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ZHL San Felipe 1690

Joined
Jul 25, 2025
Messages
4
Points
13
Hello. I'm new to this site. I'm from Russia, so I apologize in advance for my English, but Google Translate is helping me. If anything, I apologize for the mistakes, but this post on this site is a bit unusual for me, especially for the first time.I want to share my build of this rather popular kit from China. I turned 62 in August, and this set was a kind of birthday present from my wife and daughter. In my youth, I was interested in ship modeling, but as I got older, I had less and less time for it. I haven't done this in twenty years, so I decided to try again. I came across this website when I was looking for information about this model. I'm putting it together now, and this is what it looks like. But first things first.
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I ordered a kit from China through a Russian marketplace. It cost 185 dollars with delivery at the current exchange rate. They were delivered to our Upper Volga region quite quickly, in a little less than a month. Immediately, I purchased pink pear and sapele boards for the exterior cladding, as well as a white pear for the deck, which cost me another $70.
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For the barkhouts, I sawed dark walnut planks from my reserves.
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I have experience building models from scratch, not from kits. Such instructions turned out to be of little use to me, especially since they were very schematic and in Chinese. The drawing served as a kind of "bible for assembly.And, of course, I had to prepare a new workbench first; I had never built sailboat models of this scale before. The frame was assembled with almost no hitches, but we had to raise the beam line at the stern a little; the Chinese made a small mistake in some details, which greatly affects the design of the stern galleries.
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I also made linden bosses for the bow and filled the deck with linden slats for installing half-pillows, and painted everything black.
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There were no problems with the roughing. However, I still haven't decided on the type of wood. It's a pity that it's not a lime tree, but unlike us, there doesn't seem to be much of it in China. The material that came in the kit is a bit fragile, but it's easy to work with — the main thing is not to sand it to holes.But before proceeding with the black plating, it is necessary to install the finishing trim and doors on both bulkheads. Otherwise, you won't be able to get to them later.
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Then I started laying the deck deck, but before that I marked out a place in the hull for gun ports and slats. I took all the dimensions from the drawing; the template from the set was not used, as it slightly does not match the original.
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I also pre-installed the gun port racks on the upper deck.
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For the flooring, I used light pear planks with a thickness of 1 mm and a length of 4 mm. The length of the board was 100 mm, although 120 mm would be more accurate. I laid them in three boards with a pitch of 25 mm. I pre-modeled the sheets and unpacked the joints, and then laid them. Birch toothpicks were used as dowels, and thin black drawing paper was used for joints.
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I think that's enough for today. To be continued. If you have any questions, ask, and I'll try to answer them in as much detail as possible.





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I really like the scale of this set. A great start to the build, and super gif from family.
I'd love to see more From build.

And i want this model under christmas tree instead of socks and panties...
 
Welcome.

No problem understanding you at all. That's a great looking ship and you seem very skilled and well-equipped.

I also love that mini-machinery. May I ask what table saw that is?

Richard
The saw, as well as the lathe, and the grinder are made in China. They are inexpensive, each machine at our rate is about 15-20 dollars. They are quite simple, but they do their job well, but they certainly won't be hindered by some improvements. Specifically for this saw. The collector motor is 95 watts. Transmission from shaft to disc by means of a toothed belt. The set includes several saw blades for wood, plastic and metal, with a diameter of 63 mm. The worktable is adjustable in height. The maximum cutting depth is 14 mm. The kit includes an adjustable power supply unit with a maximum voltage of 24 volts.

The Chinese also include a set of socket wrenches to replace the saw blades. The saw can be disassembled quickly and conveniently . There is a marking in millimeters on the desktop, there is also a feeding guide with a protractor, a groove is milled in the desktop for it. It is convenient to end the slats at any angle. The only drawback is the guide rail, which is mounted with flaps, it probably needs to be improved. But in principle, I'm quite happy with this saw.

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You are doing an excellent job on it, I hope you continue to post your progress.
Thanks for the feedback. I haven't figured out the site structure yet. I would like to continue the review thread, but I don't quite understand how. Translation difficulties ))).
 
The saw, as well as the lathe, and the grinder are made in China. They are inexpensive, each machine at our rate is about 15-20 dollars. They are quite simple, but they do their job well, but they certainly won't be hindered by some improvements. Specifically for this saw. The collector motor is 95 watts. Transmission from shaft to disc by means of a toothed belt. The set includes several saw blades for wood, plastic and metal, with a diameter of 63 mm. The worktable is adjustable in height. The maximum cutting depth is 14 mm. The kit includes an adjustable power supply unit with a maximum voltage of 24 volts.

The Chinese also include a set of socket wrenches to replace the saw blades. The saw can be disassembled quickly and conveniently . There is a marking in millimeters on the desktop, there is also a feeding guide with a protractor, a groove is milled in the desktop for it. It is convenient to end the slats at any angle. The only drawback is the guide rail, which is mounted with flaps, it probably needs to be improved. But in principle, I'm quite happy with this saw.

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Thanks. Looks interesting.
 
I will continue the review on the construction of the "Spaniard". The keel frame itself in the set is made of 5mm plywood, but according to the drawing, the keel, stem, and bottom should be 8mm. I sheathed them with 1.5 mm mahogany plywood, getting the desired result. A 1 mm wide groove was provided for the trim strips.
A 1 mm wide groove was provided for the trim strips.
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Meanwhile, I worked the nosepiece with a miniengraverandchisels,andtriediton.Ihadtomakeaselection for it on the knavdiged,sincetheseat of the noseornament is 5 mmwide.

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Before starting the finishing work, it is necessary, of course, to install gun ports for all decks.
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For cutting holes, I recommend these Japanese saws. They are very thin, elastic and flexible at the same time, perfectly sharpened and do not blunt quickly. In a box of three pieces, in oil, on a foam backing. It cost me six dollars.
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Wood dust, there's no getting away from it, I have to work with my asthma in a respirator. which of course causes some inconvenience.
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Some work is also needed on the transom of the model and on the aft galleries.photo_2025-10-20_20-29-31 (2).jpg
I didn't really like the windows made of thin plywood included in the package, but I used them as conductors for gluing windows made of thin mahogany slats. I glued everything with super glue. A pink pear was used for the bulkhead itsel, coated with tuna oilf, . The decoration between the windows is just my fantasy, but I need to have a steady hand and good eyesight.
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Everything is ready for finishing. Above the waterline it will be a pink pear, below it a mahogany tree (sapel). I haven't decided yet what to trim the foredeck and quarterdeck with, but there are plans for a painted blue hornbeam. I usually don't like to paint the model with acrylic paints, preferring the natural color of wood, with a finish coating with tung oil. But this is already in the next series of construction. That's all for now.

Ps: A little more))) the view of my "den". As you can see, the old tree stump is also fond of Lego, although it was necessary to squeeze out a fairly extensive collection due to the construction of the Spaniard and partially move it to another room, there are old "vintage" sets from the Pirates of the 90s series, such as Fort El Dorado and several more from the same series. Of course, it is necessary to remove all this, inevitably everything is covered with a layer of dust. My grandson is coming to stay for the New Year. So everything needs to be washed and moved to the children's room..trashed-1758954059-IMG_20250828_100324_обработано.jpg

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