Santa Ana 1784 AL by PaulV

[paulv1958]

Long time between updates. Hot Aussie summer, & work gets in the way.
Lower masts now complete. No rigging added yet.

Mid & top masts underway.

Once again AL make the building a lot more difficult than it is. They mix Main & Foremast ( called smaller main by them) parts & numbering. Luckily the 1:1 mast portions are accurate. ( But labeled Main & small Main). At least doing one makes the others easy to follow as they downscaled versions. ( Of good note wood quality is excellent.). The masts are not glued in full position in the hull yet

 

[Jimsky]

Excellent progress, Pat! she is coming alone nicely.

 

[Dave Teel]

Coming along very well. Having built the San Felipe you may find it a challenge of where to display it. Mine stayed in the garage for 3 years before I had a work shop I could put it in.

 

[paulv1958]

Hmm I have 1 wall free in rear bedroom. Intend to put this and CC Victory on that wall. Then I'm done! ( Who's kidding themselves)

 

[NMBROOK]

Great work,I have this kit and I am surprised we don't see more builds as it is a really nice product.I personally think she makes a nicer model than their Victory.

Kind Regards

Nigel

 

[Dave Teel]

I've also built the Victory and the San Felipe was a much bigger task.

 

[Bryian]

Glad to see your latest update Paul, and we need to catch up again soon.

 

[paulv1958]

Tks all, nice work Dave, Tks Brian. Work keeps me away from home at present.
Started the Shrouds. Managing 2 a day at present. updates soon...

 

[paulv1958]

slowly but surely.
Masts now mostly complete
Lower shrouds commenced. Look like AL did not supply enough 5mm deadeyes. More on order.
Shaping the lower masts. Tapered on proxxon db250 & hand squared with rasp. ( To lazy to use mill, and prefer hand tools for quick jobs.)

Upper masts in various stages or assembly

lower shrouds started for fore mast

and nearly completed

doing the old way with no template & hemostats.


I'll be back when the lower shrouds are done.

 

[Jimsky]

Hi Paul! As always the progress is looking great! If you don't mind, however, from the photo where you show shrouds, the first two upper deadeyes accidentally installed upside down. Though to let you know.

 

[paulv1958]

Hi Jim

Yep! Tks. resolved easy fix, wish they all were that simple.
Bad hair day!

 

[paulv1958]

Another quick update:
After 4 weeks, the lower shrouds are now installed and work had commenced on Level 2 foundations
The mid mast portions are completed and have been added to the lower.
The mid lower dead eyes are being rigged at present ( 4 down 36 to go). ( The another 44 mid shrouds to be added.)
I suspect another month to complete that. With the cooler months arriving, rigging is now a relaxing pastime.
The riggers table is set


Tying the smaller dead eyes ( 4 down 40 to go)


Mid mast rigging completed & Stays added


Mid deadeye strop supports added

On to stage 2


See you in a few weeks with the next stage.

 

[Jimsky]

Really nice progress, Paul! ...and a nice stash of coffee, this will surely keep you productive for a while...

 

[paulv1958]

Jeeez you lot are busy, I'm back on page 7 of the active forum. ( 2 months since the last post)

I will update with photos, but as its just a rinse & repeat of the shrouds upwards.I wll only show the final work
All the masts are now done to the top. Final mast bock rigging has commenced.

The kit suggests completing the ratlines & stays at this point, but I i will go on to the ships boats ( 6 of them) first to clear my head and second to complete the last of the planking.

Then I will do the Yards & sail work,and add any decorative rope coils before its gets to messy.
Then but not least, Bowsprit & gun port lids etc.
That will leave me the final standing & running rigging to do and the prettying up . I think a least another 12 /18 months or more.

Unless of course the Alert becomes available. .... That will blow a hole in the timing and my status with the Admiralty.

2 years down nearly and 1.5 to go ?? Not bad for a $800 AL kit.

See you soon

 

[paulv1958]

Yay the masts are DONE!
Rigging of blocks finally completed for the masts
No stays have been added


And the ship boats begin.

 

[dj56]

Hello Paul, happy to see you again with the progress of your Santa Ana, your rigging looks beautiful
Greetings
willy (dj56)

 

[paulv1958]

Tks all slowly progressing. AL doco kinda fails in its readability at this point so its a bit of a slog. Got distracted with other projects.

 

[paulv1958]

THe ships boats are now complected. They were a PIA to do. Very very fragile, very brittle plywood ribs. I can't remember how many time I broke the tops off.
The end result is great, but the effort was far more than needed. The instructions look great till you go further than the ribs and then its just add parts as per the finished photo. AL for some reasons spread the build across 30 odd pages of other processes. The photo were also as per the original kit, not the quality drip one they used to provide. Oh well , as they have now gone in to receivership, on on the shelf kits are all there is left. RIP another kit maker.

The captains boat ( a broken rib.)

The other boat. ( no name)

Painting up the metal dingy & first planking

 

[paulv1958]

part 2
Adding the planks to the metal ships ( At first I wondered why metal then ralised due to the fact that they hand from the ships rear & sides, the weight make then hnd more realistically)

2nd planking added to all

Fake ribs added to dingy

All completed Yea !!


And on the the bowsprit !

 

[paulv1958]

Hi all,

The bowsprit mast is now completed and ready for fitting. As in all the masts only the bare blocks have been added.
There is no additional rigging at this stage.
The shaping of the lower section was rather complex ( sorry no pic's) as the battery was flat in the camera.
The metal fittings used to connect the upper mast portions to each other was no the right size and require both filing of the part as well ans an adjustment to to the mast thickness.
I broke on part and had to make up a copy with some old brass wire I had laying around.

Here are some photos of the completed bowsprit and the placement within the hull.
If anyone asking YES the angle of the bowsprit is correct. its very steep on this kit


And finally the yards sorted and ready to begin their marathon.