Ariel by Jay 1 – Vanguard Models – 1:64 - based on the True Vine 1905 using Lady Eleanor kit

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – 2nd Planking Completed

 

I finished the 2^nd planking today and will begin giving the a hull a cleanup with some sanding, patching the kit’s alignment holes in the keel, stem, and stern, and taking care of a few other hull odds and sods. 

 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Hull Cleanup

 

•  When I was 2^nd planking, I had to pare areas of the 1^st planking near the bottom of the stern and the stem so that the 2^nd planking would hood reasonably well into their rebates.  Those pared areas are where fill was needed to level the 2^nd planking and fair the hull.

 

•  I scabbed the tops of the stem and stern with 1mm stock so that their thicknesses were uniform and close the large through gaps in both pieces. 

 

•  All the rebate location holes were plugged and then filled; likewise, rebate joints along the stem, stern, and keel were leveled at their joints.

 

•  Because I wanted a moveable rudder, I used one of Chuck’s pintle and gudgeon kits to start hanging the rudder. 

•  I planed the tops of the gunwales to get them level and then after the gunwale rubbing strakes were installed, I filled the tops of the gunwales to ensure the multiple wood joints don’t flash through when the gunwales are painted. 

 

•  Installing all the rubbing strakes required using CA and were a bit tricky.  The Vine only had 1 rubbing strake on its gunwales; the rubbing strakes on the hull are positioned according to the Vine’s plans.

 

•  All the bulkhead tops were cut off with a flush-cut saw.

•  To help harden delicate areas of fill and help with painting hull when I get to that point, I sealed the hull with shellac.  Although priming wasn’t necessary with the hull sealed with shellac, the purpose for using primer was to easily identify areas on the hull that will need additional work, corrections, or etc. before I paint and to also further harden the hull fill.

•  I selectively scored hull planks so that the planking will flash through when I paint the hull; however, after priming, I think the scoring looks like crap and I’ll fill these spots when I make other minor hull fixes.

 

Cheers,

Jay

 

 

 

 

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Hull Cleanup

 

Shout out to those who are following along or popping in for a peek—thank you!

 

No photos this week.  Most of my hobby time this week was spent off the boat with figuring out how to tackle several things coming up next on the build.  Fingers crossed that items I need arrive mid-week, as I’d like get some work in next weekend.  The only things I accomplished on the build were touchups and fettling with rudder pintles and gudgeons to hang the rudder when I start painting and so I can also remove it for other work later in the build.

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Keith Black]

 Jay, touchups are part and parcel. You can ignore doing touchups but you get too far along in the build and you'll forget where those needed touchups were/are. Ask me how I know.  

[Jay 1]

LOL about asking how you know!  Yep, I regularly walk into a room and then ask myself, “Now what was I going to get?” 🤣

Edited July 1 by Jay 1

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Rudder & Boot Stripe

 

Rudder

 

Marsh was silent on whether or not Fifie rudders were tapered, so I checked the Reaper and Swan and neither had tapers.  Both were beveled, so I added ~ 45 degree bevels to my build’s rudder.  If one sticks with the static rudder for Eleanor, Chris’ mortise and tenon design is excellent because it definitely eliminates much of the hassle of installing a movable rudder.  Hanging rudders isn’t one of my favorite parts of a built—my experience has been that they often are quite fiddly and PITAs—and making a moveable rudder for the build was no exception and was self-inflicted.

 

Boot Stripe

 

Marking boot stripes also isn’t a favorite build activity because they are another facet of a build that in my experience is often also fiddly and a PITA…my work the on the build’s stripes were no exception.  Using the plans for the boot stripe top and bottom locations and then marking off those off with a waterline tool did not work for me.  The geometry of where and how a hull is positioned affects marking out a stripe; my kit’s acrylic stand was warped, so it was lopsided and trying to use it as an aid for marking the hull was untenable.  I checked a couple of other Eleanor logs and some folks had challenges with marking like I did and some apparently did not (their logs were silent).  In the end, I used plan locations for the stripes and then faired each stripe by eye using the methods one uses for lining off a hull.  While that method took a while, it ended up taking less time than did trying to use a height gauge and for me produced visually pleasing results.

 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Painting

 

The build is starting to move out of the “it looks like total s&*t” phase!   😊

 

Because it’s usually easier covering light colors with darker colors, I painted the boot stripes 1^st and then bottom and top sides next.  Using acrylic lacquers (Mr. Color (MRC) and Mr. Paint (MRP), I built up each base color with multiple layers for depth.  Then based on how to light tended reflect off the hull, and also to add subtle contrast for visual interest, I blended lighter and darker shades over each base color.

 

I figured it’d be fun to include before and after photos of the hull painting.  I’ll clear coat the hull after I do minor touch ups and add markings and etc. on the hull.

 

 

 

Top Side Colors:        MRP-LPG, MRP-255, MRP-348, & MRP-077

Boot Stripes Colors:  MRP-LPW, MRP-308, MRC-62, & MRP-97

Bottom Side Colors:  MRP-LPR, MRC-327, MRP-250, & MRP-299

 

Cheers,

Jay

[AJohnson]

That hull looks very smart! 

Edited July 7 by AJohnson

[BobG]

Beautiful hull, Jay! Nice work.

[Keith Black]

 Jay, the hull looks spiffy. 

[Jay 1]

Thank you AJ, Bob, and Keith for your kind words—much appreciated!  Likewise, thank you everyone for the likes and following along!

 

Cheers,

Jay 

[Nirvana]

Jay, that hull turned out to be very beautiful.
Well done!

[Jay 1]

Thank you, Nirvana!

[Jay 1]

Small Build Update

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update.  Much of my work on the build has been off boat the past couple of weeks.  In so far as the build goes, lately it’s been 2 steps forward and then 2 steps back. 

 

Although I wanted to post pics and etc. today, that didn’t work out as planned.  Earlier today I sprayed the hull with a couple coats of satin varnish that turned into a minor train wreck.  I learned ex post facto today that the varnish brand I used has a tendency to peel.  Yep, it sure did peel. 🤬 Wound up stripping off the bad varnish and now need to do a major touch up on the entire hull.  On the plus side, I was relieved that the underlying paint didn’t get totally destroyed but it did take some damage.  After that fun, I decided it was a good time to set the model down and walk away for a break.

 

While the varnish episode totally sucked, I did make some small progress on a few bits and bobs these past couple of weeks that I still can’t install until after I fix the hull’s paint.  Hopefully I’ll have some progress pictures to post next weekend. 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Keith Black]

 Sorry about the setback, Jay. Discovering too late that you've used a bad product takes the wind right out of your sails. Looking forward to seeing photos showing full recovery. 

[Jay 1]

Thank you, Keith!  I’m a retired Marine, so a few choice expletives flew when I saw what had happened.  On the bright side, I’m glad I caught it when I did.  I’m planning on weathering the hull, so the varnish coat I put on at this stage needs to be decent.  Keith, I always appreciate your popping in and your encouragement!

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Keith Black]

27 minutes ago, Jay 1 said:

I’m a retired Marine

 Semper Fi. 1967 to 1971. Paris Island, Camp Lejeune, San Diego, 29 Palms (oh what a lovey place) Cherry Point, Vietnam, and Camp Pendleton. 

Edited July 29 by Keith Black

[Jay 1]

Semper Fi, Keith!  Thank you for your service:  Vietnam.  LOL about 29 Stumps—spent a lot (too much) time there.  Beirut, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq.  Regardless of when or where, the bond we Marines share always amazes me—your last post made my day!

[Keith Black]

 Thank you for your service, Jay. The best part of bring stationed in 29 Palms was Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. Fond memories forged in a hellhole. 

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Paint Repair

 

In my last update, I briefly discussed how a clear coat I applied to the hull had peeled, which was unbeknownst to me until it happened, is an issue with that Ammo gloss acrylic.  Using a dilute solution of ammonia was the best option for removing the bad clear coat while also minimizing possible damage to the underlying paint layer.

 

Although the ammonia stripped the peeling clear coat, it also somewhat damaged the hull’s underlying paint—1^st photo below—so last week I needed to repaint the entire hull.  After repainting the hull, I then airbrushed it with several coats of decanted Mr. Super Clear gloss.  The purpose for using gloss is that it provides a stronger, more durable, protective coat than other clear coat sheens.  Also I need to use a gloss on the bottom sides for the hull’s weathering.  The 2^nd photo below is the results of the repaint and gloss clear coats.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Stem Horns

 

Rather than secure the mainsail’s tack to the top of the stem per the kit, I followed Oke and Marsh’s Vine plans and added horns to the stem for that purpose.  From Marsh’s Sailing Drifters, fig. 73, p. 281, it appears horns were predominately used on both Fifies and Zulus.  According to Marsh, the Vine’s horns were “1 ft. by 7 in. by 1¾ in. [~ 305mm x 178mm x 45mm],” (Marsh, 271); however, his 7 inch (178mm) dimension does not make sense!

 

 

At scale, the lengths of each horn would be about 5mm.  Making horns at that length wasn’t a problem; however, where I did encounter problems with 5mm horns was attaching them to the stem.  Making 90° degree bends at 5mm left gaps between the wire and stem that were too noticeable.  Soldering stubs at 90° degree to the 5mm lengths also didn’t work because the butt joints were too fragile and always broke off after cleaning up the solder joints.  And lastly, with the horns opposite each other on the stem, which is 5mm thick, each stub length had to be about 2mm.  A 2mm stub length was too short for securely fastening the tack to a horn—i.e., a horn would pull out of the stem.

 

The final solution I came up with for the horns was to make their lengths way over scale, give them sharp 90° degree bends, and then offset each horn’s stem attachment point.  With the horns blackened and the hull’s black topsides, their lengths and offsets are barely visible.  I annealed 0.025’ (0.6mm) piano wire (aka spring steel) to make each horn.  Annealed piano wire is easier bend but still retains a lot of strength compared to brass wire.  My rationale for using piano wire was I didn’t want a horn to deform when it came time to rig the build.  I used Vallejo 77.724 and MIG Atom 20045 for the wear marks and rust on each horn.

 

Overall, making and installing the horns was incredibly fiddly but worth it because I think they add a lot of visual interest to the model at the stem.

 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Stem and Keel Plates

 

The Vine had 7/8” (22mm) plating both on her stem and keel.  The keel plating may have been installed after the Vine’s back was broken but that’s speculative.  Also I’m unsure if the stem and keel plating was iron or steel but it likely was steel because by 1905, the price for steel was quite reasonable and Scotland was a major steel producer.

 

I could not source 5mm brass for the 5mm wide stem and with not having a mini table saw, hand cutting brass strips with a reasonable gauge (ga) didn’t work.  Where I hit the jackpot for finding 5mm material was a jewelry website site that I periodically order stuff from.  They stocked 24 ga, 5mm wide sterling silver strips for making ring bezels.  While the sterling silver was considerably more expensive than brass, the cost wasn’t prohibitive and it turned out to be a better material to use on the stem because sterling is much more malleable than brass.  Thus making the stem-to-keel bend was considerably easier than if I had used brass stock.

 

Making the plates for the build was fiddliness on steroids!  I used my mill to drill more than 65 nail holes with a #76 (0.020” / 0.5mm) drill.  I then pickled the brass nails I used so they would better take paint.  I cut all the nails to about 2mm lengths, inserted then into the drilled holes, glued them in with superglue, and then flush-cut each nail.  Installing the nails took hours because of their size and their domed heads.  The domed heads made it difficult to firmly hold the nails with tweezers…quite a few wound up getting launched into the wild blue yonder!

 

The reason I went this route with the nails was because I needed to paint the silver I used.  It would have been incredibly difficult to paint and then clear coat each plate installed on the hull.  Because the nails slightly protruded beyond the silver’s ga after I flush cut them, I needed to make 65+ indentations in the stem and keel.  For this I used a burr which I ran between 5 and 6 K rpms.  I needed to go slow to help prevent the burr from skating off the stem/keel and damaging the twice now painted hull.

 

I then primed, painted, weathered, clear coated, and superglued each plate to the hull.  It took a several strip and re-dos on each plate’s weathering until I was happy with how they looked.  A list of the paints I used on the plates is below the photos.

 

The photos that follow capture some of the process described above.

 

 

Paints:  MRP MRP-LPG, Pro Acryl MPA-056, Vallejo 77.712, and Ammo Atom 20054, 20047, 20045, and 20023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Jay

[Jay 1]

Hull Construction – Weathering

 

Some of my next steps will be weathering the hull.  Given that the hull paint job turned out really well, weathering the hull was a decision I went back and forth on for a day or two.  The deciding factors to weather were this was an original intent at the start of my build and that I want to tell a small story with the build which the weathering will help accomplish.  Also I have a couple more upcoming fishing builds, so I may do one of those with a pristine paint job…we’ll see.

 

With weathering, I feel that less is often more.  I won’t do heavy weathering to the build—it would not make sense in the context of these boats.  People’s livelihoods depended on these boats and were also significant financial investments (see background to get an idea of their cost).  With those factors in mind, a skipper would not likely let his boat become beat to hell; likewise, if members of the crew were also partial owners as well, they too would likely not let their investment get beaten into the ground due to neglect.  Crew that weren’t partial owners also likely wouldn’t crew on a badly neglected boat because that would have put their lives at even greater risk (see background for more about loss of life on these boats).

 

On the flipside, it’s highly likely that general maintenance and upkeep would take a backseat during fishing season(s).  The boats generally worked 6 days a week during fishing season, and since many of the skippers and crew were devout, they did not work on Sundays.  These latter aspects are where I’m setting my intention for weathering my build.  I want to depict a boat that’s been working hard during a herring season.  In other words, I’m not going to depict a boat that’s been beat to hell but also not one that looks like it just rolled off its shipyard stocks.

 

Over the next week or two, I likely won’t post build updates.  During this time, I plan to play around off build with weathering to see if I can hopefully come up with what I want and can translate to the actual build.  I think what I have in my mind’s eye will look pretty cool on the boat…stay tuned!  

 

Cheers,

Jay

[AJohnson]

Good rescue on the paint job, and I like the details you are adding Jay with reference to Marsh; I also referred to him for my Nisha build, his books are a goldmine of useful information and drawings. Looking forward to seeing your weathering work. 

[Keith Black]

 Jay, great recovery work on the hull, it looks fantastic. Good to see your posts. 

 

2 hours ago, Jay 1 said:

People’s livelihoods depended on these boats and were also significant financial investments (see background to get an idea of their cost).  With those factors in mind, a skipper would not likely let his boat become beat to hell

 I was a crew member on a 32 footer fishing salmon in Alaska's Bristol Bay, I also worked in the cannery as a carpenter sometimes doing simple repairs on some of the older wooden fishing boats. Captains/owners get older and seasons for them seem to get longer and more intense. They let one little thing go in the "I'll get to that during the next closure" but they don't and pretty soon their boats are riddled with needed repairs. 

 

 Gary's @FriedClams Last Dollar is a perfect example. 

 

 

[Jay 1]

My apologies for not thanking everyone for looking in, your likes, and for your kind words earlier this week!  Shortly after posting my last updates, I had a couple of high-priority, short deadline things assigned to me at work.  Can't complain about that too much, as my work makes so many things possible for me. 😉

 

Spot on about Marsh, Andrew--he's a goldmine of information that without his work, we likely wouldn't have.  I recently picked up a copy of his Sailing Trawlers for my future Erycina build that's down the road (she's waiting patiently for some attention on my shelf).  Being able to add all sorts of details and etc. are one of the reasons why I enjoy building these little guys so much--they leave a lot of room for expression. 

 

Keith, you've had some great adventures that sound very cool (I hope they were or they are now in retrospect)!  Good point, and well taken, on how skippers can let things slide as they age.  Yep, my statement was a bit too absolutist.... 😝 🤣  I love looking in on Gary's work--he's a superb craftsman/artist!  Where I really was coming from is I've seen weathering that's been so overdone that it doesn't look natural/believable or it doesn't fit in with the rest of the model's setting, if that makes sense?  Gary's weathering is beautifully done on his models and fit/belong within the settings he creates.  Maybe what I'm trying to say, but maybe not so well, is the effect I'm after is something that looks believable vs. something that looks over-the-top?

 

Again, thank you all for popping in, for your likes, for your kind words and encouragement, and for keeping me on my toes! 

 

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Jay 

[Keith Black]

23 minutes ago, Jay 1 said:

I've seen weathering that's been so overdone that it doesn't look natural/believable or it doesn't fit in with the rest of the model's setting, if that makes sense?

 It makes perfect sense, Jay. I'm in the process of and a future battle looms with weathering and grunge work on my latest project. Fortunately the subject is such that it's pretty hard to do too much. I think it's a lot easier to weather subjects made at larger scales. Working at 1:120 it's real easy to get carried away.

[Jay 1]

Oh wow, I totally missed the start of your latest build, Keith!  I just finished your log and it’s a great subject and your work is fantastic!  I’m looking forward to seeing how you tackle the weathering.  Spot on about finding the balance between the scale and not getting carried away.  You’ll hit it out of the park my friend!

[Keith Black]

 Jay, I've been missing seeing your build updates. I hope all is well with you and yours. 

[Jay 1]

Thank you, Keith and Andrew for your concern and kindness.  I recently had a death in my immediate family.  My build and MSW time have taken a backseats with all the things that have needed tending.  It’s been a rough patch lately but we’re all doing okay.  It’ll be a pleasure to get back to building when things ease up a little more. 😊

 

Thank you again guys!

Jay