Stag by Jim Lad - FINISHED - Scale 1:96 - English Revenue Cutter of 1827

[Jay 1]

John, I'm fond of cutters and yours is a lovely build--really outstanding craftsman and research!

 

As I was reading through your log, I saw that you mentioned the Stag wasn't clinker planked and that you could tell this by the plans (I think Goodwin mentions in his AOS Alert that most cutters after ~1800 weren't clinker planked). I looked at your plan photo but the resolution wasn't so great. So wanted to ask how can one tell--is it in the plan notes or one of the plan views or....? I'm dinking with a Sherbourne build and would like to nail this aspect of the build down--likely it was clinker planked but.... Thanks for letting tug your ear on this!

 

Again, your build is a real beauty!

 

Jay

[Jim Lad]

Jay,

 

The plans are in at the museum at the moment, so I can't take a picture of them, but on the lines drawings there's a detailed cross section amidships that shows the planking.  Very unusual to find that sort of detail on an admiralty plan, but there it is, and I'm grateful.

 

John

[Jay 1]

John,

 

Thanks so much for enlightening me and for your help--most appreciated! Wow, that's a fortunate and critical cutter detail for a modeler to have in the plans! I've been studying NMM cutter plans for a bit now so when I saw your post I was immediately curious. No such similar luck from what I've thus far seen in various plans that I've viewed (though have gleaned a wealth of other details).

 

Looking forward to seeing your build continue to unfold!

 

Jay

Edited September 6, 2013 by JMaitri

[Jim Lad]

Jay,

 

Stag was built in a private yard at Cowes on the Isle of Wight for the Revenue Service.  She was the fastest cutter of her day and in 1839 the Royal Navy took her into Portsmouth Dock and drew up a set of plans for her - I'm guessing they wanted one the same because of her speed.  It was just a happy accident that the cutter that they drew up such detailed plans for was the one I wanted to build.

 

John

[augie]

Fastest cutter of her day??????

 

I keep thinking back to the post you made way back that had either a drawing or painting of her sail plan.  I'm surprised that they could keep her IN the water given a fresh breeze.  I thought that post was still here but I'm incorrect.  Doesn't matter --- now we have the real model to visualize her beauty and power.

 

Always a true delight.

[Jim Lad]

Augie,

 

Keeping her in the water was probably pretty easy, but I still don't know how they kept he upright! 

 

I found a newspaper report that said that Stag had won the annual cutter race again.  The tone of the report sounded a bit like - well, what else would you expect! 

 

For those who didn't see it in the original log, here's a re post of the painting of Stag under sail and chasing what looks to be a French lugger.

 

 

John

[augie]

Thanks for re-posting that John.  I think all will appreciate seeing it if they hadn't before.

[Jay 1]

John, thanks for the re-post; it's a wonderful image of the Stag. Yep, how these cutters stayed upright with the amounts of sail they carried.... Yet the basic design persisted for about 75+ years... In addition to their wide beams, I wonder if the weights of below deck stores was a contributing stability factor (definitely crew abilities)?

 

Jay

[Jim Lad]

Jay,

 

Pig iron billets in the bottom would definitely help!  As the Revenue cutters were only supposed to come into port for stores or repairs, their crews would certainly get a lot of sailing practice.  The square sails were rigged so that they could be brought down very quickly!

 

John

[Jay 1]

John,

 

Yep that pig iron would add a bit of weight! Out of curiosity, I used Goodwin's info on the liquid stores he cites for the Alert to estimate a weight with all the barrels full (water) and it comes out to about 9,667 kilos (21,315 lbs)--couldn't resist the number crunching, I'm an accountant by trade. What you said about the crew and sail rigging makes sense...bet an experienced crew could get things right in a jiffy!

 

Jay

[captainbob]

That's a fine picture of the stag, John.  Looks just like yours.       .

 

Bob

[Jim Lad]

Slightly different colour, Bob!

 

John

[Jim Lad]

Well, I almost had the rigging done!  All rigging was secured yesterday afternoon until I turned around quickly with a pair of tweezers in my hand, caught the port after brace and carried it away!

 

The brace is now re-rigged but still to be trimmed and re-secured, so apart from a slightly cock-eyed yard (due to no tension on the port brace) and the unfinished brace, she's rigged.

 

Next time in at the museum I hope to get her finished (visitor numbers allowing) as once the brace is re-done there's only cleaning up of Irish pennants, attaching rope coils and the anchors to do - the anchors and cables are made and simply awaiting attachment.

 

Here are some photos of her as of yesterday.

 

John

 

[Jim Lad]

Thanks, Janos!

 

John

[augie]

Sorry about the mishap, John.  But she's almost done and she's looking fine!

[Jay 1]

Drats about the mishap, but looks like you made a great recovery--she's looking fantastic John!

 

Jay

[realworkingsailor]

She looks very nice, John. I need to make a point of stopping by here more often.

 

Andy

[popeye the sailor]

glad to hear that was all it did...............and to think,  I was doing some rigging today with unbuttoned sleeves  {this confirms that murphy left my house}.    good that it was a quick fix........she's a sweet looking build John...you've done a superb job with this one 

[mtaylor]

Nicely done, John.  Been a pleasure to watch this one and I can't wait to see final bits all come together.   Hmm... would it help if we sent someone to stand outside the museum and tell visitors "it's closed"????   Just trying to help.

[Wintergreen]

John - armed and dangerous....happens to all of us I think....one moment of unawareness...but you're so handy with the rigging so it did not pose a problem, which we are glad to notice

 

Lovely little ship, John!

[Jim Lad]

Gentlemen - thank you one and all for the support.  It's hard to believe that she's finally almost ready for the display case (which still has to be made).

 

John

[captainbob]

John,

 

What a lovely model.  It’s been well worth the wait.  You made it look so easy that we get the feeling that anyone can work at 1:96 scale. 

 

Well done. Well done.

 

Bob

[Siegfried]

Congratulations John,

 

One fine model! Lovely.

 

Daniel

[BANYAN]

Add me to the queue John, she looks a grand little lady of the sea.  Now IO suggest you park those tweezers somewhere they will do not further damage

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mobbsie]

What a lovely ship John, she has some great lines and is very tidy indeed.

 

Sorry to read about the mishap mate, could have been much worse though, still it's scary and annoying when it happens.

 

I reckon we'll hear the corks popping from here on your next visit.

 

Be Proud

 

mobbsie

[Jim Lad]

Again, thank you gentlemen, one and all, for your support!

 

I can hardly wait to get back to her to get the remaining details finished off.

 

John

[jaerschen]

Very nice model John. Especially the rigging, I like it very much

[Jim Lad]

Thank you, Juergen.

 

John

[michael mott]

John the model looks superb, I am still trying to get my head around how small it is, because it looks so much lager in the photographs.

 

Michael

[Jim Lad]

Thanks, Michael.  She's just a little smaller than your pilot cutter!

 

John