bebopsteve

Fabulous Build!

Main decking on Fifie completed. I know, it perhaps looks a little too posh for a fishing boat. Not sure I have the heart to scuff it all up with a little sandpaper. The deck was accomplished by prefinishing the planks with a weak concentration of iron acetate, tacking down 0.15mm black thread using CA and then setting the planks with wood glue.  

A quick update on the forward cabin. The steam boiler (to power the capstan) and cooking stove will be partially visible through the forward hatch so I tried to make them reasonably believable. The boiler was fabricated with a wine cork, paper, wire, straight pins and leftover parts from a WWI plastic airplane kit. The stove is mostly wood, paper and wire. They're both fairly rough, but suitable for the purpose.
 

 

 

 

 
On to finishing up the warp room and coal bunker and that should do it for this mini-project.
 

I had planned to display the forward companion way closed and show the small amount of below deck detail that would be visible through the warp room hatch. Instead, I've got myself into something much more interesting (for me, at least). If you're going to show a little detail, why not go all the way? So, I decided to build out the entire forward cabin.
 
 
Starting off with my precision map of where things are going to be 😂
 

 
Staring off with the warp room floor.
 

 
I have no evidence that the warp room floor was drilled for drainage on the actual boat but given that up to a mile of soggy rope was deposited there when the nets were hauled, I'm comfortable making the leap of faith.
 

 
I didn't have enough material to match the topside deck so I used some of the sub-planking material provided in the kit to create a similar look.
 

 
The cabin wall was done with walnut strip.
 

 

 

 

 
This is entirely guess-work as to how exactly the bunks should be laid out but given that they'll barely be visible through the forward hatch, I'm not overly concerned. This is also why I'll never build a famous/known ship...I have a really hard time following the instructions!
 

 
In addition to my speculative warp room floor, I also decided to make the walls "ventilated". The coal bunker (top right) will be visible through the scuttle hatch on deck. 
 

 

 
There are still a lot of details to be added to this mini-build. The boiler that powers the steam capstan and cooking stove will be fairly visible through the forward hatch so those will need to be fabricated next. I'm considering adding light below deck as well so planning for that will be necessary. 
 

 
The fish hold and forward cabin...eventually I should probably get back to working on the kit itself! 
 

So I'm finally back on the job after an unexpectedly long hiatus with other projects and life in general. 
 

 
A base coat of paint has been added after getting the rub-rails installed and cleaning up the the stem and stern posts. My overall color scheme will be be black, white and red. I'm not overly worried about a perfect paint job as this fifie will be showing the scars of a well-used work boat.  
 

 
The inner rail that runs the full length of the timber heads needs to be nailed (pilot holes recommended) at every other post as well as glued. There isn't enough material to do full runs on this piece so a splice is necessary somewhere along the way. Mine is at the 5th post from the bow. I reversed it for the other side. 
 

 

 
The full run from bow and stern.
 

 

 

 
Next I tackled more of the scratch-built detail that will be visible through open hatches. This is the passageway behind the pilot house that appears to access the engine room (or at least where the engine lived). I made some modifications to the size and placement of this hatch given how much smaller it is than the version on the forward deck in the plans. The instructions call for this opening to be very small (compared to the forward hatch) and offset from the centerline which seems to put it in conflict with where  one of the two rudder control chains run out to the stern. Regardless, I wanted to make this area more visible and these adjustments made that possible and solved the chain issue to my liking.
 

 

 
I also opted to add detail to the deckhouse superstructure and scratch-build the light in front of the hatch. I plan to have the sashes hinged at the top (or at least appear to be) and open for my final display. When the companionway is installed over the hatch I want to get as much light down there as I can. I also introduced a little of the red I'll be using to get a feel for how it's going to look.
 

OK, Duchess of Kingston will be available for pre order very soon, as it is almost ready.
 
In the meantime, I had a set of cast black resin cannon barrels arrive, including a PE sheet for each. I am selling the 9, 12, 18, 24 and 32 pounder cannon barrel and carriage sets in pairs, which include the laser cut pear, photo etched parts (including flintlocks) and 2 cast black resin barrels.
 
https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/cannon-carriages/
 
I also had sample castings for the carronade barrels, which look fine, so will order production sets to be made. Again, I have the PE sheets done for these, just need the barrels cast now.
 
I have been working on my 7th kit, Sphynx, but because I am no back in full time employment, things are going slower than I would like. Still, get something done every day when I have the spare time. The short 9 pounder barrels (7 foot, as opposed to 8 or 9 foot versions) have been cast by MK, and the figurehead and stern decoration is being carved (digitally) right now, so everything's still moving forward...

My bench time on the actual boat has been hard to come by the last couple of weeks but I have been plugging away a little at a time on the tedious side-project of making miniature herring. I created a master template for the largest fish (just shy of .5" at 1/32 scale) using Adobe Illustrator and fed the .svg file to my Cricut die-cutting machine to test materials. Paper didn't hold up well to the cutting process so I opted for a more vellum-like material I use for frosted windows on my miniature building projects. This material held paint much better than the paper at this size as well. Once I was satisfied with the material, I created 2 more slightly smaller versions of the template to avoid too much uniformity across the board. In the end I cut somewhere around 400 of these guys thinking that would be more than enough. The jury is still out on that.
 
 
 

 
My photos don't do justice to the metallic look of the painted fish...they actually shimmer quite nicely when viewed from the distance a person is likely to view the finished model. 
 

 

 
Some fish will be scattered around on deck and stuck in the nets while most will be in the hold under the net drying boards. It's a lot of work for such a small detail but ultimately I think it will be a nice touch. Now back to actually building the boat!

A little more progress to report despite the obligatory to-do list of early Fall weekend chores here in upstate New York. The mini-model of the hold is mostly complete now. I intend to add details here and there where necessary depending how everything looks when all the stuff that lives down there is added later on. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll be adding light below deck and how far I'll take detailing this area. The rope room is a must but I'm not sure if my "people" hatches will be open. 
 
 
 

 
The hold can be divided into various compartments depending on how the captain sees fit to arrange his catch. The nets are stored on the planks above to dry while excess water from both drains through the holes in the the floor to the bilge. The shutters covering my speculative hatches/passageways are also speculative. 
 

 

 
 

 
The hold fits nicely (despite my best efforts to screw it up) in the hull  and will be added permanently later on.
 

Thanks Steve...I’m glad you’re following along. It’s a nice kit that I think you’ll enjoy. I’m looking  forward to seeing how other builders tackle this kit! 
 
 
 
Thanks guys! I wasn’t aware there was a MSW Facebook page! I’m one of the 5 people on earth that doesn’t have a FB account 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

Thanks guys, as always for the encouraging comments!
James...I'm using some of the walnut that was intended for the second layer of hull planking (there's a lot of it) but made sure to select the most diverse strips I could find so each board wasn't identical to its neighbor. I'm guessing these boards probably got beaten up and replaced quite often. I also found that flipping over boards from the same strip created a nice variety. With a very light sanding and a subtle whitewash (acrylic paint thinned to maybe 10% opacity) the results seemed reasonably believable. I'll be adding some "fishy" grime as well when the hold is fully assembled and detailed. 
 
Speaking of the hold...I probably should have pointed out that I'm actually building it outside the hull and will install it permanently later as a mini-model of its own. It's one of the very few advantages of cutting your boat in half...there's plenty of access from below! I'll also need to fabricate a rope room given that that hatch will be wide open on my build. 
 

 
I've also added these entirely speculative ventilation "windows/passages" that would allow our intrepid crew to pass from one end of the boat to the other without having to venture out into that nasty North Sea weather. They'll be covered by board and batten shutters. I may leave one ajar to give a little glimpse into the cabin. Again, this area will be so cluttered with gear and fish I doubt any of it will be visible. 

Excellent work!! I ordered the Fifie a few days ago and looking forward to the build! I am getting some great ideas and tips from your build, so thank you for posting the great pictures! Now I have a mentor for my build!!!

Excellent work!! I ordered the Fifie a few days ago and looking forward to the build! I am getting some great ideas and tips from your build, so thank you for posting the great pictures! Now I have a mentor for my build!!!

Timberheads and bulwark planking
 
I did things a little differently than the instructions suggested for the timberheads and planking along the bulwark. I wanted my timberheads to appear as if they were coming through the deck rather than sitting on top so an alternate approach was necessary. The instructions call for installing the entire deck to the bulwarks first, followed by placing the timberheads on top. I suppose it would be possible to cut and refine the bottom of each timberhead to sit perfectly flush on the deck but I wasn’t confident I could pull that off 92 times! Even if I did manage to do that, I still don’t think the look would have been what I was after. Instead, I used walnut strip to create a band along the bulwark from which the timberheads would appear to emerge. It would also allow the deck planking to terminate to a clean edge which made more sense to me than running planks to the bulwark. Ultimately, I think this technique worked out to be an improvement over the timberheads-on-top method and I’m satisfied with the results.
 
Speaking of authenticity, it’s worth noting that the layout of the timberheads as indicated in the instructions doesn’t accurately depict how they’d line up on the real boat. I’m sure most here already knows this, but they should be square to their partner across the deck given that each pair of timberheads is actually the protruding top of a single frame. This occurred to me after the fact and I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the considerable time and effort it would have required to remove all 92 timberheads (and the inserts between them) and source the material to make new ones. Unlike the instruction booklet, the plans do show the timberheads in correct alignment. If you do opt to make this adjustment, the material provided in the kit for this step will need to be replaced with larger stock. It will take as much as twice the material to accommodate the extreme angles necessary approaching the bow and stern.
 

 
Because my timberheads were not going to be sitting on top of the deck, I didn't have to be overly precise with the bottom cuts. 
 

 
 Filling the spaces with walnut strip. I deliberately left these slightly "loose" to make it apparent that this part of the deck went around the timberheads and not under. 
 

 
Timberheads complete!
 
Planking the deck
 
As for deck planking, the kit supplies darkly colored 1mm square strips of wood that can be placed between each 1x3.5mm plank to simulate caulking. This is a nice feature but I felt the lines it created were far too heavy for my eye and there is some grain visible. Rather than the strips, I used thread to create spaces that looked more “in scale” to me. I installed my planks in long, single strips rather than edge-butting shorter ones. I’ll add those detail lines later. 
 
Before the deck planking can be completed, the central superstructure needs to be partially constructed and dry-fitted to the hull to ensure that deck planks are terminating at the correct lengths. Building the superstructure is a simple process using the perfectly die-cut parts provided in the kit. 
 
The decking on either side of the hold is treated differently than the rest. This is the area where the nets are set and retrieved and a secondary “slotted” deck rests on top. There are 4 scuttle hatches (2 per side) in this area that are referred to in the manual as “fish pond hatches”. Given their locations, I think it’s safe to assume that fish are loaded through these hatches leaving the central hold open to receive the incoming nets (up to 3 miles worth!). This area of the deck can also be divided into sections with “pond boards”. There are a lot of details about this area in terms of functionality I’d love to know that the documentation in the kit doesn’t provide. For instance: was the “fish pond” area of the hold actually filled with water (such as on modern crab boats)? If anyone knows, please share. 
 

 
Oddly enough, the photos of the finished boat on the box and in the advertising I've seen don't include the border detail around the hatches and skylight. In the instruction booklet, however, they are included. The plans also indicate the presence of these trim boards so I opted to include them.  
 

 

 
Adding the central superstructure (temporarily) to ensure that my planking was terminating correctly.
 

 
Adding the "fish pond" sub-deck that will be covered with a slotted secondary deck. There are only 1 mm gaps between the boards of the secondary deck so the sub-deck will be mostly unseen.  I drilled out 2 of the 4 fish pond hatches as these will be open in the final display. 
 
 
 
With the fish pond sub-deck in place, the rest of the forward deck can be completed.
 

 
The completed forward deck (minus butt-joints and weathering). I'm satisfied with the overall look the thread "caulking" created.
 

 
The rest of the deck planks in place.
 

 

 

 
I decided early on I would be adding detail to the central superstructure/wheelhouse area so this is the beginning of that. Given how numerous these boats were up and down the Scottish coast, I don't think it's too far a stretch to assume each captain/crew equipped and finished their boats to suit their individual tastes. I'll do the same! 
 

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

Getting the anchors installed. I really like the rope from Syren. Anyway, few pics...

Pictures are a bit fuzzy. I will post better ones in the next day or so. 
Thanks!
Steve

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

Pictures are a bit fuzzy. I will post better ones in the next day or so. 
Thanks!
Steve

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

Here are a few more of the 99% completed Philly. Just adding some crates, barrels, cannon gear and cannon balls. I am actually kinda sad the build is almost over. Thinking of  the Rattlesnake to start the year off, but I have to get display case conjured up for the Philly.

I finally got time! Here are a few pics of my Endeavor build! Hope everyone is having a good 2017..Chuck, sorry about them Chargers! 

Chuck, how was the event in San Diego?

Hi Lacy, Thanks! some pics would be cool! I am currently working on 2nd layer on Endeavour. Here is a lousy picture. The siren rope is outstanding as well as the blocks.
Chuck S.! What are You working on?
Go Hawks!!