Cutty Sark 1869 by Dognut - Constructo - Scale 1:115 - First build

[Dognut]

Hi Guys,

Again thanks for the encouragement! Nenad, thanks as well for the warning about the deck clearances. I've had a good look at both decks, and the anchor deck does have an overhang. I'll add this to the list of things to do once she gets to the shipyard.

 

By the way, I realised that I haven't posted the photo I have of the stern. Amazingly, I seem to have got the bends right - in terms of alignment. I say amazing as I've been reading about the problems Nenad has had with this section. Probably just "dumb luck" on my part. The section where the stern post will go will need some 'surgery' to make it fit, but that's the way the kit seems to work. The bulwark rails at the top - I dunno what I was thinking/doing/smoking/drinking when this was done. Yet another correction required at the shipyard....

[NenadM]

i wish you luck  with surgery

[Dognut]

Hi,

I'm certainly going to be a lot more critical of the required steps in the I@$ruct!%ns. After the bow blunder, I've read the instructions from cover to cover - several times.

 

Constructo has gone into very great detail on some things : example a long paragraph on assembling the main winch, which has 4 seperate parts. Then, the next sentence - install on correct place on deck..and I'm now supposed to know exactly where that should be. Another, in the section on the anchor deck, a single sentence has me completely stumped:

 

" Make the cat head and install as per line diagram"

 

Huh? Unless I'm looking in the wrong place, I've yet to find out what a 'cat-head' is. I certainly doubt it refers to a feline species.

 

So things like this is partly to blame for me losing interest in the build for a long time. It didn't help that I saw a comment on another forum (not MSW) a couple of years ago: One poster was responding to a new log started by someone building a Cutty Sark: his post "Oh no, not another one..."

 

Happend at the same time I discovered the BOW BLUNDER, so it didn't take much to discourage me at that point.

 

Interestingly, I haven't been able to find that forum again. It was while I was looking for it that I found MSW - and ceratinly found a "lekker" (SA slang for nice or great) group of fellow modellers..

[SpencerC]

The cathead is the two beams sticking out on either side of the bow at roughly 45 degree angles which hold the anchors. They're located right at the front of the ship on either side literally sticking out like cat ears or horns.

[Dognut]

Hi SpenceC,

thanks for your prompt response to my query. When I saw it, I realised that I've been looking at it in one of my photo collection that plays as a slide show on my desktop.

 

Untill now, I didn't know what I was looking at - except maybe the "thingie the anchor hangs from". Sorry - I'm not a sailor!

 

I'm still a long way from actually doing this part, but strange instructions in the manual tend to get me a whole lot sidetracked. Reading the section on rigging just makes me put it down to worry about at a later stage..

[NenadM]

Hey, don`t worry, MSW is always around us.

 

There is a long walk in front us until rigging, which mean a lot of time to think, research, learn and prepare.

 

In my opinion, that is nice part of this hobby

[Dognut]

At long last, I've made a promise to myself:

 

I'm going to move my CS from the office, back to the workshop/shipyard, and at long last get my build going again. I've set up some bench space - with good lights, and now that the warmer weather is back, good reason to spend some time with glue and wood rather than spreadsheets and figures.

 

Grand move is scheduled for Friday afternoon, so will have just enough time to arrange transport, rent-a-crowd, motorcade and honour-guard. However, I get the nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something..

 

Camera - check. Batteries - check.

 

Still got this feeling though...

[NenadM]

I am waiting  your progress

[Dognut]

Hey hey, weekend's here! I've been stressing about the bow - but mainly how to get the glue loose. The glue I used, proudly proclaims "for a bond stronger than wood"

 

Not so great when you've made major boo-boo. How to make it let go. MSW research turned up Isopropyl alcohol, so I started looking around here for some. Got some very strange looks.

 

A chance remark here at work, led to the solution from our maintenance guy - who's a cabinetmaker by trade. 

 

"soak it in water - that will soften it so you can scrape it out and re-do the work"

 

Ah.

 

Guess what's happening this weekend. 

 

Very early launch of my Cutty. (She's gonna get wet)

 

Pictures to follow!

[NenadM]

Bath time ...   

[SpencerC]

What exactly is wrong with the bow?

[Dognut]

 Hi SpenceC

What's wrong with my bow.....(Hysterical giggle) - How long have you got?

 

Seriously though:  I very carefully follwed the kit instructions, and one step involved gluing a stem reinforcing strip on either side of the false keel, at the bow end. Then, without thinking things through too carefully (I was still trusting the instructions at this point) I then happily (stupidly/idiotically) proceeded with the hull planking. It was only after I had almost completed the planking, that I decided to look how the bow stem piece would fit - and that's when the horror of what I had done hit home. The width at the bow was 3-4 times the thickness of the stem piece.

 

Looking at the bow from the front, I realised that, rather than the clean 'knife' bow that clippers were known for, I had something that would probably have been at home on an icebreaker. Instead of a nice, clean taper to the stem, I had a wide, flared gap.

Photo below shows the bow after I had tried, with the help of one of Mr Dremel's tools, to try and correct the mess.

 

Have a look at the bottom - that will give you some idea of my problem, but it was a lot worse.

To try and loosen the glue had not occurred to me at that point - this was several years ago, long before I found MSW. I was following another ship modelling forum, but somehow the members there were a bit offputting about "another Cutty Sark". Anyway, I have re-started work, and spent a pleasant evening on the weekend scraping out all the softened glue.

Photos to follow, as soon as I can organise some better (camera friendly) lighting.

[NenadM]

The devil is no black as it seems

 

"Dremel" it more and do not hesitate to use putty. Look at my comedy of ship (all covered with putty). There will be second layer of planking with veneer (or similar) which will cover everything. Dont make same mistake as mine. Think ten times, and then start to work. See my post #331 and look at this funny thing I call "future model of Cutty Sark" in present stage

 

Nenad

[SpencerC]

Well yeah I mean that's how mine looks too, of course you're going to have planks on either side of the stem that's just how it's supposed to look. How else would you do it to make them not stick out?

[Dognut]

Hi Spence - good point there.

 

However - this picture was taken after I'd done some corrections. If the stem was then placed in the middle, there would have been enough room on either side of it for another stem (therefore 3 times thickness).

 

Taking a cue from the actual ship, I realised that this was 'rather wrong'.

 

Got me thinking - how was the actual ship built? keel and stem etc laid first, and then planked (not the other way around).

So I thought that if the stem is in place, you have something to align the planks with - unless I'm wrong, the planks should be flush, not proud of the stem?

 

Let me know what you think.

[NenadM]

Very long time I banged my head around this problem, and it's one (not only) of the reasons why I was doing a facing of small pieces of balsa. At the entrance to the bow, the end of which sits in front of the bow I thinned and accurately align with the other line that I drew earlier. The rest is solved puttying

 

In a picture attached to post #33 and #73 in my log, you can see some idiotic solution from original plan I have for lineing. I remove it, add extra rib where must be, and slowly proceed to stage shown in picture attached to post #80

Something like that

 

 

And here is result, very good in my opinion

 

 

 

With long strips, it is almost impossible to catch right point at the bow and at the same time at the stern (curvature, longitudinal and $#!&%# ... )

 

Maybe to apply deep surgery: Cut moldings to the first rib of the bow/stern and try this ???

Edited October 28, 2013 by Nenad M

[rfolsom]

Dognut;  it seems to me you needed to cut a rabbet in the false keel.  This is a notch running all the way around the ship, as deep as your planks are wide, that allows the ends of the planks to set into.  Here's an early picture of my Cutty Sark showing this, but it's hard to see. At top is a picture of my rabbet in my other build, the US brig Niagara; which is a little easier to see.

[rfolsom]

Here are some additional pictures I just took of the Niagara's bow as it is right now with only the first two outside strakes laid, at different angles to try to show how the planks lay into the rabbet.  Notice the top view where you can see the "V" cut into the false keel (this is the rabbet, and follows the keel all the way around) The false keel and the stem, keel, and sternpost pieces are all the same thickness, and the rabbet is cut into the false keel only.

 

Hope this helps some.  I can take additional pics if needed.

 

Bob

[rfolsom]

Correction;  in my post before last I said; .."deep as your planks are wide."  I meant "deep as your planks are thick.."  Also, if you look carefully at my Cutty's bow, you can see the lighter wood which was gradually shaved and feathered into the rabbet which allows the planks to come to a sharp bow characteristic of clippers, as opposed to the more blunt bow of the Niagara.

 

Good luck, and keep moving forward!

[SpencerC]

I have an idea! Use wood putty to smooth the transition from the prou planks to the front of the stem.

[Dognut]

Hi again to the "CS Fleet" (Nenad, rfolsom, SpencerC),

 

Guys, thanks for all the input and ideas. Would be a great help if I checked my own build log occasionally...

 

Nenad - thanks for that diagram. I was thinking along those lines, so you've just added to my thoughts.

Rob - thanks for the photos. I've also been thinking I should be applying woodworking techniques, and this just goes to show that its the way to go.

Spence - "putty" is certainly in my future. I also tried (a while ago), just to see how it worked, by using a carpenter's trick: take the sawdust from your sanding efforts, mix with a bit of dilute wood glue, apply to area to be filled in. So maybe a combination of that, and putty.

 

I have already got the bow section loose (CS had a bow-bath), and in the process of scraping out the soft goo/glue, one of the planks snapped off at the first rib.

 

Hmmmmm (this seems to be contagious in this fleet) then started thinking that it would maybe be easier, especially the lower section where my bow started really bulging (Didn't think I could get away with displaying a model with a bulbous bow-foot many years ahead of it's time). Any resulting joints will be covered with the coppering I hope to do (although not part of this kit).

 

But then I also thought - surely on the real ship there are joints anyway - unlikely they would have used planks 980ft long? So I'm not going to get too stressed about plank joins - depending of course, if the CS Fleet council agrees

 

Lastly - Spence, thanks for the tip with the camera. I've already tried this (zooming in instead of getting close and trying to focus) and that shows promise. Still too 'spolit' from my Olympus SLR.  Anyway, just got to sort out the lighting issue (or get the inboard flash to work), so photos will follow soon - and then I can progress some more.

 

End of book!

[NenadM]

CS fleet ! I like it

 

Somewhere Rob had said very important thing: Think about next 4-5 steps forward stage you exactly are.

 

Lines of ship and their relations !!!!! I did not do this, and now it is a headache

 

In next sketch you can see what I mean. Rob will get supplemental traps 

 

[Dognut]

Hi "CS Fleet Council"

 

Just checking in - unfortunately no progress, although I get very guilty every time I go into my workshop/shipyard, and see my poor Cutty sitting there on her box, wondering what's going on...

 

Well, the Admiral of the Fleet decided that the kitchen cabinets needed upgrading...and I hate the way companies down here use chipboard (particle board) for cabinet frames. In an ungaurded moment I mentioned that I could do a better job, using the savings to buy better quality materials, etc - and next thing I know - I'm doing kitchen cabinets. Can't really complain though, got a brand new toy out of the deal. Was walking around our local Makro/Walmart, and saw the 'manager's special' - a 254mm (10in?) combination Mitre saw for around R1000 ($100), normal price nearly double that. So - a nice addition to the workshop - just not useable for shipbuildng though...

[NenadM]

From time to time we all must pay some price because our tongue was faster than the brain ... Happy kitchen modeling ... 

 

In picture above is my fast tongue two years ago when Admiral gets wild about cleaning dust from workdesk ... "Yes, I can solve the problem of cables behind workdesk".

 

Cables belong to:

1. PC + camera + microfon + headphones
2. cables of music mixete
3. cables of keyboards
4. cables of 5.1 music system
5. TV/internet/telephone cables
6. wifi instalation
7. cables to connect music studio in attic of my son
8. 220 V power supply for all this things + all transformers 

.... two weeks in this position .... yeah ... next time keep your mouth shout Nenad

 

Edited November 14, 2013 by Nenad M

[rfolsom]

Dognut;  Good luck with the cabinets;  particle board is very inferior especially in the kitchen, when things can get wet, spilled upon, steamed by cooking etc...  Definitely time well worth investing... And it pleases the Admiralty   

 

Hope to see new posts after the interim project...

 

Bob

[Dognut]

Hi Bob, thanks for the good wishes.

That project is actually going quite well so far - maybe has something to do with the 1:1 scale.

 

I actually got some pictures of the start of my Cutty's "nose job" this weekend....

 

and then forgot to bring the camera to the office to download photos. Hopefully I'll remember it tomorrow, so I can show that there is some progress, at least.

 

Nenad - I know what you mean about these projects - something fairly simple seems to take on a life of it's own, and next thing you know, you have a major task on your hands.

 

But, as we all have learnt - have to keep the admiralty happy, so there's not too much wondering "whats the fascination with that little wooden boat?"

 

Very, very unprintable thoughts on that comment..

[NenadM]

Keep on, my friend. Two kitchens I have made for Admiral ... One large wardrobe, children beds and furniture ( when they were kids), whole bedroom, almost whole work-room in house, of the number wall shelf ...  My Admiral seem to be very happy ......... 

 

But when she start conversation with some like " I was just thinking something ..." I know my "good morning"  !!!

Edited November 21, 2013 by Nenad M

[Dognut]

Hi 'CS Fleet'

Luckily I've been able to keep the admiralty happy - and I have to be extra careful. You may have seen my reference to my "Admiral of the Fleet" - this title given to my mom, who is now staying with me after my dad passed away last year. As the family matriarch, she gets the title "Admiral of the Fleet". She's not too sure about it though...

 

My cabinet building has been restricted to the day hours (over weekends) as I will NOT operate any tool with spinning blades and big teeth in poor light conditions. I'm very attached to my fingers and hands...

 

So, on the occasional evening, when I'm not too wiped from work, I spend a bit of time on the build.

First up was to get the glue loose on the bow, so I could start re-working it. Did this by standing her on her bow in a dish of water, and then it struck me just how funny this looked

 

Not covered anywhere in the instructions

 

[NenadM]

 

Good luck, and take care of your "attachments"

 

Did bow blossom ? Or Cutty sign up to walrus, seal, penguin or similar club ?

 

I hope that wood on hull will not bulb and swell on unwanted places ...

 

Waiting for photos of deep surgery

 

Nenad

 

PS

 

Nice tool behind Her, sadly not for her ( It IS NOT idea when you get pissed !!!! )

Edited November 21, 2013 by Nenad M

[rfolsom]

Dognut;  I'm also awaiting progress after your Cutty's bath;  I believe I mentioned on my log about how the false deck got warped after my parakeets splashed water on it, (it spent time in the closed bathroom under weight with the shower going full force on hot to steam the deck flat.)

 

So, bath or sauna, we gotta do what we gotta do...

 

Bob