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

[bartley]

Post 60: Rigging the Shrouds

 

Though I have done this on my previous build, I cheated and used three horizontal seizings.  This time I decided to do it the " proper" way with a throat seizing as described in Chuck's monograph.  I had some discussions with him about the details of this since the  book by Lees and others suggest that the shroud should run anticlockwise around the deadeye but in Chuck's diagram they are clockwise. His point was that neatness was the main point and that for a right handed person it was easier to tie the throat seizing on the right hand side and so I elected to do it that way.  Incidentally, there is a detailed discussion of all this by Ed Tosti here.  I also used Ed's method of keeping the deadeyes level:

 

 

 

 

I think this is actually overkill for only four deadeyes!! 

 

Chuck does it freehand and, it retrospect that would be just as good.  In my view jigs only work if you can keep the tensions on each shroud equal.  I found this easy enough for three of the stays but difficult for the fully served stay at the forward end.  Anyway here is the final result,

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by bartley

[Chuck]

That looks very good indeed.   Good stuff!!!😃

[bartley]

By the way, I sailed for a day on the square rigger in the foreground down in Cornwall some years ago.  There was no way that their deadeyes were in line.  They thought it was a strange thing to expect.  Apparently the shrouds stretch differently and it is more important to tension the rig to account for this than keep the deadeyes level.

 

 

John

Edited May 7, 2021 by bartley
spelling

[bartley]

Tidying Up the rigging.

 

Now that the shrouds are on, its time for a final tightening and trimming off some of those "dangly bits".

 

Here is the for'ard region tidied up a bit.

 

\

 

John

[bartley]

Post 61: Faking Down

 

Before the ratlines get in the way I decided to at least attach some rope coils.  I use the method of Tom Lauria.  I find that that his oval jig produces coils that are a little too symmetrical for my taste so I slightly modify the shape of the jig to make it a little more pointed at one end.  After painting with diluted acrylic medium the coils are allowed to dry and then cut from the jig.

 

  

 

and here are some attached to belaying pins

 

 

 

 

I am not entirely happy with how the look, but the more I make the better I get.  The only trouble is they use up more rope than you would think and  my light brown rope is fast running out!

 

John

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by bartley

[Sea Hoss]

Your coils look nice, I may use that method, thanks for the demo.

[bartley]

21 hours ago, Sea Hoss said:

Your coils look nice, I may use that method, thanks for the demo.

Thanks for your comment, Sea Hoss.  First let me acknowledge Tom Lauria who originated this method. Tom uses an ellipse from a template such as this.

 

 

As I said I prefer a less symmetrical appearance so first I draw up a rough sketch of the size and shape I want to achieve:

 

 

 

I would make two or three of these of slightly different shape since on a working ship these coils are neat but not identical.

 

 

Then i drill holes and insert pins as Tom does and continue with his method.

 

John

Edited May 17, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 62: Ratting Down

 

For some this is a tedious job but there are only a few to do on this ship.  The first issue is that there is some kind of perspective distortion on the plans which results in the spacing of the ratlines decreasing towards the top.  I spoke to Chuck about this and he agrees that the spacing should be the same all the way to the top.  It is a ladder after all.  Therefore I drew my own grid in Illustrator with a spacing of 12inches which corresponds to 6.32 mm at this scale.   In order to avoid the "hourglass" effect I did two things.  First I camped the shroud to the card grid neat where I was tying.

 

 

I discovered this technique somewhere on this site but I can't remember where to give proper credit for the idea.

 

The second thing I did was to first tie at an interval of twelve then  six then three.

 

As we know on the real ship eye slices were used on the outer shrouds.  Ed Tosti's book on Young America illustrates this well but it is difficult to do at this scale.  The essence of this technique is that the line on the outer shrouds travels inward towards the middle shrouds.  I simulate this by using a cow hitch on the outer shrouds and clove hitches on the inner ones.  The problem with a cow hitch   Both exit stands need to be held  under tension.  If only one is under tension the knot slips.  Indeed this is the purpose of the knot as I well know from using it as a leg rope on cows art milking time.  I digress.  So, on can make it more stable either by following it wit a half hitch or by passing the free end back through the coils, This is what I have done here.

 

 

 

 

The port side is nearly complete.  Only the starbord to go

 

John

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by bartley

[glbarlow]

On 5/23/2021 at 8:05 PM, bartley said:

some kind of perspective distortion on the plans

Interesting, but not a problem with my plans. The top rung and bottom rung and all in between of my completed rat lines using the plans as a guide are the same distance, 6mm, apart. Not sure what might happened to your copy.  

[bartley]

2 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Interesting, but not a problem with my plans. The top rung and bottom rung and all in between of my completed rat lines using the plans as a guide are the same distance, 6mm, apart. Not sure what might happened to your copy.  

Yes, Glenn,  I had a conversation with Chuck about this and in the end it turned out to be to do with my scan of the plans.  I don't know why.  It has never happened before or since!  Anyway my grid turned out to be exactly the same as the plans anyway so I went with that. 

 

By the way your rope coil method is very elegant.  Interestingly enough I had that method of Peta_V in my files but had forgotten about it.  The idea of using two pegs of different sizes is a good one . This is how I modified Tom Laura's. method in the end rather than use pins as he does but I still had to use two pins at the top to get the loop to work.

 

John

[glbarlow]

Good that you clarified your issue was with your scan of the plans.  I wouldn’t want other Cheerful builders to think there was any problem with Chuck’s plans. 

[bartley]

Seizing revisited

 

My Cheerful has been on hold for a while since we have just taken our annual holiday.  My other hobbies have also interfered with my shipbuilding. 

 

In the past I have used various threads (16/0 fly tying line, 50 wt sewing thread, etc). 

 

 

However, since I am now making my own rope it suddenly dawned on me that it makes more sense to use the Mara thread I use. It obviously matches perfectly and comes in a variety of sizes. 

 

For example:

 

Mara 220 has a diameter of 0.109 mm

Mara 150 has a diameter of 0.135 mm

Mara 120 has a diameter of 0.14 mm

Mara 100 has a diameter of 0.17 mm

Mara  70 has a diameter of 0.19 mm

Mara  30 has a diameter of 0.30 mm

For comparison:

Gutermann C Ne 50 Cotton has a diameter of 0.128 mm

 

 

Here is an example of its use in seizing:

 

 

16/0 fltying line is still thinner.  The diameter is hard to measure accurately.  The old technique of wrapping 10 or 20 turns around a dowel is difficult with any thing less than about 0.3 mm in diameter.  It  is quoted in one source at around 0.05 mm.  although my calculations based on the Denier given by the manufacturer produces a value of 0.105.  Even so for small rope I might keep using it. 

 

John

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by bartley
spelling

[bartley]

Post 63: Topmast shrouds

 

Ratlines are now complete and all knots sealed with shellac.

 

 

The topmast shrouds are run in pairs from the top mast

 

 

 

They then run down though the cross trees 

 

 

In preparation for the tackle to secure these a 1/4" block needs to be seized to each shroud

 

and another to a hook

 

 

finally the tackle is then rigged to eyebolts on the chain plates

 

 

Next up the topmast fore stay.  Chuck points out that these were not always rigged but it seems to me that if there were a sail rigged on the topmast yard then some support of the topmast itself would be required.

 

John

 

 

 

[bartley]

Post 64: Topmast Stay

 

Chuck points out that these were not always rigged but he chooses to rig one himself and I propose to do the same.  I will also rig the topmast back stays as it would seem to me that the physics demands neither or both to balance the forces. Also if the topsail is rigged then most of the time the pressure would drive the mast forward and demand back stays be fitted even if te leeward one is slackened in practice.

 

So the topmast stay starts with a seizing to the end of the bowsprit:

 

 

this tip of the bowsprit is a pretty busy region.  You may recall that four blocks were fitted here much earlier:

 

 

and there are also two hooks for the bowsprit guys   and now this new seizing.   (Incidentally the ropes attached to the 3/16 single blocks will form the braces for the main yard.  They have been sitting there fro a couple of months!)

 

The stay then travels through a block seized to the topmast:

 

 

Then down to a tackle block here:

 

 

This tackle passes through a block hooked to the base of the mast and is finally cleated at the front of the mast, as shown by the red arrows here:

 

 

The main yard will be next but there is quite a bit of work to do on that.

 

John

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 65: Construction of the Yards.

 

Work on Cheerful has been slow of late since we have only just returned from a six week holiday to the north of our state.  And now we are embarked on some major renovations. Nevertheless,  I have found time though to start work on the yards,

 

The yards were turned on my home-made lathe.  It may be of interest to know that we did originally consider the Proxxon DB 250 lathe which we were able to assess  at our local supplier. 

 

However, we felt there were some limitations:

 

1.     There was no provision for a central support.

2.     The speed control seems to be a simple rheostat so the torque at high speed was very poor.

3.     The bed length is quite short and the much vaunted hollow headstock was, we felt, limited because if the work-piece was extended more than a few centimeters into the headstock considerable whipping occurred even on round dowels.

4.  The tool rest is very short and the adjusting handles obstucted the tools.

 

I felt I could address some of these  issues andconstruct a superior tool using a simple power drill as shown here.

 

 

I use a switch mode power supply to control the drill speed and find that this provides quite uniform torque.  A colleague has adapted my design by incorporating a belt driven motor and obtains even better performance.

A feature of this design is that the length of the work piece is not an issue and the tail-stock (which consists of a roller blade bearing) is hollow  and can be clamped in any position. The original idea was to extend longer work-pieces through the tail-stock.  I now find that using a central bearing obviates the need to do this and I now only extend the work through the tail-piece in order to turn small diameter ends of spars and masts.  The present task is a case in point.  Since the central region of the yards is octagonal the central bearing insert was made octagonal using the FF 230 mill.

After turning the yard:

the stop cleats were fashioned from 1/8" sheet

After painting black the stirrups and footropes need to be installed. 

In his monograph Chuck suggests the stirrups should hang below the yard by 11 /16 “ This equates to17.5 mm. However, the plans show a much shallower distance than this.  I spoke to Chuck about this and he said that he obtained conflicting advice on this issue and on the model he “split the difference”. 

David Antscherl in his book suggests that the footropes should be 3’ below the yard and that this can be achieved with stirrups of   2’ 9” This equates to 17.4 mm at the model scale.

This seems  excessive since my waist is only about 3' from my feet!  In the end I elected to make my stirrups hang 12.5 mm below the yard.

 

The Stirrups are made from 0,63 mm rope by first forming a loop by using a needle to draw the end through the main strand then tightening this around a 0.8 mm drill bit

 

.

 

The loop was sealed with shellac and a small seizing added

 

 

These are then suspended from the aft end of the yard using a copper wire to keep them at the same length

 

Finally the horse was threaded through the lools and seized to the yard as indicated in the plans.

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by bartley

[dodgeyhack]

Great job so far! Your Cheerful, and her fine details all look really well crafted.

 

My starter kit arrived today, and it will be my first build, so I've really appreciated some of your more detailed descriptions of the processes you took and your discussions on tools. It's been very helpful (being relatively local, thanks also for the pointers on suppliers). I particularly love your home made lathe! I have been mulling over in my mind how well something like that would work.

[bartley]

7 hours ago, dodgeyhack said:

Great job so far! Your Cheerful, and her fine details all look really well crafted.

 

My starter kit arrived today, and it will be my first build, so I've really appreciated some of your more detailed descriptions of the processes you took and your discussions on tools. It's been very helpful (being relatively local, thanks also for the pointers on suppliers). I particularly love your home made lathe! I have been mulling over in my mind how well something like that would work.

 

 

Thanks for your comments about my cheerful,  Yes, for me the home made lathe works well but you have to be careful that everything is aligned. I bored all the boards in a stack and then the drill has to be clamped pretty well and must align with those holes.  After that it will work well.  I do have some larger bearings which I got from a local supplier but for the most part the cheap roller blade bearings work well.  The Proxxon wood lathe is priced well but I did have a few issues with it which I think I mentioned in my post.  I will be returning to Cheerful in a few days. I have been making a plinth and some rope and also started a build on a stage coach to try something different.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[bartley]

Post 66: Mounting

 

Before proceeding further I felt I should finalize the mounting on a plinth.  Captive nuts to take 1.4 mm brass threaded rod had been installed at the start of construction and the rod was now monted into these nuts:

 

 

The plint was made from a plank of Australian hardwood which was given three coats of Danish OIl

 

 

I have available the brass pedestals which many use:

 

 

However for a wooden ship I prefer small wooden cradles. I was able to get the profiles pretty close because the mounting nuts were adjacent to bulkheads.   These are just mock-ups at this stage as they wil eventually be the same colour as the plinth:

 

 

So here is the ship mounted on the plinth:

 

 

 

And the laser level indicates that the past is vertical  with respect to the plinth:

 

 

Next step is to install the yards whch were fabricated earlier.

 

John

Edited September 25, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 67: Topmast Backstays

 

Chuck points out that on contemporary models these are seldom shown as rigged.  I decided to rig mine for two reasons.  First a practical one.  If the topmast sail were deployed then the physics would demand that these backstay swere rigged in order  to avoid damage to the topmast itself.  The second reason is, I suppose an aesthetic one.  If they are not rigged the aft chain plate is vacant.

 

These run from the upper topmast to a block above the deck.  A tacle is then rigged tpo a block attsched to a hook on the chanplate an thence to a cleat in the aft of the ship.

 

 

John

Edited September 25, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 68: Installing the Main Yard

 

I have spent some time doing a final tidy up some of the belayed lines and trimming  them off.  Now it is time to install the main yard which was constructed some time ago.  In principal the lifts control the vertical tilt and the braces the for and aft tilt.  However, because the braces exert a downwards force I found that they really control both movements. I initially squared up everyting by eye but the laser showed I was a little off and helped me to be more precise:

 

 

On the whole I am pretty happy with the way it looks but nothing is tied off permanently just yet and obviously the lifts are yet to be belayed.

 

 

John

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

Post 69: Installation of the Topmast Yard

 

The first task was to attach the truss, which was seized around the mast to hold the yard in place.  Attachment of the halyard was straightforward.  A hook was seized to a length of 0.63 mm rope which was attached to the sling.

 

 

It was then led down to a tackle on the starboard side which was an exact mirror image of the  topping lift tackle on the port side:

 

 

Aligning the yard proved more difficult than I thought.  First I fitted the clue lines and sheets since these were the inner ropes.  I then used the tension on these to establish the correct angle for the yard.  However since these also connect to the main yard tenshioning of these caused movement of both yards.

 

 

 So in the end I left these slack while I adjusted the angle with the lifts and braces and the re-tenshioned the sheets and clue lines quite loosely later.

 

 

My alignment eye was checked with a laser level:

 

 

John

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by bartley
apelling

[oldmate]

Sweet, I've been delayed for some time now on my cheerful build. However, seeing this post inspires me to get back at it. Thanks

 

[bartley]

6 hours ago, oldmate said:

Sweet, I've been delayed for some time now on my cheerful build. However, seeing this post inspires me to get back at it. Thanks

 

Thanks, oldmate. Yes I have been a bit on-and-off on mine.  Other hobbies. Other builds even.  But you should persist. It's a great build.  For me, lots of challenges.  But all can be overcome and very satisfying then.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[oldmate]

I am working on it as I type this. Last weekend I purchased 11 Kits brand new in the boxes mostly from Mantau Victory, constitution, rattlesnake,Constitution cross section,President, Bluenose II to name a few. Bought them for a song. I don't know if I will live long enough to build them or any of the others I have started. But either way I am back at it. And yes, I have had several challenges with the Cheerful but it's coming along.

 

Ric

[bartley]

Post 70:  A little more progress

 

Domestic and family issues have slowed me down a bit of late but  all rigging has now been tied off although there are a few more rope coils to go.

 

 

However I have started work on the anchors which are made from one of Chucks nice little kits.

 

 

Treenals were simulated on the stock by drilling and filling as on the hull and the anchor itself was painted black and then treated with weathering powder to make it look more like metal.

 

 

The Puddening was carried out by wrapping the ring with Mara 70 thread.

 

[Chuck]

That is looking great…Its almost sad and nostalgic when a project gets close to completion.  But it looks wonderful. 

[Thistle17]

John just tuned into your work and methodology. Certainly something to admire and I am always learning from others. Your application of technology, as subtile as it is was, an eye opener.

Joe

[bartley]

Thanks for your kind words, Chuck and Joe, and thanks also for all the likes. It is probably going to take longer than I thought to finish off the anchors, buoys and the flag but, yes, close to completion now.  It has been a fascinating build and I have learnt a lot.

 

John

[archjofo]

Hello John,
congratulations on the very nice and very informative construction report, with many suggestions.
In addition, a wonderfully built model ship.

[bartley]

Post 71:  Completing and mounting the Anchors

 

After assembling the anchors, they were painted black and weathered  in the usual way as described by Chuck.

 

The  rope was the attached seized to the shaft

 

 

The buoys were constructed again as described in the monograh starting with a small bead painted black and weathered and two eyepins glued in. The net was woven from  0.63 mm rope and attached as shown

 

 

The buoys were then attached to the shrouds:

 

 

The final step will be constructing the flag and mounting the model.

 

John

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by bartley