Moonbug

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

The Launch:
 
Based on a fair amount of research, it appears as though the Santa Maria had two smaller launches of slightly different variety.
 
 
 After a couple of failed attempts, I used a similar method that I used with the smaller launch to create the larger.  I took the diagrams from Pastor's reference, made scaled copies, then cut out along the lines to create bulkheads to plank.
 
 
 
The most difficult part of this small build was shaping the keel.  It's a very dramatic bend. It took several attempts at soaking a strip then bending it with heat to get the shape I needed. I overbent, cracked and broke a number of pieces going to fast. Patience was definitely and ultimately a virtue here. But, I finally got a reasonable facsimile to work with.
 
 
 
To shape the bulkheads properly, I just glued my paper templates to some thing plywood - knowing I would sand out the hulls later.
 

 
As it turns out - this method failed miserably. I wasn't able to effectively plank or sand this version, because there wasn't enough wood to work this. After much aggravation, I just scraped the plank on bulkhead idea.
 
 
 
Shifting gears - I switched to a more basic method, trying to simulate the real-world version of building smaller craft.  I mounted my bent keel, filed small grooves, then bent and shaped until I came up with something suitable to plank. While this ultimately worked - it was quite difficult soaking and bending these smaller pieces.
 
 
 
After quite a bit of planking, sanding and filling then planking again - I had a viable product to work with and shape.
 

 
 Filling in the launch with seats, rails, and a keel was relatively easy compared to the construction itself. Thank goodness for the weathering that I've been using because hopefully it'll cover up a fair amount of minor inaccuracies. 
 
I'll ultimately also add oars, some rope, and other small additions that represent the clutter that was often found in the small vessels. I suspect they were often used as storage bins much the same way we all seem to have a "junk drawer" somewhere around the house.

Although I'm just posting this - this was another deck fitting project I started quite a while ago and just finished up recently. 
Based on the items in the Captain's Cabin here, you can probably tell I'm a bit fascinated with the tiny details that I feel add a huge amount of fun to a build. I think this is true particularly for the casual viewer who may not recognize the accuracy and finesse as much as those who are familiar with builds and ships. At any rate - I wanted to create the cook stove that was commonly found on ships of the era.  
 
After failing miserably at silver soldering - a talent that I envy greatly and is held by several folks on here - I ended up cutting out the pieces and using "JB Weld" - which is essentially an epoxy weld for small metal pieces.  It took a fair amount of trial and error, particularly at holding the pieces together until they dried enough.
 
The grating is from a common screen door and the pot and pan are carved made from wood with metal bits attached. 
 

The main mast of course houses the crow’s nest. The crow’s nest supplied is a solid wall, poorly molded version. At first I started rebuilding the entire thing from scratch, then realized that I could probably just refit the one supplied.  

 
I measured and marked, then drilled out holes in the sides. A lot of sanding later I ended up with something that I liked and that was quite a bit more accurate.
    The base of the crow’s nest is simply four mitre’d 5mm walnut pieces that are rounded and fitted to size. The entire thing sits on your typical criss-cross structure that will also provide a base for the topmast. Getting these pieces to all tie together nicely required a fair amount of clamps.

        The important aspect of the topmast is the rounded sanding at the base to ensure it fits snug against the main mast while still accommodating the double sheave block after it is tied together.  The final steps are to stain and/or tung oil the pieces to make them meld together while still showing the details with different grains of wood.

    The final aspect for the masts is the sheave block added to the top of the masts.

 
 

   

Hello everyone. 
 
    It's been about a year and a half since I managed to really accomplish much with the Santa Maria.  In that time I've been working and traveling, bought a new house and moved, and just generally been busting my hump.  However, I've recently gotten back into the groove a little bit, so I'll have some updates shortly.  In the meantime, here's a partial look at the new "hobby room" in the new place.   :-)
 
   Looking forward to catching up on everyone's builds. 
 
- Bug
 
 

Welcome Back!
 
- Bug

Hello there......
I'm back     
 
After a long period of doing a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with modelbuilding I will try to go further where I left a few moths ago.
Moved to another city but in the same country I have my own workshop again .
I found out one thing......don't move the model !!!!!!!!
I did that and a few repairs where in order.
As you can see I have not done all the repairs on the ropes at the gun port lids.
All the ropes are not straight anymore !
I have to change that.
But I want to show you that I'm still do something.
And I have only done the starboard side, so a small repair ( I hope ).
 
Sjors
 

Obviously mainstay rigging has (like most rigging) evolved over the centuries.  For the Santa Maria, I chose to use "Historic Ship Models" by Wolfram ZuMondfeld as a reference for the time frame.  I also referenced some other models of the Santa Maria from other builders.

  



Step one was to create open blocks to remain consistent with the ratlines, etc.  I used a 12mm dowel, cut off the ends and drilled them out. 



 I rounded and sanded them using this handy little tool that my mother bought me as a housewarming gift.  It's actually a knife / tool sharpener, that comes with a variety of different sanding belts. When you take the knife adapter off, it makes for a great miniature belt sander.



The top of the stay that loops around the top of the main mast is a reinforced wrapped rope. This is also the method of securing the rope to the blocks. So I simulated the effect by taking small diameter rope and wrapping the large diameter rope and creating the knot. 



 My method for accomplishing this was to clip the top of the stay to a shelf, and the bottom of the stay to my desk. This kept consistent tension on the stay allowing me to wrap the smaller thread around the larger rope without it twisting too much.



The upper half of the mainstay is connected to the bow of the ship through the foredeck. It's always sketchy when it comes time to drill holes in the deck as mistakes are unforgiving. The rope runs through the deck, around the bow keel, then back up through the deck. The ends are attached to to blocks. The blocks are combined around the foremast then connected to the upper half of the mainstay with another set of blocks.



 The upper end of the mainstay is wrapped around the mainmast, through the crow's nest, and reconnected using a loop and a "mouse" - essentially a woven knot. Clearly wrapping and weaving the knot as illustrated was too detailed for a small scale, so I simulated the mouse knot with a basic wrap.



I followed up the mainstay with the fore stays and the aft stays. This are more simplified stays with basic single blocks. I added a small rod in the stay as a functional addition which seems to have appeared on some but not all ships of the time.

Obviously mainstay rigging has (like most rigging) evolved over the centuries.  For the Santa Maria, I chose to use "Historic Ship Models" by Wolfram ZuMondfeld as a reference for the time frame.  I also referenced some other models of the Santa Maria from other builders.

  



Step one was to create open blocks to remain consistent with the ratlines, etc.  I used a 12mm dowel, cut off the ends and drilled them out. 



 I rounded and sanded them using this handy little tool that my mother bought me as a housewarming gift.  It's actually a knife / tool sharpener, that comes with a variety of different sanding belts. When you take the knife adapter off, it makes for a great miniature belt sander.



The top of the stay that loops around the top of the main mast is a reinforced wrapped rope. This is also the method of securing the rope to the blocks. So I simulated the effect by taking small diameter rope and wrapping the large diameter rope and creating the knot. 



 My method for accomplishing this was to clip the top of the stay to a shelf, and the bottom of the stay to my desk. This kept consistent tension on the stay allowing me to wrap the smaller thread around the larger rope without it twisting too much.



The upper half of the mainstay is connected to the bow of the ship through the foredeck. It's always sketchy when it comes time to drill holes in the deck as mistakes are unforgiving. The rope runs through the deck, around the bow keel, then back up through the deck. The ends are attached to to blocks. The blocks are combined around the foremast then connected to the upper half of the mainstay with another set of blocks.



 The upper end of the mainstay is wrapped around the mainmast, through the crow's nest, and reconnected using a loop and a "mouse" - essentially a woven knot. Clearly wrapping and weaving the knot as illustrated was too detailed for a small scale, so I simulated the mouse knot with a basic wrap.



I followed up the mainstay with the fore stays and the aft stays. This are more simplified stays with basic single blocks. I added a small rod in the stay as a functional addition which seems to have appeared on some but not all ships of the time.

Obviously mainstay rigging has (like most rigging) evolved over the centuries.  For the Santa Maria, I chose to use "Historic Ship Models" by Wolfram ZuMondfeld as a reference for the time frame.  I also referenced some other models of the Santa Maria from other builders.

  



Step one was to create open blocks to remain consistent with the ratlines, etc.  I used a 12mm dowel, cut off the ends and drilled them out. 



 I rounded and sanded them using this handy little tool that my mother bought me as a housewarming gift.  It's actually a knife / tool sharpener, that comes with a variety of different sanding belts. When you take the knife adapter off, it makes for a great miniature belt sander.



The top of the stay that loops around the top of the main mast is a reinforced wrapped rope. This is also the method of securing the rope to the blocks. So I simulated the effect by taking small diameter rope and wrapping the large diameter rope and creating the knot. 



 My method for accomplishing this was to clip the top of the stay to a shelf, and the bottom of the stay to my desk. This kept consistent tension on the stay allowing me to wrap the smaller thread around the larger rope without it twisting too much.



The upper half of the mainstay is connected to the bow of the ship through the foredeck. It's always sketchy when it comes time to drill holes in the deck as mistakes are unforgiving. The rope runs through the deck, around the bow keel, then back up through the deck. The ends are attached to to blocks. The blocks are combined around the foremast then connected to the upper half of the mainstay with another set of blocks.



 The upper end of the mainstay is wrapped around the mainmast, through the crow's nest, and reconnected using a loop and a "mouse" - essentially a woven knot. Clearly wrapping and weaving the knot as illustrated was too detailed for a small scale, so I simulated the mouse knot with a basic wrap.



I followed up the mainstay with the fore stays and the aft stays. This are more simplified stays with basic single blocks. I added a small rod in the stay as a functional addition which seems to have appeared on some but not all ships of the time.

As it so happens, I recently returned to the work bench after a rather long hiatus (went back to finish my degree).   Working on wrapping up the Mayflower at the moment, then the Santa Maria will be back on deck as a primary focus!
 
Thanks for checking in!
 
 
Thans Gerty, appreciate that!

Although I'm just posting this - this was another deck fitting project I started quite a while ago and just finished up recently. 
Based on the items in the Captain's Cabin here, you can probably tell I'm a bit fascinated with the tiny details that I feel add a huge amount of fun to a build. I think this is true particularly for the casual viewer who may not recognize the accuracy and finesse as much as those who are familiar with builds and ships. At any rate - I wanted to create the cook stove that was commonly found on ships of the era.  
 
After failing miserably at silver soldering - a talent that I envy greatly and is held by several folks on here - I ended up cutting out the pieces and using "JB Weld" - which is essentially an epoxy weld for small metal pieces.  It took a fair amount of trial and error, particularly at holding the pieces together until they dried enough.
 
The grating is from a common screen door and the pot and pan are carved made from wood with metal bits attached. 
 

Hey Adam,
 
   Just catching up on some builds after a long hiatus. Looking forward to see your progress on the SM when it rolls through your rotation.
 
- Bug 

Good afternoon Lawrence,
 
   Thanks for the comments!  Truth be told - much of the progress was finishing off several different things that I'd started before, but didn't complete.  So, instead of running through several things start-to-finish, it was finishing off a few half-started projects.  :-)
 
   That - and being excited to work again and staying up a little later than I should.  
 
- Bug

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

The Launch:
 
Based on a fair amount of research, it appears as though the Santa Maria had two smaller launches of slightly different variety.
 
 
 After a couple of failed attempts, I used a similar method that I used with the smaller launch to create the larger.  I took the diagrams from Pastor's reference, made scaled copies, then cut out along the lines to create bulkheads to plank.
 
 
 
The most difficult part of this small build was shaping the keel.  It's a very dramatic bend. It took several attempts at soaking a strip then bending it with heat to get the shape I needed. I overbent, cracked and broke a number of pieces going to fast. Patience was definitely and ultimately a virtue here. But, I finally got a reasonable facsimile to work with.
 
 
 
To shape the bulkheads properly, I just glued my paper templates to some thing plywood - knowing I would sand out the hulls later.
 

 
As it turns out - this method failed miserably. I wasn't able to effectively plank or sand this version, because there wasn't enough wood to work this. After much aggravation, I just scraped the plank on bulkhead idea.
 
 
 
Shifting gears - I switched to a more basic method, trying to simulate the real-world version of building smaller craft.  I mounted my bent keel, filed small grooves, then bent and shaped until I came up with something suitable to plank. While this ultimately worked - it was quite difficult soaking and bending these smaller pieces.
 
 
 
After quite a bit of planking, sanding and filling then planking again - I had a viable product to work with and shape.
 

 
 Filling in the launch with seats, rails, and a keel was relatively easy compared to the construction itself. Thank goodness for the weathering that I've been using because hopefully it'll cover up a fair amount of minor inaccuracies. 
 
I'll ultimately also add oars, some rope, and other small additions that represent the clutter that was often found in the small vessels. I suspect they were often used as storage bins much the same way we all seem to have a "junk drawer" somewhere around the house.

Although I'm just posting this - this was another deck fitting project I started quite a while ago and just finished up recently. 
Based on the items in the Captain's Cabin here, you can probably tell I'm a bit fascinated with the tiny details that I feel add a huge amount of fun to a build. I think this is true particularly for the casual viewer who may not recognize the accuracy and finesse as much as those who are familiar with builds and ships. At any rate - I wanted to create the cook stove that was commonly found on ships of the era.  
 
After failing miserably at silver soldering - a talent that I envy greatly and is held by several folks on here - I ended up cutting out the pieces and using "JB Weld" - which is essentially an epoxy weld for small metal pieces.  It took a fair amount of trial and error, particularly at holding the pieces together until they dried enough.
 
The grating is from a common screen door and the pot and pan are carved made from wood with metal bits attached. 
 

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

As a relatively small ship, the Santa Maria most likely had six pair of shrouds on the main masts that were then secured to the channels using deadeye blocks. 
 
 
Like many other details from that long ago - there is some question as to the type of deadeye blocks that are used on the Santa Maria or other ships of the time.  Once again, some subjective judgement is necessary in this area. While it appears to be clear (from a Flemish carrack 1480 model and others) that earlier deadeyes were triangular or 'pear shaped' it is not clear at which point deadeyes moved from being an open hole, to the three holes that later became the norm. Based on the premise that the Santa Maria was an older, existing ship that was purchased, and some input from Xavier Pastor's research, I decided to go with an open hole version.
 

 
So, step one was to drill out the triangular deadeyes and open them up. Always a delicate process, I held the deadeyes steady with suture clamps, then drilled them out with a dremel. Any drilling is always followed up with some soft sanding.
 

 
Step two is to rig the deadeyes. I used my handy soldering clamp to keep the distance between the deadeyes consistent. The process is a bit dodgy, since each time you tighten the ropes, the deadeyes have a tendency to squeeze together closer regardless of how tight the clamps are.  This is less likely in the newer, three holed deadeyes.
 

 
Once the deadeyes themselves are rigged, they are attached to the channels. First, holes are drilled in the channels, eyes inserted, then those eyes are attached to the wales of the hull. 
 

 
 The deadeyes are then attached to the eyes. Once again, it's important to wrap and tie them evenly so the lengths of the deadeyes and shrouds remain consistent. The shrouds themselves are wrapped around the main mast through the crow's nest and ganged together in pairs. After wrapping around the mast, an eye is seized in to them middle of the rope. The eyes are looped over the mast alternately so that both part and starboard side are evened out and the tension from the shrouds is consistent to both sides of the ship.
 
The shrouds are attached to the deadeyes by being looped around the block an seized at the top. Rattling down the ratlines is one of the most tedious tasks of the build. Although there are quite a bit fewer ratlines in the Santa Maria as my San Juan Nepomuceno, there are still about 450 individual knots in both shrouds.
 

 
Each knot is a clove hitch, which makes it a bit easier as they maintain tension when pulled. But it's always difficult for me to tie each knot with the same level of care to maintain the symmetry of the ratlines - as once again, the ratlines are one the most visible aspects of the model an any flaws are more noticeable than other aspects of the ship. While some folks use a paper with drawn lines to maintain distance, etc, I typically remeasure the distance of each knot after tying it. Then I put a spot of CA to keep them in place. 
 

 
For me - finishing the ratlines is an important step and, I believe, is a moment when the overall model really starts to take shape and look like a ship.

The Launch:
 
Based on a fair amount of research, it appears as though the Santa Maria had two smaller launches of slightly different variety.
 
 
 After a couple of failed attempts, I used a similar method that I used with the smaller launch to create the larger.  I took the diagrams from Pastor's reference, made scaled copies, then cut out along the lines to create bulkheads to plank.
 
 
 
The most difficult part of this small build was shaping the keel.  It's a very dramatic bend. It took several attempts at soaking a strip then bending it with heat to get the shape I needed. I overbent, cracked and broke a number of pieces going to fast. Patience was definitely and ultimately a virtue here. But, I finally got a reasonable facsimile to work with.
 
 
 
To shape the bulkheads properly, I just glued my paper templates to some thing plywood - knowing I would sand out the hulls later.
 

 
As it turns out - this method failed miserably. I wasn't able to effectively plank or sand this version, because there wasn't enough wood to work this. After much aggravation, I just scraped the plank on bulkhead idea.
 
 
 
Shifting gears - I switched to a more basic method, trying to simulate the real-world version of building smaller craft.  I mounted my bent keel, filed small grooves, then bent and shaped until I came up with something suitable to plank. While this ultimately worked - it was quite difficult soaking and bending these smaller pieces.
 
 
 
After quite a bit of planking, sanding and filling then planking again - I had a viable product to work with and shape.
 

 
 Filling in the launch with seats, rails, and a keel was relatively easy compared to the construction itself. Thank goodness for the weathering that I've been using because hopefully it'll cover up a fair amount of minor inaccuracies. 
 
I'll ultimately also add oars, some rope, and other small additions that represent the clutter that was often found in the small vessels. I suspect they were often used as storage bins much the same way we all seem to have a "junk drawer" somewhere around the house.

Although I'm just posting this - this was another deck fitting project I started quite a while ago and just finished up recently. 
Based on the items in the Captain's Cabin here, you can probably tell I'm a bit fascinated with the tiny details that I feel add a huge amount of fun to a build. I think this is true particularly for the casual viewer who may not recognize the accuracy and finesse as much as those who are familiar with builds and ships. At any rate - I wanted to create the cook stove that was commonly found on ships of the era.  
 
After failing miserably at silver soldering - a talent that I envy greatly and is held by several folks on here - I ended up cutting out the pieces and using "JB Weld" - which is essentially an epoxy weld for small metal pieces.  It took a fair amount of trial and error, particularly at holding the pieces together until they dried enough.
 
The grating is from a common screen door and the pot and pan are carved made from wood with metal bits attached. 
 

Although I'm just posting this - this was another deck fitting project I started quite a while ago and just finished up recently. 
Based on the items in the Captain's Cabin here, you can probably tell I'm a bit fascinated with the tiny details that I feel add a huge amount of fun to a build. I think this is true particularly for the casual viewer who may not recognize the accuracy and finesse as much as those who are familiar with builds and ships. At any rate - I wanted to create the cook stove that was commonly found on ships of the era.  
 
After failing miserably at silver soldering - a talent that I envy greatly and is held by several folks on here - I ended up cutting out the pieces and using "JB Weld" - which is essentially an epoxy weld for small metal pieces.  It took a fair amount of trial and error, particularly at holding the pieces together until they dried enough.
 
The grating is from a common screen door and the pot and pan are carved made from wood with metal bits attached.