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

[glbarlow]

15 hours ago, BobG said:

Have you found a method that gives you consistently good results

Thanks Bob! I'm not sure its that good, but I hope it helps future builders applying Chuck's methods.

 

Not sure about the good results part given I had to add a strip to the last bulkhead. Laying the batten along the length is the way to go. I think using a very thin one helps suss out problem areas. I also left the trailing edge with the laser char (forward aft of mid-ships, back of fore of midships). I sanded that off too at the end, but until then it made sure I didn't loose the shape of the hull. Even though I had a small problem I was able to fix, overall the planks run true. Honestly I don't know how to catch the last frame.  It didn't become apparent until I installed the stern frames. Experience is the constant process of learning I guess.

 

 

[glbarlow]

2 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

I'll borrow that if I may. 

Thank you!

I borrowed it from someone else, it's all yours now 🙂

[RichardG]

Looking very good. Lots of good information as well.

 

5 hours ago, glbarlow said:

It’s another example that if my ship had three sides my third side would look great, I learn as I go.

I'm finding that my 3rd attempt on everything I do on my model seems to be the best. That is the point I find myself thinking it's probably going to get worse if I try again. My hull planking, which I only did once, is hidden under paint and copper thank goodness.

 

[DelF]

Glenn

 

Thanks for taking the time to set out your planking work in such detail - I've bookmarked it for future reference under 'Planking Tutorials'.

 

Derek

[Chuck]

Welk that looks pretty darn good!!! Well done.  Its not that hard once you know all steps and are willing to take the time to do them all.  Most folks think its too much of a pain....but as you see,  it is well worth the effort.  The cedar looks great.   

[glbarlow]

4 hours ago, DelF said:

I've bookmarked it for future reference under 'Planking Tutorials'.

 

Well thanks Derek, I’ve bookmarked several sections of your Speedy build for future reference as well.  Part of my writing it is hoping others find it helpful.  I’ve been helped here by lots of people, including you. 

 

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

it is well worth the effort.  

Thank you very much Chuck.  I certainly agree, I hope by sharing my work using your process even more will be encouraged to put in the effort.

 

And yes, the cedar really is nice looking wood. 
 

10 hours ago, RichardG said:

finding that my 3rd attempt on everything I do on my model seems to be the best

Thanks Richard.  But just think, the third time on this model also could be the first time on the next one. 

[BobG]

15 hours ago, RichardG said:

Looking very good. Lots of good information as well.

 

I'm finding that my 3rd attempt on everything I do on my model seems to be the best. That is the point I find myself thinking it's probably going to get worse if I try again. My hull planking, which I only did once, is hidden under paint and copper thank goodness.

 

I found this out the hard way! I need to learn when to stop...

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, BobG said:

when to stop..

Don’t we all. I sometimes say to myself “don’t over-optimize”. Then do 😂😊

[Rustyj]

Hi Glenn,

 

Just caught up with your progress and it's looking really nice. 

[glbarlow]

Thanks Rusty. It could hitch a ride as cargo on your Winnie 🙂

[garthog]

I noticed earlier that you mentioned you began tapering your planks at bulkhead 6 - how did you determine where to begin the taper?  Is there a method?  I understand that you follow the tick marks but how did you figure out that it was a specific bulkhead?

 

garthog

[glbarlow]

12 hours ago, garthog said:

how did you figure out that it was a specific bulkhead?

Hey Garthog,

 

In the past I sorted guessed by where the plank stopped lying flush with the one above it, that’s still true but I’d often guess wrong by a few millimeters either way which led to an inconsistent curve, I was always catching up on subsequent planks. 

 

Lining the hull takes out the guess work. The tick marks showed bulkhead 6 is a full width plank but from bulkhead 5  to the bow the tick marks showed sequentially less than full width, hence the taper start point. That may change on the second, lower belt of 10 rows, another good reason for the two belts, but it was true of the top eight.
 

I also found by starting the taper at the same point, bh 6, I kept a nice curve.  Not sure if that’s true for every model, but it is for Cheerful, the tick parks supported that.

 

I am not perfect on my cuts. Every other plank I recheck the distance (in mm) from the last plank to the bottom tick park, my original tape mark for row 8, and divide by the number of remaining planks. Just me validating the tick marks, the measuring is more precise than just the pencil mark, a little perfectionist overkill probably. It doesn’t change the width of the plank at the bow much but it does some, it’s better to adjust as I go than to have a very wide or skinny plank 8.  I really like this method. It’s tedious to do all the prep but it pays off. 

 

Hope that helps. 

[BobG]

Great information about tapering the planks. 

 

Beveling the planks always confuses me. How do you determine where to start beveling the upper edge of the planks so that they fit tighter to the plank above ? I find this is a hit and miss operation for me.

[glbarlow]

On 7/22/2020 at 12:30 PM, BobG said:

determine where to start beveling the upper edge of the plank

I’m not at all precise about it. I soften the top back edge of the entire plank, beveling may be overselling it. I don’t put a hard 30 degree edge on it or anything, I find just rolling off the back edge works. I’m probably doing it wrong, but I don’t have any gaps and I would if I did nothing. I do check the fit as I go, the greater the curve (as in the roll of the stern, not the bow) the more the bevel. This plus the time bending a plank that almost lays to fit on its own before gluing has made a big difference for me.

[garthog]

Thanks for the explanation on the plank tapering.  You must use a very thin pencil lead for your marks!! Anyway, your planking really looks fantastic!

 

garthog

[glbarlow]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:09 AM, garthog said:

very thin pencil lead

.7mm 😊 I think the planking fan Chuck provides must take that into account somehow. It was surprising to me it comes out as well as it does. It isn’t perfect, I’m not that perfect in transferring them, but it’s close.

[glbarlow]

In my last post I said if my model had 3 sides the third side would be better.

 

Turns out I elected to prove that point. After finishing the port side I looked to finish the remaining 4 rows on starboard. I was already concerned because I had a thin spot where I had over-sanded. I looked, thought about it, looked some more, shook my head a few times, looked again, thought about it. Then ripped off the whole side (after doing two more rows, only two from being finished) all the way to the bottom of the wales, including those first two rows I’d put on multiple times already.

 

 

So I did the starboard side again, all 10 rows including the drop plank (which fortunately Chuck provides a couple of extra). I’m much happier with the result, I will not be seeing if I get better if my model had four sides. There are still imperfections, but I’m wrapping that up as character and the acceptance that as I am an imperfect person, so then should be my ship.

 

 

Here, at least for me, is what I found made the difference. It may seem small but in my work I found it to be important. First, as I mentioned at the beginning of the log I had no experience ripping planks prior to starting Cheerful. Now with the help of others and doing a lot of it I’ve gotten better. The key difference now is I can rip planks a consistent thickness. I’ll show what my steps are in a future post. It’s not that they were wildly different in fact all measured 3/64th with my digital caliper. But as I mentioned the difference in millimeters ran from about 1.18 - 1.32. Clearly that’s not much but it meant more sanding to get them evened up, hence the thin spot.

 

 

Secondly, I determined I was happiest with thicker planks. With plank bending the thickness wasn’t a problem - so I cut a batch of about 48 planks (enough for the remaining rows on the bottom too) at about 1.38. - almost 1/16th thick.  With them all being much closer to the same width and thicker I got better results with much less sanding. This is probably because I’m just an average modeler and certainly because in my life I’ve now single planked three sides of a ship, but it’s what worked.

 

This may all seem obvious to most, my discovery is that if I’d only measured it using imperial, they were all 3/64ths, perhaps my digital caliper may not be as precise in imperial as it should be. By cross checking that in millimeters, and the variance in thickness that showed, sent me on an unrecoverable need to start the starboard side over. And here I am. I’m really hoping I’ve solved this. It would be much more difficult to rip off the bottom rows, I don’t want to do that again. In case you’re wondering - it wasn’t fun.

 

Now I get to figure out why a square tuck is actually a triangle - this may take a while. Oh, and I’m going to need more 3/16ths wood for the deck…:-)

[glbarlow]

Sometimes I worry I share too much...............

[Rustyj]

 

24 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Sometimes I worry I share too much...............

 

Nope it's good to see that you suffer the same as the rest of us! 🤣

Seriously your explanations help others understand possible problems and a means of correcting or modifying the approach and achieving a great result.  

I'm all for your sharing and I'm envious you can explain it so well. Keep up the good work. Oh and please no 4 sided hulls!!!

[VTHokiEE]

It looks really, really nice! I’m a complete novice with table saws (I don’t own one yet) but does the micrometer stop help with the thickness consistency? I suppose I should first ask, do you have the Byrnes micrometer stop and is this what it is used for?

 

32 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Sometimes I worry I share too much

Ha when it comes to modeling I’m not certain there is such a thing. Heck, even non-ship modeling stuff needs to be heard by the right person 🙂.

[glbarlow]

3 hours ago, Rustyj said:

your explanations help others

Thanks Rusty, I’ve been helped by so many others myself, including you in my plank ripping education. 

[glbarlow]

19 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

does the micrometer stop help

I think I’ll next try to write a post on what I’ve learned on ripping planks.
 

I have the micrometer but in this instance it’s no help. I’ll expand on this later but I set the cut depth either with some brass gauges I have or in this case with one plank already cut the proper width between the blade and the fence snugged up tight, but no so tight I can’t pull it through. 
 

Step one is having a great saw with the right blade - In my opinion the Byrnes saw has no peer. Though I’m new to ripping planks, I’ve had this saw for ten years and used it for countless things in building my models.

[Ryland Craze]

8 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

I think I’ll next try to write a post on what I’ve learned on ripping planks.

That would be very helpful.  I have the Cheerful starter package and all of the sheets of wood.  I just need to learn how to rip my own planks.  I have enjoyed your build log as well as the other Cheerful builders.  All of this information will help me when I start my Cheerful.

[glbarlow]

2 hours ago, Ryland Craze said:

when I start my Cheerful.

Glad to be of help as I’ve been helped by others. I’m sure you’ll enjoy building Cheerful, it’s a fun challenge  

[DelF]

21 hours ago, glbarlow said:

There are still imperfections

Really? Look darn near perfect to me!

 

17 hours ago, glbarlow said:

I have the micrometer but in this instance it’s no help

I'll be interested to see your post on this. I sometimes use the micrometer if the piece I'm ripping is to the left of the saw blade as opposed to between the blade and the fence (I find ripping thin strips to the left is generally much easier and less problematic). Of course if you're ripping a lot of strips on the left you need a  jig like this so you don't need to keep re-positioning the fence.

 

Derek

[Ronald-V]

Really nice planking! Also that yellow tone of it is so beautiful!

[MEDDO]

That planking looks fantastic. I very much enjoy your explanations and I would love to see exactly how you ripped planks.  I was thinking that I would probably start practicing soon on some blanks. I’ve never tried to rip planks from the left of the blade before. I might see if I can build a proper jig/spacer/attachment for that.

 

19 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Sometimes I worry I share too much...............

It’s never too much I always love seeing how people do things and think problems through. 

[Matt D]

19 hours ago, Rustyj said:

 

 

Nope it's good to see that you suffer the same as the rest of us! 🤣

 

We’re all just pushing the boulder up a steep hill!

 

Glenn, your planking looks excellent .  If the extra 1/64” helps you, then it’s all good.  It looks like you have a finish on it.  Is that the case?

[glbarlow]

6 hours ago, DelF said:

left of the saw blade

Don’t muddle my brain with new ways, I just got comfortable with this one😜 I’m comfortable this method, done correctly, produces planks with less than .1mm variance. Hard to beat that.

 

[Blue Ensign]

I thinks she's looking absolutely splendid Glenn, what a fine model Chuck has designed.

 

B.E.