paint a little. I added a little matt white and a bit to much cadmium Yellow. I may have gone to far but I think it's growing on me. In the sunlight it's quite bright, probably not so historically accurate. It's not to late to re-paint so I'm going to sit back and ponder a while. 

In the sunlight with the right angle it almost looks white!

She's quite large beside the Sherbourne.   

The inner planking is done. Cutting the sweeps and ports out... It was quite the job to say the least.  The 4x1mm planks were good quality but walnut is just not easy to work with.

The Red Ochre paint from Caldercraft is really nice to work with even with cheap pain brushes.  My plan to have the planking show through the paint has worked out better than expected!  I also put on the main wale. The 3x1mm planks were just awful wood and were slightly different sizes and colors, thank god they will be painted.

Hi ☺️

Tanks, Jorge☺️
 
Visit at the interior

The side decorations are now on.  One of the advantages of taking ultra-closeups is that they highlight any mistakes which, with luck, may then be rectified. Both the decorations in the flesh look fine. Under magnification - well, you can see the slips of the paint brush.  I shall do some touching-up.  Incidentally, the windows are in fact quite clear (I've used Kristal Klear).  The areas that appear clouded are reflections.
 


Here is the stern decoration.  Again reflections are misleading; there are no missing paint spots, though there is some minor touching-up to be done.

 
 

Perhaps it was your wet feet that inspired you. Your configuration certainly works, though as you say, 3 and 4 are probably a bit tight.  I don't suppose there is any record of this sort of rearrangement.  It sounds a bit too sensible.
 
On another subject: here is the delayed quarterdeck barricade construction. 
 
First, both cross-members were bent to the curvature of the deck well before construction by clamping them to the bulkhead pattern.
 

The square supports were drilled top to bottom and copper wire inserted through the holes to locate the supports on the deck and the pillars.
 

 

Similarly holes were drilled in the tops of the pillars  to receive wire supports.
 

 
The whole structure could then be removed and painted off the model.
 

 
 

Sadly I missed your last steps in real time,  but the upside is that it allowed me to indulge in a 'binge' - the effort, skill, craftsmanship results speak for themselves in a beautiful model.  Well done indeed, an inspiration as always.

Post 90
Cheerful is completed.
An eighteen month journey has drawn to a conclusion.
It is interesting to note that the original was built and fitted out within a twelve month period.
Tempted as I may be to mast and rig her, display constraints rule this out, but it's not like I don't have fully rigged models on display, Pegasus, and indeed a 1:72 scale cutter amongst others.
I am happy to conclude the build with this configuration in the knowledge that there are many  contemporary models displayed in this style.
 
I really have to compliment Chuck for making this posssible with his wonderful plans, accurate  pre-cut hull parts, mini kits, and excellent instructions.
Cheerful as I bought it is an example of a high end PoB kit with beautiful kit specific fittings, a real pleasure to build.
 
 I must also compliment Jason at Crown Timberyard who supplied the bulk of the Boxwood strip and sheet, presented in a very clean and accurate condition.
 
So here are the completion photo's before I slip the cover over the base. The case  wasn't designed for Cheerful but for Pegasus to serve as protection during the long years before she was masted, but it does ideally fit the bill.

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A set of 1:48 scale figures stand to provide a human scale to the model.

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To provide an Historical link two copper coins of 1806 sit at the head and stern of Cheerful.

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Display position yet to be decided;
 
Finally I must  thank those members who have shown interest in this build and for their supportive comments and 'likes'.
 
Regards,  
 
B.E.
 

Suffering from modellers block in relation to the anchors, I turn my attention to another tricky subject.
Post 87
A boat for Cheerful
The only reference photo I could find of a boat onboard a cutter is this one of a model of the Hawke of 1777.

Hawke
The Cutter Alert book by Peter Goodwin indicates a boat stored on the centre line but from the plans there is room only for a 13' boat. On Cheerful in this position a boat of only 10.5'  could be accommodated.
The  Model Shipways kit of a 1:48 scale Longboat would be in scale but is far too large for a deck stowed boat, and at 26' is on the large size for a towed boat.
Before I consider scratching a boat as I did for Pegasus, I  knocked up a version of a 14' cutter to assess whether I like the look of a boat on Cheerful's deck .

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The boat is based on a Caldercraft resin hull kitted out with thin boxwood planking and fittings.

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Not quite sure if it's what I'm looking for but I'll leave it in place  to see if it grows on me whilst I return to the anchors, and making the boom.
 
B.E.
03/05/2019
 

Post 83
Completing the deck fittings
With the guns completed the remaining deck fittings are added;
I have also busied myself making a stub Bowsprit which will remain in place if I decide not to rig her.

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I painted and weathered the Bowsprit retaining fids to represent iron which I thought more apppropriate than wood.

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Pumps. The pump handles are now coloured to represent iron. I used toned down black paint and brown weathering powder to slightly change the look.
 
Belaying pins.
From the plans 9mm o/a length 3.5mm heads. As suggested by Chuck I used 3/64” x 3/64”  Boxwood square stock.
How do you make belay pins, the answer is very carefully.
These are truly fine little items and I only have to give them a hard look for them to snap usually just when I reach the point of near completion.
I am carving these by hand using a very sharp N0 11 scalpel blade, and my success rate is currently around 1 in 3.
I have doubts that the stems will hold good under any sort of pressure so I may have to increase the diameter and enlarge the holes in the pin rack.

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I did retro add the hoops at the axletrees of the carronades which was a bit tricky but achieved insitu using micro drills and flexible awls.
I thought in retrospect that as the deck rings were in place to take the training tackles they should be there.

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The Winch in place together with the stub mast.
Not much to do with the mast, apart from adding the boom saddle and mast cleats.

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I fashioned the saddle on the mill and used Chuck's  7mm cleats to complete the job.

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The chimney is covered with micro lead foil to represent metal.
Need to generally check her over now, and give her a dusting.
 
B.E. 22/04/2019
 

Cheers guys for the appreciation and 'likes' 🙂
 
Post 75
Ordnance all in order
The fiddly fittings are all completed, not the end of the process as the quoins have to be glued in position and then there's the tackle rigging, but a relief nonetheless.

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For the first time the full complement in place on Cheerful.

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Before I return the task of tackle rigging I will have a change of  scene and complete the rudder and make the tiller.
 
B.E.
15/03/2019