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

[DelF]

More superb rigging Glenn. Your ratlines look great, and your description of rope coil making is very timely as I'm going through similar experimentation on Speedy. I've not had too many problems at 1:48 scale but I've been struggling at 1:64, especially with Chris's properly in-scale belaying pins which virtually force you towards something resembling full-size practice. There isn't enough space to hang an entire coil over the pin, so your method with the single loop over the pin is what I'm aiming for. I'd seen Tom Laura's video but discounted it at this scale, so your approach looks much closer to what I need - the coils on your Cheerful look very realistic. Thanks for posting!

 

Derek

 

[allanyed]

Glenn, your rope coils look terrific.  You and others who have not seen this in the rigging forum here at MSW may find the following video of interest regarding coiling around a belaying pin.

Allan

 

 

[glbarlow]

5 hours ago, DelF said:

the coils on your Cheerful look very realistic.

Thanks for saying so.  I still have more to add with the yards and to arbitrarily fill some of the empty pins after that. Every time I look at them I feel like I could make a better one but at some point I just have to move on. The technique works, it’s just that balance of not to stiff, don’t fall apart mix of the watered down glue. 

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, allanyed said:

video

Thanks for the video.  I terminate the line just as it shows but with a reverse loop at the end and less turns.  I’ve been doing my actual  boat that way for years, as the guy says, the friction holds it fast.  Interesting to see how large the lines are on that ship. 

[glbarlow]

Making the Yards

 

Aside from the anchors the yards are the last thing I’ll make for Cheerful, my voyage is getting close to the end.

 

 

One last trip through the machines. Although the yards will be painted black I elected to use a bit of the boxwood I purchased from Modeler’s Sawmill for no real reason other than I wanted to work with a little box - its such beautiful and easy to work wood. Not that the Yellow Cedar isn’t, they are both excellent woods for modeling. It’s great that Modeler’s Sawmill gives us a new source of quality wood.

 

First up after cutting square lengths to size was to drill the holes for the sheaves on the square stock, much simpler to do now then trying to add them to a rounded yard.

 

 

Back to my octagon jig and the finger plane I’ve described earlier in this log, it’s the perfect tool for this job. First it was marking the wood using the 7-10-7 rule, then cutting to the pencil marks with the plane. I marked the center part of both yards that remain in octagon shape after shopping as shown on the plans, I wanted to be sure to have a nice pretty octagon for that part and gave it extra care.

 

Off to the lathe, I cut both yards long to provide a good hold for the chuck. I had no problem with the length, not having a tail stock doesn’t present any issue. I just hold the end in one hand and sand with the other. I rounded the side furtherest from the chuck first for extra support. I measure and mark the plans at increments then frequently check those with my calipers as I sand with various grades of sand paper. I also used a 00 file to cut the ends clean and sharp. Although I removed it for this photo I also wrapped Tamiya tape at the outer edges of the center octagon do ensure a clean line there as well, then smoothed out the transition as the last step with a very fine grit sanding stick. Of course the real challenge with yards is sanding the second side to its mirror twin of the first - I mark them side I and side II to keep track and take measurements much more frequently.

 

 

It’s true rounding masts and yards can be done with a hand drill. Having done both I believe the lathe makes it simpler and easier to manage the incremental sanding required. Where the lathe shines, or at least this particular Proxxon model, is in the ability to slide the yard inside the chuck to expose only one half. This particularly helped with the 12 ½ inch main yard.

 

 

After checking and rechecking the measurements I added the stops and my yards are made, the machines go quiet.

 

 

The main yard sling is first served then a thimble (selected from my jar-o-thimbles) is added. The short end of the sling is cut off just short of the thimble (done after this photo) and the long edge turned and glued using CA to form the loop.

 

 

I seized it with twelve turns, crossed the two ends of the seizings twice through the center, and finished off with a square knot on the bottom where it won’t be seen. The seizing covered the two glued ends of the loop, you’d never know it was there.

 

The topmast sling was made the same way except it isn’t served and of course is shorter.

 

 

I added the topmast lift and tackle, working near the trees to complete the block seizing. Once again I marvel the difference the addition of the Quad Hands has made for my work. I have the medium plate size but added a 4th 16” arm. This tool comes in handy so many times throughout the rigging process, I can’t recommend it enough. 

 

 

So with that the yards are complete - oh wait that’s not how they go. 🙂 It seems I have some rigging to do, back to the Quad hands and my dwindling rope supply.

 

Thanks for the likes and the comments, they are always appreciated.

[PRS]

So the chuck doesn't mark the wood when you use the lathe? 

[glbarlow]

20 minutes ago, PRS said:

doesn't mark the wood

 Not as long as you don’t over-tighten the chuck 

[niwotwill]

Magnificent work on the yards and you are right on the Proxxon lathe. I've done both but being able to have the work piece go through the lathe is great.

 

 

 

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, niwotwill said:

Magnificent work on the yards

Thank you. I enjoyed making them. 

[DelF]

Beautiful yards, and as always your paint work excels. Pity in a way to cover the box, but with your paintwork it's worth it.

[glbarlow]

16 hours ago, DelF said:

always your paint work excels

Thanks Derek, I did give leaving them natural a passing thought, but the black does look good.

 

I use Admiralty Paints Ironwork Black, I get it from Cornwall Boats on your side of the pond. It gives a really nice finish. 

[DelF]

3 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I use Admiralty Paints Ironwork Black

That's useful to know Glenn. I also use Admiralty paints, but hadn't thought of using the ironwork black on anything other than metal. Must learn to think outside the box!

[glbarlow]

7 hours ago, DelF said:

using the ironwork black

It gives the masts and yards a nice matte finish and more of a real world look I think. I use Dull Black, which is oddly named as it’s the opposite of dull, on other places but more and more I like the Ironworks. 

[glbarlow]

It’s always darkest before dawn:

[Chuck]

Ahh!!! Good times…i remember it fondly. Topes all over the place, LOL.  But its looking good.

[glbarlow]

Rigging the yards

 

I’m coming closer to the end of my journey.

 

 

It's time to rig the yards. The first step is making the stirrups. In many kits these are removed from sheets of PE brass and drilled into the base, here I get to make them from rope, which is a bit more tricky than it might seem. I started by seizing a tight loop around a #68 bit. After experimentation I chose this bit as the tightest size for the .25 dark brown rope used for the foot rope to fit through. Too big of a loop and I’d not be able to properly position the foot ropes.

 

 

Each stirrup had to be long enough to wrap around the yard three times and be the correct length. To do this I placed a piece of parchment paper over the plans, set the length from the bottom of the yard by taping the rope to the parchment paper, then gluing it to the backside of the yard with a dip of CA applied with a straight pin. With that done I wrapped the the rope three times round using CA then cut the rope off at the bottom of the yard where it wouldn’t be seen. I stiffened the stirrups with watered down white glue. I’m sure there are better ways to do this process, but this way worked for me.

 

 

Once I had that done I seized the foot ropes to the yards. I had seized the blocks the lower and topsail yards earlier. It all worked out but was a bit trying to get the lengths right. You might note the left side of the plans, that’s the result of my knocking over the paint bottle. Fortunately the plans and my work mat were the only victims. I keep a roll of paper towels nearby, it’s not the first time I’ve wasted some paint...or glue...or whatever other liquid was nearby.

 

 

 

I made up the four brace pendants for the lower yard and raised the yard by connecting the mast and yard slings, it’s nice look. Once again I’ll note how much serving rope adds to the model - using the Syren Service-O-Matic makes this very easy to do. I also added the clue lines. These have a 3/16 block that connects to the top mast, then runs through the mast sheave, through the lower yard block and down to the deck.

 

Although I’d installed them a while ago, I did not belay any of the stays. In the photo they are folded over the peak halyard, I need the room to terminate the remaining lines to the mast and pin rail. I could have worked around them, but why. So they’ll remain up out of the way until the last steps of the rigging.

 

 

I loosely ran the lower yard fore and aft braces and lifts following the plans, again keeping the aft braces flipped up out of the way. It’s fun finding the right path for the lines. It’s a string puzzle, I enjoy sorting it all out.

 

 

I make it a point to study the rigging plans early in the build so I know where and how various blocks, eyebolts, and hooks will go and add them early. I missed this one, the bowsprit blocks which I had added a long time ago. The lower yard braces initiate at the bowsprit block, run up to the yard pendant, back trough the block and belay at the bow pin rail.  So I had to cut off and replace the blocks at the end of the bowsprit to add the tackle to the block, not super hard thanks to the Quad Hands, but a pain nonetheless.

 

 

 

And of course what rigging job would be complete without breaking something, as I did more than once, in this case the main sheet. So it’s a time-out to re-rig it back again.

 

 

I do all the rigging I can off the ship whenever I can. For the topsail yard that included the clue lines and braces. These involve very long rope runs. I somehow mis-managed my .018 light brown line and with no source to replenish it I substituted .012 line for the topsail yard brace. You can see I’ve stripped down my Quad hands into loop tying mode. Loops were seized in this tackle then tightened onto the yard keeping the long coils of line untangled, and not dipped into spilled jars of paint.

 

The topsail yard also has a sling, this one isn’t served. I also included the optional truss from .025 line for additional stability.

 

 

 

With the topsail yard hoisted with its long braces and lifts the deck seemingly is a cluttered mess, but I know each rope, there is organization to the madness. I prefer all the lines be on board at this point so I can carefully find the right and clean route through the blocks, mast and yards before belaying any of them.

 

 

Knowing where things are and where they go comes with a lot of studying and marking up the plans. I’ve completed the standing rigging so that plan is folded and put away. The plans tell you what you need to know but that doesn’t always include the route and it doesn’t resolve conflicts with other lines. It does provide a belay plan, that’s the important piece of information along with line and block placements. (I cut off portions of the plan in this photo, sorry pirates).

 

 

With the yards and their respective lines hoisted and installed its time to start belaying.  As I mentioned I moved everything aft of the mast up and out of the way, they’ll be dropped down and belayed later. The lower yard foot ropes seem short, but they match the plans, they aren’t fully pulled and dressed out in this photo. I tested mini me up there, he seemed ok with it.

 

 

Next I leveled both the lower and the topsail yard using and belaying their respective lifts (one per side of each yard for four total). I want to get that right and the yards steady before anything else, I did careful measurements between yards and use of my bubble level. With that done I next want to finish anything attached to the mast cleats, including rope coils, this includes one end of the clue lines, these can be worked from either end, the other belays to the pin rails.

 

 

With a lot of lines belayed at this point it was time to go into rope coil mode. I ended up spending a full afternoon making and placing coils. Not just because there more than are a few, but each one I made I decided I could make the next one better, probably explains why I ran short of .018 rope. I find watered down clear matte acrylic works better for coils than the watered down white glue I use for finishing belay points and seizing lines.

 

 

 

 

Everything fore of the mast is now rigged, belayed, and have rope coils in place. I like this method of coiling rope I described in an earlier post. I added coils to the unused belaying pins just to fill it up, and because I went a bit crazy making them.

 

 

 

The fore end of a cutter bowsprit is a busy place, lot of ropes descend here from the mast and belay back to the bow pin rail. maybe not frigate like, but kinda fun.

 

 

 

Finally it’s the aft stays and braces turn to be belayed I hadn’t finalized the aft lower yard brace in the photo, it was time for dinner, I went back to it later. Room to work get’s tight, not so much there are so many lines, there just isn’t much space in between them to access the belay points. My eye of a sewing needle on a stick I described a few post ago comes in handy.

 

With that the rigging of my Cheerful is complete. Next up are the anchors.

 

My thanks for the likes and the comments - as always they are very appreciated.

Edited June 21, 2021 by glbarlow

[Chuck]

Really nice work.  The rigging is coming together really well.

 

Chuck

[Gregory]

The coils on the belaying pins and cleats look particularly nice..   I saved those for future reference..

Edited June 21, 2021 by Gregory

[glbarlow]

53 minutes ago, Chuck said:

The rigging is coming together

Thanks Chuck, I’ve enjoyed rigging her up. 

 

44 minutes ago, Gregory said:

The coils on the belaying pins and cleats look particularly nice.

Thank you, these were a new technique for me. They worked out pretty well, they do absorb a lot of rope though. 

[Gregory]

3 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

they do absorb a lot of rope though. 

Working ships absorb a lot of rope.. 😁

[glbarlow]

I noticed one photo had mis run lines, here’s how they are now

[PRS]

Looking good!

 

[DelF]

More superb work. I'm particularly impressed by your coils. I've been trying the method you described and thought I was doing OK, until I saw how good yours are.  I'll try your suggestion of matt acrylic as an alternative to PVA. Thanks again for the method.

 

19 hours ago, glbarlow said:

It’s fun finding the right path for the lines. It’s a string puzzle, I enjoy sorting it all out.

...and I thought I was strange 🤪 🤣

 

Derek

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, DelF said:

and I thought I was strange 🤪 🤣

Good point🤣
 

The coils took a lot of experimentation, and a lot of rope, to get better. I feel like I could still replace several of them, but I’m out of rope. 

[Edwardkenway]

39 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

I feel like I could still replace several of them, but I’m out of rope. 

Just put them down to landsmen learning the ropes ( no pun intended) under the watchful eye ot the bosun😉

Excellent work on the rigging, your Cheerful is turning out to be a proper little gem of a cutter!

Edited June 22, 2021 by Edwardkenway

[glbarlow]

6 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

learning the ropes

Thanks.  I just need more rope to learn from. The bosun keeps tossing my failures into the bin. 😁😟

[Blue Ensign]

It looks magnificent Glenn, almost makes me regret not masting and rigging mine, but I did satisfy that urge  on the smaller scale Alert.

 

Great work.👍

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

9 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

Great work.👍

Thanks BE, I appreciate your saying so.  I have enjoyed the rigging, it’s a different beast than the building as you well know. 

[JpR62]

Great job on the rigging! This cutter really looks great! And always a wealth of information and techniques. Thanks

[glbarlow]

14 minutes ago, JpR62 said:

This cutter really looks great

Thank you. I’m watching yours as well, I know it will turn out great.