Naval Cutter Alert 1777 by serikoff - 1:48 - two hulls: skeleton and fully planked and rigged - based on Trident Model hull

[serikoff]

Carvel Planking. 

 

I glued 5x1 mm wide boards with liquid CA, pressing and pouring the glue so that it would flow into the seam by capillary action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Wale.

 

To make the Barkhout, I glued together four pieces from the kit and bent two separate boards using their similarity, then glued them to the frame along the profile. I glued two boards together with a locking joint and simulated the other two joints. I bent the boards by heating them with an iron after soaking them in boiling water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is Clinker Planking, the most difficult part, considering it will all be done in two colors: above and below the waterline, in dark and light pear.

 

[Chuck]

Really nice progress....neatly executed.

[Cpt.Barbossa]

Hello!

This kit reminds me of when I built the Alert. Therefore, I'm following your build with great interest and am curious to see what you create with the kit. I wish you continued success!

 

Andreas

Edited January 10 by Cpt.Barbossa

[serikoff]

49 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Really nice progress....neatly executed.

Thank you very much. Accuracy is of paramount importance in our hobby, I try my best.🫡

 

29 minutes ago, Cpt.Barbossa said:

Hello!

This kit reminds me of when I built the Alert. Therefore, I'm following your build with great interest and am curious to see what you create with the kit. I wish you continued success!

 

Andreas

Thank you for your interest. Well, for the most part, the work on the kit is almost complete, but work on the second and main hull is just beginning, so to speak. The most interesting part is yet to come.🤫

Edited January 10 by serikoff

[LoydB]

The sheer quantity and quality of your photos is amazing. 

[serikoff]

17 hours ago, LoydB said:

The sheer quantity and quality of your photos is amazing. 

Thank you. But I'll tell you a secret: this is just a short description. There's an extended version with many more photos. 😜

[serikoff]

Planking under the stern.

 

1/3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Planking under the stern.

 

2/3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Diagonal planking under the stern.

 

3/3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Chapter 4.

 

Clinker Planking (2nd hull)

 

 

1/6

 

September 2025

 

I'd like to show you my method for installing planks that mimics Clinker Planking.

The planks are installed as usual, end-to-end, but a spacer is placed under one of the planks near the joint, creating a step that mimics Clinker Planking.

 

But first, I'd like to clarify that before I started covering the pieces, I polished them and coated them with Danish oil. I did this so I could choose the right pieces by color. This helps prevent severe discoloration if I glue everything together without looking.

 

 

 

This is what I chose from such a quantity of material.

 

 

 

I have already done the work under the stern and now it is time to sheathe the sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I try not to make connections, but to glue them in one piece and then apply an imitation of the connection, but here, due to a shortage of the necessary material, I had to make a connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:40 PM by serikoff

[yvesvidal]

Incredible and beautiful work. I like the 3D printing approach for the frames.

Quite unusual and smart.

 

Yves

[serikoff]

Clinker Planking.

 

2/6

 

Creating a color transition along the waterline.

 

As I mentioned, I use light-colored uiheib? for the planking above the waterline and dark-colored uiheib? for the planks below. To ensure a perfect fit, I created this jig for cutting the planks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:23 PM by serikoff

[serikoff]

Clinker Planking.

 

3/6

 

Creating a color transition along the waterline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:24 PM by serikoff

[serikoff]

7 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

Incredible and beautiful work. I like the 3D printing approach for the frames.

Quite unusual and smart.

 

Yves

Thank you for your feedback. Yes, I spent a long time searching for a way to quickly and accurately duplicate the entire hull so that I could implement my plan.

[serikoff]

Clinker Planking.

 

4/6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, I try to avoid joints between boards, but due to a shortage of materials, I had to select boards that would fit the correct joints. There weren't many of them. I'll mostly be faking the joints later. 

 

The joints naturally run along the double frames. But not in the center as I indicated (that was a mistake, which I later corrected, Initially, I thought about doing it one way, but I chose the most reliable one), but behind the paired frames, since these joints are not touching but overlapping one plank over the other. I'll discuss this in more detail later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:24 PM by serikoff

[serikoff]

Clinker Planking.

 

5/6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to a slight difference in length between the sides, one side was missing a couple of millimeters. I decided to make the board thicker, but the pattern would have been different with a different cut, so I had to glue two boards together so there would be virtually no seam and do it that way. It's a shame, of course, but this board is near the keel and in the center, so it's practically invisible, which saves the situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The insert is practically invisible during normal viewing. And since the ship won't be capsizing, it will be difficult to see.

Edited Friday at 07:32 PM by serikoff

[serikoff]

Clinker Planking.

 

6/6

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the result:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fitting (not gluing) the sternpost.

 

 

 

 

 

This isn't the final result yet. There's still a lot of work to do. But the second hull's deck (the one you just saw) is next. Don't switch off.

 

[yvesvidal]

Absolutely amazing. I love the precision of your work, color of the wood and the way you approach the various tasks.

 

Such perfection.

 

Yves

[serikoff]

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Absolutely amazing. I love the precision of your work, color of the wood and the way you approach the various tasks.

 

Such perfection.

 

Yves

I'm so glad you enjoyed it and left your feedback. This is a diary, and I'll be adding a lot of interesting stuff soon. I think you'll like it.😎

[serikoff]

Marking seams and bolts.

 

October 2025

 

Before marking, I first cleaned the surfaces of glue. I did this with a straight blade.

 

 

Then I glued the space between the frames from the inside.

 

 

I took the marking lines from the first hull and transferred them to the spare keel. Then, from that keel, I transferred them to the second hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I carried it with a simple jig. A pencil attached to a plane that slides along another plane that is perpendicular to the horizon and the hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the joints between the planks. Some were forced (due to a material shortage), but for the most part, everything is as it should be.

I had to move the joints back because the joints weren't butted, but as shown in the diagram at the end of the post, and that's very important!

I also slightly expanded the perpendicular area for convenience. The markings on the front and back were done by connecting the dots, since the frames in these areas aren't perpendicular to the keel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the diagram of the board connections.

 

 

 

It doesn't matter which of the three options was used, the meaning is still the same - only the outer joint is visualized, and the main thing is that it is behind the double frame, so that the overlap goes in the direction of movement, like scales on a fish.

 

[serikoff]

Bolt holes.

 

Creating imitation seams and imitation bolts on the sample.

 

1/2

 

December 2025

 

First, let's talk about how I plan the nailing.

It's all as pictured below: marking, puncturing, drilling, inserting a birch toothpick (not bamboo!!), nipping with nippers, and then sanding with 1000-grit sandpaper.

 

 

I plan to imitate bolts using the following scenario: marking, puncturing, drilling, fixing brass wire, cutting it with wire cutters and processing the end with a special cup bur.

 

 

This bor-bowl gives a very repeatable result, but you need to practice, otherwise you can end up with a defect.

 

 

At first I thought about just polishing the ends, but it would be more natural and correct to imitate the bolts. Although it takes longer, the result is excellent.

 

 

This is what a burr bowl looks like. I recommend using the one with the sawdust drainage slot. It doesn't clog and lasts a long time.

I tried sanding the ends of smaller toothpicks. The result wasn't bad, but sanding with sandpaper was still faster, and the result was more or less similar.

 

 

And here is an imitation of bolts in macro.

 

 

 

Now, let's talk about creating a sample (a prototype to experiment on).

A small jig for marking:

 

 

 

 

Now, let's repeat it on the body.

The vertical markings are already there. Using a small jig, I make horizontal markings, and the intersection of the lines will be the puncture and drilling point.

 

 

 

 

Applying seams to connect boards.

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Bolt holes.

 

2/2

 

 

 

On the two planking belts above the wawe, everything is simple (as is on the wawe itself, more on that below), but below there are bolts on the single frames, and on the double frames, bolts alternate with nails in a staggered pattern. But if there is a joint between planks, then there are bolts everywhere at that joint.

 

 

 

 

There are also some minor differences in the bow and under the stern. The small holes are for nails, the larger ones are for bolts.

 

 

 

Wawe. There are no bolt holes in the center, front, or back in the diagram, which is illogical. I added them where they should be.

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the result after erasing the pencil lines and polishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, as promised, I will tell you about the construction of the deck for the second hull.

 

[yvesvidal]

Serikoff,

 

Your build log is an incredible Tutorial. I admire your work and the precision and cleanness of it.

 

Yves

[serikoff]

Chapter 5.

 

Decks (2nd hull)

 

 

Beams.

 

November 2025

 

Since the hulls are absolutely identical, I decided to use the same beams as for the first one. I traced the bend from the leftover beam blank and thus obtained identical ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I deliberately lowered the level of the beams by the thickness of the rough sheathing (the base that I will glue to the beams, and then I will glue the sheathing boards to this base). In the diagram above, the deck planks are shown in yellow. The base (rough planks) are shown in brown. The knee is shown in turquoise, and the beams are shown in blue.

 

 

 

P.S. Thank you, @yvesvidal , for the high rating, it will be much more interesting next.. 😉

[serikoff]

Mast stoppers.

 

To ensure the mast was securely in place and easily removable, I made an aluminum template and used it to install an aluminum cylinder into the hull to position the mast. But first, I needed to calculate the tilt angles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This power structure has more than enough strength, considering that I was able to rotate the body around the mast to check.

[serikoff]

Deck base.

 

1/2

 

Before fixing the deck boards, I made a base (rough sheathing) so that the deck would be rigid and could be removed, and I would glue the boards to this base later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Deck base.

 

2/2

 

After sanding:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technical openings for the possibility of removing the deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serikoff]

Holders for the stand.

 

To hold the ship on the stand, threaded axles must be inserted into the hull. To hold these axles in place, threaded cylinders (like nuts) must be glued in place.

 

 

To drill the holes, I used the router with the head turned 180 degrees.

 

 

 

I drilled gradually increasing the drill diameter and then used a thread cutter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did the same for the first hull, but I damaged it a little during the drilling process. But I decided to partially use clinker paneling and indicated where and how.

  

I will not only cover up all the defects, but also visualize a few more details.

 

 

 

 

[CiscoH]

Amazing!  Thank you for posting, and especially for your detailed explanations