A Clyde Puffer, The Vital Spark.

[bertiedog]

As I was browsing Ebay, I spotted this very nice Clyde Puffer ship model, a wooden Far eastern model, in O scale size, at ??9.95!!!

 

About 16 inch long, quite detailed, well finished, but worth a spot of re-working and detailing up. the hull has the right lines, albeit a bit shallower in draught than most real hulls. The bridge roof was far too large and needed cutting down, and the windows are a bit small as well, but left for the moment.

 

The rudder is now on the right way up!, and the fluffy cotton cord replaced with woven black silk. Most of the brass eyelets are replaced with small cast ones, and some cast details added like a door for the engineer to get into the engine house!... coalholes, ladders, steering gear cover plates etc.

 

A few items have been moved to the correct positions, and further work is planned like block and pulleys and proper rigging. The rear handrails could also be worth replacing with a scale brass one with two rails, the current one is single wire in split pins, neat but too low.

 

The rowing boat has been stripped of paint, and will be stained and varnished. Very nicely detailed with paddles etc inside.

 

The crew with be sourced, and some lettering for The Vital Spark, Port of Glasgow, as the model Puffer is pretty near the type that Hugh Foulis wrote about in the famous Para Handy Stories.

 

Nothing has been re-painted as yet except the roof of the bridge, which was sanded to size and filled, then stained black. The unpainted white metal parts are visible in the shots, bases for the vents, buckets, eyelets, and lots of detail castings.

 

So a quayside 7mm shunting layout will be needed?!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen

[highpeak]

What a great little model! It may not be the last word in detail and so on, but it has a real charm to it. And for that price, well....

 

Thanks for sharing that.

[smudgeloco]

Wow, it's worth the money just for the hull alone. Nice model. I want one!

[bertiedog]

Shot of the more re-built 1:43^rd O scale Clyde Puffer Vital Spark, with extra detailing and rigging, reduced vents, and re-built bridge, with wheel and interior, now painted in more correct colours. Pulleys etc have been added, as well as davit and winch for the anchor lifting. The head looks better now, less like an Aussie dunny!

 

Lettering still to be sourced and final details like the funnel braces to go back on.

 

 

I am not using it on the Hastings layout, but will be using it on a small O gauge layout later this year.

 

Stephen

[PhilH]

This might be a good base for 4mm modellers who want a Clyde Puffer - 6 available as at 19-10hrs Sun 13th Dec.

[The Black Hat]

Whats needed now is someone modelling the PS Waverley just to complete the whole Glasgow port or Clyde river scene. Would be brilliant for an 0 gauge layout but whos going to volunteer to build it.

[Forward!]

looks really nice, and for the price the hull shape isnt that bad at all. I would be very tempted to ditch the very dodgy looking ship's boat for something more scale- I have used this super little range before http://www.model-dockyard.com/acatalog/1_48_Scale.html

[bertiedog]

looks really nice, and for the price the hull shape isnt that bad at all. I would be very tempted to ditch the very dodgy looking ship's boat for something more scale- I have used this super little range before http://www.model-doc...1_48_Scale.html

It would cost more than the whole Clyde Puffer!!..... I might be tempted to make one, but it's to the same standard as the rest of the Puffer and will get a tarpaulin fitted to partially cover the plywood sheet look.

 

The Puffer bow shape annoys me a bit, they got the shape of the hull correct except for the bow which should be vertical on typical puffer hulls.

 

Stephen.

[shortliner]

Stephen - I have 17 photos taken 2 Sept 2000, of a puffer, VIC 32, in Caley Marina, Inverness. They are mainly details of things like the winch, and were taken with a very basic digital camera, 640 x480, but if they might be of use, send me an email address This is one that has been brightened slightly in PSP

Jack

[davknigh]

Stephen,

 

You may find some useful information here; http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.mcmanus/plans.htm where a free plan for the M/V Vital Spark can be found for download.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[bertiedog]

Stephen - I have 17 photos taken 2 Sept 2000, of a puffer, VIC 32, in Caley Marina, Inverness. They are mainly details of things like the winch, and were taken with a very basic digital camera, 640 x480, but if they might be of use, send me an email address This is one that has been brightened slightly in PSP

Jack

 

Many thanks for the kind offer, I have to admit that I do know a bit about Puffers, having built several now, and having a scratch built R/c one that was an entry for the Model Engineering Exhibition and the Sandown, and Brighton model shows. I'll PM the email to you as any extra shots are worthwhile, although I have never modelled one of the War Dept VIC types.

 

Photos of the early "real" puffers are quite rare, I have the books etc, and some privately sourced stuff, and a DVD copy of "The Maggie"!! I have also sat through modellers talking about "The Vital Spark" and how accurate a model is, biting my tongue, before reminding them gently that it is all fictional from the pen of Neil Munro, writing as Hugh Foulis!. The current "Vital Spark" is a Vic dressed up as an earlier type.

With Puffers it's all the extra bits and pieces that make the model, this new one is not quite right on a lot of points, but with additions and cover ups more than passes muster.

 

I am trying to source a good material for the tarpaulins! They are needed as the wooden covers are a bit simplified, with no way to secure or remove the planks, and no taper blocks for holding the tarp covers in place. The old model used old Victorian red and green dyed satin cotton handkerchiefs, with a doped finish!

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

Stephen,

 

You may find some useful information here; http://homepage.ntlw...manus/plans.htm where a free plan for the M/V Vital Spark can be found for download.

 

Cheers,

 

David

 

Yes, I have the plan already, it is of an early open top type, not quite the type actually mentioned by Neil Munro, who placed Skipper Para Handy in a wheel house in several incidents in the stories, but as the Vital Spark would have been old in 1920 it could have been a conversion from an early open tiller type, always in those cases one of the Crinan canal lock restriction type.

 

many thanks,

 

Stephen

[KeithMacdonald]

I'm just having a look at the ScaleScenes Clyde Puffer, but was thinking I might not get away with one in a West Country GWR dock setting, or the Rivet Police might have a go at me. Especially if I called it Vital Spark. So I was astonished to find this:
 

Quote

 

GOVERNMENT SERVICE

On Naval service until transfer to the Admiralty at Devonport in 1947. In 1967, one year before she was sold into private hands, she was converted to diesel power.  She has also had the classic "funnel to aft of the wheelhouse" conversion, probably done at the same time as the engine. 

Ref : https://puffersandvics.org/VIC72_eileaneasdale.htm

 

 

Is that really Devonport in Plymouth?

 

 

https://scalescenes.com/product/t030b-clyde-puffer/

 

[RLBH]

11 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Is that really Devonport in Plymouth?

 

I don't see that as particularly surprising - a substantial number of puffers were built as naval victualling craft. hence the preserved example VIC 32 and similar numbers. Presumably they were seen as a rugged, go-anywhere design that could handle a useful load, take the ground if needed, and stand up to a bit of abuse from conscripted crews.

[The Johnster]

Or you could have a go at the infamous ‘Snowflake’; see KNP’s ‘Little Muddle’ thread on ‘Layout Topics’...

[Shedman5]

Lovely model, I still have the book Para Handy Tales  by  Neil Munro ( Hugh Foulis ) which my dad bought for me in Oban in 1966. I seem to recall a TV series was made not 100% sure on that.

 

 

Alan

 

[Killybegs]

Did someone mention Vital Spark?

 

[Gordon A]

Bertiedog, do you have a link to the ebay post for this piece of history?

 

Gordon A

[PMP]

I believe Bertie ‘left the building’ early 2019.

[Gordon A]

2 hours ago, PMP said:

I believe Bertie ‘left the building’ early 2019.

Thanks PMP I had not noted the date.

 

Gordon A

[railroadbill]

 

19 hours ago, Shedman5 said:

Lovely model, I still have the book Para Handy Tales  by  Neil Munro ( Hugh Foulis ) which my dad bought for me in Oban in 1966. I seem to recall a TV series was made not 100% sure on that.

 

 

Alan

Still got my copy, I was quite a fan of Munro's story telling.

 

I remember a black and white TV series from long ago,   Surprised when I looked it up that there have been 3 series, "Para Handy master mariner" in 1959, "The Vital Spark" 1965 in B/W probably what I watched. Some episodes remade in 1973 in  colour.   "The tales of Para Handy" in 1995.  That had Gregor Fisher as Para Handy, the crew were other Scottish comedy actors of the time  and the puffer used was Vic 27.

Great stuff.

Edited February 1, 2020 by railroadbill

[Shedman5]

Thanks for clearing the TV issue up, it would have been  the 1965 series I watched, by 1973 I was interested in other things!!

 

Alan

[KeithMacdonald]

Still available:

Para Handy Hardcover – Special Edition, 16 Jun 2015

"The complete collected stories, contains 18 previously unpublished stories"

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Para-Handy-Neil-Munro/dp/1780273118/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Para+Handy&link_code=qs&qid=1580557011&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1

[Pacific231G]

There were a couple of episodes of the Vital Spark TV series on YouTube until relatively recently but they have now vanished. There is of course the Ealing Comedy The Maggie  (One of my all time favourite films, even better IMHO than The Titfield Thunderbolt) which was very much based on Para Handy. The Inca and Boer (both owned by J&J Hays) that were chartered by Ealing Studios to play  The Maggie in the film were built in 1938 and 1941 respectively by Hays' own yard in Kirkintilloch . They were 'original' puffers rather than VICs but both vessels were scrapped in 1965.   

In the meantime I found this two part 2015 documentary from BBC Alba

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06tkxys/air-an-smuidsteaming-episode-1

It's in Gaelic but subtitled in English. Duncan McGillivray, the (since retired) Islay distillery manager who seems to have been behind the project to restore VIC 27 aka Auld Reekie  - the puffer that played the Vital Spark in the 3 TV series- makes  the point that "no two of them were alike" and on Islay for Puffer spotting seems to have been the local childrens' answer to train spotting "but we didn't have notebooks, we knew all their names".  I assume the VICs were pretty much alike being built to a government order, though in many small boatyards, but the Puffers written about by Neil Munro from 1905 to 1923 were very individual. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Pacific231G
update on the period Neil Munro wrote about

[railroadbill]

7 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

There were a couple of episodes of the Vital Spark TV series on YouTube until relatively recently but they have now vanished. There is of course the Ealing Comedy The Maggie  (One of my all time favourite films, even better IMHO than The Titfield Thunderbolt) which was very much based on Para Handy. The Inca and Boer (both owned by J&J Hays) that were chartered by Ealing Studios to play  The Maggie in the film were built in 1938 and 1941 respectively by Hays' own yard in Kirkintilloch . They were 'original' puffers rather than VICs but both vessels were scrapped in 1965.   

In the meantime I found this two part 2015 documentary from BBC Alba

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06tkxys/air-an-smuidsteaming-episode-1

It's in Gaelic but subtitled in English. Duncan McGillivray, the Islay distillery manager who seems to have been behind the project to restore VIC 27 aka Auld Reekie  - the puffeer that played the Vital Spark in the 3 TV series- makes  the point that "no two of them were alike" and on Islay for the local children Puffer spotting seems to have been their answer to train spotting "but we didn't have notebooks, we knew all their names".  I assume the VICs were pretty much alike being built to a government spec. but the Puffers written about by Neil Munro from 1905  were very individual. 

Just had a quick look, very interesting!  Subtitles help of course,  I'll watch the rest tomorrow.  A good find, thanks.