Lady Isabella by EKE - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Zulu

[BobG]

Wow, Erik...you and BE have set the bar very high for building this model!

[Allen B]

EKE. I've been following your magnificent build with admiration and great interest.  As a newbie, Zulu is going to be either my 1st or 2nd build shortly.  Would you please answer a question for me regarding the scale size of the registration letters/numbers . Are they N, Ho or O ? Thank you. Al.

 

 

 

[EKE]

On 1/5/2021 at 10:45 AM, BobG said:

Wow, Erik...you and BE have set the bar very high for building this model!

Thanks so much, Bob!  I’m really having fun with this.

 

[EKE]

On 1/5/2021 at 3:33 PM, Allen B said:

EKE. I've been following your magnificent build with admiration and great interest.  As a newbie, Zulu is going to be either my 1st or 2nd build shortly.  Would you please answer a question for me regarding the scale size of the registration letters/numbers . Are they N, Ho or O ? Thank you. Al.

 

 

 

Hi Allen,

 

So sorry it took me so long to get back to you.  Thanks so much for the kind words!  The lettering I used is from Woodland Scenics, which is a great company which sells gear tailored to the model railroad community.  I used their dry transfer lettering, RR Roman style, white.  The size is 3/16”, which is just perfect to fit between the rubbing strakes on the side of the hull.  
 

Hope this helps!  Good to meet you.

-Erik
 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by EKE

[EKE]

For you Zulu aficionados, I came across this fantastic video this morning, entitled “Drifting”.  It looks to have been made sometime in the 1940’s.  The boats are all converted to steam power by this time, but many of them appear to have been sailing drifters at one time... Zulus and Fifies.  The film goes through the process of drift fishing for herring in great detail. Lots of interesting information here.  There’s much detail on how the various fittings around the deck were used, and some nice video of the crews using the nets, fish holds, steam capstan, etc.  

 

B.E.  - not sure if you have seen this, but you’d certainly appreciate it.  Enjoy!

-Erik

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by EKE

[Blue Ensign]

Thanks Erik, a great find, I hadn’t seen it.

Some great detail shots of equipment and how it was used, and of the scale.

The warp rollers along the rail slotted into sockets are something I pondered about, altho’ I did fit the sockets.

I note the relative sizes of the Cran baskets and net floats to the crew.

 

👍

 

B.E.

[EKE]

I’m pondering whether to fab up one of the net rollers myself.  I’m going to watch the film again closely to see where exactly they were installed and how they were fitted.

Edited January 9, 2021 by EKE

[EKE]

39 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

Thanks Erik, a great find, I hadn’t seen it.

Some great detail shots of equipment and how it was used, and of the scale.

The warp rollers along the rail slotted into sockets are something I pondered about, altho’ I did fit the sockets.

I note the relative sizes of the Cran baskets and net floats to the crew.

 

👍

 

B.E.

You absolutely nailed the baskets!  👌 

 

I loved seeing how they harnessed and hoisted the baskets off the boat, filled with fish. 🐟 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by EKE

[Ruud109]

Really enjoying this build, great job!

[EKE]

Time for an undate. I have finished the deck details, fittings and furniture. Most all of this is installed exactly according to the plans, with a couple small changes/upgrades.  
 

There are two flues which exit the top of the main cabin house. I'm presuming that the largest is a flue for the steam boiler, which drives the steam capstan and winch. This is the one with the top which angles aft. I’m guessing the smaller flue is for a coal stove which I understand was more or less standard equipment on these boats, for cabin heating and cooking. In vintage photos, it seems that these flues often had a sheet metal hood cowling at the top, so I fashioned one to match some of the examples I found.  
 

Another change I made was to add pad eye hardpoints in four locations along the port rail, to mirror the ones called for on the starboard rail in the plans. These are for mast stays and halyards. Although only one side would be used at a time, and the plans call for the boat to be rigged on starboard tack, as a sailor I know that the boat would surely be on port tack at times, so the halyards and running stays would need to be move to the weather side. So it makes sense that there would be hard points on the port side as well. So I added those. Otherwise, all of the details are per the kit instructions.  
 

It feels good to get to this point, I have to say.  Now I’m on to masts, spars and rigging!

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by EKE

[Keithbrad80]

This looks awesome! You killed it on this build so far, I’m looking forward to seeing it rigged!

 

Bradley 

[EKE]

24 minutes ago, Keithbrad80 said:

This looks awesome! You killed it on this build so far, I’m looking forward to seeing it rigged!

 

Bradley 

 

Thanks Bradley!  Me too!

 

[James H]

`I absolutely love this.

 

That black upper hull, registration number and the overall finish and attention to detail.

 

Amazing that this is a first build.

[EKE]

7 hours ago, James H said:

`I absolutely love this.

 

That black upper hull, registration number and the overall finish and attention to detail.

 

Amazing that this is a first build.

Thanks so much Jim!  Appreciate the kind words.  Now I need to figure out all the rigging bits.  Fortunately this model is not too complicated in that regard.

[James H]

Just now, EKE said:

Thanks so much Jim!  Appreciate the kind words.  Now I need to figure out all the rigging bits.  Fortunately this model is not too complicated in that regard.

When I built it, Zulu was the first ship I'd rigged in over 12yrs. I think it took me about 4 or 5 days.

At my current pace, after Flirt and Duchess, I'd probably do it in 2 or 3hrs! 

[Allen B]

On 1/9/2021 at 1:14 PM, EKE said:

Hi Allen,

 

So sorry it took me so long to get back to you.  Thanks so much for the kind words!  The lettering I used is from Woodland Scenics, which is a great company which sells gear tailored to the model railroad community.  I used their dry transfer lettering, RR Roman style, white.  The size is 3/16”, which is just perfect to fit between the rubbing strokes on the side of the hull.  
 

Hope this helps!  Good to meet you.

-Erik
 

 

Eric. Thanks for your time answering 

 my question.  Very much appreciated.  I will be purchasing 

the product. 

 

Also, the "Drifting"  video is great. Thanks for posting. 

Al.

[Allen B]

5 minutes ago, Allen B said:

Eric. Thanks for your time answering 

 my question.  Very much appreciated.  I will be purchasing 

the product. 

 

Also, the "Drifting"  video is great. Thanks for posting. 

Al.

Erik. Oops. My apologies for misspelling you name in the other

thread.

[EKE]

5 hours ago, Allen B said:

Erik. Oops. My apologies for misspelling you name in the other

thread.

No worries at all, Allen. Happens all the time.  

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by EKE

[BobG]

Gorgeous, Erik!

[EKE]

Update time.  I’ve had a crazy week at work, so I’ve had to fit ship building in around it.  But I’ve made a bit of progress on spars, yards and sails.

 

I started by shaping all of the spars per the drawings provided by Chris.  The main forward mast is a square piece of lumber, which needs to be tapered and made round.  I have no lathe, so this was done by hand.  The bottom of the mast where it steps into the deck is left square.  I marked that part off, and then started in on shaping the piece.  I began with my small micro-plane to rough shape it, then proceeded with a long sanding block and 120 grit sandpaper.  An hour and a half, or so, and it was complete.  
 

 

 

The mizzen mast comes as a piece of walnut dowel, and needs to be tapered from the deck line to the tip.  The bowsprit and boomkin also are tapered in one direction.  The two lug yards are tapered at each end.  After rough tapering, I sanded all smooth and gave them two coats of varnish.  It seems that the Zulu’s usually had the tips of the spars painted white for visibility, and to protect the end grain from weather, so I followed that convention.

 

 

Here’s a couple of photos with all finished spars in place.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by EKE

[Keithbrad80]

This looks great! A very nice and clean taper. 

 

Bradley 

 

[EKE]

This weekend, I dyed the sails.  Used the Rit Dye that many have been using, in the “Bordo (Wine)” and “Dark Brown” colors.  This was very easy and straightforward.  I heated water, about a liter or so, on the stove until almost boiling.  Then I poured that into a bowl, with a heaping tablespoon of salt, and the dye.  First pass was about two-thirds brown and one-third wine red.  I swished the sails around in the dye until I thought the color was dense enough.  Perhaps 20 minutes or so.  Then I pulled them out, rinsed them in clear tap water, and laid them out on paper towels.  I thought the first pass was too brown, so I repeated the dying, but this time just with the red dye.  This brought the color to what I think a true tanned bark color.  I let them dry a bit, and then, when they were still slightly moist, I ironed them with a medium-hot iron.  Smoothed out all the wrinkles quite well.

 

As others have noted, the stitching stubbornly refuses the dye, but in looking at the finished product, I agree that the sails look rather interesting with the contrasting thread.

 

Next step is to dive into the rigging!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by EKE

[Rik Thistle]

a true tanned bark color.  

 

Yes, that colour is looking good. Chris supplies well designed sails....and, as you say, the lighter thread does add a bit of interest.

 

The rigging isn't too bad, at least on my Fifie, although the Zulu's is a bit more complex.

 

It's good to have a pleasant hobby to fall back on after busy work days/weeks ... quite relaxing especially in that it takes one's mind completely away from 'other business' 😉

 

Richard

 

 

[BobG]

The sails look great and I like the contrast of the white stitching.

[EKE]

Small update.  I’ve been marking out the layout for the reefing ties on the sail.  In studying the precedent photos of the herring drifters in Edgar March’s great book, it seems that there was no standard layout for these ties.  Between three and six rows of ties on the foresail, and between two and four rows on the mizzen were apparently common.  I decided to install four rows on the foresail, and three on the mizzen sail.  I laid these out parallel to the foot of the sail, spaced about 20mm vertically.  I laid a tape strip down just above each line, and marked out the reef points at 10mm intervals.  
 

The plan is to poke a small hole below each mark, and thread lengths of 0.25 brown thread through, and snug a knot up to the sail on each side.  Then I’ll trim each tie to 15mm in length.  Once all 117 of the ties are installed, I can carefully fiddle with some white glue to tame them into hanging vertically.  
 

 

[Rik Thistle]

Erik,

 

Doing the reefing ties is a chore...they seem to be never ending when you are doing them ...but the end result is very worthwhile...they somehow bring the sails to life. Your sails deserve it 😉

 

The colour of the reefing ties wants to be light enough to be noticable but not too bright....the ones I've seen in old pics seem to have a 'weathered' colour (not surprisingly, I guess). And using white glue to coax them into a flat but realistic pattern is a good idea.

 

Richard

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

One thing to think about Erik is that with the reef points threaded through the sail they will invariably stick out needing  pva to persuade them to hang down naturally. To do this there is a greater risk of marking the sail with glue, which will be difficult to remove.

 

I opted for the  less authentic, but hard to spot the difference, method of  gluing pre knotted  reef points to the sail each side which obviates the issue.

 

I wish you luck with this tiresome business, whichever method you choose.

 

B.E.

 

[EKE]

1 hour ago, Rik Thistle said:

The colour of the reefing ties wants to be light enough to be noticable but not too bright....the ones I've seen in old pics seem to have a 'weathered' colour (not surprisingly, I guess). And using white glue to coax them into a flat but realistic pattern is a good idea.

 

Thanks Richard.  Good point... I may take the standard tan thread and tint it with a warm grey xylene marker. 

 

Quote

One thing to think about Erik is that with the reef points threaded through the sail they will invariably stick out needing  pva to persuade them to hang down naturally. To do this there is a greater risk of marking the sail with glue, which will be difficult to remove.

 

I opted for the  less authentic, but hard to spot the difference, method of  gluing pre knotted  reef points to the sail each side which obviates the issue.

 

Thanks for the head's up, BE.  I am considering this.  Your ties came out very nicely, and hang down in an authentic way. 

 

[Gbmodeler]

You're doing a fabulous job on this beautiful boat!  So glad I found your log!

[EKE]

On 2/1/2021 at 3:47 PM, Gbmodeler said:

You're doing a fabulous job on this beautiful boat!  So glad I found your log!

Thanks GB!  Slow and steady, but it's coming along...