CTDavies

I'm definitely going to get one. But although I have the Trial Cutter, an HMS Alert and a Lady Nelson lined up as options for my next project, I'm thinking of getting the Version 2023 Speedy as that would fit quite nicely for the next step up on the ladder. Hmmmm, tough decisions to make...

The nice thing about these fishing boats is you don't have to adhere to a specific colour scheme. I checked some Youtube videos on Channel Cutters, Fishing Boats etc and got some nice ideas there.

I had problems with the stern frames being to short and the transom mirror (is that the right word? - part 80) standing proud and kept breaking off along the top as it is extremely thin, so in the end I extended the frames. This wasn't an easy task with everything in places. Maybe master Chris wants to have another look at this area.

Hi All,

a few photos to show you all my Saucy Jack project. I never intended to start a fully fledge build log so I hardly too any photos of the building process. I hope it's ok just to show the current status. This is one of Vanguard Models' fishing boats which are intended for beginners, like me. The nice thing about them is, you can actually finish them as they are easy to build and they don't take too long, unless you're a slow builder like I am. 

I am also building a Vanguard Models Ericyna right now of which I hace also posted some pictures here. With both I have now reached the stage where I have too start the rigging. I have never done this before so I need to take my time here.

I've had to pause on the Erycina for a short while as I managed to loose some photo-etched parts. An additional etched parts fret was ordered last week Monday and it arrived here in Germany today, which was excellent considering it went though customs and all. Great service by Mr. Watton of Vanguard Models.

However, in the mean time I painted the hull of my second Vanguard Models project, the Saucy Jack. So this update is more about her.

I was hoping to get more done this weekend after the dowels for the masts arrived. In the end I decided to go with basswood dowels twice stained with cherry wood oils. Still just a tad too bright for my liking but they will have to work for now. As ist happened I must have lost some of the photo-etched parts needed for the rigging so I have contacted Chris at Vanguard Models to see if I can get replacements.

Vanguard Models Saucy Jack in the background waiting for some paint.

To me it looks like my first post here turned out pretty much ok, so on with the show...

As I said I liked the idea of painting the outside bulwarks in dark blue, instead of dark green as given in the instructions. I watched several cutter videos on YouTube (search Pilot Cutter) and could see some very nice boats there, in various colour schemes. The dark blue here is just what I wanted, almost black.The wales (I'll call them that here, not being sure if that's the right word) were then painted white which added a nice contrast to the dark blue. As I said everything was done with an airbrush. I am useless at brush painting.What I also noticed on YouTube is that the decks are nearly always grey, so I applied a grey stain to the one-piece deck. It still looks a bit rough here (image above) but it settled down later. What I also saw on Youtube was that the inside of the bulwarks were frequently painted as well. I choose grey here again, as I had decided to use grey as a 'main colour' for the various deck furnishing parts (following image).Then most of the deck furniture was added (Saucy Jack in the background, much smaller than the Erycina)So now I will move on to the masts and rigging. The latter is something I have never done before so we'll see how that goes. This is where I'm at right now (following picture)I have to admit that the masts as supplied were a bit dark for my liking, so I've ordered some other dowels as a possible alternative. I'm guessing that the wallnut dowels are supplied because they are nice and straight. Will have to see how the other material compares.

Size comparison: Erycina and HMS Fly

More in a couple of weeks, I hope... Chris

Hello Everyone, Chris here from Germany tuning in again after a long while.

Many years ago I was fortunate enough to find an HMS Diana from Calder Craft on eBay classifieds here in Germany, which I worked on a bit before it stalled. It was probably a bit too much for a ship novice so I bought an HMS Fly from Amati/Victory models which also ended up on the shelf of shame, waiting for some more love and attention one day, hopefully. Hoping to build a model ship that I would eventually finish I looked at Vanguard Models' fishing boat line and imediately liked their Erycina and Saucy Jack. The first because of her very elegant lines, that latter because she was almost the opposite - at least in my eyes. Not much needs to be said about Vanguard Models' kits as there are plenty of build logs here of their more popular (I'm assuming) Ship of the Line and other warship kits.

So let's see how it's going:

I hope the pictures are not too big here. I use Windows photo viewer which also lets me resize them for emails and internet posts etc, so I hope this is adequate.

Bulkheads and keel are all done in mdf and being laser cut fit is flawless. There should be a small notch in the keel for one of the Gypsy Winch parts which isn't there, so I had to change that part much later when I realised this. Maybe Chris wants to make a note of this.

So Here all bulkheads have been attached to the keel with all doublers and fillers, plus the false deck. I noticed that the deck is not symmetrical. 'Top' is written on the deck but there was no warning in the building manual, so beware. I nearly missed that!Then I could start the dreaded planking. For me this is the make or break part of building ship models.As is obvious by the planking here I started from the top and worked myself downwards until about half was done, then I continued at the keel working my way up. For me the most important rule here is: you can't force wood to do something it doesn't want to. That always needs to be kept in mind.Here the second planking just about complete (image above). One strip of wood snapped as can be seen here, but I didn't worry about that too much, as the hull will be painted anyway.A nice feature of Vanguard model kits is the one-piece deck with laser 'engraved' planks etc. Here the deck is being glued in place and, most importantly, held down by clothes pegs on which the front end has been cut to a vee-shape to ensure that the edge of the deck is being held tightly against the false deck and the bulwarks.An importang milestone has been reached and I'm quite statisfied.I still had a can of Pine wood stain which seemed to provide a nice golden brown colour, which was what I was looking for here.Looking good so far, all it needs now is a lacquer finish. I have never been good at brush painting, so this was done with an airbrush.

The white up front is a left over from a failed attempt at brush painting. Apart from that the sheen is pretty much what I was hoping for (image above).The areas not to be painted white were masked off with Tamiya tape and the water line drawn on with a soft pencil.Dymo tape was used as a guide for cutting away the Tamiya tape along the water line. As you can see here a bit more work is required here, before the final layer of paint is applied. I ended up filling in all the cracks with white filler and then painted the white in Mr. Surfacer 1000 primer out of a rattle can. Perfect!Voila! The deck was left masked off as I wanted to paint the upper part of the bulwark in another colour. I liked the idea of dark blue, more of that later...

(hmmm, there is no preview function here, so it's win or loose. If I did everything right, the images shouldn't be scattered all over the place - we shall see (as Arthur Harris said)

Forget Brexit, custom dues and taxes. I live in the EU and I‘m getting one of these even if it kills me.

As John Adams of Aeroclub fame once told me: if a modeller wants it, he‘ll find a way to get it. 😆

Some more images

Hello Starlight,

I started this model about five weeks ago. This is where I am now.
I‘ll be happy to tune in every now and then.

chris

Update!

The sides of the other hatches have been lined with thinned pear wood strips to conceal the ply deck which was nearly white. The main mast partner was made from one piece of 3mm pear wood. I use a technique from the plastic model guys here, panel line scribing, to make it look like several parts. This will probably work here as it will be hardly visible tucked away in the catacombs of the lower deck. One or two more coats of oil are still needed here.

This is when disaster struck. The wood oil had settled down to an even but matt finish after a week so I decided to give the deck one more coat. Without really looking I grabbed the can of grain filler and only noticed it when I had finished. Duh! The whole deck was sanded down again but the filler had still penetrated the wood to some degree, so after another coat of oil the finish was not as smooth and even as it used to be. I‘ll leave it for another week to see how it looks then.

Going through Beef Wellington‘s thread I saw the deck beams, parts 7a, 8a and 9a. These are shown on the drawings but not mentioned in the text so I nearly missed them. They are, however, not all the the correct locations. They should line up with the ends of the hatches and two need to be added at the centres. For this new attachments needed to be made. I‘ve ordered 5mm pear wood to replace the plywood beams.

Some tweaking is still needed here

Thanks for looking,

chris

I know what you mean ccoyle,

but the darker wood (oiled or waxed pear wood) is actually more authentic as these ships were built from oak. I like the look of the darker wood as it is just as I would imagine that oak would have looked back then. The gun deck will also be done in waxed pear wood with dark grey paper caulking.

I‘ve seen so many nice looking models with lovely box wood deck planking which actually isn‘t authentic. Also, the hatch coamings are then done in walnut to make the whole thing look like a gorgeous furniture piece which is IMO totally wrong. IF I am correct everything was done in oak back then so I‘m going to do everything in oiled pear wood

Yes! Getting close now!

The cardboard strips were cut down to the deck planks with a small narrow Stanley knife, but still had to be sanded down to get them really flush. In the end I used 40 grit wet’n’dry stuck to small square pieces of three ply as everything else was just too tedious. Yesterday I applied the first coat of oil and let it set for 24 hours. I found a blog on the internet (in German) where someone really went into the details of using this stuff and wrote that using 240 grit towards the end leaves a matt and 360 a shiny finish. So today I used 240 grit and I‘m happy to say that I‘m very happy with the results so far. It‘s easy to see (maybe not on thevpictures) that the sheen actually comes from the wood and not just a varnish or lacquer that was slammed all over it. I am getting very close to that surface finish I‘ve been hoping to find. Tomorrow I‘ll try 360 grit to remove some last blemishes and (hopefully) get an even smoother finish.

Good night,

Chris, in Germany

The rest of the Fir planks have been added, at least as far as I want to go with them.

Test to see how it all fits.

The first layer of oil (or wax or whatever it is) has been applied.

On the bottle it says: apply one layer with soft brush (did that), wipe away excess with clean cloth (did that), repeat three times. Leave one day between each coat/layer.

Ho-hum...

...I think I’ll go and watch Master and Commander

Halfway there. I want to add some more Fir strips and nothing has been oil stained yet.

I‘ve had that Coldplay song in my mind all morning: “Nobody said it was easy...”

You don’t have to thank me for the ear worm 😁

1 hour ago, Vane said:

Why darker planks in the middle?

Tosti writes in his Naiad books that the planking outside of the Binding Strakes was done in Evergreen Fir, but only on the lower deck as there wasn‘t much wear there as it was where the crew slept and there were no heavy cannons to move around.

Today I spent the whole evening sanding the deck planks smooth. Although this isn‘t right. I think the strips should only need some light sanding prior to planking but the saw marks are quite noticeable.

tomorrow I can start glueing and caulking.

Thanks for stopping by,

Chris, in Germany

I think I finally might be heading the right way.

Third sample: first of all, dark grey paper caulking stands proud of the deck planking.

After I had trimmed down the caulking I had realised that the planking strips were of a different thickness. The wider strips which should represent the king plank and the binding strakes were thinner than the others. Just an oversight on my side. Mental note for the next time, or real planking: check the planking strip thicknesses before glueing!

The wood here is oiled. Looks much better than the airbrushed grain filler and is much easier to deal with. 
So, I‘m happy with the caulking and the oiled planking strips. Might be getting there soon after all.

Chris, in Germany

Thanks for your comments Beef and Teloo, very kind. I‘m not sure yet if I‘m heading the right direction. A few lessons learnt on this latest sample: first, the deck planks must be sanded smooth before planking and the caulking paper strips must stand proud of the deck planks before sanding everything flat otherwise things just get too uneven. So, the caulking is a lot less conspicuous than before which is good, but I had to give the sample a few light coats of grain filler with an airbrush but now I‘m getting a slight shine which I would rather avoid. Is a wax layer and honing a solution?

4 hours ago, Gregory said:

I'm no expert, but I think the cardboard between planks looks a bit wide considering the scale..

I think I‘ll try dark grey paper next, see how that looks. My brother also agrees that the cardboard is too wide.

First the idea was to plank the deck. Then I thought, I might just as well do the hatches too.  Then I read about the Evergreen Fir outside of the Binding Strakes. Then I thought I‘d try caulking...

But really this is also a test prior to planking the upper decks

chris

Even if the hatches are barely visible, and I think they will be, I would still want to do better here than just paint the deck in walnut brown.

I started working on my Diana early December and I still haven‘t reached the end of the first chapter in the instructions manual yet 🤪

As you can see I have a wider King Plank in the middle a wider plank for the Binding Strakes, which should actually be two. Outside of these is where the fir planking starts, but only on the lower deck.

My brother, who is an expert ship modeller mostly leaves his wood natural, but I‘m thinking of airbrushing(!) a fine mist of grain filler as some protection, as I‘m worried the untreated wood would pick up dust too easily especially in moist and humid conditions.

Small update, good evening all,

I need your expert opinions here. With the hatch coamings sorted I‘ve been thinking about the lower deck planking. Some modelers have achieved great results with thin cardboard strips between each plank for the tar caulking. This is what I‘ve tried here...

...but I think the results might be a bit too heavy. On the real ship decks the caulking is a lot less conspicuous as you can see here:

Quarter Deck HMS Warrior

Upper Deck HMS Trincomalee

Quarter Deck HMS Trincomalee

I might even leave off the caulking all together as the Navy board models don‘t seem to have this feature. Or I might try dark grey paper.

what do you think?

Oh, yes. I lined the edges of the ply deck at the hatch openings as the ply wood which was almost white was too noticeable.

Thanks for stopping by, Chris

Good evening all,

a small update. It took three attempts before I was happy with the hatch coamings. On this picture here the deck planks have again been loosely put in place, just for a sneak preview if you will. I cut away some large chunks from four bulkheads as I realized they would be visible from the upper deck hatches. That‘s the official version, but the truth is I wanted more deck area for planking. As I‘ve said before, Tosti writes that the planking outside of the Binding Strakes was done in Evergreen Fir. So cutting away the bulkheads would give me more space here.

I didn’t want the deck to look as if it was 3‘ thick so I beveled the edges a bit. 

the PO had followed the instructions here and simply painted the lower deck in Walnut Stain.

The bulkheads and false keel were painted black where the hatches are to make them a bit more inconspicuous when the gratings are added later 

Thanks for stopping by,

Chris, in Germany

The wood for the lower deck arrived and I started testing my skills on some hatch frames. I think they should be a bit flatter. The deck planks are not glued here yet, just put in place for a sneak preview, sort of