Sherbourne by DB789 - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[DB789]

Sherbourne is my 11th model boat build and all of them kits from Vanguard due to their excellent quality in terms or design, quality of materials and instructions. 
 

Having just completed Duchess of Kingston I had intended to continue to increase the complexity of my builds with Speedy next, followed by Sphinx and maybe ultimately Surprise. But I was given Sherbourne last year and she’s a very cute little cutter so I’m building her with the plan of developing my skills a little further. 
 

My three key objectives are: 1) attempt to plank her deck rather than use the engraved deck from Vanguard; 2) try yellow ochre paint on the sides of the hull rather than varnished wood; 3 get to grips with wipe-on poly which isn’t readily available made up in the UK and my previous efforts, I think using the wrong thinner, have failed. 
 

I loved building the Vanguard fishing boats and this little boat has a similar feel. 
 

This kit is clearly meant for and ideal for beginners, but is still an exceptionally high quality kit given all the same Vanguard treatment as other kits in the range for a price that is simply far too low for what you get. 19 sheets of plans! Full colour detailed instructions with photos, high quality pear wood and brass PE. This will build into a wonderful little boat. 
 

The first stages are assembling the frames which fit together precisely and create a rock solid core for planking later. These are made of MDF and easily slot together with no breakages. The four timbers at the stern are wood which is nice as they will be the only parts of this structure visible in the finished kit. 
I have been describing Sherbourne as small, but I hadn’t quite realised how small she is. The behemoth next door to her is no ship of the line but merely another cutter Alert (albeit a large one). 
She is even dwarfed by some of the fishers: 

Zulu

Fifie

Even the tiny Nisha appears to have a marginally longer, albeit less voluminous hull. 
Size isn’t everything, she’ll be great fun to build. 

 

[DB789]

Please could anyone point me towards some materials that advise how best to do deck planking. I have never done this before. I can’t find information on MSW but I’m sure it’s there somewhere?! Thank you. 
 

Any advice on what wood to use (bass seems popular for decks?) and width (3mm?) and thickness (1mm?). I’ll likely use a pencil to simulate the caulking. Even better where to get the wood from in the UK, doesn’t look like Cornwall Model Boats where I usually buy model supplies has anything suitable. I’d like to get the materials 

 

Thanks so much. 
 

Dan

[0gri]

Hi DB,have a look at Tanganyka Strip,a lot of companys supply it as there decking and CWM have it in stock in 1x3mm.best of british with your build,regards Mark.

 

[bigcreekdad]

Yo DB.....I cut my own deck planks (Jim saw) out of some maple pieces I acquired at the now closed (here anyway) Woodcraft shop. Turned our quite IMO.

[chris watton]

1 hour ago, DB789 said:

Sherbourne is my 11th model boat build and all of them kits from Vanguard due to their excellent quality in terms or design, quality of materials and instructions. 
 

Having just completed Duchess of Kingston I had intended to continue to increase the complexity of my builds with Speedy next, followed by Sphinx and maybe ultimately Surprise. But I was given Sherbourne last year and she’s a very cute little cutter so I’m building her with the plan of developing my skills a little further. 
 

My three key objectives are: 1) attempt to plank her deck rather than use the engraved deck from Vanguard; 2) try yellow ochre paint on the sides of the hull rather than varnished wood; 3 get to grips with wipe-on poly which isn’t readily available made up in the UK and my previous efforts, I think using the wrong thinner, have failed. 
 

I loved building the Vanguard fishing boats and this little boat has a similar feel. 
 

This kit is clearly meant for and ideal for beginners, but is still an exceptionally high quality kit given all the same Vanguard treatment as other kits in the range for a price that is simply far too low for what you get. 19 sheets of plans! Full colour detailed instructions with photos, high quality pear wood and brass PE. This will build into a wonderful little boat. 
 

The first stages are assembling the frames which fit together precisely and create a rock solid core for planking later. These are made of MDF and easily slot together with no breakages. The four timbers at the stern are wood which is nice as they will be the only parts of this structure visible in the finished kit. 
I have been describing Sherbourne as small, but I hadn’t quite realised how small she is. The behemoth next door to her is no ship of the line but merely another cutter Alert (albeit a large one). 
She is even dwarfed by some of the fishers: 

Zulu

Fifie

 

Even the tiny Nisha appears to have a marginally longer, albeit less voluminous hull. 
Size isn’t everything, she’ll be great fun to build. 

 

You would not believe the amount of emails I get from people asking why is the Alert (and Trial) more expensive than the Sherbourne, after all, they say, they are all cutters!

[Ronald-V]

Great start with a beautiful kit, and indeed, the size difference compared to the Alert is enormous! I didn't expect that.

 

Wish you all the best with this one!👌

[AJohnson]

Hi Dan, I will be following along, I built the Caldercraft version years ago, but it is not the same quality as the Vanguard one, so it will be interested to see your develop.  

[captain_hook]

18 hours ago, DB789 said:

Please could anyone point me towards some materials that advise how best to do deck planking. I have never done this before. I can’t find information on MSW but I’m sure it’s there somewhere?! Thank you. 
 

Any advice on what wood to use (bass seems popular for decks?) and width (3mm?) and thickness (1mm?). I’ll likely use a pencil to simulate the caulking. Even better where to get the wood from in the UK, doesn’t look like Cornwall Model Boats where I usually buy model supplies has anything suitable. I’d like to get the materials 

 

Thanks so much. 
 

Dan

 

Hello and good luck with the build. If I remember correctly, the Caldercraft Sherbourne kit included 4x0.5mm Tanganyika planks for deck planking. I used 4x1.0mm holly for my Sherbourne, which simulates faded wood very well, basswood and maple would also be good options. Boxwood is certainly a more elegant option, but that would be expensive.

 

There are many ways to simulate caulking. It also depends on how clearly you want it to be visible. A soft pencil would be a more subtile accent, but a more intense finish would be to paint the sides of the deck planks with diluted black acrylic paint (pre-treat with clear varnish and let it dry so the paint doesn't soak deeply into the wood later). I've also seen model ships where the deck planks were separated with black cellulose or paper. This also looks very good, at least at a larger scale.

[DB789]

Chris - I can’t believe you get those emails - given their high quality, your kits are underpriced as it is!
 

Nonetheless it is really hard to see the relative sizes of different boat kits from standalone photos, even when you provide full dimensions. Do you have finished versions of both Sherbourne and Alert? If not, would it help if I sent you side by side photos of Sherbourne and Alert once completed that you can send in reply to those emails? I haven’t a Trial yet to include. 

 

Mark & Hook - thanks so much for the advice on planks. I’ll likely try the tang from Cornwall Model Boats have. I may get 0.5 and 1mm to try both and see what looks best. The planks on the Vanguard engraved deck are ~3.5mm width. I think I’ll go with 3mm width planks, but could do 4mm.

I have found a boxwood option. I might try that too. It’s only £12 for ten strips of 0.7x3.4x1000 mm which doesn’t sound too expensive but the company is on holiday until 8 Sept. 
 

BigCreek - thanks but I don’t have the equipment (or skill) to cut my own planks! 
 

Ronald - thank you. Loving your Sphinx build. Hugely impressive. 
 

Andrew - thank you, great to hear you’re back on the case with Bounty and Sparkler. 
 

 

[bigcreekdad]

DB...if it took much skill I wouldn't own one. Good Luck.

[DB789]

I’ve not had much time for shipbuilding recently, but I’ve managed to progress on Sherbourne slowly but not keep a full build log. 
 

My intent with this build was to work on three areas:

 

1. Learn to plank the deck. This goal failed. I ordered some expensive boxwood from a cabinet maker online. The strips that came were a deep yellow colour (apparently Boxwood can be). The real problem was that they splintered when I tried to soak them, bend them, cut them, etc. 

I started out using tracing / baking paper to trace the outlines of the margin plank from Chris’s engraved deck then glued this to a 1cm wide boxwood strip. Then tried to cut the shapes out but they splintered into pieces. I then tried soaking a strip and bending it to shape. 
 

I could just about get the shape, but the wood splintered in doing so. 

Clearly the wrong wood for the job. 
 

I got fed up so I reverted to the engraved deck rather than order a different wood to try. 
 

I really like the Vanguard engraved decks. I’m less keen when they’re cut away to show the interior as they are on Sphinx and Surprise. The cutaway deck works really well on Harpy as it makes the model much more interesting, but in my opinion detracts from the small frigates. It’s entirely a personal preference but I’d prefer they weren’t cut away as standard. I’d like to have had the option to fully deck Surprise myself so I can choose whether to have the cutaway engraved deck or not. I may have another go with deck planking on my next build (Speedy).
 

2. Paint the hull yellow ochre and see how it turns out. My planking can be messy so it’s nice to have the option of a fully painted hull. 

 

Sherbourne was one of my worst yet planking jobs, not that it mattered as everything that is planked is below the wales and painted white. I’ve been short of time and may have rushed the fairing so the planks didn’t lie as well as they should. Entirely my mistake. Some photos of the first planking below. It was worse than it looks here!

I also snapped the inner plywood bulwark and am eternally grateful for Chris’s superb customer service at Vanguard. He very kindly sent me a replacement. 
 

3. Mix and use wipe-on poly. You can’t easily buy wipe-on poly in the UK. I used the Blackfriars oil based polyeurethane varnish clear satin that BE recommended and mixed it with white spirit 50:50. Seems to work well. The effect on bare pear wood is almost identical to the finish I’ve achieved on other boats with Danish oil. Being a varnish I guess it seals and protects the wood better. 
 

The latter two have been a success  - some progress photos below: 

There’s still work to be done to the hull before starting the rigging. I’m not going to put any ropes on the cannons on this build. I forgot to do so before fitting the ring bolts to the bulwarks and they’re so small on this build that I’m not going to try and add them later. 

Edited Monday at 10:24 PM by DB789

[Peter S]

Looking really good. I hope to be starting my build of Sherbourne in the new year after I finish my Bounty Jolly Boat build (getting very close). Have been following your progress and like what you have done so far and am always interested in the experiences that you encounter along the way. Your paint job is awesome. Did you use a brush or spray? I have also found it difficult to get wipe on poly here in Australia. (I might not be looking in the right places!)

 

[Nick 843]

Your yellow ochre looks great.

Nick

[chris watton]

12 hours ago, DB789 said:

I really like the Vanguard engraved decks. I’m less keen when they’re cut away to show the interior as they are on Sphinx and Surprise. The cutaway deck works really well on Harpy as it makes the model much more interesting, but in my opinion detracts from the small frigates. It’s entirely a personal preference but I’d prefer they weren’t cut away as standard. I’d like to have had the option to fully deck Surprise myself so I can choose whether to have the cutaway engraved deck or not. I may have another go with deck planking on my next build (Speedy).

This is always the issue, I cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

 

However, after reading this, I have done a modified Surprise upper deck with NO cut outs (apart from the required ones for hatches). So if anyone orders a Surprise, let me know if they want a deck with no extra cutouts to show the beams. So for my next kit, at least, the option is there - you will just need to ask.

 

Edited 20 hours ago by chris watton

[Thukydides]

13 hours ago, DB789 said:

I really like the Vanguard engraved decks. I’m less keen when they’re cut away to show the interior as they are on Sphinx and Surprise. The cutaway deck works really well on Harpy as it makes the model much more interesting, but in my opinion detracts from the small frigates. It’s entirely a personal preference but I’d prefer they weren’t cut away as standard. I’d like to have had the option to fully deck Surprise myself so I can choose whether to have the cutaway engraved deck or not. I may have another go with deck planking on my next build (Speedy).

One option is just to buy some extra strips and plank the deck yourself. It will look better and then you can control the amount of planking you want to do.

 

Well done on sherbourne, you are making good progress.

[AJohnson]

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

This is always the issue, I cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

 

However, after reading this, I have done a modified Surprise upper deck with NO cut outs (apart from the required ones for hatches). So if anyone orders a Surprise, let me know if they want a deck with no extra cutouts to show the beams. So for my next kit, at least, the option is there - you will just need to ask.

 

You are spoiling us Chris, most (if not all other manufacturers) would say "like it or lump it!" 

[AJohnson]

2 hours ago, Nick 843 said:

Your yellow ochre looks great.

Nick

Agreed, your Sherbourne is looking very Smart Dan! 👍

[chris watton]

23 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

You are spoiling us Chris, most (if not all other manufacturers) would say "like it or lump it!" 

If the customer is happy, then I am happy! Doing alternatives like this is possible because I produce all my own stuff, rather than sub contracting to some Chinese company. So if I feel I have the time and it can be done, I shall endeavour to do it - like personalised nameplates for pre orders on some past kits.

[DB789]

Thanks Chris, that’s amazing and very kind of you. It’s entirely my personal preference not in any way a criticism. Your kits are fantastic and I’d build them with or without cutaway decks! 
 

Thukydides you are absolutely right, I could do my own deck planking which was my goal on Sherbourne. My intent had been to learn to deck plank on this kit so I could do the deck planking on a much bigger Surprise later. It didn’t go to plan on Sherbourne as shown above and unfortunately life is particularly busy right now so I decided not to persevere. 
 

Nick and Andrew - thank you for your kind words. 
 

Peter - thanks but the photos flatter my painting skills. I don’t use an airbrush, I know it gives a  better finish, but I’m getting decent results just brush painting. The main reason for this is that I enjoy brush painting the kits! It’s part of the fun for me. I do use rattlecan sprays for the white lower hull and also a black can to provide an initial coat of paint to the PE and some other larger black parts. The brushed colours are black and yellow ochre from the Vanguard paints set. The black spray is Citadel Chaos Black and the white spray PlastiKote Matt white (both recommendations from other build logs on MSW). 

if you do need to mix wipe-on poly the key I missed the first couple of times is ensuring that the polyeurethane varnish used is oil-based. 50:50 mix seems good to me. Good luck with Sherbourne, she’s a lovely little kit. Once you’ve built a Vanguard kit I doubt you’ll want to go back to other manufacturers.