kees de mol

Framing – assembly.
Vigilance has 10” paired frames from # 1 – 34. Each consists of two 5” frames, with a 21” ‘room’ between pairs. Five further 6” single perpendicular frames #35 to #39 before the cant counter timbers in the stern.
There is no datum shared by all frames. Because of the rake, Waterline #0; top of the frame foot and the sheer/centerline datum for this frame is about 0.6” different fore to aft, at 1:32nd scale which is less than 0.5mm and is lost in the final sanding to attach the keel, keelson and covering board, so can be ignored. I just lean them a tad aft to get that tiny offset required.

In the centre of the boat the differences are minimal, so this only really becomes obvious at each end where the bevel is much more pronounced. I have found that in practice you just need to eye it carefully to make sure the two halves look aligned. It’s a bit hit and miss to be honest.

Frame pair #3 templates, 
 
Framing Jig (After Ed Tosti)


As you can see the Yard are laying out frames on a lofting floor using plywood templates. Note the bevels and the shape made more complex by that 6.5 degree rake. The frame is fore-face up, the floor timber being aft. It’s very skilled work, although they make it look easy!
I’m using the Ed Tosti-style jig.  The only adaptation is the addition of a removeable mini go-bar press (familiar to luthiers) which is useful to hold down any parts of the frames that need keeping still.
 

 
 

The futtocks have previously been roughly sanded to the line for bevelling thus: from stem to centreline, the fore frames outer edge is sanded, and aft frames inner edge. The opposite from centerline to stern, if that makes sense.
Wider of the two frames in the pair (aft in this example) is assembled first, by laying onto its template in the framing jig. This keeps everything aligned. The joints between futtocks are wiped with superglue set with kicker.

The second frame in the pair (fore) is assembled in the same way.

When dry the paper backing is removed. I thought of then gluing it onto the centre template and rough sanding to the line, but its really not necessary other than for the very offset pairs near the stem.
The frames are carefully aligned one on top of each other, using fresh aft template as a guide, matching the waterline, sheer and keel line together. When all is lined up the frames are glued with titebond and held down using the clamps.

The next pair are prepared on the right, and some sort of flow established. So far I can produce three or four frames in a session.
The frames are then carefully bevelled by hand. Holly and field maple being very hard timbers produce superfine dust which simply floats about the shop, so I sand into an extractor funnel which seems to help, and run the extractor throughout.
 
Body plans for fore and aft frames printed on transparencies and laminated serve as a quality check to ensure the sheers match, and the beam is correct. These will be used for erecting the frames later.
Frames will later be pinned in scale bolts (5/8th = 0.5mm), and the wood was chosen to give a variation in colour, and grain to help see the separate parts.
 
I'm grateful to the Friends of Vigilance CIO for continued access to the boat, plans and information. A great collection of photographs of their restoration can be found here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Beautifull boat you are building! I am happy to follow your progress.

I like this model very much, Nils. Good to see you still in the hobby. 

Beautifull boat you are building! I am happy to follow your progress.

Beautifull boat you are building! I am happy to follow your progress.

Next Build decision…
It’s been a while since the last build, and summer has been busy.
Over recent months I have been doing my due diligence, looking for a candidate for the next build.
It had to be a fishing boat of course, and this time with sails. Two candidates emerged.
 

Living on the southwest coast of England I turned to local boat heritage. In Falmouth, Cornwall, a handful of boats still work the Port of Truro Oyster fishery, by sail – no power allowed by ancient bylaw.
For centuries the fishery has operated in this sustainable way.  The boats are being kept alive by a group of dedicated owners and friends. One example of a Falmouth working boats is the 26’ gaffer; pitch pine on elm and oak, built by Alf Smithers and Peter Mayes in 1966. There is something compelling about the tremendous effort the owners are putting in to keep the tradition alive. Added to that it is possible to take a trip on the boat in the summer and watch her at work, as she pulls the small 3’ dredge along the shallow sands. A worthy cause.
The ‘Alf Smithers’ made it to my shortlist, and I’d like to build her - or should that be ‘him’?
 
Secondly, I searched through Edgar J March’s book on English sailing trawlers. This well-known and rich source of information includes the second category of boat I have been looking at.
I read of the sturdy nature of these gaff ketches or ‘smacks’; built in yards like Upham’s, Dewdney, Jackman, Munday, Furneaux, Chilson and many others.
 
They have evolved to have the power to pull a deep beam trawl, the stability to weather the unpredictable seas beyond Torbay in the Western Approaches and yet the speed to land the catch and get the best price at market. I had read how the design had been taken to the North Sea ports and to Denmark and adapted for the waters there, and how the introduction of steam had eventually consigned them all to history or to be converted into gentleman’s cruisers. However, in their day they evolved a technology for catching fish that was taken all over the world.
 
In the famous fishing port of Brixham, just up the coast from here, a handful of examples remain from the turn of the 19th century thanks to the tireless support of local volunteers: Pilgrim; Leader; Vigilance; Provident - a ‘mule’ class trawler, and Golden Vanity - a gaff cutter known as a Mumble Bee.  
 
March’s book has plans of Trawlers which he had measured; the Ibex; the Master Hand, a later boat from Lowestoft, and others.  His drawings and thorough lists of scantlings and methods of building have informed some wonderful scratch models of Ibex and Master Hand, some already on this forum.
 
But many of you will know all of this, so I’ll cut to the chase.


 
The Brixham trawler the Ibex caught my attention – there are outline plans; an excellent existing 1:20 scale model by Jan van den Heuvel with a good gallery of photographs; an RC model by Allan Read, and I’m sure many others.
 
Skippered by John Henry Widger for 18 years, she was fast, winning the local regatta in 29 out of 33 races – so many times they gave her the trophy to keep.
 
She came to a sad end, sunk by a U boat in 1918. Brixham expert (and past head waiter on the Queen Elizabeth II) Bob Higginson told me that legend has it that the U boat skipper Kapitänleutnant Ralph Wennenger apparently knew the area from visits to Tor Bay before the war, which presumably is why he had been ordered to the area. Not wanting to waste a torpedo on such a small vessel, he surfaced, and mercifully allowed the crew to abandon ship, before opening fire on the vessel with the machine gun. The crew escaped to safety. The submarine also put down the Addax, General Leman and the Perseverance the same day.
Recently a local trawler brought up timbers in her net at the exact coordinates 14 miles S.E. by E. off Berry Head where the Ibex sank. Some had bullets lodged in them. I have a section of her beam timber here by my desk as I write.
It’s a compelling tale and building her would be an opportunity to return some of her original timber to a model.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Then a local news story caught my eye. A not-for-profit charitable trust in Brixham had been successful in its bid to the National Heritage Memorial Fund for £820,000 to fund repairs to ‘Vigilance’, the last Brixham sailing trawler to be built at Upham’s yard in 1926. She was converted into a cruiser in later life. Her sister ship, ‘Valerian’ (or her original plans) were surveyed by Harold Underhill, and his plans are available to purchase. Models exist, notably one in the Royal Museum at Greenwich in 1:32 scale.
 
I got in touch with the folk that sail the Vigilance today. I wanted to know what differences there were between the two original sister ships, and whether they could help in my research on plans.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Tony Bridle the volunteer ‘first mate’ of Vigilance and member of the ‘Friends of Vigilance’ couldn’t have been more helpful. We met in the pub named after the boat in Brixham and poured over the Underhill plans of Valerian I had bought from Brown Son and Ferguson Ltd.
Tony understands these boats from a fisherman’s point of view – his family has fishermen going back to the 17th century, and we spoke of how the boat would have been rigged to set the beam trawl, and of the lives of the crew, including the ‘tackers’ - lads who had to help work the sails, coil the hundreds of feet of 6” trawl warp in freezing weather and cook the food all for no wages.
Little did I know at the time that the plans would prove of very little help.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Vigilance is now hauled out at a shipwright’s slip a few miles from here, under restoration to return her as far as is practical to her original state. With the kind permission of the Vigilance Trust’s Chairman, I got in touch with the boatyard’s owner, Will Stirling. He very generously allowed me to visit the slip to measure Vigilance and catalogue her timbers.
 
Visiting the slip today you are immediately immersed in smell of the sea; of green oak, the trappings of the shipwright at work, and the quiet determination and expertise of Will and his team to restore these wonderful ships.
Will immediately offered help in the research should I decide to go ahead. As it happens they are trying to align what they were seeing in front of them with the lines plans they have, no doubt aiming to piece together the many changes and repairs previously done through the years.
 
Next morning, I settled with a coffee and the Times crossword. The first answer I filled in was ‘Trawler’!
So, Vigilance it is - you just can’t argue with fate, and the Alf Smithers will have to wait.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I like this model very much, Nils. Good to see you still in the hobby. 

Thank you both Richard and Kees,
 
Richard,
yes, I would add some weathering like rust etc, but unfortunately I have no expereience with that
 
Kees,
I`m 76 years, and the hobby with it`s modeling tasks still keeps me going quite well.....
 
Nils

I like this model very much, Nils. Good to see you still in the hobby. 

I like this model very much, Nils. Good to see you still in the hobby. 

Hi Yves,
many thanks for your kind words, much appreciated,
I`ll have pull the handbrake on modeling in the moment, due to lack of space for displaying. I have`nt made any decisions for future builds yet, allthough there are many project ideas spooking around in my mind. I have to build the two glass cases next for my "Zeesboot", my wifes favorate one, and for the just finished "Ergenstrasse".
The glass case of the "5 Elbe" pilotschooner fits as well for the "Zeesboot" perfectly, as this was intended, but that ca`nt be swapped every now and then, and the problem in cleaning a dusted ship, ca`nt be ignored eighther.
 
Nils

"Zeesboot" on top, underneath "5 Elbe" pilotschooner and "Ergenstrasse" in front

Testing to upload a picture with my smartphone 

Very impressive. The wooden joints are very beautifull to watch!

Your are really showing a mastpiece in the making. I like the build

very nice build. the wood looks shiny so its very smooth.

Amazing woodwork

Where do you get your patience from to do this sort of work? Very nice to see, I am amazed!

You are very inventive making those masts. Nice to see how you extended your lathe. I have to keep that in mind for the day the wood-fever will hit me.

Very clean build! I like to see more of this schip.
 
Greetz, Kees

Testing to upload a picture with my smartphone 

Some of the pictures (or maybe all of them) I could look at for hours. Watching the beautifull sculpted golden ornaments I'm wondering... Are your hands also made of gold?
 
Your feathered assistant? Is that a good combo? I once had a feathered assistant and she "LOVED" paper and card! She was like a paper shredder and ripped every piece of paper in tiny pieces. Hope your assistent is better trained☺️
 
kind regards, Kees

And another part. Sorry for not posting anything last months. Covid hit the carecenter where I work very hard and lot of my clients died. from 19 employees, 11 were sick at home so I had to work very much and long hours. I never got sick and today I got my first vaccin so hope for the best.
 

And another part which was very rewarding to build. All made of reclaimed wood

Hello Vlad, 
 
Beautyfull model and your skills are very good👍
Maybe you can look in my buildinglog of the Herringlugger KW140 Wilhelmina VII. I've build a lifeboat too and placed some pictures of how I did it. I have some simpele plans too if you like. 
 
Kind regards, Kees