Cutty Sark by drobinson02199 - FINISHED - Mantua/Sergal - Scale 1:78

[rwiederrich]

Yeah....when I was developing my system...I built a pounce wheel....but the *Puncture* looking holes just looked ridiculous.  Plus the indentations are not actually holes but nail heads...recessed from hammering.  To simulate this required an ample amount of ingenuity.  The reason why I used a press.

 

Great job.

 

Rob

[drobinson02199]

The deck moldings and the channels are now on the ship, and they make it look much more finished.  

 

I'm having to work out of sequence waiting for the hull plates to arrive, but fortunately there are deck structures I can do.

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

Looks great David. Really like your informative updates on your logs. Copper plating looks super when done, but I can imagine its a royal pain in the **** to actually do!

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[drobinson02199]

Here's the stern deckhouse.  I like the look of this model with the brass/paint/wood combination.

 

Regards,

David

Edited August 6, 2019 by drobinson02199

[drobinson02199]

More deck detail at the stern.  I need to find something to "decorate" that blank white wall above the railing.

 

Regards,

David

Edited August 8, 2019 by drobinson02199

[drobinson02199]

Now some deck detail at the bow.

 

This will be my last progress post for a few weeks.  Off for a vacation with my wife.  The copper plates are now in shipping to me, so when I get back I'll be able to finish the coppering.

 

Regards,

David

[petervisser]

Hi David,

 

You are making great progress I see. Looking very neat and trim. Can't wait to reach this stage too!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[drobinson02199]

Back from vacation, and found the extra copper plates waiting for me.  Took me a while amidst post-vacation catch up tasks to finish off the coppering of the hull.

 

That brought me to finishing off the keel, bow and stern.  I had planned to use copper tape for that, and as things turned out, it worked really well.  I've attached pictures showing pre-taping rough sections, and then the finished product.

 

Found there was a learning curve in handling the tape to minimize crinkles, but they show up no matter what you do, so I'm glad I used the plates for most of the hull, and equally glad I used tape to finish off the edges.

 

Now I can go back and pick up the sequence items I skipped waiting for the extra plates to arrive.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

The white rubbing strakes are now on.  The manual wants pins to hold the curve, but I steamed the curve into the strips, then painted them, and then used CA glue.

 

I think I may have ended the strakes too soon at the bow, and if so, I'll fix that later.  I KNOW I have an issue at the stern where the width between the strakes isn't quite large enough for the brass figures that go in there, but I ran out of stern to fix the lower strake to, so I'll fix that as well by cutting down the brass to fit.

 

I need to touch all of this up now with black and white paint.

 

Regards,

David

[petervisser]

Hi David,

She looks fantastic! The black hull and copper bottom are real eye catchers! The white strakes are a very nice touch too.

Peter

[drobinson02199]

I finished and mounted the rudder, and applied the bow and stern decorations.  Pictures below.

 

The drawing shows the white rubbing strakes running straight to the figurehead at the bow, and the brass decorations on that same line without the bend you see here.  While the rubbing strakes would "frame" the top decoration, I'm not sure what the bottom of the lower one would look like.  In any event, as I mentioned above, I had missed that in the drawings and terminated the strakes at the end of the hull.  So I extended them and applied the decorations as you see here.

 

Also as noted in my earlier post, the space between the strakes at the stern was not wide enough for the stern decorations, so I had to file them down to fit.  That seems to have worked out OK.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

I've now pretty much finished all the deck structures and fittings.  Pictures here of all that.

 

Some comments on sequence.  I'm not exactly sure why, but I chose to go ahead and do the stern deadeyes early, which was a relief when I installed the curved stern railing.  I'm not sure I'd have been able to avoid mangling it if I'd done them in the manual sequence, which is during the rigging stage.

 

Speaking of those, the manual and drawings show a way to create the chain plate from wire, and then fix it to the deck below the deadeyes, which is conceptually fine for those in the middle of the hull if you have a 3 inch long .75mm drill bit -- mine are shorter, and I'm not sure they exist.  I may still do it by drilling on an angle.  It still looks like a flimsy fixing for the tension on the deadeyes, so I'm going to reinforce them to the bottom of the channel. 

 

But there's no clear way shown to attach the ones on the stern that you see here -- so I improvised by creating a sort of wire "plug" on the deadeye and gluing that into the hole.  I'll do the ones on either side of the hull next, as I won't want to try to maneuver those into place with masts and yards up (which is the way the manual would have you do it).

 

The other improvisation is the small front railing between the ladders.  I lost one of the stanchions on the floor somewhere, and of course Mantua provides no spares.  So I had to fashion the two rear stanchions out of wire.

 

Before I get to the rigging, I need to build the lifeboats and mount them, which is the next step.

 

Regards,

David

 

 

[drobinson02199]

Re my comments above about drilling holes under the channels for the deadeyes, I used the right size (short) drill on an angle and then angled in the bottom of the chain plate.  Worked OK, but some distortion of the rods that I couldn't fix.  I did that on the side that won't be visible.

 

Then I just bit the bullet and used a 1/16 inch drill straight down, which gave a hole a bit too large, but since I was reinforcing these by bending the other wire under the channel, worked fine.  A picture of that below.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Pictures below of the lifeboats and the anchor.  The hull is now complete (with the exception of the lifeboat parrels, which the manual says leave until later).  So it's on to the masts now.

 

Regards,

David

[Cornish Pirate]

Good day gents! I am an 'newbie' to this site, although not to ship modelling - this will be my tenth over many years, including several 'scratch' models. Recently had a twenty year 'gap' to work/raise family but now starting on the Sergal CS. 

I have an idea that it would be easier to plank the deck before fitting it to the hull....can anyone see a reason why not? Also, I have in the past 'caulked' my deck planking using fine black cotton thread - any comment?

Appreciate any input!

regards from stormy Cornwall in the west fo England

[drobinson02199]

Cornish Pirate:

 

I think that's how I did it.  Don't have any view on the thread.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

Masts and bowsprit are now up.  Pictures below.  Some of the holes in the brass fittings need to be drilled out -- important to do that before mounting them.

 

Now on to the yards -- there are 19 of them on this thing.

 

Regards,

David

[Cornish Pirate]

Hi David

 

Thanks fro your response are the decking. I am doing it before the hull planking and have almost finished - using Nepean Longridge's quite complex planking layout which hurts the brain but looks good. Used waxed black thread to simulate the caulked joins between the planks. Looking ahead, I can see a small issue that none seems to have commented on - how did you 'remove' the frame ribs above the deck after planking the hull? also, wouldn't it make the removal easier if the planks were not glued to the ribs, just pinned?

I am, of course, a long ay behind you but hoping to ride on the shirt tails of your knowledge if you know what I mean. Thanks for any assistance

Regards

Charles (alias Cornish Pirate)

[drobinson02199]

Charles:

 

The issue you raise is one I gave some thought to.  Thinking ahead, once those ribs are removed, you have some long stretches of planking with no rib support above the deck.  So it's important to glue the sides of the planks to each other across that whole length, at least, so they support each other and remain flush.

 

I went ahead and glued the planks to the ribs, because you want the ribs to shape the run of the planking both horizontally and vertically and keep the planks flush, and I've never been a fan of pins as I find they don't hold.  Used CA medium glue.  Then, when you are ready to remove the ribs, take a pair of long nose pliers and fix them to a rib lengthwise from the top down to the deck, and wiggle gently side to side to detach the rib from the planks.  Then twist the pliers to remove the rib.  That will leave a stub at the deck which you can sand or grind down.  The sanding doesn't have to be too pretty because that whole area is covered over by a molding later on.

 

Now that I have typed the above, I belatedly realize that I planked the deck AFTER removing the ribs, as stated in the manual, so that I could plank over the rib stumps and not mar the planking grinding them down flush with a Dremel drum.  But again, as long as you are careful to grind them down in parallel with the planks and not extend too far out toward the center of the ship, the molding will cover any marring of the deck.  What you can do is punch out that molding and see how far it extends from the planking toward the center, and that will tell you where to be careful and where you can grind away.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

David

[Javlin]

Nice Work David !But you know what I like to see the Wall with the builds.Clean and concise. Kevin

[Cornish Pirate]

Hi David

 

Thanks for your useful response. That has thrown me slightly as I hadn't appreciated that there was a moulding to go around the edge of the deck planking (maybe didn't absorb what I read on first view...). I have been looking at Nepean Longridge's book whilst building and thought I was being clever (and accurate?) by stopping the deck planking short of the hull/bulwark to show the effect of scuppers used to drain away the water. I spent 40 years at sea (including 3 years on an old training ship) and have always seen scuppers at the edge of the decking - obvious really to drain away storm water, especially on a clipper where the decks were frequently awash. So, what am I saying - that the model kit is incorrect? Maybe!! I will delay decision on this until after I have finished the hull planking (probably several months away!!)

Thanks again and regards

Charles

 

[drobinson02199]

Charles:

 

Well, the square holes in the planking could serve as scuppers, since there are no cannons.

 

Regards,

David

[Cornish Pirate]

Hi David

The square holes are known as 'freeing ports' and their purpose is to free the decks of heavy seas...nothing to do with cannons! The scuppers are the 'gutters' if you like running fore and aft along the edge of the deck. The gather the water that's on the deck (rain, sea) and stop it sloshing around the deck.....I still think the model is probably incorrect! I'm planning to visit my daughter in London later this year and will pop down to Greenwich to look at the 'real thing'. 

Regards

Charles

 

[drobinson02199]

I decided to rig the upper shrouds before mounting the masts, because the deadeyes are very small and it's easier to manipulate the mast while working them.  See pictures.  One with flash to make the lines show up (but too many shadows), and one without.

 

I'll do the ratlines once the masts are mounted.

 

Thanks,

David

Edited October 11, 2019 by drobinson02199

[vossy]

Your usual high standard David! Well done. Do you use a lathe to shape the tops of the masts? They look great!

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[drobinson02199]

Chris:

 

Nothing so fancy.  I taper the masts using a rotary drum sander (Dremel size), first square and then octagonal, and then finish with sandpaper.  The mast top you see is actually a small spare deadeye I had, with wood filler in the holes.  Mantua didn't supply anything in the kit.

 

Have you finished your riverboat yet?  Haven't seen any posts.

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

Just got back into it really. will try to post some pics over the weekend. about 9 months ago I started a new job in emergency services, like your 911. so have been busy

getting my head around that. but rest assured I haven't given up.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[Peter G]

David,

 

She is looking really impressive. Your second planking gives the ship a lovely finish - When I built the Cutty Sark many years ago (using a Billing Boats kit, with single planking), I remember that after doing all that planking and finishing, to cover the lower portion with coppering seemed somewhat sacriligious, but then that is how the ship was/is and how Longridge did it in his book. Of course above this too, to the topsides the hull was black and again, this hides a lot of the very beautiful timber appearance of the model. Is there an alternative? - Only if you don't want it to be truly authentic.

 

A really good build - Good luck. You progress is excellent.

 

Regards,

 

Peter G.

[drobinson02199]

Peter:

 

Thanks for your comments.  In previous boats, I have left the natural wood wherever possible because I too like that look.  My Revenge, for example, is all natural vs. white hull, and looks wonderful.

 

On this ship, however, the second planking strips are not very good, and there was a lot of chipping that I had to fill with wood filler.  I have never figured out how to use wood filler on a natural surface, so at the end I was glad to cover this one up.

 

Thanks,
David

[drobinson02199]

I've built the lowest yard on the foremast -- pictures attached.

 

The brass swivel fitting gives about a 90 degree swing to this yard, which I think could spell trouble while I'm building, so my next move will be to put up the foremast shrouds to give some side support to the yard.   The upper shrouds are already rigged so they will support the next yard up, and then the ones above have wooden fittings which will be stiffer.  I was originally reluctant to fix the masts too soon as I thought I might want to remove them to mount these lower yards with brass swivels, but now that I've done it it's actually easier with them fitted on the ship.

 

The swivel assembly on the yard is difficult and a bit fragile -- took a couple of tries to get it right.

 

Regards,

David