Erycina 1882 by niwotwill - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - scale 1/64 - Plymouth Fishing Trawler

[niwotwill]

Tomorrow starts the rigging. First the standing rigging shrouds and ratlines and then on to the stays. Today I finished the mizzen sail to the gaff and mast. The masts were mounted using the supplied holes in the deck and false. The main mast has an alignment hole in the lower deck for perfect alignment. The mast coats glued in place and these are for visual effect only.

This is a view of the main mast and coat.

 

I Think the mast coat should have been darker, but oh well!

This the Erycina as she stands in the sunlight.

 

Closer view of the main mast and sail

 

Closer view of mizzen mast and sail

 

And as mentioned tomorrow on the the standing rigging and getting close to finish.

 

Regards

Will

 

[BobG]

Very nice, Will! I feel like the rigging brings the model to life.

 

I'll be very interested to see how you rig the topsail. I'm building the Pen Duick and I can't figure out the rigging for the  gaff topsail from the vague instructions.

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

She's really coming together nicely Will, looking forward to see the rigging going on, I can't quite see from the picture, but how did you tie the sails to the mast hoops?  - They look neatly done.

[niwotwill]

Thanks for the kind remarks Andrew. As too tying the sails I spoke with JamesH (the prototype builder for Chris) about how he did the sails. First to note is the bolt rope is sewn onto the sail and therefore loose. Meaning it can be pulled out of the sewing loops. What JamesH suggested is make a hole directly adjacent to the bolt rope with just a few sail threads from the edge. I then tied a length rope through the hole with a simple half hitch. I seal my knots with medium CA. The trick I use is to get a very small amount of CA on the exiting threads of the knot and it wicks into the knot body. How I do this is to take a 1" long push pin with plastic ball and insert it into the CA bottle tip with he CA in the bottle neck. When the pin is extracted it wipes the pin leaving the slightest CA coating. Lay the pin on the thread and it wicks into the knot without adhering to the knotted item.

Attaching the sail to the hoops was with the loose ends from the sail using a clove hitch. Using the clove hitch doesn't seem to make a knot bump (technical talk) and is sealed again the the pin and CA method. Oh yeh! but you probably already know this the drawings are not scale so I use them as a pattern not actual locations for the holes. Measured the sail divided by the spaces and marked accordingly.

 

Hope this helps

Regards

Will

[niwotwill]

Many thanks to everyone for the looks, thanks, and kind words. These keep me motivated to complete Erycina as getting close is always hard for me to finish rather than say its good enough. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL

Bob

Erycinas'  main top sail is only seized to the end of the gaff with a halyard through a sieve in the topmast and a downhaul through a single block to the deck. 

Below photo is from the Erycina drawings belonging to Vanguard Models

 

Hope this helps

Regards 

Will

 

 

[BobG]

Thanks very much, Will! This is very helpful.

 

I'm interested to see the rigging of the gaff when you get to it also. I actually like doing the rigging but it helps to clearly understand where the all the lines go and how they are secured to the masts and the deck. The Vanguard plans are so clear compared to many other model kits where the drawings are so hard to decipher. 

[niwotwill]

alized that I needed to blacken the coming parts i.e. belaying pins, hooks, etc. so I blackened them all. After that I'm ready for the shrouds but needed to make a simple jig keeping the deadeyes aligned.

Got some scrape boxwood out of the waste box and drilled 4 .021 holes matching the holes in the deadeyes. Pushed income pins for alignment using the top two and bottom two on the deadeye. I've used these on other rigging and they hold the deadeyes while seizing to the shroud keeping everything taught. Out of time today and I'd hoped to get the shrouds on today but on to them tomorrow.

 

Regards

Will

 

 

 

[niwotwill]

I have kept to Chris Wattons' design of the model and now reaching the rigging wondering which way to go. Reading "Sailing Trawlers" by Edgar J. March it appears that the standing rigging differs in detail from the model plans. Understanding Chris's desire to keep the model in the moderate to build catagory while maintaining visual accuracy was the desire. March's writings and drawings show the same basic configuration but with a more accurate as built configuration with the shrouds served and the forestay routing. I'd like to hear some opinions and/or suggestions on the matter of which way to go.

 

Regards

Will

[AJohnson]

Morning Will,

 

Firstly from reading your reply to my 'Nisha' build log I see you have had Covid!  I hope you are well on the road to recovery with no side effects; my son had had it and still can't smell/taste properly yet.  So look after yourself and take it easy.

 

Regarding your rigging, did you make a start before you caught covid?  I have not served any rigging on a model before, so that is not something I can advise, like you I am mulling over if I can 'add' anything to the rigging based on March's drawings, but not sure if I will yet.

[niwotwill]

Feeling better and able to spend some hours working on Erycina but truly I had to read my log to remember where I had been doing before covid. I spent some time making sure the pins are snug enough to stay in place while inserting into the lower deadeyes. Once the jig was completed started hanging shrouds. As I've stated I'm leaving the kit as designed, no kit bashing this time. You will see that the shrouds have not been served and I'm using furnished line instead of making my own even though the kit line is not up to ropewalk rope. I threaded all the deadeyes leaving the lines loose until all shrouds were completed. Next the deadeyes were evened while tightening the shrouds.

First starboard shroud

 

First port shroud

 

Starboard main and mizzen

 

Port main and mizzen shrouds

 

All deadeye snugged up but still loose for future adjustment if necessary. Next was the topmast shrouds following the same procedure but with a wire formed to keep the bullseyes at a uniform distance. I finished the day with the main stay. I know I said i was not going to kit bash but the main stay to an eye on top of the stem was too much. Following the "Master Hand" drawings in Sailing Trawlers I want to rig my fore stay as done on Master Hand. Problem was I had already made the stem and bulwarks so I had to modify my approach Master Hand forestay came down to the stem through hole and exiting inboard to be bent to the gypsy winch. Unable to drill the exit hole a hole was drilled through the stem and a groove made along the front of the stem for the line; 

 You can see the groove and line entering the through hole

 

Pulling the forestay tight required a method of using 3mm closed hearts from "Syren Models". Once lashed to the forestay and winch end they were lashed pulling the forestay tight.

 

Thats enough for today maybe tomorrow I can get the ratlines.

 

Will

 

[niwotwill]

Finally got back into the shop on the Erycina. With the shrouds and forestay done it was time for ratlines. On another model I borrowed a neat little tool for ratline spacing. Take a thin piece of wood long enough to cover all the shrouds with a width the same at the ratline spacing.  Glue sandpaper to the wood (I used 320grit) place one piece behind and another in front clipping them together. (I use alligator clips). Tie the lines and slide the knot down to the spacer wood.

Wood with sandpaper. I use glue sticks for glueing the sandpaper also works for patterns much better than rubber cement.

spacers placed

spacers clipped (I remembered to describe this method afterthe ratlines were done but not shaped)

 

Time to lift sails and running rigging. This was fairly straight forward and there's not much to show.

Added the parrel rope to main gaff and rigged per drawing.

 

Lashed the sail to the boom and routed the boom sheets to the block.

 

Tied the topsail to the topmast added the halyard, down haul and tied the gaff.

Mizzen sail like the main sail with the exception of tie off points. The foresail and jib were very straight forward with little explanation.

 

One last set pictures of the basically completed Erycina.

 

Need to make hanging ropes at the tie off points and one last thing forming the sails. Using a box fan set the sails in a tight starboard run but I haven't decided how to keep them in shape. Thoughts are use dead flat water based variphane thinned and sprayed with an airbrush. Just thinking.

 

Will

[AJohnson]

That looks fantastic Will!  👏 the sails really bring the model to life. I’m also considering how to make the sails ‘look’ wind filled, I am watching with interest how you get along. 

[niwotwill]

Finished, Finished, Finished

 

The last thing to do was the final shaping of the sails simulating a starboard tack hard to the wind.

 

 

To achieve the final sail shape required many tests of different material. First I tried to spray on diluted white glue but as it dried the sample started to curl and when completely dry became almost cylindrical. Next was a flat gloss varifane sprayed with the same results as the glue. Next was clear lacquer sprayed with the air brush to keep down the overspray. When it dried it became very stiff and fragile but held the shape as I wanted. During reading about lacquer I had read that it has a tendency to yellow with age so with the being fragile and yellowing that was a no go. Lastly on a lark I tried plain old aerosol hair spray and voila. I covered the decks and using a 16" box fan on lowest setting about 4' from the model I sprayed one coat on the sails. The sails became dark with wet spray which took an hour to dry to the original color.

 

A series of photos of the completed Erycina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well she's finished and makes a beautiful display model with colored sails and red and green paint. I want to thank everyone who followed along the path and especially all those who helped with much appreciated help.

 

Many Regards

Will

 

[AJohnson]

Fantastic Will! What a little beauty she has turned out to be!  Well done, the shaping of the sails has really worked out well 👏

[chris watton]

Superb job, very well done! I do love that hull shape...

[Craigie65]

Beautiful!  You have set a high bar for others to reach.

[ccoyle]

Great result -- congratulations!

[James H]

Wonderful stuff, and I like the breeze effect on those sails 👍