MV Fulani by Frederick Scott - 1:166

[Frederick Scott]

Thanks to all of the above for your comments.  It's good to know that "I'm not the only one" though, looking at your logs and galleries,it's hard to believe that I'm in such impressive company.

But, "Moving on" (as my youngest says when the conversation bores or embarrasses him) I have started again with the bridge structure.  It's demanding work to cut all those rectangular windows and difficult to achieve uniformity. I've wasted a lot of time scrapping my efforts and starting again.  My third attempt is the best so far and is accepted.  But that's just the Master's and Mate's windows on deck 2.  I'm now working on the wheelhouse windows and doors and the radio shack.

I have also started preparing the wood sheathing on these decks.  I used very thin and flat slices from the damaged planking on "Vasa" the unfinished model my friend's widow gave me. I'm using some remnants of tar adhesive paint that I had left over after re-roofing the wood shed some years ago, to represent the pitch seal between planks.  Painting it along one edge of the deck plank and sliding the adjacent one up against it forces the excess out, to be scraped away. Some spreading occurs but when the deck is ready it will be sanded down as far as I dare go. I have experimented and found this works well.  Even a little grey shadow where tar paint has been is not a bad thing as, on a ship as old as Fulani was when I sailed in her, the 28 year old wood sheathed decks were far from pristine, having been re-sealed over the years by various ship's carpenters, skilled and unskilled.  It looks authentic, I think.

I am also busy around the focstle, fitting the aft facing bulkhead with entrances port and starboard  These entrances had no high coaming to keep water out as the interior access doors to the Carpenter's shop and the focstle store and lampy's den had.

On the outer surface of the focstle I am trying (and trying and trying again) to print  F U L A N I  to scale. I am doing it with a toothpick dipped in paint, the toothpick being a used one in accordance with my stipulation that the ship should be made of scrap materials.  Am still trying, as my wife tells me.  Repeatedly. 

Photos of the above work to follow shortly. (Same old problems with photos, I'm afraid)

[Frederick Scott]

It's been a while since my last log entry but work has gone on and this how Fulani looks today.

None of the deck structures is fixed in place yet as I have still to make hawse pipes and giver the ship her anchors; also, although I have managed to print Fulani under her counter stern, I still have to find a way to paint Liverpool under her name in half millimetre high print.

The windlass is a gift from a friend who was given a kit when he was a boy about forty years ago.  Unfortunately the kit contained only the fixtures for a model trawler, but not the hull, so he couldn't even start the project.  However he kept the bits and pieces and offered them to me.  Luckily the windlass was just about right for Fulani.

 

The Samson post on the port side forward of the bridge house (also not fixed yet) has a cowl made from modelling clay and glued onto a wooden post.  I tried several ways to form the cowl and finally did it by shaping a ball of the stuff and impressing the rounded end of a stick of the same dimensions as the post, into it and then shaping the "bonnet" around it.  After it had dried hard it just took a little sanding to get it to fit onto the post. Superglue and a coat of paint makes it look like one single piece.

 

The deck sheathing is not  ready for showing yet but I found a good way to make it is to prepare sheets of it and cut out the shape and size required for each area.

 

The planks are taken from the unfinished model of the Swedish warship Wasa and laid in a thin smear of tar sealant. Sanded the result is convincing, I think.

 

I'm looking forward to getting finally finished with the hull so that I can start attaching everything to it.  I'm specially keen to start fitting the derricks and all the tackle that that will involve, though not the fourteen cargo winches that have to go with them. The deck rails will be a challenge as well.    

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Nice progress Frederick.  She's really coming together now.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Frederick Scott]

 

 

Sorry about the long absence and a belated "Thank You" to Patrick. Sorry too that the pictures are not studio studies but they serve to show that things have moved forward. Also that I'm still alive and at work.

 

 

They're actually even further forward since these photos were taken.  I have painted the hull again and got the final finish I wanted. The draft marks and the Liverpool on the stern were challenging but I think I got acceptable results there as well.

 

 

Ignore the badly tailored appearance of number 5's aft coaming. The hatch wasn't "affixed" when the photo was taken and has been replaced with new work.

Currently working on mark 5 of the bridge structure and the last of the lifeboats. I seem to do more scrapping than building!

I hope to be back soon with better pics showing further progress.  Maybe I should get someone more competent and with better equipment to take the photos.

[Omega1234]

Hi Fredrick. 

 

Great to see you back posting again. 

 

Bit by bit, the charm and character of these style of ships is emerging in your model. It won't be long and you'll be adding the rigging and cranes, etc; all of which will add heaps to the overall appearance. 

 

Nice!  

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Frederick Scott]

Thanks again to Patrick and to those who liked the posts.

I have no more pictures yet of the latest work, but I spoke in my last post of the challenge of printing in miniature on the ship's stern, and it may be useful to someone to know how I got around it. I certainly surprised myself. I should mention that I have a slight tremor in my writing hand and it doesn't make it any easier to paint fine detail with a small brush.

I found that if I tried to print from left to right the succeeding print grew, shrank, listed to port and starboard and generally looked a mess by the end of the effort. I tried several (ie many) times Then I tried removing just the worst letters and reprinting them or tried to repair them, but it just got worse.

I don't know what inspired this idea but I figured that if I put the first and last letters in place to start with, after carefully measuring where they should be, and then the middle one or the one to one side of the middle point of the word, I got better results.  I could then progress with the remaining letters, each finding its place correctly in the whole print.  This way I could better control the proportions, height and width, and the correct shape (no list or difference of size) of each letter.  I could also see where each letter should be in relation to its neighbours. I further found that by printing just a part of the letter - the vertical for example in the letter "L" - and returning later to give it the remainder - the bottom horizontal bar - I got better results. It seems that by moving up and down the line of print adding the next stroke to each letter until it was complete, I could better "see" how the shape and appearance of it was going and so keep things under control. A bit like a sheep dog darting around the flock keeping would be miscreants in place.

It may be that this is a well known trick that everyone uses.  If so, I'm sorry if I seem to be preaching to the converted.

On the other hand, If any reader has any tips on how to stick spider web thin lengths of rigging to cargo blocks on derricks, without getting glue all over the surrounds, the fingers and your tea/coffee cup, I'd be grateful.

 

Regards and happy model making,

 

Fred

[Frederick Scott]

"The Boat", as my nearest and dearest calls my project, is coming along and after months of wondering how on earth I am going to make fourteen winches I have actually managed to make one. It took a whole frustrating day to get this one miniature machine to look anything like a winch, but I think I have learnt from the experience how to refine the process and maybe make two or three a day.

The one pictured above will probably not be used on the finished model.  It needs refining. But it has shown me what to do and how to do it. The main thing was to get the scale right and of course the shape. And a coat of grey paint and white drum ends will make a big difference. I used modeling clay to make the body of the thing and the canon barells from the unfinished model of "Wasa" for the drum ends. Luckily about the right size.

 

I also have a set of derricks ready to go up. I'm planning to have her with derricks topped ready for work.  The boot topping indicates that she's part loaded and moving between ports - pilot flag flying - so derricks topped would be normal practice on a coastal passage.

 

These were cut from a couple of wire coat hangers (wife's coat and blouse)  It was quite a surprise to me to see how the lengths differed. I always knew that there was a difference of length, of course, but I didn't appreciate just how much.   No 4 forward derricks are roughly half the length of the the ones at the after end of the same hatch. Amazing. Or haven't I got it right. Must double check.

 

Still haven't finished the wheelhouse and bridge, and the aft end of the ship's maindeck, abaft of no 5 hatch, is still unexplored territory. There's much still to do.

 

Regards to all

 

Fred

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after being away for a few days, Fred.  It's good to see that she's still progressing and really looking the part now.

 

John

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Your 'boat' is coming along nicely, especially now that you're moving onto the finer details, such as the derricks and winches...speaking of which, looks really nice.

 

All the best. 

 

Patrick

[Limeymidshipman]

I actually served as a senior Midshipman for Elder Dempster Shipping on MV Fulani. I sailed on 2 trips from London & Europe to West African ports.

This would be in 1958 & 1959. On the last trip we sailed up through the Kiel Canal to Karlsham in Sweden, delivered the final load and then sailed back to Odense in Denmark where she was to be cut up for scrape. We then flew back to London to join our next ship.

 

Your model has brought back many memories of the good times we had as a crew. I did not know about the earlier fire but we were leaving Lagos the next port was  London and home. But about 4 hours outside we had a fire in the engine room that servely burnt two engineers We had to turn around and try to get back into Lagos but we we too heavily loaded that the most senior pilot had to bring us inside the breakwater and a barge came and took the wounded officers off. Unfortunately they both died later. We found out this sad information as we came into Rotterdam. So we lowered our flag to half staff in respect, but we got a very short note from the British Embassy that we cannot lower the flag unless one of the members of the Royal Family had passed, not just a loyal servant.

 

Your model is very good and accurate. Glad I found your site.

 

[the learner]

Fantastic build and all from a picture and memory! Well done, looking foward to that final photo!