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

[demetri]

Very beautiful work  Looks great.

[druxey]

Looking very nice indeed, Mike. About your bowsprit (one of my favourite cartoons):

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you very much, again!

 

Matt, I profiled my camera for indoor lighting yet color correction is still sometimes needed. I guess I should blame the camera.

 

WYZWYK, Photos are great for covering up "slight imperfections".

 

druxey, I bet that you have a shoe box full of those cartoons. Keep 'em coming.

 

Mike

Edited November 15, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

The making and fitting of the bowsprit proved to be a very interesting project along with a few challenges along the way. .

 

The square stick was marked off on opposite sides every two inches for the length of the bowsprit. Using the plan as a guide a 7-10-7 tapered template was used to mark the bowsprit width at each of the 2 inch locations. Then a ships curve was used to join these marks along the entire length of the bowsprit. The disc sander was used to remove the wood outside the tapered line. The process was repeated on the two remaining sides.

 

 

Using my hobby vise, which now has removable rubber jaws, the bowsprit was filed down to achieve the octagon shape. Care was taken not to file past the lines while keeping the surfaces as flat as possible.

 

 

The bowsprit was rounded off, a task easily accomplished using the "shoe shine" technique with sandpaper. So far so good, I thought. .

 

Fitting the bowsprit into the hull proved to be a very time consuming process. The bowsprit has to be slid over the deck fittings at a downward angle. Once clear it can be lowered into the bowsprit bit. Problem was, the bowsprit was rubbing on the bottom of the pin rail at the bow making it difficult to move it forward. I had no choice other than to remove the pin rail. Once the hole was completed, the end of the bowsprit could be lowered into the bit. The hole shape was close though there was a bit too much slop where it exited the hawse plate. This was unacceptable, so I removed the plate and made a new one after the bowsprit was affixed to the bit. This proved to be another challenging task as the plate becomes very fragile as the hole is enlarged. I fixed the hole fit inside the hull with some filler and paint. I added a new pin rail from thinner 1/32" sheet which now sits flush with the cap rail.

 

It goes to show that there must be some measurement which was slightly off thus making it difficult to do what would seem to be a straight forward task. Anyway, I'm happy with the result overall.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[druxey]

Well, the end-result does not bear any evidence of the gargantuan struggle that took place to get there! Very nice, Mike.

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you, druxey! Spreading it out over a four day period made it easier to digest.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. .

 

I used the same striping tape here as I did on the rudder. It was cut to a width of 3/32". The eyebolts are made from 24 gauge black annealed wire. I still need to darken the inside of the sheave and Poly the bowsprit.

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Erik W]

Looks great Mike. I've been looking forward to seeing how you progress with the masting and rigging. As always, I'm enjoying your attention to detail.

 

Erik

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks, Erik! The great work of yours and others has inspired me to do better. One of the things Chuck said that stood out in my mind was about how slowly he works and I know it's something that you do too? I started doing this in the last year and I'm glad I did. It seems like every time I start to speed things up the results end up being disappointing.

Mike

Edited November 11, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

I've been working on the mast assembly over the last few weeks including the trestletrees and crosstrees.

 

Making the lower mast was straight forward with the exception of its square section at the top. I thought it best to try and delineate and complete the square section first before doing any rounding of the lower section. I made the saw cuts being careful not to cut too deep. I used an off cut to establish the proper depth for each cut.

 

 

Once that was done, I filed between the two cuts to flatten the area just enough to allow the trees to fit nicely over the mast. The trees sit at a slight angle which was accounted for when filing this section. A tenon was later added for the mast cap.

 

 

 

The lower section of the upper mast was then rounded off using the same method as described for the bowsprit. The upper mast was then completed. Again care was taken to get a nice fit when the octagon shape at the lower section of this mast is inserted into the trees. There is also a 1/16" strip preventing the mast from falling through the trees.

 

 

A few more photos showing the boom rest, a few cleats and the upper mast.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Rustyj]

Very, Very Nice!

[KenW]

Excellent work.  And the photos don't show how outstanding your workmanship really is.

[druxey]

Very nice-looking masts, Mike!

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you so much for the kind words and "Likes". I still need to add the mast hoops, cheeks, etc; before I can complete the mast assembly and its painting. Hopefully this will all get done within the next few weeks. I'm anxious to see it in a completed state.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[aviaamator]

Superrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Very!

[archjofo]

Very nice work!

[Stuntflyer]

I've been working on the boom, gaff and yards lately. All of these were made from square sticks. I made a simple jig to make sure that the spacing of the cleats were the same from the ends of each yard.

 

 

These will eventually be painted black. .

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[rafine]

Very nice looking work Mike.

 

Bob

[Mirabell61]

Masting and yards are excellent work Mike,

 

Nils

[Tigersteve]

Mike, very clean work as always. Your longboat build is also one of my go to logs for my longboat build in progress. On another note- I am also waiting on the completion of your Mayflower! It's the cleanest log on that ship I've found. I plan Mayflower as my first ship build. After Chuck's longboat and pinnace. -Steve

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you Nils, Bob, Steve and for all the "Likes". .

 

Steve, I definitely think that the Model Shipways Mayflower kit is worth considering as a first ship build. You might want to pick one up at the end of the year when a number of their kits are sold at highly reduced prices. The main reason I stopped the build was due to some wood issues I was having. I purchased boxwood from a supplier who, for some unknown reason, had great difficulty cutting a straight piece of strip wood. Each piece had to be painstakingly sanded before it could be used and my fingers were raw from doing so. There was so much waste, 30-40% perhaps, that I no longer have enough wood to finish the build properly. The wood I'm now getting from Jason over at Crown Timberyard is superior in every way but color wise would never match what I was using before. Never say never but as of now it's off the table.

 

Mike

Edited October 21, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Tigersteve]

I get it. Thanks for the clarification. There's always your Syren build to go back to. Lol

[KenW]

This may be a stupid question but ...

Back in Sept. (entry #225), you were making your lower mast. You wanted to "delineate and complete the square section" before you rounded of the rest of the mast. You made saw cuts - and you "used an off cut to establish the proper depth".

What is an "off cut"?

Thanks.

[Stuntflyer]

Ken,

 

The mast stick was longer than needed. After cutting the mast to the proper length, I used the off cut from that stick to measure for the proper depth of the square section.

 

Mike

[Stuntflyer]

One of the things I really need to do is to raise the height of my work table to around 44". Sitting while bending over creates too many back issues for me. Once that's done, hopefully later this week, I will start on the bobstay rigging and tackle. Meanwhile I did manage to finish up most of the mast work.

 

Cheeks where made as described in TFFM Vol. 4 pg. 16

 

Scrap boxwood was glued to a dowel for shaping

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

Mike

 

That is looking very nice.

 

Cant wait to see it in person.

 

Chuck

[druxey]

Your model is looking lovely Mike. Having the correct workbench and seat heights are important!

[Tigersteve]

Mike,

Very clean and sharp work!

Steve

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks guys!

 

Chuck, since the mast isn't permanently attached to the ship, I will bring Cheerful to the next meeting. Hopefully, you will bring yours too!

 

Mike

Edited November 11, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Chuck]

I plan to...hopefully the gaff and boom will be rigged by then.

[tlevine]

I want to be in your club!  But then I'd have to move to Jersey...