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DB789

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  1. DB789
    Life has been busy, so slow progress on Erycina. I’m also deliberately spinning this build out so I have something to build over Christmas, with the in-laws staying, and not a brand new project. The deck furniture is now complete and the masts in position but not glued. Bowsprit is glued. The lines of this fishing trawler are rather lovely. Onto the rest of the spars next. Plus I still need to add the decals on the sides tomorrow.
  2. DB789
    She’s looking great Glenn. I found the planking on this boat harder than all the other Vanguard fishing boats, except the Zulu with her raked stern post (and I’ve yet to build Ranger). Luckily I think I just about got away with the bare wood above the waterline without filling (although plenty below). Probably wouldn’t have met the exacting standards of the more experienced builders on here, but I was happy. I really look forward to seeing the colour scheme - she’ll look very different. How will you paint the etched lettering on the stern? I struggled with that.
  3. DB789
    Jonathan, That is impressively organised. I wish I had the patience to be so thorough… I’m hooked on the Vanguard fishers too, my fifth, Erycina, is mostly built now and nearly ready to be masted and rigged. Fifie, Nisha and Zulu were also my first three fishers (and builds). I thought Zulu was a really enjoyable build and fairly straightforward, biggest challenges I had as a near beginner were planking to that raked sternpost and getting a suitable waterline on her. Enjoy! Dan
  4. DB789
    Thanks Glenn
  5. DB789
    Timberheads being added. I’ve decided to go for the contrast look with wood timberheads against a green bulwark. It looked good on Nisha so I’ve duplicated the look! Then railings added. The side railings are too long and needed to be sanded shorter to get the transom railing in the right place. Also added some PE eyelets, lots more fittings to follow tomorrow, waiting for the black paint to dry on the PE. The wood, including deck have been liberally treated with Danish oil to make them a bit darker. It’s still a little wet here in the photos so may lighten as it dries.
  6. DB789
    Next apply masking tape ready for the black hull. I’m using Chaos Black for the hull, same as I used on Nisha and the Zulu. This is a lovely paint that sits really well on the hull. But it does chip easily as I experienced on those two builds. The black goes on beautifully, but the green bulwark has already got tatty from extra sanding, paint leakage and the masking tape. Easily touched up. Then the deck, aft companionway steps and two of the three chimneys are fitted. All are straightforward. Next apply some gloss varnish to where decals will go and once dry apply the stern decal. Then fit the outer stern counter. Then the rubbing strakes / go faster stripe are fitted. I’ve painted these white and they are a little more prominent than I expected. I’ve been using Tamiya Flat black acrylic to tidy up chips in the black paint, but it’s not a good match so I l’ll redo with the Humbrol enamel black tomorrow instead.
  7. DB789
    She looks super Glenn. Thanks for the detailed log. I’m following with my Erycina build a bit behind and this is really useful.
  8. DB789
    Settled for a fully painted hull. Red oxide below the waterline, black above with the green bulwark. So smothered the hull with filler to fill any small gaps and even out any low spots. For this I used a mixture of Ronseal filler and titebond glue. I usually use a white plastic based filler which is quite soft and is sub-optimal often sanding out of the cracks again when you later sand the hull. This new filler is very strong and hard and applying it everywhere was a huge mistake. It set rock hard and I’ve been sanding like crazy to remove it. It is much harder than the wood so it’s quite hard to sand in raised bits of filler without eroding all the wood! Eventually I got close to a smooth finish and applied masking tape to the green bulwarks and painted all the hull below the bulwarks with the red oxide primer (it’s the undercoat for the black above the waterline too). Then filled any remaining small gaps and sanded hard again to improve the finish. I assembled the rudder and painted this too. That’s enough sanding. Added the rudder hinges / pintles to the hull then a final coat of paint. Rudder attached but not glued. The end finish is OK with a few small line showing faintly - which I want to show this is planked not pre-formed. In a few spots the filler is still raised and just visible on very close inspection (see above) through the paint. I’m going to leave these as the wood around them is likely quite thin now and I don’t want to sand through. Need to add the waterline and mask for the black paint next. Not sure I’ll use that filler combination again except very sparingly - it’s a much better filler but poses additional challenges!
  9. DB789
    Thanks Todd!
  10. DB789
    Bulwarks painted matt green (Tamiya XF-5) inside and out. Needed a couple of coats. The etching for timberhead positions is still clearly visible through the paint. Tamiya masking tape is very good and delivers a clean line. Tiny bit of paint bleeding on the port side, but can easily be cleaned up and will be hidden by the rubbing strake. Once the paint is dry I can make a start on the timberheads.
  11. DB789
    The bulkhead ears were twisted off and removed. The etched deck for Erycina came with more laser char marks than normal but could be easily cleaned off with some very fine sandpaper. The dust clogged up some of the laser etching so I ran a scalpel along all of the lines to clear them. Then I put a coat of Danish oil on the deck which made it a little darker. The deck fits very well, just need a little laser char removal at the edges to fit perfectly. I haven’t glued it yet as I’ll be painting the inner bulwarks. The varnish for the wipe-on poly came early and having applied it using Glennard’s 50:50 recipe of varnish to white spirit the pear wood does look super.
  12. DB789
    I’ve been doing some research to help educate what colour scheme to choose. There’s four photos I could find of Erycina. I suspect that most of these were taken towards the end of her life (1930s) when photography was more prevalent. It’s clear that she had a painted hull by that point in her life. Unlike most photos of smacks her anti-fouling paint is much higher on her hull than her waterline. It’s possible (likely?) that this wasn’t the case when she was built and more likely that this was done to provide some additional protection to her wood later during her long, 50 year plus working life. There is a lightly coloured rubbing strake under the upper bulwark but it’s much slighter than the one in the kit. I have been going through Marsh’s Sailing Trawlers again. As far as I can tell from the B&W photos, most smacks seemed to have had dark painted bulwarks and hull above the waterline. Below is a Plymouth ketch (not Erycina) and a Brixham ketch, both seem to be painted a dark colour. Sometimes there’s a clear tonal difference between the bulwark and rest of the hull, suggesting a different colour (see below, another Brixham boat). Some of the Brixham boats had the hull below the bulwark a paler colour, including Ibex, Erycina’s main racing rival, and other boats from Upham’s yard in Brixham. It’s hard to tell, but to me the paler lower hulls look to be painted not varnished wood. Nisha was a Brixham boat built at Upham’s so the kit’s colour scheme could be suitable for her, but Erycina was a Plymouth boat. None of the photos show these boats having a white “bootstrap” line between the lower hull and the anti-fouling paint. On the basis of this research I’m erring towards a green bulwark as per the kit, with a white rubbing strake and a black hull below that down to the waterline where I won’t have a white “bootstrap” before the red oxide anti-fouling paint.
  13. DB789
    Craigie, she’s looking stunning, be a pity if you didn’t finish her. I really like your colour scheme.
  14. DB789
    Life has been busy, but I’ve finished the second planking. Starboard side planked below. Note, I’ve broken the middle section of the rear transom - I’ll add it back later. Both sides complete. The planking is tidy above the waterline but will need some fuller and sanding to fill a few small gaps below the waterline. As is typically the case with my planking, there’s stealers and slivers below the waterline too. I don’t mind too much what goes on down there as it will all be painted. I still haven’t decided what to do for the paint scheme. I’ve some Ronseal polyeurethane varnish as recommended by Glennard to make some wipe-on poly arriving on Monday. I’ll see how good the wood looks with that applied before making a final decision.
  15. DB789
    Glenn, thanks for sharing that. It will be a real help to me and looks an easier way of seizing than I’ve been doing up until now. I’ve bought a quad hands on your recommendation and it was excellent to use on Saucy Jack. Your Erycina is looking super. Mine is still in the second planking phase.
  16. DB789
    As do I! She’s a beautiful boat when complete.
  17. DB789
    First planking sanded and filled. It’s very smooth to the touch, much smoother than it looks in the photos. Outer keel, stem and sternpost glued and clamped to dry. Stern counter was soaked in hot water for 30 mins. I thought that it had split but it’s just a mark on the wood. Then clamped on to dry overnight before being glued… …and sanded to shape on the sides. Starboard outer bulwark glued in place. Port outer bulwark glued and being held by clamps. As others have mentioned and similar to Nisha the holes at the bow don’t line up up between inner and outer bulwarks. It’s a rare occasion that Vanguard’s models don’t fit together perfectly, but it is very easily resolved. I’ll start the second planking in a few days!
  18. DB789
    Hi Max, thanks. It’s mainly Vanguard - the kits are so high quality and a pleasure to build. They’ve been a fantastic introduction to building model boats for me. I had no interest in British working boats before starting to build these… but it’s amazing how beautiful these old trawlers were. Erycina which is my current build has stunning lines and reminds me more of a racing yacht.
  19. DB789
    Hi Max, I’ve just finished building Saucy Jack, she’s a super boat to build and the end model looks lovely. My build log is below, hope it’s useful. I strongly recommend James H’s build log of the prototype as well. Good luck, looking good so far. Dan
  20. DB789
    Lots of good progress. Inner bulwarks soaked and clamped to dry for 12 hours. Then glued. Stern counter soaked and clamped to dry. Then glued and sanded in line with the bulwarks. First planking. Doing these in halves. First three planks on each side fitted. No tapering as per the instructions. More planking progress. Erycina has a lovely hull shape which is also forgiving for the planking with no sharp or bluff curves. I’ve stopped the first planking short at the bow so there’s plenty of room for a proper rabbet for the second planking. Looks a bit odd now and will need some sanding. I usually forget to leave a big enough rabbet, hopefully enough this time. Completed the first planking. Bit messy and certainly prickly but should be a good base for the second planking when filled and sanded.
  21. DB789
    Erycina’s stern frames are very fragile - there’s a very narrow section that breaks easily and is protected by a “safety gate”. Snipping off one safety gate broke one side’s outer stern frame and sanding the stubs of the safety gate on the other side broke that one too. Once they’re broken off there’s not much surface to glue them back onto. So I inserted a piece of balsa wood between the stern frames to provide additional surface area for glue - not much but enough. Then sanded to shape. I hope the repaired frames are positioned correctly. They look about right and fit the stern “bench” insert.
  22. DB789
    Erycina will be my fifth build and my fifth of Vanguard’s superb range of 1:64 fishing boats. As always the kit lives up to my high expectations from Vanguard. Very good quality materials, instructions and plans. Lots of excellent build logs of Erycina to guide me here too. My log will be less detailed this time as I can’t better those of some of the more experienced builders. I dived straight in yesterday and assembled the basic structure which fits together very easily and forms a firm structure. The deck went on today and fits nicely too. Fairing next when the glue is dry. I haven’t decided what colour scheme to go for. I’m toying with either the James H prototype colours but with the inner bulwarks painted green too. That depends upon how well I plank the hull and whether the wood can be bare. Other options are something similar to Craigie with a black hull and green inner and outer bulwark or just a black hull with white rubbing strake as I did for Nisha (below). Might be quite smart having the pair similar.
  23. DB789
    Thank you everyone for the positive feedback! My next build will be the lovely Erycina. But I’ll take a week or two’s break before starting her.
  24. DB789
    She is now finished. Thanks to Chris for an excellent kit and to James H for a superb prototype build log. Some final photos in daylight (in case you haven’t seen enough already in this log!). Thanks for all the advice from everyone else - hugely appreciated.
  25. DB789
    I’m bored of doing the coils so I thought, having built both I’d do a brief comparison of Saucy Jack vs. Nisha her most comparable peer from Vanguard. Whilst hull lengths are similar, the Jack is much chunkier and would have had a much greater displacement. The Jack also carries a larger rig, taller mast and longer bowsprit with a little more sail area. The completed model feels noticeably bigger. Despite both being fishing boats, the hull shapes are very different. Nisha has a sleek hull more like a racing yacht with a raked keel - this would have been to get fish back to port as soon as possible. Jack has a rounded heavy hull more like a small merchant vessel with a keel parallel with the waterline, speed was not such a priority for her as she carried the fish back alive in a water tank amidships. In terms of build, Nisha was marginally easier due to her easier hull shape to plank and slightly less complicated to rig - mainly due to the belaying pin racks on the Jack. Jack took me 2.5x as long to build as Nisha. Partly due to her being a harder build, partly I was busier with other things and partly my taking more care. My breakage count was down massively from Nisha where I broke almost everything. In terms of features, both have nice deck fittings. On Nisha I particularly liked that the companionway could be open with a ladder down into the hull. On the Jack you get more in terms of extras such as the cutter, barrels and anchor. Overall, they’re both lovely models and despite seeming similar (both single masted, cutters with a slightly different type of gaff rig) they’re very different builds and I’d strongly recommend both. Thanks to Chris at Vanguard for producing both of these! Here she is being welcomed to the fishing fleet. She adds some contrast to the fleet with her white hull and lighter sails. She’s much smaller than the two luggers. Aiming to finish off the rope coils and complete her tomorrow.

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