Albatros by bluesy76 - FINISHED - OcCre - scale 1:100

[bluesy76]

Hi there. This is my first post on this forum so apologies for any missteps...

 

From what I can see this is an Occre/Artesania Latina kit and it seems to be sort of a generic build as I haven't been able to locate any references to a ship that existed under this name. This is my second kit, the first one being a Mantua kit that was a disaster and I abandoned. I've never done any sort of woodworking or model work so this is all pretty new to me.

 

I bought this kit back in December 2017 and have been working on it with small breaks since then. At the time of posting this I have already finished most of this structure.

 

Regarding this kit:

 

Good points:

- Ideal beginner's kit that is not too hard but provides enough of a challenge.

 

Bad points:
- Illustrated instruction booklet is terrible. It's 8 pages of inconsistent, vague and saturated colour images that in some instances cause confusion. 

- There is inconsistency with the parts illustrated and in some cases the measurements of small parts which is very frustrating

 

In my endeavour to experiment and develop my skills a bit, I tried to weather the deck but I fumbled and ended up blotching the deck with black ink. I had to resort to sanding it to remove most of the stains but with limited success.

 

In addition I decided to replace the metal launch boat provided with my own scratch build. On to the anchors next.

 

Some pictures attached.

 

 

 

 

[Fright]

Barely noticeable if it's by the fife rail and as for the ship, botch job this isn't. Very nicely done!

 

[bluesy76]

Hi again.

 

Ready for the rigging now after completing the anchors. The kit provided metal pieces to be painted brown to simulate wooden stocks. Had a go at it but they were awful in my opinion:

so I used some spare wood to make my own:

The instructions specified using 3mm diameter rings for the anchor but even if I could manage to fit two loops and the anchor head in there - which is a big ask - it would look naff so I bought some 4mm faded gold rings from a jewelry craft shop and used those instead. I also finished tying up the launch boat at the stern:

Finally, I wanted to upgrade the deck furniture a bit so I made cannon balls out of those beads you find in the sink plug chains and arranged them in trays around the deck.

So, that's the structure pretty much done...on to finish up the standing rigging:

I will give Artesania Latina credit at this point: the instructions for the rigging are well laid out with scale diagrams for each section including some annotations to guide you on specific techniques for rigging the string.

Edited June 6, 2018 by bluesy76

[bluesy76]

Bowsprit is now completed minus the rigging which comes later.

 

The instructions ask you to use a two pieces of string connected by a 3mm diameter ring to make up the bobstay. However the picture on the cover of the booklet clearly shows a gold chain being used  and I didn't like the look of so much string being used in that area so I elected to use a chain instead. I used part of a cheap chain necklace painted Vallejo "oily steel" mixed with black acrylic:

Also, not sure about the cap, the instructions do specify to paint it black but I decided to dye it a dark walnut colour for now. I'll check out the forum for tips but any guidance on that is much appreciated.

Edited May 7, 2018 by bluesy76

[bluesy76]

Haven't posted in a while but plenty of progress has been made since my last post and, most importantly, a lot has been learned. I've completed a sort of first draft of the bowsprit rigging as shown below.

I say "first draft" because I'm sure that after I hook this up with the foremast that the rigging is going  to lose some tension and it's going sag. So I'll wait till that happens and replace everything. It'll work out better that way I think and I can replace the martingale that I intended to paint with some brass material I just got hold of.

 

I've also managed to complete most of the foremast. I got the mast ready and carefully placed it in the ship ensuring it was inclined slightly back:

I then had a first try at placing the shrouds and though it went well I decided to redo it as a) the waxed thread I decided to use didn't look very good and b) I had used the jig incorrectly leading to the lanyards being placed too high up.

In the end I managed to build up my skill set a little bit and got the shrouds and ratlines completed sooner than I thought (that's not a real parrot in the background by the way...)

I decided to avoid securing the shroud lines at the top of the mast all near the centre of the mast as that would lead to a huge mass of knots all jumbled up together. The end result after securing the ratlines is that the shrouds separate a little near the top but this doesn't look too bad in my opinion:

There is still some fluff on the thread which I aim to wipe down with some beeswax soon.

 

As of now, I have completed two of the yards with the topmost yard remaining:

I must say that though I dreaded getting started with the rigging it really brings the model to life in a way I couldn't foresee - especially as I haven't seen many model ships of this type in real life. Even at such a small scale you can really appreciate the sophistication and effectiveness of this type of naval engineering. In short, I'm really enjoying this part of the process.

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by bluesy76

[bluesy76]

Felt it was right to post a final update for this build log, confirming completion in August 2018. I was busy moving apartment around this time so was really distracted and lost track of this build log.

 

The running rigging was added:

 

 

Then the sails:

 

 

 

A little clean-up and added the flag to finish this off:

 

 

As with any beginner, I look back with a little bit of frustration at all the silly mistakes that have cost me time and negatively affected the final result. But at the same time it's been a great learning experience and I'm motivated for my next build.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!