HM Cutter Sherbourne by Danny_CZ - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Danny_CZ]

This will be my build log for the HM Cutter Sherbourne by Vanguard Models.
 

This is the first model I have ever purchased for myself and the first time the entire project is truly mine from start to finish. Until now, I only helped with small tasks while my dad built his models. He sadly passed away in April 2021. Things were very difficult for the first few years after he passed, until I met my now-wife. Finding her and eventually moving to the UK to live together helped me rebuild my life, and only now do I feel ready to return to modelling again.

I kept some of my dad’s plastic models, but I haven’t touched any modelling project since 2021. As I currently lack the tools for plastic modelling—and have yet to bring everything from Prague to my home in Southampton—I decided to finally start a wooden ship, something I always wanted to try.

Choosing the right kit was surprisingly hard. I’m not a fan of galleons like Santa Maria, nor of ships that aren’t wooden. So I started researching here on the forum. I realised I like smaller vessels and frigates, which helped narrow things down. Another thing that mattered to me, coming from a family of aircraft modellers, was scale consistency. Some brands had ships in all sorts of unrelated scales, while others didn’t offer the ships I liked.
 

Then I discovered Vanguard Models. Most of their range is in 1:64 scale, and I instantly liked several of their kits. That made the decision much easier—so I ordered the Sherbourne, which arrived on the 12th of November.

Opening the box, I was really impressed by the packaging and the overall quality. I inspected everything and found no issues. I went through the instructions, tried to understand the overall process, and made a shopping list for tools—since all I had was a knife and tweezers! I’ve now stocked up on the basics, with a few things still on the way (pin vice, table clamp, calipers, etc.).
 

I cut and shaped the hull frame and pre-sanded the visible stern pieces before gluing them in place. Everything went smoothly. The deck also fit well, and I was able to do the major hull-frame sanding. I was a bit surprised to find some of the MDF parts slightly off, even though I followed the laser guidelines very closely. I noticed the same slight mismatch in the manual photos, so I just sanded things down to fit.
 

Next came the bulwarks and my first attempt at bending timber. I tested the bending iron on a scrap piece, and it worked well. Both bulwarks went on without trouble—though I was careful not to glue the section that gets snapped off later. During test-fitting of the next stages, I realised I had bent the bulwark curve a little too tightly at the prow because I mistakenly thought the outer bulwark slotted into the same prow slot. So my Sherbourne will end up with a slightly different bow shape. I added a small pearwood filler piece to fix the gap in the inner bulwark, and I’ll fill the outer layer gap later.
 

Another concern was the rudder: I thinned the keel deliberately so I wouldn’t have to sand the first planking layer down to almost nothing. And then—of course—my cats knocked the hull off the table, breaking off a bulwark and part of the stern. I’ll fix all that once I get to adding the outer stern structure!

Right now, I’m researching planking while sanding and preparing other parts. My main sticking point at the moment is how to mark the plank lines on the bulwark. I’ve seen Chuck’s videos, but I’m still unsure how to approach it. Do I simply measure the bulwark length and divide it by the number of planks, or is the spacing supposed to be nonlinear?
 

I want to do things the right way and honour my dad by building something I can truly be proud of. As saying this, I am very open to constructive criticism and will be happy if stuff I can improve is pointed out!

 

[Ryland Craze]

Good start Danny and welcome to Model Ship World.

[vvvjames]

Looking good Danny! My condolences for your father, I got into ship building to take after my dad as well. I have found it to be a great way to mourn. I'm excited to follow along on your build!

[Stuka]

Off to a good start Danny!  

About the planking question, There are diffirent approaches to it. Some like to create equally divided sections where you use battens on the hull. Myself I measured the length of the bulkheads using a thin piece of paper which in my case was around 6cm long.  I then placed this on each bulkhead and wrote down the length of it.  After I looked for the bulkheads in the middle section where the length started to decline towards the fore and aft.  Cause this is where the tapering would start of the plank eventully meeting the end of it.  How far the tapering goes depends on the length of the final and first bulkead divided by the amount of planks you can fit.  And I try to follow the rule of not having a plank go below 2.5mm in width due to risk of it cracking once you put the pin through it. Now there are probably alot of better guides out there and threads or even advice from the veterans of this site as I myself has only planked two ships. So I consider myself still new to it but best of luck to your build!

[palmerit]

16 hours ago, Danny_CZ said:

My main sticking point at the moment is how to mark the plank lines on the bulwark. I’ve seen Chuck’s videos, but I’m still unsure how to approach it. Do I simply measure the bulwark length and divide it by the number of planks, or is the spacing supposed to be nonlinear?

A few thoughts wrt planking - from a non-expert:

 

On a double-planked hull like this, use the first planking as some practice for the second. It's not going to show, so it's easy to do it in a way that gets the job done. The Modelkit Stuff videos are great, though Jason kind of takes that approach likely because he doesn't need the practice and because he has videos to make; he said as much in a recent video on his current build. Treat every plank as a mini-project.

 

Just know that it's likely that the first go around - of both the first and second planking - could well look terrible. Mine certainly did on my Vanguard Sherbourne. I learned as I went, but it still looked terrible. My second model with strip planking (Vanguard Ranger) was a bit better. My third with strip planking (Vanguard Zulu) a bit better. 

 

Even if the planking does not look great, on this model - really any model - you can paint the hull, which means that you can add a bunch of wood filler or bondo and sand and repeat. My Sherbourne hull ended up looking way better after all the filling and sanding and painting. On my current Zulu model, I am considering possibly leaving the top part unpainted. It's not even close to some of the plankings I've seen in other builds, not by a mile, but it's good enough for me to consider just adding some shellac or WOP to it.

 

On my current Zulu, I used the approach you see in the Vanguard instructions and James' build log. I laid each plank until it rubbed against the one that was there and tapered from that point, kind of doing most of it by feel and by eye. That's fine for a first planking, or for one where you are definitely going to paint the whole things, but since this model could have the upper part unpainted, I wanted to try something different.

 

So on my current Vanguard Zulu, I've been using Chuck's planking fan, which I think you can find in the Articles Database linked at the top "Lining Off Your Hull Planking, Tutorial and Fan". I put some tamiya tape at around 5 places across the hull, figuring out the maximum number of full-width planks that will fit at the widest point, marking the extent of the planking area on each piece of tape, and then used the planking fan to determine the equal spacing of widths. The planking fan essentially eliminates the need to divide some small number by 10 or 12 or how many planks you have and then hope that you can measure out those equal widths. Then I copied the marks from the tape onto the first layer of planks on the model. You don't ever want the width less than 1/2 a plank. On more complicated hulls, you can either end up having to drop a plank because the width would get too narrow (drop plank) or add in a plank because it flairs wider (stealer). I did not do measurements of the planks, but compared them to the marks I made on the hull and either cut or sanded, comparing the plank to the hull and repeating until it was the right width at the marked locations.

 

On my current Zulu, I kept a couple of planks in the middle full-width. I probably could have just had one (this model does not have a specific wale part, but I kind of used that as a concept). On my Zulu, the hull being kind of small and simple, I did not mark off bands of planking, where you'd work on each band separately. I guess in a sense I did in that I had to plank about the wale (middle) and below the wale to the garbourd, so kind of two bands of planking. After doing a bit, I retaped and brought out the planking fan again, and adding new marks.

 

You also want to bevel the planks, though that's not something I do enough of. It eliminates the small gaps that can appear between planks. I've pasted a photo from another build log (https://modelshipworld.com/topic/25391-stealers/.

 

 

[Danny_CZ]

Thank you both for the detailed advice — it’s extremely helpful to hear from people who have already built this kit.

 

I also managed to get access to some of Chuck’s PDFs, and they clarified a lot about his planking approach. I’m definitely going to approach the first planking as you both described: treating every plank as its own small project and taking my time with the measuring.

 

Like Robin suggested, I’ll be using the thin paper/string method to measure the bulkhead girths. I like that approach a lot because it shows the real shape of the hull instead of what it looks like on paper. My plan is to go with a slightly non-linear distribution — a bit narrower near the deck and slightly wider toward the keel — but nothing too extreme. I’ll also stick to the general rule of not going below half the plank width, as recommended in the instructions.

 

As a non-native English speaker (and from a landlocked country!), a lot of the terminology was confusing at first, but thanks to your explanations about stealers, drop planks, and beveling, it’s finally starting to make sense. I actually bought a small logbook to create my own glossary as I learn.

I’ll definitely be beveling the planks, and I already practiced a bit of that on the stern area. And yes, the reminder that the first layer is “practice” is very comforting. I still want to do it as well as I can, but I’m keeping in mind that the second layer and the final keel piece need proper slots, so no over-sanding.

My calipers should arrive in the next few days, so I’m hoping I can start laying the first planks this weekend.

 

On a side note, I also talked with a colleague from work who has a jewellery workshop about brass blackening. He’s giving me some of his sulphur-based blackening powder and pickling solution, along with tips on what to do (and avoid). That should help a lot with the PE parts and the brass cannons I have coming. I also ordered 0.4 and 0.5 mm brass wire for the hooks and future rigging work.

 

I’ve also started a small rudder improvement project. I have pins and tubes from work that are perfect for making pintles and gudgeons, but I’m still researching what the correct rudder cross-section should be — whether it’s more of a half-circle or a softer curve. If anyone has a good reference for that on a cutter like Sherbourne, I’d really appreciate it.

 

For now, I’ve continued sanding and preparing other components while waiting for the remaining tools. Photos of the progress so far are attached below.

 

Thanks again for the encouragement — it really helps to keep the motivation going.

 

More updates soon,
Danny

[Geordie Tyne]

A very good start to your Sherbourne. She is a great ship to build. Looking forward to your updates.

 

Regards

[woodartist]

1 hour ago, Danny_CZ said:

He’s giving me some of his sulphur-based blackening powder and pickling solution, along with tips on what to do (and avoid).

Be careful with the solution, keep each of the brass parts separate from each other.If they are in the solution too long and touching they tend to "glue" together and when you separate them you have uneven surfaces and gaps.