palmerit

Next step was beveling the edges on some of the bulkheads (only a few). The beveling was pretty mirror and it maybe took 20 min to do them all.

Speaking of parral beads. This model recommends them but does not supply them. I ended up ordering ordering a multipack for around $15 from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CD19WZZC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title It came with small containers with several sizes (from 6/0 to 15/0). I probably have enough "seed beads" to last me multiple lifetimes. I'm sure I could have found a bead store someplace in town. But it was just easier to buy a small pack and now I have them.

For my next model with rigging, I'm going to do some more research on knots. This kit suggested double half-hitches everywhere. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, if the line is just too thick, but the knots seemed large. And my understanding is that you'd really never even have knots on a ship. The knots serve their purpose on the model, but a bunch of huge knots just seems wrong. I also need to research - if I'm using knots - how to get them to be snug when I'm try to get them up against a whole (e.g., for the parral beads along the boom).

@DB789 had said in your build log "Decided on a colour for the sails, RIT dye tan (mixed quite strong) and after that the sails dipped for a minute or two in weak RIT dye scarlet mixture, the latter to give the sails a less bland brown colour." Can you unpack that a bit? How strong is strong (for the tan) and how weak is weak (for the scarlet)? I maybe dyed something 40 years ago. How long did you keep the sails in the tan (you specified of the scarlet a minute or two)? Did you use the Rit powder or liquid? Maybe I can start by dying an old t-shirt or something. Any idea what material the sails are made from? The part list in the instructions just say "Cloth". Cotton? Linen? If I'm going to experiment I'd like to find the same material.

I cut out the 13 bulkheads and the keel. Next time I’ll need to bevel the bulkheads to the marked lines with my Dremel with a sanding wheel. Then it’ll be dry fitting the bulkheads to the keel.

Every journey begins with the first step. Making the temporary base.

More progress on the sail and rigging.

One thing I'm trying to do before starting this is ordering paint for the model and dye for the sails. I won't be getting to the sails any time soon, but painting the hull will be potentially weeks away and sometimes it takes a bit for the paint to arrive. I've found scalehobbyist.com has good prices and a good selection of Vallejo paints. I really like Vallejo Air paints. They work well with my Iwata Airbrush - or at least I've figured out how to use them. The Ranger instructions recommend spray cans, I think of enamel-based paints. I have an airbrush booth in my house, but I know from the couple times I used some enamel spray paints (Tamiya primer on PE), even with the spray booth fan running full speed, it still was too strong for inside. I might need to experiment a bit with mixing some Vallejo colors to find something close. For the white, I'll use the Vallejo Air Off White (Creamweise) 71-270, which I used for my Sherbourne - I think Chris Watton recommended that one. Unless someone recommends something else, I'll go with that. For the black, for now I'm planning on the Vallejo Air Black 71-057, which I also used on my Sherbourne. The opening instructions call for a "Black Red-Brown paints (recommend either Humbrol, Vallejo or Tamiya)" but then just refer to "matte black" later on. I have some other black shades I bought for other projects that I can play around with if I want something that has a red/brown shade to the black. I wasn't sure what "Black Red-Brown" might be. The opening of the instructions does not note that a flat green is also used later on for the windlass and what looks to be an exhaust port of some kind (I'm sure that part has a real name) - I noticed it when skimming the instructions. I think I'm going to order a Vallejo Air Pale Green 71-095 and a Vallejo Model Game Air Angel Green 76-123 and see if some mixture works ok. There wasn't really a good match with in the Vallejo Air paints (https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/). I was going to maybe try the regular Vallejo (which would need to be thinned quite a bit) Splinter Green 70-756 but scalehobbyist.com does not seem to carry it. The toughest is finding a replacement for the "Red Oxide (Hull below waterline) (Recommend Plastikote Red Oxide Primer)" in the Vallejo line. I've found a few options that hover around that color, but it's probably going to take some experimenting in mixing to get a shade I like since nothing really seems to match. Vallejo Air Red 71-102 (which I have already, and would need to be mixed with something browner) Vallejo Air Red (Rot) 71-269, which oddly seems to have the same name, different number, and a somewhat different shade (a bit more "red oxide" than the other red) Vallejo Game Air Scarlet Red 76-012, which definitely would need to be mixed with other reds Vallejo Game Air Nocturnal Red 76-111, which also would need to be mixed Vallejo Air German Red Brown (Rotbraun) 71-271, a browner, more oxide-like, but not red enough I also have some regular Vallejo colors that I could use as mixers (like Vallejo Red Leather 70-818, also not red enough). There was also a blue used as trim around the small deck boat (which is 3D printed). I had bought Vallejo Air French Blue 71-088 and Vallejo Air Magic Blue 76-021 when I thought the Duchess would be my next model. I think one of them would work well. No idea what shade to use to dye the sails - not that that step is coming any time soon. The instructions don't say. I saw in the instructions for another Vanguard fishing boat, the Lady Eleanor, that it said "You can use any dye of your choice, but for prototype, this is the product we used" and it shows a Rit dye in Wine (Bordó). The only other Ranger build (aside from James's prototype) was one by @DB789 who said "Decided on a colour for the sails, RIT dye tan (mixed quite strong) and after that the sails dipped for a minute or two in weak RIT dye scarlet mixture, the latter to give the sails a less bland brown colour."

Well, about 30min after finishing my Pram, I've decided my next build: The Vanguard Models Ranger - Barking Fish Carrier - one of several fishing boats Vanguard offers. Months back, I thought my next model would be the Vanguard Duchess of Kingston that I bought, which I originally intended to be my second model after the Sherbourne. But then I realized that I wanted to get more experience with some smaller boats before tackling a larger and more expensive model ship like the Duchess. My first step was getting the Model Shipways Shipwright Series, having completed the Dory and Pram, with the Smack nearly complete. I also snuck in the NRG Half Hull after realizing I also needed some more planking practice. Then I discovered some builds of the Vanguard fishing boats. Seeing a nice Black Friday sale at agesofsail.com back in November I decided to buy the Ranger, Zulu, and Erycina. The Ranger and Zulu are Level I Novice builds, the Erycina is a Level II Amateur build. Someone who built all six models noted that the Ranger, Zulu, and Erycina are larger models, with the Saucy Jack, Nisha, and Fifie their somewhat smaller cousins. There are only a handful of build logs for the Ranger.

More progress on the sail. Learned some things after finishing my Pram.

I gotta finish my Smack (almost done) and my Sherbourne (was waiting to do the rigging on the Pram and Smack before getting to that). I have more models in the cellar on a shelf than I can count. I was probably going to go peruse them in a bit and pick the next one. I decided I'm going to wait to begin the Duchess, which I had said would be my second model. Then I decided to do the Dory, Pram, and Smack, and the NRG half hull. Then I got caught up in Black Friday sales and decided to buy some of the Vanguard fishing boats since they were easy models. And I somehow late at night pulled the trigger on some other models. Oh, and I inexplicably ordered the Pavel Nikitin Oseberg v3 last week. What was I thinking? I literally have about 10 years of models. I need to stop. Or take a pill.

My Pram is done (or should I say I’m done with my Pram).

Yeah, this model really needs to be fared pretty aggressively at the bow and stern (at least compared to what I had to do on the Sherbourne). Even after an aggressive faring, I realized later that I probably could have (should have) done a bit more, especially near the counter at the stern. Having the thin basswood for the planking has the advantage that they're easy to bend and shape. But it also has the disadvantage that, because they're thin, they cannot take much sanding. If the faring is not done right and there are bulges or pockets you cannot fix that by sanding the planks - as I learned when I sanded through and had to replank in places. (I can hold my hull up to the light and see some places where the planking is nearly paper thin.)

Starting to raise the sail. I think I understand what to do. I originally thread the halyard through both holes at the top of the mast then realized it went only through one. It seems odd to me that the halyard and downhaul lines are both secured on the same cleat. I would have thought there’d be separate cleats for separate lines.

Lashed and laced the top of the sail (still need to trim the ends of the lines after the Glenn put on them dries).

Take two making a sail for my Pram after getting a new sail from Model Expo. It took a couple email pokes, but it was finally shipped. Take one I made a couple mistakes. First, I used yellow PVA glue (did the same on my Smack) which naturally gave the sail a yellow tone. This time I used a white bookbinders glue. Second, I had taped my sail to my green cutting mat. It was clean but because it had been cut up a bit, some of the green stained sail. This go around, I put Saran Wrap down first. Tomorrow I’ll add the corner stays, and when they’re dried I’ll drill the holes for the line, and then try to figure out how to attach it. The instructions from the Pram are a bit more extensive than they were for the Smack but still not very clear.

I was able to attach the main sail to the main mast. But I was really struggling to figure out how to attach the sail to the gaff and the boom. The main instructions are pretty spartan. The appendix explanations are incomplete. They kind of describe the lashings. But don’t describe the lacing. Then I looked at the instructions for my Pram. I hadn’t finished that yet because I was waiting for a new piece of sail material to arrive from Model Expo. It just arrived today. I looked back at the instructions for the Pram and the description of how to add the sail were much more complete. Now that I have a new sail, I’ll finish the Pram, then turn to the Smack.

Maybe not surprising that dry dock models and parts (on the MSW banned list) sells this kit for *more* than what it would cost to buy directly from Pavel Nikitin and pay the shipping fee from Ukraine.

Very cool. Who sells this in the US?

Bag 22:

Bag 21

Catching up to on this one while watching the pregame. Bag 20. The rudder works.

I put together two 4mm doubles (there are no 5mm doubles). Thanks for the suggestion.

The Quad Hands really make it easier (far easier) to rig the blocks. I was trying to tie in the block without using them and failing completely until I pulled out the Quad Hands. I’m guessing there’s a way to do this without them but I couldn’t figure it out.