HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by Stuntflyer (Mike) - FINISHED - 1:48 scale

[Stuntflyer]

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!.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

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.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

The completed stem post and keel assembly is now glued to the false keel. I used a # 4b pencil to darken the seams. Treenailing was done using Chuck's method as described in chapter one of his Cheerful practicum. Once completed, the stem post and keel were given a coat of Wipe-on-Poly. The WOP was buffed immediately in order to prevent a gloss finish.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

That looks quite good    I would keep some blue painters tape on the bottom of the keel to protect it from getting nicked and scratched once the bulkheads are in position.

[Stuntflyer]

Great idea Chuck. Thanks!

[Stuntflyer]

I completed all of the bulkhead and filler pieces today using PVA glue. Only one false keel slot had to be adjusted to allow for a 90° bulkhead fit. All of the laser cut bulkheads had just the right amount of slot clearance and no additional work was necessary. Very impressive since the false keel was .230" thick and the bulkheads slots had to be adjusted for this when the laser cutting was done, I think. The 3 piece port fillers call for an overall thickness of 3/4" so I added a 1/16" soft ply filler piece to make up the difference.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Thats looking very good.  And yes.  I made all of the needed adjustments so the bulkheads would fit together nicely.   Its looking just as it should at this stage.

 

Chuck

[Jay 1]

Looking good, Mike! I'll probably be starting a Cheerful log in another couple of weeks, so it's nice to see how the build is going for others on MSW.

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Stuntflyer]

After almost three days work the hull fairing is completed. The temporary battens run smoothly with no dips or rises and fall nicely into the stempost. Viewed from above they appear to have a symmetrical run from bow to stern.

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Maury S]

Nice start

Maury

[Jay 1]

Looking good, Mike! Did you use a curved sanding block or etc. to fair the bow? I'm currently thinking that's the way to go with the bow but am not sure about how well it will work.

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Stuntflyer]

Jay,

 

I made 4 sanding blocks with different curves since the hull shape is not constant. Mine were made from some medium hard balsa. The ones for the bow and stern areas are shorter and span 3 bulkheads. The others, like those for sanding amidships, are longer and span 4-5 bulkheads. I think that using curved blocks will give you a more gradual shape from one bulkhead to another.

 

Mike

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Jay 1]

Mike, thanks for sharing your approach for fairing your hull! I was thinking the same about curved blocks working better, but I wasn't thinking of using 4. What you said about using 4 blocks makes great sense, and I'll use at least 4 when I get to that step of the build--again, thanks for the tip! Am just starting on tapering to the bearding line.

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Stuntflyer]

The port sills, port uprights and chase ports are now finished. I opened up the chase ports by 1/32" on each side so I could line them with 1/32" boxwood strip. I wanted to have a clean look and knew that this would achieve that. This should make it a lot easier to paint them when the time comes. With the final sanding of the sills and uprights completed I took another look at the hull fairing and did some more fine tuning. It seems like the more you look the more you find.

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Maury S]

Using Chuck's bulkhead kit keeps everything lined up nicely.  I had quite a few adjustments to make by cutting them myself...particularly at the stern.  Looking good.

Maury

[Stuntflyer]

When first reading chapter two I kept wondering how this was all going to come together smoothly. It's interesting to see how Chuck has put this to work in such a logical way thus making the process much easier than it looks.

 

Rather than cutting the stern frames individually, each frame X, Y and Z were stacked together and cut as one piece. Each of the two outer frames ZZ were stacked three together. A tiny amount of PVA was used to hold the parts together while cutting them with the jigsaw. I used Elmer's Washable School Glue to adhere the drawings to the parts. The disc sander and oscillating drum sander cleaned things up nicely afterwards. Given the accuracy of Jason's boxwood sheets and Chuck's laser cutting the fitting of the stern frames was a breeze with no sanding necessary. Frames ZZ were faired as Chuck describes in his practicum.

 

 

 

Though apparently simple, I found that the two stern ports were very challenging to make. They are awkward to hold and care must be taken while making adjustments to the angles. They should be positioned parallel to the waterline.

 

The square tuck piece was then added along with the filler pieces glued behind it. The photo shows the port side after being faired. A lot of material had to be removed in order to get a batten to run smoothly over the hull.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

Chuck,

 

What would be a good color for the red paint? I have tried Winsor and Newton and they seem to work well. I see that you used Crimson on the Winchelsea

Edited May 22, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Thats what I use...I use Crimson right from the tube usually but sometimes I will add some raw sienna to tone it down on the brown side a bit.

 

Chuck

[Chuck Seiler]

Personally, I am a 'red snob'.  I seldom like the red most people use...too bright in my opinion.  I like the barn red or caboose red type color for internal bulwarks and appropriate deck furniture. 

 

I am currently experimenting with artist acrylics.  Using "Windsor and Newton Galleria" paint, I mixed a large gob of crimson red and a wee dot of Mars Black...and alot of water.  I am going for the consistency of olive oil for right now.  I think I have the color I want.

 

   The secret (if, in fact, this works) is to start off with the gob or red and add VERY LITTLE dots of black until you get what you want...or what I want.

 

    Now, I will do a test paint to see what it looks like dry, on wood. 

[Stuntflyer]

Before moving too far into chapter three, here is a photo showing the final sanding of the square tuck

 

Edited May 25, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

I was able to complete the port painting after applying about 15 thinned coats of red over a dark pink base. The temporary battens marking the bottom edge of the wales were pinned evenly on both sides of the hull. For the most part the batten runs matched the reference lines along the bulkheads very closely.

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Jay 1]

Looking really great, Mike--wow, you're making fast progress!

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jack12477]

Looking good Mike !

[Stuntflyer]

I'm now onto the hull planking starting with the first of the two wale layers. I made sure that each plank fit nicely into the stem to avoid as much sanding as possible. I don't have the clamp and glue technique sorted out yet so I just worked my way aft by hand and glued two or three bulkheads at a time. Although the wale location was previously marked, I did make some tiny adjustments as I went along. This was especially true where I had to ensure that both wales end up at the same location where the break of the counter and square tuck meet.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Really nice progress, Mike

[Stuntflyer]

Planking above the wales has proven to be a rather time consuming process as a lot of time was spent getting a good fit between the gun ports. At one point I realized that I had the wrong curve, aft of the last gun port, which required a more upward sweep. Rather than replacing the whole plank I just added a filler piece after the curve was corrected. The filler piece is small and will eventually be covered by the fashion piece.

 

Photo showing one side completed above the wales and the small filler piece at the stern.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Very nice planking Mike....

[Jay 1]

Mike, your planking looks great, and nice catch/fix on that one plank!

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Stuntflyer]

Planking of the port side above the wales is now completed. Both sides have had an initial sanding with 180 grit.

 

 

In preparation for the stern planking the outside stern frames were thinned to 1/16" in thickness. I'm looking forward to getting started on the planking so I can tighten up this area which is still somewhat fragile.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[rafine]

Mike, great to have met you yesterday and to have seen your Cheerful in person. It will make following along even more enjoyable.

 

Bob