HM Cutter Trial 1790 by AJohnson - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64th

dunnock · December 6, 2023

Lovely detailing on the guns Andrew. Knowing how small and delicate some of these pieces are, that is exceptional work

David

AJohnson · December 11, 2023

Spent the weekend sanding, filling and shaping the gun-ports and sweep-ports; this is still not finished yet, but the bulk of the rough shaping done, down to using fine filler now before getting around the painting the inner edges. This was thirsty work! :cheers:

The other area I have moved onto whilst waiting for filler to harden, was looking at adding waterways at the foot of the spirketting. The NMM sections plans show these, so I had an attempt to fashion these out of strip that I had spare. This would have been more realistic (and easier) had I thought to add waterway first and then shaped the deck to suit, but hey-ho, better later than never. The thin strip was sanded to put a radius on it, then glued in place at the edges. The spirketting was obviously then going to be a little high, so careful sanding of the bottom edge ensued. I have not fixed this permanently yet, but after a first coat of red ochre I have done a "Trial" fit, see what I did there!

Thanks for looking in.

AJohnson · January 4

Hello All and belated Happy New Year and best wishes for 2024.

The festive period did not allow for much model building, but that is not a complaint as we did enjoy meeting up with family and friends and indulging in too much good food and drink. :36:

What I have got done on the Trial has been very enjoyable. Not much building as such, just added the side mouldings and wales, but these have made the model suddenly look very different.

Most of my time was spent variously painting, varnishing and washing parts and using Danish oil to seal and bring out the wood of the deck and Bulwarks.

After painting, I gloss varnished all the parts of the model I wanted to add washes to and then used dark washes on the inner bulwarks and light washes on the wales, to bring out all Chris's lovely details. I did briefly toy with painting the sides in yellow ochre but in the end was so pleased with how the wood looked after a few coats of Danish oil I am glad I didn't! The addition of the black upper edge to the bulwarks in addition to the black wales looks like two "go faster" stripes! 😁

Hope everyone had a good holiday period and also got some modelling done. Thanks for looking in.

Edited January 5 by AJohnson

jpalmer1970 · January 5

Looking really good Andrew ! 👍

DaveBaxt · January 5

Those Liberon products look really impressive Andew. She looks absolutely amazing . Using these products is definitely I might try on my next model.

dunnock · January 8

Second DaveBaxt comment. I've never used weathering finishes but have always been impressed by the effects achieved. I will be giving it a go on the next model I make.

David

Thukydides · January 8

Looks great, I like the use of the light wash to bring out the detail on the dark parts. It almost looks like an edge highlight, just with much less effort.

AJohnson · January 16

Hello, an update for progress over the last week or so.

The following pictures are all of small assemblies and little projects I have been doing whilst wrangling the stern into something I'm happy with; this is still not right, but that will form an update for another day.

So on with the bits and bobs I have done. After spending some time looking at the NMM plans (specifically ZAZ6418 & ZAZ6422) I have decided to go ahead and add the additional fore hatch shown in those plans. ZAZ6418 is of the series ZAZ6418-ZAZ6424 plans, but has a date that puts it contemporary with Trial actually having been built; if I'm reading the text properly it says Draft of Cutter "built" 9th September 1790, the other plans are variously described of plans of "proposed vessel with sliding keels" or plans "draught for building by contract" if anything. So on that flimsy basis only, I'm going by this plan... just flagging that up so I can be shot down for my variations! :pirate41:

Got the sliding keels ready and also added little deck reinforcement pieces to match those shown on the plans and sections; fashioned from the leftover 0.8mm wood.

Gratings, as I was making an additional one I had to go with some from Caldercraft so they all look alike, Chris's look crisper, but to compensate I did try to construct the Head ledges and side combings as best I could to match the details supplied in various posts here on MSW. The other minor detail I have gone for is to have the anchor cables enter via the main hatch. The centreline fore hatch is in front of the galley and the additional one I have added goes to the compartment that leads to the Boatswain's, Gunner's & Carpenter's store rooms. On ZAZ6422 the plan shows what look like at least five transverse bulkheads that have no doors or openings in them to allow crew/stores movement from stem to stern; perhaps a strengthening addition for the sliding keels, or additional compartments as the sliding keels were a bit "leaky" 😱 - don't know pure speculation on my part.

The Mainmast and Bowsprit bitts are not fixed permanently yet.

Thanks for all the likes and comments, next time I might be brave enough to share what I've done to the stern...🤫 - not all of it planned...

Edited January 16 by AJohnson

dunnock · January 17

Andrew,

Nice extra detailing with the added forward hatch and work on the gratings. I like your framing around the slots for the keels too. I missed that detail from the photos but I will try to add it retrospectively.

David

Thukydides · January 17

Looks grate!!

She is really coming together now.

Dave_E · January 17

Outstanding grate work. 👍

iMustBeCrazy · January 17

23 hours ago, AJohnson said:

if I'm reading the text properly it says Draft of Cutter "built" 9th September 1790

ZAZ6418 says: built at Plymouth by W.Thos Dunsterville and Launched 9th Septem 1790.

DaveBaxt · January 18

Excellent aproach and great looking coamings and gratings. I see that you built the coamings around the gratings rather than fitting the gratings into the coamings and think this might be a better aproach than the way I have just done them. I also think you cut the holes into the gratings before fitting them a better idea as I have left them until ready to recieve the anchor ropes . I wish I had seen this post earlier. As usual great workmanship from you Andrew and overall so far a really splendid look ship.

Blue Ensign · January 18

Coming along very nicely Andrew, I like the replacement gratings. 👍

B.E.

GrandpaPhil · January 18

Looking good!

AJohnson · January 20

Hello all, hope your weekends are going well so far. Thank you for your kind comments @dunnock @Thukydides @Dave_E @iMustBeCrazy @DaveBaxt @Blue Ensign @GrandpaPhil and the likes everyone! :imNotWorthy:

No further forward with my restoration of the stern following my botched repair attempts after dropping it, so focusing my attention to other details whilst I formulate a plan.

As I am following NMM drawing ZAZ6418 I am moving the companionway forward and adding a skylight for the Commanding Officer's cabin in the original kit position for the companionway.

I've scratch built a new companionway access using the 0.8mm sheet from the kit as my wood and the kit parts 103-107 as my templates, but increasing the lengths of the sides to match the larger hatch. I copied the kits plank markings and cut these into the 0.8mm sheet to add some interest. Also added framing to the companionway doors and top hatch so they also had some extra interest and didn't look like what they are - offcuts! 😁 Hinges are small lengths of wire and used blacked eyelets for ladder access ropes; I'm saving parts PE02 for the bulwark ladderway ropes I will add later. The handles didn't have to be too complex as I used them as attachment points and glued them to the side so the doors had another point of contact and being very "Elf & Safety" conscious for my crew I added hand ropes. 😉

Next up I will try and scratch build a little skylight, thanks for looking in everyone and the continued interest/support.

Edited January 20 by AJohnson

Ronald-V · January 21

That looks great! Nice modifications...looks more lively

AJohnson · January 21

Evening all,

A quick update for the addition of scuppers. @dunnock added scuppers to his Trial using metal tube, so I have tried out adhesive lead foil for mine. These scuppers are on the contemporary model at the RMG, so I copied the number and location of that model.

Once the scupper holes had gently and slowly been drilled out the adhesive foil was cut into lengths and wrapped around a small drill bit to form a tube; this also usually made the backing tape come free which was an added bonus, these little tubes were then pushed into the openings and worked into the sides and pushing them firmly against the surface of the drilled hole. The most useful tool I found for this was the end of a small paint brush. Excess foil could be trimmed using a scalpel. The adhesive was tacky and did not grab too strongly, so it allowed for adjustment to get the lead where you want it. To seal the edges I will matt varnish these holes, but as you can see from the pictures the hull painting still needs finishing, so I'll do that when the hull is about complete.

Thanks for the likes and comments. 😁

Thukydides · January 21

The scuppers look great.

AJohnson · January 24

Additions for the last couple of days are the Main winch, Bowsprit bitts and Main Mast bitts. I have been slowly assembling these over a few weeks now as other stages of the build needed to dry and so on. These were all very straight forward to assemble and they fit together very well with only the char removal needed for sanding. The minor changes I have made were to add a little details to simulate bolts, iron bands and referring to Petrejus, leaded bit cap and ends; though I think copper would have been more accurate? Anyway my commander is poor, so he can't afford copper to cap his bitts!

The bolts were drilled with reference to the diagrams in Goodwin's AotS book "Alert" and filled simply with blacked stiff brush bristles. Lead bitt ends were covered using the adhesive lead sheet I used for the hawse hole and scupper linings.

Iron bands were from the supplied black card. The main winch drum is a resin part, so this took a little bit effort to make it look more like wood. Various layer of browns and then some dry brush highlights and washes to pick out details.

These items aren't permanently fixed and have been put aside, as I think they will get in the way when adding the cannons.

Thanks you all for the continued support, likes and comments.

Edited January 25 by AJohnson

jpalmer1970 · January 24

Looking very nice !

Dave_E · January 25

Really, really good detail, very clean! 👍😀

AJohnson · January 29

Update on the repairs and modifications I made to the stern after dropping the model a few weeks back. It's taken a while to decide what to do, but in the end for an unplanned detour, it's turned out okay.

After breaking the stern transom and counter and then marking the wood in the the process of gluing back together, I knew I was going to have to make the decision of painting the damaged wood and this took me a while to come to terms with as the bulwarks look so nice with just Danish oil applied. Given the boom supports were snapped I decided to fashion some of my own with thicker wood from the kit to try and match NMM drawing ZAZ6418 as best I could, but with a nod to the contemporary model referenced elsewhere on MSW, I shaped them to give a slightly curved profile and added some inlaid pear strip to side profile to mimic the ZAZ6418 details.

Having painted the transom and counter, the lower stern counter rails and transom framing did stand out better than I hoped against the black paint. So overall; with the caveat that I'd rather not had to do it, I'm happy with my repair job. Some final touching up and a flat coat needed, but that can wait until the hull is nearly complete and I can do all that stuff in one go.

Other little details completed at the weekend was the galley chimney, traversing tackle ring bolts and mast coat from lead foil.

Edited January 30 by AJohnson

JacquesCousteau · January 29

Nice job on the repair!

DaveBaxt · January 29

You can,t even see the join haha. Well done , an excellent repair

Thukydides · January 29

Great job on the repair, damage like that is always frustrating.

Craigie65 · January 30

Excellent save!

That looks very striking, love it.

Glenn-UK · January 30

great work, well done.

AJohnson · January 31

Evening all and thanks for the comments and the likes. This small update, now the stern trauma has been put behind me, is the completion of the small skylight above the Commander's cabin, based on drawing ZAZ6418 dimension. Scratch built as the companionway further forward, from left over 0.7mm wood from the kit, with additions of acetate windows and a lead roof. Finally a whimsical detail of a water butt and ladle was added for the exercising gun crews; when finished the model will show some of the larboard guns being "exercised" :pirate41: I have got a set of crew figures from Chris, including officers, Marines, seaman and a couple of gun crews, so around 20 figures, just under halt the Trial's actual compliment.

Thanks for looking in and your continued interest. :cheers: