Lady Isabella by Mario Pires - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - Scottish Sailing Zulu

[Mario Pires]

I have recently came back in to this hobby again, after a long absence. Finally I could set up a small area on the storage room. There is no heating though so I have been waiting for the last few months to start....  And speaking of that after several months of reviewing options, the Zulu Lady Isabella from Vanguard Models caught my eye. Such an elegant boat, I am planning to make build it with the optional sails and with the red/black/white color scheme.  I am not sure if other patterns were common, I could not find pictures of Zulus still sailing.

 

Here is the workspace

 

 

[ccoyle]

A lot of old sailing workboat designs found second lives as pleasure craft, so I'm sure that taking liberty with the kit's rig and color scheme is not unprecedented.

[BobG]

I have this model on the shelf so I'll be following along. It's a wonderful model. Good luck!

[Rik Thistle]

Mario,

 

There are excellant Vanguard Zulu builds on this website, with some of those builds having many extras added by the builders. You will not be disappointed in your choice of Lady Isabella...looking forward to your 'build'.

 

regards,

 

Richard

[Mario Pires]

 

I will certainly have a look at other possibilities for the color scheme !  For now I am eager to start. The kit is wonderful, the manual is very detailed and the step by step instructions are super clear. I made the right choice.  I also got another kit from Vanguard Models, the Flirt which I hope to build in the future, but it seemed prudent to start with a smaller kit....

 

The first step is the superstructure.  I only had some issues with the small pegs, but all fits very well. I assembled it first  for a dry fit:

 

 

 

 

here from the top

 

 

 

 

After certifying it was all ok, I then assembled it again and then glued it.  

 

 

 

Tomorrow I plan to start working on the keel structure.  Did not do much today, but it was a great feeling 🙂

 

[Mario Pires]

 

Made some progress on the hull construction.  The bevelled inserts (parts 16-19) were a bit difficult to slide in, and I had to remove a bit of the glue overflow that had accumulated when I glued the bulkheads in order to make it fit.

 

 

Here is the structure before adding the main sub deck.  

 

 

 

I noticed the sub deck was marked with the number 26 not sure why as it is listed as part 33FT. I had some trouble in installing it as I was afraid of bending it, but it did snap into place, though one of the bulkhead tabs snapped out. These will be removed later anyway. Will post a picture tomorrow as I only did a dry fit of it this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Mario Pires]

 

The hull is almost ready for planking.  I will still need to do a few checks before starting that. It will be my first planking ever, and I look forward for it. 

 

 

 

 

While I make a pause to breathe before planking,  I have been looking at the possible color patterns for this model. I came across the beautiful Fifie The Swan, launched in 1900,  restored and re-launched in 1996, at a venerable age of 96,  as a training ship. It has a beautiful  bright green/white/red pattern which caught my eye.

 

 

I am also toying with the idea of not having all of the sails hoisted, but so far I have not found clear pictures of a Zulu with the sails down and its respective rigging.  Any recommendation on a book is welcomed. I saw some praise on Sailing Drifters from Edgar J. March, , but have not decided yet.

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Blue Ensign]

Hi  Mario, you can't do better than the Edgar March book when it comes to  Sailing Drifters.

As far as the sails arrangement is concerned, if the sails are down so are the yards, there are some old photos in the March book.

 

 

This is the Reaper  with the Fore lug yet to be raised.

This is an old shot of a Fifie and a Zulu leaving port.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

 

[Mario Pires]

 

 

Thanks B.E., this is very helpful. I reached out to a few booksellers for Sailing Drifters so hope to get my hands on a copy soon.

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Mario Pires]

In the meantime I finished the first and second planking. I am glad I choose the Zulu to start with and not a bigger model, as I did a few too many mistakes along the way. Still I am happy with the final result. This was my first ever exercise in planking, and I learned a lot while doing this. These are some photos of the first planking,  I will post photos of the finished sanded 2nd planking tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Mario Pires]

In the meantime I have been struggling with the paint job. First because shops have been closed is not easy to find the right paints online, specially because I was looking for spray cans and could not find the right color tone for oxide red here in Switzerland. I did find this one but was not acrylic and I did not want to work with solvent based paints.

 

 

After a lot of searching I found the range of paints Liquitech in an online art materials shop.

But I could only find white matt in a revell brand

 

 

 

 

While I waited for the package I finally received the book Sailing Drifters.

 

 

 

This is truly a book about courage, and a story that should be told. Is quite amazing. 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Mario Pires]

 

I decided to paint the Zulu in its Black/white/red scheme. I wander what is the right sequence for masking and painting but I just followed the manual and painted the hull red with the Liquitex spray can. This paint is quite nice, it flows easily and has no strong odour.  I did 6 coatings..... sanded in between..... but still could not achieve the smooth surface I saw in other logs..... When trying to use wood filler I found it adhered very poorly to the surface, and so did not really worked.

 

I wander what is the best technique here, but of course making a better planking job than mine would help. I did feel the hull was polished and smooth but there were still irregularities in the surface due to planks not fully even. 😉 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this I tried to add the white band but this was really not okay. First I found the Revell spray paint had a very strong chemical smell, and it did not flow as well as the Liquitex. It also dried considerably slower, and tended to creep in in the masking. At the end I decided today to recoat once more the red bottom, and will paint tomorrow the black upper part FIRST before spraying the white - I also in the meantime got a Liquitex Satin white, so this hopefully should go better. Above you see the pictures of the hull painted red before I had applied the white paint.

 

Below is also the rudder. More to it tomorrow ....

 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Mario Pires

[Mario Pires]

I have been progressing slowly, but here are some pictures of where I stand today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Mario, after the paint, your planking doesn’t look too bad. I am building a Fifie and have trouble planking it. i blame the poor fairing of the frames. But, in reality, these boats were built by poor people and I’m sure their planking wasn’t that smooth. So, keep up the good work and I’ll be following your progress. 

[Mario Pires]

Hi Ras, thanks for your kind words.  I made a lot of mistakes so far, but I feel happy with the progress, definitively learning a lot with this build.

[BobG]

Hello Mario, have you been able to make any more progress on your boat? 

[Mario Pires]

Thanks for the question Bib. It has been a while a post an update.  I have been busy with many other things and id not progress much. I have picked it up again last month, and am at the stage of planning the rigging. I attach some pictures below of the current status.

[Mario Pires]

 

Here is where the model stands

 

 

[Mario Pires]

I am planning the rigging now.  The kit plans are not detailed enough for someone like me, as this is my first model, but I have been looking at pictures of other logs, and searching on youtube for inspiration. I will not dye the sails, I like the colour they are now.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Mario Pires

[BobG]

She looks really good, Mario!

[Mario Pires]

Started the rigging. As the Zulu is my first model it is taking me time to understand what and how to do. Saw a few videos in youtube from a fellow building the Santissima Tridinad on how to make a knot around a block, and many others on different rigging techniques. The Zulu rigging is ver simple, but still quite a challenge to me.

 

 

[chris watton]

That does look really nice, Mario. I think I prefer this model with the fully painted hull.

[James H]

She's looking real nice. Sorry I was only just alerted to this log by @chris watton. 

 

You'll find this one an easy rig too. Looking forward to seeing her complete. 

[Mario Pires]

thanks Chris and James for for the encouragement. I think the Zulu is perhaps one of the best models to get into this hobby. Learning a lot.

[Mario Pires]

I finished the model, bringing it to a level I was not really certain I could, but it ended up to be a fantastic engaging project. I have learned quite a lot. As mentioned earlier my first attempt of building a model was with an Artesania Latina model ship (the Zuiderzee Dutch Botter) - this was back in the early 80's, and I could simply not do it. Zulu has been my second foray in this hobby.  I believe this Vanguard kit gives a great deal of confidence to entry level modelers, and I must say without a quality kit like this I could not have done the job. 

 

Of all the steps in the process of building this model,  rigging was the one that I had the most difficulty. And this model has a simple rigging. There are a lot of helpful videos on how to do things, but what I can say is that I have a great deal of admiration for people that can pass lines through microscopic blocks.... 

 

I have a few ideas for a next project, still with a Vanguard model. I have Flirt and the Royal Yacht. I don't have Saucy Jack but looks a nice model.

[Blue Ensign]

Well done Mario, she looks good.👍

Nothing like completing a satisfying build to  encourage you onto the next.

 

 

B.E.

[BobG]

Beautiful model, Mario! Congratulations!

[ccoyle]

Very nice! Congratulations!