Ryland Craze

I like the modifications you are making, they do add some visual interest to the ship.

Subdeck Installation and Fairing
 
The milestone with the deck layout / hull modifications was installing the subdeck.  Even though I reinforced the subdeck with birch plywood, I still didn’t know if the subdeck would or would not split from all the modifications I made to it. 
 
Additionally if the subdeck didn’t split, I also didn’t know if it would be able to bend enough into its BH positions due to its added reinforcement.  I knew pre-shaping the birch plywood strips would help with bending but still the ply was additional layer of wood that would decrease the subdeck’s flexibility.
 

 

 
Overall, fairing went well.  The only real issue I encountered was with BH 1.  While a batten ran fair from the bow infill piece, atop the upper sections of BH 1, and back to BH 4, the same batten didn’t touch the lower sections of BH 1 but did run fair from the bow infill piece to BH 4.  I think reason behind this issue was operator error when I beveled the port and starboard lower sections of BH 1:  Either my bevel angle was wrong or I just simply took off too much MDF.  At any rate, I shimmed the lower sections of BH1 and made adjustments until I got fair batten runs from the bow to BH 4.    
 

 
Cheers,
Jay

Deck Layout / Hull Modifications Pt 2
 
Before I glued the BHs to the false keel, I checked the camber radius of a couple BHs with radius curves.  I came up with a 26 degree radius for the deck camber.  I marked and cut that radius, along with also marking and cutting a 24 degree radius, in some scrap.  I’ll use the 26 degree radius as a sanding template and the 24 degree radius as a bending template (the 2extra degrees is to help compensate for wood spring back).
 

 
I then cut strips of thin birch plywood, wet bent it, and then let it dry on my 24 degree radius template.  Once the strips were dry, I glued them over various cutouts on the underside of the subdeck.
 

 
I then hand-drilled starter holes in the subdeck that corresponded to Vine’s additional fittings and alternative fittings positions.  The mizzen mast hole was drilled to size.  I then cut out an undersized hole where the warp room hatch will be located.   
 

 
 
 
Cheers,
Jay

Deck Layout / Hull Modifications Pt 1
 
The purposes of my deck layout and hull modifications were to accommodate the Vine’s additional fittings, alternative fittings positions, and the fish hold’s alterations. 
 
I first beveled all the BHs and infill pieces with my Proxxon rotary tool (on its slowest speed).  I cobbled together a makeshift dust extractor while I did my beveling (finally found a use for Proxxon’s rotary tool holder….lol).
 

 

 
I then cutoff a top portion of the false keel between BHs 9 and 10 (more on this in Hull Mods Pt 3 below), and then glued all the BHs to the false keel.
 

 
Parts 18 and 19 were then glued into place.  You can see in image below where the warp room area was painted on part 19.
 

 
Cheers,
Jay

Fish Hold Modifications Pt 3
 
I then painted the fish hold area, and also BHs 9 and 10, light grey (Mr. Color 97).  I used light grey because white paint usually looks grey in dim lighting.  I painted the top edges of the fish hold flat white (Mr. Color 62) because those areas would receive more direct light than the hold further below.
 

 
As mentioned earlier, the fish hold and deck layout / hull modifications were done in tandem so what follows next will appear like I’ve skipped a few things; however, those gaps are covered in my deck layout / hull modification posts.
 
After the subdeck was installed, I undercut part 19’s MDF until it wasn’t fully visible below the two part 20 pieces.  I then installed 8 3mm shellacked pearwood stanchions in the fish hold.  The fore and aft stanchions on each side of the hold don’t fall under green deck beam lines because that’s where BHs 5 and 7 are located.
 

 

 
I then installed painted veneer (Mr. Color 323) on all 4 sides of the fish hold and then sanded the tops of the veneer flush with the subdeck.
 

 
The last item of the fish hold modification was installing bracing blocks to additionally compensate for the cutout I made in part 19.  
Successfully completing the fish hold modifications without trashing the integrity of the model was a milestone!    
 

 
Cheers,
Jay
 
 

Fish Hold Modifications Pt 2
 
I then hand-drilled starter holes into part 19 that correspond to Vine’s subdeck additional fittings and alternative fittings positions. 
 
While not visible, I reinforced the underside of part 19 at its original mizzen mast hole before I hand drilled the mizzen mast’s new position.  I also reinforced the top of the new mizzen mast hole with an additional drilled support.  Both holes are slightly ovoidal fore and aft to allow for raking the mizzen mast when it’s installed.
 
The pencil lined ½ square starboard of the mizzen mast support is about where the warp room hatch will open to, so this area will be painted.
 

 
I then used a fret saw to cut out the X’d areas of part 19 to deepen the fish hold.  I left about a 1/4 inch / ~ 6mm of meat on the port and starboard sides of part 19 to help keep it from possibly breaking.
 
I then began added the upper and lower supports framing to BHs 5, 6, 7, and the false keel; I also glued bracing inserts atop the lower framing supports.
 

 
Cheers,
Jay

Fish Hold Modifications Pt 1
 
My purpose for modifying the fish hold depth was to add interesting detail to the model.  
 
I began the fish hold modifications by using a height gage to mark positions for fish net platform supports.  Because I didn’t have a sense of the model’s rigidity and etc. at this point, I didn’t want to alter bulkhead (BH) 6 or the false keel to the point where I would  potentially compromise the hull form or structural integrity of the kit. 
 

 

 
My decision on the heights of the net platform supports was a balance of getting a net to fit in the hold, hide the false keel and BH 6, and yet also be able to position the net so portions of the hold depth and etc. are visible.  These platform supports largely won’t be visible, esp. along the false keel, once netting is added to the hold.
 
I then laid the fish hold frame (part 22) on top of the subdeck that in turn was laid over part 19 (it’s kind of sub-subdeck).  The purpose here was to mark where I would make my initial cut outs in part 19 to deepen the fish hold.
 

 

 
I then marked positions for lower supports onto BHs 5, 6, and 7.  The purpose for these lower supports is hold bracing inserts that should help compensate for the weakening of part 19 due to its cutouts.  The bracing inserts will also serve as platforms onto which stanchions will be glued.
 

 
I also traced the outlines of BHs 5 and 7 onto basswood and then cut out those traced BHs.  These BH cutouts were then glued to BHs 5 and 7 so that the fore and aft sides of the fish hold aligned with the fish hold subdeck cutout.
 

 
Cheers,
Jay
 

Build Adaptations
 
I mentioned in my comparison of the RMG and Beale “True Vine” models above that my intent was not to be critical of either build; indeed, I have no room to throw stones at either model since my model will also deviate from Oke and Marsh’s Vine plans.
 
To see how much I could adapt the Vine to Eleanor, I 1st prepared the below quick-and-dirty overlay of the Vine’s key features onto Elanor’s deck plan.  This was relatively painless using a pair of proportional dividers because the Vine’s scale is 1:32 (3/8” to the foot) and Eleanor’s scale is 1:64 (3/16” to the foot) and thus works out to a straightforward 1:2 ratio.
 

 
A feature of the Vine that I went back and forth over during my research is her poop deck.  Ultimately what persuaded me to not include it were a passage from Marsh, contemporary photos, and finally what was esthetically appealing to my eye.
 
When Oke took off the Vine’s lines in 1936, she had already had undergone considerable alterations to include having been fitted with a motor (Marsh, “Drifters” 271).  Marsh infers the poop deck may have been fitted onto the Vine after she had a wheelhouse fitted, along with other major alterations, when her motor was installed well after she was built in 1905 (“Drifters” 271).  Although a poop deck / deck superstructure is a common feature of Zulus, I found no similar examples on any Fifies during my research.  Indeed, the Vine’s poop deck is strikingly similar to the circa 1905 Zulu that Marsh discusses on page 265 and also provides a photo of (“Drifters” plate 173).
 
After reaching my decision about Vine’s poop deck, I then created a series of drawing layers (an old school version of Photoshop…LOL) using the kit’s plain subdeck  .
 
The purpose of the 1st layer drawing was to get a sense of where the Vine’s deck fittings were in relationship to Eleanor’s fittings and to also get a sense for how additional modifications that I want to make will align with respect to Eleanor’s keel and bulkhead framing.  In case someone’s reading this, I inked in the wrong lines of the fore room hatch on this layer, so it’s proportions are a wee bit off…. 
 

 
The purpose of the 2nd layer was to see were and how changes I’ll make will impact part 19 in the kit, which I’ll go into when I start building.
 

 
The purpose of the 3rd layer was to get an idea of where the Vine’s deck fittings will land with respect to the boat’s deck planking.  Essentially I want to avoid having splinters for deck planks because of deck fittings placement.  While I won’t 100% know how the deck planking will work in relation to deck fittings until I actually start planking the deck, I did make few slight placement changes at this stage to align with my deck plank sizes and approximately where they’ll land on the deck.  Also I fixed the proportions of the fore room deck hatch on this layer. 
 

 
The keen observer will notice the deck outline on the 3rd layer slightly differs from the deck outline on the 1st layer….  I used the printed maple deck to draw the outlines on the 1st and 3rd layers.  However, because the printed deck really curls upward, I flipped this deck over to its unprinted side to compensate for its curl.  When I inked deck outline on the 1st layer, I didn’t notice I had reversed the bow and stern ends of the printed deck when I flipped it over.  Although my goof didn’t impact deck fittings positions, it did give me a laugh when I caught the mistake when I started working on the 3rd layer drawing.
 
After I finished the 3rd layer drawing, I then transferred that layer’s deck fitting positions onto the kit’s subdeck.  The green lines on the subdeck mark deck beam positions taken from the kit’s printed maple deck, and I’ll use these lines as rough guides when it comes time to figure out the deck’s butt shifts.
 

 
Cheers,
Jay
 
 

“True Vine” Models
 
Although I may sound critical with my assessment that follows of the RMG and Beale “True Vine” models, that’s absolutely not my intent.  My intent here was only to describe how each model significantly differs from the Vine’s plans.
 
The Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) model of the “True Vine” in its collection and Tom Beale’s model (see Will Taylor reference entry) of her can hopefully give one a sense of her Oke and Marsh plans.
 
Of the 2 models, Beale’s version is closer to Oke and Marsh’s plans than is the RMG version.  However, the RMG lists no information about when its model was built or who its builder was, so it’s possible the RMG model was built off different plans than Oke and Marsh’s.
 
The thwarts just aft of the midships on the RMG version are not in Oke and Marsh’s plans; also, this model version appears to not have a warp room hatch.  I will discuss later in my log the nets on model’s port side. 
 

Source:  RMG, www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-68796.
 
Beale’s worm drive mechanism at the stern of his model doesn’t align with the Vine’s plans.  I’ll go into more detail about the Vine’s worm drive when I reach that point in my build.  Also while the knees on the starboard side of the tabernacle on Beale’s model are not in Oke and Marsh’s plans, I think their addition by Beale was a misinterpretation of Marsh. 
 
In “Sailing Drifters” page 271, Marsh describes the Vine’s foremast as being stepped into a tabernacle with “side bridges.”  Earlier on page 249, Marsh discusses the “Gratitude” and describes how its foremast is also stepped into a tabernacle with “bridges.”  However in addition to his description, Marsh also includes a drawing of the foremast tabernacle (figure 64) that is without knees and then further directs the reader to plate 152, which is a photograph of the forward end of the “Gratitude” and clearly shows the vessel’s tabernacle which does not have knees.
 
Until I read page 249 and studied the accompanying figure and plate, I was also thrown by Marsh’s term “side bridges” and thought he may have meant knees but was confused because there aren’t any tabernacle knees depicted in the Vine plans.  After I read page 249, and then looked back again at Vine’s plans, it became clear to me that Marsh’s “side bridges” term referred to a tabernacle’s framing versus being his term for tabernacle knee braces.
 
Beale’s choice to depict the Vine with sails set and nets draped from the mainmast while in drydock is interesting but likely was a stylistic choice—no stone throwing there  because I’m going to include a few stylistic embellishments in my build, too.
 

 
Cheers,
Jay
 

Fifie and Zulu General Background
 
The late Edgar Marsh, of the UK’s Society for Nautical Research, along with the late  Phillip J. (P.J.) Oke, who was commissioned by the Society in the 1930s, did for documenting the history of UK fishing vessels what Howard Chapelle did for documenting American fishing craft history (Chapelle’s work is now part of the US’ National Watercraft Collection).  Without the work of these men, much of what we know about small sailing fishing craft would have been forever lost.
 
Where Chapelle and Marsh differ is Chapelle’s work primarily focused on taking off the lines of America’s surviving small craft, while Marsh coupled invaluable firsthand narratives about the UK’s fishing craft with the cultural (both social and economic) context of the UK’s regional fisheries in addition to taking lines off UK craft.  
 
The development of Scotland’s fishing Fifies and Zulus grew out of the 18 August 1848 gale disaster that claimed upwards of 100 fishermen’s lives (Marsh, “Drifters” 227 – 241).  Although one of the findings during the subsequent inquest into the disaster were deficiencies in boat design was a significant factor in the high number of lives lost, it wasn’t until design prototypes introduced to the Scottish fishery by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the later 1860s and early 1870s that boat design changes began being embraced by both fishermen and builders on Scotland’s East Coast (Marsh, “Drifters” 240 – 241).
 
As an aside, it is interesting to note that while Marsh wrote at considerable length about the 1848 disaster, he only devoted a line or two in his “Sailing Drifters” to the 1881 Scottish Eyemouth fishing disaster.  That 14 October 1881 storm claimed 189 lives, of which 129 were from Eyemouth, and in terms of lives and property lost, the impact of this disaster was far worse than the August 1848 disaster (“Source 1”, ScottishArchivesforSchools.org). 
 
In fairness to Marsh though, the Eyemouth disaster did not subsequently result in widespread change to the design of Fifies and Zulus as did the 1848 storm that later gave birth to the development and ascendency of those craft.  What both storms do highlight, and that Marsh does discuss in “Sailing Drifters,” is how dangerous fishing then was. 
 
Herring boats usually began their work with shooting their nets near sunset and then continued working into the night.  Deck to top-of gunwale heights were low; for example, that height on the “True Vine” was only 12 inches / ~ 31cm (Marsh, “Drifters” 271 & fig. 66).  Now imagine working at night on a pitching and rolling deck during a North Sea winter storm with no safety gear and only 12 inches protecting you from going over a side. 
 
The best features of the fishery’s Scaffie design, which dates from the early 1800s, were carried into the larger Fifies, and both the best features of Scaffies and Fifies were combined into the 1879 introduction of the Zulu (the name was coined from the Anglo-Zulu War, Marsh, “Drifters” 253).  Unlike the English fishery where herring could be salted down and thus stored aboard a boat for a day or so before returning to port with a haul, the Scottish fishery strictly required herring catches be delivered to curers within 12 hours after a boat hauled its unsalted catch and then subsequently packed by curers within 24 hours (Marsh, “Drifters” 237 & 226).
 
In the mid-1890s, a fully outfitted Fifie would take about 3 months to build and at the high end cost £1000 for the boat and an additional £400 for fishing gear (Marsh, “Drifters” 260).  For context, in 2024 those costs would be respectively £109 K and £44 K (“Inflation Calculator”, Bank of England.co.uk).  Boats were usually custom built to an owner’s specifications by highly skilled though often illiterate labor, so builds were often done by eye and or off half-hull models rather than with plans (Marsh, “Drifters” 259 – 260).
 
The apogee of the Fifie, as well the Zulu, were from the 1890s until the early 1900s—a fairly short lifespan—with the last of the full sail Fifies being built between 1904 and 1906 (Marsh, “Drifters” 259 – 260).  Marsh cites 1901 as the year the earliest steam drifters came into service on the Scottish fishery (“Drifters” 262).  In 1910, the Scottish herring fishery yielded £2,000,000 which would be close to £195 M as of 2024, (“Inflation Calculator”, Bank of England.co.uk). 
 
It was mainly economics that spelled the end of the sailing Fifies and Zulus:  A steam drifter’s average earnings in 1911 was £887 vs a £281 average for a sailing lugger, which would be respectively £87 K vs £27 K in 2024 currency (“Inflation Calculator”, Bank of England.co.uk).  Ironically though, in comparison to a sailing lugger, the operating costs of a steam drifter could also easily wipe out an owner if they had one or two back-to-back bad seasons, which wasn’t unusual for the Scottish herring fishery (Marsh, “Drifters” 264). 
 
While the risks were greater for operating steam drifters, the rewards were also higher as well, and between steam, and later motor, drifters, by 1936 sailing luggers like Fifies and Zulus were relics of the past and all were nearly gone (Marsh, “Drifters” 267). 
 
Cheers,
Jay

The kit offers two distinct hood types. One for a front mounted distributor and the other for a rear mounted one as mine is. Whether you choose one hood or the other and/or the appropriate intake manifold depends on which particular car is being modeled. It could be that one hood fits whereas one doesn't but I'm not sure because I didn't try the other hood or manifold. I suspect the problem is one I created myself by not drilling down a bit and making the distributor fit further down, flush with the manifold. I am going to remount the distributor to its lowest position then try the hood fit again.
 
I have found building this first kit, it needs a little tweaking here and there to fit properly in a number of places. It's not a Tamiya shake-and-bake kit by any means. It prefers modelers rather than assemblers. 

The distributor sat too high to give clearance for the hood.

 
I had to remove the distributor to have the hood sit down.
 

Getting closer to the finish line with this little project.

Yep!  I do what sounds like a "mix" of what James, Micha and Terry all do, and we are all arriving at the same finished entry.  But I have never used the drag-and-drop, either.  I will "prep" my pictures ahead of time using my PC's Photos app, doing all of the cropping, resizing, etc. there.  Then, when I am creating a post, I will add all the photos I intend to use in that post at once, so the picture thumbnails appear in the UPLOADED IMAGES section below the text window.
 
Then, as I am typing text, if I want to place a picture at a specific location after a paragraph, I hit enter so that the cursor is on a new line and then click the picture I want to insert.  Boom!  If I know I want to center the picture, I will hit the center alignment icon either before or after placing the picture.  If you do that, though, and after inserting the picture, be sure to click back on the left-align icon, or all your continuing text will be centered, as well.
 
One caveat to this procedure, though... if you don't place all of the pictures you have "pre-chosen" and are in the UPLOADED IMAGES section somewhere into your reply, they will auto-load at the end of your entry once you hit SUBMIT REPLY.  If that happens, you can edit your reply entry and either delete it if no longer wanting to post it or re-insert it wherever you like by placing the cursor where you want it and click the picture, then deleting where it got stuck at the end.  Sorry if this got too wordy in my explanation version! 
 
EDIT:  I re-reading PvG's initial query, it sounds like he is doing fine with the upload, but then just not "telling" his text reply where he wanted the picture specifically placed, so they are all dumping at the end, as I noted in my last paragraph.  So... ignore my first two paragraphs of yapping! 🤣🤣

I usually type in the text for a post in its entirety and leave a space (Return) between paragraphs. Then I upload the images I want to include in the post. This is a separate and preliminary action to actually inserting the image. Their thumbnails appear in a row in the UPLOADED IMAGES section below the text window.
 
Next, you place the cursor at the location to insert the image within the text (usually at one of the blank lines). And finally, hover your cursor over the image you want to insert, then click on the "Insert" button that appears.
 
That action inserts the image into the post. The default alignment is left-aligned. You can center the image by ensuring your cursor is adjacent to the image and then left-clicking the center alignment icon in the formatting row at the top of the post.
 
You can also resize the image after it is inserted by double-clicking it. You can only make it smaller than its original size. And make sure the "Keep original aspect ratio" checkbox is checked, otherwise your image will be distorted if you change the width.
 
Terry

I do it the first way James explains it. I just type in my text, then I upload a picture, insert it and set the size I want it to have. Then I just place my cursor behind the picture, press ENTER and start typing again and so on...
 
I noticed that some people just add the pictures and don´t leave any gap between pictures, I personally don´t like that (makes scrolling and looking the pictures much harder. I always press at least once (normally twice) ENTER after every picture, even if I insert two or more pictures in a row (which rarely happens). I prefer to separate pictures wiht text so the flow of reading the thread is a bit more easier.
 
Micha

When you have uploaded your photos, and completed a paragraph, just click on a photo to insert it and then write more text afterwards.
 
Or...add all your text, and then when complete, click where you want an image to go, and then click on the uploaded image. 
 
I never use drag and drop. Here's info from the pinned topics in this area:
 
 

Great News Ben...Glad to see you almost making sawdust again.

Well the move was completed after our new home was built on Oak Island.
The new model workshop/office is far smaller than my previous one at only 13x13 but I’m using shelving and other things to maximize space which is ongoing.
Winchelsea is now waiting for me to start Chapter 7 on the Quarter Deck hopefully in the next couple of weeks as soon as I find all the parts!

Thanks guys...There are a lot of things I could work on next but I am eager to get the decks planked.   So next up I will make all the coaming and gratings down the center line so I can plank around them.   Once that is done I will add the waterway and start on the fun bits.   It should come together rather quickly once I plank the decks.  A quick look at sheet 5 still being tweaked which has all of those details.   
 
 

Thanks Chris, Chuck, mugje, really appreciated. 
 
Fitting out of Adder’s hull nearing completion. 

I decided to risk blotches and apply Danish oil to the outer bulwarks and it worked! The engraved pear looks amazing with Danish oil. 
I’ve done a somewhat amateurish job of fitting breech ropes to the cannons and carronades. 
The cannonballs were added using ultra matt poly varnish to hold them and take some of the shine off them. 
Fitting the parts is pretty straightforward. The fiddliest parts are the rope for the wheel and also for the drop keels. I have taken the drop keels off again whilst I manhandle the hull and fit deadeyes and chainplates. 
 
I’m leaving the anchors off until rigging is complete. I’m not sure when best to fit the hammock cranes and the cord between them as they’ll likely be in the way to for tying off rigging, then again I’ll need access to fit them which may be hard post-rigging.
 
Still to add the deadeyes, chainplates and drop keels. 
 
Thanks for looking! 
 
 

Thanks to everyone for looking in and laughing at my lame Barbie joke.  Hope I at least brought a smile to a few faces.
 
I've now pretty much completed the chassis as supplied by the kit with the addition of the spark plug wires.  I hope to add a few more wires and hoses around the engine based on pictures of the real thing, just to make it look a bit more realistic and a bit busier.  The one remaining part of what I'll call the chassis is a sort of shelf unit in the back.  The mufflers hang off of the underside of that shelf and then there are additional exhaust pipes to connect the headers to the muffler and then pipes out the back of the car.   The kit also has a fully detailed compartment under the front bonnet, including spare tire, and that is next.
 

Thanks for the comments and for sharing experience with vallejo paints.   I just used the "air" brand straight out of the bottle with no thinner or flow improver.  And yes the colors are based on internet pictures of actual cars, showing the tan interior with the black dash and other accents.
 
Now, perhaps mostly for comedic value, is the Dino with a few coats of pink base.  I guess I could leave it like this and say it is a Barbie car.

Life finds a way (to get in the way) but some progress has been made, the keel and rabbet is assembled and I have sanded a first approximation of the head taper.
The scale of the model hit home in a different way when the keel was laid. Its quite large, in a good way. Having it occupying the desk is different from the theory of it will be 32"  :).


 
 
I'm not sure whether the taper should be continued down towards the waterline or stop roughly as it does now. Also unsure if it should be taken further towards the stern. For the figure to sit without any tension I should reduce the width a bit more, fractions of a millimetre, but I'm starting to eat into the thinner knee (correct part name? the fancy piece with notches). Perhaps that's as it should be?

 
Chuck, thanks for the advice on sanding parts while in the sheet!
When sanding the head I had to remove to much material around the box joint, I think I did a bad job when clamping the pieces during gluing so they were not perfectly in plane. I didn't really notice how much I removed at the time but it became obvious when mating the head to the keel. Next I plan to sand the keel around the box joint in the problem area to get a nice transition from head to keel. It will be a bit thinner that it should be but it is what it is. After that I will finish sanding the surface with high grit and apply some surface protection before mounting the aprons.


 
The kit came with enough spare parts for one additional complete head and keel assembly so I'm toying with the idea of assembling that and comparing the results. Possibly using poly for one and shellac on the other, for science as it were.

I'm greatly enjoying the project so far, it delivers on creating a sense of building the model, rather than assembling it, which is what I was hoping for.

I found a replacement for my missing tire and wheel today on Ebay. I gave $20 plus shipping for a kit identical to my own. Seller states he lost the engine and transmission pieces, but I don't want/need those anyway. 
 
Fujimi 1/24 scale Ferrari 288 GTO Yellow - USED | eBay