Baker

Change out anything plywood for solid wood versions. You'll be happier.

Time for another mid-15th century Medieval ship. 
This is, once again, going to be based around Heller's "Nina". 

This is actually from Heller's set of Columbus's ships, and is a special edition. However, it is the same exact kit I did in January. 
I managed to get it for only 10 dollars at the local hobby shop, because whoever had it before me glued the hull halves together (and actually glued them together perfectly, mind you!) However, that's all he did. Otherwise, the kit is complete and unstarted. 
I'm going to start this log off by saying there will be some significant modifications/additions to the kit. For one, I have some things I want to do with the deck fittings and anchors. Secondly, all the rigging will be of my own design (as always) and I have a desire to make all my own blocks. The masts and yards will be made from wooden dowels/skewers (I see you Steven) and there will be some other miscellaneous sprucing up of the kit. This includes cleats, rails and other belaying points. 
Here's the ship as she sits now: 

Let's start with the deck. The deck planks are a bit long and thin by Late Medieval standards, but as far as I'm concerned, acceptable. The hull planking is also like this. 
What isn't acceptable is the hatches. I've known since I cracked open the box for the first version of this kit that the hatches were inaccurate to what they would have looked like at the time (see the Mataro Carrack and the carrack from Botticelli's Judgement of Paris). 
At some point between my construction of the Elisabetta and now, I actually realized that the hatches aren't just inaccurate, they're unusable. It's obvious that each hatch consists of eight removable panels, and in between those are timbers integral to the hatch design. No one, not even a child, could fit in between those timbers at 1/75th scale (more on the scale later). 
So, I came up with this idea: The aft hatch is going to be for "people", and the forward hatch for "stuff". The "people" hatch will fit the contours of the kit-provided hatch mostly, and consist of two removable, longways panels and nothing in between. The "stuff" hatch will be covered with two longways panels consisting of three boards apiece, also with nothing in between. 
The frame of the "stuff" hatch: 

The Mataro model shows a similar arrangement, except the hatch is covered with a cloth: 
 

Thanks OC
I have seen pictures and writeup on those two,interesting but they utilize old metal boat hulls and have some descrepancy in their designs. The third replica that is also in that area, and also seen on the net is closer to historical view as it is stated that the build was based on a three year study. The problem there is that the hull has that bulge along its waterline  and due to safety issues to sail it has a wheel to stear the ship instead of a whipstaff. The stairs to the various decks I have questions about. It shows the hull and upper sides in black. Some of the features on that ship I intend to add to my build.
            Still undecided on adding a gallery to the back stern.
          

At the end of my day I decided to “split the main brace”  with a glass of Xmas Cheer, that being Eggnog with some “adult” liquid nurishment. 
                 Not sure if doing a cutout fitting of the ship ribs to the keel would be concidered a keel laying or when the actual ribs are fitted?
       That said I will of course attach some coin to the keel once I do “lay the keel” as per tradition dictates.
               
        Going to attach three coins. A Canadian penny (1 cent), a dime (10 cent) and a quarter (25 cent) to represent the scale of the ship 1/35.
      —    1 penny that are no longer used (out of ciculation since 2012), which I need to find around house somewhere.
      —    1 dime that has on reverse side the Canadian Bluenose schooner, and on obverse side the now deceased Queen Elizabeth II  second to Elizabeth I who was queen in Drakes time.
      —.   1 quarter for the quarter deck and if I can get one with our new sovereign King Charles III (not sure if in circulation yet) it would symbolize a new build.
 
The coin laying for the keel is tradition  to “ pay the ferryman” to convey the souls of the dead across the seas.
 
Of course once I start the rigging I will do a more ceremonial “splitting of the main brace”.
 
 
 

During the construction of my GH I downloaded quite a few pdf's.
currently on vacation, just wait until next week then I will send via pm.
in case i forget, remind me

Nice start. I follow.
My first scratch model was an attempt to make a copy of the GH.
good luck with yours

Congratulations,  a beautiful model.

planking.
Because planking with only the bulkheads as support every 6cm is very inconvenient. I'm going to place the frames of the gun ports first before continuing with planking.
 
First I determine where they should go and how wide the cannonports are. 
Measure on the drawing and transfer to the model (drawing 1/100, model 1/50, so just multiply by 2).
 



And the dimensions stated in the book correspond well with the drawing.

Sawing and installing the frames

"Surgery"

for some reason they were given an M number in the book. M3,M4,M5... if these were all BMW's....

I think I'm going to fill in a bit of the bow for support. Later on you won't see anything between the stem and the first bulkhead on this deck.
The shape remains quite pointed towards the top
In accordance with findings on the wreck and paintings from that time, there will also be a cannon at the front.
provisionally called Mx

Hello there. You do some very nice work. I have been following your build and viewed your Golden Hind build log. It has inspire me to build my own GH in 1/35 scale based on cross ref to an older 1/72 scale GH Airfix plastic model I have.
             Since I have no diagrams of the GH to go off I have used my 1/72 hull to draw measurements from but lack angles such as the slope on the various decks and the angles off 90’ of the various masts. I also have a question as to the length/ height of the masts and their yard arms. If you are able the help me in those regards I would greatly thank you. Please view my scratch build posts of the GH on the forum.
 
Thank you and again …great work.
 
Jim

Thanks lol I just posted a question on your Mary Rose log.. Nice work.

Well, here it is. Zulu is now completed. It has taken me one year and four month to complete which is nothing compared with Wefalk and Valeriy builts. This scratch built model of an Indian river boat is now FINISHED.
 



 

 




I again thank all of you for the likes and comments. I learned quite a lot on this built and expect to do better in my next project: the fictional US Navy river gunboat San Pablo during the Boer revolution in China's as presented in the 1966 movie The Sand Pebbles,  starring Steve McQueen.
 
Ras
 

Congratulations,  a beautiful model.

Here's the ship as she sits today. I am tempted to call her finished, as I still think waistcloth and awnings might take away some of her detail. 

At some point, if an upgrade set for the Reale ever comes out, I might tear out the oars and replace them. For now, however, I think they look fine as they are. 
 

Mike, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard. 

Still plugging away. I believe I might just be about finished with what I can by the time I go back and home and continue this build in earnest. 
First my actual way of checking whether things will pass or not. As far as I noticed, I will probably need to remove the portside platform from the highest deck, since it makes the deck too wide to pass. However I will only remove once I have checked with the actual bottle. The bottle has a rather short neck, which might allow me to wiggle the complete deck through. 
The aft superstructure can clearly pass. The numbers on the right are boxes I've drawn in the bottle opening and then measured for easy reference. It makes planning a bit easier. 

 
She has now received her bulwark, forward structure for the discharge pipe and the first gantry for the suction pipe. (the second one you can see on the foreground). 
The forward structure will not be mounted on the deck, since then it won't pass the bottleneck, so it will be attached to the discharge pipe (along with more supports), which in turn will be connected to the main deck and lower part of the superstructure. The bridgewings, bridge and mast will then be a separate part that is placed on top of that. I'll definitely take pictures of the separate parts when I get further in the build. I can only begin to assemble those when I'm painting.  If I'm not mistaken I'll end up with 5 main pieces to assemble in the bottle (7 if you count the cranes as well). 

 

I can send you more info and drawings via pm about these shields.
But then you have to wait a bit, Baker is on vacation

Hello all of you,
 
I am very pleased to be here as a new member and newbie to the world of wooden scale ship modelling. My name is Lars and I live just beneath the danish border in northernmost Germany. I have spent some years in building plastic scale model ships - mostly IJN and Royal Navy from 1:700 to 1:350. And now it's the time for me to enter the world of wooden ship modeling inspired by my now 93 years old father, that also liked this hobby so much until his eyes became too weak. Currently I am investigating, what could be a suitable start - any tips and advices are very welcome.
Besides modelling I have a wonderful woman at my side and two gorgeous children.
I am looking forward to learn, discus and share the joy of this hobby in this forum. And thanks in advance for all the knowledge shared here for everyone of us!
 
Kind regards
Lars

Well today I learned - and that's annoying, because the Caldercraft instructions have them as I've placed them on the hull. I should have looked this up first!
 
I woke up this morning and decided it would always annoy me if I didn't change this. I've already ripped some of these off and I've started on the planking of a similar area on the forecastle - I'll update soon with my new version.
 
Thanks for the reply!

The Lower Shrouds are finished now to start the ratlines...🤺🤺⚓⚓

Agreed!

Hello to all,
 
This is just an alive and kicking post.  
 
The past several weeks have been pretty frenetic and filled with ups and downs.  Thanksgiving was very nice, however the day after, my sister and I flew to Florida to see our Father’s brother (85), who landed in hospital with serious cardiac issues that necessitated an aortic valve replacement.  I am grateful that we were able to see him, because he passed the day after we left on Sunday.  Very tragic, as his wife passed in August of this year.  My cousins are distraught, naturally.
 
We then spent Sunday into Monday moving my Father to a new assisted living facility.  While this process was fraught with all kinds of logistical problems and oversights, my Dad at least went willingly.  He was, in fact, quite delighted with his new accommodations.  Unfortunately, owing to his advancing dementia, we can’t even tell him about his brother.  I don’t think he can even process that news, at this point.
 
Overnight, my father took a hard fall, and now I am with him, in hospital, awaiting results of all the scans they did.  I think he will be okay.  He’s in better condition than I was expecting.
 
Sooooo, needless to say - there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for modeling.  Over a period of weeks, when I had the energy and attention span, I very carefully closed all of my breaching rope rings around their bulwark eye bolts.  Druxey’s idea to file a groove into a pair of tweezers gave me just enough purchase to close the rings without completely collapsing their shape.  Thanks again, David!
 
Last night, before this latest misfortune, I was able to glue those guns in place:





While I am not a saber-rattler, by any means, it is nice to see the ship begin to be armed as befitting her raison d’etre.  The next step will be to arrange the breaching ropes in a more realistic fashion that conveys a sense of heft and a natural lay.  I will achieve this with dilute white glue.  After that, I can attach and arrange the haul-out tackles.
 
One project that I would like to soon undertake is the design and fabrication of the new f’ocsle break rail, belfry and the quarter deck break rail.  All of that gingerbread stuff makes me happy.
 
Now, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you all to my friend Eric Wiberg.  He has undertaken his own Heller SR modification project, and it is quite a bit more ambitious than my own.  He is modeling Soleil Royal, 1671.
 
Here, a brief re-cap of his alterations, to date:  He has completely re-mapped the wales so that the forward sheer is less pronounced, and the aft sheer rises appropriately for a vessel of this early time period.  He has added to and arranged the artillery so that it is correct in number and placement.  He has sanded away the kit grain, filled the kit plank lines, and scribed new plank lines that follow the new wale sheer.  The wales are correctly graduated in scale, and the upper wales will eventually be ornamented with the famed l’istons d’or.
 
Eric has created new, correctly scaled timberhead railings that will eventually be bracketed by dolphin hancing pieces.  He has re-shaped the main deck ports so that they are correctly square.  He has added a waist ladder, skids and scuppers, and he has planked his inner bulwarks.
 
At the moment he is experimenting with the steave of the bowsprit, as he plans to completely re-construct the head, so that it has the more “Dutchy” early appearance of her near contemporary, La Reyne.  Here, a few pics to whet your appetite:





A number of people have undertaken these very complex modification builds.  Eric possesses the talent and determination to bring this all to fruition.  Please come take a look for yourselves:
 
 
Until next time, let your friends and family know just how much you love them.
 
All the best,
 
Marc

Congratulations 
Very beautiful models