HM Colonial Cutter Mermaid by olliechristo - FINISHED - Modellers ShipYard -

[olliechristo]

Oh no don't be sorry at all. I dont expect anyone to be on here all the time.. Just thought i would have a go.. no glue of course.. Thanks John, you are a godsend, Very thankful as always..

[ringbolt2013]

Jim..............That would be a wonderful idea to show what decks look like Jogaling the planks is difficult but I don't think it would be beyond Ollie at all.

 

Tom

 

That interior looks just dynamite!!!!!!!!

Edited December 18, 2013 by ringbolt2013

[Jeff-E]

Hi Ollie,

 

You are corrrect  I made my margin planks for the Norfolk  from 10 x 1.5mm limewood and used three pieces on each side of the hull and then joggled the deck planks into them

I would say what John sends you will be a very good pattern on how to plank the decks with a magin plank fitted 

 

The cutaway area looks fantastic

[olliechristo]

Thanks Jeff, It came up really beautiful your Norfolk..  And lots of great pics for me to gather from..

 

Thanks Brian, I appreciate it, trying to make her a bit unique.. 

 

So I realised that joining two planks looked kinda average, and not how it would be done realistically..  so i set about coming up with a solution and i am going to put in the extra effort.. ... 

 

I found the closest match of timber i could in the shed, it's a bit darker but i think that will look okay.. I set the table saw (its a rough one) to its minimal cut (about1mm) .. Then i made up a simple jig that anyone could whip up.. Consists of two hardened pieces of metal on a very flat surface, In this case 'stanley' blades, stainless would work good also..   So then file or sand and you cannot go too far beyond your desired thickness you have setup...  I have made a couple and they measure 7.5mm wide (thats what the stock was) wide by 0.6mm thickness . the calipers are a bit worn, but i know that so i accommodate for it..  Thanks so much mates.. 

[Jim Lad]

Oh dear, oh dear, Ollie.  You're just working on your first build and it looks like you're already starting to drift towards the 'Dark Side' of scratch building.  Once that starts, I'm afraid there's no cure!

 

John

[ringbolt2013]

Oh God ........Your right!!!  And scratch building is soooo fun!!  And your right there is no cure!!

 

Tom

[olliechristo]

  John, this hobby should have come with warnings.. I can see myself wanting to build the Endeavour from scratch or something else completely outrageous and infinitely time consuming.. 

 

SO I have worked out my plank length and they are to be 125mm which equates to 6 metres or about 19.7 feet, The red lines are the 4 Butt pattern im going to be following, the previous were the 3 butt spacing...

 

I have made my margin planks, it took some doing....    I have decided on 4 butt shift pattern as it works better with my margin plank lengths (100mm) so both land on beams which are 25mm apart...

 

I am wondering about scuppers... 

                                                     - should they get cut in before margin plank to avoid damage and how many to put in?

 

Is this first painting of the mermaid showing scuppers?

                                                             

                                                            

Regards ollie

 

 

[Sailor1234567890]

Looking good. I like that cutout idea. Looks great.

[ringbolt2013]

Nice start!! This is going to be so cool!!

 

May I ask weird question #43??   What are the basic dim's of the ship?

I would like to get a feel for it.  Thanks!

 

Tom

[Sailor1234567890]

How many guns is she?

[aliluke]

Ollie

Looking good in all respects. My only recommendation about scuppers is to not try to drill them all the way through the hull. Drill the outer location to suit and the inner to attempted alignment. You can then falsify the penetration going through. It is very difficult to get the alignment right by drilling all the way and you'll likely get misalignment internally or externally neither of which looks good. Flyer's Pegasus log has a cool little piece for lining scuppers but I have yet to find such a thing here.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[olliechristo]

Tom, the model itself is 590mm long and 450mm tall.. In real life she was only a small vessel,  just 18 metres long, with a beam

5.48 metres wide and measuring 84 gross register tons.   Read this pdf if your keen - http://www.anmm.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Signals86_Mermaid.pdf

 

Sailor1234, Thanks for joining in, She is only two cannons, two culverins, anything but a war ship,, Built for hydrological surveys,, just a bit of self defence I think...

 

Aliluke, thanks for your compliments ans thoughts, I appreciate it.. will do some searches... Thanks all..  Ollie

[Jim Lad]

Ollie,

 

The painting shows her with conventional painted dummy gunports.  The scuppers would be metal (probably lead) lined holes drilled through the bulwarks.  You could easily leaving them off without spoiling the model in any way.

 

John

[olliechristo]

Thanks John.that explains a lot, I will

Start laying my margin planks.. It would be good to add them but maybes too hard.. They would be rather small I gather, I may just dummy them on the painted side..Regards. Ollie

[ringbolt2013]

Thanks a lot for the link!  Wrecked twice in 18 hrs ... not a good day!!  She is a nice little canoe and I bet she sailed like a witch.

I myself love the cutters and your right they are small craft. I dont know of one in this time frame over 26M. Ships that size usually went to two

masts right in there. After all the Bounty is only about 29M. and she is a 3 master and viewed as a "full rigged ship". She moved coal most of her life.

The Endeavour was roughly the same size but was only a cat-built bark also built for the coal trade. I love history so much interesting stuff happened.

[Sailor1234567890]

Thanks. Trying to find a 10 gun british cutter kit for beginners to bash into Hornblower's Witch of Endor. No luck so far. Don't know enough about what's available. I'll keep following your build though. I find these builds incredibly interesting.

[Jeff-E]

Hi Sailor,

 

You could try the HM Cutter Sherbourne by Caldercrtaft models she has eight 3 pounder guns and 10 swivel guns and  is rated as a beginers model with a bit of imagination I'm sure  it could become a 10 gun ship, it is available through Cornwell Model Boats based in England or through Jokita the manufacturer also based in the UK'

 

Ollie - I hope you don't mind me using your log to give a bit of advice

[olliechristo]

Okay so adding 20 hours to build log...

 

No worries Tom. Glad it shed some light on the Mermaid for you...

 

Jeff, i don't mind at all mate. If i could be of advice to Sailor I would..

 

Well i have made good progress on planking my deck.. The shift planking is much like some of the mosaic and tiling patterns i have done just different terminology.. I have it well under control, only query is how to calculate when joggling should begin?? I gather it is when the cut at end of plank exceeds a certain length.. ? Regards Ollie..

Edited June 5, 2014 by olliechristo

[Jeff-E]

Hi Ollie,

 

Very nice start to your deck planking , with regard to question on when to joggle a plank C Nepean Longridgre gives an excellent explaination in his book and I quote  " there are two shipwrights' rules about joggling"

(1) The square end of the joggled plank must be half the width of the plank, thus with a 9 inch plank, the square end left and after cutting must be 4 1/2" wide

(2) The plank must be joggled when the snipe is more than twice the width of the plank. The snipe is the technical term for the diagonal cut across the width of a plank (see pic below, sorry for the poor drawing)

 

 

A pic of how I joggled the planks on the Norfolk

 

 

I hope this helps

Edited May 20, 2014 by Jeff-E

[olliechristo]

The drawing is perfect,. That's all I need, totally understand now. Thanks Jeff I'm really enjoying the deck. The plank widths vary considerably so I'm trying to keep same plank to each run, thanks ollie.

[ringbolt2013]

He's got it!! Half the plank width Is correct!   Looking good!

Edited December 22, 2013 by ringbolt2013

[Jim Lad]

Nice start on the deck, Ollie!

 

John

[olliechristo]

Thanks Guys, really enjoying the deck...  Adding another 4 hours to log...

 

I am wondering about gangway and skylight.  Is it most realistic if decking goes underneath or do they sit on top of the decking like most other deck fixtures such as windlass?

 

Thanks for looking and Merry Christmas and holiday season to all. Happy crafting..  Ollie

[olliechristo]

Also. You may notice where planks ended on a small piece i made plank a little longer, I gather it is not good to have little pieces of deck if can be avoided.. I could be totally wrong on that one... Could be amended. Ollie

[Jim Lad]

Ollie,

 

That's very neat deck planking - well done.

 

Yes, you're better to have slightly longer rather than very short planks, and although some ships have the deck openings 'framed' by the deck, most ships have the deck 'underneath' as you suggest.

 

John

[Jeff-E]

Hi Ollie,

 

Excellent job on  your deck planking looks very nice. Are you going to treenail it whenyou are finished?

 

A merry Christmas to you also 

[olliechristo]

Thanks John and Jeff, I appreciate your compliments.. Jeff I am thinkin I will leave tree nails out, I think at this scale they would be pretty tiny and if colour was matched to decking they would be basically invisible. Thinking perhaps do the fake nails with micro drill and putty if at all..what do you think off that? Ollie

[ringbolt2013]

Deck looks really great! Nicely done...you have a real knack for this!

 

Merry Christmas to you and all the rest of the guys!

 

Tom

[aliluke]

Hi Ollie

Very nice looking deck there. I wouldn't discount tree nailing though. Have a look at my Fly log. The deck is holly which is very pale and I mixed a wood paste of 4 parts neutral to 1 part pine (the palest colour I could find). The tree nails are only visible at certain viewing angles and certainly don't leap out at you. I think it is a nice detail if kept really subtle.

 

Cheers

Alistair

[Jeff-E]

Hi Ollie,

 

You could try a few different treenailng metohds on a sample deck and see which , if any, you prefer