Lady Eleanor by wool132 - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Fifie

[wool132]

After a suitable break for celebration and respite, we're back at it again. I was toying with the idea of building the HMS Sphinx for the amusement of one @Craigie65 but elected to construct the HMS Fifie instead. Oddly enough, this model has no ratlines . 

 (Vanguard Models photo).

 

So far I've assembled the hull and faired the port side (fore and aft views below) using a Dremel for the basic shaping of the bulkheads off the model followed by a coarse Flory sanding stick after they were glued in place.

The starboard side is next. I left a fair bit of MDF on the fore and aft bulkheads for removal to ensure an even foundation for the first layer of planks.

Nothing untoward happened during hull construction though my heart was a goin' pitty-pat as I warped the deck to snap it in place. That plywood sure bends a lot!

 

Jonathan

[Craigie65]

I think you are secretly holding out for the Indy 😉

 

I will pull up the proverbial chair and follow along.

[wool132]

After the doing the fairing thing I started the first planking beneath the bulwarks using six full width planks. After the garboard plank I worked my way up, again using full width planks until the last few funky ones. As you can see from the pictures below, I didn't worry all that much about gaps.

 

The starboard bow ...

and stern:

The port side planking looks about the same.

 

Fortunately the second planking covered the anomalies.

I laid down seven full width pear planks to get below the waterline. I installed two full width planks at the bottom then switched to tapered planks, working from the top down. I used the tick strip trick* (go ahead, say that fast 🙂) so these had consistent (mostly) widths except for the last one (third from the bottom).

 

The sanded starboard side now looks like this at the stem ...

... and this at the stern.

After sanding I was pleased with the planking above the waterline. There's one board a little darker than the others; I'm hoping the varnish will even things out. There are some gaps between the planks below the waterline but they will disappear after I slap on some paint.

 

Next up is the port side. I'm shooting for zero defects from top to bottom in preparation for planking the unpainted Alaskan Cedar (gasp) Cheerful, if and/or when I start that build.

 

Jonathan

 

*It's actually not a trick at all. It's a technique but I couldn't pass up the opportunity!

[Craigie65]

Looking good!

[wool132]

Progress has continued over the past two months. Having finished up the second planking, I turned my attention to the rudder. I drove the nails part way in so that the brass hinge was able to stand clear of the wood. This allowed for accurate alignment of the piece after getting some SuperGlue in place on the bottom of the hinge piece.

For the rails, I glued the top two in place and then used a compass to mark the location of the first of the two lower rails.

Below is the hull fully painted with name plates installed. I was originally aiming for the varnished wood treatment when applying the second planking but screwed up filling the gaps so the color would have been horribly uneven. Fortunately black was apparently commonly used above the white boot top when painting the full-sized ships.

I sprayed Badger Stynylrez Black Primer on the top, hand-painted ModelExpo Warm White on the boot (with plenty of sanding with fine grit paper), and sprayed Badger Red Oxide on the bottom.

The fish hatch, seat, foremast opening, and deck hatch thankfully presented no problems.

The rest of the deck hardware was installed so we're now ready to start on the masts and rigging. Yippee!

Painting the Steam Winch by hand didn't work out very well. It sort of looks okay from a distance but up close, well, not so much. In a fit of remorse over my poor workmanship, I ordered the Zulu - Lady Isabella kit so I can take another crack at getting it right. For that model I'll be sure to prime the metal properly and use a spray gun. For the Fifie, I used ModelExpo Bulwarks Dark Green and Bright Red Trim, neither of which spray very well at all, hence the attempt with the brush.

 

Speaking of paints, the green and the red had been sitting around quite a while and needed to be stirred up. I used a magnetic mixer that I purchased a year ago from Amazon. It works great - highly recommended! I also use it in the wood shop when mixing up my own varnish.

 

Jonathan

[Glenn-UK]

You are building a fantastic model, great work

[wool132]

Construction continues. I turned the masts and yards on my wood lathe and ground down the excess wood using a variety of sandpaper grits ranging from 80 to 400 (or P80 to P800 using the FEPA standard).

I then brushed on a layer of clear matte water-based polyurethane varnish.

To get started on the rigging, I prepared the eyebolts and the hooks while they were still attached to the PE sheet. I sanded the sheet using 400 grit sandpaper then soaked the pieces in vinegar for an hour or so. Being careful not to touch them with my fingers, I painted them using black Stynylrez primer. They looked fine after a couple of coats so I didn't bother spraying on a finish coat of black paint.

The parts still looked good after being manhandled while being attached to the various blocks, so I'll stick with this revised procedure (my original one was to spray on a coat of black paint and hope for the best: not very complicated and not very good).

I think several of the blocks should have been rotated 180° around the z-axis so that the offset holes for the rigging lines would always be closest to the hook/eyebolt/seizing. The black seizing was done with 18/0 Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread. I probably should have used more of that and less of the .25mm thread supplied with the kit.

 

Now I have to figure out where these things go on the ship. I'll be dyeing the sails soon so hopefully it won't be long before this one is done!

 

Jonathan

[wool132]

The Lady Eleanor is finished and is now with her Vanguard sibling (Nisha) on the dining room mantle.

The total build time for the model was around 150 hours, with planking (first and second) consuming around 40% of that time. The rigging took about 18 hours but it seemed more like 180 (even without any ratlines)!

 

Thanks to Paul Le Wol, Ryland Craze, DB789, glennard2523, ccoyle, Craigie65, Prowler901, chris watton, Rik Thistle, RockinBudgie, Retired guy, andyrew, and longshanks for the Likes and a shout out to Cragie65 and glennard2523 for their Comments.

 

Chris Watton has done an outstanding job in designing, developing, and producing this whole series of fisher models and James H's (Jim Hatch's) prototype builds have been both informative and inspiring. As a result, I'm finding it hard to work on my stash of ModelExpo boxes and keep buying more Vanguard Model kits instead.

Some pictures for the record:

 

 

Now it's on to Zulu - Lady Isabella!

 

Jonathan

[Paul Le Wol]

 Jonathan, congratulations on finishing your Lady Eleanor. She is beautiful!

[wool132]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:26 AM, Paul Le Wol said:

Jonathan, congratulations on finishing your Lady Eleanor. She is beautiful!

Thank you, Paul. High praise indeed coming from a builder of your caliber.

 

Jonathan

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by wool132

[BobG]

Beautifully done, Jonathan. She looks fantastic alongside the Nisha. 

[wool132]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:07 PM, BobG said:

Beautifully done, Jonathan. She looks fantastic alongside the Nisha. 

Thank you very much! The two of them do look rather good together.

 

Jonathan

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by wool132

[Mario Pires]

very nice, congratulations on the model

[wool132]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:07 PM, BobG said:

Beautifully done, Jonathan. She looks fantastic alongside the Nisha. 

Thank you! I've started the Zulu kit so I've been referring to your build log rather frequently as I get started. You did a nice job on your build! 🙂

 

Jonathan

Edited December 5, 2022 by wool132

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[Kevin]

you made a lovely job of this, i have just started mine