HM Cutter Alert by Thukydides - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - first build

[Mike_H]

My word, this is beautiful work!  I must commit to giving this much attention to detail (on some future model!)

[Thukydides]

Log #84: The Topgallant Yard

I continue to slowly pick away at the mainmast. Things are getting really delicate now as there is so much to catch an errant hand on.

 

I have pretty much run out of 0.25mm rope and so had to order some more. As I need this for the topsail bowlines I have two wait before I can finish up the topsail yard. In the meantime I continued to work my way up and next up were the pendant for the topgallant sheets.

 

I had originally planned to use one of the kit provided thimbles, but when I put it on the model it looked completely out of scale so I decided to improvise. First I took a plastic tube I had on hand (I believe it came from a water balloon) and cut off a small piece.

Then I used a sculpting tool to press out the sides to make a thimble.

I then held these on a pin and painted them black. I cut a piece out of each to make them smaller and open on one end so they bended like a teardrop. Then I sized around them.

This was quite a fiddly process and in the end I probably should have just looked harder from some metal I could do this with, but in the end I got them to look ok. Here they are on the model.

Next up was the topgallant yard. This was straight forward with an eye splice that I served over to hold the yard. I used 0.25mm rope based on the steel table.

The line runs through a sheave in the topgallant mast  and down to the base of the mainmast. Here there was a bit of a canundrom. The kit calls for it to be attached to a 4mm double block which then is paired with a 3mm single with a hook attached to the deck (note this double plus single arrangement is also what Peterson describes). However this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as all the other yards only have two single blocks and they are much bigger and heavier than the topgallant. Furthermore the 0.25mm line looks tiny on the 4mm block. If I had a 3mm double I probably would have used it but in the end I decided to just use two 3mm single blocks. This is also consistent with the Steel table as it only seems to list single blocks for the topgallant halliard.

 

You can see below the upper of these two blocks. As I ran out of 0.25mm rope I can’t finish the tying off of this line until I get the extra I ordered in the mail.

And here is the model in her current state. I am getting close to the end now. Just a few more lines to tie off on the mainmast and then I will be on to the bowsprit.

Edited April 29 by Thukydides

[druxey]

Those thimbles are a great hack! Well invented.

[AON]

I am assuming there was some heat involved in forming the plastic tube (pressing out the sides). Is that correct. 

[Thukydides]

9 minutes ago, AON said:

I am assuming there was some heat involved in forming the plastic tube (pressing out the sides). Is that correct. 

No actually there wasn't it is fairly soft and I just pushed it down and it held its shape. It is not particularly strong and I had to use some super glue to hold it in place in the eye splice. As I mentioned I am not sure I would recommend the method. If I was going to do it again I would probably use a harder plastic and heat or just go with brass.

 

I should also say that the pictures are not of the actual thimbles I made as they were too small to really get on camera. So I cut an example thicker slice just to document the process.

Edited April 29 by Thukydides

[AON]

Good to be reminded to sometimes think outside the box.  (There is more than one way to cook an egg)

[Javelin]

I could use a million of words of admiration, but I'll just keep it at "wow, what a masterpiece !"  (for now).

[Thukydides]

Log #85: The Anchors

Thank you to everyone for you kind comments and encouragement. I have spent the past couple weeks making a brief detour from the rigging, but before getting to that I did clean up a few lines. First up were some blocks with hooks for the topgallant backstay tackle and the topgallant yard halyard tackle.

I am getting much better at these now I have my process down and can produce them pretty quickly at this point. These ones only took about 15 minutes to make all in.

 

I then secured the topgallant yard halyard using one of these hook blocks and another block attached to the halyard itself. I belayed the falls to the bits and then ran the coil over the nearest cleate.

With that out of the way I decided to take a break from rigging and look at the anchors.

 

As I have one of the earlier versions of the alert kit, mine came with the cast metal anchors and I can see why Chris has moved away from these. They are easily one of the weakest parts of the kit. I debated for a while as to whether I should just chuck them and draft and 3d print some new ones, but in the end I decided to try and work with them. As I have previously noted my goal with this build has been to stay pretty close to the kit and I though with a bit of work I could make them look ok.

The main problem as you can see from the right hand anchor in the above picture is that they lack detail and the molding process has resulted in some flash and warping. I decided to try and file them down to remove the excess material and make them look closer to how they appear in the illustrations in Steel.

 

I also decided not to use the PE ring from the kit and instead made one out of paper clips which I wrapped around a drill bit to shape them. I then added the puddening to them with 0.35mm brown rope and seized them with 0.2mm beige rope. The seizing rope was a bit too big, but my only other option is the white fly tying thread I have and I thought the contrast would not look right.

You can see in the above image one of the biggest problems I struggled with, getting the primer to stick to the anchors. Despite washing and filing most of the surface off of them, I could not get the primer to hold well.

 

Then I was on to the anchor stock. The kit version did not look enough like the real thing so I scratch built some new ones out of the offcuts of the 3mm laser cut sheet.

I used the drawing in Goodwin as a template which I photocopied and resized (with some trial and error) and cut them all to the rough shape before carefully planing and sanding them to the correct size. Then I got to test out my recent acquisition of a mini drill press to drill the bolt holes.

With the holes drilled I used black monofilament fishing line to represent the bolts. I put these through before glueing the stock to the anchors to make sure I could get them through properly. Once everything was in place I just used a sharp craft knife to cut off the ends.

I then added iron straps using shrink tube and painted the straps and the anchors. I will not go into detail on the painting as I have previously described all these techniques when I did the straps on the boom jaws and when I painted the cannons.

 

Here is the final results. In the end I am pretty pleased with how they turned out and they look reasonably like the real thing.

 

[jpalmer1970]

Looking very nice. I too had the metal anchors and struggled with getting them painted. Lots of touch ups were needed during and after mounting them. 

[chris watton]

I would never ever use white metal castings in any of my kits again. The whole lot for Alert were thrown away and I was happy to take the finacial hit.

[Blue Ensign]

The anchors look great Daniel. 👍

I'm pretty picky about fittings but white metal anchors were one of those items I was  fairly relaxed about. There were sufficient after-market versions to suit all sizes - from kedge to Best bower, if a full set was required.

 

B.E.

[AON]

Now you've got me wanting to make anchors.

[Thukydides]

16 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

The anchors look great Daniel. 👍

I'm pretty picky about fittings but white metal anchors were one of those items I was  fairly relaxed about. There were sufficient after-market versions to suit all sizes - from kedge to Best bower, if a full set was required.

 

B.E.

Thanks BE, yes I did consider going with an aftermarket version, but I thought if I was going to replace them I might as well just draw up scratch ones in cad as then I could get the scale perfect instead pretty much right (I know a bunch of people with 3d printers).

 

In the end I thought this solution was good enough for the current build.

 

@jpalmer1970glad to know I wasn't the only one who had trouble getting the paint to stick. I am going to handle them very carefully from this point on.

[Thukydides]

Log #86: The Cat Falls & Topgallant Backstays

I continue to pick away at a bunch of outstanding lines and small projects on the model. I tend to work on whatever inspires me in the moment from my list of potential tasks.

 

First up on this list were the topgallant backstays. Now it is not clear to me if these actually would have been fitted on alert and in some logs people have decided to omit them. Steel does include them in the list of ropes, but that is a bit later, but they don’t appear on the hawk and this is another case of Goodwin’s commentary not matching his drawings.

 

In the end I decided to include them as this is the arrangement both the kit plans and Goodwin depict and I have already somewhat committed to following them up to this point. Also I feel the top of the model looks somewhat “naked” if the topgallant stays are not included.

Steel calls for 2 in rope which equates to 0.32mm diameter at our scale. I used 0.35mm rope seized with fly tying thread. The kit depicts these stays simply tied on to the channels. Goodwin is not clear on how they are attached. I decided that I would treat them in a similar manner to the running backstays, just hook them onto the channels.

I also decided that I would start work on the cat falls. Steel calls for 12in double block which equats to 4.8mm at our scale. I decided to use a 5mm block. To make the blocks I scratch built the hooks using the brass pins from the kit and the iron strapping was done with the black paper in the kit.

I then painted all the iron in a similar manner to how I painted the ironwork on the anchor.

The rope is stated to be 3in cir, 0.38mm at our scale. However, I decided to round up to 0.45mm for the rope. I felt the 0.35mm rope looked a bit small compared to the 5mm block and I wanted to differentiate these slightly larger ropes from the other smaller ones near them.

I have not decided quite yet where to tie off the cat falls so for the moment I have it wrapped around one of the posts for the swivel guns.

 

And here is the current state of affairs (taken before I attached the cat falls).

[Thukydides]

Log #87: The Anchor Buoys

I have not posted an update in a while as I have been slowed down by a combination of general busyness at work and my current project on the model being very fiddly. As you will shortly see I think I somewhat achieved the look I was aiming for, but certainly there is room for improvement.

 

I decided to add anchor buoys to the model and so started by shaping some with wood using some spare dowel on my drill.

For reference all the dimensions I got from p192 of Steel (https://maritime.org/doc/steel/part6.php).

 

In retrospect I think I should have tapered the ends a bit more. Next up was to add some wooden bands. I couldn’t get any clear answers on what the function of these were, but both Goodwin and Lees depict the buoys with them and Steel mentions them on p167 so I decided I would at least attempt to depict them. I used the black paper from the kits cut into thin strips glued with wood glue.

I then painted and dry brushed them.

Next came the most tedious part of the process, making the slings. These were very fiddly parts to make. Given their small size and the fact that they all need to be the same size, even very minor error resulted in noticeable differences. I needed to make 8 of these, but I probably made at least 12 in total. They were served along their whole length (as per Steel) using fly tying thread.

The eye splices etc were made using my previously described method. Once they were all done I took a pair of them and served with my 0.2mm rope around the end to make a double loop with 4 “tails”.

These were then fixed in place using super glue and the buoy hoop (confusingly the same name is used for the wooden rings and the rope that goes round the middle of the buoy) was run through the eyes.

And here is the result. I would do a few things differently if I was doing them again, but good enough for this model.

Finally I spliced a 0.5mm rope into one end for the buoy rope and a 0.35mm rope into the other end for the lanyard. The buoy rope was attached to the anchor as per the description in Goodwin (though it matches what is in Lees). The lashing is done with 0.2mm rope. The length of each rope is long enough to allow a reasonable coil to be attached to the shrouds. I only have one of the anchors done, but the second will have to wait till next time.

Thank you to everyone for all the encouragement.

[jpalmer1970]

Fantastic attention to the little details as ever!

[Nipper]

Are the bands around the buoys there to simulate the wicker frame, of which they were sometimes made?

 

Nipper

[Ronald-V]

Very well done!

[Thukydides]

5 hours ago, Nipper said:

Are the bands around the buoys there to simulate the wicker frame, of which they were sometimes made?

 

Nipper

To be honest I am not sure and couldn't find any good answers on this. Lees depicts the buoy with these bands in his illustration and Goodwin does the same in his Alert book. Steel calls them buoy hoops on p167.

Quote

BUOY-HOOPS are the wooden hoops that confine the buoy; and the wreaths of rope that go round the buoy, to which the straps are fastened.

So you may very well be right, I didn't find many other models depicting them and so almost didn't include them.

 

One thing I forgot to mention in my post which confused me is that steel says the buoy hoops (the ropes in this case) were wormed and served in merchant service, but not in the RN. This seemed a bit odd to me as I would have thought it would be the other way round. Does anyone know why this might have been. It seems odd to serve the slings, but not the hoops.

Edited June 12 by Thukydides

[Glen McGuire]

Exceptional work on those small parts, Thukydides!

[CiscoH]

great miniature work

[Thukydides]

Log #88: Hoisting the Anchors

Thank you to everyone for all the kind remarks. Today I finally completed work on the anchors. I don’t have many pictures in progress as nothing I am doing in this post is particularly novel and given the limited wiggle room I had it was hard to get good pictures.

 

I will note that for the small bower I tried making the rope coils first and then attaching the anchor to the cable. For the best bower I tried it the other way round. You can see below a picture in progress where I have attached the coil for the buoy rope while the coil for the lanyard is in progress.

I am still not sure which method was better as they both had their advantages and disadvantages. For the shank painters I used 0.5mm rope and just secured the anchors to a timberhead.

The coils are simply glued to the shrouds. I though about trying to actually tie them, but it was much easier to tie the coil first and you would have to look very closely to notice.

The sizing for the cable was 0.25mm rope and though it is hard to see from the picture I followed the method of securing the cable to the anchors as depicted by Lees.

And here is the final result from above.

Now the anchors are out of the way I can move on to finishing the final mainmast lines and then it is on to the bowsprit.

[Thukydides]

Log #89: Mainmast Finished

Time for a minor update. I finally got round to finishing the topsail bowlines and so was able to put in the topgallant sheets. I am not planning on adding bowlines to the topgallant yard.

 

For the topgallant sheet I used .35mm rope and for the topsail bowlines 0.25mm rope with the eyes served with fly tying thread.

The topgallant sheets are belayed to the foremost shroud cleats. With that done, the mainmast is finished apart from the topgallant stay which will have to wait until I get to the end of the bowsprit.

 

Then more rope coils. I feel at this point I have the hang of them and my latest jig seems to give me the right shape. Just two small spots of super glue to tack things in place, a blast from the hair dryer and then a coating of very thinned matt varnish to hold it all together. If you want a more detailed explanation of my process you can find it here and here.

You can see below the progress I have made on these. The one on the rightmost cleat was my first attempt, the next was somewhere in the middle and the leftmost is the latest one using the above jig.

And that is all I have for today. Not a huge amount of progress, but it has been a busy week so I only got a little time to work on the model. I now have to give some thought as to what order I will tackle the ropes associated with the bowsprit.

 

Thank you to everyone who has stoped by to take a look.

Edited June 30 by Thukydides

[TJM]

Absolutely fantastic, you really got the hang of that!

Edited June 30 by TJM

[Gregory]

Your build should be the Poster Child for that kit!

[Thukydides]

5 hours ago, Gregory said:

Your build should be the Poster Child for that kit!

That is very kind of you to say.

 

My goal with this build has been to figure out what I am capable of producing and though I have in some ways exceeded my expectations, there has also been a wide gulf between when I first try something and my later work (as evidenced by the above picture). My goal for the next build will be to hopefully bring up the quality of my weaker work so there is less variance across the build.

 

I do hope other first time builders will be encouraged that even with limited experience you can push the boundaries of what can be produced with a kit. Granted having such a high quality kit as a starting point certainly helps.

[Thukydides]

Log #90: The Bowsprit Shrouds

Thank you again to everyone who has liked and commented. The end is in sight now.

 

Now that I have all of the ropes tied off at the base of the mast it was safe to finally finish off the spreadsail braces. You may remember that the pendants for these were done a long time ago when I first raised the yard and I delayed finishing them to preserve my access to the base of the mast.

For this I used 0.35mm rope spliced to a hook on one end and tied off a timber head after being run through a 3mm block at the other.

 

I also decided this was the time to rig the foresail halyard. I gave this a fair bit of consideration as how to do this is not entirely clear from the Goodwin book, but in the end I decided to copy the arrangement used by BE. I used 0.25mm line run through a 3mm block hooked on to the stem and then through a 3mm block on a pendant which is seized to the mainstay. The line was then run down to a cleat on at the base of the mast.

With that done, it was time to start work on the bowsprit. According to Steel the bowsprit shrouds are 5.5in diameter with 10in double blocks. Goodwin doesn’t show this part in detail and the kit uses single 3mm blocks which are a bit on the small size for the 0.6mm rope I used. So I decided to go with 4mm double blocks. At this time I also prepared the triple block for the end of the bowsprit.

The serving of the eyes of the shrouds was a bit tricky as this had to be done on model, so what I did was serve a section as can be seen above. Then I spliced the ends together on the model and then sized over the splice manually.

For the tackles of the shrouds I used 0.35mm rope and tied it off to the base of the eyebolt attaching the blocks to the hull.

And here is what everything looks like at the moment. Things are a bit of a mess as I am waiting till most of the other lines are in place before I tie off the bowlines.

[Ronald-V]

It's good you have some distraction from that snooze fest on your laptop...  

 

Your rigging is a real example for others!  

[Thukydides]

Just now, Ronald-V said:

It's good you have some distraction from that snooze fest on your laptop...  

 

Your rigging is a real example for others!  

Thanks Ronald

 

England has not been easy on the eyes this euro. I am sort of torn between cheering for them and wanting them to loose so I don't have to watch them anymore 🤣.

[Ronald-V]

We will give you a better example of the game after this match   ( I hope 😆)

Edited July 6 by Ronald-V