Zulus, Scottish herring drifters circa. 1890. [COMPLETED BUILD]

[Jack Jäger]

With this collar for the heel of the jibboom I have just about completed the fixed deck fittings



Next I will finish the hardware attached to the masts, yards and booms. I noticed that as well as normal sheaves the boom and main mast have half sheaves, those canny Scotsmen not wanting to pay for the second hole! Then it is on to the sails and rigging, there's not much rigging but it looks interesting. Here are some pics. with the masts and booms sitting in place. That fore mast has some girth to it, March's book claims the big Zulus main masts had a diameter of over twenty-eight inches at deck level, around seven foot circumference.

Cheers JJ..

 

[Heinrich]

What a gorgeous ship you have made Jack. This will be a stunning model when completed.

 

[Jack Jäger]

TAN SAILS IN THE DAWN​

Been ill for the last week or two but back home now, the good news is,(if there is any),as I am interned at home for a couple of weeks I have had plenty of time to work on the wee Zulu.

'Tan sails', In truth I do not have a clue what colour these sails should be, there are no colour photographs that I have seen and the descriptions I have read describe them anything from light tan through olive to dark brown to near black. I have went for a greenish tan.
Unlike the red sails of the English,( tannins of oak bark), The Scottish use 'cutch' to protect their sails and nets from rot ,they boiled them in a solution of it and water for an hour or two at the start of each season. Cutch is the gun of the Acacieae and is sometimes used as a dye, giving an olive tan colour.
With the sails up I am left only with the nets and some more deck 'furniture' to make.
Here are some pics.. Cheers JJ..





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[Martin555.]

TAN SAILS IN THE DAWN​

Been ill for the last week or two but back home now, the good news is,(if there is any),as I am interned at home for a couple of weeks I have had plenty of time to work on the wee Zulu.

'Tan sails', In truth I do not have a clue what colour these sails should be, there are no colour photographs that I have seen and the descriptions I have read describe them anything from light tan through olive to dark brown to near black. I have went for a greenish tan.
Unlike the red sails of the English,( tannins of oak bark), The Scottish use 'cutch' to protect their sails and nets from rot ,they boiled them in a solution of it and water for an hour or two at the start of each season. Cutch is the gun of the Acacieae and is sometimes used as a dye, giving an olive tan colour.
With the sails up I am left only with the nets and some more deck 'furniture' to make.
Here are some pics.. Cheers JJ..





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Fantastic.
A real pleasure for the eyes.

 

[GrantTyler]

TAN SAILS IN THE DAWN​

Been ill for the last week or two but back home now, the good news is,(if there is any),as I am interned at home for a couple of weeks I have had plenty of time to work on the wee Zulu.

'Tan sails', In truth I do not have a clue what colour these sails should be, there are no colour photographs that I have seen and the descriptions I have read describe them anything from light tan through olive to dark brown to near black. I have went for a greenish tan.
Unlike the red sails of the English,( tannins of oak bark), The Scottish use 'cutch' to protect their sails and nets from rot ,they boiled them in a solution of it and water for an hour or two at the start of each season. Cutch is the gun of the Acacieae and is sometimes used as a dye, giving an olive tan colour.
With the sails up I am left only with the nets and some more deck 'furniture' to make.
Here are some pics.. Cheers JJ..





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Good morning Jack. The way you have built this Zulu to be so realistic is unreal. The painting, rope coils, tiny details and now the sails. It’s like someone has taken a shrinking ray gun to the real ship. Really good! Cheers Grant

 

[Heinrich]

I simply love the look of these tan sails Jack. And like Grant has said, the weathering is superb. I am so glad that there are more and more modelers aiming for an authentic as opposed to a "picture perfect" look.

 

[Jack Jäger]

I have started making some of the 'loose' deck fittings; buoys, nets, oars/sweeps, 'wands', boat hooks and spare boom. And am amazed at the length of the oars and punting poles that where used to get out of harbour. March quotes them as being twenty six feet long for the oars and thirty six for the poles (wands). You had to be strong to use these to push a seventy plus foot boat carrying upwards of thirty tons of ballast alone.

As you can see, the 1/64 scale ghost of fisherman past illustrates just how big and unwieldy these oars where. Mind you everything on a Zulu seems to be built big, those fifteen inch triple blocks connected to the wire rope yard lift would not be out of place on a ship of the line. It takes sixty fathoms of rope to raise the main yard the big lug sail weighs near a ton dry. No fun hauling that up in the days before the arrival of the steam capstan!
Although I am displaying 'Boys' with all sails out it would have been rare that anything more than the main would have been set, except for long trips to the south or across to Ireland. Even with the steam capstan it took over ten minutes to change tack on the main mast alone.



The little white dots on the deck is wax from the ropes, better get the blower out! Cheers JJ..

Sugar, I just spotted a wrongly rigged block DARN IT!!!

 

[Peter Voogt]

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I have started making some of the 'loose' deck fittings; buoys, nets, oars/sweeps, 'wands', boat hooks and spare boom. And am amazed at the length of the oars and punting poles that where used to get out of harbour. March quotes them as being twenty six feet long for the oars and thirty six for the poles (wands). You had to be strong to use these to push a seventy plus foot boat carrying upwards of thirty tons of ballast alone.

As you can see, the 1/64 scale ghost of fisherman past illustrates just how big and unwieldy these oars where. Mind you everything on a Zulu seems to be built big, those fifteen inch triple blocks connected to the wire rope yard lift would not be out of place on a ship of the line. It takes sixty fathoms of rope to raise the main yard the big lug sail weighs near a ton dry. No fun hauling that up in the days before the arrival of the steam capstan!
Although I am displaying 'Boys' with all sails out it would have been rare that anything more than the main would have been set, except for long trips to the south or across to Ireland. Even with the steam capstan it took over ten minutes to change tack on the main mast alone.

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The little white dots on the deck is wax from the ropes, better get the blower out! Cheers J..

Sugar, I just spotted a wrongly rigged block DARN IT!!!

Nice pictures with the ‘reference boy’, Jack. With indeed, big oars. That’s the advantage of posting references.
And now you pointed the wrongly rigged block ………… now I see it to . That’s the advantage of posting pictures. As a overlook.
And I loved the way to have made and rigged the sails.
Regards, Peter

 

[Jack Jäger]

The last of the deck fittings have now been added. I finished with the buoys, as well as cork floats attached to the top rope every individual net had a surface buoy and as there was sometimes up to fifty nets there where a lot of buoys. Some photographs show dozens of them lying from stem to stern, others only three or four so I suspect some skippers stored them flat and only blew them up as needed. They where made from a sheep's bladder sown into a sheep skin that then was covered in tar, a wooden stopper was put in when blown up. Its hard to see what colour they where. I went for a greenish tinged grey covered with a semi-gloss black wash to give the look of washed off tar.
With that done I am nearly finished, mostly touching up left to do. Here are some pics. showing the deck and said bits and pieces. I will try to borrow a camera and take some better photos of the complete boat later in the week. Cheers JJ..

 

[dockattner]

Brilliant modeling Jack!

 

[Peter Voogt]

The last of the deck fittings have now been added. I finished with the buoys, as well as cork floats attached to the top rope every individual net had a surface buoy and as there was sometimes up to fifty nets there where a lot of buoys. Some photographs show dozens of them lying from stem to stern, others only three or four so I suspect some skippers stored them flat and only blew them up as needed. They where made from a sheep's bladder sown into a sheep skin that then was covered in tar, a wooden stopper was put in when blown up. Its hard to see what colour they where. I went for a greenish tinged grey covered with a semi-gloss black wash to give the look of washed off tar.
With that done I am nearly finished, mostly touching up left to do. Here are some pics. showing the deck and said bits and pieces. I will try to borrow a camera and take some better photos of the complete boat later in the week. Cheers JJ..

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It's as if they sailed into the harbor with the last breath of wind. Docked, first to the pub for a pint and then we'll see how we clean everything up.
You deserve that too Jack …..Great, with so many tiny realistic details.
Regards, Peter

 

[Jack Jäger]

It's as if they sailed into the harbor with the last breath of wind. Docked, first to the pub for a pint and then we'll see how we clean everything up.
You deserve that too Jack …..Great, with so many tiny realistic details.
Regards, Peter

Cheers, Peter, I will have an extra one for you as well. JJ..

 

[Uwek]

Now the block is correct - and now I can congrat you for this fine and in my opinion very realistic model
The sails are looking very good
Very well done

 

[Uwek]

and I am looking forward to see the final photos

 

[Heinrich]

Congratulations Jack. You have once again created an absolutely beautifully authentic model - you can be very happy with your efforts!

 

[GrantTyler]

The last of the deck fittings have now been added. I finished with the buoys, as well as cork floats attached to the top rope every individual net had a surface buoy and as there was sometimes up to fifty nets there where a lot of buoys. Some photographs show dozens of them lying from stem to stern, others only three or four so I suspect some skippers stored them flat and only blew them up as needed. They where made from a sheep's bladder sown into a sheep skin that then was covered in tar, a wooden stopper was put in when blown up. Its hard to see what colour they where. I went for a greenish tinged grey covered with a semi-gloss black wash to give the look of washed off tar.
With that done I am nearly finished, mostly touching up left to do. Here are some pics. showing the deck and said bits and pieces. I will try to borrow a camera and take some better photos of the complete boat later in the week. Cheers JJ..

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Good morning Jack. First class and I totally agree with Peter. . Cheers Grant

 

[Jack Jäger]

As promised here are some more photographs of the Zulu 'Boys'. This was really a nice little kit to build and I would recommend it to anyone from novice up. Thanks to everyone who took the time to look in. Cheers, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. JJ..




And lastly, A work horse and a race horse.

 

[Martin555.]

As promised here are some more photographs of the Zulu 'Boys'. This was really a nice little kit to build and I would recommend it to anyone from novice up. Thanks to everyone who took the time to look in. Cheers, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. JJ..


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And lastly, A work horse and a race horse.

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Awesome work JJ.
Well done.

 

[Uwek]

WOW - just WOW
great appearance

 

[Donnie]

Wonderful !