ZHL San Felipe - JM

[Geologist1986]

Hi everyone, I've relied on this community quite a bit for my first build, so I thought I'd start contributing with a build log. I've always enjoyed looking at ship models, so I thought I'd just jump into one that caught my eye. I appreciate any advice and criticism. I've been building this ship for almost a year now, and I suspect it won't be done for at least another year, so I apologize in advance for slow updates! I'm quite intimidated by rigging, so I might be stalling subcontiously . I also have a new son that seems to consume any semblance of "free time". Enjoy!

 

[Geologist1986]

More recent updates!

 

[Chris B]

Hi,

It's a very beautiful piece of work; the lines are precise and the adjustment of the various decorative elements is excellent.
It's truly beautiful work, you can see it was executed with meticulous attention to detail. I'm sure you'll manage the rigging very well.

Keep up the good work, I'll be following your progress.

Have a nice day.

 

[Geologist1986]

Hi,

It's a very beautiful piece of work; the lines are precise and the adjustment of the various decorative elements is excellent.
It's truly beautiful work, you can see it was executed with meticulous attention to detail. I'm sure you'll manage the rigging very well.

Keep up the good work, I'll be following your progress.

Have a nice day.

You're far too kind, thank you! It's been a journey. I really look at this as a reflection of my time and money committed. Being new to the hobby, I never move on until it looks as close to perfect as is feasible. I've finally had some time lately to move the build along, so I plan on some regular updates.

 

[Papatotalos]

Nice and clean job. I will follow.

 

[Geologist1986]

One thing I've enjoyed about this build is fact that if I get burned out from the repetition of doing one thing, there's always something else I can jump to.

I decided to add tree nails to the wales on the ship. I couldn't really find a cheap usable material online or locally that would work for tree nails, so I ended up soaking toothpicks in a plastic bag of very dark wood stain over night.

I made a template for the spacing of the tree nails and drilled the holes with a 1mm bit. Dabbed the tips of the toothpicks in some glue and pushed them into the holes. Then I clipped the excess off and sanded them flat. I like the result, though, I think I will leave the toothpicks to fully dry since some of the wood stain has squeezed out into the adjacent wale wood.

 

[Geologist1986]

Took a break from treenails to work on the front of the ship. 2 questions, does anyone know what 1) the blue things on the front of the forecastle are called and 2) the function and name of the 2 "grates" close to the bow of the ship? I'm closing in on finishing the hull of the ship which is quite a milestone for me. Thanks for looking!

 

[Ted Robinson]

Hi,

It's a very beautiful piece of work; the lines are precise and the adjustment of the various decorative elements is excellent.
It's truly beautiful work, you can see it was executed with meticulous attention to detail. I'm sure you'll manage the rigging very well.

Keep up the good work, I'll be following your progress.

Have a nice day.

I second that. Excellent job and I love the blue color you selected. Olha Batcherov has many episodes on rigging on her YouTube channel. She demonstrates rigging at a level that suits the quality of your build. I'm glad you started this build log.

 

[Geologist1986]

Finished treenails (or rivets, or whatever they're called ha!) along the wales of the ship minus some sanding and sealing. I really like the way they turned out. The Arrowmax pen drill I purchased for this build has really paid for itself; what a great purchase.

I also took some creative liberties with the doors on the bow of the ship. The ones that came with the kit seemed rather basic, and I wanted to add some depth of detail. I always keep my "scrap wood" for things like this.

 

[Geologist1986]

Some work today on the aft guns, decorations, test fitting, and trim work. The curved pieces of wood framing around the aft guns required boiling for about 10 minutes to achieve the correct shape. Very tedious!

I also finished the interior side of the gunports on the second deck. I sourced some very cheap bronze/brass grommets that were the perfect size. I think this gives a really clean look that goes with the other decorations on the ship.