I have been using photos of Luke Powell's Cutter 'Tallulah' for many of the details I've added to the model. The first photo shows Tallulah.

Before painting the hull, there were a couple more details to add. An anchor point is needed on the stem to attach the Bobstay which runs up to the forward end of the bowsprit. A paper template was made and glued to brass sheet. It was then cut out, bent to shape and a brass loop soldered in position as the attachment point for the Bobstay. The completed fitting was epoxied to the stem with brass rivets through the stem to make it secure.

A distinctive feature which can be seen in the photo of Tallulah is the decoration around the gunwale fairleads either side of the stem. The detail from the photo was enlarged to the appropriate size and a print was glued to a double thickness of 0.8mm brass sheet. The double thickness was formed by gluing two pieces of sheet together with epoxy. The shape was then cut out using a piercing saw thus ensuring that two identical trims were being produced. Once the shape had been cut out, the brass was heated with a blowtorch to soften the epoxy and separate the two pieces which were then cleaned up and trial fitted on the hull.

The hull was first painted with brush applied grey primer. The waterline was marked using a pencil taped to a carpenter's square. Crude but effective. Below the waterline, the hull was then painted with brush applied red primer. Next the gunwales were masked and painted with a Navy Blue rattle can. Finally the remainder of the hull, between the gunwales and the waterline was masked and painted white, again using a rattle can. Eventually, I will be giving the entire hull a coat or two of lacquer.

Having completed the painting of the hull, it feels like I have made some progress 👍. Only the mast, spars, rigging, sails and keel to complete. Doesn't sound much if you say it quickly!🤔

The mast is made from a 1220mm length of 16 x16 mm European redwood. The first stage was to taper the bottom 120mm down to 12 x 12mm square and the top 1000mm to 10mm square. The four corners were then planed off to produce a tapered octagonal shape. Finally the mast was sanded to remove all the corners to produce a (roughly) circular cross section.

There are several fittings needed near the top of the mast for attaching the rigging. The first to be tackled was the Crane. This provides an attachment point for the Gaff halyard block and holds the block away from the mast. The plan suggests the Crane is made from a cotter pin, but I decided to cut one from brass. Two brass pins, silver soldered to the Crane were used to attach it to the mast using epoxy. At the same height on the mast, two wooden cheeks were added for the Shrouds to rest on.

Opposite the Crane, an brass eye was added to attach the Stay Sail block. This was also made from brass and threaded to ensure a secure fix into the mast. The hole in the mast was filled with CA and the eye quickly screwed in before the glue set.

Further up the mast, two attachment points are needed for the Peak Halyard and the Jib Halyard. These were made as mast bands from a strip of brass formed into a ring and silver soldered. Attachment eyes were added before the fittings were cleaned and polished. They were then fixed in position with brass pins.

At the top of the mast, fittings were added for the Pennant. The Pennant was made from orange ripstop nylon mounted onto a stainless steel wire. It slides through a brass eye at the top of the mast and down into a wooden block below.

Continuing with the construction of the mast, a gooseneck fitting is required to attach the boom to the mast. There are many different designs for these fittings, but I decided to model the design shown in the first photo (without the roller reefing, which I think might just be a step too far!)

To make the central pivot the ends of a length of brass rod were turned down to form the pivots. The central section of the rod was then sawn, drilled and filed to produce the finished pivot. The second, composite, photo shows the steps along the way.

This central pivot is attached to the mast with two band clamps. The various pieces were cut and formed from brass strip. Once all the pieces were prepared, they were held together with temporary wires and then silver soldered.

All the pieces were then cleaned up and a trial assembly made on a length of dowel. The two mast band clamps are not quite identical but I don't think anyone will notice except me (and you now I have pointed it out 🙄)

Finally, a couple of M2 brass bolts were made for the clamps and the complete assembly was fitted onto the mast. Strips of thin leather under the band clamps ensure a secure fit to the mast. The final photo is to give you an idea of the scale

The Gaff rests against the mast with Gaff jaws or a Gaff saddle to hold it in place. The first photo is from John Leather's book "Gaff Rig" which I have found invaluable during this build.

I decided to opt for a Gaff saddle made in brass (what else!).The separate components for the saddle were cut from various thicknesses of brass sheet and then silver soldered together. Once cleaned up, the inside face of the saddle was lined with leather to avoid damage to the mast.

The socket to fit the end of the Gaff spar was made by rolling a strip of 0.5mm brass sheet into a tube and soldering the joint. Masking tape was then used to mark the cutting lines to cut away the surplus material.

A strip of brass was cut and drilled to form the attachment point for the throat halliard and the mainsail.

Finally several hardwood balls were turned to thread on to the parrel line. These reduce friction when the Gaff is hoisted into position.

(Has anyone spotted the (not so) deliberate mistake?

Quite a few blocks are needed for the rigging. I'm not sure on the exact number yet but it is something like 20. After several trial attempts I settled on a method for making them which is repeatable and manageable in terms of the time and fiddling that it takes.

The blocks are made from hardwood (Cherry) and fitted with brass sheeves. Lengths of wood were cut to a 6x2mm cross section. Some of the lengths are then grooved using a jig on the table saw. The grooves are 3mm wide by 0.5mm deep.

To form the wooden blocks, a simple jig was made to hold four short pieces of Cherry in position while they are glued using CA. The top and bottom pieces in the jig are grooved and are positioned with the groove facing towards the centre of the block. The cross pieces are not grooved. Once the glue has set, the block is transferred to a second jig and drilled with three 1mm holes. The block is then trimmed and sanded to an oval shape.

The sheeves are turned from 6mm brass bar to a finished size of 5.5mm dia by 2mm thick. They are grooved around the circumference. A strip of brass 3mm x 0.5mm is bent into a U shape to be used to reinforce the block.

Once all the parts are ready, the block is assembled by first sliding the brass U into the channels formed through the wooden block by the grooved side pieces. Using the holes already drilled through the block as guides, holes are then drilled through the brass strip. The two outer holes are drilled 1mm for reinforcing pins, the central hole is drilled 1.5mm for the sheeve axle. The pins and axle are then fitted through these holes (threading the sheeve onto the axle as it is inserted), and glued into position with CA. Finally the pins are filed flush with the wooden block.

Using the same method, several variations have been made to suit different applications on the Cutter.

Six completed, only another 14+ to make 🤔

It turns out I needed 23 blocks in total with several different designs. Looking at them collected together, they certainly look 'hand made' 🤣.

The blocks with beckets and those with swivel jaws needed threaded pins to fit. These were turned from 3mm dia brass rod and threaded 12BA. I chose 12 BA simply because it was the smallest size tap and die I had available. Inherited in a box of taps from my Dad although I can't imagine why he had such a small tap as he didn't build anything in small sizes 😂🤣

Next I need to make some shackles to fit the blocks and the rigging.

Attaching the blocks and other rigging to the hull requires a number of shackles. These were made from 3mm dia brass rod. Lengths of rod were turned on the lathe to reduce the center section to 1.7 mm. These pieces were then annealed and forged to flatten the ends. This annealing and forging process was repeated until the ends were the same 1.7mm thickness as the center section.

The forged pieces were then annealed again and then bent around a steel rod to form a 'U' shape. Once the forming was complete the shackles were cleaned up with files and emery paper. The two flattened ends were then drilled for the cross pin. One end was drilled with a 1.6mm clearance hole and the other end was drilled and tapped 12BA.

The cross pins were turned from the same 3mm dia brass bar. One end is threaded 12BA and the other end is filed flat and cross drilled for a securing wire to prevent the pin becoming loose.

I needed to make quite a few of these, so have been making them in my 'spare time' over recent weeks. 😀

(The blue cord in some of the photos is temporary and not what will be used for the rigging)

On full sized Cutters, the luff of the mainsail is often held to the mast with wooden hoops (Photo 1). These hoops are made from steamed elm, ash or oak. I had some ash veneer available so decided to use this to laminate the hoops.

A wooden mandrel was turned to the required inner diameter of the hoops - approximately 20mm for the 16mm diameter mast. A strip of ash veneer was then dampened and wound round the mandrel and left to dry. Once dry, it was removed, coated with glue, rewound onto the mandrel, taped into position and left to dry again.

Removing the completed wooden tube from the mandrel was difficult despite having wound the glued veneer over a layer of paper to prevent it sticking to the mandrel. In the end, I had to drill out the centre of the mandrel to get the tube off.

The wooden tube was then cut to form 6 hoops. Brass pins were added primarily for visual effect, but also to ensure that the laminations will not come apart.

Time to make the sails! This is my first attempt at making cotton sails.

Full sized paper templates were made using the sail dimensions provided on the plan. These were used to mark out the outline of each sail on an old polycotton sheet by drawing round the templates onto the sheet with a pencil. For each sail, care was taken to ensure that the warp of the cloth was aligned with the leech of the sail. A 12mm wide strip of hardboard was then used as a guide to draw an additional line around each sail providing a 12mm hem allowance. The sails were cut from the sheet, together with triangular reinforcing pieces for each corner on each sail.

My wife was volunteered to machine sew the hems and reinforcing pieces 😉❤️. The sails were then returned to me for the rest of the sewing🙄. A bolt rope was hand sewn around each sail. The rope is sewn along each edge of the sail, except the leech. It is sewn onto the Port side of the sail. I don't know why it should be on the Port side, but I understand is the convention. Can anyone enlighten me as to why?

Grommets were formed at the corners of each sail by sewing in a copper ring.

The hand sewing for each sail took 4-5 hours 😮

Once completed, each sail was fitted to the Cutter using temporary rigging. This was to ensure that the sails were the right size and shape. At this point, the main sail had to be remade as, despite it being cut out to the right size and shape using the paper template, it had somehow 'grown' to a size which meant it just didn't fit once finished 😭 The second attempt fits OK.

Finally lines were drawn onto the sails to represent the seams that would be present on full sized sails and the sails were stained using tea and waterproofed using a mix of beeswax and linseed oil. The last photo shows the 'before and after' effect of the staining and waterproofing.

Having made all the bits and pieces needed for the rigging, it's time to replace the temporary blue string with something more appropriate.

I read somewhere that plastic coated fishing trace line can be used for the shrouds that support the mast. Photos 1 and 2 show the shrouds and bowsprit stays I made using this trace line. It just didn't look right, so I replaced these with twisted nylon cord which I think looks much better.

The lower end of each shroud is formed into a loop which fits round a deadeye. The lanyards which connect the pairs of deadeyes together are elastic cord which ensures that the shrouds are kept taught. Each lower deadeye is attached to the chainplate using an 'R' clip which makes it relatively easy to de-rig the shrouds and remove the mast.

A forestay runs from the mast to the stem where it is also attached using an 'R' clip.

The bowsprit rigging comprises a chain bobstay fitted between the stem and the cranse iron at the end of the bowsprit together with two stays, one fitted on either side. The chain was made in the same way as described for the anchor chain in an earlier post. A pair of blocks form a tackle which allows the chain to be tensioned.

The lateral stays are made from the same nylon cord as used for the mast shrouds. Each stay has a tackle to tension it.