Nisha by AJohnson - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Brixham 'Mumble-Bee'

[AJohnson]

Update for this evening is a little progress on the sails and also a start I have made on the trawl gear, I've not had as much time working on "Nisha" as I would like, the Admiral has got me doing another garden project at the moment!  I'll post pics of that over in the "Gardening" section of MSW when done.

 

The sails have been a lesson in patience, I've painted them using my airbrush and a mix of enamels to give me the worn red colour I was after.  I need to add the rigging and blocks and some reef points.  I have been testing these various stages; including using Letraset style rub on lettering for the Sails on my prototype sail at the top of the 'Sails' picture.  Then I think I will set to the desired bend/shape and spray with matt varnish.

 

The "Trawl Heads' are from 1mm square plastic rod, bent around a wood former, heated and then cooled into shape.  These are based on description and dimensions from Edgar Marsh again.  I'm not too sure on them yet, I might have to get some brass rod of the same section and try my hand at soldering.  These plastic ones might be a bit too delicate to rig a beam and net to.  I'll carry on for now to see how things progress; good practice for sorting out the various trawl elements, but can see myself having to learn a new skill soon!

 

Thanks all for continuing to follow and support.

Edited April 19, 2022 by AJohnson

[BenD]

I've been wondering how I'm going to make sails for one of my builds. You just solved that for me, they look really good!  

[Andyrew]

The Sails look really good Andrew, you have far more patience than I have hence me buying the ready made Sails 😀

[AJohnson]

My misgivings about the styrene trawl heads were justified and one of them sprang apart whilst painting and sanding.  A sure indication that they were going to be a problem when I tried to attach the trawl beam, ground rope and netting, they were just too delicate.  I initially went for styrene rod just out of shear habit formed by years of plastic modelling, but styrene is not adequate for wooden model boat building it seems, well nothing like this anyway.

 

I had considered buying some square section metal, but my Dad suggested just hammering some copper wire into shape, so this evening in an attempt to save a few pennies I set off to try that, using some old earthing wire I happen to have in the garage.  It was actually easier to shape than I imagined by using a hammer on the top of a vice head and being soft wire it bent around the same timber former that I had used for the styrene versions.  Next I pinned the loosely formed wire into shape and soldered, followed by a spell of filing flat and cleaning up.  A couple of other details added were the trawl beam socket; again formed from the same shaped wire and the shackle eye-bolt, for this I file a slot into the wire then used a rigging eye bolt and soldered that into place.

 

A case of one step forward, no - that is one step backwards, then one step forward again, but at least I tried something new in the process!

Edited April 26, 2022 by AJohnson

[HardeeHarHar]

That is great work Andrew, and resourceful!!  😃

[AJohnson]

My rigging avoidance tactics are coming on a treat and the trawl beam and heads are now assembled and I have attached a ground rope, complete with chain "ticklers" and bridles; including the smaller Dandy bridle used to help bring the aft trawl head alongside.

 

I have tried out the position of the trawl beam/head assembly on the model to see how it would be stowed.  According to Edgar Marsh the forward trawl head was lashed securely in between the middle and aft shrouds and the aft end chained at the stern where aft head overhung the taffrail, to avoid the whole rig falling inboard in rough weather, which from the size/weight of it would have been a serious problem! 

 

Next up I'm trying out some netting for the actual trawl, I hadn't realised for some reason just how big this was going to be! 😲  The trawl beams according to Marsh were anywhere from 20 to 50 ft long; depending on the individual trawler.  "Nisha" was 'middling' size wise, so using the distance from shrouds to just past the stern gave me a scale 38 ft beam, which seems okay.  Again according to Marsh the actual nett was twice the beam length, so at 1/64 scale it will be just over 1ft / 300mm long!  I think therefore I am going to display it rolled up under the beam!  😆

 

Thanks for the likes and comments.  😁

[Andyrew]

Really neat work Andrew, the lengths some people go to to avoid rigging 😉.

[DB789]

Andrew, 

 

Your Nisha is looking superb.
 

I really like the contrast you have between the black inner bulwark and the wooden timberheads. I’m not there yet on my Nisha, but please could I ask how you achieved this?

 

If I paint the inner bulwark black then I can’t see the markings that show where to place the timberheads. 
 

On post #50 where you are priming the hull it looks like the timber heads are in place before painting. Did you temporarily install timber heads for painting and then replace them later with unpainted versions? 

 

Many thanks

 

Dan

 

[Craigie65]

I’m sure Andrew will respond, but my guess is styrene strips or spare square stock were added before spraying and removed when ready for the kit timberheads.

[AJohnson]

Hi Dan, thank you for your comments. As for the bulwark stanchions, the positions where they were to be glued after painting were protected by strips of masking tape and then peeled off. (The thicker lining style masking tape) That way there was a ‘wood  - to - wood’ contact surface for them (as we know paint and glue are not good friends). 
 

I did find that after priming and painting the position marks were still visible on the inner bulwarks, so no need to worry about them disappearing unless you put loads of thick paint on. 

Edited May 8, 2022 by AJohnson

[Craigie65]

Hi Andrew,

So thick that it really looked like the timberheads!

[DB789]

Andrew,

Thank you very much. I’ll try that on my Nisha too. 

Dan

[AJohnson]

Ahem, well, apologies whilst I blow the dust and cobwebs off this build log! 😂

 

I have been successfully 'prevaricating about the bush' with this build for a good six months now, so high time I strapped back in and did some more before the calendar changes!

 

One of the things that has been bothering me since I decided to add a trawl beam is that I had already glued down a load of fish in creates and crew members, well I've bitten the bullet and decided to move them, to make way for the trawl beam and netting.  This has left some marks on the deck, but these will be covered by the stowed fishing net and beam - see the mock up of the positioning where I'm holding the beam in place.  I have also, whilst relocating the crew, realised I have been neglecting their "Elf" and Safety and so made amends with the addition of a life ring attached to the companionway.

 

Next up I think need to finish the net and just see how it behaves when I try and scrunch it up into the space available, my gut is telling me there might be too much material for it to look 'right' at scale, so I may need to modify it - we shall see! 🤔

 

Other tasks to do, finish the sails with addition of bolt ropes and the boom, then it is time for rigging I believe. 😬  I Think I need to do the standing rigging first in order to be able to lash the forward end of the trawl beam.  Still feeling my way back into this one, so other items may also crop up I have forgotten about...

[chris watton]

That looks great!

[Blue Ensign]

Nice job Andrew, the fishing boat range from Vanguard does provide the opportunity for 'dressing' the  boat and yours looks excellent.

There's a great pleasure to be had from building  these kits,  I loved doing  Fifie and Zulu.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

[AJohnson]

On 12/31/2022 at 4:38 PM, Blue Ensign said:

Nice job Andrew, the fishing boat range from Vanguard does provide the opportunity for 'dressing' the  boat and yours looks excellent.

There's a great pleasure to be had from building  these kits,  I loved doing  Fifie and Zulu.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

Thanks B.E.  “Nisha” is my first Vanguard kit, a world away from the Caldercraft ones I have built prior to this. I think the fact the “kit building” part of these go as smoothly as they do, means the modelling “effort” can be put into any creative elements you wish to add yourself.   A double edged sword, as if I’d just built it “out of the box” it would have been finished months ago! 🤣.
The effort in learning my way around Edgar J. March’s books (I love looking through musty old books and doing a bit of research) finding details I want to add, easily outweighs the actual “kit” work, a testament to Chris’s design, the way good kits should be. The newcomer and the more seasoned amongst us can derive equal pleasure from building them.  👍

Edited January 2, 2023 by AJohnson

[HardeeHarHar]

Well ahoy and happy New Year Andrew, it sure is good to see your hard work paying off on the Nisha again.  Your life ring is much appreciated by the crew I bet.  In all fairness though, I think you need a little one for the dog too ;-).  I am excited to see how this all comes together, as it is definitely going to tell a story (a fish tale) with all the modeling extra's you have added to the build.

Edited January 3, 2023 by HardeeHarHar

[AJohnson]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:13 PM, HardeeHarHar said:

Well ahoy and happy New Year Andrew, it sure is good to see your hard work paying off on the Nisha again.  Your life ring is much appreciated by the crew I bet.  In all fairness though, I think you need a little one for the dog too ;-).  I am excited to see how this all comes together, as it is definitely going to tell a story (a fish tale) with all the modeling extra's you have added to the build.

Happy New Year to you Brian and thank you, I had forgot about the Mutt! - maybe a good old cork life vest for him... 🤔 😂

[AJohnson]

Making steady progress on the fishing net now, though only in short sessions, as Covid is still giving me a kicking on and off.

 

Using Edgar J March as a reference for dimensions and detail, I'm using some camo netting as a base, this was originally black, so I sprayed it a rusty brown, to tone it down. 

 

For those of you who know how to sew, or enjoy seeing that fine craft in practice, may I advise to to skip along to the next "unread thread" in your feed! 🤣  My efforts at making a net leave much to be desired and I think whole catches of my notorious "Cocktail stick" fish would have no trouble in eluding this trap.  My only consolation is that it is going to be rolled up on deck, so most of it will be hidden.  🎣

 

I've to sew up one side still and then decide if I'm to add all the external details like rubbing pieces or the inner bag and flappers, what's on my mind is that the mesh is quite 'springy' and it might not compress properly and look anything like 'scale'.  Might just try the net as is and see how it looks.

 

Thanks all for looking in and the comments and likes. 😁

Edited January 4, 2023 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

Net completed and installed today.  I decided against adding any of the interior details; like the pocket and flappers in the Bating and exterior rubbing pieces on the bottom of the net, as one, you wouldn't see them and two, the net was already quite bulky and difficult to compress in order to stow it on the side of the trawler, But I did add the end Cod and codline (which I then had to cut off in order to roll up the net, oh well at least these pictures proved I tried! 😂)

 

Compression of the net was achieved with a few interior stitches to pull it all together, the hardest part was getting the various lines to lie correctly, so they looked to have some 'weight' in them.  This involved a fair bit of soaking and dilute PVA and dots of C-A.

 

I did toy with the idea of showing the warp attached to the bridle ropes, but after a few dry runs I decided against, mostly for lack of space and the little deck already looks very crowded.  So I have added the coiled Bridle ropes (2x main bridles and Dandy bridle) and not coiled them up too neatly; many of the pictures in Edgar J March show the rope coils on trawler decks and they are more "workman-like" than "military" in look.  Also it would have meant taking up the main hatch to show the warp going down into the hold and I couldn't face risking popping that off and making a mess of it!  So my narrative for the scene on deck is that the trawl beam and net have been made fast, the warp stowed down in the hold, so the crew can race back to port to sell their precious cargo of "Cocktail stick" fish.  Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I will however add a bow roller on the port side of the stem to hint at how the trawl gear all worked.  I did add rows of holes in the rail to show where the "Thole pin" could be located and stained the holes to show a bit of 'wear and tear'.  I may yet add a few more marks on the deck for the same reason, but don't want to over do it at this scale.

 

Overall I’m pleased I added the trawl net/beam to add a little sense of "Nisha" being at work.  Also just shows the scale of the gear and how obviously dangerous it would be trying to handle that lot in anything more than a gentle swell! 😨

Edited January 8, 2023 by AJohnson

[Craigie65]

Wow Andrew, this is brilliant You have taken the kit to a whole new level!

 

[HardeeHarHar]

That looks great!!!!!  Really shows what a  tough job that must have been…

 

[AJohnson]

@Craigie65 & @HardeeHarHar thank you very much for your kind words and encouragement! 😁

 

Update tonight, the standing rigging is done!  Didn't take as long as I expected, though I always find rigging daunting and a bit fiddly with my fingers and thumbs!  I can see the attraction of "Admiralty Models" with no mast and rigging 😂  but don't think I could personally be happy with stump masts on a model, just me, I know others like them and the larger models/scales mean it is the only option unless you live in a Mansion.

 

Things to finish next are the sails, some of the tissue panels need some attention before I attached the threads/blocks and try to add to the model and bend into shape.

 

Final additions to the model I will make are navigation light boards on the shrouds and the bow roller already mentioned, think these will be the final parts of the build before running rigging.

 

Thanks gain all for following along and the likes/comments, much appreciated. 

 

 

[Craigie65]

Really coming to life now. Can’t wait to see the sails set.

[HardeeHarHar]

Love it!!  Great work my good man, great work indeed!

[Rik Thistle]

Andrew,

" ... though I always find rigging daunting and a bit fiddly with my fingers and thumbs! I can see the attraction of "Admiralty Models" with no mast and rigging 😂 but don't think I could personally be happy with stump masts on a model, just me, I know others like them and the larger models/scales mean it is the only option unless you live in a Mansion."

 

Good paragraph...sums up my current thoughts on the matter that I need to address. I'm currently staring at an unfinished Flirt (...got to the beginning of the rigging stage and ground to a halt). Maybe I need to ease myself in with a Nisha.

 

When I first saw an 'unfinished' model ship with stump masts I thought 'why?', but now I'm beginning to understand the beauty (and relative compactness) of them.

 

The detailing on your Nisha is excellent....well done. Like you, I bought Chris' model figures (for my Fifie) and had a go at painting them - they look OK from a distance.

 

The original 3D printed detail on them is fantastic -  I had not appreciated that 3D design/printing could get that good. And then there are the pics of the fully painted models on Chris' web site...stunning...I'd love to see a tutorial of how Chris' friend did that (hint 😉 ) .

 

Anyway, very good stuff by you.

 

Richard

[HardeeHarHar]

Hey Andrew, pray tell us how you went about doing your rat lines.  Having never done one, and about to do many, I could use all the help I can get!!!

[AJohnson]

50 minutes ago, HardeeHarHar said:

Hey Andrew, pray tell us how you went about doing your rat lines.  Having never done one, and about to do many, I could use all the help I can get!!!

Hey Brian, that might not be the best way of learning from me!  😆 The number you have to do on your fine Granado means you will be a pro by the end.! 😉

 

I have trawled through and these are good discussions below, there is some discussion about pre-soaking in PVA and use of C-A, but I have not tried that.  Also some use little timber clamps on the shrouds to keep things in shape, (see last link for that).

 

If you look closely at my pictures (please don't for too long the naff rigging becomes glaring! 😁) but the one area I had issues with was keeping just enough tension in the ratline to avoid pulling together the shrouds, but not too much so as the ratline could kink up or sideways, a droop down a bit is fine, but as you will see if you look closely I have some 'gravity defying' ratlines! 🙄)

 

The only glimmer of hope I can give is that you do get into a kind of "flow" doing the hitches if you can set aside a reasonable spell to do a few at once.  (Guess it's a muscle memory kind of thing.) 

 

Looking forward to seeing the day you become a Ratline Ninja Brian! 😎

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

3 hours ago, Rik Thistle said:

Andrew,

" ... though I always find rigging daunting and a bit fiddly with my fingers and thumbs! I can see the attraction of "Admiralty Models" with no mast and rigging 😂 but don't think I could personally be happy with stump masts on a model, just me, I know others like them and the larger models/scales mean it is the only option unless you live in a Mansion."

 

Good paragraph...sums up my current thoughts on the matter that I need to address. I'm currently staring at an unfinished Flirt (...got to the beginning of the rigging stage and ground to a halt). Maybe I need to ease myself in with a Nisha.

 

When I first saw an 'unfinished' model ship with stump masts I thought 'why?', but now I'm beginning to understand the beauty (and relative compactness) of them.

 

The detailing on your Nisha is excellent....well done. Like you, I bought Chris' model figures (for my Fifie) and had a go at painting them - they look OK from a distance.

 

The original 3D printed detail on them is fantastic -  I had not appreciated that 3D design/printing could get that good. And then there are the pics of the fully painted models on Chris' web site...stunning...I'd love to see a tutorial of how Chris' friend did that (hint 😉 ) .

 

Anyway, very good stuff by you.

 

Richard

Hi Richard,

 

Many thanks for your kind words, I've spotted your "Flirt" build and will follow to see how your rigging gets on, lovely build so far.  Think rigging is one of those daunting areas, that you just have push yourself into and it gets better with repetition.  I think half our collective problems are that we can often have years between builds needing rigging and we forget how to do it! (Well I do anyway! 🤣)

 

Yes Chris's figures are marvels of modern 3D printing, so much better than white metal casting, hopefully Chris will add more figures as and when his development schedule allows, is is already a fine selection.

[Craigie65]

I find the ratlines pretty straight forward.  The clove hitch will be your new friend.  The tricky devils are the shrouds. I always have a fight getting the deadeye spacing right.  I have used various jigs to get the spacing right but it is still a trial. 

Once my ratlines are on I check the spacing before using diluted PVA to lock them in place and trimming the ends.