Juan Sebastian Elcano / The Moshulu Build Log

[JacquesCousteau]

Personally I would go for painting it, but it's really up to you, the brass doesn't look bad on this as it's not intended to be a 100% accurate representation. But be aware that brass can be tricky to paint, a lot of paints don't stick to it well. Some people chemically blacken it, which also generates a rougher surface that's easier to paint. I personally don't really like blackening, as it requires a highly toxic solution and produces a toxic dust residue, but I do quite like the color produced by blackening. (It's also a much more efficient and permanent way of coloring chains, which otherwise are very tricky to paint). I use a miniature modeling primer spray that for whatever reason adheres fairly well to brass, after first washing the part in water with dish soap, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol (and avoiding touching it directly afterward) to remove any residues that may impede adhesion.

 

[Ignatius27]

JacquesCousteau - The figurehead for Esmeralda is actually pewter and I painted it with gold paint to achieve the brass effect. And I can easily paint over the gold paint, no problem. Given that I won't need to use toxic chemicals, would you still recommend staying with the brass color or should I go with semi-gloss black?

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I hadn't realized it was already painted. Up to you, then! Interestingly enough, the Chilean National Maritime Museum has the old figurehead of the Esmeralda on display.

 

[Ignatius27]

I hadn't realized it was already painted. Up to you, then! Interestingly enough, the Chilean National Maritime Museum has the old figurehead of the Esmeralda on display.
View attachment 593054

Here's the figurehead that came with the kit. The original material is pewter or maybe lead. I think I may just paint it semigloss black with yellow head and white cowl as in your Esmeralda picture and match it with black painted anchors. I think I'll also check the Chilean Maritime Museum site to see if they have any info on the current Esmeralda. Thanks!

 

[Ignatius27]

Some random thoughts about the Esmeralda build and the kit from Artesiana Latina. I'm on my way home from my trip, so hopefully will get to these ideas tomorrow.

I must say that, while I've learned alot building this kit, I don't think I will ever buy another kit from ArtesianaLatina. The lack of design drawings and rigging plans force the modeler to focus just on the (poorly done) videos and the picture of the completed model on the box top. I find this to be a real obstacle to fully enjoying this build. Nevertheless, I am enjoying this build because I feel like I've learned some good fundamentals of rigging a sailing ship.

After going back and forth with my new friend and SoS member Jacques Cousteau, I think I want to do a few things to make the build a bit more realistic. Yes, its a simple "Easy" kit, not very realistic obviously, but I have tried to make the deck furnishings a bit more interesting than the all-white plan of the real vessel. I used more cherry wood and maple stains and adding sea foam green for the stairways and red for the personal floatation devices.

I'm going to redo the bowsprit rigging, and change the line from gray thread to black thread. If you look at the pictures of the real Esmeralda, the rigging on the bowsprit is white, whereas on the A/L kit box the bowsprit rigging is black. For now I think I'll use a single line of black rope yarn after buying a thicker black rope at the hobby store. The black bowsprit rigging would match the standing rigging on the 4 masts.

The thicker rope looks better as the standing rigging, so I may also re-rig the 3 jibs and the foremast stay sail with the thicker black thread. I also got rope thread in various brown hues that I will use for all the running rigging on 14 out of 19 sails. The kit box top and videos show a camel colored yarn for the running rigging.

After JC showed me the real picture of the Esmeralda figurehead from the Chilean Maritime Museum, I decided to repaint the model figurehead, which is currently painted gold. I find it interesting that the picture of the Esmeralda underway also shows the black bird (I think its a Condor) with the white cowl and the yellow head. Plus, the real figurehead has the colors (blue and red) and the lone star of the Chilean flag.

The issue will be to remove the figurehead to repaint it while I am redoing the bowsprit rigging. FYI, the figurehead on the A/L kit box top is the smaller figurehead used by the J.S. de Elcano, which is a female figure, most likely Queen Isabella of Spain.

ASKING FOR ADVICE:

The figurehead is now glued to the ABS plastic hull with CA glue (Gorilla superglue gel). In the past, I have used acetone (nail polish remover) to unglue CA glued joints on previous wood builds (like my hull-only build of the HMS Victory). But does acetone work on ABS plastic? Does acetone interact (negatively or positively) with plastic and CA glue? Also, would acetone affect the white and red paint scheme of the hull if it bleeds down the hull? Any advice for removing the figurehead for repainting would be welcome!

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Best of luck with the changes! The kit certainly seems lacking in many things that I think are ideal for a "beginners" kit. Clear instructions really are a must.

As for your question, hopefully someone has an answer. I haven't used much plastic so I really don't know.

 

[Ignatius27]

24. Build Log Esmeralda

Back from my trip, spent alot of the day at the bench doing small rigging jobs around the Esmeralda build, including:

1. Ran lines up from the mast tops to the top bead of each mast to set up shroud lines from the mast tops to the masts highest point. Will need to knot each line needed before it passes through the mast top. I will attach the tops of the shroud lines with the extra line from the wooden blocks, 2 of which need to be attached at the top of each mast.

2. Running new standing rigging for the jibs and foremast. I ran out of dark brown rigging yarn, so picked up some matching rigging rope yarn at the hobby store.

3. Cut off the bowsprit rigging to get to the condor Esmeralda figurehead so I can paint it the IRL colors black, white and yellow. The condor is carrying the blue and white flag of Chile with the lone star. Will try and paint the figurehead tomorrow so I can re-rig the bowsprit with single wind black rope yarn.

4. Scraped away excess glue and rope thread from the foremast and the mast toppers. The multiple glue applications have made the sail tops very bulky, so I cut some of the wound ropes off trying not to sever any standing rigging.

5. Fabricating a new outside jib, making and staining 2 identical sails to see which would be better sized. Then painting the outside jib with acrylic white paint to make it semi-stiff and bendable. Attach 1.5mm brass rings to the new outside jib. Ran the standing rigging line through the Brass rings.

6. Drilled 8 pinhole for the 8 davits that hold the ships' tenders. Used dark wire for the lines running from the davits to the tenders. Temporarily installed the ships tenders with the dark wire lines.

7. Temporarily installed all the deck furnishings, including the anchors, water cannons, personal flotation devices, and davits. Since we are going with a black figurehead and black anchors, I decided to paint the water cannons black. I might add a red highlight to the water cannon later. There really was no reason for the water cannons to be brass colored.

My goal is to finish constructing the mast, sails and rigging in the next 3 days.

 

[Ignatius27]

25. Esmeralda Build Log

Square sails go up!

Spent the better part of today affixing the Mainsail, which is on the foremast, the fore topsail, fore topgallent, and fore royal sails. A lot of work to keep several centimeters of give in the Mainsail rigging, so that all 4 sails can move 90 degrees while getting the running rigging attached to the 25 blocks and the standing rigging attached to the 12 eye loops on the top deck.

Won't say much more, other than that tonight I'm going to finish painting the figurehead yellow and white to match the real Esmeralda figurehead. And if I have time, rigging the bowsprit with black thread rope.

Progress slow but steady.

 

[Ignatius27]

Today's labors on the Esmeralda.

The square sails are all nicely set up.

The bird figure at the bow has been painted to look more like the real one.

The bowsprit has been re-rigged with a single wind of black rope yarn. Looks much better.

Re-did the top jib because the previous one did not have a clean edge at the top. Looks much better.

With the condor's head colored yellow and cowl painted white, it adds some nice detail.

Now only the gaff sails need to be sewn in and the running rigging lined in.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work on the figurehead!

 

[Ignatius27]

26. Esmeralda Build Log

I am 2/3rd way through rigging the Esmeralda, which has 19 sails, 88 blocks, and over 100 knots sewn. This has been my 8th or 9th wooden boat build (to the extent an ABS plastic hull counts), and I've been building wooden ships with sails for less than a year, so I wanted to build a ship that would show me basic, but somewhat "realistic" rigging. Trying to learn this hobby one skill at a time.

I have done 90% of the rigging on the Main mast/ foremast, including rigging all 4 square sails, all 4 stay sails, 4 gaff / fore and aft sails, and 3 jibs . I've learned alot about string tension and gluing (or not gluing) string. And learning to tie a couple of different knots.

The Esmeralda has been a challenging build for over 2 months now, so I am ready for a new challenge. I have been thinking about building the C.S.S. Alabama wooden plank on frame model kit from Mamoli. It's a ship that I have a deep connection with, along with the U.S.S. Kearsarge, which sunk her off the coast of France during the Civil War. I might keep my unbuilt Mayflower 1620 kit from Corel on the shelf for now.

I'm bushed so I'll just let the pictures show the progress. It has been a learning process, especially about how to present standing rigging differently from running rigging. Not everything came out perfectly and I'm learning that mistakes in rigging are unforgiving. I am thinking about leaving the shrouds uncompleted...after trying several different times, the shrouds fought me every inch of the way and I could not finish them. Probably sacrilege on this forum!

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work! It sounds like it's been a challenge, but also like a useful learning experience.

Before making a decision about the next model, you may want to take a look at existing build logs to get a sense of each kit's strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't look like there's much on this site on Mamoli's Alabama, but I think there's a pretty detailed log for it on MSW.

 

[Ignatius27]

Nice work! It sounds like it's been a challenge, but also like a useful learning experience.

Before making a decision about the next model, you may want to take a look at existing build logs to get a sense of each kit's strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't look like there's much on this site on Mamoli's Alabama, but I think there's a pretty detailed log for it on MSW.

Thanks JacquesCousteau. That's great advice. I chose the Mayflower 1/140 scale kit from Corel originally because it has a solid wood hull to be planked, which would be a new skill for me, but going back to the kit, it has an even more complex rigging scheme than the Esmeralda. After the challenge I had learning to rig the Esmeralda, I'm hesitant to try another build that will be frustrating for someone new to doing rigging like me at this stage. Attaching some pics of the Corel Mayflower kit for reference.




The C.S.S. Alabama and the U.S.S. Kearsarge are both on my wish list - I have a personal connection to the Alabama/Kearsarge and their naval battle off the coast of Cherbourg, France in 1864. So taking your advice and looking at the build logs and pictures for the Mamoli C.S.S. Alabama on MSW, it looks like the Mamoli Alabama will have a similar rigging challenge to the Esmeralda. In fact, the C.S.S. Alabama...and those SHROUDS would be the death of me right now! So that was solid advice and I'm going to shift gears to find another build that does not have killer rigging.



Given that I'm developing a real interest in the "windjammer" period (ships with steel hulls and under sail & steam power) of the 1850's to the 1930's, I know I want to build the Gorch Fock, the Nippon Maru, and the Belem (and eventually the C.S.S. Alabama and the U.S.S. Kearsarge). But after building the Esmeralda, I know I'm going to need to scale up my skills by building vessels with more modest rigging first. Then build progressively more complex rigging. One thing I know is that I'm probably not going to build the Santissima Trinidad or the HMS Victory in this lifetime!

I have wanted to try a model kit from Woody Joe from Japan, since they have kits for the Nippon Maru and the Sant Juan Bautista, two historical Japanese sailing vessels that are on my wish list. Notice the similarities between the Nippon Maru and the Esmeralda, as they are both sail training ships for maritime cadets. Both have steel hulls, four masts, four jibs/forestays, and a spanker sail. The Sant Juan Bautista is the first Japanese tall ship and it has an incredible origin story, but it's rigging looks closer to the Mayflower, so the SJB and the Nippon Maru will have to be built down the road.




On the Woody Joe website, I came across some interesting builds of traditional Japanese imperial warships and commercial ships like the Hacchoro, the Kitamae Bune, and the Atake Bune (pics below). They look like interesting, uncommon (for SoS) wooden builds with minimal rigging. This might send me down the rabbit hole of building more Asian ships from the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese classic sail eras (I'm of Asian descent). The fact that each of these ships have minimal rigging means I can focus on hull construction and deck details and eventually find my next build that has easy-medium rigging plans.









Woody Joe has many interesting wood model kits, including an extensive line of Japanese temples, pagodas, and prayer gates also. My wife and I like to build architecture models together (we just finished the Notre Dame model kit from CubicFun) and Woody Joe has a few Japanese temples that we have visited, so I'm becoming a big fan of Woody Joe right now.

Thanks for all your great advice and support! It has really given me the courage to power through my first real rigging job and think through my next build.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Woody Joe seems to make very nice kits and definitely has a lot of interesting subjects! Their architectural models look great, as well. I know there are a few excellent, detailed build logs out there of their models, here or on MSW. If I remember correctly (which is far from guaranteed), the instructions are not in English, but they do have a lot of very clear images.

I actually think the Mayflower has an overall less complex rigging than the Esmeralda (and the Alabama). Or rather, less complex than the actual Esmeralda, maybe more complex than the simplified rigging given in the Artesania Latina kit. With only six sails, and being a fairly small vessel, the Mayflower would probably be a step up in complexity, but I don't think it would be overwhelming. That said, the small scale would make it challenging to accurately represent many of the rigging details. I find blocks in 1:32 scale already tiny, at 1:140 scale they would be nearly microscopic.

If you're interested in finding more accurate rigging information, the Anatomy of the Ship series would probably be very helpful. They include a ton of highly detailed plans. Although they don't have a book on the Mayflower, their book on the Susan Constant would show nearly identical rigging (as both are similar early 1600s smallish merchant vessels--as we don't have plans for either, all reconstructions and models today are best guesses for a generic type). In the windjammer era, their books on the 4-masted Barque Lawhill and the Schooner Bertha L Downs would be useful sources as well.

A totally different suggestion, if you're interested in building rigging skills but don't want something too complex: there are several good kits out there of small fishing boats from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Because of the small size of their subjects, they lend themselves to much larger scales, often 1:24, 1:32, and the like. This allows the builder to include much smaller details, but also makes it easier to work with the rigging details, as all the parts are larger. They also generally have pretty simple rigging: 1 or maybe 2 masts, usually just fore-and-aft rigs, etc. The Model Shipways Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack (which I'm building a very modified version of) is a solid kit with pretty clear instructions. Although it weirdly doesn't include plans, the rigging is straightforward enough, and there are diagrams out there in books by Howard I Chapelle and others. Midwest also offers a similar kit of the same vessel type. I haven't built it, but have built a different model by the company. The instructions were pretty clear (although some are a bit old fashioned--you don't actually need to soak planking in ammonia) and they do include diagrams. Midwest has a few other kits that may also be interesting: the flattie, the sharpie schooner, some recreational boats, etc. Vanguard, based in the UK, uses a smaller 1:64 scale for its line of British fishing boats, but is noted for its clear instructions and plans, innovative designs, and the very high quality materials provided. I haven't built anything of theirs, but have seen a lot of successful build logs that speak highly of the kits. You may not be interested in these--the Woody Joe Japanese ships also look great and have less complex rigging--but I thought I would mention them just in case.

 

[Ignatius27]

Jacques Cousteau -- Funny you mention Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack from Midwest / Model Shipways. I am a big fan of Midwest and I've built the Maine Peapod Lobster Boat -- with lobster diorama -- hence my profile image, the Sea Bright Dory (lifeboat), and a scratch built "re-do" of the Dory as the Schuylkill River Rescue Dinghy (a Lund workboat). I think we both recognize the Model Shipways / Midwest quality materials, clear instructions, and reasonable scales, so I'm going to build it.

I had a model kit of the Midwest Grand Banks Dory, but I gave it away a couple of weeks ago to a member of my model club in exchange for a cheap Chinese model of the Benjamin Latham schooner. I'd like to build the Benjamin Latham some day because it is a new hull shape for me. But its not a priority build for me at the moment.

Looking at the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack, it looks like many ship builders have gravitated to the kit and there are several good build logs that I can follow (including yours). I'm going to buy it and put it in my queue for my next build after my upcoming build, which is likely going to be a bigger version of the Mayflower 1604 at 1/95 scale from Nidale, instead of the Corel Mayflower 1/140. More on that later!

 

[Ignatius27]

27. Build Log for the Esmeralda / Juan Sebastian de Elcano COMPLETE

I just finished my build of the Esmeralda / Juan Sebastian de Elcano after 10 weeks of work. I chose this kit to learn basic rigging skills and I learned a lot. It did not come out perfectly, but I know many things I would do differently next time.

I decided not to finish the shrouds. I could never get the tension on the shroud lines to stay taut long enough to glue on the crosspieces. I will watch some YouTube videos of David Antsherl, Olha Batcharova, Chuck Passaro, and others to see how I can go about rigging the shrouds better next time.

Thanks to all the SoS members who offered solid advice and encouragement along the way! Doing a build log is the best way to get engaged with our community and I'm looking forward to my next project. s Aweigh!

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice work, congratulations on finishing!

 

[Ignatius27]

Nice work, congratulations on finishing!

Thanks JC! I just sent you a direct message about my idea for my next project.