HMS ONTARIO - A MARISSTELLA WOODEN SHIP KIT

José Catela Pequeno · Dec 27, 2025

Hello!
I hope all of you had a great Christmas Season.

My Ontario build is slowly progressing.

The first phase of the gun deck planking is complete. All the planks were glued to the veneer.
It will now have to be sanded, the spaces between planks filled with dark wood filler paste to simulate the caulking, sanded again and finally drilled for the treenails construction with toothpicks. Last of all I will apply linseed oil. It will also have to be prepared to receive all the metal rings and nails securing the cannons to the deck.

I also proceeded with the transom. It is not yet completely trimmed - I have to dry fit the planks of the hull before trimming it; can't be too careful to avoid making a mistake and having to re-do the whole part....

I found the construction quite difficult to my skills, but the result, so far, is not that bad.

It also seems to fit the model quite well.

Not very beautiful seen from the inside, but it will not be visible when the build is complete, so no issues.

I am considering the possibility of planking the upper part of the transom on the inside, above the upper deck. Instructions are not completely clear about this.

I also had to remove the two vertical wood parts that go between the outer and inner hull planks and allow to secure the complete transom in place. They will have to be reinstalled.

I whish you a great 2026!

Best regards

Catela

GrantTyler · Dec 27, 2025

José Catela Pequeno said:
Hello!
I hope all of you had a great Christmas Season.

My Ontario build is slowly progressing.

The first phase of the gun deck planking is complete. All the planks were glued to the veneer.
It will now have to be sanded, the spaces between planks filled with dark wood filler paste to simulate the caulking, sanded again and finally drilled for the treenails construction with toothpicks. Last of all I will apply linseed oil. It will also have to be prepared to receive all the metal rings and nails securing the cannons to the deck.

View attachment 566396

I also proceeded with the transom. It is not yet completely trimmed - I have to dry fit the planks of the hull before trimming it; can't be too careful to avoid making a mistake and having to re-do the whole part....

I found the construction quite difficult to my skills, but the result, so far, is not that bad.

View attachment 566404 View attachment 566398

It also seems to fit the model quite well.

View attachment 566399 View attachment 566400

Not very beautiful seen from the inside, but it will not be visible when the build is complete, so no issues.

I am considering the possibility of planking the upper part of the transom on the inside, above the upper deck. Instructions are not completely clear about this.

I also had to remove the two vertical wood parts that go between the outer and inner hull planks and allow to secure the complete transom in place. They will have to be reinstalled.

I whish you a great 2026!

Best regards

Catela

Good morning Jose. I hope you had a great Christmas. Nice deck planking, the pattern is real good. I model like you do. If it’s going to be covered up there is no need for it to be neat and tidy- just right ROTF

. The rear of the transom is looking mighty fine. Cheers Grant

José Catela Pequeno · Jan 26, 2026

Hi,
I finished the treenails on the gun deck.
It served mainly as practice, since, for the most part, it will covered by the upper deck and will not be visible .
I was planning to apply dark wood filler between the deck planks to simulate caulking, but decided not to. The planks are too close too one another for that, with a few exceptions due to uneven installation.
To avoid this in the upper deck, I'll probably built it before installing it to the model. I believe it will be easier to guarantee the right clearance between planks and correct alignment of the treenails.
A photo of the deck after sanding and application linseed oil.

It can be seen that the wood supplied for the planking varies significantly. Largest and most consistent differences may be observed between the simple wood strips and the side laser cut boards the finished the lateral of the deck under the wall boards.
I also installed the side parts of the bulkheads. These have to be carefully installed, to prevent misalignment of the beams that support the upper deck and, consequently, misalignment of the two decks.
Built a small wooden tool to verify that the transverse beams are well centered and will guarantee the alignment between the two decks, while gluing the bulkhead sides.

The deck and bulkhead sides glued in place, with the beams removed again.

The next step will be to trim the lateral surfaces of the hull. I verified that the adjustment of the side pieces of the bulkheads to the transverse beams resulted in some slight misalignment with the hull. Probably something was not as properly aligned as it should be during construction, because the kit laser cut parts seam to be very accurate.
Best regards,
Catela

Neil_jo · Jan 26, 2026

It's looking good so far Jose. I took a break from mine but am back at it now.

Neil

Namabiiru · Jan 26, 2026

Looks good to me!

GrantTyler · Tuesday at 2:42 AM

José Catela Pequeno said:
Hi,
I finished the treenails on the gun deck.
It served mainly as practice, since, for the most part, it will covered by the upper deck and will not be visible .
I was planning to apply dark wood filler between the deck planks to simulate caulking, but decided not to. The planks are too close too one another for that, with a few exceptions due to uneven installation.
To avoid this in the upper deck, I'll probably built it before installing it to the model. I believe it will be easier to guarantee the right clearance between planks and correct alignment of the treenails.
A photo of the deck after sanding and application linseed oil.
View attachment 573051

It can be seen that the wood supplied for the planking varies significantly. Largest and most consistent differences may be observed between the simple wood strips and the side laser cut boards the finished the lateral of the deck under the wall boards.
I also installed the side parts of the bulkheads. These have to be carefully installed, to prevent misalignment of the beams that support the upper deck and, consequently, misalignment of the two decks.
Built a small wooden tool to verify that the transverse beams are well centered and will guarantee the alignment between the two decks, while gluing the bulkhead sides.
View attachment 573053 View attachment 573054
The deck and bulkhead sides glued in place, with the beams removed again.
View attachment 573057

The next step will be to trim the lateral surfaces of the hull. I verified that the adjustment of the side pieces of the bulkheads to the transverse beams resulted in some slight misalignment with the hull. Probably something was not as properly aligned as it should be during construction, because the kit laser cut parts seam to be very accurate.
Best regards,
Catela

View attachment 573056

Good morning Jose. Those treenails look pretty good to me. I’m having a similar problem with my planks and it does get frustrating sometimes. Lovely work. Cheers Grant

gedailey · Tuesday at 8:35 PM

José Catela Pequeno said:
Hello!
I hope all of you had a great Christmas Season.

My Ontario build is slowly progressing.

The first phase of the gun deck planking is complete. All the planks were glued to the veneer.
It will now have to be sanded, the spaces between planks filled with dark wood filler paste to simulate the caulking, sanded again and finally drilled for the treenails construction with toothpicks. Last of all I will apply linseed oil. It will also have to be prepared to receive all the metal rings and nails securing the cannons to the deck.

View attachment 566396

I also proceeded with the transom. It is not yet completely trimmed - I have to dry fit the planks of the hull before trimming it; can't be too careful to avoid making a mistake and having to re-do the whole part....

I found the construction quite difficult to my skills, but the result, so far, is not that bad.

View attachment 566404 View attachment 566398

It also seems to fit the model quite well.

View attachment 566399 View attachment 566400

Not very beautiful seen from the inside, but it will not be visible when the build is complete, so no issues.

I am considering the possibility of planking the upper part of the transom on the inside, above the upper deck. Instructions are not completely clear about this.

I also had to remove the two vertical wood parts that go between the outer and inner hull planks and allow to secure the complete transom in place. They will have to be reinstalled.

I whish you a great 2026!

Best regards

Catela

Very nicely done Jose'. I am working on the earlier version of this ship. The Updates I notice are good changes . This Transom area for my skills I am fineing most difficult, but I am hanging in ,having pulled it apart once to fit properly with the upper deck and windows. Still on it but getting through it. I appreciate your build and photos. Can't wait to see how you approach the lifeboat..... anyway many thanks.....I will be with you on this build..........

José Catela Pequeno · Wednesday at 7:58 AM

Hi Gedailey,

Thanks for your comments.

Maristella classifies this model as an "intermediate" kit... I wonder how difficult the "advanced" models will be...
I should not complain though, for I was looking for a more difficult kit after my first one. Well, I surely found one!
Plus, this is a hobby for me and has be to challenging, otherwise it will get boring.

The transom is quite an headache.
Mine seems to fit well on the model, but is by no means perfect (photos hide a lot of defects and mistakes...) and there is still a lot do do before being completely sure.
I cannot imagine the difficulty it was to build it without the jig they supply with these later kits.
Have you tried to ask Maristella to provide you with the jig and last version of the laser cut parts for the transom. I used them as they came with the kit and, even so, I found it difficult to build. Actually it is not finished yet: I am postponing the day I'll have to cut/trim the plank sides...An error and it will have to be built again...

The dingy will probably be another headache: how to prevent the planks from being glued to the boat construction jig?... I'll find out when I get there! Perhaps covering the jig with food/kitchen wrap film may be a solution. It will have to be investigated with some tentative solutions.

From my short experience it pays to invest time investigating how to do some operations, before getting to the definitive thing and spend the precious parts supplied with the model: lots of dry fitting...

For the time being I am focused on starting the inner planking. The hull is ready to receive the outside planking and the two decks do align quite well.
I already started to think about how to cut the cannon ports, sweep ports and hull sheave holes, properly aligned, which seems to me to be the major difficulty.

Best regards
Catela

gedailey · Wednesday at 9:26 AM

José Catela Pequeno said:
Hi Gedailey,

Thanks for your comments.

Maristella classifies this model as an "intermediate" kit... I wonder how difficult the "advanced" models will be...
I should not complain though, for I was looking for a more difficult kit after my first one. Well, I surely found one!
Plus, this is a hobby for me and has be to challenging, otherwise it will get boring.

The transom is quite an headache.
Mine seems to fit well on the model, but is by no means perfect (photos hide a lot of defects and mistakes...) and there is still a lot do do before being completely sure.
I cannot imagine the difficulty it was to build it without the jig they supply with these later kits.
Have you tried to ask Maristella to provide you with the jig and last version of the laser cut parts for the transom. I used them as they came with the kit and, even so, I found it difficult to build. Actually it is not finished yet: I am postponing the day I'll have to cut/trim the plank sides...An error and it will have to be built again...

The dingy will probably be another headache: how to prevent the planks from being glued to the boat construction jig?... I'll find out when I get there! Perhaps covering the jig with food/kitchen wrap film may be a solution. It will have to be investigated with some tentative solutions.

From my short experience it pays to invest time investigating how to do some operations, before getting to the definitive thing and spend the precious parts supplied with the model: lots of dry fitting...

For the time being I am focused on starting the inner planking. The hull is ready to receive the outside planking and the two decks do align quite well.
I already started to think about how to cut the cannon ports, sweep ports and hull sheave holes, properly aligned, which seems to me to be the major difficulty.

Best regards
Catela

Yes I am with you on being challenge and I am stubborn so I know I will get there. This is my second ship . I learned on the first ship that instructions are not always dead on. but the craft is rewarding. On my transom the bottom half is in and the window second just needs a little lift to be above the upper deck.problem solved ,I hope.........On the dingy I have double plank it and ground out the inside. Came out good, but now directions say grab your scrapes and make the inner frame , so while I figure that out ,on to the canons . So yes, a great challenging kit indeed. Great chatting with you , loving what you have done so far........Thank You......George