HM Cutter Sherbourne by jonny.amy - FINISHED - Caldercraft - Scale 1:64 - Kit Bash

[jonny.amy]

Clinker planking update....

 

Planks 8 & 9 (from Wednesday night) are on both sides. To reduce the curve of the planks around the waist, I placed a stealer along 2/3's of the length ship, which has pretty much bought the Bow and Stern ends of the planks in line with each other.

 

My next step will be to build up the Wales and to clinker up to them. From that point onwards I am a bit hazy on whether I clinker or carvel the topsides. I will make this decision over the weekend, and I guess a bit of reading around will be required for that!

 

Anyway, here are the photos....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[Stockholm tar]

Jonny,

 

To answer you earlier question, the wales basically stiffened the structure of the ship against 'hogging' and 'sagging' (you can look those terms up), and most ships of the period had them irrespective of the planking. 

 

Regarding the planking above the wale, I think this was usually carvel at this period, although I'm not certain. I did it this way on my Sherbourne and it makes a nice change to the planking below the wale.

 

You seem to be getting on well!

[jonny.amy]

Kester,

 

That is exactly the reponse I wanted! You Sir, get the gold star!

 

So that means I have one plank left before taking on the wales! Woohoo!!!

 

My next question is about fixings. I'm thinking about buying some brass rod (0.5 or 0.75mm DIA) to "copper nail" the planks. Is it possible to blanken the brass once they are in place? Will the blackening fluid corrode the basswod? Or am I better off using wood filler mixed with a black paint?

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[mcpwilk]

Planking above the wale was carvel as shown in the 'Anatomy of the Ship' book on the cutter Alert.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mike

[Gundorph]

Great planking skills... 

[jonny.amy]

Mike / Gundorph,

 

Thanks for the kind workds and advice! I really should have bought AOTS before taking on this Clinker Planking venture!!!

 

I'm leaving work today fairly early, so I'm hoping to get a fair bit done tonight. I got the planks for the wales soaking in water last night, and I'll get the bending iron out later on! When I get the wales in place, I can work out the shape of the last plank(s) to fill the gap.

 

Does anyone have an idea of how to trim the width of a plank down a bit? I'd like to drop the carvel planking down to 4mm width strips rather then the 6mm used for clinker strips. Is there a special jig I can build to do this, or will something like a carpenters scribe do the job?

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Hi guys,

 

I got the Wales on both sides last night and painted them black. Ebony Wales were not an option as the stuff I was looking at was far too expensive and had a lead time of 4 - 6 weeks as they had to come from the States. I was planning on ordering ebony strips from Stewart Macdonald (the guitar parts company), so it's been a compromise on price and looks for the more suitable option.

 

I've bought some lengths of 1mm DIA brass rod to acts as bolts on the wales. I've got the port side bolted on, so I'm now off to do a bit manly cupcake baking!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Hi All,

 

Closing up the gap between the wales and the clinker planks today, and hopefully I'll be able to get the air gun out and spray the u/side white.

 

Main focus for the day will be closing up the gap, and planking the topsides. Progress is slow today as we're looking after the Mother in Law's old fat and smelly Jack Russell, who rather ironically is called Tiny. She requires attention all the time, and has just spent the last 15 minutes asleep on my lap as I've tried to work on Sherbourne!!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[Canute]

Hope you didn't feed Tiny one of you "manly" cupcakes. Chocolate is bad for pups.

 

Why not stain your wales black? Stain can be a good option vice playing with ebony wood.

 

What's wrong with baking?  I brew a little beer and bake bread occasionally.

[jonny.amy]

I wouldn't dream of giving away one of my luscious cupcakes to the dog, let alone the Admiral! Haha

 

I couldn't find a small enough tin of Stain in the right colour at the hardware store. The colour I wanted was only available in 1, 2, and 4 gallon buckets!! So painting the wales was really my only option!

 

There's nothing wrong with baking, I love it, and brewing beer and (proper) cider!! My last batch of "gut rot" cider has an average alcohol content of 9.8% (11.2% proof US)!! It was good, but gave a serious hangover the next day!

[Beef Wellington]

Caldercraft now offer an 'Admiralty' stain in ebony...haven't used it yet, but would be an option.  Looking great so far.

[jonny.amy]

Oh! Jason I didn't know that! Well, I would have done that if I had known that! Haha

 

I've planked the topsides, and finished the clinker planking. I'm in the process of clearing up the gun ports, so I'll post photos later on or maybe tomorrow.

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Hi All,

 

The hull planking is now complete. The shape of the hull and lack of spilig further down the hull (in the early stages meant the transom was very difficult to work around, so the job I've done here has taken longer than I was expecting. But in general I am happy with the results. I will need to tart up the stern at some point, and I'm thinking of ways to that presently.

 

Photo update on the hull planking....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also built the rubber and tiller, and decided from the start that I would not use the kit supplied tiller as it looks awful!

 

 

I have also "nailed" the wales down with brass rod. They look good, but with the occasional knock and repaint, some of them have been lost....

 

Next phase is to build up the bulwalks and cut all the rollocks through the basswood.

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Hi Guys,

 

Just to say things at home have been a bit stressy over the last few days... The Admiral lost her Driving Licence, so we've spent the lastr two nights tearing the house up trying to find it... Lunkily I found it this morning in a pile of clean laundry whilst looking for underpants! Crisis averted, but it has meant that I have made absolutely no progress on the model.

 

I have also recieved a phone call from the Lettings Agency to tell us they are happy for us to renew our tennancy agreement on the property after our tennancy is up! That means the percieved pressure is now off!!! Huge relief!!!

 

I've got a day off tomorrow, so I'll be planking the bulwalks tonight/tomorrow and hopefully starting the deck planking and fittings soon!

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Morning All,

 

This weekend was a bit disrupted by visiting family, so progress again was a bit slow. I have planked the bulwalks on the model and painted them a rustic mixture of red ochre and brillinat red to show a a bit of wear and tear on the ship.

 

I also managed to get the edge beams, and center beam, for the deck planking down. I used some of the basswood strips for the edge and center beams, which will be sanded down to the thickness of the supplied deck planking. I intend to to drill small holes every 30 to 50mm in the edge beams to act as waterways.

 

One thing I've noticed is that there is a small lip between the transom piece and the deck, about a 2mm lip, (as can be seen in the photo below) but enough to notice. Has anyone come across this? I've got my edge beams up to the edge of the false deck, so I guess I'll have to fill it with some trim?

 

 

I will hopefully start deck planking tonight. I will be notching the edge beams to match the deck beams.

 

Cheers

Jonny

Edited June 1, 2015 by jonny.amy

[Timmo]

Hi Jonny. You may not need to fill that gap. I ran the decking up across that lip to where it meets the edge of the transom. To make a tidy edge I ran a plank perpendicular to the rest along the transom edge. ( cut in three to fit between those transom knees).

[jonny.amy]

Timmo, that was my first thought, but I wasn't sure if I had balls'ed up the build or if the kit was designed like that? Haha

 

I will get some photo's tonight of the edge beams and deck beams.

 

What was the cast quality of your cannons for Sherbourne like? Mine are terrible, and I'm seriously considering replacing them for the brass Caldercraft 4 pounders, but I'm concerned they would be too big?

[Timmo]

The cast guns were pretty rough but they did clean up with some filling, filing and lots of sanding. I doubt I'd go to such effort again and would likely replace.

[jonny.amy]

I'll be honest, when you pay top dollar for a kit like this, you expect to have some fittings that maybe require a bit of cleaning up, but a 1mm to 1.5mm lip either side of the gun where the casting was of poor quality, is unacceptable. The general quality of the kit is fantastic, and I've conveyed my praise to Caldercraft/Jokita, but I feel like the quality of the smaller kits might be compromised due to the fact that they sell more of them. As I have said in my previous build, the quality of th kit is ten-fold that of Mantura/Sergal, but I was abit disapointed by the metal castings. 

 

My first thoughts for fixing the guns were of filling and sanding, and then painting. But I'll be honest, I can't be bothered with that! I will never be happy with the outcome of them and it would spoil the model for me!

 

I've been in contact with Jokita, and they will be sending replacement parts. I've asked for Brass barrels, but I'm happy with white metal!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Also..... I dropped the ball on the photo's last night! The Admiral got a new job (alongside managing the fleet and shipyard), so we spent the night eating Steak with a homemade Diane Sauce, and quoffing Champange!

 

I'll grab some photo's tonight of the progress, and I'll also grab some of the cannons. Subsequently, the Test Cannon I built up is the best of the bunch, and that still required some cleaning up!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[Canute]

Congrats to the Admiral and you.

I think you'll be happier with brass barrels, though you'll need to blacken them somehow. The chemical way lets the details show better than paint, but the chemicals require a couple of steps. There are a couple of logs explaining the process here.

[jonny.amy]

Thanks Ken, I'm pleased for the Admiral, and I know she's a bit anxious about the job, but I know she will be great at it!

 

Hopefully they will send the brass barrels through as I's like to have a good stab at using the blackening gel (Abbey Blu Gel for gun barrels). I've tried with small bits of brass with mixed results... Whats the best "home remedy" for degreasing the brass?

 

I'll dig out the logs later on, but for now, it's back to the grind at work!

 

By the way, I started and finished the deck planking last night. The edge beams still require a fair bit of sanding to get them looking pretty, but I've got a nice little dremel so I'll get that bad boy on the job later on.

 

Photo's will be posted later on!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Hi guys,

 

Just a quick photo update.....

 

Firstly, I found the original shear line and profile drawings of Sherbourne on NMM website! I've decided to build a display case and line the back with the image! That's much later down the road, but I thought I'd share it with you know!

 

 

The decking is done, as I said earlier, a bit of cleaning up and sanding is required now, but I can start thinking about deck fittings soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would have had it done last night, but the Admiral put a stop to all work fairly early last night, so I'll have to get on it tonight!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[egkb]

Hey there Bud.. Jeez u are moving along !! have been away from MSW for nearly the last week due to various bits-n-bobs getting in the way (including some visits to a nearby 'ale' house with a visiting friend.. u know how it is.. there was even a beer promotion going on.. Nuff Said ..    )

Anyhoo am back to what passes for normal now!

 

A lot of people don't actually sand the deck.. but scrape it instead (this is what I did) it gives a nice even finish, ok a very light sanding can be done afterwards.. but scraping  does work 

 

All The Very Best Mate

 

Eamonn

[Canute]

Jonny, dunk the brass in vinegar. It's a weak acid and will remove the oils. The blackening agent may need diluting to work properly. Read the bottle. Good luck.

[jonny.amy]

Ken, I'll try that tonight - the bottle says "To apply Abbey Blu Gel, use Abbey Grade 400 Steelwool (£4.99 for 1m) to prepare the area, apply Abbey Metal Degreasing Fluid to remove grease from the gun barrel (£9.00 per bottle) and once Abbey Blue Gel is applied dry off with Abbey Soft-Cloth (£5.95 for a pack of 2)", so I think I'll try the vinegar first before buying all those expensive products!

 

Eamonn, beer promotions are always a bad idea! Haha when it comes to beer there is no stopping me! Haha I tried scraping the decking and that's worked quite nicely. The edge beams are still a bit uneven, but I'll just carry on scraping until I'm happy! Yeah I was on a roll the other night, I just found it very easy this time! Maybe I overcomplicated the decking (at least for me) when I built Convulsion?!

 

I fitted the capping rails last night, and I have the Starboard side gunport sills to add on to the hull. After that it will be moving on to the guns if they ever arrive from Jokita/Caldercraft????

 

Cheers

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Right it's decision time.... to tree nail the hull or not to tree nail the hull??????

 

Tree nails would be at 30mm on the carvel planks (one on top the other) and at 30mm on the clinker planks (just one at the "land" overlap)..... Please vote yes or no! Votes will be counted by 5pm tomorrow.

 

Cheers

Jonny

[egkb]

Go for it !    Yes..

 

E

[jonny.amy]

I'm committed now! I've drilled my first lot of holes on the port side of the hull! I've got a few in there too!!! There's no turning back now!!!

[jonny.amy]

Update on Sherbourne....

 

I'm absolutely bored stiff of tree nailing, having got 2/3rds along the length of the port side, so I've come off that, and built up the deck fittings and the catheads with basswood knees supporting them.

 

I also decided not to add the aft most deck gratings, due to the fact that the real ship would have had a companion way of some form that wasn't covered by grating.

 

I have built the windless as well, I firstly decided not to use the kit supplied windless, as it looked too small and the supplied kit windless wasn't the best of quality, but my scratch built attempt wasn't to scale, and looked too big, so I went back to plan A, which was tart up the existing windless and use that!

 

Photos will come tomorrow!

 

Cheers

Jonny