HM Cutter Mermaid 1817 by JamesBhm - Modellers Shipyard - Scale 1:48 - first build

[JamesBhm]

4 hours ago, Cabbie said:

some clumsy type around here has knock it around a bit'

Chris, sounds like a lot of "battle damage" for a survey vessel! Hopefully not too much backtracking necessary. 

 

Right now, I think my worst case "nuclear option" would be to have to paint the hull, but I really don't think things are that bad. The shape and surface of the hull are looking good...I'm just hoping I don't run into any staining/color matching issues. I'm doing things the same way I did them for my jolly boat mini-build a couple of pages back, so hopefully it should all work out. I'll be sanding and re-staining tomorrow and will know soon.

[JamesBhm]

A build note for future builders who may be reading this: It gets mentioned that the whole false keel build method for this boat is different than some others. There's no cutting of a rabbet for hull planks to fit into, and the plywood keel and the stem pieces are planked plywood instead of solid wood. The instructions say to first plank the hull (outer layer), then install the plywood keel and stem unplanked, then plank the keel and stem. That sounded like a nightmare (although he makes it look easy in the DVD!). I planked the keel and stem fully first, but then ended up with the outer hull planks butting awkwardly against them with gaps that I've had to fill and sand. In hindsight, I would consider this: fully plank the keel and stem, then trim the first layer of planking to dry fit them. Trace where the outer planks should some in contact (especially with the stem), then trim away some of that planking to effectively make a rabbet. 

[Rick01]

Or do as I did - ditch the ply keel (along with most of the rest of the ply) make a solid false keel, cut the rabbets and install at first planking. This was only my second build but I didn't find making solid timber parts that hard even though my woodworking lessons were pre "Cuba Crisis" . 

26 minutes ago, JamesBhm said:

Chris, sounds like a lot of "battle damage" for a survey vessel!

Over in Aus. between local natives and Javanese pirates our survey vessels did suffer the occasional bit of "battle damage",

 

Rick 

[Cabbie]

1 hour ago, Rick01 said:

Over in Aus. between local natives and Javanese pirates our survey vessels did suffer the occasional bit of "battle damage",

 

Rick 

Not so much the battle damage. I was never really happy using the deck planking material supplied.

And now that we have discussed so much  about the planking, wales ect, I don't know if the deck suits the boat.

I have a new version for the outside that i really like and will think about the deck again later.

Cheers Chris

Edited April 28, 2019 by Cabbie

[JamesBhm]

So where do I collect my “I survived my first outer planking job” t-shirt? It was a stressful process, but I learned a lot. Could have been much worse, but still more imperfections than I’d hoped for. I ended up with some small gaps and buckles…especially around the bow area. The awkward butting up of the planks onto the stem (as I described above) was also an issue. I also had a few planks that butted together awkwardly such that one edge didn't sit totally flush. Here are a before photo an a “during” photo. I used a chisel blade hobby knife and contact cement to deal with buckles, etc. I ended up sanding the whole thing before filling in gaps with the color matched sanding filler, then gave it another good sanding with a finer grit. The dust in the image is mostly sanding dust.

Edited April 28, 2019 by JamesBhm

[JamesBhm]

Below are the “after” pics. I’m pretty pleased with the overall smoothness of the hull. The stern is still the best looking, midship is decent, and the bow area has the most imperfections. I’m not thrilled with how the planks look as they touch the stem, but I was able to clean it up substantially. I like the color and the planks seem to have a good timber-y character.

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by JamesBhm

[Cabbie]

Morning James, Certainly earned yourself a T shirt. Its hard yakka planking a boat like this with the materials

they give you. Some planks need to be spiled, but there are no wider ones to do it.

Bit you got there and it has a very nice slightly weather beaten look about.

For a first build it is something to be very pleased with.

I see you have a few steelers in there I am thinking I will need 2 or 3 on mine.

Hooroo Chris

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Cabbie

[Fernando E]

Hi James, the planking has come up very nicely....well done! 

 

I also was not totally happy with the planking where they touched the stem on my model but I really don't notice it much now that I have had it sitting on the shelf for a few years.😋

 

Cheers..............Fernando 

[JamesBhm]

4 hours ago, Cabbie said:

hard yakkka

Had to Google that one.

 

I think I ended up with three full width stealers at the stern on either side and then two thin slivers where the curve is tight at the top of th stern post. As for the other planks, I either needed to spile, or  just let the battens fall more naturally when I was blocking off the sections to plank (per the Chuck Passaro tutorial). For both layers of planking I tried to make them go a little more where I wanted them and I paid a price in that tricky area of the hull. Definitely glad I went with a more forgiving hull shape for a first model. 

[Cabbie]

Ha, would have been better if i did a spell check, lol.

generally means hard, strenuous work.

 

 

[Rick01]

5 hours ago, Cabbie said:

hard yakkka

 

38 minutes ago, Cabbie said:

generally means hard, strenuous work.

Also brand of good work clothes!!

Let them work out our vernacular Cabbie - we never get concessions over their misuse of the language. 😉

 

Rick

[JamesBhm]

On 4/28/2019 at 10:13 PM, Rick01 said:

Let them work out our vernacular Cabbie

It's true...any expression not using the words "shrimp" and "barbie" is bound to be lost on an American, but glad to expand my horizons a bit in the Mermaid club!

 

Meanwhile, I’ve got the wales in place on one side…with the first glimpse of how the cannon ports look. I’m still not sure if they’re historically accurate, but I think it looks as much like King’s paintings as anything else out there. I went with strips of cherry for the wales themselves as opposed to the wood supplied in the kit (which is the same as the decking, and was a little too bright with my darker hull). I also used a slightly thinner strip of walnut for the wale trim and stained it to match the hull to keep the same color pattern as King’s painting. I’m also mocking up an experimental transom that I may or may not use. I call it “The Rockingham Bay” after King’s painting with the very curved transom. We'll see.

[Blue Ensign]

Looks good to my eye James, and I do like that transom style.

 

B.E.

[Cabbie]

Hi James looks very nice indeed, you have captured the ship in the picture spot on.
Chris

[JamesBhm]

Spent today getting the wales in place on the other side. They’ll need a touch of sanding and some topcoat. Meanwhile, the transom I had mocked up before had some minor symmetry and fit issues, so I’m re-doing it. It’s a piece of walnut trim cut from sheet stock with planks behind it. I’m playing with some methods of putting the cutter’s name on it. This is dry transfer lettering, although I also have some white paint on the way and some lettering stamps of similar size and style. There will still be some logistical issues of attaching it all to the existing transom since it’s “after market” (making the transom cap, davits, etc). The overhang on each side is actually pretty modest.

[JamesBhm]

I’ve just finished a fun little historical diversion. I had downloaded a PDF file of P. P. King’s handwritten log of the Mermaid, covering a return from Coepang to Port Jackson and then his circumnavigation of Australia. My hope was to find any little details that might be of value for historically accurate modeling of the cutter. I found a number of things, PLUS some very light pencil sketches of the cutter that I had never seen before (including the best detail of the transom I’ve found yet). Reading it was a lot of fun. I followed along tracing the coast of Australia in Google Maps, so I got a good geography lesson too. Here are some interesting finds:

 

1. King’s letters mentioned two whaleboats. The log repeatedly references the “large” and “small” whaleboats. I’m hoping to model both of them so now I know they’ll need to differ in size a bit.

 

2. Two jollyboats were washed away from the stern davits by heavy seas (including oars) and new ones had to be built. I’ve read conflicting comments as to whether a boat would actually be stored on davits while under way. Apparently so for the Mermaid.

 

3. In the journey from Coepang to Port Jackson, the guns were struck into the hold, then brought back out upon arrival at Port Jackson to salute the fort.

 

4. One of King’s letters makes reference to the cutter having been “sunk” to deal with a severe rat, cockroach, and vermin problem. The log details a pretty interesting process. They basically unloaded everything at a sheer hulk, warped the cutter into shallow water, sunk it, then pumped the water out. Vinegar had to be sprinkled afterward due to the smell of rats that had been trapped in voids in the timbers. This was part of a pretty extensive refit, re-caulking, repainting, etc.

 

5. There are frequent references to studdingsails and studdingsail booms, which are not modeled with the kit. I’ll give that more thought when I get to the masts and rigging.

 

Images I found are below. The bottom two were done at Endeavor River, where he painted the classic profile image of the boat. The image of the transom is from Careening Bay, and there appears to be some kind of awning rigged (mentioned in the log).

Edited May 17, 2019 by JamesBhm

[Rick01]

Hell of a load of work to study there. 5 and 6 seem to show the flying gaff plus an upper square sail pretty clearly - it's surprising she didn't topple over with all that canvas spread. I'm looking forward to your finished item, even though it means I may have to re-model mine. Most of what you've found just didn't seem to be around when I was doing my research!

 

Rick

[JamesBhm]

Rick,

 

I definitely have a lot to learn about the finer points of rigging and sails (which I'm hoping to learn when I get to that part!). Definitely nice to have some reference images and I jotted down the names of the sails I saw mentioned in the log so I can dive deeper later. I think I got this file from the digital collection of one of the libraries out there, so it probably hasn't been easily accessible for all that long. 

 

James

[JamesBhm]

8 hours ago, Rick01 said:

plus an upper square sail

Rick, would that upper squaresail be referred to as a flying topsail or is that something different? The log makes references to the gaff topsail, squaresail, and flying topsail. I understand the first two but wasn't quite sure on the flying topsail.

[Cabbie]

Sounds like your having a ball James, powering along with the research and the boat.

Leaving me way behind, (which is good), working out all the details for me to pick up later, 😉

Cheers Chris

[Rick01]

13 hours ago, JamesBhm said:

Rick, would that upper squaresail be referred to as a flying topsail or is that something different? The log makes references to the gaff topsail, squaresail, and flying topsail. I understand the first two but wasn't quite sure on the flying topsail.

Funny but I was just about to sit down and make a comment about the "flying" sails having remembered a short discussion I had on this site very early in my build. When you look at the watercolours where she's under sail you can see that the gaff topsail is flying - that is unattached to the mast other than by a hoist (think that's the correct term) and in sketch 6 similarly the upper square sail. This really makes the job easier (unless you are going to mount sails) as both yards would only be hoist when actually using those sails (anyway that's my understanding as the word flying indicates that the yard is unattached to the mast). Basically it probably needs a little extra research on how these were hoist and where a couple of extra blocks would be attached to the mast head to handle them. Any other people following this build have any ideas?

 

Rick

[JamesBhm]

I've never met a rabbit hole I didn't want to go down. 

 

With the latest research, I’ve settled on the final design for my transom. It’s a bit of a composite of several of King’s sketches and paintings (no two of which seem to be exactly alike!) It looks good enough, but I’ve created some other headaches that are tricky for my skill level. The transom in the pics is just a thin piece attached to the existing plywood transom. I need to build out the thickness of the overhang areas on each side, then bend some wood to trim/cap it all the way around. I’m a bit worried about that part. After that, I may have to build some custom davits (which I was thinking of doing anyway, because I don't like the plywood ones that came with the kit). 

 

[JamesBhm]

Here's the scary side. 

[Rick01]

 

21 minutes ago, JamesBhm said:

I need to build out the thickness of the overhang areas on each side, then bend some wood to trim/cap it all the way around. I’m a bit worried about that part.

You'll need a lot of soaking in water and I'd use something like the .6  mm decking in 2 or 3 layers to handle it.

 

Rick

[JamesBhm]

3 hours ago, Rick01 said:

I'd use something like the .6  mm decking in 2 or 3 layers to handle it

Rick, that's actually a great idea. I've got some .5 walnut strips that match the other trim. I thought that would be too thin but didn't think of using a couple of layers. 

 

 - James

Edited May 19, 2019 by JamesBhm

[Fernando E]

Hi James, I used the 0.6mm decking with 3 or 4 layers and it worked a treat. I also painted it black and you can't even see the layers.

 

Cheers....... Fernando 🍻

[Rick01]

You may find the walnut isn't flexible enough - it does tend to splinter easily. The decking timber however can almost be  tied in knots if you soak it long enough.

 

Rick

[Cabbie]

G'day James that is a real bonzer looking stern and very well done.

Certainly well worth doing

Cheers Chris

 

[Rick01]

31 minutes ago, Cabbie said:

that is a real bonzer looking stern

You may need to translate that Cabbie although I think Google will know the word. 😉

 

Rick

[Cabbie]

It will be ok James is very good with the research.😀