Santa Maria 1492 - Artesania Latina - scale 1:65 [COMPLETED BUILD]

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Oct 11, 2021
Messages
702
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Hello shipmates,

Before we are getting started with my new buildlog, a short introduction of myself and the ship is in order.
I'm a new member of this forum, and I live in The Netherlands a small country in Europe. I'm also a member of other fora. So posting on a forum is not new to me. Some of you may already know me perhaps by another nickname. If you recognize me, don't worry it's me! ;)
At this moment I've found some spare hours to work on my hobby, and I would like to share this buildlog with you guys and gals. The ship is already finished but I'll share the step by step process with quick updates if you don't mind. Please have a bit patience on my written English, because it's not my native language and so I'll probably make some grammatical mistakes and I make my apologies upfront...
:blush:


To the project...
800px-Carrack_1565.jpg

History

The Santa Maria originally named La Gallega, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa. She was built in Pontevedra, Galicia, in Spain's north-west region. Santa Maria was probably a medium-sized nau (Carrack), about 58ft long on deck, and according to Juan Escalante de Mendoza in 1575, SM was "very little larger than 100 toneladas" (about 100 tons, or tuns). She was the flagship for the expedition aside La Nina and La Pinta, two smaller of the caravel-type ships.

Shipwreck​

With three masts, Santa María was the slowest of Columbus' vessels but performed well in the Atlantic Ocean crossing. Then on the return trip, on 24 December (1492), not having slept for two days, Columbus decided at 11:00 p.m. to lie down to sleep. The night being calm, the steersman also decided to sleep, leaving only a cabin boy to steer the ship, a practice which the admiral had always strictly forbidden. With the boy at the helm, the currents carried the ship onto a sandbank, running her aground off the present-day site of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. It sank the next day and was lost forever...

I'll just hope my build won't end as the real ship did....

The build, off we go!​

At first, let's inspect the workplace, which is the kitchen table in a temporary home, and the box...and yes, the box on the left is my toolkit and on the right the ship...
:D


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Everything looks neat and tidy at first glance. The box is well organized and the wooden parts and timber are of a good quality as can be expected from AL.
However, the manual turns out to be very disappointing. A few photo's on a single page and an instruction list is all that's added to the box. The best parts are the two bigger drawings of the rigging and masts which looks very nice doh. I believe this is an older kit from AL, in the meantime this kit has been updated. I'm not sure if that was a good thing. Walnut has been replaced by Sapeli, a reddish almost mahogany type of wood. In my opinion, Sapeli gives the model a "cheaper" appearance to walnut. This is the "older" kit with all the walnut parts, strips and so on.


The Bulkheads and false keel / keelplate

I start by numbering all the bulkheads and parts on the plate. They are all lasercut, so that's a plus due to accuracy and I use some sandpaper to remove the burn from the laser.
After inspecting a collect all the parts and dry-fit them together to see how good it fits....

SM_004.jpg
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After some corrections, the bulkheads fits nicely on the false keel. However I noticed a small warp in the keelplate.
I did some further inspection and Yes, it's warped a tiny bit just between bulkhead 12 and 10. It's almost common with multiplex parts these days. *Sigh*
let's have some fun to straighten out this piece of multiplex.

SM_007.jpg
SM_008.jpg

This needs to be fixed otherwise I run into some problems later on....I took the keel plate and soaked it in some water. I let it dry between a couple of books with some pressure on the books so the plate was fixed into a flat position. I let it dry for a day and the next day it was straight.
I put everything together again and glued the bulkheads into position. Come on!!! What else you've got and want to throw at me....:cool:

Deck plates

Next step is to place the false deck on top of the bulkheads. Again, the false keel was pre-fabricated and lasercut.
I use the small brass nails and glue to fixate the plate on to the bulkheads. I have limited tools and clamps at my possession at this moment, so I use the nails.
They will be covered up later when the final layer of thin wooden strips are placed on top of the false deck.SM_009.jpg
SM_010.jpg
Don't worry about the nails. I didn't hit them to hard on the head....

Some "attachments" were placed at the bow of the ship. This will come in handy when her "parts" will be covered with some wood.
After that, it's time to fair her "parts"....errr bulkheads....

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So far...so good. Until next time my friends, regards!
Ptèr
 
Deckplanking begins, sh*t happens

After installing the first false deck. I measured the centre of the deck and drew a centerline with a pencil.
Then the mistake happened. I was looking for the veneer strips for the deck, but couldn't find it. I only had some thicker wood. So i chopped some in little pieces and after a while.....still chopping wood....I've found the veneer strips for the deck....
Then I wondered what I was cutting into little pieces, it turned out to be the strips of wood for the hull......some swearing happend after that....almost smashed the piece into smithereens. However, I pulled myself back together and I'm fine.....calmed my nerves and zen again...SM_016.jpg
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So, as Bob Ross said: We don't make mistakes, we only have happy accidents...
After finding and placing the correct strips of wood, the build continues.

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As you may have noticed is, I've not used anything to simulate caulking. Well it's not that I forgotten it, but I didn't liked it that much so I descided to lay the deck without caulking it. After finishing the deck, I scraped the wood with a metal woodscraper.

So, this update is getting to an end. Time flies, see you next time,
Ptèr
 
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Placing bulwarks

Now that the deck has been planked, bulkheads are faired we can place the bulwarks. Before doing so, I had to place some walnut veneer strips at the front bulkhead.

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Next parts are the bulwark parts.

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And after attaching the bulwarks to the bulkheads, it's time to veneer the inner sides with walnut veneer following the curve of the main deck.

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One side done, start with the other side.

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Hullplanking first layer...

Hello shipmates!

The next step is some progress on the first layer of hull planking. The second layer will be done with veneer strips.
I used the brass nails which were included with the kit. Normally I do not use these nails. However, I'm in a temporary house / home at this moment and most of my tools are in storage including all my clamps. So with only two files, pliers, hammer and a knife and some sandpaper, I'll need to pull this off somehow...

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At least, her "parts" aren't showing anymore....
 
Hello shipmates,

Before we are getting started with my new buildlog, a short introduction of myself and the ship is in order.
I'm a new member of this forum, and I live in The Netherlands a small country in Europe. I'm also a member of other fora. So posting on a forum is not new to me. Some of you may already know me perhaps by another nickname. If you recognize me, don't worry it's me! ;)
At this moment I've found some spare hours to work on my hobby, and I would like to share this buildlog with you guys and gals. The ship is already finished but I'll share the step by step process with quick updates if you don't mind. Please have a bit patience on my written English, because it's not my native language and so I'll probably make some grammatical mistakes and I make my apologies upfront...
:blush:


To the project...
View attachment 261132

History

The Santa Maria originally named La Gallega, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa. She was built in Pontevedra, Galicia, in Spain's north-west region. Santa Maria was probably a medium-sized nau (Carrack), about 58ft long on deck, and according to Juan Escalante de Mendoza in 1575, SM was "very little larger than 100 toneladas" (about 100 tons, or tuns). She was the flagship for the expedition aside La Nina and La Pinta, two smaller of the caravel-type ships.

Shipwreck​

With three masts, Santa María was the slowest of Columbus' vessels but performed well in the Atlantic Ocean crossing. Then on the return trip, on 24 December (1492), not having slept for two days, Columbus decided at 11:00 p.m. to lie down to sleep. The night being calm, the steersman also decided to sleep, leaving only a cabin boy to steer the ship, a practice which the admiral had always strictly forbidden. With the boy at the helm, the currents carried the ship onto a sandbank, running her aground off the present-day site of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. It sank the next day and was lost forever...

I'll just hope my build won't end as the real ship did....

The build, off we go!​

At first, let's inspect the workplace, which is the kitchen table in a temporary home, and the box...and yes, the box on the left is my toolkit and on the right the ship...
:D


View attachment 261133
View attachment 261134View attachment 261135

Everything looks neat and tidy at first glance. The box is well organized and the wooden parts and timber are of a good quality as can be expected from AL.
However, the manual turns out to be very disappointing. A few photo's on a single page and an instruction list is all that's added to the box. The best parts are the two bigger drawings of the rigging and masts which looks very nice doh. I believe this is an older kit from AL, in the meantime this kit has been updated. I'm not sure if that was a good thing. Walnut has been replaced by Sapeli, a reddish almost mahogany type of wood. In my opinion, Sapeli gives the model a "cheaper" appearance to walnut. This is the "older" kit with all the walnut parts, strips and so on.


The Bulkheads and false keel / keelplate

I start by numbering all the bulkheads and parts on the plate. They are all lasercut, so that's a plus due to accuracy and I use some sandpaper to remove the burn from the laser.
After inspecting a collect all the parts and dry-fit them together to see how good it fits....

View attachment 261136
View attachment 261137
View attachment 261138

After some corrections, the bulkheads fits nicely on the false keel. However I noticed a small warp in the keelplate.
I did some further inspection and Yes, it's warped a tiny bit just between bulkhead 12 and 10. It's almost common with multiplex parts these days. *Sigh*
let's have some fun to straighten out this piece of multiplex.

View attachment 261139
View attachment 261140

This needs to be fixed otherwise I run into some problems later on....I took the keel plate and soaked it in some water. I let it dry between a couple of books with some pressure on the books so the plate was fixed into a flat position. I let it dry for a day and the next day it was straight.
I put everything together again and glued the bulkheads into position. Come on!!! What else you've got and want to throw at me....:cool:

Deck plates

Next step is to place the false deck on top of the bulkheads. Again, the false keel was pre-fabricated and lasercut.
I use the small brass nails and glue to fixate the plate on to the bulkheads. I have limited tools and clamps at my possession at this moment, so I use the nails.
They will be covered up later when the final layer of thin wooden strips are placed on top of the false deck.View attachment 261141
View attachment 261142
Don't worry about the nails. I didn't hit them to hard on the head....

Some "attachments" were placed at the bow of the ship. This will come in handy when her "parts" will be covered with some wood.
After that, it's time to fair her "parts"....errr bulkheads....

View attachment 261143
View attachment 261144
View attachment 261145View attachment 261146


So far...so good. Until next time my friends, regards!
Ptèr
About the bend, good show! If anyone knows why this happens that would be great. I have yet to get a straight keel straight out of the box...
 
Captains quarter - part 2

I did not like the metal door included with the kit, so I made one from wood. Also made a little window, not sure why but I had the urgency to do so....SM_155.jpgSM_156.jpgSM_157.jpgSM_158.jpgSM_159.jpgSM_160.jpgSM_161.jpgSM_162.jpgSM_163.jpgSM_164.jpg

I'll continue later on the captains quarter. Next step is to do some work on the hull...
 
Waterways and other parts

So, it's time to place the waterways and other parts on the ship. It goes a bit from "this to that" during this update. please be gentle with the comments. I'm not a professional.

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Next update I'll continue on the captains quarter.
 
Laying the keel, and some other minor details

So, this update is all about the dirty details, big and small, size does not matter as I am told. Also it hopefully give the ship some more character.
But first, the keel! Lay it on...

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Captains quarter - part 4 (more details and finishing)

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Okay, I know now the door should open to the outside instead of the inside and the door should have a hinge lock instead of a knob. My mistake....errr....happy accident?!
 
Mistakes part 2
Hi guys and Galls, today I started at the front part of the ship and made a mistake. but I can't fix it anymore.....it's a pity.
The mistake I made is the shiplap planking on the front of the ship. It's upside down...
A novice won't tell, but an expert will clearly see the mistake.....I'm such a novice....

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Some things go not as planned, other things does...let's go to the parts that does....

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