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

[AJohnson]

Hello all,

 

This is the start of a new build log for me and my first kit from Vanguard models, I won't go into the background of the vessel as @James H has already done that here only recently:-  

 

But as this is my first Vanguard kit, I thought I would post up a few pictures for the box opening ceremony and my initial thoughts.  First the kit came well protected, the "Finished" box was inside a stiff brown cardboard box and that was itself was inside the courier box, so well protected for transport 👍 A smallish box but stuffed to the lid with goodies; firstly the weighty "tome" of the building manual, 58 pages, many of which you will see from James's prototype build log and you can download that from the website. Then there was a pack of 10 "Plan sheets", clearly printed and in what initially seems a clear order from parts call out to hull build then masts, rigging and sail plans.  A few sample pictures of those, not forgetting the nice touch of the coaster to rest my tea on! 😀

 

Next up the wood parts...

Edited February 15, 2023 by AJohnson

[Jim Lad]

That looks a nice choice of kit, Andrew.

 

John

[chris watton]

Damn, you have an Erycina coaster, it should be Nisha.

 

My wife is fired....

[AJohnson]

Next a few pictures of the wooden parts:

I've not used a laser etched deck before, so that will be interesting, but before I do anything to it, it does look better than any planking I could do! 😆

Oh and the smell of wood and the char from the laser cutting is lovely coming out of the box.  All parts seem clean and well defined, only one coming loose when I first handled then, but the connection tabs seems clear and think will cut easily with a sharp craft knife.

Edited December 7, 2021 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

5 minutes ago, chris watton said:

Damn, you have an Erycina coaster, it should be Nisha.

 

My wife is fired....

Not to worry, the Admiral is impressed and I think the Erycina may well be on the cards, where Nisha eventually goes there is room for two..... 😁

Edited December 7, 2021 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

Final group of shots for now, PE sheet, good selection of threads, blocks, moulded (3D printed?) parts, metal parts and finally decals.  All parts ticked off, time to use my coaster make a cuppa and take my time reading the instructions through.  Trying hard to resist the temptation to dive in and ruin something (as usual..) 🙄

Initial impressions are well, just wow, for the money I think this will provide hours and hours of fun.  This is stated as a beginners/intermediate kit; where I think I fall (experienced in plastic and more beginner/intermediate in wood) and I feel comfortable with what I see so far and with MSW to hand, think I should really enjoy the little "Nisha" as a change from larger projects; or it could turn into an excuse to put those on the shelf again!  🤫

[AJohnson]

15 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

That looks a nice choice of kit, Andrew.

 

John

Yes, it looks (and smells) good 😁

[Oboship]

Oh yeah! I know that fine wooden smell from my other two VM kits!

My Nisha kit is with the Customs waiting for clearance... (Can't wait to open the box)

Uwe

[BobG]

I'll be following along closely, Andrew, this handsome, little model is on my radar. I'm so glad that Chris is diversifying his line of models to include working vessels and I hope he will continue to do so. Good luck!

Edited December 7, 2021 by BobG

[James H]

Looking forward to seeing you work on this lovely little boat 😃

[Craigie65]

I am pulling up the proverbial chair.

Ordered both Erycina and Nisha, should have been here today, but UPS changed its mind and the kits are back at the depot 😡

 

mind you I am not allowed to start them anyway - Santa will be holding them until the 25th.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Craigie65

[AJohnson]

4 minutes ago, Craigie65 said:

I am pulling up the proverbial chair.

Ordered both Erycina and Nissan, should have been here today, but UPS changed its mind and the kits are back at the depot 😡

 

mind you I am not allowed to start them anyway - Santa will be holding them until the 25th.

Hopefully they will be with you tomorrow Craig, my Nisha arrived a day early compared to the UPS email/tracking, but fortunately someone was in to take it, otherwise I would have been in the same boat (without one.... 😟)

[Craigie65]

Andrew,

luckily (?) I am working from home so will be here all week as they say.

 

PS Obviously I am not waiting on a car, autocorrect 🤔. 
 

[AJohnson]

And we are off!

 

Done a few of the initial stages, approx steps 1 to 16 in the instructions.  Easy to follow and no fit problems at all, some of the bulkheads just slipped into place and some just need a light squeeze to get to sit snuggly.  Sanded the leading and trailing bulkheads using the marker lines as a guide on the bulkheads that needed it used my Dremel and my mask as this was a dusty operation.

Will leave it there for tonight, had my Covid booster yesterday and starting to feel the effects a bit. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by AJohnson

[Jim Lad]

A good start, Andrew.

 

John

[Andyrew]

My Nisha has now arrived so I'll be following your build, you've made a good start.

[CaptnBirdseye]

Typical Vanguard kit.... well packaged, well documented and well thought out build process with quality parts to boot! Win-Win 

Following with interest 👍

[AJohnson]

Another little update on the build so far.

 

Thanks all for your likes and follows & @Jim Lad & @Andyrew  @RockinBudgie for your encouragement.

 

I've continued from  yesterday by adding the bow and stern reinforcement parts (17 & 18) and midship reinforcement parts (4 & 7) that hold the lower deck in place.  I did glue my "Lucky penny" near the mast hole, couldn't put it under it like the Victory as that might have caused an issue with seating the mast; for those of you thinking "What?" then this link might help explain why I did that... (coin from the year of my daughter's birth, as this little one is her's apparently - she likes the red sails! 😆)

There are two longitudinal parts (20, that sit flush with the top of the bulkheads, all I can say here is that they don't like being forced into place!  - Anyway glue is your friend! 🤐 🙄

Putting the 0.8mm ply deck in also needs a bit of care, I followed the instruction and dropped into the bulkheads slots on one side, but obviously didn't "flex" the deck enough to let in into place and a couple of the mdf bulkheads flexed a bit too much as I ham-fistedly shoved the deck down!  Luckily these get removed later on in the build... Phew.

 

Thanks for looking in, few more progress pics below...

Edited December 9, 2021 by AJohnson

[BobG]

11 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Putting the 0.8mm ply deck in also needs a bit of care, I followed the instruction and dropped into the bulkheads slots on one side, but obviously didn't "flex" the deck enough to let in into place and a couple of the mdf bulkheads flexed a bit too much as I ham-fistedly shoved the deck down!  Luckily these get removed later on in the build... Phew.

 

Flexing the deck like that would have made me nervous. Sounds like it is a very tight fit.

[AJohnson]

Just now, BobG said:

Flexing the deck like that would have made me nervous. Sounds like it is a very tight fit.

It is a tight fit, but I was a bit nervous of bending the ply too much, think I should have tested it a bit first before committing to pushing the deck down, no going back once it is in I think, there are little slots on each bulkhead that hold it in place.  Must say once together the whole sub-assembly is really well held together, glue hardly needed.

[Craigie65]

You are flying along Andrew.  At this rate it will be finished before Christmas. My kits arrived yesterday and Mrs M immediately hid them for Christmas🎅

Looking forward to seeing how straight forward the planking is.

 

Your daughter has it right - everyone knows red ones are faster!

[Craigie65]

What brand of glue are you using?  I usually buy veloset from a hobby shop in Edinburgh, but wonder if a commercial brand would be better value.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Craigie65

[chris watton]

Don't worry about bending the ply, it is good quality, it can take it. These kits (Nisha and Erycina) have the bulkhead tabs rounded and tapered to help push the ply down in place, it really shouldn't be an issue.

[AJohnson]

2 hours ago, Craigie65 said:

What brand of glue are you using?  I usually buy veloset from a hobby shop in Edinburgh, but wonder if a commercial brand would be better value.

I must admit I just use trade wood glues, as I assume if joiners are happy to put furniture and the like together with it, then it should be more than adequate for a wooden model.  I think I have a 1 Litre tube on the go at the moment from "Ever-build" but I also have some tubes of "Titebond" on the go.  I did get some "model" PVA glues once, but the price/Litre is way more than trade for what I am sure is the same stuff.

Edited December 10, 2021 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

13 hours ago, chris watton said:

Don't worry about bending the ply, it is good quality, it can take it. These kits (Nisha and Erycina) have the bulkhead tabs rounded and tapered to help push the ply down in place, it really shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks Chris, yes a bit more bending was probably in order, but once a few slots had clicked into place I sort of panicked a bit and kept pushing the false deck home.  All good in the end and the tabs come off later, so good tip folks - bend that false deck!

See what happens when you release your precious kits into the world! - They are fine when gently caressed by you and James, but out in the wild, rough B@G&*ers like me start abusing them... 🤣

Edited December 10, 2021 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

Progress so far on building up the hull ready for planking.  So far I am up to stage 51 in the instructions, spent a fair amount of effort in sanding the bulkheads so that the first layer of planking will sit okay, running a plank up and down the bulkheads to make sure there were no areas that didn't sit right.  There is a bit more to do yet in one or two spots, but happy with progress on at least this bit.

 

Then attached the keel and stem patterns and stern post, there was a little opening of some of the bulkhead slots to do to get these in, but no really issues here.

 

But then I tackled step 51 in the instructions and I've bust the kit again! 😖 In my defence I followed the instructions and soaked the stern counter pattern in hot water for half an hour then clamped it into position and left it overnight.  I came back in the morning to the scene in the penultimate picture... oh dear.  ☹️  So I've checked the alignment and just glued my new two-piece stern counter in place!  Think it should be okay with a bit of sanding once dry, I will let you know when you tune into the next instalment of the good ship "Calamity" - "Nisha"! 😨

 

 

[Craigie65]

Oh no!  Good recovery - no one will notice 🤫

But seriously once you put part 38 in place it will cover up this area.

The instructions have a lot more clamps on this piece.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Craigie65

[AJohnson]

Thanks Craig, yes I:m hoping it will be okay once the covering part goes over it. Just need to make sure the underlying profile is correct with a bit of sanding.  Onwards and upwards, 👍

[Andyrew]

You are flying through this Andrew. It's a shame the Stern piece split but at least it's covered up later on. It will be something to watch out for when I start my build I start my build in the next week or so.

[AJohnson]

24 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

You are flying through this Andrew. It's a shame the Stern piece split but at least it's covered up later on. It will be something to watch out for when I start my build I start my build in the next week or so.

Thanks Andy, I will look out for your log when you start.  I think what might have happened was one of the clips slipped, putting a strain across the counter pattern, which as it was soft from soaking, slowly split during the night.  I have just checked it this morning and all is fixed now, all I need to do is a bit of sanding and delete a few posts on this log and no one will know! 😆