Santa Maria1:48 (Pavel Nikitin)

I started this ship a few months ago. Then stopped for a while. I've managed to get some more work done on it this week. I'm hoping I can complete this nice looking ship.

I'll not in include the kit contents. They are shown in this fine build log. build log

Pavel has a build log on youtube here that also shows the kit parts : build log

The builds sequence in the youtube build log and the kit instruction booklet don't match up. I tend to look at both as I am building. There are some things added in the kit instructions that should be added at a later time. I put more of my building emphasis on watching the youtube videos as they show more of what is being done.

I don't have too much done yet and haven't taken very many photos I'm at about Step 12 "inner side boards). I went back today and rewatched some previous videos to make sure I've done everything. I also reviewed previous steps in the kit instructions. So far I've found in "Step by Step #8 Power frame Part 6" the bulkheads were 'faired' I missed this and working on this now. I've having a little trouble following the instructions (my fault not the instructions) as my skills aren't too good anymore. I find I make as many mistakes as I do getting things right. But I try to keep moving along.

I got all the framing finished. I had to wait a couple months for parts for the slipway. The slipway kit included duplicate parts sheets and was missing some parts sheets. So couldn't build the slipway until the parts arrived.


I put the main deck together in two large pieces and slipped them into place. The deck pieces don't go all the way to the bulkhead bulwarks. Theres a small strip that is cut to fit this missing area. It's called the 'waterway' in the youtube video. I measure the exact are that need to be covered and added it before slipping the two deck halves into place.


While I was building the main deck, I went ahead and built the smaller decks.


The deck template I made must have been pretty accurate (luck on my part) as the two pieces slid right into place and the center seam matched perfectly.


Don't remember for sure, but think the youtube video add the inside timbers next. Some of the upper decking timbers were added in the video before installing the inner side boards. But I left these off. They tend to be in the way and are now needed now. I cut small 'scuppers' in the bottom inner board. The instruction don't do this. I also sanded and airbrushed the bulwarks as they can been seen through the inner side boards.



I shifted the ship on the slipway so I can 'fair' the frames. Not one of my favorite things to do. But I'll take my time.


That's it for right now. After fairing the frames I'll go back over the videos/instuctions to see if I had forgotten anything else. If not, looks lie the wales are next.

Wale question for you knowledgeable builders... Sometimes my thought process needs a little help.

The wales (2 - 2mm thick planks) fit into this channel on the side of the hull. The first 2mm plank is glued in, the the second 2mm plank is glued over the top of the first, making a 4mm thick wale. I've temporally set the plank in the channel. The individual cuts are not uniform in depth, especially noticeable at the bow and stern. In the Pavel youtube build log the person (Pavel?) cut what looks like a 4" length of wood and glues it (at the stern) between the 2 wales making the wale protrude higher above the planks next to it. I would like to preempt this by setting the wale where it should be to begin with.

I'm thinking when the 2 planks are set in place they should extend 3mm above the curve of the bulkheads. When the normal planks (2mm) are set next to the wale the wale should protrude 1mm higher than the regular planking. Does this sound correct?

If this is correct, then I need to measure each bulkhead as the wale in placed in the groove to make sure it is 3mm higher from the edge of the bulkhead. I will need to shim some and file down some.

The reason I am cautious about this that I've seen images of builds on some sites/youtube where the wale is not uniform in height against the regular planks. I hope to take my time and make this build a little better from my previous builds.

Thanks for any suggestions or if this sounds like a good approach.

The first plank to go on the hull is the wale. It is make up of 2 - 2mm thick planks. 4mm would be tough to bend, so the kit has one plank glued over the other, giving a total thickness of 4mm. The standard hull planks are 2mm thick.

There is a precut groove in the bulkheads to accept the wale. I'm guesing the 4mm wale is suppose to extend 1mm higher than the surrounding planks. To me this means the wale should set 1mm below the edge of the bulkhead. Then a 2mm plank next to it, leaving 1mm above the surrounding planks. This is how I see the wale being attached.


So the groove varies between about .8 to 2.1 mm deep. Depths are all over the place. Could be my leveling from sanding? Don't know. I do know that in the youtube videos the builder placed some additional material between the planks at the stern. What I'm trying to figure out is how am I going to level this? As far as I can guess the groove should be 1 mm deep. I'm thinking I can glue some material into the groove on each bulkhead, make a 1mm jig to measure and sand them to a 1 mm depth. Or, I can glue a thicker piece into each groove and sand it level with the bulkhead edge. Then sand one of the wale pieces to 1mm thick, making the wale 3mm high, extending above standard hull planks by 1mm.

Thoughts anyone?

I don't know anything about your particular ship or the engineering built into this kit- but I can say that the wale should stand proud of the planking by an identical amount along the length of the ship (with the possible exception of at the stem where it may taper to fit into a rabbet located there). I don't think I see a rabbet in your stem so I would consider the taper to be builder's choice. I would guess that fairing the bulkheads has altered the relative depth of the slot.

1 mm strikes me as a reasonable figure for the wale to stand out from the planking. I wouldn't make it less than that. When you see it you will know the right amount.

Nice to see you building again!

Hi Doc. Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking I'll make aure all the grooves are at lease as deep as the depth I select. A few aren't. Then I'll mark the grooves that are more than this depth. I'll put some filler in the bottom of the groove then use a jig to remove any unwanted fillter to make all grooves the same depth. However, 1mm is pretty small. I may make all grooves .5 or .75 deep to give the wale a little more height. The important thing is to make sure the wale heigth is uniform overall. I may cut a few practice pieces before I work on the actual hull. I'm likely making this much harder than it needs to be, but I do so many things wrong that I would like to get off to a good start with the wales plus I'm not really in much of a hurry to complete this ship.

Thank you everyone for the likes. Any suggestions/improvements along the way are appreciated.

lakedaisy said:

However, 1mm is pretty small.

Click to expand...

I would say that would be especially true for you - you always seem to prefer visual interest in your models (stylized planking, etc.). Again, when you see it you will know it's right!

Wow, what a great log to follow. I've ordered the same kit so I'm very interested in what/how you work on the build steps.

Jan

Jan. You should thoroughly check the kit parts and the slipway parts frist thing. I already mentioned I had to wait a couple months for slipway parts. There were a few missing or damaged kit parts too. Make sure you have everything. Takes quite a while to get parts from Ukraine. Terrible what the country has been going through for almost 3 years.

I made a small representation of the hull. Then I cut a .5mm groove and a 1mm groove. I glued 2 2mm pieces of wood together to make a 4mm wale and dyed them black. I cut small planks, airbrushed them with the Pavel paints to place along side the wales. The hull planks aren't the same wood as the kit hull planks so they look a little different. Actually I like the look of this wood airbrushed. It's basswood.

1mm depth (closest) and .5mm depth (sets highest). Don't know if .5mm difference really makes any difference?

What do you think?


.5mm depth on left. 1mm depth on right. regular planks are 2mm


I had another idea concerning setting a uniform wale depth. Using thick stock about 20mm wide and 3mm deep (I have a piece fo thin stock in photo), cut a groove the width and depth I want down the length of the thick stock... Then rip off small pieces and glue to the side of the bulkhead. I believe this would be much easier than to try to level the groove in every bulkhead.


Something like this. About 4mm thick (same as thickness of the bulkheads) Then after gluing in place I can easily bevel everything to the same slope as the bulkhead. This is my plan and I'm stickin' to it!!

It is your ship. Sop you never can make bad choices.
If you like it, you can do it. So, stick to it.

lakedaisy said:

Jan. You should thoroughly check the kit parts and the slipway parts frist thing.

Click to expand...

Thank you for that piece of advice.

Personally, I like the less prominent wale. But who cares what I think? Which do you like better?

Not sure how well my fill the grooves plans have worked?. I"ve added a little filler to some bulkheads to try to make them all about 1mm deep. Not sure how well that worked out?? We will see...

So, the next step in my plan...

I will put the wales in place and then add the hull planks per the instructions. Then I'll see how even the wale extends above the hull planks along the hull. If it looks good, then great!! If it looks uneven, I'll make a little sanding jig to sand off the high places along the wale.

To be honest, I wish I would have filled in the wale grooves as I originally thought about doing. One doesn't have to worry about the depth of a groove when you lay a wale on the side of a bulkhead. That's the way it's been on previous ships I've built. Never had a model before with with pre-cut grooves for the wale. Always measured the placement from the plans. Guess I'll use my earlier idea of sanding the height (to level) of the 2nd wale plank if it doesn't look uniform.

I put the 1st layer of the 2 layer wales in place on both sides. Was about to cut off the overhanging length at the stern when I remembered that the stern is planked before the sides are. I didn't cut this piece off yet, but went back to watch (again) the "Step by Step #13 The Wales" video HERE. At the very beginning of the video the builder is pointing that the wood sheet with the stern pieces and at the stern of the ship. He was showing putting the pieces in place, I didn't get it until now that he was showing me to put the stern pieces on.


I stopped working on the wales and will now go back and plank the stern. There are 3 pieces of wood needed for the stern that are not included in the kit. I knew this from watching other build logs.

I didn't want to add this to the prior message and confuse things. Something for a builder to watch out for... I've seen this in other buid logs. The walnut stern framing piece isn't as wide as the line show on the bulkhead the planking pieces attach to...

(I broke the wale free at the stern until I get the stern planked. Then will put it back.)

because of this the planking pieces on a 45° don't quite reach to the hull edges. I've found mine to be the same. What I intend to do is either 1) make the two 71-8 pieces a little wider out of scrap, pushing the planks down a litte making them fit better, If there is enough scrapto do this. OR 2) do as I've seen in other bulld logs to simply put a small strip below pieces 71-8 or against the walnut keel piece. Doing this will push all the 45° pieces a little lower or push them out a little so they are long enough.

I think I would go with the small strip approach. Looking good so far.

Don't quite understand Graham. A wale with a lower height? If that's the case. Then yes I agree, I'll go with you and Doc and make sure it's not to high next to the hull planks. Thank you.

Looking ahead at the planking, I noticed there are 3 wales. Numbers 14, 16 and 20. Wale 14 is placed into a groove that varies between .8 and about 2.1 mm deep (which I leveled out with filler.) Wale #14 is the first plank to go on the hull. I am guessing this groove is to ensure all other planks are in the correct position. So... wale #14 is set into a groove lowering the height the wale extends above the regular hull planks. However wales #16 and #20 are set against the bulkhead without a groove. It makes sense to me that wales #16 and #20 will set higher against the regular hull planks. Does this make sense to anyone? Am I looking at this wrong? All 3 wales are made up of 2 - 2mm planks glued together.

lakedaisy said:

It makes sense to me that wales #16 and #20 will set higher against the regular hull planks. Does this make sense to anyone?

Click to expand...

That's what I would expect. Wales should be proud of the ordinary planking.