An English cutter half hull 1:32 by MikeJ [COMPLETED BUILD]

Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
120
Points
113

Location
156 Dublin Hill Road, Higganum, CT 06441
Well here I go. Pictures to follow. I braved the cold in the garage and cut out my parts. I'm making everything out of bass wood, I have a lot of it from previous scratch projects, and have glued the keel, dead wood, stem and stern to my build board. I'm working on shaping the frames one at a time to fit. Dust is flying.
 
Hi Mike, welcome to the group build. It is cold here in Myrtle Beach this morning 65 but it will be in the 70’s this afternoon. Sounds like you are making good progress, please post a few photos.
 
Your "Cutter" group build badge has been added to your signature and your Photo uploads have been corrected now.
 
I hope that was a dry fit. I put all my frames in three times checking the fit before adding glue lol.
 
DOING THE SAME MIKE41 PLEASE CHECK OUT LATEST UPDATE AND GIVE ANY COMENTS/ANY CRITISISMS MORE THEN WELCOME OR SUGESTIONS. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE YOU AND YOURS DON
 
Everything is coming along nicely. Nothing is glued yet, still dry fitting and shaping. Made a filler for the bow curve and yes that is my blood. Got stuck putting a new #11 in my handle. it was such a small prick, but it gushed until I superglued it. I'm thinking of changing my planking material because as I'm working the bass wood it gets harry and since I'm going to plank clinker style it will be hard to do fine sanding.

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I’ve made some progress but my camera wouldn’t work so now I’ve got some photos for you. Hope they come out. I’ve done the bulkheads installed the gun and sweep ports and have started the planking. The first five are done and I’m starting the second band. There will be 15 planks altogether.

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Nice work Mike, clean accurate work with good progress. Your photos look fine also.
 
Thanks Mike and Don for your likes. I've assembled the cap rail out of 1/8th inch flat stock then milled it down to 1/16th. Glued it on and then finished it to the final dimensions. Shaped the stern then cut the stern cap, tariff rail, and added some extra molding to roll out the molding. Getting ready to installed the next spilled plank. It's working about a plank a day so I'll be planking now for till she is done. Aloha

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Hi Mike, great progress. Are you going to add guns and additional deck details?
 
GREAT GOING MIKE, CAN YOU SHOW US HOW YOU SPILE THE PLANKS, ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THAT I WANTED TO DO THIS BUILD, JUST WAITING FOR SOME WOOD AND MY ORGAN GRINDER PLANKING MACINE TO COME IN. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE ALL DON
 
Hi Mike, great progress. Are you going to add guns and additional deck details?
I'm using this project to work out planking clinker style and it is working out OK, so I think after the planking I'm just going to finish it and add the chain plate and let it go at that. The work area inside the bulkhead is really cramped for my fat fingers. I may also add whale detail since in the old days they were put together with a series of interconnecting wood. I'm looking for some examples of the designs before I go to it.
 
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GREAT GOING MIKE, CAN YOU SHOW US HOW YOU SPILE THE PLANKS, ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THAT I WANTED TO DO THIS BUILD, JUST WAITING FOR SOME WOOD AND MY ORGAN GRINDER PLANKING MACINE TO COME IN. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE ALL DON
Sure, glad to. It is not too difficult once you start just a lot of repetition. Mostly measuring and fitting. Once you have figured out the number of the planks you want to use and where you want to put the plank butts, I use a simple tape method and transfer the bottom of the plank shape to the wood. Then soak and bending to follow the shape of the frames, then glue. I just finished the plank for the day and will document my process with the next one.
 
Spiling:
I learned to spile from Trish Levine at the Nautical Research Guild. They have developed a kit you can purchase, which I di dseveral years ago along with a tutorial on planking including how to spile, which I will hopefully spell out now. I am building this so that there will not be any steelers or drop planks.

First of all you have to measure the largest frame from the rabbit to the lower part of the whale. This will give you an idea of how many planks you will want depending on the scale and how you want it to look. you can make all the planks the same size or measure after you have decided how wide you want the garboard strake or the garboard and broad strake.
Depending on how many planks, you want to build, I chose 15 planks just under a quarter of an inch after the garboard, you can divide the area to be planked into bands, 5 planks per band in my case. I also marked each frame as to where the plank will sit. I also marked the build board with the demention of the plank at each frame. At this time I also make a chart of planking joints(jpg822,823,824,830)
To make sure there are no drop planks I've made the stern end of the planks larger to prevent this. This will make the measurement different at the stern. I decided to do this in 5 planks and then the planks over the last frame will be a smaller size which allows for less bending over the large bend of the last frame. you will have to blend this extra material in each plank forward 4 or 5 frames.

Once you have decide the number of planks and measurements and the garboard strake is installed for the first plank, take a piece of tape and lay it along the plank to cover the length of the planks per the plank chart and with a pencil rub it along the top the the preceding plank. Mark all the frames, and frame ends (jpg825). Put it on the wood to be used for the plank and follow the curve you drew on the tape. Make any adjustments to the cut curve to make sure they match (jpg826,827).
Once satisfied the two planks curves are the same measure the planks with at each frame, mark them on the tape and connect them (jpg828) and cut outside the line and then sand to the marks. Check you measurements. If you make a mistake and over sand like I do sometimes you can always make it up on the next plank if it is not too grievous.
Once the planks is made check the planks end aligns with the center of the frame (jpg833) then bend (jpg 34) and glue. Hopefully, I'm not preaching to the choir, but if you have more questions let me know.


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