GuntherMT

Final update !!!!!
 
She's finished......
A long journey but a wonderful one.
Thank you all for the comments and likes, helpful tips, pointing out the mistakes to me and more of that funny stuf   
It was a pleasure for me to build her  and to share it with you all !
The time has come to dust off the Agamemnon and go on with her.
 
Thank you all again 
 
Sjors
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here is our own private fleet.
San Ildefonso, Corsair and the Albatros

Thanks gents.
 
Alistair - I meant to answer that question last time and forgot, sorry about that.  I tried an experiment and painted the gold line on using India ink, and it looked great, but because the wood was already sealed it never dried, and 2 days later I could just wipe it off.  At that point I had already added the lower line of outer planking.  I also found that the black ink I'd been using for the strakes, even after adding 3 layers of poly was still bleeding off on things when wiped, so I ended up doing a light sand and adding several layers of black acrylic when I did the scuppers (since I didn't have a way to get the ink into them, I was sort of stuck anyway).  I'm not sure at this point what I'll do with that gold line.  I may go ahead and add it back in later, but I have not decided for sure yet.
 
David, believe me, an airbrush is on my list of tools I'd like to add to my collection, but it's not in the cards for this build.

Thanks Alistair, and yes, the next plank up is a 3/64" thick plank instead of the .030.
 
 
The reason I don't have an airbrush at the moment Grimber, is that I've experienced cheap airbrushes (like Harbor Freight type) and I have had unpleasant results with them.  When I do pull the trigger on one it will likely be a good dual-action Iwata, and I'll also get a good silent compressor with tank at the same time with all the proper regulators and water traps, and that will add up to a fair penny or two.  Since my actual need for an air-brush right now is really fairly limited (no paint at all on the Carmen, and somewhat limited painting on the AVS), it's just not high up on my spending priority list at the moment.
 
David - I had a nice dual action Badger the last time that I had an airbrush (i.e. 25 or so years ago), and I was pretty happy with it, but the research I've done so far (admittedly not exhaustive at this point) is pointing me towards Iwata as the 'top dog' in the field at the moment.  Whenever the airbrush percolates to the top of my 'buy' list, I'll take another look and Badger will certainly be in the mix for the research.
 
No work on the AVS tonight, had a charity thing at work this afternoon, and afterwards a bunch of us went out for dinner & drinks, and I just got home a little bit ago.  So tonight is catch up on forums and get to bed!

Thanks again guys for the encouragement. I am feeling a bit better about the state of the planking now that it is almost done. I am down to one plank section per side, which I should be able to finish up tonight. Those screw in planking clamps have worked really well on these small gaps. I bought a bunch of them a few years ago when Micro Mark had them on sale, so I didn't run out once on this build. They were a bit expensive even on sale, but they sure came in handy. There were even a few planks where I did not have a gap left that I just screwed the post through the plank to hold it, which I will fill the hole with putty now. I first tried straight pins, but they would not hold the planks flat to the filler blocks.
 

 

 

 

 
I am seeing some wavy-ness when looking down the hull, but I think that will be sanded out when I complete the sanding. That is going to be the next big task, one in which I always have a hard time. I think that I am getting close to being done, then look at the hull with light from a different angle and see all sorts of anomalies. And this hull is bigger by a lot than any previous planking that I have done. So, I just need to get at it and take my time and be generous with the wood putty (although most of it will get sanded off).
 
Since I am down to working one plank per side at a time, I have had some time to make all the quoins for the gun deck cannons. I also made all the ring bolts for them, which I have blackened along with the eye bolts for them. I have started making the hooks for the gun tackles, as well. I can do about 10 per night before my eyes give out, and I need about 90 of them. I started out trying to use a pair of pliers with round ends for the loops, but ended up using tweezers instead, which resulted in smaller loops. The hook part is made by bending around the end of a needle nose pliers. I do this all with the wire still on the roll, then cut off the hook and file the end somewhat pointy, although not as pointy as I would like yet. It is really hard to hold them still while filing, since they are so small.
 

 
I will post pictures of the sanding as it progresses. 

Dos Amigos Occre 1:53
H:675  L:905  W:330
Working time: 31 days

The last six months have not been wasted.  Just haven't had time I guess to update this log.  So I will skip all the gory details of how I've managed to get to where I am today and just post some pictures.  All I'll say is thanks to Mike D. for his almost daily support and advice without whom this would not be possible.  Mike says I'm an anorak.  In the context I have taken that as a compliment.

Thank you Grant, I'm glad you enjoyed the read. 
 
The channels were built from boxwood, to replace the kit walnut version, and glued and pinned to the hull. I still need to fabricate and install the support knees. 
 
I also installed the pumps, which were completed awhile ago, as well as the quarterdeck barricade. I don't think I took any photos of when I installed the entry steps and fenders not long ago, which are also boxwood replacements of the kit walnut. 
 
Finally, I've installed the rudder and tiller and housing. I added the trim along the bottom of the housing on my own to give it a ore finished look. Caldercraft would have you make the tiller from a bent piece of brass. I didn't really think it would have been a metal part on the real Granado, and the AOTS book is unclear, so I carved one up from boxwood. Even if I'm wrong, I think it looks better...
 
 

i know what you mean on cheap airbrush .  My first one was cheap and I payed for that.  but you should look into CO2  or an O2 tank vs a compressor when planning on buying one.  cheap to refill and don't have the moisture issues a compressor has.  5lb tank use to last me a couple years.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

Yet again apologies for not being ships but weathered the edges of the tracks with a mixture of humbrol rust and dark earth and thinned matt 29 paint as a keying coat.

Keith
 
 

Nice planking job Brian  The reason I use an airbrush is because I am heavy handed and usually get a bad looking job using a brush.  I do have decent brushes too.
David B

Brian - You remain totally in control - great work. Really like those photos which show the sweep of the hull - nice, I asked earlier, but is that little gold moulding going to be put on above the black strake? It is worth it - full run of the hull but a nice addition.
 
I am envious that you have a serving machine - this must be next on my list of non-power tools.

Photo update.  Went out this weekend and got some 'real' paint brushes instead of the cheapo's I've been using.

 
Did one last holly planking test.  This test was for two things - when I bought the brushes I also got some artists pencils, so I wanted to test the caulking with the pencils instead of the tissue.  The top two caulk lines have 4B pencil on both sides of the joint (i.e. I penciled both planks on the facing side).  The bottom four have pencil only on the upper plank.  Before doing any sanding, the top two were more pronounced, but after sanding down the filler for the nails, I can't tell the difference.  The pencil caulking is not as sharp or dark as the tissue paper (old sample to the left).
 
The three rows of tree nails are using the 'new' filler, and .031, .028, and .024 holes side by side, all applied at the same time, so they have the same finishing treatment (scraped and sanded, 2 layers of Poly applied and buffed).
 
I'm likely to go with the 4B caulking (single side) and .028 filler tree nails on the final deck.

 
My camera refused to get a good focus on the black strake showing my post-installation scuppers, but hopefully you can get an idea.  The first picture is the 'bad' side, where they are larger and more uneven.  The second is of the 'better' side.  If I could do it over again, I'd place some sort of filler block between the outer planking and the spirketing plank, and then be very careful not to drill all the way through, as it's quite clear that my inner and outer scuppers don't line up in several places when you line up and look through them.

 
And a few photo's of the current status of the inner bulwarks.  I somehow have a few tiny spots that the red paint appears to have a 'hole'.  No idea how that happened, but I may go back and try to touch that up when I do the final painting of the gunport sills, which I'll need to do after I get the outer planking on because of final trimming/sanding of that layer of walnut.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

Alistair certainly set a high bar for first builds with this one.  It's really not fair at all. 

As some of you know I had a dispute with a retailer over a Euromodel kit. The retailer never sent me anything and I had to get a refund from Paypal. Euromodel heard about this issue through Pete who runs their helpdesk and although Euromodel was in no way part of this dispute they offered me a discount on the kit as a compensation for my trouble with the retailer!!!!
 
This is really an example of extraordinaire customer care I never have experienced before, and it shows how much Euromodel values their customers.
 
Thank you Euromodel and thank you Pete.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

I do have holly for the deck, but I got it in the same size as the kit decking, so should make no difference in height.  I've never really shopped at Hobby Lobby before, as I always thought it was more about 'craft' stuff (which honestly, it really is).  However, there are no traditional hobby stores at all on this side of town, and Hobby Lobby at about 30 minutes from my house is the closest place to get really anything hobby related that I can't get at a Lowes or Home Depot.
 
Made a little bit of progress since my last update, and learned another lesson about using clamps on painted surfaces (the lesson is - "don't do that you idiot").  I ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup work on the inner bulkheads after leaving some divots and black marks on my nicely finished red bulkheads, so now I'm doing this when I need to clamp the outer planks:

 
I've got the three .030 planks on the outer bulwarks now from the aft gun port to the stem.  I need to trim them off at the gun ports now, and then paint the gunports again.

 
I also got a serving machine from Alexey and played with it a little bit this afternoon.    It will allow me to properly serve the rigging whenever I get to it - pretty slick machine, and the ability to fully serve the shrouds where needed in just a couple minutes will be amazing and awesome.  I need to find some slightly thicker thread though, the regular sewing thread I have is so fine that the 'serving' is sort of lost unless you are looking at it with a magnifying glass.

DanV's Boo-Boo thread is a must read.
I agree in the scuppers, they look great. Also on the gun heights, remember wood thickness will play a part. If I'm remembering correctly you upgraded to holly, which will raise the cannons if its thick. Seems I read something in Alistair's logs on this, as I've been enjoying his build logs.
 
Oh and BTW, you mention Hobby Lobby, if I haven't already mentioned it, there is a phone app that gets you 40% off the most expensive item and it renews daily. Hobby Lobby is a great source for materials.

Completed thickening the bulwarks on the starboard side
 

 
And the gun deck will sit snugly under that - will be closer fit once glued
 

Hrs 889-892
I'm getting the hang of it. Unfortunately, once I do I realize the old work is not good and tear it out and restart. Grrr.
 
Things I learned: 
1. Photos: I kept getting these glaring contrasty pics with blacks and whites all ugly looking. After talking to an OR photographer, he suggested using a white card in front of the flash to deflect the flash light upwards. Less contrast and glare. 
2. I started using a different hitch to do the lashings/whippings and it works much better. Thanks to:
 
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=model+ship+rigging+youtube
 
So, finally the correct Bowsprit shrouds with rings 
 
Bowsprit collars with tapered splices
 
And finally getting them temporarily connected into place.

 
Lines are beeswaxed and seized areas painted with thin paint (tar)

Saturday August 13th, 2011 - these are better . .
  Yesterday, in the afternoon I resumed the work on the cross section, in particular I definitely rigged the deadeyes.   This time the result is surely better, they all have the same length.
 
Power of experience . . but a highly important contribute to this overall result comes surely from the new ropes I used: they are light years far from the same ropes supplied with the kit. 
 
See you next time, Jack.Aubrey
 
01 Cross%20Section%20Santisima%20Trinidad/P1070739.jpg

02 Cross%20Section%20Santisima%20Trinidad/P1070740.jpg

03 Cross%20Section%20Santisima%20Trinidad/P1070741.jpg

04 Cross%20Section%20Santisima%20Trinidad/P1070744.jpg

 

Hello,
 
Here is where I am with the fashion pieces in place.  I added to the port side to get better proportions prior to adding the fashion pieces.  I used a scroll saw to cut the round pieces and wonder why the kit designer did not add this to the laser cut sheets supplied with the kit.  I actually used some scraps from one of the laser-cut sheets.
 
Al