Mike Dowling

Before you get too heavily into the 'rigging' may I suggest you find a non stretchy thread. I had a problem where even a little bit of stretch stopped the controls working. Your cockpit looks great.

Before you get too heavily into the 'rigging' may I suggest you find a non stretchy thread. I had a problem where even a little bit of stretch stopped the controls working. Your cockpit looks great.

It is ages since I tried to do a build log on this forum so I thought it was about time I did! I have made loads of models since my last but not done logs on any of them. I love the look of the tall ships and I have recently finished the Occre version of the Amerigo Vespucci with full lighting and loads of changes to the kit instructions to make her more like the real vessel. I am going to try and light the Gorch Fock as well although I wonder sometimes why I set myself these challenges. I can already see from the instructions that I will have to make a few alterations to the kit but otherwise I hope to build her more or less out of the box this time without looking too carefully at the real vessel.
 
At first look the instructions are the usual Occre quality, the wood looks good and the fittings fine. I will change the navigation lights so that I can fit lights. I don't like the photo etched stanchions but changing them costs a lot as I know because I changed them on the AV so I will put up with them this time. The sails again are usual for Occre but to be honest they do look OK in the end. I made some for the AV as the kit didn't come with them but they didn't really come out better so I will stick with those provided. Let's see what else I find as I go along.
 
For those who want to know this is what is in the box!
 

So, at last we moved on to the next stage. I must admit to some difficulties getting here. Firstly, the little 3mm brackets that go in the corners. What a nightmare.
 
There are 28 of them, and talk about fiddly. It took me a few days to work out a method. Problem is they are so small, have to be glued into a restricted area, and held whilst the glue dries. Even the best CA takes a while. Eventually I came up with using a tiny dot of Blue tack on the frame, sticking one end of the bracket in, then leaning the other end to touch the frame. Glue that on, leave 24 hours, then remove Blue tack and glue the 2nd end.
 
Once that was done, a few more spars to add, but again, I managed to break a couple in fitting. I must learn that cast pieces have absolutely no play in them whatever.
 
Never mind, all now fixed, and next job will be the seat bulkhead.
 
 

Why not have a go at one of model airways aircraft. Challenging, great fun and no planking. I can recommend them.

Why not have a go at one of model airways aircraft. Challenging, great fun and no planking. I can recommend them.

Looks good so far.

Hi there, I will watch as well if you don't mind. I have done this chuck wagon myself and it was good fun. I left mine natural wood for the wheels and chassis rather than paint and, whilst I know they are supposed to be black I love to leave bits brass against the wood.
 
anyway, you have made a great start.
 
 

we do like to create hours of boundless fun for ourselves in the modelling world don't we- whether its railways, planes, armour or ships 🤪.
 
Keith

Good evening mates, a little work on the deck today with some detail taken from the real Amerigo Vespucci.
 

Today I did not have a lot of time in the shipyard, so I took on the easy task of installing, I hope for the last time, the port and starboard marker lighting. My quest to find images of the marker lights on the real Amerigo Vespucci was a long one. I finally found an image of where i thought the markers would be, then performed some fancy image manipulation to get the marker mount to finally show up (final image below). Keep in mind that the image you see here is only a very small thumbnail of the original picture.

I use clear satin varnish.

i think we all need our heads examined🤪😁- but will look awesome when finished!
 
Keith

Good evening mates, another update on the hull. I have put on the last coat of primer, sealing in the rivets. So far I’m very pleased with the results.
 

Good evening everyone, time for a riveting update 😂 (pun intended). After nearly a month of placing rivets, they are done!
 
Well, unless I decided to place the rivets around each porthole! But that would be another week or two of riveting fun, but these would be a smaller diameter and I’m not sure they will be visible with a coat of primer, a base coat of white and then the final color. Time to sleep on it.
 
 

Hmmm, I’ve not looked that far a head; however, in my very limited experience, shrouds are done in pairs except for the occasional last or odd numbered shroud. When passed around the mast, a portion (can’t remember the ratio at the moment) of the shroud line is “served” or wrapped to protect the line from wear as it goes around the mast.

While you are having such rivititing good fun (!!!) Occre show when doing the shrouds to feed the through the masts singly. Up until now I thought shrouds ran in pairs. Which do you think ?

Well done with your searches. At least we definitely know how and where they are fixed. I have modified my housing for the lights a bit but there is no way I can build the metal cage round them. But, all being well my AV should at least have the lights!

Mike, I do plan on installing sails; however, this time around I’m planning on furled sails as I’m planning on a spectacular night light display, and…I’ve never done furled sails before (experience). My last ship, HMS Terror by OcCre I hand made my sails. It’s a lot of work, satisfying, but…did I mention it’s a lot of work.

Daniel, I realise that you are not at that stage yet but, as a matter of interest, are you planning to put sails on your model or not? I can't make my mind up although from my point of view I would either have to buy some as my kit was without sails or try and make some.

Good morning mates, it's been awhile since my last post. I have been busy out in the yard, so little time in the shipyard. However, I have been trouble shooting a recent issue... Last week, I was demonstrating the ships lighting features to a visitor and then turned on the motor for the screw. It ran for about two seconds then stopped! I checked the voltage, the wiring, everything external that I could check, and still nothing. I was feeling a bit disheartened as at this point there is no way to get to the motor it's self. Last night I was looking over the model, a bit frustrated, just toggling on/off the button for the motor, when it all of the sudden started working again!
 
Here is what I think is happening. The unit I used is a geared motor so that the revolutions are about 30 per minute (don't want to hurt anyone). In this particular device, the gears are exposed and I did not take steps to protect the gears. As you can see above, the Amerigo Vespucci has a ton of port holes that have to be drilled in through the hull. This will unavoidably cause wood chips to enter into the hull. I believe that one of these small chips temporarily was wedged into the gears of the motor, which stopped it from working. At least that's all I can think of as the wiring is well secured and not likely a problem. Lesson learned, the next time I use this motor in a ship where I won't be able to access the engine compartment, I will take steps to protect the exposed gears.
 
Oh well, all is now as it should be.  
 
UPDATE: I have completed the port hole rain gutters on the starboard side and now mass producing the ones for the port side. Should have some visual updates later this weekend.

Good evening mates, no progress on the AV today, but I did take a couple of low light shots that better show lighting effect.
 

Nice job with the hull finish. Did you use the template for the portholes or did you measure them? I found that I had to measure them all.

Hi Mike, the instructions are indeed a little vague. The one image that shows a 20mm spacing could imply 20mm between each port hole, but according to the 1:1 drawing, the spacing is not equal the entire length of the ship. So, like you, I measured each one from a zero reference point. I picked the left most port hole on the bow 1:1 drawing as my zero point, then measured each hole from there. I have the bottom row of port holes to finish later tonight, then see what I can do about the square openings. I want to inset the metal piece that came with the kit so that it is basically flush with the hull, or maybe be extended 1/2 mm like the brass fittings that act as port holes. Ideally, both the port holes and the square hatches should be flush with the hull, but I'm not getting nice clean holes so the brass grommet is needed.
 
Once I have all the port holes fitted, I'll prime everything one more time, the paint the entire hull white, let dry, mask off the white stripes, pain everything black, let dry, mask off everything except the yellow/gold and paint that, lastly masking off everything except the green bottom. There have been a couple of painting schemes over the years with a red bottom, a black bottom and a dark green. I like the green, so that is what I have planned.

Good evening mates, time for another update. Today, working on the starboard port holes and learning that all the planning in the lighting seems to be working. There are three settings for the port hole lighting, 1) some portholes lit, 2) the opposite portholes lit, and 3) all on. The images below show the plan come to fruition.