HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 by Chuck - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - kit prototype

[allanyed]

Sorry to keep this off topic, but if it is a choice between you suffering and your daughter getting to attend either one of those school, well, suffer a few days, it will be worth the life time of opportunities graduating from one of those fine schools can bring her.  

(Good luck with the tooth though)

[Chuck]

I have been suffering for a lot longer than you think......I really cant believe it though.  I am blessed.   She is very smart like my boys and is looking at Princeton too!!!!   I might have to sell a kidney.  I am so very very proud of her.

 

Chuck

[RichardG]

Chuck,

 

Just to be clear, my like for the post was not for your suffering  .

 

I'm blessed with 2 daughters (the oldest is a junior at high-school, so she's already looking at schools and scaring her parents when we look at the cost).

 

Richard

[Chuck]

I know the feeling.   I already have two in college.  But my oldest got a free ride though.  In fact they pay him to go.   These kids are too smart to be mine.  I dont know what happened there.  Maybe I will get lucky again.  Probably not.  She wants to be a pathologist.   How many years is that???   Cha-ching.......a forensic pathologist.  Go figure.  

 

Chuck

[gjdale]

So if we see a sharp rise in the cost of all things Syren, we'll know why!

[tlevine]

Let's see Chuck...college four years, medical school four more years.  At least when she starts residency, they pay her instead of the other way around!

[Chuck]

To make the bowsprit....start with a square stick of boxwood 5/16" x 5/16".  The inboard section will remain square.  The outboard side is rounded off and tapered.  There are three square holes on the inboard sides.  But these start out as round holes made on the drill press while the entire stick is still square.

 

There is also a sheave on the outboard end.  The holes for this simulated sheave are also drilled while the stick is square.

 

 

Then the outboard end is measured and marked for the 7-10-7 ratios to make it an octagon.  From an octagon it is then made round.  There are many way to do this.  Mini-plan...files...by hand....then rounded off on a lathe or even chocked in your hand drill.

 

 

Then I made it round...in my hand drill...and taperred it to match the plan while doing so.

 

 

Once that was done...the simulated sheave on the outboard end was detailed.  I used a #11 blade to connect the holes and carve it out a little.  Then mini-files were used to round off the simulated sheave.  Later I will darken it with pencil.

 

 

The three inboard holes need to be made square...again there are many way to do this.  I decided to just use my #11 blade to carefully square off the corners.  The inboard portion will eventually be painted black.

 

 

The outboard end also has a metal band with four eyes around it.  This was made from paper.  You could use art tape or even brass if you wanted.  Again there are so many choices.  It was painted black and weathered so it looked differently than the wood elements painted black.

 

 

Then it was mounted in the hole at the bow and the fit tweaked.  Once it looked good,  the bowsprit step was slid onto the inboard end.  You wouldnt be able to slide the bowsprit in position if the step was already glued in place.  So this is a bit tricky.  But soon after I was able to get it all in position and glued securely.  Then I touched up the paint and cleaned it up.

 

 

 

Next up the long guns can be positioned....but I am unsure of I will add them.  They will look very crammed in there.  I will have to contemplate that for a bit.

[albert]

Very nice work.

[druxey]

Thanks for my morning smile. That is a very neatly done bowsprit.

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful work Chuck,

 

Nils

[allanyed]

Chuck

 

You took what many find to be an overly complicated adventure and showed that it only takes a little patience and commonly owned tools.

Cudos

Allan

[Erebus and Terror]

Wonderful, Chuck, especially the simulated metalwork.

[whaynes]

Chuck, how did you make those perfect square holes in the bowsprit? It looks fantastic!!

                           Walt

[Chuck]

They were drilled out on a drill press first with a normal bit (round).  Then I just took a #11 xacto blade and notched out the corners by eye to square them off.  They are 1/16" square.  They are not square all the way through.  Just deep enough that after painting you would think they were squared up all the way through.  They are square only about 3/64" deep into the hole.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

Chuck

[DocBlake]

Beautiful work, Chuck!

[archjofo]

Hi Chuck,
It is always a great pleasure be allowed to see the work fantastic.

[Landlocked123]

I know the feeling.   I already have two in college.  But my oldest got a free ride though.  In fact they pay him to go.   These kids are too smart to be mine.  I dont know what happened there.  Maybe I will get lucky again.  Probably not.  She wants to be a pathologist.   How many years is that???   Cha-ching.......a forensic pathologist.  Go figure.  

 

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

 

A forensic pathologist? It has it's good points, your patients are pretty easy going, they don't talk back much, and never sue. On the other hand, it's tough to get paid......they tend to be a bunch of deadbeats! Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

Best,

John

[Chuck]

Rigging has begun.  I still havent made the long guns at the bow but I figured I needed to break the ice and at least add the blocks to the tip of the bowsprit.  There are 4 blocks.  Two singles and two doubles that are 3/16" long.  I am using dark brown for standing rigging and light brown for running rigging.   

 

Next up will be the bobstay with tackle and then the bowsprit guys.   It has been a long time since I rigged a model.  I figured why procrastinate.

 

 

In some cases, these blocks are hooked to the ringbolts.  But I am just seizing them. There are so many different configurations used on Cutters from this time period.   And yes...I am using all Syren blocks and rope of course.    Its a brutal close up photo but it looks fine in actuality.

 

Onward and upward as they say.

[druxey]

Looks pretty darn good even in close-up, Chuck!

[Chuck]

Thank Druxey

Today I also mass produced a few dozen thimbles in various sizes and thicknesses.   I used thin wall brass tube from Albion.  They were 1.5mm and 1.2mm and 1.7mm in diameter.  I have no idea which will be used where yet but making a bunch now will save me from having to stop while rigging.  

 

Blanks of various thickness were cut and then I used the blunt punch shown to shape each end and flare it.  Just a few light taps will do it.   Then you can blacken them or even paint them whatever your preference is.  

 

 

You can see one blank before I used the punch on it in the lower left hand corner.  You can see teh difference between the others pretty clearly.

 

 

Chuck

[Erebus and Terror]

Precise, clean, work as always, Chuck.

[Nirvana]

So simple and delicate, yet so complex. Nice bowsprit.

[Chuck]

The bobstay was rigged today.   I used a length of .025 dark brown rope that was served its entire length.  A 3/16" single block was seized to one end while the other end was placed through the hole in the stem.  That end was seized to itself as shown in the photos.

 

 

The bobstay tackle was set up with .012 light brown rope.  The running end of the tackle being brought inboard and belayed to the pin rail at the bow.  I did not glue the belaying point at all.  It is simply fixed on the belaying pin by using a simple twist of the loop around the pin's bottom.  I will leave the running end a bit long for now as with all of the other lines.  This line may go slack depending on the tensions from other lines etc.  So not using any glue until much later (if at all) will give me an easy opportunity to loosen it at the belaying in and re-tension to suit.  

 

 

This will be extremely important when I turn in the deadeyes for the shrouds and set up the backstays.  Once the backstays are rigged it has a tendency to make the aft shrouds go a bit slack....being able to re-tension is a huge factor so no lines will be made permanent until much later if at all.  The rigging is not pulled to tight at this point.  Just enough tension so it doesnt go slack.  I see so many models with teh rigging so tight it causes big issues.   

 

I have restored many models that were 100+ years old and the lines were never glued permanently.  This made fixing them and re-tensioning so easy that I have decided to give it a try on my models.  Just pull out the belaying pin and the line is free to be re-tensioned.

[druxey]

Nicely proportioned belaying pins, Chuck!

[albert]

Very beautiful work.

[Chuck]

Thank You

 

The bowsprit guys were also served their entire length.  Thimbles were seized into the end of each.  I used .025 brown rope for these.  There are two of these and both were made at the same time to ensure they came out the same length.  As mentioned earlier I am using dark brown for the standing rigging.

 

 

 

The forward end have hooks fashioned from 24 gauge black wire.   This is hooked to the eyebolt at the bow.   The other end has a lanyard that stretches across to an eyebolt in the hull.  

 

 

 

Chuck

[KenW]

Great work as usual. 

It looks like each bowsprit guy is hooked to an eyebolt that already has a block seized to it.  Is that true?

Cheers

[Erik W]

Chuck,

 

This is the first build of yours that I'm here for the rigging stage.  I'm following along with interest.  Your work stands the test of being shown in the fairly large resolution photos you're posting!

 

Erik

[Chuck]

Thanks guys....Yes indeed,  the hooked guys are on eyebolts already shared by seized blocks.  It was very common on Cutters.  Take a look at some contemporary models.  There are many variations but you would be surprised how much they crammed up there.  I have a bunch more but these photos give you a good idea of just how many different variations I have found.   To post them all would make your head spin.  You hardly see two that are the same.

 

Picking one version to use was the hardest part.  Some cutters had no bobstay....others have no topmast stay....the treatment of the forward braces was also interesting but represented in as many varied way as I could find models to look at.  These smaller vessels are not as well documented and there isnt any one source to use as standard starting point.   Its all over the the place.  In fact, I have changed my mind so many times because you find yourself second guessing everything.

 

 

 

 

Chuck

[mtaylor]

So I'm taking it that it was either shipyard preference or whatever the rigger felt like that week?   I think you have and had your work cut out for you, Chuck.