NMBROOK

Hello friends, 
 
I want to show you a new update and what I have done in the last few weeks.
 
As I told you, I decided to finish the planking of the hull. Again I have the situation, that I don´ t want to use the parts of the kit. There are several moldings to put on the planks that have to be made of wood. I study the Victory of Alexandru very carefully, because he does it in such an outstanding way. I try to copy his work. But - surprise - it´s not as easy as it looks :-)
 
I had so many problems with it, I could not tell you. I decided to do it in my way, concerning to my skills. But even than I get some problems. First I had to find out, that my molding was invisible, because I used the same walnut-wood I used for the planking. The strips were a little bit thicker (1,5 mm instead of 1,00mm) but that was´t enough to have a visible contrast. The solution was to prepare them with my black wood filler and make them darker. Wood filler become a panacea for all my problems....
 
The next problem was the second and smaller molding. I simply don´t know how to do it and where to fix it. I have to admit that I was not able to build everything in the way that it fits perfectly and everything is exactly in the right position as it is written in the plans or on better models. So again I have to say: my model is inspired by the original, but it´s not a perfect copy. 
 
After finishing that part I returned to the upper deck and the walls (you can see in my pictures what I mean). Comparable to the stern I don´t wanted to use the sheet windows from the kit. I made new ones with my yellow wood.  Also I had the idea to fill the vertical slits with that wood, to have a contrast and a little "eye-catcher".  What do you think about it? 
 
Of course these parts are not fixed on the deck. I only placed them for the photo.
 
Best wishes 
 
-Heinz-

Sjors - maybe these photos will help you make up your mind    The planking is not as beautiful as I think you think because of the different woods used, copper was always the plan.
 
Believe I reached a point to deliver a verdict on the Amati plates and share some progress now that copper has met boxwood.  I know that there seem to be many diverse opinions on coppering, and it does present its own uniquw challenges.  Its also amazing how many varied diagrams there are of copper plate layouts.  In the end, I probably ended up somewhere between what is shown in the AOTS Pandora book and TFFM book 2.
 
So, some thoughts on the Caldercraft:Amati copper plate matchup.  First off, I cannot believe how much more fun it is to work with the Amati plates vs my experience with the Caldercraft plates (which do still give a nice result).
Because the plates come in sheets, its possible to apply in some cases in multiple plates at a time.  This is a real bonus when its necessary to shape some which otherwise would leave a tiny sliver to be attached.  This results in less wastage..at least so far. The thin profile of the PE plated I think attaches much more easily (in my experience) using the Admiralty Pro thick CA glue.  This also allows any needed overlaps to be achieved easily without having to hammer out the distinct nail head profiles on the CC plates On to the photos and little bit of the method I've found works well for me.  I started working on the stern as this will likely be the most challenging due to the hull shape.
 
I'm not sure what these are called, but determining the flow of the plates where they need to fan out is the first challenge. Because the plates don't bend and can't be spiled, the problem is a little more intractable.  I found that by using a small sheet 2 tiles wide to find the natural lines of how the plates lie well on the hull was the simplest method, it just takes time and fiddling....
 

 
Once the lined had been figured out, household painters tape helped me keep the lines straight at these transition points (I go through a lot of tape)
 

 
From above (the view as I work), the lines of the plates does appear a little erratic...
 

 
...however, the appearance from normal angles is much more acceptable
 

 
 

Thanks everyone for continued interest and support...
 
"It" has started.  I've been proceeding all along assuming that I would install a false keel visible beneath the copper plates as wonderfully shown on the Minerva model in the Annapolis museum.  I installed the various false keel planks using swiss pear as I felt the more orange hue would blend better with the copper plates.  I had intended to then copper to this false keel as per pictures below, which required the copper plates to be trimmed which I did with an exacto blade.  But this would have resulted in a rather odd plate layout at the bow using the supplied plates which I didn't like.
 
In the end, I decided to copper to the bottom of the false keel which was rather luckily pretty much exactly the width of a copper plate.  This is how David Anscherl describes it in the FFM series so its good enough for me to justify this approach! Definitely still trying to get into a groove with attaching these with thick CA glue but pretty sure it will get easier...
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Wow,that looks absolutely fantastic Daniel!!!!!!!! I did wonder if you would adopt the red and black colour scheme
 
Slow down though,I need time to save my pennies,this is a definite must have for my stash  
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks Jim .. Those Blocks are Smaaaaalll .. but seem more in scale than the supplied stuff .. I have been pondering the Anchor's too .. they seem big for so small a vessel .. will have to do some research I think before making a decision there !.
 
Thanks for stopping by Jim and Thanks too for the Likes Folks, always appreciated 
 
Eamonn

Photo Time Woo Hoo !!
 
This is some of the completed blocks .. I will make Hooks out of the eyes at the ends before final assembly .. The eyes/hooks have been chemically blackened... Oh and the Future Admiral made the 3rd set of them   
 
All The Best
 
 
Eamonn

Hi Sjors.
Thanks. Of course the kit will contain english manual (unfortunatelly not Dutch ). 
 
Last two days I spend with 3D modeling of archangel Michael figurehead. I will try to print it next week. 
 
Daniel

Hello All,
After longet time I can present some progress. I made some progress on Santisima Trinidad copper sheathing. I use copper tape and 3D printed stamp which is pressed into the tape. I suppose that the kit will also contain just that stamp made from resin-one for starboard and one port side.
Best regards
Daniel

Hello all,
I made some progress on Santisima Trinidad. First of all I need to thank to Pablo from Spain (in this forum known as Anaga) who is my consultant during designing of the kit and who give me a lot of important information about the Santisima Trinidad. After consultation with Pablo I decide that the kit will offer two options for building the stern gallery-one is shown in the photo of prototype model and one is shown in render from 3D CAD.
The kit will contain gun carriage and full gun barrels in all four gun decks (36pdr guns are shown in the photos).
Best regards
Daniel

Both are fantastic Daniel but as you might guess the Trinnidad is my favourite     .I am glad you have carried over the upper jig design from The Nuestra Senora  .I hope you will keep updating us of progress,if only so I can carry on drooling like Ulises  
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Another update - port side decorations done & cap rails installed & finish applied to the rest of the hull. I think its time to turn my attention to the bow area - looks a bit tricky.
 

 

 
Mark

Update - After painting the background black,the side decorations were trimmed to fit around the gunports,painted gold & glued in place.The joints were filled with some filler & smoothed over & painted. The forward most section will be fitted after the positions of the cathead brackets are determined.
 

 

 

 
The port side decorations will be fitted next.
 
Mark

Absolutely wonderful work Amalio    
 
May I ask how the lining planking is fastened to the mould to allow latter removal?
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Head rails and Bow underway......the supplied head rails take some manipulation before they fit over the stem and they readily get nicked up as the metal is quite soft!  However, Euromodel has supplied rails that are infinitely better than I would have been able to come up with. The images show stages in progress and I'm constantly revising my thoughts on just how final finishes will look. As additional components are added my thoughts change...........
 
JP 

I have to chime in and agree with Mark on this one E J.My research on Sovereign revealed cannons facing towards the maindeck.Main aim to mutilate any boarding party that dare attempt it.Yes it would work,but half the masting and rigging would be destroyed in the process Mary rose had similar cannons None of it makes sense now,just the way they built ships back then
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Hi Mates,
 
A lateral update – my usual posts - ha ha..
 
So, I decided to add some detailing to the galleries. The Vasa (based the on super detailed 1/10th) is certainly hard to grasp from a Corel kit.
 
PS: just a thought – Who really knows if the Vasa was as colorful and as highly detailed (art work) as is represented on the museum’s beautiful model.
The actual resurrection galleries, as an example, are very plain by comparison to the model (they appear to be rebuilt as well). So it appears that the goal of many kit/scratch builders is to try to emulate the model’s look. I, then added some detail bits as well.
 
My completed galleries before added details
 

 
Used some extra painted wood bits from the just completed railings. Purchased a necklace, and used the bits for the bobbinets (glue added so that beads would not fall off string when cut)

 
Received from Corel two new weather deck cannon opening trim rings

 
Here are some finished up shots. 

 
Now on to some added detail work for the bowsprit framing.
 
 
This 1/10th pic makes me very insecure Hmmm

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

One last bit of similar “detailing”-- added some small verticals to the bowsprit framing.
Pics before update
 

 
And such luck!! Those left over necklace bits just sort of perfectly fit between the white trim pieces. Now that was a pleasant experience.
 

 
PS: I know that the cathead braces (anchors) are not even an approximation of what they should look like – but done here – moving forward. – I think?
 
Onto installing and attaching the lower main and its shrouds.
 
 

The quarterdeck is now planked. To begin with, I added the subdeck. Then, I lined the inner bulwarks with strip wood that was trimmed and then painted red. Next, I did the planking, using holly, beginning with margin planks that were bent to shape before installation. Once again, a pencil was used to simulate caulking on one side and one end of each plank.  The last step was to do the the drill and fill treenailing, using golden oak filler.
 
When the planking was done, I made up the quarterdeck hatch. As with the forward hatch, I used  kit walnut strip for the coaming, and Syren boxwood grating material.
 
All-in-all, a very straight forward segment that went pretty smoothly.
 
Bob

Thanks so much Nils, Scott, Don, Red and the "likes".
 
Don, I think I may have had something other than coffee in my cup when I took those pictures.   Not very good. I'm attaching a couple that, hopefully, are better.
 
Bob

After doing all of that hull planking, I felt like doing something very different. My choice was to do the stern. This work began with the wooden transom piece which was wet bent to shape and then glued in place. I then did the stern lights (windows), using the very nice kit PE pieces, which fit almost perfectly. I painted them using some old Floquil buff and glazed them with Micro Kristal Klear. After that, I cut in the counter vent ports and added their hinges, using the kit PE pieces, and their ringbolts. Then, I did  the final painting of the counter and added the moldings at the bottom of the transom and the bottom of the counter. These were done with boxwood strip, scraped to a simple double bead shape.
 
Next was the metal transom piece, which contains the stern decorations. Following the lead of Joe V, I decided to paint the background blue, with the decorations to look like natural wood. After bending the metal piece to shape, I did the painting. For the blue, I used Pollyscale B&M blue. For the wood color, I used the Floquil buff, followed by highlighting and shading done with Modelmaster wood color. The metal piece was then glued to the wooden transom piece, using medium CA.
 
The stern work was completed by making and installing the taffrail. This was done by wet bending a piece of holly strip to shape and painting it black before gluing it in place.
 
The next work will be the quarter deck area.
 
Bob

Outstanding work Gianpiero!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Hey There Lawrence .. The Road Works are finished , Woo Hoo by the way ...
The Story So Far .. LOL     I picked up a Milling Machine ! then my Aunt got ill and my free days are taken up helping to take care of her .   Ballahoo is out on my Building table, the room is clean and the next step is ready to go .. that next step is the Block & Tackles for the guns and Boy are they fiddly ! I'm not using the kit ones you see but instead Chuck ones (Yup the small ones.. the ones where if you breathed in too near them you are likely to suck them into your nose  )  Am even trying to tempt Karen (the future Admiral all going well) into helping out with them !
I recently (last few days) picked up the Plans for 'Haddock' from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich London, this is a sister ship to Ballahoo and I intend to display the suitably framed Plans behind Ballahoo !  
So please do keep checking in folks as I haven't abandoned ship !  Just finding boat building time to be a scarce commodity.
 
Thanks again Lawrence for stopping by and for the kind words !
 
All The Very Best
 
Eamonn
 
PS I didn't receive a usual notification that you had posted .. Sorry for taking so long to reply !
 
E

I've spent the past couple of weeks doing the second planking of the lower hull. Since I didn't want to paint the planking, I had chosen to do the lower hull in holly to represent the tallowed planking. The lack of painting also meant that the planking would have to be done in a prototypical manner. Since neither the kit plans nor AOTS showed a lower hull planking layout, i had to create one , based on typical practice.
 
The procedure followed was to use tick strips to measure out plank width at various points and to maintain the same number of planks throughout. This was accomplished by tapering each plank to achieve the correct plank width at each measured point. The holly bends easily, so I decided to edge bend the tapered planks rather than spiling. The bending was done by soaking in boiling water. The planks were beveled on one edge, as necessary, to achieve a close fit, and then a pencil was used on one edge and one end to simulate the caulking. The planking was sanded smooth and then finished with Wipe-on Poly.
 
I'd like to say that it came out perfectly, but it didn't. Small errors in measurement, and the almost inevitable effects of creep. led to some funkiness in the last strake or two on each side. I am happier with the starboard, done second, and that is the side shown in the photos.
 
Bob
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Mates,
 
Finished installing the upper railings. As I mentioned in a previous post I had my “issues” installing the horizontal rails on each side of the foremast after installing the shrouds. So that done, as well as some tidying up of the carriage ropes I can move forward and attach the mainmast, and its lower shrouds.
 

 
Now needed to make the bent 90º planks to link the horizontal bits.
 
Well that had its issues as well. Hmmm.
I must have tried to bend 50 pieces (needed 10) All but one plank allowed itself to be bent 90º. Even tried soft wood to no avail. I believe it was my lack of skills, and the extreme bend that was needed?
 

 
So plan B. 
 

 
Last pic I will be pulling out those badly made pulley/blocks now that I have, and know how to (more or less) use my Proxxon MF70 J
Before “moving forward” I plan to revisit the galleries and add some details. This is certainly one of the most difficult areas of this ship to articulate correctly especially with the Corel kit as a base. Not complaining – this has been widely discussed here at MSW with those of us building this ship. I had some left over bits from the upper railings that will work very well.
 
Cheers