Jack12477

Something like this happened to me with the deadeyes in the mast tops of my Vasa. No one has noticed so far.

This morning, I started by installing the Birch ply to the rear Deck Bulkhead, I then finished the Keel Bolt Block framing, I then started on the Cockpit Floor framing. it was challenging part of the build that I had wanted to do on previous versions of the Buzzards Bay. Next will be to finish the Floor framing. Here are the results

Hi Crackers, I have never been there It looks Beautiful, I agree a full size replica would look good there ( or anywhere for that matter ) I live in North Idaho and Have done all of my Sailing on Lake Pend Oreille (for the last 7 years and before that Puget Sound ) is that your boat in the pic? ( and any chance I get to show a pic of my Boat I will ) Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
 
Best Regards,
Pete

No update today but a reminder for myself.....
Read the drawings twice before you do something !!!!!!!!!
When I placed the deadeyes I did not take a good look at the drawing and find something out when I was finished......
I have taken some wrong size of deadeyes 
I nees smaller ones then what i have used.
Not all of them but the smaller ones.
So I have change that and now I have to put back the chains......
First job for tomorrow.
Then I can go to the other side and do it straight away right !
So .....read twice and do it once !!!!!!!!!
I know I'm not the first who is doing this and I know for sure I'll be not the last !!!!!!!!
 
Sjors

Hi Piet,
 
I was looking around a little and I was thinking what you are doing....
Now I have seen it !!!!!!!!
That looks so awesome good !
 
Sjors

Thank you, Cap'n'Bob, I am very pleased with how she is turning out. I am currently working on the Floor framing ( it's a lot more involved that I had originally envisioned ) however, I think by adding these details will set this build apart from the previous 2 boats. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
 
Best Regards,
Pete

Here are some shots of the finished ship.
 

Moonbug,
 
A fabulous result. It is set off beautifully by the stand. You must be very proud of it.

Well folks... looks like she's done.  Here she is - the completed Santa Maria.  I'll edit and post more of the finished photos, then eventually her final port of call - I have to wait for the Admiral to clear off the Christmas decorations after the new year before the Santa Maria can rest in her final spot.
 
Thanks for all the likes and comments!
 

Covered the side wheel covers with wood planks.After the glue dries I will sand it down.

Erik, druxey, thank you for the nice comments and for all the "Likes".
 
With the waterway completed I was finally able to add a few of the deck structures. These were all done a while back as a diversion, that kept me from getting crazy, when I was re-doing the planking. The photo below shows how I was able to set the structures with the correct spacing and parallel. You can't see it here but there is a lower deck below the skylight. The skylight windows have been antiqued thus reducing reflections, though quite subtle when viewed in person.
 

Thank you Patrick, George, Cees and Anthony for your very kind words and thanks to all for clicking the like button.
 
Picturesque eh Patrick, well yeah, it livens it up a little    They did use paint and a lot of carvings all around that were also painted.  I kinda want to make it look like how these ships were painted in the mid-17th century. 
 
Okay, I finished painting the starboard side, except for a few touchups that side done.  The greyed-down green looks pretty good on her.  I have to agree with Jan and Hans, it looks much better then before.  It even matches pretty close to the color chart I got from Ab Hooving.  Now on to the port side.
 
But before I turn the build dock around I wanted to make the galley chimney.  That'll be placed on the quarter deck against the port side bulwark, it's easier to reach it from the starboard side.  I first made a rough sketch with the measurements and proceeded to cut me some wood parts.  I used small pieces of basswood for the base and top with 1 mm birch plywood for the sides.  The swivel hood has also a base of basswood with 1/2 mm plywood for the sides.  The curved top is some shaved down pine to 1/4 mm.  The 1/2 mm plywood is just too stiff to make the curve.  
 
These chimneys were removable and a water tight hatch closed the hole in the deck.  I'm just going to cement this thing to the deck and forego cutting the hole in the deck with the coamings and the hatch - - at this stage o the game.  It'll be painted with the cherry like color paint I used for the railing caps.  No fancy carvings on this thing, I'm cheap
 
So, this is as far as I got in the last few days.  I don't know If I can do work tomorrow though, it's gotten very cold here the last few days.  We'll see.
 

Gwen looked at it and liked it very much.  Of course she also looked for errors an found a fe spots I missed - - - on the underside of the railing caps.  Those are the tough-ups I mentioned. 
 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't get the starboard door off and may have to use some stronger persuasion methods.  Oh well, in that case I'll most likely have to re-cement the hinges.  
 

This shows the sketch with the parts I cut.  That little pyramid like thingy in the center of the base is for the top of the chimney where the sided are cemented to. There'll be another thin square piece of wood cemented to that for the cap to rotate on. 
 

This shows the chimney base all cemented together with the rotatable cap in progress.  I left the cap base attached to the strip of wood for easy handling.  The top part of the cap is cemented only to it's base.  I'l' have to gently persuade it to lay down nicely on the sides.  I'm using CA gel glue for this. 
 
Cheers, 

At this point, all that was necessary was to pop the side frames off the stern timbers and apply new ones that extended the full depth of the timber.  An exterior stop will be applied after the window has been installed.  Thanks again, Danny.
 
The rudder trunk extends from the fore face of the stern post to just aft of the opening for the rudder.  There is a gap between it and the center window.  It is trapezoidal in shape.  Because of the angles involved and the shape of the lower counter, templates were used to get the correct shapes for the pieces.
 

 

 
Lockers ran the length of the aft wall of the cabin.  They are deep enough to provide additional seating space.  On Atalanta there are two tiers of lockers and a shelf above the upper locker below the level of the window sill.  I have chosen to model only the port lockers, leaving the starboard framing open.
 
The first step was to develop a template for the profile of the lockers and counter.  This was taken off the plan.  The lowest vertical element was made first.  Paper templates were made for each piece of the assembly.  I glued the vertical stiles onto the template and then installed the horizontal slats.  After it was dry, I peeled off the paper and glued in the recessed panel.  A cleat was installed on the blind side to stiffen it and give a wider gluing surface.  Finally, it was glued in place.  The horizontal element needs to be supported at the stern timbers.  I inserted wedges between the timbers to provide a gluing surface.  In the pictures it appears that they are not at the same height or angle.  This is an optical illusion which is occurring because the deck curves but the locker is horizontal.  
 
I had a choice at this point to either make a functional locker door and frame or simply make one piece and draw the door in with an #11 blade.  I chose the latter.  This actually makes the outline of the door stand out better than if I had made it in two pieces.  Be sure to carry the incision around the fore edge of the door.  It barely shows until the finish is applied.  I toyed with the idea of having one of the lockers open and filled with rolls of maps but decided against.  None of the other rooms have elements that would have been brought on board (with the exception of the hammocks) so for consistency I left the lockers closed.  I will not furnish the space for the same reason.
 

 

 
The second vertical element starts approximately two inches behind the edge of the door.  The panels are shorter because of the rudder trunk.  I have also installed the interior upper counter plank to act as a gluing surface later.
 

 
The second horizontal element is installed, followed by the third vertical element and the shelf.  Because of the height, the third vertical element has no ornamentation.  The last two pictures show how the outline of the door stands out after a finish is applied.  I still need to install hinges.  In the last picture, the angles still look "off".  This again is a function of the sloping floor and the horizontal locker door, combined with the angles of the hull planking and my bad photography skills.  In real life it looks correct.
 

 

 
 

I added the oars, windlass handles, rudder, and grapnel (after reshaping, removing material, and cleaning it up).  Now it's on to the base.
 
Here are a couple preview photos.  I'll post a bunch more when I get the base finished and the longboat mounted.
 

 

 
Erik

Very nice Mike,
Hmm, using the wire instead of the rope? Great idea!

I got my gaff in place, I used wire rather than rope to put the parrel beads on. I still found it quit challenging getting it on to the mast.

So, as I continue with many of the finishing details, I've been fretting how I'm going to handle the flags.  As the sails are furled, I need to give the impression that the flags are hanging somewhat naturally.  They also need to have some of the aging that the rest of the ship represents. 
  After scouring my local fabric store, and trying a variety of different silks and satins - I ended up going back to the "flags" that are supplied in the AL kit.  
   First, I soaked the flags in the same 'Scenic glue' that I was using for the rope coils.
  

 
   Then I hung the flags from my shelf, and shaped them with a variety of clips and gravity. To give them the shape I wanted that would imply hanging naturally.
 
 
 
    I then mounted each of the flags. The main and fore mast flags using blocks, and the mizzen using a mounting as illustrated in Pastor's book. I then aged them using some black and brown dusting.
 
   
 
 Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

I'm at the stage where I'm working on details at this point, of course.  So, along with coiling endless amounts of rope, I needed to create a pulley for the Crow's nest sheaves.   I started with a square 5x5 piece of scrap and cut off about 3mm of it.  I rounded the edges then drilled out the center.
 
   
   
    Then, I decided instead of cutting my own sheave to slide in, i could sand down the sides of a scrap deadeye instead.  The tiny pins are scrap leftovers, and the other metal piece is a leftover scrap piece that AL loves to use for attaching shrouds.  I don't use them, so I have a bunch of them lying around.  That will eventually become the 'hook'.
 
     
 
  Finally, I assembled it all together and darkened the metal and wood.  I then attached it to the ship and coiled the rope.
 

Good morning,
 
      Not a lot of photos to show just yet, but I've delved into the tedious job of coiling and tying off rope.  I started out by building a jig, and going with that particular method - but it's only useful in a couple of places where the coils are essentially sitting on their own, or hanging off a cleat or rail.  
 
 
 
     For most of the rope, that's attached to the end of a rigging line, I'm actually coiling by hand for each spot, so that it wraps around the end of the rigging properly and looks more natural.
 

 
    I am primarily using two types of glue. The Scenic glue that I mentioned before dries very clear and clean. As I said - it's NOT very tacky, so the coils need to be in place and how you want them laid out, then the glue is applied with a Q-tip, or sometimes small brush.  The glue behind it - sorry it's kinda blurry - is actually a styrofoam glue that I came across at my local hobby store.  It's VERY tacky - much like a rubber cement - so it's a bit messy, and quite honestly a pain in the butt.  HOWEVER, it's also very effective if you brush it on the back of a coil because it allows you to immediately shape the coil and place it where you want it. It holds very nicely, but then takes several minutes to dry giving you plenty of flexibility to make changes.
 

 
    Once again, I'm growing more enamored with the somewhat haphazard way the rope coils are looking.

Ken. I've been following your build silently in the background ("Yes, yes. I know. Totally out of character, for me !!") ...
 
Not sure if you have seen Marquardt's AOTS Constitution, but here are three variations of the side gallery windows from that book ...

 
Hope they help. For my money, I'm in favour of the third version (C2/7), but I'm still a looong way from getting to that stage.

Captain Steve, thanks for sharing! It looks like the center one is what is drawn up on the plans and I am presently building with out of scale details. I will just do the best I can with what I have.
Thanks again!

Last Night, Before I got to carried away, I decided to seal up the inside of the Hull with Titebond 3 ( Brushed on ). When I awoke this morning I decided to paint the Bilge ( Grey ). I then ( while the paint was drying ) turned my attention to finishing up the framing for the Mast step. I then glued the Birch on to the forward Bulkhead. Next will be to finish the floor framing in the Cockpit. Here are the results 

Thank you George, Robb, CaptainSteve, CH, Mark, David, Bug, Frank, miloman, and Boyd for your kind words of encouragement. Also thanks to all who hit the like button.
 
Finally got the re-rigging(aged ropes) finished on the 12inch smooth bore. It turned out to be quite interesting to remove and replace the ropes with the cannon affixed in place. So if anyone needs a lobotomy???
 
Any how, I picked up some muslin to begin working on the sail. Turns out it's almost exact to the kit supplied sailcloth so let the experimentations commence. I also found a blank, white handkerchief swatch in one of my vintage boxes of DMC and am trying a few coloring methods for the sails. Now I just need to get my hands on a yard of the hanky material. It's so thin you can see through it, so I'm not quite sure how it'll work out.
 
One thing I've been searching for and haven't found yet, is the order in which the sails would be set from the furled position. I'm thinking of having a sail or two opened to the wind, but not sure which one(s) that would be. So if anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.
 

Thanks so much Dirk, Chuck, Mike and the "likes".
 
You're so right Chuck, this is the fun part and i will enjoy it -- but I'd still like you to get back ahead.    
 
Mike, the seats are only three pieces -- front, one side and top -- but needed a fair amount of fitting, even using the templates.
 
Bob

Looking very nice! I was wondering what those seats would look like.
 
Dirk - With all the customer work I'm surprised that Chuck has managed to complete as much as he has.
 
Mike