HM Cutter Sherbourne by Ian Barefoot - Caldercraft - 1/64th scale

[Ian Barefoot]

Oh no - not another 'Sherbourne'!!  Afraid so folks - and for the same reasons as many others.  I'm a 'newbie' to the world of model ship-building so took advice by reading other peoples build-logs.  So why this kit?  It fits (loosely) with the period that interests me (anything from 1509 to 1815(!).  It appears to be relatively easy (time will tell) but there is some scope for individuality (I think).  It is relatively small when built (but I bet the 'other half' still notices it!)  and lastly it is reasonably priced so if I make a 'cods' of it, I've not wastede too much money...

 

Okay, hopefully apologies accepted so down to the nitty gritty...  As usual with my modelling activities in other genrs I'll break it down into stages.  That way, if I get stuck/bored with one aspect, I can move to another and then back again.  For example, stage 1 will be the hull (logical) but stage 2 couldl be the masts, or (from the looks of them) the cannon trucks which might need a re-work...  Doubtless there will be areas of disagreement, and constructive criticism is always useful. So...

 

Stage one. Very much out of the manual...

 

Framing dry-run

 

 

Bow filler assembly

 

 

Transom view

 

initial assembly complete.

 

Okay, day one (about 6 hours) complete.  Next will be fitting the deck etc - which will also indicate some modifications to the hull... Watcfh this space...

[georgeband]

Ian,

 

You are off to a great start here with Sherbourne which is a good first kit.

 

The plywood deck layer that you will be fitting soon comes as a single sheet in the kit but it needs to bend up fore-and-aft and bend down at the sides. This is simply not achievable by bending and stretching the plywood. One solution is to make narrow saw cuts that run above the bulkheads and which allow these double curves to be made. (I recently did this on my 'Ballahoo'.) The extra caution if you do this is to have pins ready to hold down the sides by the bulwarks and some arrangement to press down the centre of the ply piece while the glue sets. Small blocks of wood and elastic bands do the trick. 

 

George

[BenD]

Welcome to the Sherbourne club!  I remember when I started mine I only had a crafting knife and some glue!

 

There are a lot of Sherbourne builds on this site that should help if you are stuck. You can also just ask us questions. 

[Ian Barefoot]

First - thanks for all the 'likes' and comments - I've been reading other logs on the kit and I will shamelessly 'nick' good ideas - as well as adding a few of my own! 

Second - George - thankls for the tip - I only wish I'd read it before laying the deck!  However as I hope you can see, the sub-deck appears to have gone down okay just using clamps to secure it whilst the PVA (a very fast grab type) did its work... Mine is from a single thickness sheet less than 0.5mm so it could be that Jotika/Caldercraft have changed the material spec in line with other builders' comments

 

So time to lift the hatches & jump in...  As I secured the deck (having first removed the hatch 'blanks) it suddenly occurred to me that I could model what lay under the hatches.  I will say immediately that I wish this 'lightbulb moment' had occurred BEFORE I laid the subdeck.  What follows is the result of my version of 'keyhole surgery'....

The 'backbone' with some verebrae removed  This was done with a very fine-bladed coping saw, drills n files

 

 

 

'False floors' made from scrap ply, suitably 'planked' by HB pencil, L-R - aft hold Middle Hold, main hatch, forehold

 

 

Suitably stained . the larger scraps are not for bulkheads - more as sight-blockers

 

 

Mainhatch 'deck' in place...

 

 

Its amazing how much light enters those appertures...

 

 

'Sight blockers' in place - forehatch

 

Okay - about another 4 hours work done, so back to the main kit. I hope the effort will be worth it - time will tell!

 

As an aside - does anyone know what arrangements wer made for supply of meals on these craft?  I understand they had a crew of about sixty who obviously slept on the lower deck, so I'm presuming they must have had galley facilities (they wouldn't spend every night in port...) so at least the galley stove should be modelled

 

 

Edited August 9, 2021 by Ian Barefoot
removed extraneous images

[Thukydides]

The stove would have been below the deck. If you look at pictures of the finished model you can see the stove pipe just ahead of the mast. I am not sure there is an easy way to actually model the stove on this kit as there is no lower deck. For example see below for my work in progress alert model. The kit has a lower deck which is where you would put the stove if you wanted to add it in. Especially for a first build, I wouldn't worry about this as very little of it would be seen through the hatch anyways.

[ccoyle]

Hello, Ian. You have made a very good start on this kit. You might not know that this kit is an early design effort by Chris Watton, who is a member here and now runs his own company, Vanguard Models. Many design compromises were made for Sherbourne with the intention of making the kit easier for beginners to complete, so yes, there is plenty of room for improvement in the level of detail. A big help for me when I built mine 20 years ago was a volume from the Anatomy of the Ship series on the cutter Alert; the two ships are not exactly alike, but the book can help you with detailing the model. One thing that you might wish to consider is making the rig more period-appropriate. You can see what this looks like on my example in the gallery here. Again, this modification was done using the Alert book as a source. But, do as much or as little extra detailing as you like. The main thing is to enjoy the build.

 

Cheers!

[Thukydides]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

Hello, Ian. You have made a very good start on this kit. You might not know that this kit is an early design effort by Chris Watton, who is a member here and now runs his own company, Vanguard Models. Many design compromises were made for Sherbourne with the intention of making the kit easier for beginners to complete, so yes, there is plenty of room for improvement in the level of detail. A big help for me when I built mine 20 years ago was a volume from the Anatomy of the Ship series on the cutter Alert; the two ships are not exactly alike, but the book can help you with detailing the model. One thing that you might wish to consider is making the rig more period-appropriate. You can see what this looks like on my example in the gallery here. Again, this modification was done using the Alert book as a source. But, do as much or as little extra detailing as you like. The main thing is to enjoy the build.

 

Cheers!

Are there any other books on cutters you would recommend? The Goodwin one is almost impossible to get now unless you want to pay a small fortune for it.

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Thukydides said:

Are there any other books on cutters you would recommend?

 

That's the only one I'm familiar with.

[Ian Barefoot]

Thukydides,

 

Many thanks for answering re the galley stove position - I'm not going to model the stove itself - for the same reasons you quote - bu the galley chimney is important and forward of the mast is a logcal place, keeking the gundeck and sailing area clear of obstructions. I must have a chat with a friend who's curator of Plans at NMM to see whats vailable...

 

CCoyle

Chris  - thanks for the 'heads up' regarding Chris Watton - I've already checked his web-site, and appreciate his choice for the kit & the reasons why.  I reckon he was 'pretty spot on'.  At this point in time I'm not consdering purchasing any of his later kits - although I'm thinking Jotika's 'Mary Rose' as the next venture.  By then the problem of the forecastle might be resolved, as there are tentative plans to re-visit the site.  The keel and forefoot were actually raised in 2005, but there was no evidence of the forecastle then.  Thank heaven for the 'Anthony Roll'!

 

Another 'shooting quote' - 'Speeds fine - accuracy is final'!

[Gregory]

Quote

Are there any other books on cutters you would recommend? The Goodwin one is almost impossible to get now unless you want to pay a small fortune for it.

 

 

You can look at the many Cheerful logs as well as Chuck's prototype build..

 

The monograph chapters are also available at the Syren Ship Model store..

 

For rigging , the book Rigging Period Fore-and-Aft Craft can be a lot of help..

Edited August 9, 2021 by Gregory

[tkay11]

There are the photos I took of contemporary cutter models held at Chatham dockyard as well as other photos dotted around MSW.

 

In addition there was extensive discussion around historical details based on the NMM plans of Sherborne (which had a variety of spellings with and without the u) in the build logs on MSW of Dubz, Stockholm Tar and Gregor. You can find these logs as well as plentiful discussion of the ins and outs of details in books such as Lennarth Peterssen's book on Fore and Aft Rigging (which I personally found very  useful as an introduction to rigging) on this website.

 

The books I found particularly useful for historical reference were:

• the Cambridge University reprints of David Steel's Elements & Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics (Vols 1, 2, 3) (Cambridge University Press Paperback) which provides details of cutter manufacture and rigging.
• 18th Century Rigs & Rigging by Karl Heinz Marquardt,
• Historic Ship Models by Wolfram zu Mondfeld.

None of these were at all costly and the latter two are widely available as used copies.

 

As an initial practical guide to the Sherbourne in particular, I was much helped by George Bandurek's book 'Super-Detailing the Cutter Sherbourne: A Guide to Building the Caldercraft Kit'.

 

Most helpful of all were the intense discussions on this MSW forum where it soon became apparent that there can never be one exact replica of the Sherbourne as there was much variety in the ways cutters were built and rigged, and all we have are the basic NMM plans from 1763 which you can purchase if need be (and subject to much interpretation), but you'll see photos of the relevant parts of them on MSW. The particular plans of use are j7810 and j7809.

 

You'll probably find the belaying plan the most useful to modify if you want to rig the model.

 

The answer, as always, is build the model that you like the look of best, according to your skills, experience, temperament and tools available. There's no one who will judge you on your choice (except, perhaps, those nearest and dearest to you who no doubt will be amazed at your skill).

 

Enjoy!

 

Tony

[Ian Barefoot]

Hi folks - and once again, thanks forr all the supportive comments.  My apologies for not following up sooner - but I took a 'bit of a tumble' coming back to the house from the workshop.  A 'Parachute Landiing Fall' it wasn't.  Still nothing broken except my pride - but badly bruised muscles have been a limiting factor!

 

Right - onward.  Books...  Folowing Thukydides log on 'Alert' mention was made of George Bandureks book 'Superdetailing HMS Sherbourne'  The book is still available from George and is a very detailed read with loads of images of the detail.  A very worthwhile £22.50.  George is, of course on here as 'Georgeband'.

 

So finaly back to the modelling.  I've had difficulty in shaping the bulwarks at the bow - mainly because there's a lack of purchase-points for peg-grips etc.  After a couple of failed attemps I thought about reverting to prototype practice - or rather, a variation of it.  The bow and stern of vessels of the period were virtually solid, as the frames continued the hull-shape into the area.  They were very closely packed together so as to be virtually solid.  (I've a photo taken of HMS Victory at Portsmouth with her hull planking removed which shows her frames literally touching each other  over this area...  Interestingly, this would not be the case for a clinker-built version of 'Sherbourne' as the practice there would have been to build the hull inverted, then, on turning it over, brace the hull with light timbers 'joggled' to fit the planking!  So my answer - filler pieces betwen the stem & frame 1, shaped to follow the curve of the hull, but with sufficient space between it and the spine to take a clip....

 

filler in place NOTE the bulwark is not yet securede to it..

 

Both bulwarks secured - a bit of a mismatch to sort out...!

 

 

Bulwarks fully secured..

 

As pointed out, there is a bit of a mismatch at the bow - however, considering the planking, both external and internal, that has to be fitted I' certain the matter wil be resolved.  I'm considering this being carried on to support the first planking run at the bow.  Talkinng of which - on with the 1st planking.. I'll be really happy when it's done as I reckon this is going to be one of the most difficult phases..