HM Cutter Trial 1790 by BrochBoating - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[BrochBoating]

After the completion of Vanguard's Saucy Jack I said I'd move onto their Nisha. However I decided to push a little further and start HM Trial Cutter, also from Vanguard. I was unsure whether to do another log but obviously changed my mind there too and here we are. As I was undecided I had made a start and got here:

 

 

As usual the frame was an excellent, careful fit. The stern is strengthened early on which is an improvement on Saucy Jack that stayed vulnerable for a while and needed repair. Only problem so far was breaking one of the tabs (numbered 14 here) that are added separately to allow the false deck to be added. These are weak by design as they have to be snipped off later. An easy fix.

 

So onto fairing with a mix of Dremel and nail file. Paid a lot more attention than last time to try and avoid mis-shaping. Happier but guess I'll ultimately have to wait and see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next to the first row of planking which involves quite a twist at bow and stern. Easily dealt with in soaking, pins and PVA then a clamp until cured.

 

 

Lastly for now build up and fit the prow. The usual Vanguard locating pins help hugely.

 

 

 

 

[BrochBoating]

Short session today as needs to cure. Despite sanding getting the bow here to stay in place is tricky as the bending forces want it to leave at speed and the surface is very small, despite the design being excellent. Not referenced in the book but seen in the accompanying pictures I used some scrap wood to increase that area while getting everything lined up dry.

 

 

 

 

Once all in placed a few carefully placed pins (which will be removed later) to keep everything together while gluing. Then most of the clips can be removed and the bulkhead glued (below the deck line) and clipped back while carefully observing the lower engraved line inside.

 

 

 

 

Once all in place I removed the temporary stays and ran a glue line in and out of the bow and tidied up carefully so as not to effect subsequent parts.

 

 

 

Lastly a glue line where possible under the deck. Again tidied afterward.

 

 

[Pitan]

That's a clever thought, using some scrap wood to hold the bow in place while the glue sets.
Might steal that idea.

[BrochBoating]

1 hour ago, Pitan said:

That's a clever thought, using some scrap wood to hold the bow in place while the glue sets.
Might steal that idea.

 

Worked wonders.  Kept them perfectly in place to allow pinning. I pinned so I could then remove these pieces to run glue lines to help after pins are removed. Could probably do better with more practice but was very effective.

 

[BrochBoating]

Bit of a slow few weeks following the sudden death of my previous foreman Oz:

 

 

His brother was bereft so I now have a apprentice foreman, Maisie:

 

 

Lots of on the job training to complete but she enjoyed a paddle in the plank bath!

 

So back to the model. Due to a combination of distraction and stupidity I made a massive mistake with the first planking. Instead of marking at the fifth bulkhead then tapering from the overlap I managed to just taper from the fifth bulkhead! Didn't notice till the fifth plank on each side by which time there was nowhere near enough stock from this and previous to remove and start again.

 

 

 

Onward and upward etc etc. Brain wasn't functioning very well for the repairs either but got there in the end.

 

 

 

The stern hadn't adhere as well as it should so that got another go which has worked:

 

 

 

 

Finally got the first planking done this morning with a few stealers at the stern but not excessive. All pins removed (some had been flush to help hold tighter curves while curing but I find a craft knife easily levers them out with minimal damage) and sanding done. Followed by adding the bow, keel and stern facings. Keel facing pinned as well as glued for now helping to make sure the keel slots are lined up and stay so.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly the stern cover fitted the part above held temporarily for alignment:

 

 

[BrochBoating]

Some improvement in the second planking but far from perfect. I think my taper at the top was too extreme. Practice makes perfect hopefully. Guess the rest of the week will be sanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrochBoating]

No point waiting eh! First sanding and filler drying.

 

[BrochBoating]

Two passes of filler and sanding on bare wood and now the first coat of paint is being sucked up by the hull. Using Vallejo Off-White and brush painting this time.

 

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Hi Simon, good to see another Trial log started. Mine stalled at the moment thanks to the Admiral’s latest DIY project!  

[BrochBoating]

11 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Hi Simon, good to see another Trial log started. Mine stalled at the moment thanks to the Admiral’s latest DIY project!  

 

Thanks Andrew. Mine will shortly too as windows ordered last year are suddenly being fitted next week. Lots of making good to come I imagine  

[AJohnson]

Hopefully not too much for you to do. Hopefully in a few weeks we will back on with our Trial builds. 
Solid start you have made. 

[BrochBoating]

27 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Hopefully not too much for you to do. Hopefully in a few weeks we will back on with our Trial builds. 
Solid start you have made. 

Thank you. Probably plenty as held off decorating as they were on order. Oh boy!

Really enjoy this stage of a build. It’s once we get above deck and tying knots I get into most trouble. 
At the moment trying to decide whether to use some light washes under the white (as I think I remember you doing?) so it’s not so uniform. Can’t decide as the rest of the ship is likely to be fairly sparkly new looking. 

Edited March 21 by BrochBoating
Typos

[AJohnson]

Hi Simon, yes I did pre-shading of some planks so the white wasn’t uniform. I also did some waterline “grunge” but initially over did it, so put a light coat of white over it to make it more subtle. From a distance it just looks like light shading, only close up do you see it is mucky green to simulate algae. 
 

[Theodosius]

Missed tha one. Good job! Will follow along! 🙂 

[BrochBoating]

Plenty of progress before DIY begins. Hull (finished pics later once the clips for outer bulwarks are off) finished with lots of filling, sanding and painting. I like to see the planking so happy with the finish. Oiled the outer bulwarks and deck to enhance the grain and all of this will be varnished next to try and avoid damage while everything else gets done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrochBoating]

Here we are. Varnish to go on and cure.

 

 

 

Museum quality it is not but I'm really pleased given my mistakes this time.

 

[BrochBoating]

Last update for a bit I suspect. The excellent system of twisting supports off above deck level works as well as usual, just take it slow and gentle and they'll break well with no damage. Then I use a scalpel to get the remains as close to deck level as possible and sanding to finish. 

 

 

 

The engraved deck was a perfect snug fit. Just be very careful bending lengthways on this one as the sides coming inward mean it needs a little more bend than you might think. I placed fingers through the hatches to provide support then very slowly bend the sides down. Be very sympathetic to how the wood feels doing this. Once sure the fit is good then a thin application of PVA over the full area making sure to (try) and steer clear of the keel slots. Once back in place then clamps all round the edge to hold it down and some scrap down the middle with weight to keep things in place.

 

 

Stern panel and step fitted but forgot to photograph. The panel took a little while to fit as it's quite delicate but looks great once in.

 

Next the inner bulwarks. I decided to paint these first along with the spirketting pieces, all in Vallejo Flat Red. These received PVA and a lot of clamps.

 

 

Next spirketting pieces (?). Some fettling to fit but lovely once done. I decided to use CA glue in the same way as second planking with lots of clamps just for a short time to be sure.

 

 

The Wales were a minor pain as I had another of my brain blips and didn't soak and shape when I should have. Anyway I painted them first then PVA, pins and rubber bands at the stern.

 

 

Once that had gone off I removed the pins (can someone pop over and find where my craft knife has been hidden by the kitten?) tidied up and painted where the pins were.

 

 

Finally varnished to go away and cure for at least a few days before going further DIY allowing!

 

Edited March 23 by BrochBoating

[AJohnson]

That looks great Simon, good luck with the post window fitting renovation/decoration works. See you the other side! 

[Oboship]

Looks good so far!

Uwe

[dunnock]

Looking very nice Simon. Good recovery on the planking and the hull now has a very nice finish

 

David

[BrochBoating]

5 hours ago, dunnock said:

Looking very nice Simon. Good recovery on the planking and the hull now has a very nice finish

 

David

Thanks much appreciated.

[BrochBoating]

A week to cure and I'm very happy with how things are looking. Onward shortly.

 

 

 

[Thukydides]

Looking very nice. Great job.

[DB789]

Looks great Simon

[BrochBoating]

Any tips for applying the PE1 eyelets around the gun ports? On deck is easy as the slots are rectangular and perfect. Around the gun ports they seem to be too small and efforts to enlarge aren't going well. I could try the 'tongue' off but think would be ugly with the CA.

 

[DB789]

I found them fiddly on Grecian. Clearly you have to shorten the “tongue” a bit as the bulwark is too thin to accommodate the full length. The holes were wide enough for the tongues except for a few cases where the layers of bulwarks were very slightly out of alignment (due to soaking) and in those cases it was relatively easy to enlarge the hole with a micro drill - albeit the drill bit is circular and the hole required is rectangular. I accepted that it wasn’t a perfect fit, but didn’t have problems with CA from that.  I would also love to know how the experts would approach this. 

[AJohnson]

The other thing to consider is if you are going to rig your cannons. I have found out the hard way it is easier to rig them off the model than on. So you could leave the eyelets off until you rig them (if you are). I made a little jig to do the cannon rigging on my Trial and @Thukydides has really good posts on his Alert build log on his process for pre-rigging cannon. 
Agreed opening out holes in bulwark sides is a bit fiddly, but slow and steady usually works out. 

[wvdhee]

Cutting a tiny point on the 'tongue' was quite helpful for me.

[Thukydides]

36 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

The other thing to consider is if you are going to rig your cannons. I have found out the hard way it is easier to rig them off the model than on. So you could leave the eyelets off until you rig them (if you are). I made a little jig to do the cannon rigging on my Trial and @Thukydides has really good posts on his Alert build log on his process for pre-rigging cannon. 
Agreed opening out holes in bulwark sides is a bit fiddly, but slow and steady usually works out. 

Just as a note though my gun tackle process was fine, I would not recommend following my method for the breeching ropes. I realized after I was done that it would have been much easier to rig the breaching ropes not on the cannons themselves. So don't attach the ring bolts to the carriages, just slip them on the breeching ropes while rigging them and then glue them on the carriages after the fact. That way you can easily do the seizing to the bulwark ring bolts and make sure they are all the same length. I did not do this and regretted it. You could make a jig to do this, see the below drawing illustrating what I mean.

Edited April 1 by Thukydides

[BrochBoating]

Thanks all.

 

I thought slow and steady was the only solution and I’ll try harder. I’m trying to avoid making a hash of things and making them ugly and would rather leave off and found another solution. 
I’ve seen the off-hull cannon rig which looks very useful. I take it the general idea (this is my first non-civilian kit)  is that all the cannon rigging that isn’t attached to the hull is done here then unhooked and attached to the hull so they’re all as identical as possible?

Made a fair bit of progress over the weekend with all pretty straightforward and good results. Keel slots will need a little widening from paint but they’re nearly there. Ladders were frustrating but got there slowly with only one small break that got reattached with CA gel.