Ranger 1864 by palmerit - Vanguard Models - 1:64 - Barking Fish Carrier

[palmerit]

Well, about 30min after finishing my Pram, I've decided my next build: The Vanguard Models Ranger - Barking Fish Carrier - one of several fishing boats Vanguard offers.

 

Months back, I thought my next model would be the Vanguard Duchess of Kingston that I bought, which I originally intended to be my second model after the Sherbourne. But then I realized that I wanted to get more experience with some smaller boats before tackling a larger and more expensive model ship like the Duchess. My first step was getting the Model Shipways Shipwright Series, having completed the Dory and Pram, with the Smack nearly complete. I also snuck in the NRG Half Hull after realizing I also needed some more planking practice.

 

Then I discovered some builds of the Vanguard fishing boats. Seeing a nice Black Friday sale at agesofsail.com back in November I decided to buy the Ranger, Zulu, and Erycina. The Ranger and Zulu are Level I Novice builds, the Erycina is a Level II Amateur build. Someone who built all six models noted that the Ranger, Zulu, and Erycina are larger models, with the Saucy Jack, Nisha, and Fifie their somewhat smaller cousins.

 

There are only a handful of build logs for the Ranger.

[ccoyle]

7 hours ago, palmerit said:

I decided to buy the Ranger, Zulu, and Erycina

 

Uh-oh -- need to develop some sales resistance! But don't ask me how to do that, cuz I don't know!

[palmerit]

One thing I'm trying to do before starting this is ordering paint for the model and dye for the sails. I won't be getting to the sails any time soon, but painting the hull will be potentially weeks away and sometimes it takes a bit for the paint to arrive. I've found scalehobbyist.com has good prices and a good selection of Vallejo paints. 

 

I really like Vallejo Air paints. They work well with my Iwata Airbrush - or at least I've figured out how to use them. The Ranger instructions recommend spray cans, I think of enamel-based paints. I have an airbrush booth in my house, but I know from the couple times I used some enamel spray paints (Tamiya primer on PE), even with the spray booth fan running full speed, it still was too strong for inside. I might need to experiment a bit with mixing some Vallejo colors to find something close.

 

For the white, I'll use the Vallejo Air Off White (Creamweise) 71-270, which I used for my Sherbourne - I think Chris Watton recommended that one. Unless someone recommends something else, I'll go with that.

 

For the black, for now I'm planning on the Vallejo Air Black 71-057, which I also used on my Sherbourne. The opening instructions call for a "Black Red-Brown paints (recommend either Humbrol, Vallejo or Tamiya)" but then just refer to "matte black" later on. I have some other black shades I bought for other projects that I can play around with if I want something that has a red/brown shade to the black. I wasn't sure what "Black Red-Brown" might be.

 

The opening of the instructions does not note that a flat green is also used later on for the windlass and what looks to be an exhaust port of some kind (I'm sure that part has a real name) - I noticed it when skimming the instructions. I think I'm going to order a Vallejo Air Pale Green 71-095 and a Vallejo Model Game Air Angel Green 76-123 and see if some mixture works ok. There wasn't really a good match with in the Vallejo Air paints (https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/). I was going to maybe try the regular Vallejo (which would need to be thinned quite a bit) Splinter Green 70-756 but scalehobbyist.com does not seem to carry it.

 

The toughest is finding a replacement for the "Red Oxide (Hull below waterline) (Recommend Plastikote Red Oxide Primer)" in the Vallejo line. I've found a few options that hover around that color, but it's probably going to take some experimenting in mixing to get a shade I like since nothing really seems to match.

Vallejo Air Red 71-102 (which I have already, and would need to be mixed with something browner)

Vallejo Air Red (Rot) 71-269, which oddly seems to have the same name, different number, and a somewhat different shade (a bit more "red oxide" than the other red)

Vallejo Game Air Scarlet Red 76-012, which definitely would need to be mixed with other reds

Vallejo Game Air Nocturnal Red 76-111, which also would need to be mixed

Vallejo Air German Red Brown (Rotbraun) 71-271, a browner, more oxide-like, but not red enough

I also have some regular Vallejo colors that I could use as mixers (like Vallejo Red Leather 70-818, also not red enough).

 

There was also a blue used as trim around the small deck boat (which is 3D printed). I had bought Vallejo Air French Blue 71-088 and Vallejo Air Magic Blue 76-021 when I thought the Duchess would be my next model. I think one of them would work well.

 

No idea what shade to use to dye the sails - not that that step is coming any time soon. The instructions don't say. I saw in the instructions for another Vanguard fishing boat, the Lady Eleanor, that it said "You can use any dye of your choice, but for prototype, this is the product we used" and it shows a Rit dye in Wine (Bordó). 

 

The only other Ranger build (aside from James's prototype) was one by @DB789 who said "Decided on a colour for the sails, RIT dye tan (mixed quite strong) and after that the sails dipped for a minute or two in weak RIT dye scarlet mixture, the latter to give the sails a less bland brown colour."

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:09 PM by palmerit

[Knocklouder]

Good luck on your journey with this build, pulling up a chair as they say here. There may be only a few logs for this, but there is a ton of help here on MSW .     

Bob  M.

   

[robert952]

I have enjoyed following your other builds. I look forward to watching you progress (and watching your progress) on this build. 

[DB789]

Have fun with this one. I really enjoyed building her, she’s very straightforward and an imposing model when complete due to her tall mast and huge sail area relative to the other Vanguard fishing boats. She’s currently sitting pride of place on my mantelpiece. 
 

Sail colour is entirely a matter of personal choice, I have almost the full range across the six fishing boats, I think I like the ‘rust’ colour achieved on Ranger the best, partly because it doesn’t contrast too much with the white seams / thread running across the sail that doesn’t absorb the dye so the overall effect is less striped. 

[Kenchington]

18 hours ago, palmerit said:

Well, about 30min after finishing my Pram, I've decided my next build: The Vanguard Models Ranger - Barking Fish Carrier - one of several fishing boats Vanguard offers.

I get a weird feeling that I am quietly following in your tracks! I'm still building the fishing gear to fit out my version of the Model Shipways dory, then it will be the pram, followed by the lobster sloop. I've already wondered about the NRG half-hull planking exercise and cast my eye over Vanguard's range of fishing craft. Something about great minds being led up the same path ...

 

As to Ranger:

 

I suspect that the kit is based on the draught that March took off a model loaned him by Robert M. Hewitt. March gives the 1864 construction date but the current Robert Hewett (Robert G.) has a listing of the family's vessels on his website ( https://shortbluefleet.org.uk/vessels-test-page/ ) which shows only the one Ranger: Built at Wivenhoe in 1847 and gone from the fleet sometime after 1863. I have no way to guess which is correct but March was breaking much new ground and a few mistakes along the way would not be surprising. I was in touch with Robert a few years ago and I dare say that he would be willing to explain how he came to the particular details he has listed.

 

March provides one set of spar dimensions and the corresponding sail plan. In his text, however, he wrote of the boom of the summer rig overhanging the taffrail by 14 feet! That would make for a dramatic model, though you would need corresponding dimensions for the gaff and topmast (maybe the bowsprit and topsail yard too).

 

They might exist. The Essex county archives hold some Hewett material, including a notebook of trawl designs from the 1890s, when they were experimenting with new-fangled otter trawling. It's unlikely but not impossible that data on the family's cutters of the mid-19th Century have survived.

 

 

I'll be looking in from time to time to see your model progress but, next up, will be your pram build log!

 

 

Trevor

[Kenchington]

6 hours ago, palmerit said:

No idea what shade to use to dye the sails - not that that step is coming any time soon. The instructions don't say. I saw in the instructions for another Vanguard fishing boat, the Lady Eleanor, that it said "You can use any dye of your choice, but for prototype, this is the product we used" and it shows a Rit dye in Wine (Bordó). 

 

The only other Ranger build (aside from James's prototype) was one by @DB789 who said "Decided on a colour for the sails, RIT dye tan (mixed quite strong) and after that the sails dipped for a minute or two in weak RIT dye scarlet mixture, the latter to give the sails a less bland brown colour."

Dressed sails could show any of a wide variety of colours, depending on the mixture used to dress them, which varied from place to place -- and depending on how much weather they had seen since last being dressed. However, if you seek historical accuracy, you need to approximate the colour used in the prototype of your model. The Scots went for a very dark shade, so a zulu or fifie should have almost black sails. In southern England, shades much closer to modern "tanbark" Dacron sailcloth were more normal, though I think the Norfolk wherries had near-black and that may have been used in other places besides.

 

I don't know of any colour photos of trawling smacks from before the few survivors were given Dacron outfits (or maybe I should say "Terylene", as they likely all have the ICI version of DuPont's fibre) and my own experience aboard a smack was long after she had been decked out in artificial fibre. However, there are contemporary paintings that you could find with a Google image search, which would give you a fair idea of how the originals looked.

 

I'd certainly not go for Vanguard's wine-like version. That looks way too purple to my eye.

 

Also, while dying the fabric: Flax sailcloth should be almost opaque even before being dressed and certainly after. I doubt that, even in bright sunlight, you'd see the shadow of one sail through the fabric of another, when looking up-sun. I'm not suggesting that a model sail should be made that opaque but don't worry about the dye reducing translucency. The sails should not be translucent!

 

Trevor

[palmerit]

Every journey begins with the first step. Making the temporary base. 

[palmerit]

I cut out the 13 bulkheads and the keel. Next time I’ll need to bevel the bulkheads to the marked lines with my Dremel with a sanding wheel. Then it’ll be dry fitting the bulkheads to the keel. 

[palmerit]

22 hours ago, DB789 said:

I think I like the ‘rust’ colour achieved on Ranger the best, partly because it doesn’t contrast too much with the white seams / thread running across the sail that doesn’t absorb the dye so the overall effect is less striped. 

@DB789 had said in your build log "Decided on a colour for the sails, RIT dye tan (mixed quite strong) and after that the sails dipped for a minute or two in weak RIT dye scarlet mixture, the latter to give the sails a less bland brown colour."

 

Can you unpack that a bit?

 

How strong is strong (for the tan) and how weak is weak (for the scarlet)? I maybe dyed something 40 years ago.

 

How long did you keep the sails in the tan (you specified of the scarlet a minute or two)?

 

Did you use the Rit powder or liquid? 

 

Maybe I can start by dying an old t-shirt or something. Any idea what material the sails are made from? The part list in the instructions just say "Cloth". Cotton? Linen? If I'm going to experiment I'd like to find the same material.

Edited yesterday at 10:30 PM by palmerit

[Kenchington]

22 hours ago, Kenchington said:

I don't know of any colour photos of trawling smacks from before the few survivors were given Dacron outfits (or maybe I should say "Terylene", as they likely all have the ICI version of DuPont's fibre) and my own experience aboard a smack was long after she had been decked out in artificial fibre. However, there are contemporary paintings that you could find with a Google image search, which would give you a fair idea of how the originals looked.

Having boldly declared that contemporary paintings exist, I figured I should produce some. No problem if we were talking of a Brixham smack, as they continued under sail into the 1930s. It turns out that paintings of Hewett's "Short Blue" smacks are harder to find. There are some by Edwin Hayes, apparently from late in the 19th Century, such as:

 

 

That gives a broad range of colour tones to choose among!

 

While I was at it, I came across a fine painting showing a "trunking" operation by the Short Blue fleet and supposedly dating from 1860. The anonymous artist showed the sails as undressed canvas, which would certainly be wrong for 1890 but perhaps was the way in earlier decades. The immediate interest for this thread is that the cutter receiving fish just might be "Ranger" herself:

 

[palmerit]

Next step was beveling the edges on some of the bulkheads (only a few). The beveling was pretty mirror and it maybe took 20 min to do them all. 

[palmerit]

Fitted the bulkheads into the keel. There’s no gluing (yet). I had to file the notches on all of the bulkheads because they were quite tight. Pushing them all the way down without filing could have meant snapping a bulkhead or the keel. 

[palmerit]

Still no gluing. 

[palmerit]

Finished the main support structures of the hull. Vanguards models are really engineered well. There’s really little concern about not having the hull support pieces at 90 degree angles because there’s so much redundancy in the way the pieces go together.