Ryland Craze

So after a few days visiting one of our kids in Falmouth I've returned to find that the decals I've ordered have arrived. But first a photo of the lovely boats in the harbour and the fantastic coastline for your enjoyment...
 


 
So on to the decals, I ordered them from Kitsworld in Essex and they also included some free samples. There's a couple of their Diorama airfield display bases, these are stickers effectively, plus some 3D cockpit decals and stencil masks. I'm not sure which model these are for but it's a nice touch and good promotion from them.
 

 
The decals look to be good quality, I'm a long way from using them at the moment though, so let's see later how they go on.
 

 

OK thank you with that source. It appears that the Wes model car site is the only seller currently. Those models may be made just for his sale. Got it bookmarked for now but I will probably order the Stafford version in June or July for a fall build as I am a past regular attendee of that track plus have participated in their huge 2X yearly swap meets.

Thanks for the kudos. I found my first 3 kits at a local hobby shop but since that time looked for them on Salvinos website and found none. Then I found out the kits were produced by Salvinos as an exclusive for a company called Wes's Model Car Corner. Here is a link to what they have on hand at the moment: Search results: 10 results for “asphalt modified” – WesModelCarCorner
It seems as though each particular kit was produced as a limited run and once sold, they are gone. It looks to me they have produced the kits as generic as possible, then each one has its own unique set of decals. I think the only way you will find the first releases will be either on Ebay or maybe some random hobby shops who ordered some for their shelves. 
As to whether the real car has/had a Ford or Chevy engine, I don't know. From what limited photos I found of the Woody Pitkat car, there are quite a few minor details that would need to be scratch built to get it right and that will depend on the quality of quantity of reference photos you can scavenge up. Someone suggested to me I try Facebook for each particular race team/car. According to my source, he says there is a plethora of photo reference to be found that way. 

So maybe model-expo is incredibly busy, but I asked for an update last night and received tracking this morning. Seems the tracking number was 'just' created so I think they forgot about me 🫠
 
In any case, I started working on the the rolling bevel on the broad and sheer planks. I did a bit of a dry fit and it seems they barely go together. So I have a question regarding the rolling bevel. Do the instructions accurately state "the bevel increases in angle progressively until the edge comes to a point at the end at 45°"? It seems to me, since this roll is only over the span of 3/4" there's barely 1/4" that is actually 45 degrees before it starts to taper into the rest of it. I'm wondering if it would be better to leave a 45 degree bevel for the length of that 3/4" and then roll it. Maybe I'm just overthinking this - idle hands and all. Appreciate any feedback.

Nice looking truck and I'm sure seeing the model will bring good memories every time you see it.

After four days in the dryer, it is Still NOT dry. I guess I used the wrong paint. Oh well putting it together tacky. Lol
I am going the have to redo the hood, it is that bad. But sometime in the future. This was a fun model, there are some differences between plastic and wood, pros and cons  for both. This was my truck so I had to build one, now it's back to my ships lol. 
Some final pictures of my truck. Someday I'll come back and fix it all. But not today.lol
 This was fun, goodbye my friends sea you on the next build.


Oh yes I have to put the decals on as well but another day lol  😆 
This is where My 1972 Ford F100  will be parked for life , thanks for  looking.
Bob M.
I'm marking it finished. 

 

One completed keel assembly.

Still needs finish applied, I may opt just to use sanding sealer.  I'm not a huge fan of wipe-on poly.
 
Everything pretty much fell together once things were tweaked just a bit.  

Couple of things...
Be very careful with the knee of the head, I sneezed and broke one. When trimming the apron blocks, be sure to use a very sharp blade and very small slivers, as I chucked a couple I popped the first frame out of it's sprues (and yes I think USPS played football with my box, as most everything was detached).  I'm going to look like Popeye after sanding all the char off these frames.
 
I need to probably tackle putting the build board together before I get to far ahead of myself.

Shawn

Yeah, but he'd be a lot faster making the next 50. 😉

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

That would be so nice but it probably would put the builder at risk of being abused.
 
Anyway....those gratings
 
You will basically get all of the laser cut parts in this chapter.  There are only four hatches with gratings.  They are not very large.   Here are all of the elements needed.  You will get two layers for the jig.   The two layers are glued together to form the jig.
 
You also get a right angle jig which is 3/64" thick.  The thickness is very important.
 
Lets get started.
 

Start with the coamings.   They are laser cut and 1/8" thick.
 
The fore and aft sides are already shaped with the round-up of the deck....or camber as usually described but is an inaccurate term.
 
Use the right angle jig to glue two sides together...dont worry about the laser char just yet.   Then glue the remaining two sides together using the same jig to make a nice right angle.
 

Glue the two right angles together to form the coaming.  Sand the sides clean which are left a bit longer as you can see in order to remove the char and leave a nice bright smooth surface.   Also sand the top sides to clean the char.  You can see the cleaned coaming below.
 
Then you can start working on the grating.  Again just like my other smaller scale grating kits.
 
Insert the laser cut grating strips in the slotted jig.  NO GLUE of course!!!   This is just for alignment.
 
Then start adding the cross battens.  These are glued in position.  They may be too tight as you want a press fit.  So just run the small strips 1/16" x 1/16" through your fingers with some fine sandpaper.  Not much.  Just enough so the battens fit into the slots. see below.  There are seven batten strips and seven laser cut grating strips for three of the hatches.  The fourth is made the same way but is much smaller on the fcastle.
 

When all the strips are glued in position,  remove the grating from the jig.  Snip off the edges as shown below.  Then sand all four edges clean.  Try and not distort the perfect square shape.  In the photo two sides have the ends snipped off.   The smaller hatchway will have fewer battens and more to snip away.  Also sand the top surface clean and smooth.  Once again try and maintain the proper shape with the round-up.  You will know when its all done when the char is cleaned from the laser cut grating strip squares.

The photo below shows the top of the grating and sides all clean and nice and smooth.  It makes a nice grating.  The holes are 1/16" or 2" on the real ship and perfectly in scale.

You should but dont have to sand the bottom side as well.   Here is a look.  The battens are clearly less thick than the grating strips and these are pretty close to actual construction methods.  Or at least the impression of it.
 

And almost done...you will see how nice and tight the grating fits in the coaming.   Dont over sand the edges and you should test the grating in the coaming as you sand the edges.   In fact, the coaming normally has ledges on the port and starboard sides inside the coaming.  These create a ledge that the grating sits on so it doesnt fall through.  You can add those if you like.  But in my case the gratings fit so snug that they were not required.  I simply glued the gratings into the coamings making sure the top of the coaming was flush with the grating.  I sanded it smooth with some 400 grit paper.

The four corners of the coaming are very sharp at this point.  You dont want that.  They should be rounded off.  But they are only rounded off down to the deck level.   That is when you take that same right angle jig and use it.
 
The jig is the same thickness as the planking.   So you can place the coaming into the corner and use a sharp #11 blade to slice away the corner.  Slice it down to the top of the jig only.   You can make a stop cut at the jig level before slicing off the corner.  Then just round off the corner.
 
 
Dont slice off too much.   Just a little bit to round off each corner.
 
To finish it off I drilled three holes with a #76 bit.  I used 20lb black fishing line to simulate the bolts on the top of the coamings.  Three on each side.   They cut flush with the top of the coamings with a sharp blade.
 
All done!!!
 
 
 

It woul be a lot of fun to make a build log of your kit there.
I love your ideas and how open you share your knowledge. Without this I was not able to finish the frame design for my Alert. I also learned a lot to continue with my Sloop Fly. Thanks for that.

Yes, another forum but seriously most already know what they are like...thats why I wanted to post publicly for everyone not to take the bait.   Its just not worth it.    Just stay clear of the whole bunch.
 
Chuck

Excuse the newbie ignorance but I assume that is another forum?
Again as a newbie to the hobby I can't imagine (other than insecurity and jealousy( what folk can say negatively about your work. Having looked at a lot of kits before moving on from my first (admittedly online) the only kits I really wanted to try were yours and Vanguards. On all of the build logs here it comes across so strongly how high the quality of both your kits are to give any stage of modeller the very best chance of making something stunning. Yes they are expensive but you get what you pay for in most areas and this is definitely one.
Good luck to you!
 

I have completed the rabbet strip and the false keel. Looking good so far and goes together easily.
 

The instructions at the bottom of the text box used for posting replies indicates, 'drag files here' to attach. I just type, add a couple of line spaces (3-4 works well). I put my cursor on the one of those line spaces to insure separation and drag the image over from its file folder.  If I am posting multiple images in an area, I hit a line return/space before dragging the next image into place. 
The info about the thumbnails is true.  Deleting the image from the text body doesn't remove it from the thumbnails.  However, deleting the image from the thumbnails deletes from 'my attachments' and the thread. 

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