HM Cutter Mermaid 1817 by Cabbie - Modellers Shipyard - Scale 1:48

[Cabbie]

G'day to all

Finally finished planking the hull and have stared on the stern, keel and stem. I cant handle the idea of

just gluing long strips on to the stem so I am trying to do it in a proper sort of method by edge gluing strips and

cutting pieces to fit together. But entirely my own design, whether it is strictly correct, I don't know.

 Cheers Chris

l

[Rick01]

Should have done what I did. Threw my hands up in disgust over the use of ply, dug around in the workshop found a couple of nice off-cuts and crafted a nice solid stem, false keel and stern post. I did have two or three goes at it but I'm much happier with the result.

 

Rick

[Cabbie]

Yeah probably Rick But I don't mind having a go this way

Learning new skills as i go, trying something I might have thought,

would have been too hard.

And I quite like doing it by hand as much as possible

make enough noise and dust at work

Thanks Chris

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Cabbie

[Cabbie]

Thank goodness that part of the ship is done.

Stem, Keel and stern post planked or re-planked too much breath holding and

nearly collapsing. Still needs a good clean but that is not going to happen yet.

I will make a rudder out of solid timber.

Some work to do on the transom, do the wales, upper wales trim strip and sort out where the channels sit,

in line with the trim strip or just below. i am leaning towards doing them in line with the trim strip.

Hooroo Chris

Edited June 10, 2019 by Cabbie

[Cabbie]

In some part of a concession to the historical pictures here is my version of the transom.

Not totally sure it suits the boat, but too bad, done now. The gunwale will butt into

the trim pieces and the davits will step over the top.

I like it in that it covers the end of a lot of planks which can look a bit rugged.

Getting awfully close to having a good clean, sand and applying some

finishing coats. Gives a much better look at the planking  and construction

and hopefully the caulking stands out just enough.

Having done this it needs to have a name put on, now to Jame's log to learn how.

Hooroo Chris

Edited June 16, 2019 by Cabbie

[JamesBhm]

Chris, you've definitely got a cleaner and more symmetrical cut on that trim. I've still got some woodworking skills to develop. As for lettering, I used Woodland Scenics brand dry transfer letters from the model railroading world (white Roman font, 1/4"). Not sure if they're easy to get down your way. The letters transferred well and conformed to the texture of the wood nicely.

[Rick01]

Hey Chris - how's your build coming on? Haven't seen you for a little while.

 

Rick

 

[Cabbie]

Howdy Rick

Very slowly at the moment , i spent a bit of time creating the thicknessing sander for the lathe.

And i have been working a bit on the  deck furniture, made a companion way cover, fiddling

around to see if i can make metal hinges for the doors. Next I think will be to re-plank

the deck, take the old one off would be best I think.

But it is going to be slow for a while now, work is very busy and I have just got a new kitchen

design program on a test basis for a few weeks and need to give it a good work out.

Should still be able to squash a bit of time in a the weekend.

Thanks Chris

 

 

[Rick01]

No worries - just concerned that the ship may have foundered!

 

Rick

 

[Cabbie]

Yo yes I'm back, Again, hope to keep at it this time.

I decided to re-plank the deck, didn't like the last version

and have been trying to make deck fittings which are no fun at all.

Planking straight over the existing deck, stuck too well to get off.

[Cabbie]

New deck done almost, just needs to be sanded, the scraper has been over it and left a few marks.

I have been thinking of putting a teak stain to make it more like the original, but not sure.

I think this version is a lot better, waterways to go in and maybe some scuppers, but they are not in the plans.

Surely the water has to get off the deck somehow and for similarish reasons gun port lids will have to be made.

I wiped over with some turps to bring out the color and quite like it, it will fade over time so will look darker.

Time to do a sample planking piece to test the teak stain and then decide.

Cheers Chris

[JamesBhm]

Chris, great to see you back in the game. The deck looks great. As always, I'm impressed by the precision and cleanness of your joinery. You might just inspire me to get back in gear again. 

Edited May 9, 2020 by JamesBhm

[Cabbie]

Thanks For the compliment James and the likes from everyone else.

It is looking even better with a the sanding.

Yes I am ashamed to say it took this evil virus to make me get on with it,

Deciding that there were better things to do in the evening than business book work.

Work life is still very busy despite the virus, but model ships need to be built!!!!

 

Hooroo Chris

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

That's some awesome Decking, love the "Joggling!!"

 

Cheers....HOF.

[Cabbie]

And a big Hi to yourself Harry thank you.

Certainly a lot of breath holding doing it, first time for me and just had to have a go.

Don't know if it suits the ship or not.

Hows life over the water, getting on OK?

Certainly not going to back to normal for a fair while.

Cheers Chris

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Good to see you "Back into the fold", as it were.

 

Some "Positive" reinforcement, The shi looks awesome!! I think that the "Joggling" suits very well indeed!!

In my humble opinion, of course, it suits the Ship.🙂

I'd be interested regarding the steps achieved to get the result that you have achieved.

 

(Yup, Pen Duick, Joggling on the Centre Plank, but interested in the process that achieved your results with "Joggling" in the Waterways. I have read heaps but I'm hoping you have some "Process" Photos.)

 

(I've got so many ships to build, so little time.... (As one of my colleagues used to say....)

 

I'd like to do something like this for the "Flying Cloud." (Wished I'd done it for the Cutty Sark.)

 

Life over the water is o.k.. Had to sell my forever home in Wellington and have purchased a new property in Manaia, Taranaki. (Not so many Earthquakes but living under a dormant Volcano.)

 

Movers completed the "Uplift" Yesterday, Models Crated and moved into storage along with all other contents., hopefully they will be in one piece when they arrive  in a few weeks time.... (Got them to label the "precious" stuff "Fragile.")

 

Anyway, settlement on the new property, early June. myself and my partner are in temporary accommodation in Taranaki. (Abyssinian Cats in care at a Cat Motel, three of them....)

I cannot do any modelling until we gat set up, god knows how long it's going to take to sort all the boxes but at least I can still get on-line.... 🙂

 

COVID19 Stuff:

Not so much of an issue here at the mo, Level 2 today? Not quite sure what that entails but it's got to be better than Level 4, no movement, nothing and yesterday we did not get stopped by the Constabulary travelling to Taranaki. (Yourselves?)

 

Anyway, probably too much information for you and this Forum....

 

You asked!! 🙂

 

Cheers and Regards, 

 

Harry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by hof00

[Cabbie]

Morning to all 6.52 am here and -1 outside, I hate frosts.

Waterways are in, though they blend in a bit and hard to see on photos, broke

about 8 pieces before I got 6 glued in.

Thanks again for the compliments Harry, hard for me imagine living with earthquakes and volcanoes,

I suppose you learn to deal with the extra challenges as they come.

Tricky time to be moving house  at the moment but it sounds like you have it under control,

must be the management and patience lessons you have learnt doing model boat building

The joggling wasn't too bad to do, but sorry i didn't take any more photos if you look at the 3rd pic

you can see where i marked the next plank to be cut in, on the margin plank.

The plank next to it is still loose so that I can remove it to get the blade in to cut out for the plank.

I would lay the next plank to be fitted on the deck in place, mark around it, then mark it for a 1/2 plank at the end

and use the blades to cut the margin plank out. after that fit the deck plank, cut to length and glue in.

The last photo shows the tools used and my trusty disposable blade plane.

Hooroo Chris

I need to add keeping the symmetry right each side was a constant battle, remembering to look and check and check and look.

Come up pretty close in the end.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Cabbie

[jwvolz]

Nice work on the deck. Joggling looks good. 

[BobG]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:08 PM, Cabbie said:

The joggling wasn't too bad to do, but sorry i didn't take any more photos if you look at the 3rd pic

you can see where i marked the next plank to be cut in, on the margin plank.

The plank next to it is still loose so that I can remove it to get the blade in to cut out for the plank.

I would lay the next plank to be fitted on the deck in place, mark around it, then mark it for a 1/2 plank at the end

and use the blades to cut the margin plank out. after that fit the deck plank, cut to length and glue in.

The last photo shows the tools used and my trusty disposable blade plane.

 

Beautiful joggling, Cabbie.

 

I'm currently building the Pen Duick and, although the Artesania Latina kit does not show any joggling, the original Pen Duick I had joggling on the king plank down the center of the deck and also some joggling around the hatch frames. Harry built a beautiful model of the Pen Duick and he has been sending me photos of his deck and has been a great help. I'm currently waiting for some mahogany strips to arrive to use for the margin plank before I start trying to lay the deck planks with the joggles.

 

I think I understand how you went about it from your answer to Harry. I assume you had the margin plank securely glued down before you drew the joggle and then cut it out. Is this correct? Did you find it difficult the cut the joggle out of the margin plank while it was glued down?

 

The king plank on the Pen Duick is mahogany and it is quite brittle and is not easy to cut especially across the grain. I tried a test piece today and it tore out a rough edge before I could cut completely through it. I think having it glued down securely should help prevent tear out. I hope that will work but I'm not sure how easy it will be to cleanly cut out the joggle even though it is glued down.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Cabbie]

Good evening Bob Thanks for looking in and the compliments.

Yes these ships certainly have their challenges, but that makes it more fun!.

The margin plank was glued down and then cut as per I saw someone else suggesting on another log

Jim lad? Banyan? not sure now, apologies to whoever it was.

One thing that i had to keep a constant watch on, was keeping the symmetry of both sides of the deck. equal, easy to get out a bit with tiny variations.

You have the technique correct, the deck timbers are actually a bit of Aussie pear a mate gave me.

Quite brittle but thicker about .8 mm which i cut myself, so less likely to shatter.

Cheers Chris

[Cabbie]

Thanks Dirk

Need to get my act together and finish this part and put an oil finish on,

the deck is going to get a light teak stain first.

But I have pulled the top 3 strakes off and now replacing them.

I didn't like how the gun ports looked.

Thanks Chris

[Cabbie]

Dawdling along as usual, finally put some stain and the first coat of tung oil finish on the deck

And have been working on the Binnacle cabinet, all of the deck fittings except any painted ones will be

stained and oiled as well.

[BobG]

9 hours ago, Cabbie said:

Dawdling along as usual, finally put some stain and the first coat of tung oil finish on the deck

Hello Cabbie, I really like the finish you have on your deck. Beautiful job!

 

A few questions: What kind of wood is the deck? Is it limewood? Did you apply any sanding sealer or pre-stain to the deck before staining it? What type and color of stain did you use?

 

I used some tung oil many years ago on some exotic wood didgeridoo stands I made. I seem to recall that it stayed tacky for quite some time and took a long time to dry but my memory is fuzzy about that? How long did your tung oil finish take to dry and did it dry to a hard finish? I like the satin sheen it has on your boat.

 

Thanks very much.

 Cheers!

[Cabbie]

Morning Bob thanks for looking in.

The wood is off a locally grown pear tree that a mate gave to me, cut it up myself.

First up the deck had a scrape and then sanded and after that i stained it from a tin of

"Baltic pine" stain that has been in the shed for a long time. I just liked the color,

it looks a bit darker in normal light, too much light in the photos.

The "tung oil" finish is an off the shelf tung oil floor finish and has hardeners, driers, and other chemical stuff in it?

Dries in 6 hours or so, much like an ordinary varnish, but has that nice matt look about it.

Being a floor coating material it will dry up very hard, but that can take a bit longer.

The deck will get another coat which will gloss it up a bit, but most of these finishes dull off a bit over time.

Hooroo Chris

[Cabbie]

Few more photos, the deck has had another coat of finish and the binnacle cabinet is nearly done

needs cleaning up a bit more and another coat.

I have a good idea of where i am going with this build so hopefully will move a bit quiker

after i get the next remake done

 

 

[Cabbie]

Next job is to decide what to do with the companionway cover, probably should not have a slope on it, too tall

and takes up too much room on the deck, remake or new one.

Oh well more practice😁 Hooroo chris

[Rick01]

If you check the companionway here you can get an approximation of the side profile and it should really only be wide enough for a man to get down the steps/ladder.

It looks as if the binnacle here has a slightly sloped top and the compass and oil lamps at the top.

 

Rick

[BobG]

On 6/7/2020 at 11:57 PM, Cabbie said:

the deck has had another coat of finish

I'll say it again...that deck is drop dead gorgeous!