Columbus ships, Santa Maria and Pinta, kit by Amati... [COMPLETED BUILD]

[moreplovac]

After a night in the water bath and another day in the frame to make a correct shape, i had the capping ready for mounting. It took a bit of work to keep it in the position even after it was bended correctly. Combination of a carpenter' glue and CA did the job. The capping did not fit perfectly so i have added another 1x1mm plank underneath of capping overlap to cover some imperfections.









Some scrapping and sanding will be needed to close some gaps..

Beams 3x5mm are cut to the length (actually a bit longer than needed) and reinforcements on capping were also cut and shaped.



Testing...



Few beams were glued..



Did not put all beams since i still need to cut the gun openings.. The blue painter' tape was put on the hull to protect planking from damaging, potentially occurring with every drilling..

Then i connected led lights and tested..



These two will be mounted in the gun area, are steady lights, not flickering type.. The two lights at the bow are still working...



The upper deck was next. Somehow i was under impression that i lost deck that come with the kit so ended up cutting it from the plan and planked that way.



The back side of the paper received a center line to line up planking as i was planning to use the original plan side in assisting with cutting the opening and hole for the yard.. The dark brown crayola was used to simulate plank caulking...







Some scrapping was also done on the completed deck..



The opening was cut...



Then the magic moment appears to me; i located the missing deck(s). It was in the box, hidden. As it was in two peaces, i did not pay to much attention just to realize that it actually was the deck, just has to be glued together... Anyhow, the deck was glued on the back of the paper, matching the opening...



Testing on the ship...



Happy modelling..

 

[Bosco45]

Super ! du beau travail, bonne continuation !

 

[GrantTyler]

After a night in the water bath and another day in the frame to make a correct shape, i had the capping ready for mounting. It took a bit of work to keep it in the position even after it was bended correctly. Combination of a carpenter' glue and CA did the job. The capping did not fit perfectly so i have added another 1x1mm plank underneath of capping overlap to cover some imperfections.

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Some scrapping and sanding will be needed to close some gaps..

Beams 3x5mm are cut to the length (actually a bit longer than needed) and reinforcements on capping were also cut and shaped.

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Testing...

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Few beams were glued..

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Did not put all beams since i still need to cut the gun openings.. The blue painter' tape was put on the hull to protect planking from damaging, potentially occurring with every drilling..

Then i connected led lights and tested..

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These two will be mounted in the gun area, are steady lights, not flickering type.. The two lights at the bow are still working...

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The upper deck was next. Somehow i was under impression that i lost deck that come with the kit so ended up cutting it from the plan and planked that way.

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The back side of the paper received a center line to line up planking as i was planning to use the original plan side in assisting with cutting the opening and hole for the yard.. The dark brown crayola was used to simulate plank caulking...

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Some scrapping was also done on the completed deck..

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The opening was cut...

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Then the magic moment appears to me; i located the missing deck(s). It was in the box, hidden. As it was in two peaces, i did not pay to much attention just to realize that it actually was the deck, just has to be glued together... Anyhow, the deck was glued on the back of the paper, matching the opening...

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Testing on the ship...

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Happy modelling..

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Good morning. You are owning this! Nice. Cheers Grant

 

[moreplovac]

Continue working on upper decks, planking it on both ends...













Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Starting to plank the master' chamber using cheery planks i have ordered online.

Making sure it is aligned...







Signor Christoforo dropped by to see what is going on with his ship...



Inside windows is protected by the wired mesh...most likely simulating the real protection..



A bit of a moulding around the window..





Needed to cut an opening for doors since i will be positioning lights inside of Christopher' chamber.



Testing the fitting... the walls will be mounted under small angle so need to sand that as well..



Cutting the opening for guns. I dont trust the drill bits this time so did it manually, using different size round files.



Started to build the gun cart... kit comes with cart but they dont look too nice for my taste..















Still dont like how they ended up and being a bit too picky, started with a new set of gun carts..



Using one master side, i sanded few sides at once..



Comparing kit with custom made..



Testing the fitment.





Happy modelling.

 

[GrantTyler]

Starting to plank the master' chamber using cheery planks i have ordered online.

Making sure it is aligned...

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Signor Christoforo dropped by to see what is going on with his ship...

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Inside windows is protected by the wired mesh...most likely simulating the real protection..

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A bit of a moulding around the window..

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Needed to cut an opening for doors since i will be positioning lights inside of Christopher' chamber.

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Testing the fitting... the walls will be mounted under small angle so need to sand that as well..

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Cutting the opening for guns. I dont trust the drill bits this time so did it manually, using different size round files.

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Started to build the gun cart... kit comes with cart but they dont look too nice for my taste..

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Still dont like how they ended up and being a bit too picky, started with a new set of gun carts..

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Using one master side, i sanded few sides at once..

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Comparing kit with custom made..

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Testing the fitment.

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Happy modelling.

Good morning. I think Signor Christoforo is petty ecstatic with the progress. Cheers Grant

 

[Bosco45]

Bonjour, et bravo !

 

[moreplovac]

I was not quite busy with the model lately, but was working on some model shop improvements and cleanup which will eventually have an impact on model(s) itself...

What I find out is that every time I use a my proxxon rotary tool, I always run out of flexishaft cable length so I made kind of an extension (like go go gadget arm)
for my Proxxon drill and basically anything that can hang of that little white hook, Dremel, etc... Now I need to make some holder for flexishaft itself..









For wall hanging solution, I went with French cleats since I already have same cleats mounted in my "real" workshop and will need to be able to easily move the "arm" to another working room.. Also, baskets on the wall are mounted with French cleats so if I need to move them around, it will be as easy as slide them left or right...

Now, I don't have anymore excuses not to continue work on Santa Maria...

Happy modelling..

 

[Uwek]

Very clever idea with this gallows

 

[moreplovac]

Continue my work by making hooks that will be used to secure guns to carriage... 2mm wire diameter, hooks are made and soldered. After that, they were placed in brass black bath for 20 sec and washed in clear water.





The holes were drilled in carriages, and first time, using my newly built go-go-gagdet-go arm... Works perfectly..



The hooks were inserted and extra wire length was cut on the bottom; then a drop of CA was put to make sure hooks don't fell out..





ready for a rope..





On the deck, looking very mighty for that time...



Work on the deck continue by making a Columbus' cabin, I am guessing...



Even dough this will not be much visible area, I decided to add some furniture items and lights... For now still in construction phase of cabin itself..



Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Work on the hull continue by adding one of few wales, decided to go with the top one which would allow me to correctly measure position for other wales.
Two wales were positioned on the hull; I have used combo of CA and carpenter' to keep them on quickly..



Some work still need to be done around the hull, so that is why it looks a bit un-done.







The beauty of this kit is that no many plans and accurate diagrams of Columbus' fleet exists, leaving some room for artistic side of modeller to add some details from ships in the same or closeby era. Instead of using kit provided gun carriages, I built my own but decided to and start adding more details in order to hook carriages to the ship more accurately than just gluing to the deck.




Happy modelling..

 

[Jack Sparrow]

do you have all of his ships?

 

[moreplovac]

do you have all of his ships?

Missing Nina... was not available before...

 

[Jack Sparrow]

The hulls look really good. Great job

 

[moreplovac]

Decided to reposition the light cables and to hide them a bit better since the hull is opened in that area.



Few spare planks were glued to the paper and to each other, the whole assembly was scraped and lightly sanded, cut in the size and attached to the hull.



The excess of a top plank was sanded to follow the curve of the bulwarks and glued to the hull. Before that the cables were positioned and glued to the hull. Led lights will be sticking a bit; not sure if I will be leaving it as on the picture or will do bit more "hiding".



In the mean time, continue work on the hull by making openings on the deck for water drainage. I also added a bit of a moulding around them on the outer hull, not most likely historically accurate but in my opinion, a neat detail. Will also be replacing kit provided gun ornaments so this might match it nicely at the end.





After sanding and cleaning..



Happy modelling.

 

[moreplovac]

Out of cherry, I made replacements for ornaments ..



Cut with a mini saw.. with 1.5mm thickness, more that is needed.

Before sanding them, I put a drop of CA on the back of each ornament, on the side that will be glued to the hull. This should help protect the rings from breaking during sanding even dough cherry supposed to be strong enough wood to withstand sanding..




I used some old sanding disk on the piece of ceramic tile to sand the rings.





Glued to the hull. Also I decided to sand them a bit more as they were too tick comparing to the kit provided ornament. Once glued to the hull I used Proxxon on my go-go-gadget-hand-go to sand them more. Before that I protected the hull around rings with a blue painter' tape..



Comparing with a metal ornaments... I think after a layer of protective oil, they will look more appealing then original ornaments.



Cleaning up interior with a round file...




Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Kit provided rudder and other parts are fairly decent but they are very fragile. As a result of that is a one broken part. I was wanted to replace those regardless and this incident just speed the process up.



From some cherry wood I have, I cut few parts and transferred rudder and backstays.



After cutting it, quick testing was done.



After sanding, it looks much nicer and more realistic.



Happy modelling,

 

[moreplovac]

Making a new tiller out of piece of cherry wood.. by transferring the tiller from the kit plan.





Start cutting/carving







Sanding...


Testing it on the ship..







Tung oil layer...



For rudder as well..



Interesting how it brings up a beauty of a cherry wood..

Backstays from the kit don't quite fit nicely on the hull...



Now sure who will be peaking from the bottom to check the fitting but I know, I will for sure.. so lets replace those as well.. Used paper template to follow the hull curvature..



Transfer it to the wood and sanded a bit.



Now it is time to match the openings







Backstays cut, sanded and filed, drying with a layer of tung oil..



Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Since I managed to put some non-repair damage to the keel, decision was to place one layer of veneer in attempt to cover the "booboo". First I cleaned up the bow area and in the starboard put some filler to cover few imperfections...



For that I used a carpenter' glue and some sand dust I collected while cutting few cherry wood planks. This is very tiny dust which I am keeping for situations like this.



Gluing and filling...





Tracing the hull curvature to the paper... it will be used to cut the veneer..



The veneer was hardened with some painter' tape to make the cuts easier and safer (for veneer). Transferred to the ship hull for fitting testing...



Gluing and securing with binder clamps..





While this is drying, I decided to make few hooks/leyebolts, actually 12 so I can secure the guns to the ship. Plan does not ask for such detailed approach but I wasn't happy leaving guns just glued to the deck. So approach is to secure guns in following manner:



For that, I made 20 eyebolts that will be inserted into the ship hull. First I made them out of 4mm brass wire...



Good tools are aways very helpful, specifically in this case when I need to make some number of eyes..



Soldering is next, first the eye was closed with pliers and flattened making sure it is not flattened to much so it does not loose the shape.



I cut very small amount of solder wire, and squeeze it with pliers to get a biscuit, which was cut in half for the eye of this size. No need for more solder and half biscuit was placed on the eye..



Small amount of open flame to melt the solder..



And completed.



A bit of a mass production, actually mass "flaming"...



Completed eyebolts were cleaned (degreased) and painted in flat black.



Next, they will go to the hull..

Happy modelling..

 

[moreplovac]

Protecting the deck while drilling holes for hooks..



Hooks mounted and secured with tiny drop of CA glue.



Next, continue work on the hull by marking the position of wales and hull fenders. Since the wales will be twisted a bit while positioned on the hull, I decided to secure their position with nails; nails head will be cut and flattened. In order to hide nails, I also marked position for hull fenders which will hide the nails. I have not decided what to use and/or to simulate the planking/wale nails.



The hull fenders' position is marked with vertical lines which indicates the right end of the fender. The distance between fenders was taken from the kit plan.



First wale installed. I used combo of CA, yellow glue and nails to keep it in place. Also, the wale was left in water bath for 30 min to allow easier lateral bending.









Now it is time to clean the excess glue around wales and to run one more layer of oil....was a bit worried how this will end up because while removing excels glue, I also slightly scraped the hull but all turned out OK, no issues.



Then I started to work on "forecastle deck" which is a google translation for Italian term "ponte castello di prua". This deck was already built, I just wanted to add additional layer of veneer to cover a plain plywood surface, visible from the bellow.





Scrapped and sanded, ready for mounting..



Happy modelling..