JpR62

Thank you Glenn and Al for your kind remarks and thank you to all the 'Likes'. The tiller Not being confident in my ability to make the end of the tiller with a perfect sphere, I decided to compose my tiller by assembling several elements. It consists of three distinct parts, each made from a different material: the main body of the tiller will be carved from a 1/8” thick piece of cherry wood, the sphere at the end of the tiller comes from a glass-headed pin and the fine connections (mouldings) between the various elements are sculpted using two-component resin. So I start by cutting the main body from a 1/8” cherry board. I sculpt it to its proper shape using files and a #11 blade After piercing the end of the piece, I insert the pin shaft of the glass-headed pin (cut to a length of a few millimeters). I then mask the wooden body of the tiller and spray the pinhead with primer (Revell basic spray) to facilitate final coloring. I could have used brass wire to make the connectors (mouldings), but I preferred to use two-component putty because it's so much simpler: there's no need to glue, as the putty sticks to the wood and pinhead all by itself, and it's also very easy to make a thin 'wire' of the right cross-section by simply rolling a small ball of putty with a finger. What's more, once the putty 'wire' has been wrapped around the tiller, the joint is smoothed with a moistened brush and is perfectly invisible... The tiller is then painted red using my airbrush. A final check on the plan and the tiller is ready to be installed. I can move on to building the pumps.

This Winchelsea is a magnificent ship model. Many thanks for your many posts, always very detailed and above all very instructive. It's been a real pleasure to follow this superb work.

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. The gunwale has been installed. I started by fitting the aft section so I can adjust the length of the gunwale to port and starboard. There's just one small adjustment to make so that the parts fit perfectly on the stem. For the small deck at the bow, I decided to replace the part proposed in the kit with one made from the remains of the laser-cut planking board. It respects the plan better than the original part, and it's not at all complicated to make. Next step: installation of the thwarts

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. My work on the various elements on the Cheerful's deck continues with the construction of two additional pieces: the galley stack and the mast coat. The mast coat I used my Proxxon MF 70 mini milling machine again, this time with its dividing head. First, I glued a piece of 'martyr' wood to a short section of a wooden rod. Then I used double-sided scotch to glue the piece of wood from which I'll cut the mast coat. Then all you have to do is 'play' with the milling machine and its dividing head. We disassemble the various components and refine the result with a file and sandpaper. This dividing head is really easy to use and produces a perfectly round part. The galley stack Measurements are taken from the plan. The only thing I paid attention to was the final sanding. As this piece is supposed to be made of metal, it has to be perfectly smooth, so that you can no longer see the wood grain. So I sanded it several times, each time moving on to a finer grain. Fortunately, I had Tamiya sanding sheets in stock, with grit up to 2000. So I cut small rectangles of different grits and glued them to a piece of wood to create a perfectly flat surface. To be continued

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. The latest planks have been installed using the method described above. The planks at the stern were cut to final length (first rough cut with a small saw, then sanded). And a first general sanding was carried out on the hull. Quite happy with the final result and no problems with the shape of the planks supplied with the kit. It makes the job much easier... The gunwale is being installed and I'll have to remember to add the nails and treenails. To be continued

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. I went on to build the winch. All measurements were taken on a copy of the plan and noted directly on it. This enabled me to determine the wood cuts to be made. I used cherry wood (with the exception of the winch drum, which will be turned from a boxwood plank). To simulate the two small sprockets, I decided to make them from two 2.5 mm Amati brass sheaves. At least I'm sure I'll get two perfectly round sprockets... To simulate the teeth, I simply filled the pulley slot with two-component epoxy putty and used the point of a needle to create the hollows between the teeth. The handles are constructed from metal wire and small sections of micro-tube. All parts are ready for winch assembly. The wooden parts of the winch are glued together, with the exception of the drum. Airbrush coloring. The metal parts have been chemically blackened. Then all the parts are finally assembled. A great little project that was finished and gave me a lot of pleasure. I'll be moving on to the last elements of the ship's deck center.

Many thanks for your research! So I'll probably add those clench nails as well as those treenails. It was definitely something I'd been wondering about, but I didn't dare extrapolate and invent a way in which the boards were fixed. And so far, no constructed version found on the net had been able to answer my question... Thanks again.

Yes, I can confirm that. The Santa Maria's boat is much simpler than Captain Smith's shallop. The Santa Maria's boat is a very interesting project to be carried out either between two larger projects or in parallel. After completing the structural work on this boat, I went on to build the Captain Smith's shallop. The design is very similar, but the boat is much more complex and contains additional elements. The scale is also different (1:32). But it's still a very, very interesting little project. I'll soon be starting a log on its construction. If, like me, you are interested in both models, I can only advise you to start with the Santa Maria boat.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information on this subject. The instruction manual provides no information on how the planks were fastened. And all the photos found on the net of the finished model show it without tree nails. So, for the time being, this is how I'm going to present it. In the book 'The Ships of Christopher Columbus' (Anatomy of the Ship), there's only one plate on the boats (plate H on page 80), which includes only drawings on the hull frames, with no text. And finally, I also have a PDF version of the book (in Spanish) 'Los Galeones Españoles', Volume II of which covers rigging, artillery and equipment. Unfortunately, the short section on boats describes only the dimensions and equipment of the boats, and the drawings again show only the frames... But if anyone has more information on the subject, I'd be interested too... Thanks again for your interest in this model.

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. Hull planking The kit includes pre-spilled planks. But it's important to get them into shape. I laid my planking in three stages. First, I sand each plank, as the thickness of the planks needs to be slightly reduced in the last few centimeters at the stern and bow. I also sand the front corner of the planking to simulate the best way to lay it on the stem. I'm not worrying at all about the length of the planking at the moment. It will be sanded later to be flush with the ship's aft transom. Then, after soaking the plank in hot water for one or two minutes, I place it on the hull and hold it in place with rubber bands and clamps. I leave the plank to dry for a few hours (often overnight). When dry, the plank retains its shape. I glue it in place and hold it in place with clamps. Above all, I make sure that the top edge rests firmly on the previous plank. I'm working with wood glue (Titebond Original Wood Glue), so I have to wait a few hours before I can lay the next plank. The length of the first 3 planks has been adjusted. A little sawing and a final sanding to make them as flush as possible with the transom. Only three more strakes to go...

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. Although the planking on the transom is already simulated, I preferred to add real planking. To do this, I used some pearwood planks left over from my workshop. I lightly draw a pencil line on their edges to mark the edging, then glue them in place using the pre-marked lines as a reference. For now, I don't worry about their length. The edges will be sanded when the whole transom is finished. After the planking has dried, I sand the sides. I was then able to move on to the outer planking. To be continued.

Another superb model, B.E.! Congratulations on this superb longboat, and thank you for sharing in its construction. Once again, it's been a real pleasure to follow your work.

Many thanks Chuck for this very precise tutorial. An effective method that gives absolutely perfect results. I'll be using it very soon for the carronades on my 'Cheerful'. 😄

Thank you Glenn and Gary for your kind words and thank you to all the 'Likes'. I'm lucky enough to have more time for my hobby and to be able to share my work again 🙂. The work continued with the assembly of the two interior ladders. Once again, there's no need to reinvent the wheel, so I used Rusty's build method (see his build log, post #134). Just a little planning beforehand to determine the lengths of the parts (uprights and ladder treads) and the angle at which the ladders will be installed. I've decided to use two different thicknesses: 3/64" for the uprights, while the steps will be made from 1/32" boxwood. The only slight difficulty is that the ladder is not quite square (the steps are not square to the sides, but must follow the slope of the deck from bow to stern). With little confidence in my visual sense, I preferred to build a small jig from a copy of the plan. The copy of the plan is glued to a plywood board. Two strips are glued to the plan: one along the line of the ship's deck and the second along the outer edge of the left-hand ladder side. A small piece of transparent self-adhesive paper is then stuck to the plan in the work area to prevent the ladder parts from sticking to the plan. All ready for ladder assembly. Six small grooves (one more than necessary) are engraved in parallel on a 1/32" boxwood board using my MF70 mini mill. The ladder uprights are then cut with my mini table saw, respecting the installation angle and mirror finish. All that's left to do is glue the steps to the sides using the jig. The result is a ladder that conforms to the plan. Sides are cut to the right length, ladder tops are rounded and the ladders are tested on the deck. Finally, I colored and glued the ladders onto the deck. Next element: the winch.

Thank you to all the 'Likes'. Assembly continues with the fitting of the boat's inner bottom. The planks are supplied pre-cut. All you need to do is glue them in place, but they do require a certain amount of precision. Installation begins with the two planks in the center. They overlap the keel slightly, with the spacing between them exactly in the center of the keel. So I use a small jig consisting of a small board the width of the overlap of one plank plus the space between the two planks. Three sticks of wood are glued perpendicularly to this board, enabling me to clip it onto the keel. All I have to do is glue the first plank in place using this jig. The first photo below shows gluing in progress with my jig in place. The second photo below shows the gluing of the first inner plank completed with the jig removed. To glue the second plank, I also use another small jig. It's simply a small board whose thickness corresponds to the spacing between the two inner planks. Again, two photos to illustrate the gluing (gluing in progress and gluing completed). I continue with the installation of the two planks on either side. All that's left is to glue the last 4 planks, spacing them evenly. This step completes the reinforcement of the boat's framework. I can now move on to laying the outer planks. To be continued.