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HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by glbarlow - 1:48 - FINISHED


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41 minutes ago, Chuck said:

which is the message I was trying to encourage.

It’s a good message and accomplished exactly that. 

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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25 minutes ago, VTHokiEE said:

enjoying your choice of red

Thanks!  I decided at the beginning I was going RED with my choice of red 😉

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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44 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

proxxon mill was worth the outlay

Thanks, yes it is. Well worth it, more so when I learn more ways to use it. 

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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Superb work. The winch  is really beautiful and looks great on deck.

As usual, this log is a pleasure to follow 😀

Jean-Paul

 

'You are not carving a bear with a chain saw here folks',

Chuck Passaro, ´Queen Anne Style Barge´ manual of instructions

 

Current builds :

 

Finished build :

 

Next on list :

  • Santa Maria boat - Korabel (Ukraine) - 1:24
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51 minutes ago, JpR62 said:

this log is a pleasure to follow

Thank you, I’m sure your new log will be as well.

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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Wow! What a great result ... a superb winch and a very helpful description for others to follow.

 

Derek

Cheers, Derek

 

Current build:   Duchess of Kingston

On hold:              HMS Winchelsea

 

Previous builds:  HMS SpeedyEnglish Pinnace, Royal Yacht Caroline (gallery),

                            Victory Cross-section (gallery), US Clipper Albatros, Red Dragon (years ago!)

 

On the stocks:    18th Century Longboat

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On 5/3/2020 at 8:32 PM, glbarlow said:

Two quick posts to get started, they may come a bit slower from here.

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I’ve cut a lot of bearding lines but never so easily as I did this time.  On the recommendation of another MSWer as part of a discussion about using square stock for masts I ordered this IBEX flat finger plane. It is pricy but well worth it. I’ve tried planes in the past with no luck other than gouging up wood, but this small little tool made short work of creating the bearding line.

 

I never toss stands from past models, this one I made for Vanguard is a perfect fit, so yay. A block of wood, some curved shoe molding backed by 1x1 strip covered with felt. Build board done.

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I followed the stern reference mark on one side of the hull and with tracing paper transferred it to the other side. The plane slides easily to make the taper down to the rabbit strip. Maybe too easy. I may have gotten a little too much angle. I’m thinking that will be ok…won’t it…I can’t put it back on….

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I removed the stem pieces from the billet and initially was a little disappointed. I have no experience with Alaska Yellow Cedar. I did some test some WOP on billet scrap and wasn’t seeing it. But I knew there was beautiful wood there somewhere - and there was. There is a Lot of char to remove and sanding to do, a lot of work with 220 and 320 grade sandpaper since I didn’t want to risk taking too much or alter the shape of the stem pieces.

 

After a considerable amount of work (not complaining, I’m not on a schedule) there it was - the Alaskan Cedar is better than anything I’ve seen, it is very nice. A bit lighter color than boxwood, it feels almost like a piece of ivory when sanded smooth. I’m looking forward to working more with it as the ship progresses. 

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I followed Chuck’s practicum by adding the simulated tree nails using a #76 bit, #2 pencil and natural wood filler, I simulated caulking between the joints of the stem also with the pencil. I have some charcoal pencils I’ve used in the past but I think subtlety here is the name of the game, a little pencil goes a long way. I finished the night putting the first coat of poly on the stem and keel, big impact on color and grain showing up.

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One practice I’ve followed for every model I’ve built is addressing the display mounting very early, no different for Cheerful. I already have the display board, 12" walnut. I’ll figure out the pedestals later, the ones shown are my stock that may not work. However this was a great time to drill the holes through the keel. I use these machine screws, long enough for the board, pedestals, and to go past the keel into the frame, I epoxy them in eventually, no nut needed (other than the builder).

 

All I needed to do now is drill the holes in the keel, once its securely mounted to the frame I’ll extend the depth of the holes an inch or more into the frame. Then years from now when I finally finish this epic build it will be simple to complete the display mount. A lot easier than trying to turn over a completed ship. I like my models firmly secured to a display board verses a cradle and if I change my mind the holes aren’t going to show…

 

Now on to mounting the stem and installing the bulkheads. 

Your logs are a joy to read and super detailed. As a relatively new builder, I appreciate that☺️

~ Rachel

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On 5/7/2020 at 4:39 PM, glbarlow said:

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Framed, taped, and ready for fairing to begin. I only had to make a few adjustments on bulkhead 8 otherwise everything dropped right in and easily squared up. I used my mini-squares and worked from bulkhead [+] in both directions, that gave me room to clamp the mini-square as I went. Not sure why the photo is so big, this is about twice the size of the actual tools.

 

These little square have been one of my best buys. They come in handy a lot throughout a build.

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The bow and port fillers fit without adjustment, a testament to the design, but another of those positive affirmation things that let me know I’m doing ok so far.

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Now, unless I can outsource, the fun of fairing begins. First I moved to a stand that allows me to safely hold it upside down. I opt for function over form. I’m not a woodworker and just use what I have available, in this case adapting the fairing stand I had for Vanguard (why it’s oddly long). Furniture anti-slip pads on the bottom, some felt on top, sized to fit the deck and high enough protect the extensions and the stem. Nothing fancy and about an hour’s work. So yay.

 

I’ll use the laser burn as a guide keeping the edge closest to mid-ships brown until the very end. Then finish it off. This will keep me from removing to much wood and/or losing the proper shape of the hull. We’ll see how that goes…

 

Now to do a google search for model ship fairing outsourcing...

No such thing as a dumb question, right? Why sand away the brown from the laser cut, except in regards to fairing? I notice in your next post all the brown is gone. Thank you for your patience lol.

~ Rachel

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1 hour ago, Rach10199 said:

Why sand away the brown from the laser cut, except in regards to fairing

No problem with the question. I didn’t go back no read it all, I thought I had explained it, but you kind of answered your question anyway. It’s a result of very careful fairing of the hull to have a smooth run of planking, as judged by the test battens, flowing and correctly contacting each frame bow to stern. It’s critical to spend the time getting the fairing right given Cheerful is single planked. Getting that smooth run resulted in the brown being removed, a result, not an objective.  In fact I kept the trailing lasered edge right up to the last to make sure I didn’t overdo it an alter the shape of the hull. Hope that helps. 

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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1 hour ago, Rach10199 said:

joy to read and super detailed.

Thank you, I try to make it useful to others.

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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1 hour ago, garthog said:

keep us happy!

Thank you Dana, that’s my goal😁!

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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19 hours ago, glbarlow said:

No problem with the question. I didn’t go back no read it all, I thought I had explained it, but you kind of answered your question anyway. It’s a result of very careful fairing of the hull to have a smooth run of planking, as judged by the test battens, flowing and correctly contacting each frame bow to stern. It’s critical to spend the time getting the fairing right given Cheerful is single planked. Getting that smooth run resulted in the brown being removed, a result, not an objective.  In fact I kept the trailing lasered edge right up to the last to make sure I didn’t overdo it an alter the shape of the hull. Hope that helps. 

Yes it does, thank you! 

~ Rachel

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m continuing to do mini-projects in no particular order - following the ‘why don’t I do that next’ plan. So:

 

Mounting the rudder

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When I first looked at the Pintles and Gudgeons mini-kit I wondered what do you do with those. Turns out it’s another brilliant design and a simple way for attaching the rudder. Simple in concept anyway.

 

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The first step was to paint the gudgeons Ironwood Black then dust them and the straps with weathering powder, because you know you can never do enough weather powdering. Attaching to the rudder itself was straight forward, I left the pintles long initially then trimmed it back after some test fitting.

 

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Then came the more challenging part, attaching the gudgeons to the hull in the right place to fit the rudder and in line. After some careful measuring and marking I used a piece of brass wire to make sure they were aligned. There isn’t any forgiveness here, everything has to be in the right place.

 

I encountered a problem, I couldn’t get the glue to adhere to the hull, after several frustrating attempts I determined that glue sticking to wood with too many coats of WOP doesn’t work - I simply had let it get it too thick on the stern post. I roughed up the wood with some 220 grit, and after that no problem. I of course knew this, but sometimes in the thick of it you just want the wood to shut up and do what you tell it to do - the wood laughs. I also shouldn’t do these things at night, or maybe not at night after drinking scotch, or maybe just not after drinking scotch.

 

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Anyway. The straps and bolts are added. I liked how drilling holes as marked on the strap, inserting wire a little long to glue it in and then cutting it near flush made for nice bolts after touching with Ironwood Black (a little touch up there to do on the hull too, oops).

 

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And there you have it, my ship can now be steered should it find itself adrift in the ocean somewhere. I still think I’m going to remake the tiller, we’ll see, it’s just hanging there loose for the photo. So with that done the rudder is removed and put on the shelf to be permanently installed later, bye rudder.

 

The Catheads

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Then, since it can be steered I figured I better be able to anchor it, so do the catheads next. That meant it was time to play with the mill again and pretend I know what I’m doing. Following the monograph I constructed the catheads in two parts. First the upright, which to fit tight against the bulwark had to be notched for the spirketting and again for the waterway. I cut both notches with the mill. While it takes the unskilled like me a bit of work and trial effort to get the measurements right, the mill cut nice and clean once I had it correct (actually it cut nice and clean when I had it wrong too). I bought a car engine feeler gauge, took it apart and used the thinest one to set a good zero for between the bit and the wood for the X,Y,Z axis. This proved pretty handy in getting a consistent starting point for the cuts.

 

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It was fortunate I read the monograph first (not that fortunate as I always do). Before starting on the catheads, the forward pin rail has to be made and installed. That has to be sized carefully so that the cathead doesn’t impede the flow of the anchor rope through the hawse hole or restrict the gun tackle for the forward chase port, there isn’t that much room between the two. I had to do a little fine tuning on the pin rail not related to the cathead as shown here.

 

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Next up is getting the correct angle on the upper piece of the cathead, hint, it’s not 90 degrees. There needs to be some upward angle to it, while also accounting for the bit of lean of the upright on the bulwarks. After some experimenting I determined 85 degrees was best (or 95 degrees depending on how you look at it). Since the Byrnes gauges don’t do notch anything less than 15 I set the angle on the sander for a smooth edge using a digital protractor. Then to get a good feel for it I set the top piece on for a look. I decided this made a great ship's crane and installed it just like shown here. Well, it did cross my mind for a second. When I know I’m going to need multiple equal sized pieces, plus several more for testing I cut a properly sized long length and cut everything from it, hence the long piece shown.

 

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Then its back to the mill to cut the sheaves into the top piece. This is so incredibly easier and better than doing it by hand with a blade as I’ve always had to do in the past. Just cut the slots a 1.5 mm deep and drill all the way through on both ends. I added flush-cut 24 gauge wire to either side later but it doesn’t go all the way through and is just for simulation.

 

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This little Veritas triangle, a new tool, has been coming in handy a lot for deck work, here to make sure the cathead is perpendicular to the deck.

 

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Some filing at the leading edge, paint, a couple of cleats, and I have catheads. No anchors yet so the ship is still drifting, but at least they have someplace to attach one, or maybe attach Fred, their fellow crewman who drank all the grog, and just let him hang there a while. BTW, they are straight, the photo is a warped perspective due to the angle. 

 

The Seats of Ease

I struggled with the concept of this a bit. These seats are such a prominent feature of the deck. I have this vision of two crew members availing themselves of the seats, just a few feet from the helmsman. There is no cover on them (I almost added one) so I wonder, given the prevailing wind on a sailing ship is generally from either rear quarter, if the helmsman - often the captain on a ship this size - was constantly bombarded by the smell. So I almost turned them into lockers and let the crew poop over the rail. In the end I decided to stay true to Chuck’s design and accepted they’d be a topic for conversation once the ship was finished. So I began to build my two onboard outhouses with apologies to the helmsman…courtesy flush dude (which would be a bucket of water I suppose).

 

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It seems simple, just glue together three pieces of wood, the top, one side, and the front. The thing is, again, there are a lot of angles and curves involved - plus you are making two and the two have to be both identical, level and even in  height with the spirketting since that forms the outboard side, and the width of the inboard stern frames. Here’s hoping I installed all of those equal on both sides so long ago. I started by cutting card templates (as Chuck suggests) - its kinda essential here to get the right fit. I’m sure there is a geometric name for the shape of the top, let’s just say it doesn’t remotely resemble a rectangle. I also cut a long strip 9mm wide from 1\32 sheet so that the front and sides for both seats came from the same piece of wood.

 

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This photo is from later in the instruction. I first did the sides since everything else is based on them. The challenge is cutting the curve of the counter on the bottom, having both end up the same height and level, be the same length coming forward, and the leading edge perpendicular to the deck…no problem…who doesn’t love geometry.

 

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And what do you know on the first try both sides are level…or maybe not on the first try…

 

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After cutting the fronts - with the outboard side beveled to fit snug to the bulwarks, it was on to the top. There is no substitute for card templates here. I marked the measurements, tested it and remarked until I had the varied lengths on the four sides required for it to fit, the angle of the hypotenuse or something like that. I used the cross cutting table on my Byrnes saw to get precise cuts on two of the sides, there is likely some way to do it with the saw, but I opted to cut the remaining two sides with my heavy steel rule and #11 blade. It’s possible I didn’t get all this right on the first try, card stock or not.

 

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With the pieces cut and only the sides glued in I test fitted everything, and found it’s all level and equal sized, how’d that happen.

 

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The last step before mounting and painting is the ease part of the seat, cutting the hole, which after all the work to get two fitted tops I didn’t want to screw up. So I went slow with a small pilot hole, then a bigger one, then a round needle file, then a larger file marked with a sharpie to finish at a 4mm hole, and finally an ultra fine sanding stick to smooth it out.

 

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I added two large cleats and 4 smaller ones then painted it by brush with thin coats of my favorite RED (again some iPhone camera distortion on the angles). The cleats come from Syren, available in multiple sizes. I had to remove the laser char (it would show through the red paint) and shape them a bit. I used the stem of a standard eyelet to pin them to the bulwark so they can take rope tension later. I also added the horse, created from 24 gauge wire. I used the eyelet portion, cutting off the stem flush to the circle, to accent the horse either side, painted it Ironwood Black and weathered it to finish off the stern - except the knees and boom crutches which are up next…maybe…

 

Pin rails and cleats

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I finished up this phase by adding the bulwark pin rails along with the rest of the cleats noted on the plans. Turned out to be a pretty tight fit for the cleat nearest the ladder. I’m glad I checked that, I had to give it a little extra turn to allow the ladder and gun tackle to fit with room for the future lines shown on the rigging plan. It’s generally a good idea to take a look around at what might happen or be added later to make sure nothing gets in the way of something else. That was evident here and especially evident with the catheads.

 

As I noted I’ve been turning pages in the monograph and doing what I felt like doing next - at this phase, at least so far nothing has to be sequential, though that will change soon. Thanks everyone for the likes and for stopping by. I better go check to make sure the crew didn’t actually drown Fred.

 

Edited by glbarlow

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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Glenn; thanx for the continued great photos and descriptions. The build looks awesome...Moab

Completed Builds:

Virginia Armed Sloop...Model Shipways

Ranger...Corel

Louise Steam Launch...Constructo

Hansa Kogge...Dusek

Yankee Hero...BlueJacket

Spray...BlueJacket

26’ Long Boat...Model Shipways

Under Construction:

Emma C. Berry...Model Shipways

 

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You're doing a great job Glenn!

Rusty

"So Long For Now" B) 

 

Current Builds: HMS Winchelsea 1/48  Duchess of Kingston

 

Completed Build Logs: USF Confederacy , US Brig Syren , Triton Cross Section , Bomb Vessel Cross SectionCutter CheerfulQueen Anne Barge, Medway Longboat

 

Completed Build Gallery: Brig Syren , 1870 Mississippi Riverboat , 1949 Chris-Craft 19' Runabout

 

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Yes, it's really great work Glenn!

And what's more, this log is so detailed and informative! Thanks

Jean-Paul

 

'You are not carving a bear with a chain saw here folks',

Chuck Passaro, ´Queen Anne Style Barge´ manual of instructions

 

Current builds :

 

Finished build :

 

Next on list :

  • Santa Maria boat - Korabel (Ukraine) - 1:24
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Beautifully crisp and neat work Glenn, and another great log entry - she's looking superb.

 

9 hours ago, glbarlow said:

you just want the wood to shut up and do what you tell it to do - the wood laughs

My approach to carpentry in a nutshell! I get the same response from the wood.

 

9 hours ago, glbarlow said:

The Seats of Ease

Glad you fitted these - the crew will be relieved. I'm more used to seeing these in the bows, but their position on Cheerful might explain the term 'poop deck'.

 

Also, I couldn't see any drainage holes in the stern - I hope the seats of ease don't drain into the captain's quarters?

Cheers, Derek

 

Current build:   Duchess of Kingston

On hold:              HMS Winchelsea

 

Previous builds:  HMS SpeedyEnglish Pinnace, Royal Yacht Caroline (gallery),

                            Victory Cross-section (gallery), US Clipper Albatros, Red Dragon (years ago!)

 

On the stocks:    18th Century Longboat

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14 hours ago, glbarlow said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder, given the prevailing wind on a sailing ship is generally from either rear quarter, if the helmsman - often the captain on a ship this size - was constantly bombarded by the smell.

 

Glenn,

 

This is not quite true here.

 

On a square rigger the wind does indeed come mostly from the aft quarter and so the seats of ease were locate  in the bow.  Hence the term "heads".  However,  this cutter is fitted with large fore and aft sails so she would sail mostly into the wind and hence the seats of ease are located aft.  Your other comments are true though.  In modern times we would be a bit squeamish about such an open arrangement.

 

John

Current Build:

Medway Longboat

Completed Builds:

Concord Stagecoach

HM Cutter Cheerful

Royal Caroline

Schooner for Port Jackson

 

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Thank you for the likes and those taking the time to comment. It is all greatly appreciated, especially those whose work I have long admired and followed.

 

The heads, or rather the afts are and will remain an interesting feature of Cheerful, wind direction or proximity to the helmsman notwithstanding.

 

On 1/20/2021 at 3:11 AM, DelF said:

Also, I couldn't see any drainage holes in the stern - I hope the seats of ease don't drain into the captain's quarters?

Thanks Derek. I know BE added such drainage holes, I decided mine would be less visible (as in invisible) there is only so far I'll go in honoring those who serve and poop. 😄

 

 

On 1/20/2021 at 2:47 AM, Blue Ensign said:

I too had thoughts about the positioning of the seats of ease,

Thanks BE Your logic on the topic is one I followed, I need more clever terminology as you provided the best I could come up with was "Well, s**t might as well." Hardly does it justice I know. 😄 Not to mention I continue to consult your log as a frequent reference on the big steps, you may recognize many things I do, as they are ones I learned from you.

 

On 1/20/2021 at 1:54 AM, JpR62 said:

this log is so detailed and informative!

Thank you, sometimes I think I get carried away with the details and bore the socks off people, I just can't help myself though.

 

On 1/19/2021 at 8:21 PM, Rustyj said:

doing a great job

Thanks Rusty, high praise from a master builder - your current work on the Duchess and Winnie are amazing. And of course I borrow many good ideas from those logs.
 

On 1/20/2021 at 8:43 AM, Chuck said:

nice work.   

Thanks Chuck, coming from the master and designer that means a lot. You gave us a great model, I continue to enjoy the building of her. 

 

On 1/19/2021 at 7:58 PM, Moab said:

continued great photos and descriptions

Thank you, I glad they are helpful and appreciated.

On 1/20/2021 at 8:33 AM, bartley said:

other comments are true though

Regardless of wind direction the image of the helmsman with seated individuals either side remains comic to me. 😄

 

Edited by glbarlow

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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Small things take time and iteration to get right. That’s the lesson I have to remember at this stage of the build.

 

The Tiller V.2

I decided to re-make the tiller. As I did the last time I started with a square length of boxwood, a couple of inches longer than the tiller, and turned it on the lathe after following the 7-10-7 rule to remove the edges with my mini-planer. I wanted a different tiller handle and did most of that on the lathe with needle files and sanding sticks.

 

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Out came the bending station. Just as it is for planking, the heat of the iron made for a relatively easy bend, though it did require a couple of iterations to more slowly work the shape than with a standard plank. By using a metal clamp in the center I was able to tilt the iron onto it so the iron didn’t physically touch the round tiller - I used steam, it worked well and took very little time to get right.

 

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I got a better result the second time around, more of a bow instead of a bend, beefier, and a better handle so I’m glad I took the time. I checked it’s height with mini-me on the deck, it looks right to me now.  And then off it came and along with the rudder up on the shelf it went until I install them later. I have a lot of stuff on the shelf now, install day is going to be fun whenever that is.

 

The Knees

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These were not simple and serve as a reminder this is mostly a scratch build, I doubt even if they were laser cut it would have helped much. I started by duplicating the drawing from the plans with the scroll saw - it wasn’t even close and I tossed it aside. Back to card stock to determine the angles, always the angles. The first step is getting the stern and sides and to decide on the length for both. I settled on 25mm on the stern and 20mm on the bulwark for no other reason than it looked right and it was more or less in line with the plans. I used my Byrnes saw to cut the blanks from 4mm sheet. 

 

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There were a few iterations as I discovered the various angles and notching I had to account for, it wasn’t initially obvious to my untrained eye. I quickly determined the yellow cedar was a bit soft for all the shaping, sanding and beveling required (my problem not the wood’s) so I turned to my precious and limited store of boxwood. Before cutting them to their ‘knee’ shape I worked to get the proper fit snug into the corners and just below the cap rail. More angles, the transom curve and the flat cap rail required beveling both top and bottom, and then there are the stern frames, the knees are a tight fit between the rail above and the frames below.

 

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It wasn’t pretty - I notched the bottom of the knees and had to remove a bit of the frames, seaworthiness is assured by the tight fit, or so I decided. I scraped some paint off the transom just to ensure good surfaces for the glue. I chose TiteBond for this, I needed a few minutes to get them seated with the proper angle along the bulwarks and I didn’t want to test the strength of just PVA. These knees are there to stay.

 

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The boxwood sands nicely into shape, I gently rounded the outer edges before I glued them in. I was momentarily tempted to leave them natural - it would make no sense but they look nice.

 

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I added the smaller cleats as shown on the plan. I’ve used three different sizes on the model so far, all from Chuck’s store. As before there is some sanding to remove the char and to shape them a bit. Like the other cleats these are pinned on using the stem of an eyelet. Having gotten past my natural look impulse, I painted it all my usual Red.

 

The knees were another of those things I had to stare at and think about to decide the process and order of things. It was a good move to get the fitting right before cutting them into their final ‘knee’ shaped, it gave me something to hold onto as I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked again to get the required tight fit, top, bottom. left and right. It took a good deal of time, several days, to get through the iterations for something seemingly so simple and maybe not that noticeable in context of the larger ship. I will say though it was rewarding when they were done. Something I can look at, know what went into it, and think to myself - I made those. I showed my wife, who took a look, looked at me, and said “those are nice…..” and walked out.

 

Timber heads

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I’ve come up with my own way for making pillars and by result, timber heads. I know there are better ways in using the mill for the total job, Derek has been kind enough to share one of those. My method is a hybrid. For the timber heads I’ve cut the “cap” by cutting in .8mm from the top and .4mm deep on all four sides then dropping down 4mm and cutting a .3mm deep all using a 1mm cutter bit.  I usedmy freshly sharpened chisels to slice from the top down to the cut to shape the timber head, which of course isn’t square. At this point I’m just more comfortable, and considerably faster, cutting it partially by hand with the chisels. I really like the mill, I’m learning more how to use it - but it’s a process to set an accurate zero on two, sometimes all three axis and repeating that for each side after I flip it and again for each of the 5 additional timber heads (actually 6 additional, I choose the best six after cutting seven) so that all are completely identical. While it’s true I can make .4 and .8mm cuts, that only happens with an accurate, repeatable zero starting point. The Proxxon mill is great, but I wish the zero turning dials were a little bit smoother as I set those zeros, maybe they wear in over time. Anyway.

 

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In addition to the chisels, I finish them up with files and sanding sticks. You might notice the paper below in the photo, I spend a little time, and that iteration thing again, getting to the sizes and cuts I think look right. There is no clear design and the size is a bit flexible. I once again got to exercise my -  if ‘it’s not right rip it off and do it again’ motto. After making all six timber heads I decided they were too wide and tall so I tossed them and started over. I guess I could have figured that out after making one - but I didn’t until I saw them sitting (not glued fortunately) on the cap rail. I drilled holes and pinned them all into place using those ubiquitous little nails from past models with the heads removed.

 

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The four on the bow were straightforward, once I got the size right, the two on the stern are a little tricky - they need to be perpendicular to the water line, while mounted on a cap rail that has a significant sloop at the stern. I leveled the boat in the Amati working stand then used another level (these little ones come in handy over and over) and some scrap wood to determine the angle, cut the scrap on that line as a template and transferred it to the timber head.. I had made all the timber heads intentionally long to give me grip when cutting and filing and plenty to work with to cut the angle. BTW, that’s light glare, not bad painting on the wales and fashion piece, along with a little dust which will all get cleaned up later. …close up photos reveal all …

 

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I have “The Cutter” I normally use to chop small pieces on exact angles, but in this case it would not get as flush a cut as I needed on the thicker wood.  I got this jeweler’s saw to cut the stern frames way back when, it’s coming in handy again now. In addition to this cut on the stern timber head I used it to cut the knee part of the knees (much too small for the scroll saw, at least for me) after I had fitted the pieces as described above. It makes short work of cutting wood too thick for my #11 blade and is accurate in staying on the cut line.

 

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Here they are all glued on and painted with Admiralty Dull Black, its all good and on to the next thing. I’m betting this is more than you ever wanted to know about timber heads. Everything is more interesting to me when I made it from scratch I guess.

 

Speaking of which, time to move to the next fun item, the boom crutches - and guess what - there are a lot of angles involved. Thanks for stopping by, the likes and especially the comments are always appreciated.

Edited by glbarlow

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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More great work Glenn. Your care and attention to detail - and your refusal to settle for second best - are really paying dividends.

 

2 hours ago, glbarlow said:

The Proxxon mill is great, but I wish the zero turning dials were a little bit smoother as I set those zeros, maybe they wear in over time.

Not sure what's going on here? The dials should be smooth with very little backlash. Have you adjusted the gibs?

 

Derek

Cheers, Derek

 

Current build:   Duchess of Kingston

On hold:              HMS Winchelsea

 

Previous builds:  HMS SpeedyEnglish Pinnace, Royal Yacht Caroline (gallery),

                            Victory Cross-section (gallery), US Clipper Albatros, Red Dragon (years ago!)

 

On the stocks:    18th Century Longboat

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Wonderful work as always !

A fantastic help for those who will follow in the construction of this magnificent cutter.

Jean-Paul

 

'You are not carving a bear with a chain saw here folks',

Chuck Passaro, ´Queen Anne Style Barge´ manual of instructions

 

Current builds :

 

Finished build :

 

Next on list :

  • Santa Maria boat - Korabel (Ukraine) - 1:24
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7 hours ago, DelF said:

adjusted the gibs?

I’m thinking not as I don’t know what gibs are🤣

Regards,

Glenn

 

Current Build: HMS Winchelsea
Completed Builds: HM Flirt (paused) HM Cutter CheerfulLady NelsonAmati HMS Vanguard,  
HMS Pegasus, Fair American, HM Granado, HM Pickle, AVS, Pride of Baltimore, Bluenose

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