vossy

Fore topgallant yard up.  So now on to the mizzen yards, which are simpler to build than the fore and main yards.
 
Regards,
David

Built and installed the fore topmast.  Knocking them off, one by one.
 
Regards,
David

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

Welcome and good luck Sam. Ask heaps of questions!
 
Chris
 

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

The fore yard is built and rigged onto the ship.
 
Going on a trip for a couple of weeks so won't be posting again until latter part of June.
 
Regards,
David

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

My first wooden kit was the Amati Santa Maria. Probably not considered a "true" beginners kit but I chose it because I loved the subject. I found it challenging but totally rewarding. Sure there were many parts that really perplexed me at the time, but by asking here, and reading many books and posts I managed to produce what I consider to be a really nice model.
 
So I always say, with some caveats, choose a subject that interests you. The caveat? I would steer clear of "expert" kits like large Victory's etc. You will see very experienced builders on this forum sometimes can run into problems with those type of kits. Also, I think you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that every kit, no matter what level, will likely present problems of some sort or another. No kit will fit together 100% perfectly the way the instructions say it will. They all require some sort of tweeking to come together.
 
Building a model ship is a very repetitive process and can even get boring. Especially if you start with something too big. Ask some of the advanced builders on this site how much fun it is rigging all the cannons or doing the ratlines on a large scale Victory? My Santa Maria offered me the chance to do simpler cannons, less ratlines and probably most importantly for a beginner, a far simpler planking due to the shape of the bow. I would steer clear of bluff bowed vessels like Victory, Bounty, Endeavour etc. I would also recommend any vessel you undertake to have double planking. The first planking will give you a great idea as to how planking is done and doesn't have to be perfect. It also makes the second layer, which you want to be a perfect as possible, much easier to do.
 
Good luck on your journey.
 
Chris
 

How about putting a small piece of modelling tape, like Tamiya Tape over the section to be drilled into? Tamiya Tape is very light tack but it should be enough to hold the brittle wood together whilst you drill through it, then you can easily remove the tape and be left with a nice small hole. Plus it wont leave tape glue on your deck once you remove it. Hope this helps.
 
Chris.
 

Wood gets brittle as it gets old.
 
Steven

How about putting a small piece of modelling tape, like Tamiya Tape over the section to be drilled into? Tamiya Tape is very light tack but it should be enough to hold the brittle wood together whilst you drill through it, then you can easily remove the tape and be left with a nice small hole. Plus it wont leave tape glue on your deck once you remove it. Hope this helps.
 
Chris.
 

How about putting a small piece of modelling tape, like Tamiya Tape over the section to be drilled into? Tamiya Tape is very light tack but it should be enough to hold the brittle wood together whilst you drill through it, then you can easily remove the tape and be left with a nice small hole. Plus it wont leave tape glue on your deck once you remove it. Hope this helps.
 
Chris.
 

I will definitely follow along on this one as I have just started the Mantua 1:50 Nina to go alongside her bid sister the Mantua 1:50 Santa Maria which I have bashed around a bit and is about half way done.
 
Chris
 

Hello, today marks two years that I have been learning how to build models. I join MSW two years ago and I think I have not missed to many days scene  then lol.  I have  been having the time of my life, meeting  people,  getting to know some  as well. 
 I was going to start  my Pegasus,  but wanted to finish my Columbus ships. As  LA Nina will be my next build

So I open the box last night and wanted to post, but dew to technical issues 🙃  lol I went to work.


The keel and the bulk head came together  nicely. So I move on up to the upper deck, and planked that as well  So Iam about to start planking. But FIRST  I will give  Chucks  video  one more go lol. 
 


Glad  to be part of this wonderful organization. Both the NRG and MSW have become important to me,  my recent panic attack 🙃 🙂  because I couldn't log on kinda  made that a little more clear.  So to everyone  who has put up a like or a laugh  thankyou so much.
  It will be hard for me to control myself not to rush this because I will be doing the Pegasus  right after  the Nina. I do have a Viking Long Boat  to do as well but I thought I save that for when I get boared  with the Pegasus  lol.
  Now on we go, video,  planking lol 
Bob M.

Main topgallant yard built and mounted.  I included a pic of the rigging.  Again, as with the topyard, I have rigged a strop to hold the yard down, and I'll cut that if something comes along later that does that.
 
Regards,
David

Finished the main topsail yard and mounted it.  Some things to comment on with accompanying pictures:
 
The parrel beads and ribs look nice.  I've typically had trouble mounting yards with parrel beads -- holding everything in place (even with the ends knotted to make a tight assembly.  This time I dry-mounted the yard with painters tape, which made it relatively easy to rig the beads.  Didn't have to resort to my default on earlier boats of gluing them to the mast and then rigging them.  
Other pics show the "tye" rigging including long block and tackle at the end.   In order to get the tyes tensioned correctly, I needed to tie the yard down, and there is a thin loop (red arrow) doing that.  If something comes up in the later rigging that holds the yard down, I'll snip that loop.  
There is something called a "truck" that lashes the rigging to one of the backstays.  It's supposed to be a cast item, but looked high and low and nada in the parts box.  So I improvised with some scrap walnut dowel as shown in the picture.  In general, I've been pretty disappointed in the cast items in this kit -- particularly the yard rings, which I've ditched for my own using wire. It took me about 5 days to build and mount this second yard, so allowing for an upcoming vacation it may be sometime in August before I have them all done -- maybe later.  I'll keep posting as I go.
 
Regards,
David

A
A dodgy update is better than none i guess?
 

finally got some crew onboard! the chief engineer checking up on the poor bloke who has to shovel you know what! sorry about the pic quality! really bad at this! level 2 structure planking continues at glacier movement pace!
 
chris
 

crawling along with all this planking of decks and cabin structures! finally have second deck glued down, but requires another coat of matt clear I reckon. second deck cabin structure is a slow process to plank. here it is just dry sitting on top of the deck itself. when completed and ready to mount, it will also be white, so any small gaps the camera shows up can be filled if necessary.
 
none of my passengers and crew have been glued into position as yet, and I am still procrastinating over the horse bay area detail. anyway, sorry, not much of an update, but it is a way to bump my log up from page 5 I guess 

Finished and added blocks to the main yard.  
 
Because I need my workbench to make the yards, I have moved the ship across the room.  I also need somewhere to store the yards as I build them -- so I will mount them on the masts as I go along.  Pic of the first mounted yard is shown, along with some rigging detail.
 
The light is not very good in the part of the workroom where the ship now is, so I bought a LED headset light (shown).  Wow, what a godsend.  Puts a ton of light just where you are looking.  Only $30 at Amazon.  Wish I'd had it sooner.
 
Regards,
David

Built my first yard -- the lower main yard -- and thought I'd offer a few comments:
 
1)  The plans show banding on the yards, but there is no indication there or in the manual what they are made of, so I used black thread.
 
2)  For the life of me, I can't figure out the mast rings supplied with the kit.  The inner diameters seem wrong, and the counts seem wrong.  So I have abandoned them and made my own for the stunsail booms out of wire.  It's all painted black at the end so it looks fine.
 
The finished yard (rigging blocks not yet installed) is shown below as well.
 
Regards,
David
 

I built Oseberg a few years ago

Finished the standing rigging on the jib.  Now all of the standing rigging is done.
 
I haven't built any of the yards yet, so now it's on to shaping and sanding.
 
Regards,
David