HM Armed Cutter Sherbourne 1763 by palmerit - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - First Build

[palmerit]

Suggestion on how to get the mast caps to the right angle (84.49 degrees on the plans)?

 

Right now, the top of the main mast is right at 4mm, and the mast caps ride snugly. I’m guessing I either need to narrow the mast a bit more or widen the mast cap hole a bit. That’ll make it loose and allow it to take on a slight angle but then it’ll be loose. Do I then just “lather” with glue and hold it in place until it’s set? That’s what I’ll plan to do tomorrow unless someone has a better suggestion. 

[palmerit]

Making the main topmast. 

[glbarlow]

10 hours ago, palmerit said:

mast caps to the right angle

Simply drilling/sanding the hole at the prescribed angle. 

[glbarlow]

16 hours ago, palmerit said:

best way to tie the blocks

There are many logs and posts in this forum on the many different ways to seize blocks, try a search. There are also YouTube videos some have referenced. 

[palmerit]

I ran a round file a little bit on the inside of one of the pre-drilled holes in the mast cap (did a little, checked, did a little more) and that was enough to get the slight angle. 

[palmerit]

To get everything to stay aligned with gluing, I made a copy of the section of the plans and taped it to a scrap piece of board (the build board from my Dory), inserted the glued mast cap to the mast, and taped everything down in position relative to the plans. We’ll see how this works. 

[palmerit]

It looks according to the plans that there might be a narrow disc on top of the main topmast. Is that right? I didn’t see it on the photos in the manual (but I think some of the photos are from a different ship). If so, would those be left natural wood or painted black? 

[palmerit]

The main mast, mast caps, and main topmast are assembled (glue is drying). Thankfully I attended to how the holes that were drilled into the topmast needed to be oriented. Will paint black both mast caps and the masts areas between them. 

Edited December 28, 2024 by palmerit

[palmerit]

My first mast. 

[palmerit]

The topmast and some of the yards are made from 4mm dowels. I unfortunately just started cutting the yards to size and didn't realize that I should have made a couple small ones from the same dowel. When I went to cut the last one, it was longer than the pieces I had left. I thought I had them all planned out, but I had missed accounting for one of them. I asked Chris about ordering another one from Vanguard, but he suggested to order one from the US. Chris told me that the dowels are walnut made by Amati. In the US, I can order them from Age of Sails (https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/am2535-04-amati-walnut-dowel.html). While the dowels are inexpensive ($1.37 each), the shipping is pricey. But at least I'll be able to continue. 

[palmerit]

More progress on the yards. The drill trick works. Can’t imagine glueing on those tiny little wooden pieces (blanking on their name) without an optivisor. 
 

I accounted for all the masts and yards by taping them to their respective plans. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:36 PM by palmerit

[palmerit]

I shaped the bowsprit using the drill and sandpaper. It has a narrow slot at the end to tie off blocks at the end. To make it, I marked the location of the slot with a pencil and made the slot using my square narrow file with the drill rotating. 

[palmerit]

Needed to shape the end of the driver boom to accept the jaws (I think that’s what it’s called). I did a tiny bit at a time after some initial shaping, sanding a little, checking the fit, sanding a little more, checking the fit. 

[Stuka]

Nice work Palmerit, Im following partly of your log to build my mast on my Sherbourne too 👍.  A question regarding the main mast the part that is 4mm on the 6mm dowel, That is just sanded down on the same dowel right?  No part that is just cut and glued on seperately.   Im juts double checking so I dont misunderstand or do something wrong here

Edited Wednesday at 06:01 PM by Stuka

[palmerit]

2 hours ago, Stuka said:

A question regarding the main mast the part that is 4mm on the 6mm dowel, That is just sanded down on the same dowel right?  No part that is just cut and glued on seperately.

All of the masts and yards have some kind of a taper. None are glued together. The full mast in the photo is of course made the several parts, but any yard or mast will be made from a single piece of wood. I can’t imagine a model doing otherwise. I made photocopies of sections of the plans for each mast and yard and first cut them to the appropriate length with a micro miter box and razor saw. All of these are one piece. Then using my digital calipers, I measured the width on the plans in several places (the plans are all 1:1 scale) and wrote the measurements on the plan copies. Some taper gradually and consistently, others taper differently. So you don’t want to just go from the widest to the narrowest part. I mounted the dowel in my drill. I did wrap the end several times with a strip of paper because the first time I tried I saw that the drill chuck left marks. I used a clamp to keep the drill running. I've seen people mount their drill in a bench vise, but that doesn't seem necessary, at least for this kind of work just using sandpaper. Then it was using 80 grit sandpaper to really taper away. I’d do some, then lay the copied bit of plans with the measured marks under the dowel and measure in the marked places. I’d also just look at the shaped dowel to make sure it was tapering consistently. I always was moving the sandpaper up and down the spinning dowel to maintain a consistent taper. I’d move the sandpaper slowly with pressure on sections that need a lot removed, faster with less pressure on sections that needed less removed, all in proportion to the amount of taper that was needed. Key was doing a little at a time, measuring with the calipers, measuring, sanding. I suppose without calipers you could eyeball the dowel with the plans (which is why making a photocopy of a small section of the plans helpful). When in was close to being done, I used higher grit sandpaper. I finished off with 320 grit to smooth. 
 

I had posted a while back asking if I needed a lathe to do this kind of work. Thankfully a bunch of people said to use a drill. One nice thing about the drill method is that I can just do it all at my regular work area. I don’t need to move someplace where I might have to keep a lathe. I’m sure a lathe is essential for other kinds of work, and certainly might make shaping quicker and easier (I might get one someday). But the drill worked fine for me. 

Edited Wednesday at 08:47 PM by palmerit

[palmerit]

I was looking at some build logs of other ships and saw on some that the anchor rope was looped (at least once, sometimes many times) around the winch - I'm guessing it would need to be wrapped around if the winch (is this winch called a windlass - and a vertical version a capstan - I'm still learning the language) is actually used to raise and lower the anchor. I haven't attached the anchors (I just have the anchor rope pulled through the holes at the front). I followed the photo in the instructions (attached), which doesn't have it wrapped around. I suppose if I do wrap it, I'll need to make sure the anchor line is long enough.

Edited Thursday at 08:06 PM by palmerit

[vossiewulf]

6 minutes ago, palmerit said:

I followed the photo in the instructions (attached), which doesn't have it wrapped around. I suppose if I do wrap it, I'll need to make sure the anchor line is long enough.

Far as I know the anchor cables were always wrapped around the windlasses in a cutter, the crew would be out of luck if an anchor deployed with no windlass to recover it.

[Thukydides]

5 hours ago, palmerit said:

I followed the photo in the instructions (attached), which doesn't have it wrapped around.

Like many things in a build the instructions are basically showing you how to produce a reasonable model out of the box. There are many places such as this where you can make small adjustments to improve the model. Ultimately it is up to you (a model is a piece of art after all), but if you want to see an example you can look at my alert log where I detail how I did it.