Cutter Cheerful 1806 by rafine - FINISHED

[_SalD_]

Deck fixtures look great Bob.  Pumps turned out really nice.

[rafine]

Thanks so much Sal and the "likes".

 

Bob

[Sjors]

10 likes from me Bob!

 

Sjors

[rafine]

Thanks so much Sjors.

 

Bob

[rafine]

I've now completed the next segment of interior detailing. This included eyebolts at the foot of the mast, deck ringbolts, a couple of bulwark cleats, bulwark pin rails and belaying pins, the last two carronades, the galley stack and the mast bitts and winch.

 

The guns, cleats, ringbolts and eyebolts all followed the procedures previously described for them.

 

The pin rails were cut from boxwood strip, shaped and drilled for the pins, painted red and then pinned and glued to the bulwarks. The belaying pins are commercial brass items, which I blackened.

 

The galley stack was cut in four pieces from 1/32" boxwood sheet, assembled, painted black and installed on it's previously installed base.

 

The mast bitts and winch were a fun piece to do. The bitts were cut from boxwood strip and shaped with files. The cross piece was cut from strip, notched with saw and chisel cuts and mounted on the bitts. The knees were were cut from boxwood sheet and added to the bitts. The winch barrel was made from two sizes of dowel. The gears were an interesting exercise. I first tried, unsuccessfully, to do them from wood with a file. I finally ended up using styrene tube, which I filed lengthwise, and then cut slices to size and painted black. They are hardly perfect, but they are very small and their appearance is satisfactory to me. The handles or cranks are bent brass rod, blackened and passed through pieces of blackened brass tube to represent bearings.I tried to follow the drawings and the photos of the contemporary model, but I have no idea whether this mechanical arrangement is correct. 

 

I'm now moving on to the last, forward segment.

 

Bob

[Mirabell61]

wonderful looking fitting out Bob,

 

the wood tone of of darker parts on the lighter tone deck is just beautiful

 

Nils

[druxey]

My smile for the morning, Bob. Very nice progress.

[GLakie]

Nice work Bob! She looks splendid! 

[Rustyj]

Beautiful workmanship there Bob. I can't wait to see more!

[rafine]

Thanks so much Nils, druxey, George and Rusty for the very generous comments and also to the "likes". I probably don't say enough just how much all of your thoughts and interest are appreciated.

 

Bob

[Sjors]

I'm running out of words now.

I think I go further in the Dutch langue ( sorry for that )   

 

Grandioos !!!!!!!

 

Sjors

[albert]

Hi Bob, fantastic work.

[rafine]

Thanks so much Sjors, Albert and the "likes".

 

Bob

[Burroak]

Bob your doing great. Your ship looks fantastic. Hope I can do that well some year!

 

Greg H.

[gjdale]

Mighty fine work Bob - looking great!

[rafine]

Thanks so much Greg, Grant, John and the "likes". John, looks can be very deceiving.  

 

Bob

[rafine]

My plan to finish off the interior hull detailing with a final forward segment has been changed a bit. I realized while thinking it through, that I needed to break it into two parts. The first, which I have now completed, was to do the catheads, bow pin rail and the two long guns. The bowsprit bitts could not be made and set until the bowsprit itself was made, and I hadn't planned on that. The windlass could be made, but was better left unmounted until after the bowsprit bitts were set.

 

I began with the catheads. I chose to make them from boxwood strip, rather than cutting them in one piece from sheet. Fitting just seemed easier. The outboard sheaves are simulated, using drilled holes and scribing, rather than slots and actual sheaves. The completed assemblies were painted red and black and mounted on the hull. Cleats, made from boxwood strip were added inboard and eyebolts outboard.

 

The bow pinrail was next. It is shown on the drawings as being between the catheads, but the vertical positioning is unclear. Because the bowsprit has to pass below it, I concluded that I had to make it level with the cap rail. Hopefully, this is correct. Using a card template, I cut the piece from boxwood sheet, drilled holes for the pins, and painted it black to match the cap rail. It was mounted using pins and glue. Blackened brass belaying pins were added.

 

Lastly, I made and added the two 6 pdr long guns. These were made and rigged just like the previous carronades. I followed the positioning shown on the drawings and the photos of the contemporary model, although it seems awkward and hardly workable in light of the position of the bowsprit and bitts.

 

I'll now move on to complete the remaining items. They will probably get done sooner than I would expect, because south Florida is going through an unusual period of rain that will decrease golf time and increase modeling time.

 

Bob

[Erik W]

Bob,

 

Your Cheerful is looking awesome!  I can see what you mean about the cannons being a tight fit once the bowsprit is added. 

 

You're nearly to the rigging phase of the build!!

 

Erik

[Mirabell61]

good work Bob,

 

that bow gun-section looks great

 

Nils

[rafine]

Thanks so much Erik and Nils and also the "likes". 

 

Bob

[Sjors]

And here it comes again....

 

Schitterend werk     

 

Sjors

[Burroak]

Bob I was searching online and found a company called Turner Toys www.turnertoys.com that sells the Polly scale paints.

[rafine]

Thanks Greg. I checked them out and it seems they still have inventory of some, but not nearly all colors. Could be useful.

 

Bob

[rafine]

I guess this is a milestone post. The hull is now essentially complete (a few exterior eyebolts to be done during rigging, the anchors and entry rope stanchions, to be done when they won't get in the way).

 

As I indicated in my last update, to finish the deck items, I had to do the bowsprit. My lack of a lathe caused me to make this in a somewhat different way. The bowsprit consists of a tapered round portion and a square section inboard. I chose to dowel and glue a square piece of boxwood to a round dowel and fair it in by sanding. I then tapered  the round portion by sanding, filed in the shoulder and shape of the forward end and drilled and cut in the sheave. The bowsprit was finished by staining the dowel portion golden oak and painting the inboard and most forward portions black.

 

The bowsprit bitts were made from boxwood strip filed to shape with knees cut from boxwood sheet. After temporarily positioning the bowsprit and marking locations, holes were drilled through the bitts and the square portion of the bowsprit for a brass rod to hold the bowsprit in position in the bitts. The bitts were then pinned and glued to the deck, the bowsprit was permanently mounted by inserting the brass rod and boxwood pieces were glued on to cover the holes in the bitts and above the bowsprit.

 

The last deck piece was the windlass. This was made using Chuck's mini kit. I actually had made this up earlier and it took a couple of days to do. It is a marvel of design and engineering. While I believe that I could have done this from scratch, it would have taken me weeks, rather than days, and would not not have looked nearly as good as this. After the windlass was glued in place, I added pawls, made from black painted strip, from the bitts to the windlass gears.

 

For whatever reason, the photos won't attach in the order that I chose, and appear below in random order. They include three that reflect the current state of the model.

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chuck]

That does look wonderful all fitted out.....really good stuff.  Looking forward to the rigging stage!!  

[Engelmann]

Congratulations for reaching this milestone. She really looks great. I'm also looking forward to the rigging stage.

[KenW]

Congrats.  You are ready for your launching party! 

Really outstanding workmanship.

Cheers.

[Stuntflyer]

A milestone for sure, Bob. It really does look great with all the deck fittings in place. Looking forward to your posts on rigging.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[rafine]

Thanks so much Chuck, Deon , Ken and Mike for the nice comments and also the "likes".

 

I'm looking forward to the rigging as well, although I have many questions after looking at the plans, photos of the contemporary models, and rigging sources (Lees, Lever). First among them: is the bobstay a doubled line?; is it served? 

 

Bob

Edited January 30, 2016 by rafine

[Chuck]

Single line and yes, I will be serving it its entire length.  Although in most cases you wont see it served its entire length on contemporary models.  I believe its because most contemporary models do not show the original rigging or no serving was used on the entire model regardless.   But I will be doing it.  definitely a single however.