HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by Zarkon - Syren Ship Model Company - scale 1:48

[Zarkon]

Hello all!

 

This is my first scratch built model.  I did purchase Chuck's starter kit but I will be milling all the wood myself from sheets that I ordered from Modeler Saw Mill.  The boxwood sheets are fantastic!

 

Here is what I got in the starter kit.

The plywood laser sheets were all VERY straight and none of then were warped at all!

 

I couldn't wait so I got the pieces needed to build my building board.  I went to the hardwood store and bought a 2 foot long board that was as flat as I could find.

 

I then 3d printed some pieces to hold the 

False keel in place at 90 degrees.

 

I will be building the build board later.  I then glued the 2 false keep pieces together.

 

After that dried the next day, I milled the rabbet strip and bent and glued the bow portion of the rabbet.  I'm careful to make the rabbet not very long near the bow so that I can make sure I can glue it properly (centered along the false keel).

 

 

So far so good! Once this dries,  I can add the rest of the rabbet.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hello all!

 

Here are some pics of the rabbet I added and has dried.

I had to copy the aft bulkhead former line describing  where to sand from the picture above to the other side of the bulkhead former.  To do this, I took a piece of paper and placed it ontop of the plans of the bulkhead former.  I then traced the line as well as the bulkhead former and cut it out.

 

I then placed it on the other side of the bulkhead former and marked it with a pencil.

 

After sanding down the bulkhead former according to the marked lines,  it was time to prepare the stem and the keel laser cut pieces.

I sanded the char off of each and fitted / glued the two stem pieces together.  How i get a tight fit, is to place the 2 stem pieces together and hold them up to a light source.  The light shining through shows you where the 2 pieces aren't fitting properly and helps guide you to where you need to sand or make tiny modifications.  The laser cut boxwood pieces are very high quality so not much sanding was necessary to make a good fit.

 

I then needed to add the tree nails to the stem and keel pieces.  To do this,  I traced the tree nail locations onto a piece of paper and cut them out.  I also marked the direction of the bow which helped me make sure it's oriented correctly.

 

 

I then cut the templates out and taped it to the stem and keel respectively.

 

Then I simply used a manual drill to make the tree nail holes.  To do the other side,  I took off the template I made and cut off the tape around the template.  I simply then re taped it to the other side.  Since it was already drilled though, those markings were enough to know where to drill the holes.  I copied this procedure with the keel piece.  The stem holes then looked like this.

 

Lastly, I marked the holes with a sharp pencil.  Then I filled the tree nail holes with "Natrual" color wood filler.  Once it dried, I sanded the extra filler off.

 

The instructions then say to apply varnish to the stem pieces before gluing it on.  I test fitted the stem and keel pieces on the bulkhead former and there were not fitting properly.  I had to sand down some edges of the keel piece to get a somewhat decent fit.  Unfortunately, it's not perfect, so I have to sand some boxwood and use as a filler to close the small less than 0.5mm gap between the keel and stem pieces (which I will do later)

 

Because of this, I decided to glue the stem piece on first, then the keel piece.  I will then fill in the small gap first before I varnish the stem and keel pieces.  Tonight,  I only was able to glue on the stem piece.

That's it for today!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Jeff

 

[Zarkon]

I started by gluing on the stem piece (not varnished yet).  The instructions say to varnish the stem first.  But because of the gap I need to fix between the stem and then keel pieces,  I decided to glue both keel pieces and stem first, then fix the gap.

 

It took a few days to glue them on because I wanted to make sure each piece was secured onto the bulkhead former before gluing the next piece.  This allowed me to make sure each piece was centered and secure so it wouldn't move when adding the next piece.

 

I'll show you guys how I know there's quite a gap where the stem meets the keel.  I pick up the model, and place it directly in the light of a lamp or other light.

 

As you see, there is a gap at the joint. Yuck. To fix this, I had a milled strip that I sanded down with 220 grit sandpaper to make some sawdust.

 

The left blotch is some glue, and the boxwood dust on the right.

 

I then added about 4 drops of water to the sawdust and mixed until it was almost a paste.  I then added a little amount of the glue I had placed near the sawdust.  I then mixed it together very well and applied it to the gap using a gap filling hand tool I had.

 

 

I made sure to apply it on both sides and held it back up to the light to make sure it filled the gap.

 

After it dried, it turned a very light color which I then carefully sanded away.  The picture above is after I filled the gap and sanded away the excess.

 

 

Then I prepared the model for varnishing the keel and stem by lightly sanding where it is needed and wiping off all the sanding dust.  I then added some wipe-on poly with gloved, a mask, and a lint free rag.  I then waited about a minute or less, then rubbed off the excess.  I think it turned out pretty well.

It looks like to me this gap filling method worked well!  But I will need to inspect it closer after it fully dries so I can then continue with the build.  For me, it seems it can take a day or so to dry.  I hope you guys think it looks good as well!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

[Zarkon]

Hi all!

 

I built my building board by getting a 2 foot long red oak board from the hardware store.  I tried to get the straightest board I could both length and width wise.  They had lots of 2 foot long boards,  but most of the ceder and plywood boards were not straight at all.  That's why I got the red oak board.  It was super straight, but a little more expensive.

 

I then sanded down the top and sides of the the board with 220 grit sandpaper to make it smoother and to remove any sharp edges that could cause splinters.

 

I then used my 3D printer to print out 4 bracers that I designed in Blender and secured them to the board using the model as a guide.  I tried my best to make sure the ship wouldn't wobble.

 

 

The next picture shows how straight the bulkhead formers were from the kit. Wow! I was very impressed by how straight they were!

 

I then slowly added the bulkheads to the model.  I used some squares to make sure they were straight.  The laser cut bulkheads and bulkhead formers were such a great fit,  I honestly didn't need to modify anything during the dry fitting.

 

I used wood glue to secure each bulkhead.  I then waited about 30 minutes to an hour before adding the next one.  This was to allow the glue to set and not move the bulkhead while I am trying to fit the next one.  This makes placing them on take a lot longer,  but well worth it as it makes sure none of the bulkheads move.

 

I noticed that the first 3 bulkheads overlapped the stem piece.  Because of this,  I marked where the rabbet was and carefully shaped the bottom edge of those bulkheads such that they mirrored the shape, and exposed the entire rabbet strip.  I did this to help make shaping the hull a little easier and will help me not accidently sand the stem during that process.

 

The picture below shows the first few bulkheads slightly shaped at the bottom to match the rabbet strip curve.  It also shows the addition of the bow filler.

 

I then added the first filler pieces.  I started by test fitting quite a few of them as the first piece for each side.  Once I found 2 I liked the best,  I glued those onto the model.

 

 

I waited about an hour before adding the next piece on top to allow the glue to set.  I then continued and added the next filler piece.    Then waited another 30 minutes before adding the top piece.

 

After the glue dried,  I noticed that the tops of the filler pieces do not match up with the tops of the bulkheads.  I will fix this in my next post.

 

Lastly, I checked how straight the model was,  and was happy with the results.

 

 

And here is what Cheerful currently looks like.

 

 

Thank you everyone for the likes and reading my log!

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

 

[CiscoH]

nice repair!

[Chuck]

Its looking very good...nicely done indeed.

 

 

[glbarlow]

Welcome to Club Cheerful, you're off to a nice start.

[Zarkon]

Thank you everyone for the comments!  I do really appreciate all your feedback!

 

The next step is to fair the hull.  This is one of the most important parts of the build as it defines the shape of the hull.  I want to give it the time it deserves so I am waiting until I have more time.  I will have some free time tomorrow and this weekend so I hope to have it faired by the end of Sunday.

 

The reason I'm waiting is so I can fair the hull outside of the house while there is a lot of sunlight.  I don't have much time during the week, so most of the fairing will be this weekend.

 

 

I'll make sure to post once the hull is faired.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

[glbarlow]

Leave the char on the back edge of the bulkheads from bow to midships and the front edge of the bulkheads from stern to midships until the very last. This helps maintain the proper hull proportions and shape. Also key is the frequent use of a long thin batten to ensure a smooth run. 
 

I always reviewed several build logs as examples of Chuck’s monograph before each major step. 

[Zarkon]

Thank you Glenn for the advice!

 

I'm starting at the stern and moving forward making sure to only take off as much as needed.  Like Glenn said, I have a 1/16" x 1/32" strip I'm using to gadge how well the hull is faired.  I was home today to help my wife with a Dr's appointment so I had some time to myself after we got back.

 

Before beginning to fair, I placed on painters tape to protect the stem and keel pieces from accidentally being sanded.

 

After the stern fairing today,  I was able to get a good run from the strip i was using.  I only faired up to bulkhead 2 so I wouldn't feel overwhelmed.

 

 

I was able to fair both sides of the hull.  During my fairing today, I noticed that the bulkhead former joint in the middle of the ship wasn't going to hold.

 

I immediately stopped fairing and made 2 boxwood filler pieces to glue to each side of the bulkhead former joint.

 

I made sure their length would not interfere with fairing the hull near the keel.  I then glued them on while my model was on the building board to help keep it's shape as wood glue tends to "pull" wood.  I placed a clamp on it while it's drying.

 

Once it's fully dried, I will continue to fair the hull.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hello everyone!

 

I was able to complete the fairing today.

 

Here are all the tools (except for the painters tape) I used to fair the hull.

 

Firstly,  I need to stress how important it is to protect the stem and keel pieces.  I'm glad I put on 2-3 layers of painters tape.  It really saved those pieces from all the sanding.

 

This is after I faired the hull.  Notice the tape on the stem.

 

 

Now after removing the tape, the stem looks just fine.

 

Sometimes, I would find bulges like this.

 

It might be hard to see,  but that middle bulkhead is bulging out a little bit.

 

The bow was the most time consuming.  Using a strake becomes mandatory to make sure you faired enough.  It takes more fairing that one would think!

 

Here is what my Cheeful looks like after fairing.

 

 

 

As you can see, I also was marking the gun ports.  After placing the tape (which is easy to move around)  I would place a batten on it to make sure I can match the tape shape with the wooden strip.

 

Next up is putting on the gunports!

 

Lastly,  I 3D printed a storage container to hold the milled strips of wood.  This was the first time I made something like this,  but it really helps to clear off my table!

 

 

I can add labels to each section so I know what sizes are in which spot.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Jeff

 

[Zarkon]

Just a quick update, but I was able to cut out, shape, and glue on the gunport sills.

 

I just wanted to share how I create them.

 

First I would take the 1/4" x 1/4" strip and put it against the hull, and mark the length and the verticle bulkhead.  This will produce 2 dimensions of beveling that needs to be completed per piece.

 

I noticed near the bow, there wasn't as much as an angle than at the stern.  In this pic, I haven't drawn the verticle lines yet on the strip in the same direction as the bulkhead edges.

 

I then cut the strip and gave a little extra material on the end so I could make sure I am getting the correct bevels in the 2 dimensions.

 

Luckily, I can adjust my disk sander in 2 dimensions.  This really helped to make nice crisp straight edges in both bevel dimensions.

 

I wouldn't initially sand up to my guide lines.  I would test fit the piece, disk sand a little more, test fit again, and repeat until it was a good fit.

The last photo shows that I try to line up the inside edge of the gunframe sill with the inside of the bulkheads.  I do this because I know the inside will be sanded to be a lot thinner later in the build.  It also makes inboard sanding easier as I don't have to sand off more of the gunport sill.  It is more work now, as I will have more sill to remove outboard, but will save some time later.

 

I then measured the plans to make sure the length between the gunport bulkheads match my model.  I realized I should be doing this first before cutting / sanding the sill.  So after the first set of sills near the bow, I measured the lengths first from the plans.

 

I then made the other side's sill in the same way and sanded the top of the 2 sill pieces with 220 grit sandpaper to get a nice flat surface.

 

 

I then put glue on both and place them between the correct bulkheads; positioning them based upon the sill lines I made earlier.

 

What I then do, is take a straight 1/4" x 1/4" strip and place it ontop of both sills.  I placed a level ontop to make sure they are both the same height.  But i make sure i know what angle my table is at first (and the ship) so I know what is even.

 

 

Sorry my picture isn't straight, but the level shows it's very close to the same height.

 

I completed the same process for the rest of the gunports.  The sills near the stern were a lot harder to make as the angles are more dramatic.

 

For a few of the gunports, some bulkheads would be 1/32"  too short or too long from each other.  To fix this,  it was important to measure the correct sill length ( from bulkhead to bulkhead).  I would then make the sill length based upon that measurement from the plans.  I had to clamp a few because the sill I created was slightly too short for it to sit between the bulkheads properly.   This was ok, as it fixed the issue of wrong sized  gunport sills.  Usually if one side wasn't wide enough, the other side was too wide.   This ended up helping to even out both sides at the same time.  When I say the sill is too small to fit properly, I mean it's off by 1/32" max.

 

Here is a pic of measuring the distance between bulkeads of a gunport.

This particular sill needed to be 21/32".  I had to clamp it because it was 22/32" on this side without the gunport sil.  You have to be careful to not make the sills too small, as clamping a very small sill can result in a bent bulkhead former, causing your ship to not be straight.

 

I was able to finish installing the sills.

 

 

Next, I will be sanding the sills to the curve of the hull before adding the gunport frames.

 

I guess this wasn't as quick of an update as I had hoped!

 

Thank you for reading!

 

Jeff

[Zarkon]

Hello all!

 

Before adding the port frames,  I cut a  1/4" x1/4" strip into the length of a gun port (17/32") and placed it on the plans to make sure it's the correct gunport length.  I then would use this as a gunport template to make sure all the gunports have the correct length.

 

I noticed there are 4 gunports on each side where the aft facing frame is 1/32" wide.  I added those first.  After that, I added the rest of the aft facing frames so all 12 gunport frames were framed on the aft side.

 

I then used the gunport template I made to gadge the width of the other frames.

 

Some required me to use 2 different width strips to make sure the gunports are all the same size.

 

You have to make sure each frame is a little bit bigger outboard and height wise so you can match the curvature of the hull properly.  You also have to bevel the bottom of quite a lot of the frames so that they sit flat against the sills.  This is super important because any gaps between the frames and sills will be very noticeable once it's painted and planked.  Doing this correctly means you don't have to add wood filler later and hope to sand the frames/sills correctly such that it doesn't change the shape of the gunport.   It took some time making sure the all fit properly but it was worth it.

 

After adding in all 6 gunports on each side, I sanded outboard to match the hull and also sanded the top of the frames into nice curve.  While doing so, i checked the curvature by placing the same batten I used while faring onto the hull to check the curve.  I needed to do this so I could create the correct measurements on the front gunports.

 

The gunport that we have to cut out was tough but fun!  I read the instructions, looked at the plans and marked out the gunports on both sides.

Notice i have 2 lines running vertical down the hull.  The inner lines are the actual size of the gunport to position it correctly.  The outer lines are 1/32" away from the gunport.  This is where I will actually cut out the frames.  I do this so I can add boxwood sills and frames afterwards.  I do not like the look of plywood in my build.  BUT most importantly ( and the real reason),  I know with my skills, I wouldn't be able to create truly flat and even sills/frames by cutting the plywood alone.  So i decided to frame them like the rest.

 

I first indented the top part of the frame with a hobby knife to help start the cutting with the saw.  I then cut the outmost lines I created.  I forgot to mention that I also marked 1/32" lower of the sill to be able to frame that as well.

 I cut down 17/32" using the saw. (The gunport is suppose to be 16/32")

 

I next made diagonal cuts with the saw to start removing material.

Luckily, because plywood has layers, cutting the diagonal made some of the plywood just come off because of lack of glue between some layers.  The picture above had no sanding.  The plywood just came off without pulling or anything!

 

I then took my time and cut out the remaining gunport material.

I had to make small adjustments and use files to try and place the 1/32" sills down flat.

I then added the aft frame first on both sides.  This was a 1/32" wide strip.  I then used the gunpoet template to figure out what width i needed for the other frame.  I then added those and sanded.

 

 

I think they came out great!

 

Thanks everyone for reading and for all your likes!

 

Jeff

[CiscoH]

your gunport standardization and lining techniques are excellent.  keep up the informative posts

[Zarkon]

Thank you Cisco!

 

I started adding the stern frames.  The instructions say to add the Z frames first, then the ZZ frames going outboard.  Before I started that,  I tried to remove the char off of all the stern frames.

 

 

To get the char off the frames, I used  these sanding sticks and sanding blocks only using 220 grit sandpaper.

I looked at the instructions in later chapters and realized I don't have to take all the char off on ever edge.  I did sand the sides smooth though. An important point is, I did not sand the char off of stern frames Z until I doubled them up as the instructions specify.  I also did not sand the ZZ sides smooth as they are all glued to each other and to stern frame Z.

 

I will sand the bottom (the small knotch) of each frame after they are glued onto the ship and ready to test fit the square tuck a little later in the build.

 

Notice I did NOT sand anything forward  of the stern frames curve where it meets the straight part.  Same for the sides of each frame.  I want to make sure each frame has a nice snug fit into the slots on the bulkhead frames.  I then test fitted the stern frames onto the stern.

 

The frames looked good and in the correct positions, so I glued the Z frames onto the stern.

 

I then sanded the Z frames where the deck will be placed to be even to the top of the bulkheads.

 

I continued by gluing on the ZZ frames one at a time.

 

The pic also shows the lining off where the planks will rest against the stern frames.

 

I had to wait until today (Monday) to fair the Z and ZZ frames to match the corr3xt hull shape.  This took a bit of time and created a lot of sawdust.  That is the reason why I waited until I had time to do this outside.

 

This pic shows how off the planks will lie on the stern frames without adequate sanding.

 

Notice the plank isn't even close to the last bulkhead.  After sanding and checking many times, it looks like this when it is very close to being finished.

 

 

This sanding took a while,  but  with patience and a lot of checking using some strips,  I was able to finish it.

 

There was an issue though.  I made a bad move and my sanding stick hit the last bulkhead and broke the top part off.  Oops!

 

The good news is,  it came off in a way that it's easy to glue back on.

 

When placing it back onto the model,  it is important to test a strip over it to make sure the curve and position of the hull is still correct.

 

 

 

After it dried,  I then added the rest of the frames for the stern.

 

 

Now I have to let eveeything dry.  Then lastly,  I will sand down the tops of the other stern frames to match the tops of the bulkheads.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

 

 

Edited October 15 by Zarkon
Forgot to take out pics not used for thus post.

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Jeff, beautiful work and a great build log. Well done!

[Zarkon]

Thank you Paul!  I appreciate your feedback!

 

Today I had an issue.  I realized that the Y stern pieces were not in the correct orientation.

Notice the second frame from the front (Y) is too low.  I will have to remove both Y pieces and reglue them.  I had used wood glue for these parts so this is how I removed the part without breaking anything.

 

I took some 91% alcohol and dipped a foam brush in it.

 

 

The foam brush soaks up the alcohol very well!  So I touched the 2 points where the stern Y piece is glued to the bulkhead formers with just the corner of the foam brush.  I made sure the alcohol covered all the joints well.

 

I then let it sit for about 10 seconds or so then CAREFULLY placed my razor blade onto the sides of the aft most joint.  I slowly with little pressure moved the blade back and forth going deeper into the joint. I did this on both sides of the joint.

 

 

The trick is to not push very hard.

 

The piece then wad able to be lifted off the model.

 

The second photo is when I took the other Y frame out to reposition it.

 

I waited for the pieces to dry from the alcohol and lightly sanded the glue off.

 

Lastly, I re-glued the pieces back but in the correct position.

 

Whew!

 

I wanted to make sure all the stern frames were in the correct positions before moving onto making the port sills and lintels.

 

Thanks all!

 

Jeff

 

[Erik W]

Yikes!  That was always my fear at that stage of my Cheerful build.  Having to remove something I had glued in place.  Nice job on not breaking anything!  And you're right in wanting to correct noticeable mistakes now.  Anything out of sorts at this stage will just create and compound problems down the road.

 

Erik

[alde]

Very nice so far.

[Mike Collier]

WOW! You’re doing very precise work! It’s amazing!