I am happy to rejoin this forum after a long absence. I am very excited to be here. I am currently working on two projects. The first is a scratch-built model of the cutter Cheerful. This is a Royal Navy Revenue cutter built in 1806. I am just about finished with the hull and deck fitting and will be starting on the masts and rigging very soon.
The model is built entireoly of boxwood except for the bulkheads which are laser cut plywood.
Here a few pictures of how she looks right now. I will continue to show my progress as I work on her. I hope that you good folks find it an interesting topic and will follow along. I am also working on a small fully framed Shallop from 1790. Its an English Queen Mary Shallop and I will start a build log when I get more progress made. You can see the keel all made up in the last photo in comparison to the Cheerful. It is 1/2" scale and will be a nice big model when completed.
Thank you for adding your beautiful model into the mix… Exquisite.
Folks - Chuck has inserted himself into the forum rather modestly… He is the skillful mastermind behind several fine kits (including the wonderful Syren at ModelExpo) and of course is the proprietor of Syren Ship Model Company. We have sung the praises of his products on this forum and I count myself among the many who have his fine blocks and rigging included in my build.
Welcome back, Chuck. You’ll be a big asset to this Forum. I’ll add my endorsement to Force9’s: the kits you’ve designed, and the products you sell, make a huge contribution to the hobby. I know you can’t talk about them much here, due to the Forum regulations about advertising, but the rest of us can.
Yes I am very aware of the forum restrictions but must be honest in saing…I very much look forward to just posting as a model builder having fun. Thank you all for teh endorsments but I ijntend to stick with just posting my progress. I also appreciate the fact that if you guys do in have a question about my commercial stuff, that you would just contact me privately instead of posting. I would like very much to be respectful of all of the rules of this forum.
I am working on the tiller for teh rudder as we speak and having fun!!!
That is some awesome work. I’m not a ship guy too many opportunities to really mess it up and cause bodily harm. I’m very envious and appreciative of those that can do this. Well done.
Work continues. Nothing major but a did finish up the rudder and tiller. The rudder hinges are made from wood. Its much easier to do it would than metal for me. Especially at this scale. Once the pintles and gudgeons are on the model its quite sturdy. They were painted painted black and then weathered so they would appear different from the other wood painted black. Small differences in the finish make a big difference in how the finished model looks in my opinion.
The tiller was shaped after cutting it from a 1/8" sheet of boxwood and it was tenonned into the rudder head after the rudder was positioned permanently. I could have painted the tiller red, black or left it natural. I decided on red which is shown on teh contemporary model of her sister Surly. It is in teh Thompsonn Collection in Canada.
Next I will start fabricating teh bowprit and bowsprit step…which also contains the pawls for the windlass.
Gorgeous stuff. Love the way the planks flow into the sternpost and up into the transom–I wish I could find that skill. One question, Cutters often had a bit of “drag” on the keel–is it a trick of the camera that the keel looks parallel to the base? I can’t wait to see how the spars come out.
Its not an illusion. What you see is just a builders cradle. Its not how the model will be displayed when completed. You are correct in that these cutters would have been set at an angle with the bow raised as there was a lot of draft at the keel.
It will look like this…note how high the bow is in relation to the stern. Also a contemporary model of Surly shows the proper way to mount a model of a cutter.
Ah, good; thank you sir for that eloquent explanation. I am reminded of something which continues to amaze me–none of these cutters are depicted with a binnacle.
