Nisha by Andyrew - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - Scale 1:64 - a Brixham "Mumble Bee"

[Andyrew]

I ordered this when it was released and it arrived a few days later. The box and it's contents are all top quality and I decided to start building straight away. I was in Kent in the south of England at my Parents for Christmas and took this with me so I am further ahead with the build so it will be catch up. I'll do a "what's in the box" because I like to see what you get rather than having to search through other build threads to see the contents.

 

There are also numerous turned Brass, 3D printer and Resin parts as well.

[ccoyle]

Good luck on your project, Andrew. I noticed you are from Moira -- some of my ancestors were from up the road in Ballymena, though we have been comfortably ensconced on the this side of the pond for seven generations now.

[Andyrew]

10 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Good luck on your project, Andrew. I noticed you are from Moira -- some of my ancestors were from up the road in Ballymena, though we have been comfortably ensconced on the this side of the pond for seven generations now.

Thanks Chris, I was born and grew up near Chatham in Kent where HMS Victory was built. My wife is from here and Irish women won't leave their Mothers so I have been here about 25 years. I know Ballymena well but it's probably changed a fair bit since your family members left.

The first step is to construct the stand that is used to support the Hull whilst Nisha is being built. It was cut from the 2mm MDF sheet and the edges were smoothed down. The 4 pieces slotted together nicely and no glue was needed to hold them due to a tight fit on all the joins.

 

 

The Bulkheads were then removed from the 3mm MDF sheet and I filed the bevels on the Bulkheads using a small half round Perma Grit file. The bevel lines are marked on the Bulkheads and I find it easier to use a file rather than a rotary tool.

 

 

Once this was done the Bulkheads were fitted to the Keel, again they were a tight fit in fact a couple of Bulkheads needed a little bit of filing to get them to fit.

 

 

One thing I noticed is that the whole assembly is quite flexable at the moment so I needed to be careful with it. The lower "Deck" was then dropped into place and this helped to remove some of the flexing of the Keel. Everything is still only dry fitted so far.

 

 

Cheers Andy

[Andyrew]

The plank edge patterns needed pre-bevelling and once that was done I glued them to the Keel, the first use of glue in this build so far.

 

Bulkheads 4 and 7 need some extra pieces fitting to them to help clamp the lower Deck in place. A central part is held in place by a clamp glued either side and 2 locating pins. This all fitted together really well like everything else so far.

 

2 longitudinal Braces were next to be fitted, these dropped into place easily and were left dry fitted, these strengthen the whole structure.

 

I was really careful cutting out the 6 Stern Frames, these look fragile and I didn't want to break any of them, they were dry fitted and again they slotted into place easily. 

 

Finally for this update I fitted the false Deck, this clicks into place on each Bulkhead, it feels like it is too big to fit, but a little bit of pressure and it's locked in place. I then painted diluted wood glue onto all the joints and left it overnight to dry.

Cheers Andy

[James H]

That really is coming together really well. 

 

The deck is quite a perfect fit when located into the slot at each bulkhead ear. Sounds like you handled that nicely.

[AJohnson]

Nice to see another "Nisha" up and running,  good start! 

[Andyrew]

I soaked the Stern Counter in hot water for about 30 minutes and then clamped it onto the Stern and then left it to dry overnight. Fortunately it didn't split unlike @AJohnson's who is a few steps ahead of me and is enabling me to notice any possible problems I might encounter, thanks Andrew. Once dry the Stern Counter was glued in place and left well alone for sometime. I may have made a slight Yogi Bear's little mate (Boo-Boo) when fitting this part but I'll see later on.

 

 

Anyway moving on I next fitted to Keel and Stem pieces, these are a great fit and once the glue had set I further faired the Bulkheads and sanded off the laser char from the Stem.

 

 

Before fitting the bulwarks I drew a line on the Stem where the Rabbet pieces are fitted, this will help me position the plank ends when the first planking starts. The Bulwarks were dry fitted and I made a few small adjustments to some Bulkhead tops with a file to get the Bulwarks to sit correctly and remembering not to glue them to the Bulkhead tops I attached the Bulwarks, I had a few problems getting one of them to stick to the Stem area and maybe a little bit of pre-soaking would have helped, but they are in the correct place which is the main thing.

 

 

 

 

There are not too many planks to fit and I found that once I started planking it onlt took a couple of days to do, I admit it's not brilliant but it will be covered up by the second layer and I was trying to get it finished before I had to go back to work after a nice relaxing 2 week break. I painted diluted wood glue onto the Hull to seal any loose plank edges and Nisha will now sit there for a while whilst I do everything I can to avoid sanding down the Hull, sometging I don't enjoy doing.

 

 

Cheers Andy

 

[AJohnson]

Looking good Andy, glad you got that stern counter on without mishap, think I was guilty of not making sure the clamps were not going to move overnight and think one slipped and dragged my counter sideways, which caused the split in the softened wood.

You are making excellent progress and will soon be catching me up!

I see from your penultimate picture you are thinking of doing a bit of "kit bashing" with the fitment of an Ejector Seat?  🤣  Assume this is for when the skipper thinks the weather is getting too rough?  🆘

Good work. 👍

Edited January 10, 2022 by AJohnson

[AJohnson]

Hi Andy, how is your Nisha coming along? a few more Nishas have joined the MSW fleet to keep us company! 👍

[Andyrew]

On 1/10/2022 at 8:17 AM, AJohnson said:

"kit bashing" with the fitment of an Ejector Seat? 

Hi Andrew I am also building a Buchaneer on a different modelling Forum.

It's been a good while since my last posting, my Father passed away on the 19th January, he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimers last year but went downhill very quickly around Christmas time and was admitted to hospital just before New Year. A Post Mortem showed he had a Cancerous Tumour in his Osophagus. We had to wait until the beginning of march for his Funeral and I have now returned from the South of England.

I have made steady progress with Nisha, the Rabbet patterns were fitted using the small pins to ensure they were correctly lined up.

 

Whilst I was doing this I soaked the outer Stern Counter and clamped it to the Hull to dry.

 

Once this was done I started work on the second layer of planking, the top planks are 2 planks wide and cut to shape, I used wood glue to stick this plank in place starting at the Bow and gradually working my way aft, this gave me time to make sure it was in the correct place.

 

I then continued with the rest of the second planking, I found these planks a lot easier to shape and fit than the second planks in the Lady Eleanor kit. I tapered all the planks at the Bow which made them nice and tidy, and I realised that I needed to fit Stealers at the Stern. These weren't too difficult to make and then it was a case of sanding down the Hull to get a good smooth finish.

Cheers Andy

[Andyrew]

I realised at the end of my last posting that I didn't have any pictures of the finished second layer of planking so here you are.

 

When it came to the fitting of the moulding on the Stern Counter it looked a little bit flimsy so I decided to leave the inside cutout in place, soak the whole part in warm water for about 30 minutes and then clamp it to the Stern until the part had dried. Once it was dry I removed the internal cut out and glued the moulding in place. I decided to fit the Rubbing Strakes at this time as well, I filed the front end to fit against the Stem and then worked my way aft glueing a short piece at a time. Once dry the rear end was filed to match the Stern Counter.

Now that the main work on the Hull was complete I removed the tops of the Bulkheads and smoothed down the Deck area ready for the laser cut Deck. I needed to make a few slight adjustments to this Deck to get it to for correctly and as it is quite thin I decided to use Contact Adhesive to stick it down, the surface area was too big to use C.A. glue and I thought that wood glue would cause the Deck to curl up. 

 

It seemed a good idea to make the Rudder now, it's in 3 pieces with 2 thin laser etched parts fitted to a central part. Again these outer pieces are very thin but I went with the advice in the instructions and put wood glue on the thicker inner piece and also I put a few pins through the holes in the Rudder to help line everything up.

 

 

Cheers Andy

[AJohnson]

Hi Andy, sorry to hear of the passing of your Father.

 

Happy to see you back building your "Nisha", very nice planking. 👍

[Andyrew]

On 3/21/2022 at 8:13 AM, AJohnson said:

Happy to see you back building your "Nisha", very nice planking. 👍

Thanks Andrew, I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of planking 🙂

 

[Andyrew]

Now that the Deck has been fitted it was time to fit the Timberheads, these are identified by letters of the alphabet and fit onto the inside of the Bulwarks which is marked. I started with "A" and having removed it from the fret I cleaned off the laser char and then glued it into the correct place. This was then repeated numerous times on both sides of the Bulwarks. 4 of the Timberheads are joined together and these are fitted together and then once the glue has dried the thin wood holding them together was cut away. A cross piece was then fitted to these 4 Timberheads. The tops of the Timberheads and the Bulwark tops are then leveled off and true to form I managed to knock off several Timberheads maybe the choice of using a large Rasp File was a case of using a Sledge Hammer to crack a nut. Once the Timberheads were re-attached and smoothed down carefully, this time, I fitted the Top Rails, I used wood glue and starting at the Stem glued a short bit at a time working to the blunt end. The curved Top Rail across the Stern was then fitted but I had a small part of the Stern that wasn't covered by the Top Rail, fortunately after everything had dried I was able to file down the Stern and it looks fine now.

 

 

As you can see from the above pictures I have also made the Steam Winch, the 2 Hatch covers, and made a start on the Mast. I forgot to take any pictures of the Steam Winch, it built up quite easily and I have painted it red but it looks a bit too bright so I'll have to dull it down a bit. The Hatch frames were glued together and then the cover piece fitted. I then used thread that is supplied to make the rope handles.

 

 

After a lot og thought I have decided to treat myself to an Airbrush, up 'till now I've used paint brushes of Aerosol cans, I've ordered an Airbrush with a built in Compressor that can be charged up with a USB connection, it's going to be a week or so before it arrives so that's why I have made a start on the mast.

Cheers Andy

[AJohnson]

You are making excellent progress Andy 👍

[Andyrew]

Whenever I get a few spare moments I like to start making the various Deck fittings and structures, I treat each item like a seperate little kit. I started with the Ladder, comprising of 2 sides and 6 treads, unfortunately most of it won't be seen so I made sure I took a picture of it. The 2 sides and the top and bottom treads were glued together making sure everything was square or in this case rectangular.

 

Once this had dried I then slid the remaining treads into place and used diluted wood glue applied to the sides to fix them. 

 

Next was the Companionway and before this is assembled you have to make a Jig that will help make the construction of the Companionway a bit easier. The 4 parts of the Jig were glued together and left overnight.

 

I have to say this has been the hardest part of building this boat, the parts are small and in some cases fragile, I must have put enough money in the Swearbox to cover the cost of Chris' next Fishing Boat. The 2 sides are joined by a small cross piece and then this is put onto the Jig and clamped into place. The roof piece then has to be glued and curved over the sides.

I managed to break the 2 thin bits and then couldn't get them glued down properly as you can see in the next picture. 

 

I decided to soak the 2 small pieces that are fitted onto the curved roof that are the rails for the Cover to slid on. They were clamped to the roof and once dry, glued. I did the same with the Companionway top Cover and after I had glued it I then fitted the small handle. I originally fitted the Photoetched Hinges to the 2 front doors, the doors had slots for these Hinges but they weren't big enough for the Hinges to fit, I tried filing down a Hinge but it didn't look right and it was difficult opening up the slots on the doors. I then realised that if I wanted the Doors opened I would need to bend the Hinges in the middle, I tried one and it flew into a different Universe either that or the Carpet Monster has claimed it. In the end I stuck the Doors closed and then fitted the Hinges, fortunately there are a couple of spare ones. The top Hatch is open so you should be able to see the Ladder. I have now painted the Hinges black and fitted the 2 Door handles. I will post some pictures of the Companionway when I remember to take some.

Cheers Andy

[AJohnson]

Don't worry Andy I broke those as well initially, good job there was a spare! 🤐  It s a nice touch that Chris provides spares for the little PE and smallest wood parts.  He must be well aware of the voracious appetite of the "Carpet Monster" 😆 Or our collective incompetence - one of the two anyway! 🤣

 

Good progress again Andy, I hope to get back to my Nisha soon, been off it a bit recently, but have been reading Edgar Marsh's book on trawlers, which is a dangerous thing it keeps pointing out things I could add if my skills allow!

[Andyrew]

As promised in my last posting I have now remembered to take a picture of the completed Campanionway.

I spent some time thinking about what colours to paint the Hull, because the decals are white it means the top part of the Hull above the Rubbing Strake needed to be a dark colour and even though the Boat in the instruction booklet looks nice with the top painted and the Hull down to the Boot Topping bare wood, this is a working boat and would have been painted rather than "bare" wood. I have a spray can of red paint for the lower Hull but it's a bit bright so I decided to spray the whole Hull black and then spray the lower Hull with the red which hopefully because it's going over the top of the black will dull it down a tad. I have done the black and will now leave until the weekend before I mask the top of the Hull and spray the red. I turned my attention to the Mast, the lower Mast had the top part diameter reduced, I used a file and turned the Mast in my hand until I had it near to the diameter and then put it into my electric hand drill and used some sandpaper to finish it off. There are several Photo Etch rings that fit onto the Mast and I found I had to reduce the diameter slightly more than on the plans to get the P.E. to fit. I used my electric drill and sandpaper to taper the top Mast, this also needed to have the diameter reduced more than the plans. I had intially planned to attach the numerous Blocks to the loops and eyebolts that fit to the Masts the correct way, but having spent ages trying to get the first Block done I realised the seizing looked a bit over sized so I ended up tying a double knot.

I bought the ready made Sails for Nisha, I couldn't produce Sails as good as these ones and I decided to dye them the same colour as my Lady Eleanor, red. 

The darker patches on the Sails are some dried dye on the paper that the Sails are on.

Cheers Andy

[Andyrew]

I used my new Airbrush to paint below the waterline but intially had a few problems, I tried Humbrol red Acrylic mixed with Humbrol Acrylic Thinners but just couldn't get a good finish, it was very patchy, probably due to the paint not being too thin to spray. I had some red paint in a spray can so used that but it ran out half way through painting the Hull. I did some more research on the Outnet and decided to try using Tamiya X7 red mixed 50/50 with water and this worked really well.

The waterslide Decals were then added, it just needed some Microset solution to help postition them and they brighten up the Hull nicely.

The Photo Etched Fairleads and Stay Plate were then fitted and the Toprail was brush painted with Tamiya SG Black.

Fitting the Ladder proved to be a bit nerve wrecking, I think I was a little bit over cautious with it, not wanting to lose it inside the Hull, but more of that later.

I decided to make the 3 Winches with one of the support posts fitted to the Deck, that way I could get the correct distance between the posts, I found that the brass rollers needed their width reduced a little bit to get them to fit. All the brass work was then painted black and then the other various bits of Deck equipment was added.

 

Thats all the woodworking done now and it's time to start tying myself in knots, I'll search for my Boy Scouts Bumper Book of Knots and before anyone else says it, I'll go and get knotted.

Cheers Andy

[AJohnson]

Looking absolutely lovely Andy.  Your soon catching me up! 😲 

[Andyrew]

The Main Sail is attached to Photo Etched Mast Hoops and I worked out it would be easier to tie the Main Sail to these Hoops whilst the Mast was laid flat on my work area rather than trying to do this with the Mast fitted to the Boat. This worked out rather well and I also fitted the Gaff to the Mast as well. 

I had planned to lace the Main Sail to the Gaff before I fitted the Mast to the Boat but I couldn't get the Sail to sit right so I glued the Mast in place and then laced the Sail to the Gaff and fitted the Gaff rigging, but left it loose.

I then decided to fit the Shrouds, only 3 on each side, I made a small jig from a piece of scrap wood and 2 pins to hopefully keep the Deadeyes spacing the same.

Once the 3 sets of Shrouds were done I added the Lanyards but I have left them loose and will tighten everything up later. I'm not going to fit the Ratlines yet but will wait until all the "inboard" rigging is done because the Ratlines will limit my access to the tying off points around the Mast. I made an eye in one end of the Main Stay and then ran the other end round the Mast through the eye and then tied off to the Stem. I had already tied the various Blocks and lines to the other Sails, so I then fitted the Inner Jib Sail. I've glued the Travellers for both the Main Sail and Inner Jib to the Starboard side of the Boat.

Cheers Andy 

[Theodosius]

lovely model, lovely buile!

[DB789]

Andy,

 

She’s looking amazing. I hope my Nisha can look half as good! 
 

Please could I ask what colour dye you used for the sails? I’m looking for a lighter, redder colour  for Nisha rather than the near brown I used on the Fifie. 
 

Many thanks 

 

Dan

[wool132]

It looks like Tablecloth Red 

 

Jonathan

Edited May 3, 2022 by wool132

[Andyrew]

1 hour ago, DB789 said:

Please could I ask what colour dye you used for the sails?

The dye is Dylon Tulip Red, I got a small sachet in The Range, I used on my Fifie as well. 

[Andyrew]

45 minutes ago, wool132 said:

It looks like Tablecloth Red 

My red Tablecloth has white spots which could be an interesting Sail colour 😀

[AJohnson]

Very nice Andy, on the home stretch!  😃

[Andyrew]

On 5/4/2022 at 6:19 PM, AJohnson said:

Very nice Andy, on the home stretch!  😃

Thanks Andrew, yep I've turned into my street and just the Driveway to reverse into 😀

The next Sail to be hoisted was the Top Sail, I attached it to the top of the Top Mast, then tied it to the Top Mast in 2 other places, it was then attached to the end of the Gaff. I tied one end of the thread to an Eyebolt, glued that to the Deck next to the Mast, ran the thread through the Block on the Top Sail and then attached the thread to the belaying point on the Deck.

I was just about to fit the Outer Jib when I realised I hadn't fitted the Bowsprit yet, I had already dry fitted it so I glued it in place and then fitted the Outer Jib and the Fore Stay. Now that all the Sails were fitted I tightened the Shouds and tied off the Lanyards. I cut out the Ratline spacing from the plans and put it behing the Shrouds ready to start the fitting the Ratlines.

Tying on the Ratlines wasn't too bad, I did about 6 at a time, glued them, trimmed the ends and then the next 6, a couple of hours and a few cups of Coffee and they were done. The hardest part of the rigging was fitting the Stays from the Top Mast which goes through the Spreaders, this Stay is tied to a Thimble, a second Thimble is tied to a Photo Etch hook that attaches to a plate on the Hull next to the Chain Plates. The 2 Thimbles are then tied together. Having completed the rigging, I touched up a few rough edges with black paint and made some rope coils to hang on the belaying points. I also covered the acrylic name plate with black paint and then quickly wiped the surface to leave the etched name black. 

Many thanks to @chris watton for designing and producing a brilliant little boat, to @James H for the excellent instructions, and to all of you that have followed this build, given me help and advice, and all the "likes."

Cheers Andy

[James H]

I'm pleased that I did my bit with the instructions build and that it's easy enough to follow. 

 

God help me when I have to do the pics for Indefatigable! 😂

[AJohnson]

Your “Nisha” looks great Andy, you have done great job. 👏

 

Whats your next project? 🤔