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

[dunnock]

A lovely package arrived from Vanguard Models arrived the other day.

 

 

I have built ships boats and some of the deck furniture from Vanguard but this will be the first of Chris’s ship models that I have built and I was excited to get started.

 

The box contains a comprehensive (70 page) photo-illustrated building manual, 11 sheets of plans and part diagrams as well as numerous sheets of mdf, pear-wood, PE brass, strip wood, dowels and stand on which to display the finished model. Andrew (AJohnson) has already posted photos of the contents of the box so I won't repeat it here.

 

The build starts by making a cradle for the initial stages of building up the hull structure. It looks delicate but is more robust than it appeared when removed from the mdf sheet.

The bulkheads drop nicely into the keel without any need for sanding. I found it easiest to begin the preliminary sanding of the bow section bulkheads with parts 15 and 16 fitted (but not glued) in place.

 

Once bevelled parts 15 and 16 are put aside until later. Chris’s manual shows the bulkheads being bevelled using a Dremel. I’m not so brave but it doesn’t take long to sand them back by hand.

 

The stern assembly is next up and once glued and sanded back, it required a little bit of easing to slot into the keel.

 

The centre-line patterns are given as 14 in the book but are numbered as 23 on the parts themselves.

 

I fitted and glued the lower deck (part 25). Belatedly, I then decided to put some strips of planking down the centre line. They probably won’t be visible when the final deck is in place but I may want to have some of the hatches open.

Once the longitudinal bracing parts are slotted and glued in place the whole structure firms up nicely.

 

I sanded and applied a couple of coats of matt varnish to the deck beams and ledges before gluing them in place.

The stern frames are next to be added but first I sanded off the char from the parts that are later to be painted.

 

Part 85 is the inner layer of the stern transom and the book advises that the design was changed to make it less delicate, however I still managed to crack it when I removed it from the sheet. Luckily it didn’t break in two so I was able to glue it and no harm done.

The inner stern counter pattern is fitted next. I gave it a quick dip in water and clamped it in place and left it to take up the slight curve of the hull.

Other builders of Vanguard kits have said how well they go together and HM Trial is no exception. The kit is very well thought out and goes together without any need to fiddle around sanding back bulkhead slots or worrying that everything is square and correctly fitted. The last couple of days have been a joy.

 

David

Edited September 3, 2023 by dunnock
Duplicate pictures removed

[mugje]

Have fun with your new build! It will become a nice one in your skilled hands!

[Knocklouder]

Good luck on your journey!!   

[AJohnson]

Hi David, I'll be following along and pinching any good ideas  as I'm making the same kit! 

 

Great start, I was thinking about planking the lower deck, but decided against as I will have only one open companion way and may well add crew members to my build; can visualise a little "Powder-Monkey" running up from below, so unlikely to see below decks.

Edited August 29, 2023 by AJohnson

[dunnock]

Schoolboy Error.

 

I carefully lined the horizontal etched line of the bulwark pattern with the level of the false deck and clipped the pattern at every bulkhead. I applied a bit of heat to set the shape and all looked good so I glued it up and even added the first of the limewood planks.

Then I noticed a 2mm gap at the slot in the prow.

 

 

Checking the manual, I realised that I had not read instruction 44 properly which says’ the lowest line (my underline) should be placed at the top edge of the false deck’.

Thankfully the plank and bulwark patterns came off without any damage occurring and are now placed in the correct position. The first plank below the bulwarks have also been added. A small amount of tapering at bow and stern and some edge bending at the bow is required for the planks to sit correctly.

 

As it says on the first page printed in red, ‘take plenty of time to study this manual’. Lesson learnt!

 

David 

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Good save David, now this just the sort of “help” I was hoping for as I sit having a beer in Menorca!  I promise to be alongside, messing things up in my own way, making you look the master you are, as your Diana stands testament!  

[dunnock]

Thanks Andrew but you didn't need to go as far as Menorca - 30deg here today and I'm enjoying a glass of wine in the garden contemplating the new wildlife pond I'm going to have to dig this week. Progress on Trial may slow down - unless I can persuade someone that it's too hot for digging and it would be safer to do something in the shade!

Enjoy your holiday.

David

[DaveBaxt]

I look forward to following this build David and hope you enjoy working with  Mdf rather than ply. I am sure you will find your build is as successful as the Diana. Best of luck

[Dave_E]

I’m in. 🍿🥤

[dunnock]

Thanks for all the likes.

 

I have begun the first layer of planking with 5mm limewood but have run into problems and I’m not sure why. The first three strakes went on easily but the next three gradually required more extreme edge bending at the bow to make the plank lie flat on the bulkheads that it was no longer becoming possible to continue in the same way.

I stripped back the last three planks and tried different tapers and although better, I still find I need to put in some quite severe bends. The manual, and Chris’s photos of his prototype show that this shouldn’t be necessary. Maybe I have bevelled bulkheads too much.

In desperation, I have started planking from the keel but I know that I will need some strange shapes for the last one or two strakes. Thankfully, this is the underlayer but I need to resolve the issue before continuing with the top layer.

This shot shows the first of the three planks replaced and two planks added from the keel downwards

 

David

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by dunnock

[DaveBaxt]

Sorry to hear you are having issues with the first planking. That edge bending looks tha same as mine so not sure if I am doing the same as you. Perhaps filler blocks would have helped but perhaps not needed with the number of bulkheads on smaller model. It will be interesting to see what Chris thinks. Good luck and hope you get sorted.  Dave.

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

I have found that when I run out of edge bending it’s time for a stealer. Maybe that would help?

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jack-in-the-Blue
Auto correct corrected

[myxyzptlyk2003]

I feel your pain.   I have been building these wooden kits for 30 plus years and I still cannot get the 1st planking to work like the "experts".   My planking NEVER is uniform.    But I don't worry too much as the 2nd planking always covers up these imperfections.   I just aim for a solid,smooth first planking to serve as a good base for the second planking.    I try and try and try and try to follow the directions but still have issues.   As I look at your pictures it seems that the tapering of your planks appears to be insufficient.   On some of my planks the tapering sometimes needs to start almost half way towards the stern.   And then sometimes almost 80% for the end of the plank is cut off.     I think a lot of our issues has to do with our fairing of the  frames.

Again, I wouldn't worry too much about your result not looking like the instruction book.    Fill in those spaces and just provide a good solid base for the 2nd planking.     But then, maybe, taper your second planks a bit more.

[DaveBaxt]

Another thought due to so few 5 mm planks on smaller model, perhaps 4mm wide planks would be easier but of this would mean starting again and tepering them a bit more. Good luck. Dave.

[chris watton]

1 hour ago, DaveBaxt said:

 It will be interesting to see what Chris thinks. Good luck and hope you get sorted.  Dave.

I have learned over the years (decades even) that every modeller has his or her own method of planking. No matter how I show any method, someone will say it is wrong.

 

All I can say for Trial is that the first planking took 4 hours in total (an afternoon), with tapering for every plank and a light soak in water and hand bending some planks. This was by far the easiest and quickest hull I have ever planked. Usually, in other kits, the first planking is 1.5mm thick. In mine, the lime is 1mm in all but Indefatigable kits, so it should be quite pliable.

 

I think people worry too much about the clinker effect in certain areas of the hull, and expect the surface to be glass smooth. I have always had the clinker effect and I have never seen this as an issue. But this is me, and there will be many others who have a different view. I have also never once in my life used a plank bender, but 99% of the time use my fingers to manipulate the planks when a little wet, or, if the bend required is more severe, I just use an old rusty pair of pliers to do the job.

Edited September 11, 2023 by chris watton

[chris watton]

It looks like I tapered a little more for each plank at the bow, here are some pics from the manual

Edited September 11, 2023 by chris watton

[glbarlow]

As Chris says, everyone has a method. In this case it seems to me, whatever method you prefer, the tapering at the bow, actually from several bulkheads back is insufficient.  One easy method is to measure the distance at midships, divide by the width of the planks to determine the number of full width planks required then measure the distance at the bow and stern and do the math to determine the width of the same number of tapered planks to tit there and taper accordingly.  I’m a fan of edge bending with the heat of a travel iron, but how ever you do it full width planks won’t work neither will insufficiently tapered or not starting the taper soon enough.

 

we all started somewhere and most all got better from having done it. Enjoy the ride. 

[chris watton]

I think if you taper to 25% of the width of the following planks, it should right itself.

 

As a rule, I always taper to half width at the bow. I don't think 4mm planks would help, because if you do not taper enough, you will always have the exact same problem, even if they were 2mm wide planks.

[myxyzptlyk2003]

Over the years I also have found that tapering by at least 50% at the bow that most planking works out pretty well.    Still, on occasion have to use stealers and smaller pieces but not very often.

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

25%

 

42 minutes ago, myxyzptlyk2003 said:

at least 50%

 

I'm sure I read somewhere that it wasn't original practice to taper below half of the plank width for strength reasons; a blunt ended stealer being preferred? Of course that doesn't matter at all if there's going to be a second planking on the top (which can follow whatever rules you like).

[myxyzptlyk2003]

Jack-in-the-blue

On a real ship absolutely.    On these models it definitely doesn't make any difference.    I would guess that all models are not "historically" accurate in all aspects down to each plank dimension.     We all make changes to suit our experience/skills.

[myxyzptlyk2003]

in order to not hijack this thread any further.    From the pictures the original author posted, it looks like if his planks where tapered a bit more he wouldn't have the issues he is seeing now.    I think if he looks closely at the instruction pictures more closely he will see that the planks require a fair amount of tapering.  

[AJohnson]

Hi David, I feel your frustration, brings back memories of my Sherborne. But as Chris says, people can get hung up on this stage of the build. I did line out and work out the plank widths on my Nisha, but that has a more forgiving bow shape!

Edited September 14, 2023 by AJohnson

[glbarlow]

I highly recommend doing the math, no offense but with planning, and adjustments as you go stealers should never be necessary, especially at the bow. Especially not on a relatively simple bow like this one. I’d pull several of the top level planks to get a more precise fit with tapering. Definitely something to think about. I try to demonstrate this in my Nelson, Cheerful, and Winchelsea logs. I’d also recommend researching by looking at lots of logs, doesn’t have to be this model, planking is planking. 

[dunnock]

Thanks to everyone for their support , comments and advice.

 

My approach was to measure the length of each bulkhead, divide the length of the longest bulkhead by 5mm to obtain the number of planks required and then divide this number into the length of each bulkhead. This gave me 3mm for each plank at the prow and tapering from bulkhead 3.

I rechecked these numbers after every three planks and adjusted accordingly.

 

I don't know why this method didn't work but I'm sure that for whatever reason, I didn't taper the planks enough or from far enough back. It required a few stealers and some odd shaped planks to complete the planking but it's done now and I'll post some pictures in my next post.

 

David

[dunnock]

 

I’ve completed the first layer of planking and despite my best efforts to make a mess, I think it doesn’t look too bad.

 

 

I may have been a bit over zealous with the filler but I hope that it’s now a decent base for the top layer of planks but before I get to that there’s the prow facings, keel, stern counter and sternpost to add.

 

I've re-read Chuck's pdf on lining off and hull planking and I'll read around the subject a bit more before embarking on the second layer.

 

David

 

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

That’s pretty darn good. I use filler like icing a cake 🎂!

[Thukydides]

That is looking pretty good. One thing you could consider is that most British ships had a drop plank right below the Wales. This would give you both a more authentic look and also more space. If you look back through my alert build log, I discussed the making of this in detail.

[CiscoH]

I’m (very) slowly building Model Shipways Armed Virginia Sloop which also has 2 layers of planking.  While its a pain to plank two times the first layer was good practice and contained more mistakes than the top layer.  As others have commented on there are many ways to deal with the curving and tightening at the bow; I followed Chuck’s planking method (his videos are on this site under Planking I think).  Watching the videos and then actually planking with them helped me a lot.  in short the planks narrow up to 50% of their width AND have to be bent in a curve to avoid the clinker effect.  

Here i think the point of the first layer is to Practice and to Provide a smooth solid base for the 2nd layer and it looks great to me

[glbarlow]

As others noted, the first layer is practice and a base, the second layer is more important to get right. You may elect to move forward some day to a single planked ship so now’s the time to learn. Look at lots of logs but be forewarned, there are as many opinions on planking as there are builders. Your math method is fine, especially for a small hull. It’s how I did it before I moved to Chuck Passaro’s method which for me is the ultimate answer to planking. Once you choose a method stick with it, one way to get thoroughly lost is trying to incorporate every different method. 
 

I love planking, saying it’s just going to be painted later is a cop out.  Enjoy the process, but make it a process and not an ordeal.