HM Gun Brig Adder 1797 by DB789 - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[DB789]

Whilst I’ve been away Adder appeared on my doorstep. Adder will be my ninth build (all from Vanguard) and my first square rigger. 
 

My plan had been to build VM’s Speedy next, and I like to only have one kit waiting to be built next so a stash doesn’t build up. But speaking to Chris, he advised me the following:

Regarding the rigging, Speedy is 'Full Fat', meaning there is a lot of rigging. Not so for Adder, as I have included only yard lifts, ties and braces for running rigging, missing off bowlines, sheets and tacks. I also omitted some standing rig like shifting and break back stays - so rigging the Adder is a lot simpler when compared to Speedy.“

I have a great deal to learn on how to rig a square rigged boat and where all the lines go, so having a slightly reduced rig for my first square rigger makes absolute sense. 
 

Chris also advised that the bluff bow on Adder is not a problem for planking as half the hull is covered in pre-cut engraved parts and the actual planking is all white painted and below the waterline. I know I’m not a builder who has the patience to ever produce a planked and fully unpainted hull, so that’s music to my ears.

 

I had also really liked the look of this highly unusual boat when Chris first released pics of his prototype and knew I’d want to build her, so it became a question of whether I should build Adder or Speedy first. Chris’s guidance made it very clear to me that Adder should be the first. 

Beautifully packaged with the usual exceptionally high quality content that I have come to expect from Vanguard. Some photos of the box contents: 

Those two 24 pounder cannons, which are Adder’s raison d’etre, are huge. Shown here compared one of the tiny surplus to requirements 4-pounder cannons from Grecian. 

Chris has continued to innovate here and the first instruction is to build a throw away keel base / build slip which the keel slots into. Furthermore, the keel itself is attached to a jig that will be broken off later. All very clever and helpful. 

The bulkheads slot in easily. 

Once the bulkheads are in parts 30 are dropped into place each side of the keel to secure them. As in other VM builds these do a wonderful job of making the structure more robust, but can be stiff to push fully home. As usual I did break each of these at least once fitting them, but they’re fully seated in place and the breaks don’t seem to matter.

There’s so much robustness and other supports to ensure alignment in Chris’s hull structure that a few small breaks don’t matter. On Grecian by mistake I left out a whole set of bracing supports across the bulkheads without any detrimental loss of structural integrity for her hull. 
 

Photo of Adder with Alert below. Adder is roughly the same length, albeit a very different shaped hull. I knew her dimensions, but as a two-master she looks bigger in the VM photos. She is going to be a very nice easy size to case and display at home. 

Lower deck was fitted and parts 31 across the top of the bulkheads, another part ensuring the structure is straight. 
 

 

 

Edited March 20 by DB789

[DB789]

Next to go on is the rearmost bulkhead 153. This is a pearwood piece that is the rearmost bulkhead. There is a small inconsistency here between the instructions and the part. The part has two square holes in it which are not present on the photo of the part in the instructions.

The holes go against the end of parts 31 (see photo below) but there is no tab on parts 31 to go through the holes.

The instructions show that there should be a tab at the end of parts 31, but my parts 31 don’t have it (photos below).

I think that the holes in 153 should be there and parts 31 should have the tab. 
 

This is very very minor and I’m just raising for awareness for other builders and it really doesn’t matter for the build. The lower half of part 153 is covered later by etched planking which will hide the holes. I just need to be extra careful getting 153 aligned without the tabs. 

 

[Dulrakk]

Hi Dan,

 

nice to See the Adder here on the forums. I will start my line of Ships from VM with the Sherbourne before getting the Adder. I‘m looking forward following your build log as I will have a reference to Look after as soon as I will start with my Adder.

 

Kai

[ccoyle]

Wow! Hot off the presses and already well into the build! Based on your previous efforts, I have no doubt you will make a fine model out of this. Enjoy!

[chris watton]

Regarding the rear most bulkhead, I decided to remove the tab at the end of the longitudinal brace, as it would have been too difficult to slot into place. I should have deleted the holes in the pear stern, but forgot – but they are not at all important to the overall assembly, just surplus.

 

When designing in CAD, on the PC, designs look great - but sometimes, they do not work so well when put into practice. The stern tabs was one such example.

 

 

Edited March 20 by chris watton

[BrochBoating]

Very much on my list so looking forward to another stellar build.

 

[DB789]

7 hours ago, chris watton said:

Regarding the rear most bulkhead, I decided to remove the tab at the end of the longitudinal brace, as it would have been too difficult to slot into place. I should have deleted the holes in the pear stern, but forgot – but they are not at all important to the overall assembly, just surplus.

 

When designing in CAD, on the PC, designs look great - but sometimes, they do not work so well when put into practice. The stern tabs was one such example.

 

 

Thanks Chris, I thought it would be something simple like that. It’s so appreciated having you available on MSW to answer queries such as this. 

[DB789]

9 hours ago, Dulrakk said:

Hi Dan,

 

nice to See the Adder here on the forums. I will start my line of Ships from VM with the Sherbourne before getting the Adder. I‘m looking forward following your build log as I will have a reference to Look after as soon as I will start with my Adder.

 

Kai

Thanks Kai, good luck with Sherborne. I’d like to build her too at some point. 

[DB789]

8 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Wow! Hot off the presses and already well into the build! Based on your previous efforts, I have no doubt you will make a fine model out of this. Enjoy!

Thanks Chris, timing worked for me as I’d just finished Ranger. I only started Adder last night… 

 

I’ll be aiming as close as possible to Chris’s prototype and won’t be modifying anything on Adder. 

[DB789]

5 hours ago, BrochBoating said:

Very much on my list so looking forward to another stellar build.

 

Thanks Simon. Your Trial is looking good too. 

[AJohnson]

Once again Dan you are blazing the trail for us slow coaches. Looking forward to seeing you build this one, next on my list after Trial. 

[Theodosius]

Thanks for the detailed unboxing and sharing your building experience! Looks good so far, IMO 🙂 

[DB789]

Thanks Andrew, enjoying following your Trial build. So impressed that Chris changed the name for your gun brig base to “Sparkler” - now that’s customer service!
 

Theo - thanks too
 

The last day on Adder has posed some interesting challenges of my own making. 
 

I decided to fit the plywood false deck before the aftermost bulkhead part 153 to help ensure that the bulkhead was at the right angle. So far, so good. 
 

I’ve fitted 8 of these plywood decks to VM models so I know the drill, but on Adder I snapped it down the centre line. I could not fit the two parts so that they were aligned leading me to think that the structure below must be out of alignment. 

I contacted Chris suggesting that I’d better start again and buy the MDF sheets and plywood deck again from him. Instead, he told me that once the deck is split it’s hard to get the halves aligned, but there’s a neat trick to achieve this: taping the two halves together before they are fitted and then adding them, letting the glue dry and removing the tape. 
 

This I did and it worked very well. 
I clamped a flat piece of scrap wood on top to ensure the central join stayed flat and painted diluted PVA over all the joints below. 
I also added most of the MDF pieces that form the bow structure. 
 

Then it was time to fit the rear bulkhead 153, but as can be seen below there’s a small overhang of the false deck over the end of the keel and the longitudinal formers parts 31. 
Checking vs the plans, this results in the bulkhead being at the wrong angle and the false deck needs to be sanded back in line with the keel and parts 31. The gap between the bulkhead and the keel shouldn’t be there in the photo below (unglued). 

If you’re following the sequence in the instructions, this will need to be sanded back before the deck is fitted as the bulkhead will already be in place. I checked all this with Chris and he told me that he usually makes these type of parts over long to cover all eventualities, better to have too much than too little.

Now in the right position and back on track below. 

Chris thanks so much for your help. 
 

Whilst the glue was drying I started work on the cannons and carronades. The 3-D printed resin barrels are very high quality, but on the carronades the cavity for the barrel is shallow and if you look closely you can see the flat bottom ~1mm inside the lip of the barrel. I saw on someone’s build log that they had drilled these a little deeper, so decided to do so too. The barrels are surprisingly strong and easy to drill. In the photos below the right hand barrel has been drilled to ~2.5x as deep. It’s grey because of the resin and the inside of the barrel will need to be painted black again. 

[allanyed]

Love the looks of your kit.  I have great admiration for Vanguard bringing out models that are quite different than the few choices available for so many years before Vanguard.  The passion that goes into designing these is quite evident.

Allan

[mugje]

Exciting kit! Will be nice to see how lovely it will turn out in your capable hands  

[DB789]

Thanks Allan and Mugje. I agree, Chris’s kits are superb and really interesting choices of subjects. I like the unusual ones! 

 

The temporary keel base and jig for the keel now snaps off and there’s a build cradle for the rest of the build. Here she is with those two 24 pounder cannon. 
The hull was faired, which was a pretty easy job, I followed the photos in the manual. 

 

The prow was then assembled, fitted and glued, them left to dry overnight. 

After that the plywood bulwarks were soaked in hot water for 15 mins then clamped on to take the shape without glue. All as per the instructions with a clamp on every bulkhead. Now drying for 24 hours. 

[James H]

Glad you sorted the deck problem.

 

The tape trick is something I used for the Indefatigable, primarily because the halves were so vast.

 

[BrochBoating]

Great start. I've not read the manual yet, this seems to be a similar build scheme to Trial. If so, so far on mine, it's great and such a leap over traditional kits.

[AJohnson]

Great progress Dan, I agree on Chris’s interesting subjects. I got Adder as it is so unusual. I have been tempted by Caldercraft’s Convulsion before, but Adder, or Sparkler in my case scratches that particular itch. 

[DB789]

Thanks Jim, Andrew and Simon.

 

The bulwarks are glued and fit well.

I’ve started planking, following the method in the instructions, tapering heavily at the bow. My planking skills are pretty poor and whilst the first three planks go on fine I’ve struggled with the compound curve on the fourth and fifth planks just forward of bulkhead 1. 

 

First three are fine…. 

On my build the curve just becomes too sharp and the edge bending causes the wood to snap. I’ve tried lots of different approaches such as soaking, soaking and then using an iron and jig (as demonstrated by Chuck), Amati bending tool, etc. but I just can’t get it around the curve without snapping. 

 

Planks four and five are much harder for me.

Clearly this is a limitation of my skills not the kit - any advice or recommendations would be hugely appreciated. 
 

The planks are a thick 1mm and even if not perfect I’m confident I can get a good base, even from broken planks with some filler and sanding. But it would be good to try and improve my skills so I can plank neater for the second planking (also painted so I can use filler and sanding liberally). 
 

Thanks 

 

Dan

[wvdhee]

Kuddos for trying a good first planking 😊

It seems to me for as far as I can see that you could have faired the MDF bulkheads and support pieces more. For example the angle at the first bulkhead should be more round. All lines must 'flow' organically if that makes sense. 

[DB789]

Thanks Walter, I think you’re right that the root of my problem is probably fairing. I did check the flow with a piece of planking - it seemed fine, but I guess not

[0gri]

Hi Dan,i finished the second planking on Adder yesterday and have to admit i really struggled,definetly not the easiest bow i've planked.

[chris watton]

What you could do now is start planking from the bottom to the top, this may make the run of the planks a little less severe.

 

For a bow like Adder's, I did taper more than I usually do for each plank, less than half width at the front, so more, perhaps 75%.

 

There are only 12 planks per side, so not too bad.

Edited March 26 by chris watton

[0gri]

Hello again,just read Chris's comment and i did just as he suggests.i managed 4 planks down from the bulwark with a 50 percent taper then worked my way up from the bottom.sorry i could have been more helpful in my first post.

[DB789]

Thanks Chris, I was tapering at ~50% so not enough. You make it look so easy in the instructions! 
 

I’d done a few more planks down from the top before I saw your and Ogri’s useful advice and have finished the starboard side working up from the bottom. 

 

Not planking of great beauty or to be proud of, but will certainly sand and fill into a suitable base for the second planking. 

Still need to add a stealer at the stern. 

I’ll try more working up from the garboard plank on the port side. 
 

The joy of this build is that even if I do as bad a job of the second planking, it will all be under the white paint below the waterline so can be sanded and filled to perfection. 
 

Thanks again for all the advice. 
 

Ogri - wish you were doing an Adder log too. 

[0gri]

Hi Dan,appologise for no log,i no longer posses a camera and as i spend most of my time closly examining pictures of the part im currently working on i dont think a text only log would attract any attention :-).If theres anything i can help with please feel free to pm me but im sure chris will answer any questions you have.I spent yesterday building the rudder and post,and the 24 pounders,all of which flew together very easily and look fantastic.
ps.if anybody is reading this considering Adder as there next build please do not be put off by my use of the word struggle,i cannot recommend vangaurd models highly enough.

[BrochBoating]

Just ordered Adder so will be following very closely.

[allanyed]

For the first planking layer it is very forgiving as you can sand and fill.  For the second layer, it it is not to be covered with a copper bottom you may want to study the four part video on proper planking by Chuck Passaro.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCWooJ1o3cM  Nearly all your planks appear to be lifted.  Even with a more severe taper as Chris discusses, you can still get lift if the planks are not properly formed for the bend and so they all end at the rabbet rather than coming to a point and short of the rabbet at the stem.  If the planks are preformed there is no need for nails.  Finger pressure for 30-45 seconds if using PVA glue or a few seconds with CA is all that is needed.

Allan

[DB789]

Allan,

 

Thanks for the very useful advice. I have indeed watched the Chuck Passaro video numerous times. I don’t use his tick mark method - I’m too impatient and find it hard to accurately apply the correct width of taper to each plank. 

 

I think that Chris, Walter and Ogri are correct, the problem for me was not tapering enough, which in turn meant that the run of the planks across the bulkheads was not directionally the same as I checked for whilst fairing by running a test plank across the bulkheads.
 

As I worked down to plank 4 the curve at bulkhead 1 became too sharp for me to pre-form with edge bending. I use the jig, soaking the plank and heating with an iron to edge bend that Chuck shows in his videos, but I wasn’t able to bend a tapered 1mm thick plank to such a sharp angle without snapping it. The lifting you flagged is only really on planks 3-5 from the top and in each case is where the plank has actually snapped. These 1mm thick planks provide a great deal of leeway to sand out a bit of edge lifting. 
 

If I’d tapered more then the angle would have been less sharp. You’re right, if I’d used Chuck’s tick mark method for tapering the curve would have been less sharp and preforming would have been easier. 
 

The second layer on this build will also be forgiving as it is under the white paint and can also be filled and sanded. But you’re absolutely right, if I ever want an unpainted hull like I need to up my game. 
 

Thanks again. 
 

Dan