HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by bartley - FINISHED - 1/48 scale

[MEDDO]

Nice ladder looks like it fits perfectly 

[bartley]

Topic 40a: Internal Ladders

 

I have been asked to provide a bit more detail on ladder construction.  So for what its worth here's what I did:

 

First I made a jig with the correct angle from the plans

 

 

Then I glued 4mm  strips to this with a glue stick

 

 

With my friend's mill I then cut slots at equidistant intervals.  Flipping the jig gave ne left an right sides.

 

 

For assembly I used this second jig to ensure the sides were parallel and the steps at right angles.

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 41: Breech Ropes

 

These were made as described by Chuck using .035 Syren rope 3" long.  In my case the connection to the ring bolt in the bulwark was made using a whipping close to the eyebolt.  

 

Bulwark eyebolts: 26 ga wire and 2.8mm rings (silver soldered closed).

Carriage eyebolts: 24 Ga wire  and 3.8mm rings.

 

 

and then the center eyesplice made using an awl and coating with diluted PVA

 

 

While on the subject of securing knots I thought that I might express my opinions on this.

 

As with most on this forum, diluted PVA is my go to for stiffening rope, attaching rope to blocks etc.  However for securing knots (on ratlines for example) I am not sure that it has enough " holding power".  Many use CA for this purpose. I am not a big fan of CA.  I don't like its toxicity (although we are only using small quantities rather than an industrial scale).  However my main objection is that it forms  a rigid, sometimes brittle, bond and is glossy.  My go to for this purpose is Hypo cement.  For those who do not know this product, it is a fabric cement used by primarily costume designers and applique artists and so it forms a flexible almost transparent bond. Below I show some knots treated with various products including fly tying cement. I know only a small drop is needed to seal a knot but I have covered the whole knot here in order to try and show the differences.

 

PVA                                                                                                          CA

 

Hypo Cement                                                                                       Fly tying cement

 

 

Water based fly tying                                                                        UV activated fly tying

 

You will notice that there a number of versions of fly tying cement.  The UV version is attractive but it seems to darken the rope and is rather glossy.

 

Here are some of the products mentioned:

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 41a: Breech Ropes / Carronades

 

Here are the breech ropes fitted to the carronades ready for installation on the deck.

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 42: Mounting the Carronades

 

Time to mount the carronades on the deck.  But first a couple of points I failed to mention earlier.

 

Blackening, the guns

 

The guns were blackened by the method suggested by chuck involving spraying with black paint (Vallejo warm black in my case) and then brushing with Rusty Brown weathering powder.

 

 

I have some etch primer for brass  but I find that it is quite viscous and destroys the detail a bit.  So I spayed the black directly on the brass cannons after washing them in soap and water and then a dip in acetone.  Because the coating is therefore a bit delicate, I gave them a final coating with matt lacquer. 

 

The final effect can be seen in earlier posts (38 and 41a)

 

Quoins

 

I avoided adding these until I had established the correct elevation of the guns.  I initially made the handles from wood which I thought were nicely to scale.  However they proved too fragile and broke at the slightest provocation.  They were a real pain to drill out and replace, especially if they were already glued to the carriage.  So in the end I replaced them with some slightly larger brass ones which I had obtained from Master Korabel.  They may be slightly over scale but at least they are more robust.

 

 

Mounting the Cannons

 

In post 41 you will see that the ring bolts for the bulwark are of the twisted pair type.  I am a bit paranoid about these pulling out.  They were shortened of course so as not to penetrate the hull planking. They fit tightly into a 0.6 mm hole which had been pre-drilled before the deck was planked.  A few that were a bit loose for some reason were  glued with a spot of epoxy.

 

The cannons were attached to the deck with a spot of PVA on the wheels.  This proved slightly problematic because although the seemed quite firm, a slight bump with my clumsy hands broke the bond.  The deck had a couple of coats of Poly so it was not really a wood to wood bond.  I notice that Stuntflyer pinned his rear wheels to the deck and I can see why he did that.  I decided that this was a lot of effort and just elected to reglue any that were dislodged. 

 

Here are the mounted cannons:

 

 

The next challenge is to make and fit the out-haul tackle.  I will need to think about this for a while.  I will be using Syren 3 mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  These are pretty small for old hands!

 

John

Edited November 24, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 43: Cannon tackle

 

These were made up from Syren 3mm blocks and 3mm hooks from Dafi.  There are all sorts of jigs described on this site for siezing these.  I found it pretty difficult to achieve a neat appearance on these small blocks.

 

Here's the jig I used

 

 

The blocks were held by two copper pins epoxied into the board. Syren 0.3mm rope was threaded through the hook then around the block and held in place by slots cut into the vertical board.   short length of fly tying thread was wrapped a couple of times between the block and the hook just to keep the hook from binding on the block.

 

 

The rope was glued to the block with 50:50 PVA and when this was dry it was tied off to the back of the block with a square knot.  After sealing this with hypo cement and trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.  Hereare some examples

 

 

The tacles were rigged on a jig with two eyebolts and jecked on a mock up gun before rigging to the guns on the deck.

 

 

 

Finally, rope cols were made by wrapping rgw rope around a 3.6 mm dowel and sealing with 50;50 PVA

 

 

 

I am not entirely satisfied with the look.  They are pretty untidy and the blocks are very close together (as I suppose they would be).  I could have used smaller diameter ringbolts but this would only have separated the blocks about by another 0.5 mm.  The only advantage would have been that it would probably have kept the hooks in place.  I found that they slipped out of these ringbolts very easly and so it was tricky to get both rings secured.

 

John

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 44:  Elm Tree Pumps.

 

Once again a nice little mini kit from Chuck:

 

 

The first task was to make an octagonal profile from the square stock provided.  Chuck provides a  7:10:7 template.  I made several copies of this and then glued them to each side.  I then used my Veritas mini plane to plane down to the lines.  After painting assembly was achieved as per Chuck's instructions.  The bracket for the handle has to be modified by filing a slot into it to take the handle.  This was quite easily done with a micro file.

 

 

Then assembly as per the instructions was straight forward.  I found that the most difficult part was inserting 28 gauge wire through the bracket and the handle.  Initially one side of my carefully made slot broke off!.  Fortunately Chuck provides three sets of parts for two pumps and the second time I was more careful.

 

 

And here they are installed on the deck

 

 

John

Edited December 19, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 45 Installation of the winch.

 

The actual winch was constructed some time ago (in Post 32) as a little scratch build:

 

 

  Here it is mounted on the deck

 

 

John

Edited December 19, 2020 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 46: Chase guns

 

The two 6 pound chase guns on the fore-deck were constructed the in same way as the carronades except that I made the breech rope a little longer since the barrels are longer.  Using the rule of thumb of 3X the barrel length gives about 110 mm.  This seemed a little long and 90 mm would seem to clear the bulwark on recoil so this was the length that I used.

 

 

John

 

[bartley]

Post 47: Mast Coat

 

This item was made on my friend's Proxxon mill.  I have mentioned before I do not own one of these but since I have taught him a thing or to about its operation and because I cut planks for him he is happy with the arrangement.  In my working life I have been involved with the contract hire of equipment and although there is no fee involved here it suffers from the some of similar problem in that one does not learn by exploration as one would with full ownership,

 

Anyway the technique was to glue a 1/8 inch square plate to a dowel and use a rotating head to cut the ring:

 

 

There are a couple of important point in setting up this head otherwise the item will be oval not round.

 

1. It must be a right angles to the table.  Use a set square to check this.

 

2, The mill head must be centered on the rotating head.  There are several ways to do this but I use a dial indicator mainly because I have one.  Using the shaft of the mill bit set the dial to just touch then rotate the bit 180 degrees and check the other side.  If there is a difference move the table until both sides are give the same reading .

 

Here is an example:

 

 

I am not completely happy with this profile but we are going to purchase some bits with different geometries and then I mighr have another go.

 

John

Edited January 3, 2021 by bartley
spelling

[bartley]

Mast Coat Revisited

 

As Chuck points out in his monograph, the version of the mast coat he presents is somewhat stylized.  In reality a circular set of wedges were driven in around the mast and these were covered wit canvas.   In view of this I produced a more "authentic" version.  The two versions are shown below:

 

 

 

In fact in, keeping with the style of this model, I think that Chuck's stylized version looks better. 

 

What do you think. Guys?

 

John

[Chuck]

That is coming along beautifully.

[bartley]

Post 48: Bowsprit step and Windlass

 

To complete the fore-deck paraphernalia there are two more nice little mini-kits from Chuck.

 

First up was the the bowsprit step:

 

This could be scratch built but the square holes might present problems.  So the kit looks like this:

 

 

The uprights are constructed in three parts

 

 

It is important to sand these well so that the joins are not visible after painting.

 

The  brackets are then added

 

 

I simulated the bolts with 24 gauge black wire.  After filing these flat the brass ends were chemically blackened with a selenium based product.  I find that there is no staining of painted timber using this technique but bare timber often does show some staining and more care is needed. 

 

The pawls were painted black and weathered with rusty brown powder as suggested by Chuck for all metal parts. These were pinned through. the uprights  and finally the uprights were joined with 1/16 inch square boxwood strips, left unglued for the moment.

 

 

Next up the windlass which would be a real challenge but thanks to another kit from Chuck I nice, though challenging job, can be made

 

First a set of " barrels" is constructed on hexagonal end pieces

 

 

These are threaded onto a square boxwood strip and the supports and end-pieces added before guleing the whole lot together.

 

 

The bowsprit itself was made some time ago and the hole in the bow widened to allow a tight fit of the bowsprit so the next task is to install the bowsprit permanently.

 

John

Edited January 10, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Yes Glenn,  I agonized over these belaying pins. In the end I started with some tooth-picks like these

 

 

Chucked them into my hand held Proxxon

 

 

I then marked the vital transition points on a paper behind

 

 

and used files and sanding sticks too turn the shape

 

Initially I could not make two the same!  However, like most such endeavours, I improved with practice.  Even so I probably made 40 to produce the 20 or so required.  I think you have a lathe so it might be a little easier.

 

John

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 49: Bowsprit Installation

 

The bowsprit itself was constructed and test fitted earlier when there was less deck furniture to obstruct it.  It is now time to install it permanently.  The bowsprit is fed through the bulwark hole hole in the bow and inboard end is located by the lower strip of the bowsprit step.  As Chuck points out it is not necessary for the strip to bass all the way through the bowsprit.  The strip can be cut in half and inserted about half way through the bowsprit from each side .  It appears to go all the way through.  The windlass fits behind the bowsprit step with the pawls engaging in the ratchet wheels.

 

 

In fact, when I was manipulating the bowsprit later on the bowsprit step detached.  It was clearly not glued down securely.  I had to remove the windlass to attend to this and the bowsprit step is now re-glued pinned to the deck with twisted pair pins like these:

 

 

Whilst on the subject of the fore-deck it is clear that once the bowsprit and step are in place there is insufficient room for recoil of the port chase gun.

 

 

This fact has been pointed out by several other builders.  The second gun-port is vacant but positioning  this gun there makes it look unsymmetrical.  The plans show the gun in this position and and the specification calls for "two 6 pound chase guns" so I have chosen to leave it positioned as shown even though it could probably never be fired in this position.

 

John

Edited January 14, 2021 by bartley
spelling

[bartley]

Post 49:  Rigging the Bowsprit

4 blocks need to be installed on the the ring-bolts at the end of the bowsprit:

 

 

The bobstay needs a block with a becket seized on one end.  My method is established from several posts on this site but I  include it here for completeness

 

I start by forming the becket.  I do this by wrapping the line around an appropriate sized drill, passing a needle through the line an pulling it tight

 

I seal this with a drop of CA and stiffen the becket with shellac.

 

Now I add the block and glue it to the line with PVA.  Then I begin the false splice by fraying the ends cutting them on the diagonal, adding a drop of PVA and rolling the splice between my fingers

 

 

Since this bobdstay is seved for its whole length I serve over the splice as well

 

In order to thicken the splice a little I wound some 0.3 mm line just over the splice itself.

 

 

The other end of the bobstay is spliced to the stem in a similar way and then the block is reeved to the lower 3/16double  block on the end of the bowsprit.

 

 

The bowsprit guys were made in a similar way but spliced onto thimbles.   a hook fabricated from 24 gauge wire was added to the outer   The whole assembly was attached as shown in the plans between the ring-bolt at the and of the bowsprit and the ring bolt in the bow of the hull

 

 

None of these was tightened at this stage.  I will wait until the rest of the bowsprit rigging is in place.

 

John

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 50: Constructing the Mainmast

 

All the deck features are now complete and it is time to start on making the main mast.

 

 

 

 

The mast itself was made from 13/32 square boxwood.   I decided that it would be easier to establish the square section at the head of the mast before rounding it.

 

 

 

Once this was done I first planed the edges to form a hexagon using the 710 7 rule and then turned the lower section on my home made lathe powered by  a hand drill as described earlier.

 

 

The next task was the curved cross pieces for the cross trees. I cut these using my Knew Concepts jewelers saw.

These saws are a joy to use.  The lever system ensures that the blade has the same tension every time and I find I can cut really close to the line

.

 

 

 

They were then sanded to shape  using sanding sticks and files

 

 

The slots in the linking pieces were cut on the mill and the unit put together.

 

 

The mast cap was simply made from 5/32 sheet with two round holes drilled at the appropriate distances and one of the squared with file to take the square tennon at the top of the mast.

 

The boom support ring and the mast hoops were fabricated on the mill using the rotating head as described earlier for the mast coat.

 

 

 

Cleats from Syren were sanded to shape and added below the boom ring

 

 

The cheeks were fabricated from 3/54 sheet and the metal bands simulated with black pin-striping tape

 

 

 

John

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 51: Stepping the mast

 

The mast was a fairly tight fit and so after leveling the ship with a digital inclinometer, a digital level in the cross- hair mode was to check the vertical alignment:

 

 

 

Other distractions such as the Australian Open Tennis Championship and the Americas Cup have kept me out of the workshop lately and now it is the start of the rugby union season.  I am also waiting for the delivery of some rope from Chuck so there might not be much progress for a while.

 

This will give me time reflect on my rigging strategy.  Chuck suggests rigging from the inside to the outside and I can see the logic in this.  However does prevent preparing the shroud gangs off the ship slipping and other standing rigging off the ship and slipping the over the mast.  They would need to be seized on the ship and, although my Quad Hands would help, I am not convinced I can do it uniformly and without damage to other fittings.  I can always slip the shrouds over but not rig them until later.  Its kind of messy so I need to think a bit more about it,

 

John

 

[bartley]

Post 52: Serving the Ropes

 

I am using Chuck’s serving machine and his rope (a historical item now)

 

 

To my eye many examples, which I see here and elsewhere are too heavy.   I like a lighter look.  My preference is to choose a different thread thickness depending on the original  size of the rope. 

 So, I use three different threads:

Veevus 16/0 fly tying thread            diameter -.            0.04 mm

Veevus 8/0 fly tying thread              diameter -.             0.06 mm

Gutterman  50 wt cotton thread    diameter              0.128 mm

Mara 120                                            diameter              0.15

 

 

It is pretty difficult to measure these small diameters but they can be calculated from the Denier measurement and there are also some literature measurements which agree fairly well with the calculation.  Of course, the main thing is what the result looks like when served on the rope and if it appear s correct to you but, for comparison, I have made some measurements on the final served lineI also made some measurement on the final thickness of the rope

 

The first thing I should say is that Chuck’s rope is pretty close in diameter to what he says it is.

 

0.88 mm rope served withwith16.0 fly tyiing thread             diameter           0.936

0.88 mm rope served with 50 wt Gutterman Cotton            diameter            1.11

1.12 mm  rope served with 16/0 fly tyiing thread                  diameter            1.26

1.12 mm rope served with 50 wt Gutterman Cotton            diameter            1.47

1.37 mm  rope served with 50 wt Gutterman Cotton            diameter            1.60

(with the lay)

1.37 mm  rope served with 50 wt Gutterman Cotton            diameter            1.71

            (against the lay)

I prefer the appearance of the final line when it is served with the lay (as recommended by Druxey incidentally). It gives a slightly  "bumpy” look as the thread partly fills the gap between the strands.  However, this is a personal preference and others may prefer the more regular look obtained by serving against the lay.  I generally find that this method produces a slightly lager diameter.

 

I hope these data are of interest

 

John

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 53: Burton Pendants

 

I decided to install these before installing the topmast so that they can be slipped over the mast head.  The seizing of the blocks is nothing new but I show my procedure here for completeness.  Normally I use a standard whipping of about 10 turns.

 

 

 

 

 

If a shorter length of seizing is required as in seizing hooks, I use the simpler West Country whipping.

 

 And now the pendants in place - tied off temporally:

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 54: the Main Boom

 

This was trickier than it looks as the outboard end tapers to a diameter of only 2.5 mm.

I first make the boom octagonal using the 7:10 :7 rule and then plane of the corners with my Veritas block plane.

 

 

Then  I turned the inboard end first down to a diameter of 5.3 mm.  On my home made lathe the central board is usually a moveable support but this time I clamped it in place at the widest point and then tapered to the outboard end.  I use decreasing grades of sand paper from 130 down to 400 but like any rotational method it does leave slight radial grooves so I finish of with  400 and 600 grade paper in the longitudinal direction

 

 

 

The bearings on this device are roller blade bearings and I have a number with wooden inserts to reduce the diameter:

 

 

These ensure that the mast (or boom) in this case fits firmly so that there is no scoring since it is the bearing which rotates.  Here is the completed boom after turning to the shape indicated in the plans:

 

 

The next task is flatten the inboard end to take the crutches which connect the boom to the mast. I used the mill for this with the head set to an angle of 2 degrees :

 

 

Next the boom crutches themselves.  I used my Knew Concepts Jeweler's saw for this, and then  finally shaped with files and sand paper.

 

 

On the subject of Jeweler’s saws:  I originally owned one like this

 

 

 

I  had a problem finding the correct tension and kept breaking blades. This was probably down to my poor technique and perhaps I should have persisted.  However,  recently I have acquired a Knew Concepts saw and for me this is a much superior tool.  The lever system ensures the blade is always at the correct tension.  It is beautifully balanced so I can cut really close to the line and I have not broken a blade in nearly 12 months.

I would recommend these to anybody about to purchase a jewelers saw. They are not cheap but like most things quality cost money.

 

Some would use a scroll saw for this task.  I did own one of these but it was a cheap model – I paid A$80.  I was disappointed. Even though I bolted it to the bench over a rubber pad it still exhibited lots of vibration.  The foot designed to hold the work down constantly came loose and for thin timber, say 1/16 inch, I could not install fine enough blades to meet the “three teeth rule” so there was lots of tearing.  So, in the end I sold it and made more space in my workshop..  I have written about this elsewhere on this site.   My local woodwork shop does weekend workshops and demonstration and I have trialed out there a parallel arm scroll saw.  These are a very different story.  Virtually vibration free and they will take finer blades so quite fine work is possible .   A fine tool.  They do however cost about A$1000 and are out of the question for me.  A nice tool though.

 

I digress! So, here is the boom with crutches installed

 

And finally with the blocks added and ready for installation

 

John

Edited March 21, 2021 by bartley
Spelling

[bartley]

Post 55: the Main Gaff

 

This was made in exactly the same manner as the main Boom above.  The only thing I  would add is that in order to ensure that both jaws were identical I used the "spot of glue" technique which I  thank Dan Vagas. 

 

 

Here are the two spars completed

 

 

John

[bartley]

Post 56:  Standing Rigging

 

As mentioned above, I am not sure that old hands can cope with seizing shrouds etc around the mast-head on the ship.  So, I have elected to install most of the standing rigging for the lower mast first so that I can slip the gangs over the mast.  Most of this is pretty standard stuff - seizing blocks to line using the method described above, making a few hooks, and installing the gangs in the correct order.  So here are the running back stays:

 

 

And also the mainstay which is secured to the stem via a five hole deadeye:

 

 

 

Cheerful will largely be on hold for a while as the autumn sailing competition starts at my club next week and the community orchestra in which I play is also in full swing now.  So it may be a few weeks before there is another update.

 

John

Edited April 5, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 57: The Main Boom

 

The main boom was constructed in post 54.  It is now rigged and installed on the model.  There was nothing special about this process but no ropes are tied off permanently yet.  I used black Parrel beads as that is what I had in stock.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by bartley

[Chuck]

That looks very good indeed.  Well done.

[bartley]

Thanks Chuck and Glenn for your kind comments.  There are some faults of course but I am enjoying the build.  It will be hard to go back to kits from here.

 

John

[bartley]

Post 56a.  Mast Cap and Topmast:

 

This Post is out of order and should have come before the last one (Post 57).  The topmast was made art the same time as the mainmast and dry fitted as shown here

 

 

The topmast was removed so that the lower the gangs for the standing rigging could be slipped over the masthead.  Now that this is complete the topmast can be installed.  The dimensions for the mast cap are given in the plans and two holes were drilled in the appropriate places - the forward one to take the topmast and the aft one was squared up to take the mainmast tenon.  There are four blocks located on eyepins on the cap.  I elected to install these prior installation of the cap rather than do it on the ship.  The for and aft blocks have al length of rope attached for the Jib halyard and the main boom topping lift and the respectively.  The ropes associated with these were installed and coiled in readiness for installation at a latter date.

 

 

 

Of course the topping lift was installed in Post 57.

 

John

 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 58: Rigging the Gaff.

Before I commenced this job I needed to make some more thimbles.  To do this I cut 2mm lengths of 1.6 mm tubing using a Jewelers Tube Cutting jig .

 

 

 I also have a pliers type jig.  The advantage of these is that they capture the cutoff piece.

 

 

However they do not have a small slot to hold this narrow tubing so I used the more complex jig although care need to be exercised so as to not loose the cut off piece.  For those living in Australia, Australian Jewelers Supply have useful range of tools suitable for our hobby.  They have stores in all capital cities.  Their stores are more like a warehouse and browsing turns up all sorts of interesting finds.  I have written about this here.

 

These need to be flared out to form a thimble.  I have tried using both a hand punch and a spring-loaded punch the problem with the spring-loaded punch is that often one click is not enough and two clicks is too much.  I can exercise more control by tapping with a hammer.

 

 

Here is the result after blackening:

 

 

These are then seized with 0.66 mm rope

 

 

and then lashed to the spar in the appropriate place:

 

 

Hooks were made from 24-gauge wire:

 

 

I found the installation of the gaff tricky.   Unlike the main boom, there is nothing to hold the tip from drooping down and it also tends to slide down the mast.  I eventually tied it up temporally to the top of the mast but it was still awkward until the throat seizing is rigged.

 

Eventually, a satisfactory result was achieved.

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 59: Rigging the Jib Halyard

 

Fortunately Chuck supplies a traveler ring. Making one this good from scratch would be a challenge.

 

 

I decided to stabilize the ring with the out-hall and in-haul before attaching the halyard.  Obviously the ring was slid onto the bowsprit before it was installed but I had seized the out-haul onto the ring first.

 

 

The out-haul travels forward, through the sheave at the tip of the bowsprit and then back aft to belay on the bits at the bow.

 

 

The in=haul start with a "V" which is seized to the in-haul proper. 

 

 

The V piece is seized to either side of the the traveler ring.

 

This can be seen in this photo with the halyard block rigged

 

 

The halyard itself passes through a block on the mast cap and is belayed to one of the cleats at the base of the mast.

 

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by bartley

[Chuck]

Nicely done!!