HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by Erik W - 1:48 scale

[Nirvana]

That is such clean build.

Love it!

[Tigersteve]

Very sharp, Erik. Are you going to do the tree nailing when the time comes?

Steve

[GuntherMT]

Looking great Erik.  Really need to get back to working on mine!

[Rustyj]

Hi Eric.

 

Great to see you take your time and redo when necessary.

 

That was one of the hardest things to learn.

 

Keep up the good work.

[Erik W]

Thanks for the kind words guys.  Steve, My plan is to do the tree nailing.  I will do some testing first.  I'd rather have no tree nailing, than poor tree nailing!

 

Erik

[Stuntflyer]

I have seen the way Chuck did it, as described in his monograph, and it looks very nice.

 

Mike

Edited December 18, 2016 by Stuntflyer

[Tigersteve]

Chuck's method looks great. My only fear is to drill all those holes and then not have them lined up perfectly. You notice it right away. I'm interested to see how you proceed.

Steve

[druxey]

Mark out first, then prick the spots with a sharp point. That way the drill point won't 'wander' off the marks.

[Erik W]

Thanks Druxey.  One question, what do you use as a guide to get the lines of tree nails straight? 

 

Thanks,

Erik

[druxey]

First, the lines of the frames are my guide. Also, I use a paper strip as a straightedge to run light pencil lines where needed.

[jwvolz]

Looking very good Erik.

[Erik W]

A quick photo.  I applied Wipe on Poly to what I've done.  I like the look of the pencil "caulking".  I painted the counter using Chuck's technique of many coats of heavily thinned paint.  This is about 10 coats.  It turned out fairly evenly.  I discovered Vallejo acrylic paints years ago, so being comfortable with them, used that brand rather than Winsor & Newton.  It's funny I went to such great effort to keep my planks close and tight on the counter, and now it looks like a solid sheet!  Well, it's just practice for planking the hull I guess. 

 

 

Erik

[Chuck]

Well done....the pint job looks good and so does the caulking seams. 

[druxey]

You'll find that, after a year or two, the plank seams will 'read' a little through the paint. She's looking lovely.

[Tigersteve]

Looks great, Erik.

Steve

[Erik W]

I painted the wales.  This went well, but proved to be more difficult to clean up the bleeding under the tape than I had expected.  It still looks a little rough for my liking in spots, but after days of tweaking, I'm calling it done . . . for now.  I'll probably revisit it later.  Anyway, it feels good to get some color applied.  The painted wales and counter really add some interest to the natural wood!  Up next planking, planking, and more planking. 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!  And happy Hanukah.  Enjoy whatever holiday you're celebrating!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erik

[Erik W]

I'm moving on now to defining the separation of the two belts of planks on each side.  After much measuring, checking, re-checking, and redoing certain areas, I got the drafting tape where I wanted it and drew my lines.  Now it's on to carefully using tick strips to transfer the plank widths on to the frames.

 

 

 

 

Erik

[Chuck]

That looks very good.   

[Tigersteve]

Nicely done. It's one of the most tedious parts those tick strips!

Steve

[pete48]

Very Cool Erik, Looks Fantastic Nice work

 

Best Regards,

Pete 

[Erik W]

I spent the long weekend doing some planking.  The good news is I'm happy with the way the planking looks.  These photos area after a rough sanding, which I mostly did to see how the seams looked.

 

One issue I'm having (as seen in the last photo), is though I've measured everything out, and the planking strips I'm using are a full 3/16" wide, with each row I'm putting down they seem to be falling farther short of my tick marks by a small amount on the middle frames.  When I measure the space between what I've done and the keel, sure enough, I'm going to wind up with a bit of a gap (even with a wider garboard plank).  My solution is to order more of the wider 7/32" strip from Jason at Crown Timberyard (or Wood Project Source, anyone have experience with them?), and use what will probably be a couple of those in the rows where the two belts meet (where wider planks on the middle frames won't be noticed).  Otherwise, I'd have to add a 21st row of strakes, which would screw up the bow and stern.  It's weird, everything measured out when I did the tick strips and marked the hull, and measuring the plank width of what I've done so far shows the amidship planks at a full 3/16" wide.  The only thing I can think of it has something to do with how I was beveling one edge of each plank . . . but like I said, the mounted planks measure 3/16" wide.  Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

Erik

[druxey]

You are experiencing what is called cumulative error. If each 3/16" plank is slightly under width by even a few thousandths of an inch, the second strake will be off by double that amount, the third triples it, and so on. Bevelling may be part of your issue. And then it shows up and bites you! It's unfortunate, but it's happened to all of us and is part of our learning experience. 

 

You may be better off cutting your planks slightly over-width from sheet material and sanding them down to fit the edges accurately to your mark-out. Yes, more time-consuming, but it makes things right.

[Nirvana]

Wood Project Source seems to have a various wood types as well.

But as a sponsor of MSW they should be reliable.

Didn't cross check the prices vs. Jasons.

Beautiful planking.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Nirvana

[Chuck]

That can be corrected easily....I wouldnt worry too much about it.  Just start cutting planks slightly wider over the next few strakes.  But dont correct it all in the next strake.  Spread the correction over the next two or so and it wont be noticeable.  Before you know it.....you will be back on your tick marks.

 

Chuck

[Erik W]

Thanks for the input guys.  That's pretty much what my thought on a correction was.  Annnd  . . . Chuck, thanks for the advice on not worrying about it.  Believe it or not I woke up at 3:30am this morning fretting over this!  You'd think in this day and age if I was going to be awake worrying at that hour, it would be about something of a more important nature!  I have to say, thankfully this ship building is fun and rewarding, because it seems every step of the way some unforeseen problem rears it's ugly head.  I try to remind myself that I just started this hobby in 2015, so I'm still a rookie.  Just trying to reach for the bar a lot of you guys set so high! 

 

Erik

[Nirvana]

Erik, even though many years of modelling I considering myself a rookie and always be, it's a way for me to get more experience.

I will never consider myself a "pro", no matter how much more experience I am collecting.

[Erik W]

With the need for some wider planks (see my post above), I decided to order some 7/32" strip.  Since I had ordered all my wood from Jason at Crown Timberyard for the build so far, I decided to place my order with him, which I did . . . I then decided that this would be a good opportunity to sample Wood Project Source, so I wound up placing an identical order, for 10 strips, with Roman.  I contacted them both last Monday, and received a reply from both quickly.  Crown's strips cost a little more, but the shipping was cheaper. So, the price was pretty close.  I placed my order, and both packages arrived today.  I must say the quality of the wood is identical, and has nearly the exact same color/shade range.  Both supplier's strips measured out at exactly the correct dimensions.  The photo below shows Wood Project Source 7/32" wood at the top, some of my original 3/16" wide strips from Crown Timberyard in the middle, and at the bottom 7/32" strip from Crown.  I'm happy to say that when mixed together, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Crown gave me 1 extra strip and a 3/64" sheet.  Wood Project Source threw in 2 extra strips, and a few off size 3/64" thick strips.  Jason has been great to work with over the last year and a half, and I'm happy that Roman has stepped in to be a supplier.  Hopefully there is enough business out there for both!

 

My lamp was centered over the front of the photo, so the back may look slightly darker than it is in reality.

 

Erik

Edited January 10, 2017 by Erik W

[Erik W]

I finished the planking of the upper belt of strakes on the starboard side.  I'm not sure if any of you other folks do this, but I decide early on a build which side of the model will be displayed . . . and then, since I do every process twice, one on each side, do the process first on the side that will be facing the wall.  That way I have practice before I do the process on the side facing the viewer when the finished model is displayed.     The planking is turning out well for the most part, with a minimum of gaps.  I can honestly say I've given it my 100%.  There's definitely a learning curve though.  I'm learning what works for me, and how to do it.  I seem to have settled into a rhythm of getting 1 plank done a day on weekdays and 2 a day on weekends.  Slow progress, but it'll get me there.  These photos were taken after the first rough sanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erik

[Chuck]

Really nice planking job....I think you found the sweet spot and wont have difficulty planking anything in the future.  Well done!!!

[src]

Wow, Erik, that is planking to aspire to!  Well done.

Sam