Pierretessier

Howdy Pierre,
 
It really looks great!  I look forward to this one being built! 
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and likes. Now that the bulkheads are dry and everything is lined up properly it was time to add some supports to help lock the hull before fairing. I decided to use bass wood as it is a bit harder then balsa. I began by glueing stock board I had to make up the blocks needed to create the supports, I then dry fitted them to make sure there was no twisting action.
 

 

Update - after a lot of cutting,shaping,filing,& sanding the foremast has been assembled & painted.
Mark
For some reason,all the pictures are in reverse order.
 

I have adjusted the stern of the model. The kit and plans show simple square frames, which I have adjusted to something more authentic. Photos explain. I made an error in splaying them to follow the curvature of the stern, which is a shame. Will know for next time. This is a simple upgrade made using wood from the kit.

Thanks for the encouragement. I am currently trying to work out how to sort out my blocks. Have worked hard at stropping and am beginning to be satisfied after about 10 attempts. Also I am dropping a bit of brass into the loop or eye of the strop which is super fiddly with a 4mm block but does work, and gives authentic feel. See detail below.
 

Thanks for the words of encouragement, and likes. Now that the bulkheads are dry and everything is lined up properly it was time to add some supports to help lock the hull before fairing. I decided to use bass wood as it is a bit harder then balsa. I began by glueing stock board I had to make up the blocks needed to create the supports, I then dry fitted them to make sure there was no twisting action.
 

 

I've just pasted in the article so we don't have to figure out what's wrong.
 
 
Which wood is that? Are you sure? A warning tale by John Wheeler
Over the Christmas period I have re-started work on a project which has been on “hold” for a while – my Zuiderzee Botter. It was originally an Artisiana Latina kit, bought many years ago while on holiday in the Netherlands.
One of the problems of building from a kit – especially a kit where all of the instructions are in Dutch or German – is that you have to understand how the kit makers would approach the various challenges of creating their model. I went back to the parts list to find out which bit was which on the plans and found the parts numbers I was looking for – brilliant!
Next to the description I noticed a “material” column which had the word “Manzonia” next to my pieces. In fact, “Manzonia” was next to lots of pieces.
The word rang a bell. I looked at the pieces – the wood was gorgeous. I had bought and used wood just like it over many years. My first kit had called this wood ‘African Walnut’, but a quick look on the web told me that this wasn’t African Walnut – it was indeed Mansonia or Manzonia.
Mansonia (also called Bete or Ofun) is a dark greyish colour and is finely grained. It ‘works’ well and can be drilled and sanded to thin sections. It can be polished and looks very fine as masts and spars. Indeed, its colour and strength mean that it is almost designed for model making. But something still nagged – something that I had seen in the past...
I looked the wood up on the Internet Wood Database ( an invaluable resource). Under Allergies and Toxicity it said this:
Mansonia is on the short list as one of the worst wood species in terms of toxicity and commonness of allergic reactions. Mansonia has been reported as a sensitizer, and though the most usual reactions simply include eye and skin irritation, the wood dust can also produce a wide range of other effects, including nausea, giddiness, sneezing, headaches, nosebleeds, infected splinters, and asthma-like symptoms. Additionally, both the bark and heartwood have been found to contain cardiac poisons, which can cause heart disorders.
Now, I have asthma and I had found it really getting me down over the holiday. Indeed, instead of getting out and about, I had stayed indoors to do more modelling - which included cutting, and sanding pieces of mansonia. Even if there was only a slight chance that this dust had aggravated my condition, this was serious. I did not want a stay in hospital because of something I had done to myself...
I immediately removed all the mansonia scrap that I had built up and carefully wet-dusted and hoovered the entire room throwing away the hoover bag at the end.
I looked up modern kit contents to find out which woods are included today. No- one includes mansonia and it is difficult to buy it even over the internet. Presumably, no-one wants to take the risk of supplying it. But I know that I had bought extra pieces from a show only a couple of years ago – again wrongly labelled “Walnut”. (I also looked up other toxic
woods. Many of these (like Yew) are quite potent, but are unlikely to be used by model makers for various reasons.)
In other words, there are fairly large stocks of this wood still in circulation and if you have a personal stock of wood that you have collected for projects in the past, there is a good chance that you have some mansonia kicking around in there – especially because it has often been mis-labelled by suppliers.
While it can be worked safely, this does include precautions that most people would find impractical (facial respirators, professional quality dust removal, gloves, etc). It is interesting to note that the Health and Safety limits for hazardous wood dust is 5mg (5/1000ths of a gram) per cubic metre of air.
I am in the process of removing all mansonia from my model and rebuilding with other (safer) materials.
If you want to check whether you have mansonia in your stock, then the best guide is the colour. Mansonia is an even greyish colour with a close grain whereas walnut tends to be russet and brown with a greater variation of shades. (As always with natural products, there is variation and there are a range of types of walnut.)

There is a lot more information on toxic woods and how to deal with them at:
http://www.wood-database.com/
 
 

Pierre,
That's a nice start. I like the setup with the build ramp.
Wish they have the same on MS ships.
Knowing the height or angle from the beginning without having to measure it yourself.
 

I've been busy doing some work on the bulkheads. Traced them on paper before assembly. This step will be useful in the future when the external supports need shaping. I could of used the negative from the plywood cut out just as well. 
 
 

 
Did a lot of prep on the bulkheads looking at the drawings and plans trying to imagine the next steps. Dry fitted all bulkheads, made sure every deck level lined up and that everything was square.
 
 

 
 
 
Here you can see how the decks line up nice and square.

 
 
Once all was squared off and measured over and over I was able to mark the stern deck support, allowing to shape and glue before final assembly.

 
 
 
I was not happy with my original deck support on bulkhead #2 so I decided to reshape another piece. Much nicer I would say!
 

 
 
 
Back in position and re check alignments, 

 
A close up of the deck allighnments before glueing together. Took a lot of time here making sure everything lined up perfectly. 
 

 
 
All glued up. Hope I did not forget any steps. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I've been busy doing some work on the bulkheads. Traced them on paper before assembly. This step will be useful in the future when the external supports need shaping. I could of used the negative from the plywood cut out just as well. 
 
 

 
Did a lot of prep on the bulkheads looking at the drawings and plans trying to imagine the next steps. Dry fitted all bulkheads, made sure every deck level lined up and that everything was square.
 
 

 
 
 
Here you can see how the decks line up nice and square.

 
 
Once all was squared off and measured over and over I was able to mark the stern deck support, allowing to shape and glue before final assembly.

 
 
 
I was not happy with my original deck support on bulkhead #2 so I decided to reshape another piece. Much nicer I would say!
 

 
 
 
Back in position and re check alignments, 

 
A close up of the deck allighnments before glueing together. Took a lot of time here making sure everything lined up perfectly. 
 

 
 
All glued up. Hope I did not forget any steps. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I've been busy doing some work on the bulkheads. Traced them on paper before assembly. This step will be useful in the future when the external supports need shaping. I could of used the negative from the plywood cut out just as well. 
 
 

 
Did a lot of prep on the bulkheads looking at the drawings and plans trying to imagine the next steps. Dry fitted all bulkheads, made sure every deck level lined up and that everything was square.
 
 

 
 
 
Here you can see how the decks line up nice and square.

 
 
Once all was squared off and measured over and over I was able to mark the stern deck support, allowing to shape and glue before final assembly.

 
 
 
I was not happy with my original deck support on bulkhead #2 so I decided to reshape another piece. Much nicer I would say!
 

 
 
 
Back in position and re check alignments, 

 
A close up of the deck allighnments before glueing together. Took a lot of time here making sure everything lined up perfectly. 
 

 
 
All glued up. Hope I did not forget any steps. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I've been busy doing some work on the bulkheads. Traced them on paper before assembly. This step will be useful in the future when the external supports need shaping. I could of used the negative from the plywood cut out just as well. 
 
 

 
Did a lot of prep on the bulkheads looking at the drawings and plans trying to imagine the next steps. Dry fitted all bulkheads, made sure every deck level lined up and that everything was square.
 
 

 
 
 
Here you can see how the decks line up nice and square.

 
 
Once all was squared off and measured over and over I was able to mark the stern deck support, allowing to shape and glue before final assembly.

 
 
 
I was not happy with my original deck support on bulkhead #2 so I decided to reshape another piece. Much nicer I would say!
 

 
 
 
Back in position and re check alignments, 

 
A close up of the deck allighnments before glueing together. Took a lot of time here making sure everything lined up perfectly. 
 

 
 
All glued up. Hope I did not forget any steps. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I've been busy doing some work on the bulkheads. Traced them on paper before assembly. This step will be useful in the future when the external supports need shaping. I could of used the negative from the plywood cut out just as well. 
 
 

 
Did a lot of prep on the bulkheads looking at the drawings and plans trying to imagine the next steps. Dry fitted all bulkheads, made sure every deck level lined up and that everything was square.
 
 

 
 
 
Here you can see how the decks line up nice and square.

 
 
Once all was squared off and measured over and over I was able to mark the stern deck support, allowing to shape and glue before final assembly.

 
 
 
I was not happy with my original deck support on bulkhead #2 so I decided to reshape another piece. Much nicer I would say!
 

 
 
 
Back in position and re check alignments, 

 
A close up of the deck allighnments before glueing together. Took a lot of time here making sure everything lined up perfectly. 
 

 
 
All glued up. Hope I did not forget any steps. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A little update.
Here I had to prepare the bulkheads before glueing them to the keel. First was to extend the deck lines with a pencil then add little deck mount blocks, followed by the addition of two deck beams that were bent using water then heat. 
 



 
Not much but I am taking my time, reading ahead, making sure I understand why each step is done. I probably don't need to mention this to the experienced builder but always looking ahead is the way to success. In my books anyway.
 

Thanks for the likes and posts.!
Did a bit more work on the keel. Rabbet cut completed then two sections glued and clamped. 

Santa Maria by Pierre Tessier - Maris Stella - 1:60
This is a Christmas gift from my son, I promised myself I would finish the Batelina before starting this one. Now that my first build is complete and my shop is clean I can begin my second build and build log here on MSW.
 
I must mention that I was pleasantly surprised when I met Zoran from MarisStella, here online. He saw that I was building the Batelina and noticed I posted that I had the Santa Maria on the shelf. He got in touch with me and mentioned that he was in the process of re-writing the build manuals for the latter, and offered his re-wright.
This would allow, help, a beginner to go about the proper way of building this kit. Also must point out this is single layer POB construction.
Maris Stella School of Model Ship Building has categorized this as a "Beginner Set: Level 3" which according to them should be your 5th build. I am in no way an expert nor do I feel I am better then others but thought this would be a great 2nd build as I do like challenges. Hopefully I did not bite off more then I can chew. (If I do I have Zoran to help....lol)
Now about the box, two full size plan sheets, two plywood laser cut parts, two hardwood laser detailed bits and parts, full stock of beautiful walnut and mahogany wood planks, strips and dowels, bag of hardware including canons, guns, hinges, bags of wooden bits, anchor, rope, carving block for 2 small boats and pre sown embroidered sails, expert build manual. (Beginner manual being written as we speak) 
Kit box closed

Kit box open

Kit box stuff

Plan 1

Plan 2

First step to do according to manual is to take inventory of supplied wood.
Lumber yard (bundled as per material list.)

Next I built the stand with an. 11.4mm incline at the bow. This is to allow proper alignment of the bulkheads when using a square.
Stand plan

Stand keel 11.4mm offset

Stand 

90' without offset   --- 90' with offset

Plywood Elements


That's it for now, next I will post the work to be done to prepare the keel for the bulkheads.  Did I say how much I am enjoying this hobby, So looking forward to building and learning more I'm like a kid learning to walk for the first time.....lol...anyway until next time.
Cheers.
 

Great start Bob, I will be following along, By making the waterline level it would also help with painting the hull before removing from the build board I would emagine.
 
Michael

glad to see you've started on your next masterpiece........looks like a very interesting project.

Hi Derek, I notice you do not lay wax paper over the top of your joints asyou do below. I found this useful when I wanted to apply weight directly over the joint.
Bet of luck with this build, also on my short list.
 
A beautiful day here in Windsor.
 
Len

Good luck Gaetan we have faith in you

The limit is probably the width of the printer.
There is also another limit, the size of the door. A 74 guns pass through the door but if we add masting, height become s a problem. The only way to overcome this problem being to have removable masts
Does distortion for model-making purposes may become a factor in extremely large sizes. I faced that problem with my last build. Framing could have been a bit bigger, plus adding with other considerations such as humidity, the size of the ship move. In this way, I could not fit all the parts made exactly as ''plans'' are drawn, often parts must be adjusted. In this instance the construction of the model are the real lengths even if the guide are the plans. The bigger the scale the bigger the a compensation must be applied the length. The easiest to observe is the width which at 1/24 can easily change from 1/2 inch.
In fact I guess that it is possible to plot drawings more precise than the real thing in wood.
Metal would not be better, the length of a  wire cable  transporting electricity has a sag variation of many feet on a long distance
PRECISION is important for many assembly, by example if  we drill a hole smaller than the bar, problems will follow.
In wood assembly,  greater tolerances are acceptable.
Different scales, different uses, different tolerances.
 
I  had the plan of HMS pegasus enlarged at 1/12 but the difference of the width of the frames was not that big.
Frame size Pegasus 1/12 approximately the same size as a 74 guns at 1/24.  Like this

Thank you Moonbug!
Our friend Augie is smiling down on you with great pride and love of the outstanding job you have done in his honor.
Beautiful job my friend.
 
Dave
 

Very nice

Very nice

Very nice