Nisha by DB789 - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Brixham ‘Mumble Bee’

[DB789]

Nisha will be my second build having just completed Vanguard’s Fifie. I’m looking forward to building this little cutter, she’s much smaller than the Fifie. I’m somewhat nervous about the mast and rigging - I found the Fifie’s rigging a challenge and she barely has any. 
 

Nisha turned up yesterday morning and was extremely well packed with high quality materials throughout. I won’t cover unboxing as others have already done so very well in their logs. 

Started work right away. The pieces are immaculately laser cut and the retaining tabs easily cut. 

Bulkheads first with the first three at bow and stern needing bevelling before fitting. 

These fit very easily onto the false keel without glue. Followed by the lower deck. 

Additional supports are then added at bow and stern and between bulkheads 4 and 7 to strengthen the structure. The stern timbers are also added. These are very thin and weak in places and one broke easily with little pressure - shouldn’t be too hard to fix. 
 

At this point the whole structure fits together mostly without glue and feels quite loose. Next diluted PVA glue was brushed into the structure and left to dry. 

Nisha’s skeleton alongside the Fifie below shows how small she will be. 

[wool132]

Welcome to the Nisha Builders Association!

[DB789]

Thanks Wool! 

[Andyrew]

You are off to a good start, there is going to be quite a large fleet of Nisha's soon. It seems to be a requirement that a Stern timber gets broken off during construction 😀

[DB789]

Thanks Andy! Your build log and AJohnson’s are a particular inspiration for my build. I think I’m going to follow suit and paint the upper hull black. Not sure about the rail and inner bulwarks yet. 

[AJohnson]

On 5/1/2022 at 11:46 PM, wool132 said:

Welcome to the Nisha Builders Association!

There is quite a fleet growing here on MSW of little Vanguard working craft. 😀

[DB789]

Thanks for all the encouragement!

 

Made some good progress this week. Firstly the deck was added. Went on pretty easily but had to bend the wood quite a bit, seems very strong. Everything is very well made and fits together so well in these kits.

I glued on the broken sternpost and it seems to have held. Sanding it to shape without snapping it again needed a lot of care. 

 

The inner counter was soaked and then clamped in place to dry before gluing. Luckily it didn’t split. 

Then bulwarks added. 
There aren’t many planks on Nisha but planking her has been a challenge compared to the Fifie. Quite hard to assess where each plank should start and end. Ended up with quite a ragged bow and stern finish to the planks but they leave plenty of room for a rebate for the rabbet.

The first planking was sanded down and filled, I really enjoy this as its when the hull fuses into a single entity and feels like a boat for the first time. The hull is smooth and should be a good base for the second layer of planking. 

 

I managed to break another sternpost whilst sanding but it didn’t snap off entirely so I injected some glue and quickly added the stern board for additional strength. 
I clumsily broke the stern counter removing it from the sheet of wood. I glued it back together, left to dry for 24 hours, but as you can see in the photos the glue dissolved when I soaked and then clamped the counter to the model. I’m planning to paint the entire hull so gluing and fixing this should be fine. 

 

The keel rabbet was also added. 

I’m having fun but finding Nisha quite a bit harder to build than the Fifie. The parts are more fragile - necessarily so as she is so much smaller - and I have broken 3 already. I’m really glad that I built the Fifie first as it’s given me the confidence to persevere with Nisha. On my experience so far I’d certainly recommend the Fifie as more suitable for a complete beginner. 

[AJohnson]

You are making excellent progress there, well done. 👍 and interesting to hear about your comparison for a beginner compared to the Fifie. 

 

As for breaking parts, if your not breaking any you ain’t trying hard enough! 🤣

 

I think the stern counter should sand and fill okay and as you are painting it will be hidden, my only other comment from the pictures is to make sure the combined thickness of the first and second planking matches the rabbet parts added at the stem and stern, poss more sanding back of the first planking might be needed?  🤔

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by AJohnson

[DB789]

Thanks Andrew, I really appreciate the advice. Your Nisha is hugely impressive. I think Nisha is perfect for a second build (starting from being a complete beginner), challenging but manageable and I’m learning the whole time. I wholly recommend her as a kit. 
 

I’m clumsy and impatient which is the main reason things get broken! Just with the Fifie she’s big boned enough to take it whereas Nisha isn’t. I need to slow down… 

 

I’ve sanded back more than in the photos to make sure the rabbet is big enough. I’ll keep an eye on this, but the first planking is now very thin at bow and stern so I don’t dare go too far. 

[DB789]

Work on the Nisha continues… The rabbets and outer stern counter were fitted and clamped. 
Then outer bulwarks went on fine. As others have noted the holes in the outer bulwarks at the bow don’t line up with the inner bulwark. Should be very easy to fix with a little filing. 

I’ve second planked the starboard side only so far. The photos show it with preliminary sanding but no filler yet. 

Second planking went on quite easily. The first three planks went on untapered and then the rest were tapered to approx 50% of width at the bow. I still needed two spacers at the stern. Quite a bit of edge bending was required to cope with the curve where the stern flares out. 

 

The rabbets were big enough at bow and stern but not amidships for the keel rabbet. 

The only real difficulty, as in the first planking was trying to work out how to neatly finish off the planking along the sternpost and in particular how to neatly plank the area where the planks terminating in the stern rabbet meet those terminating against the outer stern counter. It’s quite a sharp corner and not the easiest to plank. So the messiest part of my planking. 

Port side next plus some additional sanding and filling. 

[wool132]

Nice job! Just starting my second planking, so this will come in handy.

 

Jonathan

[Andyrew]

The second planking looks really good.

[DB789]

Second planking finished, filled and sanded. 
Still lots of room for improvement at bow and stern, especially if I’m ever to build a bare wood hull. 

I’ve decided on a fully painted hull with red oxide below the waterline and black above with no bootstrap. The rubbing strake will be white. 

So I have used white filler wherever needed and have not yet added part #39 to the stern as this will be white too. 
 

The bulkhead “ears” have been removed
I’m going to paint the inside of the bulwarks black too, but not the timberheads. I’ve roughly masked off where each of these will be - it does not need to be perfect, just enough that I can see where each timberhead goes after painting. 
Also masked over each of the hatches and holes in the deck and around the tiller shaft. 
The only wood primer I have is the red oxide primer I’m using for the lower hull so everything will be painted with that before painting with Chaos Black above the waterline. Using spray cans for both. 
 

Andrew Johnson - I hope you don’t mind me copying your colour scheme?! 

Edited May 11, 2022 by DB789

[AJohnson]

15 minutes ago, DB789 said:

Andrew Johnson - I hope you don’t mind me copying your colour scheme?! 

Absolutely not, not my scheme really, I’m just copying the “Pilgrim” I reference on my log and like the contrast of the inner bulwarks and plain timber heads. I don’t think these hard working craft had much in the way of decoration or colourful schemes beyond some white trims, rubbing streak and maybe some scrolling or a name at the bow. Though who knows the more successful skipper/owners might have indulged in the odd embellishments. 

[DB789]

Thanks Andrew.

 

Looking ahead in the instructions - can anyone point me in the right direction as how to reduce the diameter of the lower mast?

I can taper with sandpaper but don’t know how to get a step change in diameter such as this without a lathe which I don’t have. 
 

Thanks

[Craigie65]

Hi,

I think you have two options:

1. mask off the mast at the step and use a file to cut the step by hand, or 
2. you can use a power drill as a lathe and use a file and sandpaper to cut the step

I used option 2 for my first and second builds, then invested in a lathe for my Peggy build  

[DB789]

Thanks Craigie,

 

Think I’ll go for option 2. I’m bound to make a mess of option 1! 

[Craigie65]

Good luck with that!  

Have a look in the tips and techniques section.  There is a section on making masts - pretty sure I have seen articles on using a drill as a lathe

[Craigie65]

This article might help?

Making masts

[DB789]

Thanks for all the really helpful advice Craigie. 
 

Nisha is now in her “red” phase. 

Other builds suggest that I should fill, sand and prime Nna couple of times, but surely I shouldn’t be seeking a very smooth finish and the planks should be visible. Photos of Pilgrim show that her planking was very visible below the paint. 
I’m thinking fill and sand only a few obvious cracks, mainly along the rabbet and reprime just the once. 

 

 

 

[Craigie65]

Nice - goes faster right? 😀

[Craigie65]

First time I have seen your last picture.  I often wondered if Pilgrim was the same as either Nisha or Erycina.  By the looks of the transom and counter it looks not to be.

[Andyrew]

I am of the same opinion as you regarding the finish of the Hull, these were working Boats and there would be some dents and scratches caused by hitting objects whilst at sea and knocking against moorings. The lower Mast, I used a file turning the Mast by hand to get down to the correct diameter, the inner diameter of the Photo Etch parts is slightly smaller so make sure they all fit. I then put the Mast in an electric Drill clamped to my Workmate and used fine sandpaper to smooth it. The other Mast and Spars were tapered using my electric Drill and sandpaper, using a pair of Calipers to constantly check the diameter.

[DB789]

I did fill and sand down one more time, 
added the rudder fittings. These were very small and fiddly, lost at least one in the carpet. I’m really impressed that Chris includes extras of these easy to lose or break parts in the kit. 

Marked the waterline. Tricky to get both sides the same, lots of drawing and then rubbing out and starting again. Nisha is sitting on a very battered copy of March’s Sailing Trawlers that I sourced on ABE Books from Germany. The price of the March’s books must have skyrocketed since Chris launched this range of models. Booksellers must be wondering why a book no one wanted two years ago is now in so much demand.

Hull taped up for painting. 
Chaos Black goes on really well leaving a nice satin finish and dries very fast (unlike the horrible Plastikote white spray paint I’m using on the rubbing strip and stern trim). 
Looks like dazzle camouflage from above. 
Deck fits really well. Treated it with one coat of Danish Oil so far and it looks better than the untreated deck I have on the Fifie. Darker, but somehow the engraved planking is more defined too.

The deck needed light sanding at the edges to fit but very little and I think looks great. I’ll glue it tomorrow in case there’s any swelling / shrinkage from the Danish Oil. 

[Craigie65]

Very striking contrast.

[AJohnson]

That looks good, same as you I just used a light rub of Danish oil to bring out the deck details. 👍

[DB789]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. 
 

More progress today and a problem. 
 

Timber heads fitted. Bench at the stern fitted, annoyingly I broke this and unlike other breakages this won’t be painted so will be visible as a small crack, but minor. 

Fish hatches complete and ladder in hull installed - both treated with Danish oil and look much better for it. I tied some thread around the top rung of the ladder whilst fitting it so I didn’t lose it in the hull - then cut the thread when in position. 
White rubbing strake fitted to starboard side. This was painted white before being glued with CA. Same will be done for the stern counter “frame” and the port rubbing strake. Positioning the latter I damaged the black paint on the hull and have taken it off again for now. 
 

Elsewhere I’ve chipped the black paint in a few places too. 
 

This is where I need some advice. I’ve touched up the black by using a brush dipped in paint sprayed from the Chaos Black can. When sprayed it comes out a lovely smooth satin black. With the brush it looks thick and glossy and is a contrast to the surrounding area. 

This touch up technique has worked with the red oxide spray paint on the lower hull and isn’t visible, but clearly isn’t suitable for the Chaos Black. 
 

Does anyone have any ideas how to do this better? I’m wary of masking around the areas and re spraying partly because I fear the masking tape will pull more black paint off and partly because I don’t want to get black paint on the deck or other unpainted fittings. Any advice very welcome. 
 

Thanks 

 

Dan
 

 

 

[Andyrew]

I have never tried brush painting spray paint but it could be the paint isn't fully mixed. You could try giving the hull a coat of varnish to see if that leaves you with the finish you're after, failing that leave the hull for a few days to allow the paint to fully cure and then mask off the deck and lower hull and respray it. Good luck,

Cheers Andy

[Craigie65]

I too would suggest a coat of matt varnish to bring it together.

[AJohnson]

Same issue happened on the Matt/Satin finishes on my build. I needed to touch up a sprayed area and it never looks the same when brush applied; it’s how the tiny bits of pigment lay when drying and the thickness of the paint layer compared to brush applied, all down to the reflection of light.
Two choices, mask up again, flat down your first coat and reapply or try a varnish. However the varnish option is never 100% effective - ask me how I know! 🤣  Regarding the worry about masking tape on already spray painted areas and lifting paint, one option is to try a loose paper mask held just off the model. Tear a ‘rough’ hole in the paper so you feather the spray edge to help blending and try masking all other areas with tissue that won’t stick to your existing paint. This isn’t an option near light contrasting paints, say near your white rubbing band. Good luck!
In all the years I’ve painted models (mostly plastic aircraft before I fell down the MSW Rabbit 🕳). I can count on one hand those models I am happy with the finish of, so you are not alone. 
Keep up the good progress 👏

Edited May 14, 2022 by AJohnson