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

[garthog]

Looking good, Glenn - on your photo of the bowsprit collar, it looks like a rectangular pattern on the end of the bowsprit - is that a quirk of the photo as in I  am seeing something that isn’t really there?  Everything else looks so good I had to find something ...

 

garthog

[glbarlow]

On 4/17/2021 at 11:18 AM, BobG said:

What is the tool with the different diameters

Sorry Bob, the specific brand escapes me. They are ring mandrels I ran across on Amazon while looking for something else. Very inexpensive and quite useful. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, garthog said:

photo of the bowsprit collar,

If I’m looking at the same photo, the bowsprit fire end from the side?, that is the block on the far side sticking out. They aren’t rigged yet. The blocks and the guy hooks share the same ring bolt. 
 

or was it something else?

[bartley]

4 hours ago, BobG said:

Great work, Glenn, and a wonderfully informative build log as well!

 

What is the tool with the different diameters that you are using in the photo of you forming your hooks and eyelets? 

 

This tool ( at least in Australia) is called a "Bending Mandrel".

 

Cheers,

 

John

Edited April 17, 2021 by bartley

[bartley]

5 hours ago, BobG said:

Great work, Glenn, and a wonderfully informative build log as well!

 

What is the tool with the different diameters that you are using in the photo of you forming your hooks and eyelets? 

 

Just an additional comment, Bob, the best place for the small ones is a jewellery supplier.  I find they have lots of good stuff.  Or try searching  "small bending mandrel" because there are industrial scale ones.

 

John

[glbarlow]

I’ve mentioned in my log that riogrande.com, a jewelry store is a excellent source for modelers tool including ring making mandrels. 

[garthog]

It’s the sixth photo, the one following the threads and scissors image - it’s the bowsprit head on - there appears to be a reddish rectangle faintly appearing on the very end.

 

garthog

[glbarlow]

6 hours ago, garthog said:

there appears to be a reddish rectangle 

Oh, I see. I checked, that's just an artifact of the lighting and the photo.  The very end/tip of the bowsprit is sanded smooth, but the grain of the wood does appear - especially after adding the WOP.  Very fine eyes you have there Mr. Garthog.

[garthog]

It’s a very fine photograph!

[glbarlow]

The Masts

 

A few more things to build as I tackled the masts. I described turning the mast with the lathe in an earlier post, the top mast followed the same process so I won’t repeat it here.

 

 

 

 

The trees proved to be a fun little mini-project, more complex than I had thought. The things we remove from the laser cut parts sheet of a kit this time I made from scratch using three sizes of wood. I cut and shaped the cheeks from 3/64 wood, flattened the sides of the masts and attached them. I cut out the bows of the tree from the plans and glued them to 1/8 wood and rough cut them with the scroll saw. I’m comfortable cutting outside the edges, I’d rather sand it to the proper shape, but the scroll saw makes that so much less work to do. I sanded the outside curve with my Byrnes sander then back to my various sanding tools to get the inside curve proper.

 

 

Using extra long 3/32 wood cut to size I added the three required slots using my now trusty mill. I’m so glad I bought the MF 70, it’s more than proved its usefulness during my build.

 

 

A quick assembly of the parts matched up to the plans then came the tricky, and as my British friends say, fiddly part.

 

 

Adjusting the cheeks and mast so that the trees are parallel to the deck consistent with the aft rake of the mast takes a bit of time. No magic, just cut file, dry-fit, adjust repeatedly until its right. The key of course is to go slow, as always you can take more off but you can’t put it back on. I used the laser level to make sure the mast was in the right position and bubble levels on the deck and trees adjusting until they matched up.  One thing to remember, with all the attention on adjusting the parallel it also has to remain horizontally level to the deck. Seems obvious but easy enough to forget.

 

 

I used black masking tape for the mast bands, handy stuff and another Amazon purchase.

 

 

Another handy tool is this centering ruler, I used it to locate where each of the top three eyebolts, made from 24 gauge black wire, are drilled and glued in. For the bottom mast ban I cut, shaped, and blackened a bit of 1/64 x 3/32 brass strip. The mast side was simply filed down into a bolt size pin and glued into a drilled hole. This extended bolt is a small detail, but aside from being authentic it really adds to the overall appearance of the trees.

 

 

The mast cap was another adventure and a reminder about how smart model designers are when they cut parts boards. You’d think rectangular block, two holes, one round one square, done. Which is essentially true but it too has to be cut to be parallel on the raked mast, done. What’s a tad tricker is the distance between the two holes. Despite following the plans, the main, top mast, and trees don’t end up being precisely sized (at least not mine). The spacing of the holes on the mast cap have to be such that the top mast and mast, again accounting for rake, are also parallel to each other (adjusting for very small .5-1.5mm differences). Which is a long way to say I had to make a second one when the matched to plan’s version had the top mast with more rake than the mast. Clearly user error, I sorted it out but the mast cap proved to be more than just a little block of wood with two holes.

 

 

Back to the mill to cut a nice little 6mm truck for the top mast and we’re done. The trees as a mini-project all took a bit of time but really was kind of fun to sort out.

 

 

I painted it all black and added the 4 eyebolts to the mast cap. I rigged the block to the two sides. The fore and aft bolt blocks have tackle attached, so the eyebolts aren’t glued in. I’ll remove them, add the blocks and tackle, and glue them in at an appropriate time. Still nothing glued together at this point, all dry-fitted to ensure it all works. I may not glue the top mast and mast cap onto the mast until after the shrouds and more of the rigging new dropped into the gap between.

 

 

I followed Chuck’s recommendation of using a Dremel to sand off the char from the mast rings by attaching them to the centers I removed after. The char was a bit challenging, but I kinda like them like this, distinctive character.

 

 

I turned my attention to the base of the mast, remembering to put on the mast rings before adding the boom rest. I got a little carried away and failed to take photos of this step. 

 

I went a different way with the boom rest, I decided to use my original and ultimately too small mast coat by cutting it in half for the boom rest, I like the look and it was a good fit. Then I added the cleats from Syren after sanding the char and shaping them a bit. Each are pinned by a cut-off kit nail into holes between the cleat and mast. Some of these will bear tension later, don’t want them popping off. And finally I painted it my favorite red from the boom rest to the deck.

 

 

I like to rig as much as I can off the boat, so much easier that way. So added the three blocks on the top mast for the eventual stays The port and starboard block need a bit of length given the way the tackle will run, I tried a couple of options then settled on my standard method using 50wt thread but instead of the usual 5-7 turns I added 21. That seem to give it the right heft and length. My new cuticle cutters proved handy for a tight trim, but as I’ve noted before care is required to not cut things you don’t want to cut. I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to learn that lesson.

 

 

The boom and gaff were cut on the lather the same way as the masts, though I just used a dowel instead of cutting from square stock. The bands are also from black masking tape.

 

 

I cut the jaws using a jewelers saw, once again with the pattern cut from the plans and rubber cemented onto the wood. I then used the usual practice of rubber cementing the two jaws together back to back and sanding them into identical pieces before adding to the boom (the photo is before all that sanding was completed).

 

 

Both it and the gaff are painted black still using Admiralty Paints Iron Works Black and onward we go. I’ll now decide it I want to shape the two yards while my work area is a mess of sawdust, or change it up and do some rigging

 

Thanks for stopping by. The comments and likes are always appreciated.

Edited April 21, 2021 by glbarlow

[Edwardkenway]

Some very nice scratch work, Glenn and it looks even better as a whole on Cheerful 🙂

[niwotwill]

I feel like I just read the last page of a book. She's fantastic. Great work. I'm following along but I started reading the log and have gotten to page 7 so that's the feeling of reading the last page.

Looking Great

I have the starter kit on order waiting for delivery so I really enjoy your log and read the monograph as I go along.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[DelF]

Beautiful work on the masts Glenn.

 

What I really want to know, is how do you keep Cheerful so free of dust?? Despite keeping my model in a home-made cabinet between sessions it still acts as a very efficient magnet for dust - which close up photos just highlight.

[glbarlow]

11 minutes ago, DelF said:

how do you keep Cheerful so free of dust??

My friend the air can. 
 

Really though my Rabbit Air system removes a lot dust from the room. It’s always in Auto mode but after a dusty job I leave in running on high overnight. 
 

It makes a big difference for the model, and my lungs. 

[glbarlow]

17 minutes ago, niwotwill said:

read the last page of a book.

Don’t stop reading yet, there’s more to come😊

[glbarlow]

27 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

nice scratch work,

Thank you for saying so. All kinds of things this model has taught me to do. 

[niwotwill]

Glenn I can't stop reading its like spell binding novel so I'll pull ip a chair and follow along as the story develops with all its twists and turns. Now I'll go back to page 7.

Thanks for the wonderful narrative and photos explaining your work. Which is amazing by the way.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[BobG]

Great work and build log as always, Glenn! You're writing the Cheerful Build Log Bible for anyone who would like to build this model or just plain learn a lot about model ship building.

 

19 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Really though my Rabbit Air system removes a lot dust from the room.

I have a problem with dust since I work in a small room. I try to do as much sanding as possible outside because of the dust but that's not always possible. Which model of Rabbit Air do you have? I've never thought about using one of those small air purifiers for dust control. I always thought they were just for smaller particles like allergens etc. Does it remove most of the dust from your modeling area?

[glbarlow]

On 4/22/2021 at 11:01 AM, BobG said:

Which model of Rabbit Air

I have the BIOGS 2.0. It works great for me and judging by the three layers of filters when I clean them it’s removing plenty of dust. 
 

I know it’s working in auto mode when it kicks on when I sweep the floor. It works for me in my in-house work shop. 
 

Thanks for the comment too, very kind.

Edited May 5, 2021 by glbarlow

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, niwotwill said:

Thanks for the wonderful narrative and photos

Thank you for saying so, glad you’re enjoying it. 

[MEDDO]

Wonderful work certainly will be referencing this build many many times in the near future.

 

6 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I have the BIOGS 2.0. It works great for me and judging by the three layers of filters when I clean them it’s removing plenty of dust. 
 

I know it’s working in auto mode when it kicks on when I sweep the floor. It works for me in my in-house work shop. 
 

Thanks for the comment too c

 

Query... how often do you need to clean out that model and/or replace the filters?

[glbarlow]

17 minutes ago, MEDDO said:

how often do you need to clean out that model and/or replace the filters?

I’ve yet to need to replace the filters and I’ve had it for about 18 months. It will tell me when through an indicator. I simply vacuum the the filters when I think it needs it, not that often. It’s easy to lift the cover and decide. 

[glbarlow]

Masts continued

 

I’ve now epoxied the ship to its permanent base and glued in the main mast.  

Both are very anxious steps, after nearly 12 months work I certainly did want either the ship or the mast off-center or unbalanced especially since neither step can be undone or stopped once started.  
 

First the ship to the base. I had bubble levels at three places on the deck, on the mount, and on the worktop. I rehearsed everything several times before adding the mixed epoxy to the brass rods and pedestals. I had paper towels at hand to wipe the inevitable excess epoxy from the pedestals and keel. With only 5 minutes before the epoxy set, I moved fast but with a light hand. ...Sit the ship on the base, wipe excess, check levels, sigh a sigh of relief and walk away for the night, turn around and check levels again...

 

It was much the same for the main mast, only this time I used a laser level. I hadn’t moved the model from its leveled position and again everything was rehearsed. I knew adding the Tite Bond would make it a tighter fit so not to panic. The challenge here is not so much the rake of the mast, which I checked with a bubble level on the tree anyway, I knew the rake was established correctly way back when I built the frame. The level made sure the mast was straight from the bow looking back but I had to eyeball the left/right orientation of the trees to the deck below. Again rehearsal was essential as I’d established reference marks to key in on looking from above down to the deck.  Fortunately I have a decently calibrated eyeball, and in the end everything came out right.

Now the quandary, do I follow the monograph and next rig the boom? That means also gluing the top mast and mast cap in place. That in turn means seizing shrouds and other mast top ropes on the ship, rather than making them off the ship and simply dropping them into place before adding the mast cap. I’m sure it will be fine either way.
 

It’s a little sad to note that other than some dead eyes, yards, and the anchors, I’ve made all there is to make. Lots of rigging to go but I’ll be finished in a couple of months.  Then what will I do......,

 

Thanks for stopping by, sorry I was too laser focused (see what i did there) to take more pictures of this very critical step. Your comments and likes are always appreciated.  

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by glbarlow

[Edwardkenway]

3 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Then what will I do......,

There is always Chuck's Winnie 😄

Cheerful is looking good, and excellent execution of the "launch and mast stepping " Glenn 

[glbarlow]

10 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

always Chuck's Winnie

I’ve thought about it, I just have no place for that behemoth, even as beautiful as it is.  Maybe though. I’m hoping Chuck turns to the USS Hornet as his next masterpiece. 

 

i like  “Launching” as the word for fixing the model to its base...nice!

[egkb]

Hi Glenn .. Lovin' the Laser Level idea .. (Shall have to nick that,  though first I'll need a laser level 😋)  Your Cheery Looks A Treat Too !! 

 

Eamonn

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, egkb said:

need a laser level

You can justify it because it’s great for hanging pictures around the house 😁

[bartley]

4 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Now the quandary, do I follow the monograph and next rig the boom? That means also gluing the top mast and mast cap in place. That in turn means seizing shrouds and other mast top ropes on the ship, rather than making them off the ship and simply dropping them into place before adding the mast cap. I’m sure it will be fine either way.
 

Glenn,

 

You will see that I went with standing rigging gangs first before fitting the. topmast.  For me there was no way I could tie them neatly on the ship.  I did not tie off the shrouds though as I thought they might grt in the way of running riggging but in retrospect it would have been OK

 

John

Edited April 24, 2021 by bartley

[glbarlow]

Boom & Gaff Rigging

 

With the boom and gaff made it’s now time to start the full on rigging of Cheerful. I enjoy this part of the build process, it’s fun to work from the plans, determining rope and block sizes and the routes and lengths to organize the complicated block and tackle arrangements, each one serving some specific purpose. I like the look of the ropes running about, it’s one of the main reasons I like building sailing craft, even though fully rigged Cheerful will have a whole lot less lines than I ran for Pegasus. It’s kind of amazing to know that ships of this time period relied completely on wood, canvas, and rope to move the ship. It must of been an orchestra of coordinated movement to haul lines and arrange sails to propel the ship across the oceans. Anyway…

 

 

First up are two thimbles rigged to the gaff for the peak halyard. This is different than the more common method of seizing blocks, instead here the thimbles are attached to block seized hooks. A little more complicated to make but really fun to do. I described making thimbles in an earlier post. The spring loaded punch makes this a breeze, the set I have allows for a pressure/tension adjustment, with a little experimentation I set the right amount of punch to get an even fold of the brass with just one push punch to each side, no hammer needed.

 

 

I seized the thimble centered in a length of .018 dark brown rope on my Quad Hands then crossed the ends and added a loose seizing. I’ve mentioned after experimenting with other methods I came back to my Bob Hunt learned approach of turning the thread much like many us learned as kids to tie a hook on a fishing line. Seven turns is my choice for no known reason other than its not 6 or 8.

 

 

With this rig placed over the gaff and pulled tight, glued with watered down white glue, then trimmed with my cuticle cutters I have my gaff rigged thimbles. I also attached whatever blocks I could to both the boom and the gaff before proceeding with the rigging. I always try to rig whatever I can off the ship where its much easier to manage.

 

 

A small digression. I apparently credited the wrong cutter to Ryland. His choice being a little heavier duty toe nail cutter, the top one in the photo. Never having met a tool I didn’t like, I also got one to go along with my cuticle cutter (bottom) and Gingher embroidery scissors (note none of the three are actually for modeling, my experience is jewelers and sewers have the best tools, and now apparently so do pedicurists). For the record no way would I trim any toe nails with these things, I'd end up trimming toes instead.

 

No judgement intended, all three are good choices and preference will vary between users, however I like my mistakenly referenced cuticle cutters best for trimming, though my embroidery scissors are also heavily used in rigging. The cutter is so sharp I just get near the thread and it trims itself. The toe nail clippers do have a solid reliable use for heavier cutting where absolute flush is required, but for me personally it would rank third mostly due to the size and weight. Nonetheless I am grateful to @Ryland Craze for his steering me this way and acknowledge his preference and recommendation. With these new tools in hand I quickly abandoned trying out other seizing methods, now being able to closely trim around my seizings. Or maybe I just have the old dog, new tricks syndrome.

 

 

Back to rigging. I tied off the boom to the boom rest using some boxwood parrel beads I happened to have. They were the perfect match to the ship to complement my character driven (that’s what I’m calling them….) boxwood mast rings and cedar mast.

 

 

 

 

Using .025 light brown line I rigged the topping lift. It runs up to the mast cap and then connects to .018 tackle finishing to a hook at the base of the mast and belayed to the pin rail. These as well as all my lines at this point are not glued to the belay points and are left long enough to release and re-tension later - hence a lot of string on the deck.

 

 

The Quad Hands are quite handy at working up high, in this case the tackle block for the topping lift. I purchased an additional 16” arm making it even easier. It is due to having this tool I chose to go ahead and glue on the topmast and mast cap and work in the monograph sequence of rigging inside out. This knowing I can manage adding the shrouds on board instead of slipping them on before the mast cap was glued on. Other than standing up and being careful not to break the trees, it’s only a little more challenging than working off the model as has been my past practice.

 

 

By now I think I’ve established my zest for tool acquisition (sad I know), these simple home made tools make belaying and running lines in crowded places much easier. They are nothing more than sewing needles with the head cut off and the remaining ‘V’ filed sanded smooth (otherwise I’d shred the thread) and glued into a six inch wooden dowel. I’ve had these for years, they work great for me. The different lengths of the V’s serve different purpose, but always for rigging.

 

 

 

I had earlier loosely ran .018 light brown line through the triple blocks (one to the boom and the other to the horse above the tiller) for the main sheet before I completed the topping lift. Easier to get there now while the boom is just flopping around loose. (in case you're checking, the stern is pretty well covered in dust this time).

 

I wasn’t exactly sure in what sequence to rig these two triple blocks. I had acquired Petersson’s Rigging Period Fore and Aft Craft from Amazon Kindle and downloaded it to my iPad a while back. The first section is specific to English Cutters and is mostly detailed diagrams for key sections of rigging, it is very handy and what I followed to rig the main sheet. One interesting point is how the running end passes through the center of the two blocks before being belayed to a cleat.

 

 

After tying off the gaff to the mast using more of my boxwood parrels I chose to next add the throat halyard with more .018 line. Out of sequence with the monograph I found it easier to have the halyard holding the gaff in place a bit. While I was rigging the peak halyard this was left very loose, I only tensioned it after all the gaff lines were run. My practice is there is no need and every reason not to tension lines that work together (like for the gaff) until they are all run and can be slowly tensioned together.

 

 

The peak halyard requires .018 line with six sets of block and hooks with .012 line tackle at the deck. I’ve mentioned I have plenty of the commercial hooks but elected to learn to make my own. I’m sure they aren’t the best in the world, in fact I’ve since learned to make them a tad shorter They certainly are not as nice as Chuck’s (or many others) but I like them [well, not so much, I replaced all of them after this post]. I’m sure with practice I can make [made] better ones, however at this point I choose to be consistent with the size and look and not have a variety of styles posted around the ship [so when I replaced one I replaced them all].

 

 

For the peak halyard I chose to work backwards from the monograph’s detailed description. I stared with the tackle made off the ship (there I go again) and ran the lines up through the blocks back to the belay point on the mast. That allowed me to more easily adjust the starboard tackle block to be even with the topping lift block on the port side….at least for me it worked.

 

 

 

This photo demonstrates the superb quality of Syren blocks and (now discontinued) rope along with some less distinguished hooks. I’m going to miss ordering Syren rope. I'm not sure I’m that excited about making my own, fortunately something I can delay until after Cheerful.

 

 

The completed peak halyard is one of those distinguishing features of many ship models, it is one really long line run from a block and tackle hooked to the deck, back and forth through five blocks up high, then belayed back to the deck. It takes some patience and time to obtain the right angle on the gaff, this angle also affects how the rope looks (geometry, angles, and all that stuff). I marked a spot I had determined from the plans on the mast with gaffer tape by drawing on the plans a level line straight across from the tip of the gaff. I placed a bubble level on the wide side of my long metal ruler to transfer that line from the plans to the ship. Of course I could have winged it and been close enough, but where is the fun in that. Then it’s pulling here, a tug there, through the six blocks until the line looks right. It is critical to not over tension or pull too hard at one spot. Chuck’s blocks are great, but its a hole in a piece of wood, not a working pulley.

 

 

Like the topping lift, the peak halyard has similar tackle with the peak to starboard and the topping to port. The peak halyard tackle runs to a hooked block connected to an eyebolt on the cap rail and with the other end belayed to the pin rail (that line travel up the mast, out the gaff, back down to the deck only to end up in more or less the spot it started, that's a long line...). The throat halyard is simpler, running directly to a belaying pin on the port pin rail.

 

 

With the flag halyard added and temporarily tied off at a cleat on the stern (wow, how long ago did I install that cleat….) the running rigging for the boom and gaff is complete. That was fun. Next up the Burton pendants and adding those shrouds.

 

Thanks for stopping by, your comments and likes are always appreciated. I’m especially glad to learn that some find the log helpful as a reference for their own builds. Like many that’s how I learned and I enjoy trying to pass that on.

Edited May 5, 2021 by glbarlow

[niwotwill]

Still hard to look ahead in a good book while still reading chapter 9 but I did and it is great. Love the rigging. Small comment on tools scissors I got turned onto suture scissors for rigging. I find them amazing to cut cleanly and close to knots. I am going to add heat shrink tubing to my alligator clips on the third or fourth had what a great idea holding rope.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will