Saucy Jack by Glenn-UK - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - A Barking Well Smack

Glenn-UK · December 15, 2022

015 - Gunwales and Rudder

Time for another Saucy jack update. I have now fitted the belay pin racks, deadeye channels, gunwales and rudder assembly to the hull. The first couple of photos shows the current build state of the Saucy Jack. She is now ready to have all the deck items added. The various pieces of PE parts (eyebolts, belaying pins, hooks, strops, etc.) are currently being cleaned in hot soapy water and acetone baths so they can be blackened.

The next photo is shows the gunwales in place.

The next photo is a close up of the tiller and stern area.

The one area I am not totally happy with is the stern counter pattern area, as can be seen in the next photo. I tried to be clever with the engraved Saucy Jack by adding a red infill. It almost worked.

I did paint the inner stern area black, which I think made a big difference, noting the odd splash of unwanted black paint on the deck, which I might be able to clean off.

The next photo shows the the left side belay pin rack in place. As mentioned in an earlier post I think painting the inner bulwark support patterns black was a good choice.

The final photo in this post shows left side channel, which has been pinned and glued in place.

dunnock · December 15, 2022

A very nice colour scheme Glenn and the hull looks very smooth now.

Glenn-UK · December 15, 2022

21 minutes ago, dunnock said:

A very nice colour scheme Glenn and the hull looks very smooth now.

Thank you very much.

Glenn-UK · December 15, 2022

016 - Deck Items

Following in my my earlier post I have not glued all the deck items in place, with the exception of the PE parts. I also drilled out the two holes for the anchor cables, using a 1.6mmD drill.

Next on the build process will be fitting the belay pins, adding the deadeyes to the strops and then placing them in the channels, I also have to file a slot in the right side gunwale for the bowsprit.

Here is a selection of photos of the Saucy Jack with the all deck items glued in place. The mast and bowsprit are included in these photo's but they have not been glued.

After a good clean in soapy water and acetone baths the various PE parts were chemically blackened. I have shown a selection of these in the final photo of this post.

I also have the sail set to dye which I will probably do in the next day or two.

I am hoping to have completed this build by the end of the year or maybe early in the new year given my shipyard time might be reduced due to the forthcoming (bah humbug!) Christmas festivities. MY next planned build will be the HMS Indefatigable. The Indy kit is due to be released by the end of February with pre-orders available next week. I might have to build another small fishing boat to fill the void such as the Nisa or maybe I should decorate the house as it does need doing.

Edited December 15, 2022 by glennard2523

Glenn-UK · December 16, 2022

017 - Getting Ready for the Rigging Phase and Sails

After carefully adding a slot on the starboard side for the bowsprit it is was glued in place.

With regards to the next photo, the blue arrow shows where I went a bit off line with the drill when adding the cleat. This will be touched up. The yellow arrow shows the opened up anchor hole.

Some of my surplus pear wood deadeyes were added to the strops and placed in the channels. I will add the pins when I ready to rig the shroud lines.

With regards to the shroud lines and forestay I have made a start and these lines area ready to be rigged, which will be later as I need to add the main sail to the main mast.

I dyed the sails using a cocoa brown dye which was the same process I used for the Erycina. I then added the topsail to the top yard / top mast. It is possible to move the top yard/sail up and down the top mast so it's final position can be set later on.

Here is a picture of all the sails in roughly the right position. I am very happy with the sail colour.

Edited December 16, 2022 by glennard2523

Glenn-UK · December 18, 2022

018 - Main Sail

With regards to work on the main sail I started by adding 8 off mast rings. Once they were in place I started to secure the sail to the main gaff. With the main gaff held in the quad hands I positioned the sail and secured it to the gaff at each end as can be seen in the photo below.

I then continued the process gradually working toward the centre from both ends as can be seen in the next photo.

With the sail had been secured to the main gaff I threaded the mast rings over the main mast and then did a test fit to get an idea of how the sail would look as can be seen in the photo below. You will also note I have added a 4mm double block to the eyebolt located behind the tiller. I also checked and marked the position of the main boom on the main mast.

Once I have glued the main mast in place I can start rigging process starting with the shrouds.

Glenn-UK · December 19, 2022

019 - Shrouds WIP

Time for another quick update as I have now started rigging the shrouds. In the first photo I have added the deadeyes and lanyards to first shroud pair. I have not tied off the lanyard or trimmed the end shrouds in case I need to remove the lanyards and release the shroud seizing to readjust the position of the deadeye. I have also added the first shroud pair to the other side of the main mast.

In the next photo I have added the deadeyes and lanyards to the second shroud pair. I did have to release and redo the final (left end) deadeye as it was sat to low compared with the other deadeyes when the lanyard was tensioned. They look much better now. Once I have made the final adjustments to the lanyards and I am happy with the deadeye alignment I will trim the excess shroud thread and tie off the lanyard free ends.

Edited December 19, 2022 by glennard2523

Glenn-UK · December 22, 2022

020 - Main Mast and Back Stays

The shrouds have been fitted and tied off and are now ready to have the ratlines added. Before adding the ratlines I decided to add the main mast stay and back stays. The main mast stay was a very easy line to rig.

The main stay is belayed to an eyebolt located on top of the bow, as can be seen below.

The other end of the main mast stay is looped around the main mast. I added a small mouse to main stay line which stops the line running through the loop end.

Moving on to the backs stays. These are a little be more involved, with each back stay comprising a three block arrangement. A single 5mm block was added to the end of each back stay.

I then prepared the other blocks and mast rigging straps. One block is seized to one of the rigging straps. the other block requires two threads adding, 0.25mm and 0.1mm natural.

The rigging straps were added to the hull and the threads rigged through the three blocks. The final free end is ready to be belayed to a cleat.

The next photo shows the rigging straps.

The final photo shows the other two blocks.

Craigie65 · December 22, 2022

Slow down Glenn! It’s at least 2 months before you get your Indy.

This one is looking good and will be a nice addition to your fleet.

Glenn-UK · December 22, 2022

1 hour ago, Craigie65 said:

Slow down Glenn! It’s at least 2 months before you get your Indy.

This one is looking good and will be a nice addition to your fleet.

I am going quite slow at the moment for me. I might have to build another fishing boat in the new year before I get the Indy kit.🤣

Glenn-UK · December 23, 2022

021 - Ratlines

I printed out a template and added my usual 0, 1 and 2 markers. The ratline sequence I follow is to add all the 0's first. Then I add all the 1's. The job is completed by filling in the gaps by adding all the 2's. As can be seen in the photo below I have positioned the template behind the shrouds and I ready to start adding the ratlines.

As can be seen in the next photo I have added all the 0's. The more observant will note I actually added the bottom 2 rather than the bottom 0 ratline. I will add the bottom 0 ratline once all the other ratlines have been added so I can then repositioned the bottom clamp.

In the next photo I have added the 1's ratlines, except the one at the top which can be added when the top clamp is repositioned.

In the next photo I have added the all the 2 ratlines.

In the final few photo's all the ratlines have now been added and all the ends trimmed. I now have to repeat this process for the other side. It does not take me to long to complete this process.

Glenn-UK · December 27, 2022

022 - Main Sail and Top Sail Rigging

I have been able to spend a little bit more time in the shipyard and I have now completed the work related to adding the main and top sails. The photo below shows the current state of play. The top mast stay has been added but I have not belayed the free end which is why it looks wrong after passing through the bowsprit thimble.

The next few photos are a collection of various aspects of the main and top sail work, in no particular order. I have rigged a few model boats but I have found some of the belaying to the bitts very tricky due to the limited space.

It took me the best part of an hour to belay the line shown in the next photo as I found it almost impossible to hook the rigging line around the bottom of the belay pin.

Some of the belaying block arrangements are shown in the next photo.

The boom looks a bit long. I did double check the measurement and it is as per the plan sheet.

Edited December 27, 2022 by glennard2523

DB789 · December 27, 2022

Looking great Glenn.

I had exactly the same difficulties belaying some of the rigging to the belaying pins just behind the mast and below the shrouds. I didn’t mention it as it seemed a bit feeble compared the the intricacies of rigging on most of the models on MSW! It’s one of the reasons I found this one a little harder than any others in Vanguard’s excellent fishing boat range.

Craigie65 · December 27, 2022

Hi Glenn,

Looking excellent.

For the rigging do you have rigging tools? I bought a set from CMB and find them invaluable in getting into hard to reach spots. Especially when paired with a fine pair of long tweezers.

DB789 · December 27, 2022

Hi Craigie, sorry to hijack the thread, but I don’t have rigging tools. I’ve had a quick look on CMB - please could you let me know what set you went for as I’ll get the same. Just about to rig Erycina, sails dyed, spars ready, rigging next. Many thanks Dan

Glenn-UK · December 28, 2022

18 hours ago, DB789 said:

Looking great Glenn.

I had exactly the same difficulties belaying some of the rigging to the belaying pins just behind the mast and below the shrouds. I didn’t mention it as it seemed a bit feeble compared the the intricacies of rigging on most of the models on MSW! It’s one of the reasons I found this one a little harder than any others in Vanguard’s excellent fishing boat range.

Compared to my other boats this seemed much more difficult, especially accessing the belaying pins under the shrouds. I have plenty of tools. I find reverse action tweezers are usually the most useful, both straight and right-angled versions.

Glenn-UK · December 28, 2022

17 hours ago, Craigie65 said:

Hi Glenn,

Looking excellent.

For the rigging do you have rigging tools? I bought a set from CMB and find them invaluable in getting into hard to reach spots. Especially when paired with a fine pair of long tweezers.

Thanks, I use reverse action tweezers, straight and right angled. I did buy a set of rigging tools many years ago from CMB's when build HMS Victory but I never used them. Perhaps they can help, I will give them a try.

Craigie65 · December 28, 2022

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/AT-RT5205.html#SID=428

@DB789 Dan, these ones. Although I think both sets are identical other than the price! Anyway its the cheaper ones that are in stock.

DB789 · December 28, 2022

Craigie, I’ll get some of those too.

Glenn, I have reverse action tweezers too and like you struggled with the rigging to the belaying pins on this boat. Glad to know that this one’s rigging is actually a little tricky and that the rigging of bigger models is not necessarily harder.

Thank you both.

Craigie65 · December 28, 2022

The trick is to be methodical and not to block yourself off.

Definitely worth getting some rigging reference books. Lennarth Petersson’s book on rigging is very helpful for square rigged ships. It has lots for great diagrams but no text. I have just bought Biddlecombe’s Art of Rigging which looks interesting but I think will only be of use if I am stumped on a particular part of the rigging.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Craigie65

Glenn-UK · January 3, 2023

023 - Adding the Inner and Outer Jibsails

I started with the inner jibsail which was installed without too much fuss. I used the same method for the installation of the inner jibsail as detailed for the outer jibsail, later on in this post.

As with the inner jibsail I started the installation process for the outer jibsail by making the various blocks, as can be seen in the three photos below.

The outer jibsail was then attached to the lower main mast end cap, via the eyebolt and double block arrangement, as can be seen in the next photo.

The lower fastenings were then added, but not belayed, so the position of the outer jibsail could be adjusted as necessary

The outer jibsail has now been positioned and is ready to be belayed.

I am using a couple of reverse action tweezers to hold the two of the three unbelayed lines in place in the photo below which shows the current the current state of the Saucy Jack build. Once the three outer jibsail lines have been belayed I will make the stand and the build process will then be complete.

Glenn-UK · January 4, 2023

024 - The Completed Saucy Jack

All good things must come to an end and this morning I completed the final task so the Saucy Jack is now complete and will be added to my ever expanding Vanguard fleet. To date I have built Speedy, Alert, DOK, Sphinx, Erycina and Saucy Jack. The Indy, when released will be a major undertaking and I expect it will take 2 to 3 years to complete.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this build and for all the kind comments and likes. It is greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Chris and James for all the the work they have put in to developing and producing a brilliant range of models.

Until the Indy kit is released, which I have pre-ordered, I need another small project so I have now ordered the Nisha – Brixham ‘Mumble Bee’. My plan for the Nisha is to use it as a practise piece to try to hone some of my weaker skills, especially the planking aspect which needs great improvement.

I have attached a few pictures of the completed Saucy Jack.