HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by Blue Ensign - FINISHED - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:48 scale

[Kurt Johnson]

Erik, I’ve read your build several times. Your planking is perfect.

 

Kurt

[Tigersteve]

Yes- it’s too bad he’s on a really long break!

Steve

[Blue Ensign]

Thanks Dave and Erik for your input, looks like scale planking is the way to go.

@ Erik - I'm not sure that I can get anywhere close to your excellent planking, but I do appreciate your series of photo's showing how you approached the subject.

I will try and follow your good advice and fine example.

 

PS: I have printed out your post above and pinned it to my bench to try and keep me on track. 

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Blue Ensign

[Blue Ensign]

Post 22

Strakes below the Wale

Before I apply the second Wale layer I intend to fit the drop planks and first two planking layers.

I start with the first plank below the wale (3/16" x 3/64") which terminates at b/h J. and meets the Drop plank that will run to the stem.

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Following advice from Kurt, Dave, and Erik I have decided to  run the planks at scale lengths and this first section runs between b/hds J and B, the next section between B and 12, and a final short strip to termination at the Square Tuck piece. This last piece has some twist in it to follow the curvature of the hull.

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With the first strake fitted I can move onto the Drop Plank.

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The last of several card templates to form the Drop plank.

From the plan the forward end tapers to 3/32" and the aft end where it adjoins the second strake below the wale 5/32".

The drop plank was cut from 1/16" sheet and using a jig sanded down close to 3/64".

It is then a case of sand and tweak, tweak and sand to get the bally thing to fit.

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I stuck at it long enough to get thro' several card templates and three Boxwood versions before I got one that I could live with, which is not necessarily the standard  some of my more adept colleagues could live with.

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At last after seven days toil the first two strakes below the Wales are completed, altho' in need of some serious cleaning up.

I will now move on to the second layer Wales.

 

B.E.

04/04/2018

[Kurt Johnson]

B.E.

 

Looks great to me. Can’t wait to see how many trys that will take me. The planking so far has taken two trys and tear offs to get done. I’m thinking this will take more. How was making the twist for the tuck to accomplish?

 

Kurt

[Blue Ensign]

Thanks Kurt,  putting the twist in the last plank section for the tuck was the least of the problems. Just wet the plank, fixed one end in a vice, applied the twist using pliers, and applied heat from a hairdryer. Took a few seconds only to impart the required twist. 

 

ps, just remember to twist the plank the right way.

 

B.E.

[Kurt Johnson]

The counter and transom are finally done (I think). I am not sure why the transom doesn’t have quite the crown it should have. Everything measures correctly as far as I can see. The top center is even with the end of the center stern frames. If I rip off the top plank and make it wider, I’ll have to figure a way to extend the frame heights to match. I might just go with the way it turned out. The Surly’s transom was more like this, but that was later in her career. Any thoughts?

 

Kurt

[Kurt Johnson]

I studied the plans again and again and just as I was getting set to deconstruct I figured it out. I had made the side bulkheads running up from the last gun port to the transom too high. When I brought it down to where it should be everything comes much closer to how it should look. 

Yeah,  

 

I hope.

 

Kurt

[Blue Ensign]

Always a good idea not to act too quickly Kurt.

B.E.

[Kurt Johnson]

B.E.

 

You’re so right. Every once in a while you get lucky. It didn’t even take 10 minutes. That probably uses up this year’s luck. Now to see how many fashion pieces it will take.

 

Kurt

Edited April 7, 2018 by Kurt Johnson

[Tigersteve]

B.E.- Looks good. Nice call on the scale lengths. 

 

Kurt- Open a build log?

Steve

[davyboy]

Nice job on the drop plank BE,yes,it was bit of a pain to get it right. My first attempt was not good enough (a couple of tiny gaps) so was ripped out and replaced. Had no problem on doing the other side,lesson learned. Apart from that the planking was/is straight forward.

 

Regards.

 

Dave 

[Kurt Johnson]

This really must be my lucky day!  The fashion pieces turned out okay and were really simple to do. For some reason I thought they were difficult. The hairdryer for shaping wood is the bomb! I never really had used it much until now, beats soaking and waiting. Like you I did both on some things.

 

Kurt

[Kurt Johnson]

B.E.   Do intend to treenail the hull. I haven’t decided on that point yet. Looking through your past several posts I noticed you have Gromit to discuss your important decisions. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is one of my favorite movies. Please tell him so for me.

 

Kurt

[Beef Wellington]

Kurt - might I suggest you create your own build log and share your pictures and approach there?  I'd be very interested to see more of your beautiful work, but it can be distracting and a little confusing for followers of BEs log to see pictures of another very similar model interspersed.  

 

BE - my apologies for hijacking your log - I can remove....

[Kurt Johnson]

Yes I guess it is distracting, intrusive too. My apologies.

 

Kurt

[Blue Ensign]

Thank you Jason, and thanks for your apology Kurt, I also think you should start your own log that we can all engage with, but don't fret about it.

on with the build.....

Post 23

Fixing the Wales

 For this 1/32" x 5/32" strips are used.

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Not too onerous to fit as clamping is fairly easy along the hull.

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Before they are fitted I painted the top edge of the upper wale strip and bottom edge of the lower strip where they will meet the Boxwood finish.

I decided to fit the wale strips in one length gluing progressively along the hull. This I felt allowed me to maintain a better natural curve  to the upper wale strip, and as they stand proud of the hull marking the butt joints with a micro saw blade was fairly easy.

Once fixed the forward 1" of the wale was sanded, scraped, and pared down to almost nothing where it meets the stem.

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Cleaned up I then applied three coats of  thinned paint; I won't complete the painting until the rest of the hull has been planked.

I  decided to use Caldercraft Admiralty 'Metal Black' water- based paint, which is less shiny than their 'Dull black' version.

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A period of general cleaning up now follows, and some revision and preparation before I continue with the planking.

 

B.E.

07/04/2018

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Very nice work  - good enough for nelsons navy.

 

OC.

[Beef Wellington]

Very nicely done, beautiful work on the planking, really looking the part with the wales added.  Definitely agree with your decision to use the metal black colour.  Looking fantastic.

[Landlubber Mike]

Great work as always BE.  I agree with Jason, the metal black is really sharp looking.  

[gjdale]

Very nicely done B.E. First class work, as always.

[Martin W]

Very neat work, BE.  The strategy of painting the wale before setting it in place clearly paid off.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Blue Ensign]

Cheers Guys, 

 

Post 24

The first planking Belt - Preparation

I intend to follow Chuck's methods as closely as I can from this point on.

So it's tick strips and pinstripe tape to try and get somewhere, anywhere,  close to Chuck's example.

 Eight additional 3/16" wide strips required for this first belt at the centre.

Simple enough to determine the limit of the eight strakes  below those already fitted at the centre bulkhead using the tick strip.  

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The stern position at the square tuck is easy to see.

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Counting down on the plan the first belt seems to terminate  around the stem scarph joint at the bow.

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A tricky business getting the tape on, bally stuff was very reluctant to stay put and getting a nice run of tape along the hull took some time.

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Hopefully I've got it right. 

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With the reference stations marked it's onto the tedious business of making up the tick strips for the rest of the bulkheads.

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For this job Cheerful is transferred to its low support base, easier on the arms and the eyes.

 

B.E.

11/04/2018

 

 

[Chuck]

looks very good so far.  Well done

[Rustyj]

Very good B.E.The work to do all of the tick strips and marks will pay off when planking the belts.

[Blue Ensign]

Thank you Chuck and Rusty. 

Post 25

Planking the first belt

Chuck has set out the approach clearly in Chapter  four and I hope to follow his example.

I have tick marked each bulkhead for the first belt and tentatively  prepared the first strake below the Drop plank.

There is a fair bit to think about, marking the plank for the taper, remembering to mark the butt joints at the correct place, bevelling the plank before fitting, and marking the 'tar' line on the edge.

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The first plank below the Drop Plank is very short with a butt  joint below the first port.  I prepared a longer plank to include the second butt joint which is just forward of the third port from aft.

The first butt joint was scribed, which allowed me to get a continuous run and more easily form the required lateral curve into the stem rabbet.

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The third plank running to the stern was fitted separately and required a little twist where it runs into the counter.

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Port side strake completed.

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I run planks port and starboard alternatively to monitor the match, and place an even stress on the hull.

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Once the plank is shaped a dry fit is required to mark the butt joints, which are then cut.

The method indicated by Chuck really does take the guess work out of planking, which is not necessarily the same as saying I can match his peerless work.

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Five strakes completed below the wale, photo'd here in their unrefined state with only glue stains scraped away.

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I will now continue to finish the first belt. From this point onwards clamping the planks to the bulkheads gets a tad more tricky as they start to follow the round of the hull towards the keel.

B.E.

19/04/2018

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Blue Ensign

[Rustyj]

Very well done B.E. 

[Martin W]

Wow -- that third plank really does have a TWIST.  Your shot from the bow really does show off your fine work -- pretty doggone close to matching the Grand Maestro Chuck, I'd say.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Blue Ensign]

I wish Martin 

 

B.E.

[davyboy]

Excellent work BE. You really can't go wrong  following Chucks' instructions. One question,are you going to stain the hull a darker colour ? Personally I find that South American "boxwood" far too pale for my taste. The hull of my model is mainly built with dark pear,much closer to the colour of oak but that's just my preference.

 

As usual,keep up the good work.

 

Dave