The other day I found a beautiful model by CPomeroy on Thingiverse of a scottish Fifie class fishing vessel. The size required to adapt the two hull pieces to fit onto my printbed. I opted to shorten the Front Part to a length of 95%, which Just barely fit onto the printer. After some 9 hours, the hull was printed and I really like it.
After some Research, I decided to make a Diesel Motor Variant. However this is not to portray a specific prototype, as there were many, but not many survive. Some models had the rear mast in front of the wheelhouse, mine has it aft of the wheelhouse. And as the ships were numerous and variable in design, my model represents a faithful fife, but not a specific one.
The Fifie
Here is what Wikipedia has to offer about the vessel: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifie (reprinted below).
The Fifie is a design of sailing boat developed on the east coast of Scotland. It was a traditional fishing boat used by Scottish fishermen from the 1850s until well into the 20th century. These boats were mainly used to fish for herring using drift nets, and along with other designs of boat were known as herring drifters.
While the boats varied in design, they can be categorised by their vertical stem and stern, their long straight keel and wide beam. These attributes made the Fifies very stable in the water and allowed them to carry a very large set of sails. The long keel, however, made them difficult to manoeuvre in small harbours.
Design
Sailing Fifies had two masts with the standard rig consisting of a main dipping lug sail and a mizzen standing lug sail.[1] The masts were positioned far forward and aft on the boat to give the maximum clear working space amidships. A large fifie could reach just over 20 metres (66 ft) in length. Because of their large sail area they were very fast sailing boats.
Fifies built after 1860 were all decked and from the 1870s onwards the bigger boats were built with carvel planking, i.e. the planks were laid edge to edge instead of the overlapping clinker style of previous boats. The introduction of steam powered capstans in the 1890s, to help raising the lugs sails, allowed the size of these vessels to increase from 30 feet (9.14 m) to over 70 feet (21.34 m) in length. From about 1905 onwards sailing Fifies were gradually fitted with engines and converted to motorised vessels.
There are few surviving examples of this type of fishing boat still in existence. The Scottish Fisheries Museum based in Anstruther, Fife has restored and still sails a classic example of this type of vessel named the Reaper. The Swan Trust in Lerwick, Shetland have restored and maintain another Fifie, The Swan, as a sail training vessel. She now takes over 1000 trainees each year, and has taken trainees to participate in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races to ports in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland as well as around the UK. The Isabella Fortuna is owned by the Wick Society.
So much for Wikipedia.
I believe the class name Fivie is derrived from the Region the ships were built.
My model obviously still has a long way to go. First I need to fill the gaps in the hull and sand it smooth, then the stringers above the waterline need to be added. The rigging is missing. The gig or dinghi needs a proper place aboard. There is no engine exhaust There is no wheelhouse interior (I forgot the glazing, so I need to remove the wheelhouse anyway, and the interior will be added at that time). And the boat is made in PLA+, so I need to paint it „wooden style“.
On the printbed right now: 1,2mm profiles, steeringwheel stand, more Herring boxes, even some herrings, bollards and more oars for the smaller boats.
So much for now.
Cheers. Mirco