Lady Isabella by James H - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Zulu prototype

[chris watton]

8 minutes ago, English Rebel said:

Great looking boat. I am working on my Chris Craft right now and two other kits waiting, so this might be #4. I'm interested to see how much the kit will be.

Alan

The kit is £158

 

https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/order-zulu-lady-isabella/

[English Rebel]

3 hours ago, chris watton said:

The kit is £158

 

https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/order-zulu-lady-isabella/

Chris

Does the basic kit include all of the rigging (I know the sales are extra)?

Thanks

Alan

[chris watton]

1 minute ago, English Rebel said:

Chris

Does the basic kit include all of the rigging (I know the sales are extra)?

Thanks

Alan

Yes, all rigging, blocks and dowel for masts and yards. I have sails as an optional extra due to the high cost of them, and I know some prefer to make their own or show the model without sails.

[English Rebel]

18 hours ago, chris watton said:

Yes, all rigging, blocks and dowel for masts and yards. I have sails as an optional extra due to the high cost of them, and I know some prefer to make their own or show the model without sails.

I just ordered the basic kit - no sails. I'm working on my Chris Craft right now (my first ship build since I was a kid) and have the Amati Scottish Fifie kit on hand with the Altsu Mendi Basque tug boat stuck in Sydney for two weeks now, so this might be moved up the build list to #2.

Alan

[English Rebel]

On 3/22/2020 at 6:43 PM, James H said:

Maybe I should do a small update.

 

I've had time to do some planking during my enforced isolation. Here you see the hull with the pear bulwarks installed. Underneath that is a lime wood plank with a naturally guessed taper. PVA is used for these, and my trusty Amati nail pusher.

 

 

Limewood planks are now fitted and tapered where the natural lie of the planks overlaps the previous. That bow sure looks ugly with those over length planks. That will now be cut back and tidied up.

 

 

With the bow tidied up, the stem keel section is finally glue into place. This fits like a dream with no ambiguity.

 

 

The pear wood keel is to be lined with an external layer, creating the rabbet that the second layer planks will fit into. Before this though, the key parts are fitted.

 

 

Those keel facing parts are now added...

 

 

 

Here you see how the rudder sockets are created with the keel face parts.

 

 

Now, the garboard planks are pre-cut. This is to help the modeller with the curvature at both bow and stern. These are an excellent fit. To start, I dry fit the stern side garboard plank. When I have achieved a good fit, I make a couple of pencil marks to absolutely determine its position. The plank is then removed and Gorilla Glue CA Gel is applied to it and the plank slipped into the keel rebate before being shaped into the stern curve. 

 

 

There same now applies to the stem garboard plank. This is the result.

 

 

 

More soon!

James

I have this kit and when I've finished my Chris Craft Runabout, I'm going to start on it. I have the Amati nailer and I see that you used it to nail all the planks to the frames but didn't see any in the finished job. How did you remove those nails and what size did you use? Also, you said that you faired the frames in readiness for planking. Since you already tapered the bow frames with your Dremel, what other sanding did you need to do?

Thanks

Alan

[James H]

58 minutes ago, English Rebel said:

James

I have this kit and when I've finished my Chris Craft Runabout, I'm going to start on it. I have the Amati nailer and I see that you used it to nail all the planks to the frames but didn't see any in the finished job. How did you remove those nails and what size did you use? Also, you said that you faired the frames in readiness for planking. Since you already tapered the bow frames with your Dremel, what other sanding did you need to do?

Thanks

Alan

 

Hi Alan,

 

The nails are only in the first planking, and the reason you can't see the holes is because the sanding filled them in. If I was to blow on or brush that surface, you'd have seen them again. I just used pliers to pull them out.

 

Bevelling the engraved bulkheads is for most of the bevelling work. You still need to fine tune that and slightly bevel the other bulkheads so a plank will lay flat over them.

[MadDogMcQ]

Another super build!! Boy oh boy, I'm lovin this site.

[EKE]

Hi James.  Thanks so much for sharing your process so thoroughly.  I’ve learned so much.  I’m building this kit right now, and I have just finished the first planking.

 

i am wondering if you might share a bit about your process for the second planking, particularly how you are laying down the planks using CA gel.  Are you simply  ‘buttering’ the back of the entire plank with gel, and holding it in place with your fingers until the gel kicks off?  Or are you using something to hold it in place?  Tape?  Are you using an accelerator?  Are you gluing the entire plank in one go, or are you gluing parts of it in stages?

 

Thanks again for your wonderful build logs!  They are a terrific resource for folks like me who are figuring out how to do this... Grateful.

 

-Erik

[James H]

2 hours ago, EKE said:

Hi James.  Thanks so much for sharing you process so thoroughly.  I’ve learned so much.  I’m building this kit right now, and I have just finished the first planking.

 

i am wondering if you might share a bit about your process for the second planking, particularly how you are laying down the planks using CA gel.  Are you simply  ‘buttering’ the back of the entire plank with gel, and holding it in place with your fingers until the gel kicks off?  Or are you using something to hold it in place?  Tape?  Are you using an accelerator?  Are you gluing the entire plank in one go, or are you gluing parts of it in stages?

 

Thanks again for your wonderful build logs!  They are a terrific resource for folks like me who are figuring out how to do this... Grateful.

 

-Erik

 

I usually put smalls dots all the way along and then ease the plank into place a couple of inches at a time and then hold it for 5-10 seconds before moving along. No tape, nails, nothing needed. Also no accelerator. The CA gel stays viable for the duration without needing to add spots at intervals.

 

Glad you like the build log and I hope the manual I did is easy enough to follow.

 

Oh, and 

[EKE]

Thanks James!  That makes sense.

 

And thanks for the welcome.  I've lurked here for quite a while, but I finally decided to take the leap when I read this log and learned about Chris' beautiful kits.  Chris has been super-helpful in answering pesky email questions from this novice.  And yes, one of the things that sold me on Chris and Vanguard was when I downloaded the PDF of the manual for the Zulu.  Certainly one of the finest manuals I have ever seen in the hobby industry.  Bravo!

 

I'm having the best time building this model, and will probably post up some images when complete.  After doing some research on the Zulu type, I've decided to paint the hull freeboard black above the boot stripe, since it looks like the ubiquitous paint scheme. 

 

And... I have an HMS Flirt kit waiting when the Zulu is done.  I'm afraid I've been hooked...thanks Chris and James!

-Erik

 

 

[James H]

10 minutes ago, EKE said:

Thanks James!  That makes sense.

 

And thanks for the welcome.  I've lurked here for quite a while, but I finally decided to take the leap when I read this log and learned about Chris' beautiful kits.  Chris has been super-helpful in answering pesky email questions from this novice.  And yes, one of the things that sold me on Chris and Vanguard was when I downloaded the PDF of the manual for the Zulu.  Certainly one of the finest manuals I have ever seen in the hobby industry.  Bravo!

 

I'm having the best time building this model, and will probably post up some images when complete.  After doing some research on the Zulu type, I've decided to paint the hull freeboard black above the boot stripe, since it looks like the ubiquitous paint scheme. 

 

And... I have an HMS Flirt kit waiting when the Zulu is done.  I'm afraid I've been hooked...thanks Chris and James!

-Erik

 

 

 

Come on.....open a build log for Zulu. I know a few here would love to see it. 

 

As for Flirt, exactly the same. Share your journey and let us see how you progress. If you've ever any questions, I'm sure you'll get lots of help here and both I and Chris can nail down any specifics with these builds.