Barque Stefano a MarisStella kit - by Don Robinson

D

DonRobinson

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This will be my log for the Barque Stefano another fine kit from MarisStella. The kit is full of laser cut pieces, beautiful wood, photo etch copper plates and so much more. There are some 33 sewn sails including the stun sails. He is a boat with a beautiful shape and wonderful lines. MarisStella really went out of their way to make this a first class kit.
I have already started this kit but am far from complete, so I will race through the first part to bring you up to date then I'll carry on with my turtle like pace.
It is my intent with this kit to build it as is with no changes on my part and to also build it with all 33 sails flying in the wind.
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So this is the contents of the box and a picture of how mine may look, next I'll start with the build.

Enjoy
 
Hallo Don,
great to see, that you started the building log of your barque. Many thanks for sharing with us.
May I say some words about my impressions looking at your good and detailed photos:
- Also this kit from MariaStella is looking extremely good, good quality timber, detailed, a lot of drawings (about the quality you will report hopefully in future)
about the quality of the blocks, metal parts (important on a vessel like this berque), sails etc. we hopefully here also in future
=> so it seems, that this kit is worth the money
- I can see on the photo of the written instructions, that you are tikking off the working steps you have done -> there is still a long way ;)
- Your first planking is looking better, than some modelers second one -> it is looking realy good
- But we can see, that the planking at bow anbd stern is much easier, than the planking of your Trabakul.......But we can see the beautifull hull form of this barque
Really a beautifull ship!
One question to the stanchions:
Do you have a doubling device at your lath, means that you can make copies of the first done stanchion? Or do you have to measure everytime once more?

I will follow your log with the biggest interest :cool:

Edit: My comment was related until your post number 5
 
Thanks Uwe for your comments and joining in.
The quality of the kit is second to none in my opinion and is worth every dollar spent. About the plans I can honestly say I have never seen such detailed plans. Every piece of the build can be accurately measured off of the plans. I know of no manufacturer that offers plans like these.
Yes there is a long way to go and in my next posting I will update the ticks in the instruction book. The planking on this build it quite a bit easier than the Trabakul and unlike the Trabakul it is double planking. With the length of this ship being over 1 meter I was over 1200 planks on the hull and deck, which is also double planked.
The hull really does have beautiful lines, which is one of the reasons I bought this kit, that and it is so unique.
I do not have any sort of doubling device for the lathe, each of them are measured and made separately. With Donnie's technique, it is made a lot easier. Like Donnie I also have a DRO ( digital read out) on my lathe which also helps so much.
Thanks again Uwe for stopping in. If you ever have anymore questions please feel free to ask, I'll do my best to answer.
 
Hi Don,I am really happy you started this build log for the Stefano,I am inthe first row with a 3D glass.;)

Zoltan
 
A great start Don. It looks similar to the Cutty Sark, I've stood on the Cutty Sark's deck and wondered how they managed to sail such a large sailing ship, how they learnt what each of the hundreds of ropes did what. I don't envy you rigging all those sails,
Cheers Andy
 
Marvelous work. Looks like a great kit and your skill will create a great model. I do not see any place that tells the scale of the model and the size of the finished vessel. Were the metal wheels for the side blocks in the stern included. I wonder why a kit like this requires you to turn the stanchions. Not everyone has a lathe or can turn that many parts identical without a digit readout attachment.
 
A little bit off topic in your building log, but I thought that it of interest by some of you:
There is a book available:

The Wreck of the Barque Stefano Off the North West Cape of Australia in 1875
by Rathe, Gustave

51VIf14M3LL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

An extraordinary drama of shipwreck and survival, The Wreck of the Barque Stephano is a true story with all the ingredients of classic adventure fiction. This Croatian vessel went from Dubrovnik to Cardiff to pick up coal for Hong Kong. Off the North West Cape of Australia the ship was grounded and the sailors cast into the sea....Though the title suggests otherwise, this book is not so much about a shipwreck as about castaways.

Stefano Cyber trail
and this is a very interesting page about the ship and the location where it wrecked......recommended

http://www.stefanocybertrail.com/

Please do not miss on the top of the page to go to "Publications" and there the pdf under "Reconstructing the Bargque Stefano"

It is getting more and more interesting :cool::cool:
 
Thanks for showing Don, I have had a look at this kit on their website and it looked impressive. Great to see your build log which confirms my initial impressions. Great work.
 
Andy: Thanks for stopping in. I know what you are saying about the rigging, that's why I'm happy just to build the ships and NOT sail them.

Gary: Sorry about that I for got to mention that it will be approximately 1.2 meters long and the scale is 1:63. The brass sheaves were included in the kit, why there were no stanchions included I have no idea. My kit was one of the first produced so this may have changed since I bought mine, which was two years ago.

Uwe: Thanks for that link, I was aware of the book and of this site, but I have not seen the reconstruction before. Very interesting that they show MarisStella's plans throughout the article. Those two gentlemen shown with the model have their names on the plans, Mladen Mitic and Branko Vekaric. Great article!! Thanks. Hopefully this will help inspire me.

ADC: It truly is a fine kit, I'm hoping to do it justice
 
DonRobinson said:
Thanks Zoltan, lots of room in front row still!!
Click to expand...
Leave me a space for my chair and eski please Don.
The planking are very impressive and it was a great idea about the stern 'balsa forms' for the planking.
What are the purpose of the dowles between the bulkheads. For strength. For squaring the keel?
Likes like an very impressive kit.
Greg
 
As more I am reading about this ship, their beautifull form of the hull and her general appearance with also looking at the photos of the finished model and descriptions at the web-page of Marisstella

http://www.marisstella.hr/marisstella_modeli.php?lang=en

This text is copied from the web page about barques:
The bark, barque or barc, is a type of ship with three or more masts with the foremasts equipped with square sails and the sternmast with spanker and peak sail. The word barque comes from the Latin barca which derives from Spanish or Italian. The Latin word barca may come from Greek "baris" or Celtic "barc", a term used for an Egyptian boat. Rig of a three-masted barque: By the end of the 18th century, the term barque (sometimes spelled bark) began to refer to any sailing vessel with a particular type of sails, that consists of three (or more) masts, which at the foremast have square sails and at the stern mast have the spanker and the peak sail. Barques were the cargo ship of the mid-19th century with a smaller crews. The advantage of these rigs was that they took less crews than a comparable full-rigged ship or brig-rigged vessel as they had smaller square sails, which made it cheaper. On the other hand, the ship rigged like this was used for sailors' training, with a small crew and a large number of passengers, therefore, a larger number of trained sailors. Another advantage was that the barque can be faster than a schooner or barkentine, it is both easier to handle and better to upwind than a full-rigged ship. While a full-rigged ship is the best runner available, and a four or five-masted schooner is the best at going upwind, the barque is often the best choice, because it was the best combination of the two. Most of the ocean-going windjammers are four-masted barques, since their rig is considered the most efficient, thanks to the easiness to handle, the small crew, the speed and the good capabilities toward wind. Usually the main mast is the tallest. The four-masted barque could be handled with a surprisingly small crew (at least ten sailors), while the usual crew is about thirty. Almost half of them could be apprentices.

I am getting more and more interested......so maybe it would be an alternative as a next model.....first of all I will see what Don is making out of the kit, but the appetite is growing......Sorry once more Don for hijacking once more your topic!
 
Thanks for posting, Don. I find the use of the dowels to join bulkheads interesting. Do you know why that method was chosen as opposed to a conventional profile former?
 
Greg: Thanks so much for dropping by, the dowels are used for stiffening the bulkheads for fairing, keeping the keel straight and they defiantly add strength. Once added the difference in the hull is incredible, there is absolutely no give to it whatsoever. I believe this is a MarisStella development, they use this method on several of their kits and is a great addition to the integrity of the model. I think once you have had the chance to use this method you would be with me wondering why all kits don't have this.

Uwe: No need for apologies, you are not hijacking my topic. It is all educational and interesting for others to read, probably something I should have added:). Feel free to add things in at anytime, I certainly do not mind at all. It is good to see you here and showing so much interest, I'll do my best to keep you entertained.

Dave: You have me at a loss here, maybe I need another coffee ;), are you asking about filler blocks? MarisStella does use the dowel system on several of their kits, however, with the Stefano being over a meter long the dowels really shine in keeping the keel straight. As I mentioned above, once these are installed there is literally no movement to the keel and bulkheads. Using dowels versus spacer blocks is much quicker and a lot more accurate. The use of spacer blocks can straighten out a crooked keel but can also work the other way if extreme caution is not taken. With the use of dowels this is not going to be a worry, filler blocks can still be added and again the worry of pushing the keel to one side is no longer going to be a concern. This truly is the best system I have come across and I give MarisStella a big thumbs up for coming up with this idea.
Not sure if I answered your question or not, if not let me know I should be fully awake in an hour or two!!:):)
 
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