DanielD

Good morning mates, been slowly working on a set of platforms for my AV. Nearly have the second one done, a few touch ups to do then figure out how to manufacture the canopy for this platform. Close…so close to be finished with these.

Good evening, more progress on some deck equipment. These platforms started from the kit parts, but rapidly moved into scratch built. 🤷‍♂️

20 hours ago, PvG Aussie said:

It looks fantastc!

Thank you!

Good evening mates, it’s been awhile since my last post. Been working on the chainplates and temporary shrouds to get an idea where the rest of the deck equipment will need to go as well as equipment that will hang off the sides of the ship.

Good afternoon mates, it’s been awhile since last update…life has just been busy.

Been working (slowly) on a set of stairs leading to above the main bridge. The real Amerigo Vespucci has wooden steps, almost ladder like, with brass handrails and brass stair tread protectors. I’ve attempted to build something similar.

Good afternoon mates, I had a bit of time in the shipyard today and completed the installation of the last lighting effect, the Amerigo Vespucci traditional in port lighting. The only hard part…finding a location in the house that is dark during the day for the photo.

Welcome to MSW!

Good evening mates, finally…I have the fore mast and lighting finished. 
 

Good evening mates, it’s been well over a week since my last update. It’s not because I’ve been lazy, but rather the fore mast has been a bit of a challenge as it has an additional platform with spot lights and railings. Also, it has a radar installation with a wire cage that was a challenge to get to look more like the real AV. Not to mention the marker light at the top of the mast and deck lighting under the platform and all the associated wiring. It’s now ready to primer and paint. Should be another week or so before final installation on ship.
 

Good evening mates, just a quick weekend update on the progress of my Amerigo Vespucci. The main mast hardware and paint is complete and installed into the hull for the last time.

Good evening mates, one good thing about making mistakes, we learn from them and the next similar project takes much less time. Here is the main mast with working lights and all ready for paint.

Good evening mates, well…I’m finally back to where I was a few days ago! Mizzen mast installed with working lights.

Update on my search for a lantern. Below is an image that shows a lantern on the stern of the Amerigo Vespucci. I believe this to be a decorative option that they sometimes install it when in port as I have seen many current and past images with and without the lantern. I have decided to showcase this lantern on my AV with LED illumination.  To be close to scale, I need a hollow lantern that is between 10-15mm tall that I can paint to make look like brass. I have checked into the Caldercraft lanterns for the HMS Victory which are unassembled brass except that the smallest one available is at 16-18mm. This option is about $19 plus shipping; however, finding it available in the U.S. has been difficult. A second option that I found (smallest version) fits right in at 15mm is a 3D printed set of lanterns for the HMS Victory from Shapeways $13.50 plus $8 shipping arriving in about 3 weeks.

Both of these options are viable. 1) Having a metal brass lantern would be wonderful, but hard for me to get, and slightly too big, and assembly may be a challenge. Option 2) 3D printed version manufactured in the U.S. without much assembly but delivery time is long as they are manufactured upon request so no stock on hand. Hmmm.... Has anyone used either of these options in their models? How have they worked out?

Good day mates. Have you ever had "one of those days"? Well, I have been having "one of those weeks!" It started when I realized that I needed to drill a 1mm hole in 3 places on my mizzen mast for future rigging. As you may know, I have wires running through the middle of the masts so these holes should have been drilled before I put the wires inside. My new plan was to gently drill the missed holes. Well...I apparently nicked one of the wires on my first try and as a result the red marker light at the top of the mast no longer worked. As such, I had to dissemble the entire mast, pull out the damaged wire, DRILL THE MISSED HOLES, reinstall the wires with a new LED as I damaged the old one getting it off, remove the paint and primer as I scratched up the mast adding the holes, and sprayed a new coat of primer. This time before adding the final color, I added the strings of rivets to the lower two sections of the mast I forgot to add the first time around. Last night I sprayed three coats of the final color and set to dry over night. Tonight I hope to touch up the white and black details and re-install into the ship (hopefully for the last time) with working lights! All in all, about an 8 hour mistake.

What is your biggest model screw up that cost you more then a couple hours of time?

Updated pictures coming once I have the mast installed again.

Good evening mates, here is the latest from the Amerigo Vespucci shipyard. Finished the mizzen mast except for the rigging hardware. The white light on the main boom is for a lantern that I have yet to source. Currently I’m looking at a set of lanterns designed for the HMS Victory. The main requirement is that I need it to be between 10-15mm tall. Any ideas?

Welcome Mate!

Good evening mates, I finally started the masts for my Amerigo Vespucci. Here is the progress on the mizzen mast. The real AV has metal masts and I needed to get some wire to the top of the masts for the red marker light, so another modification to the OcCre plans in that I used appropriate sized brass tube so that I could run the wire inside the tube and all but be invisible. It’s hard to see in the images, but the red marker light is working as planned!

Glad you’re feeling better! 

Oh, and one more thing, she finally gets her “Ships Name”.

Good evening mates, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had some time in the shipyard today and needed a new project so I decided it was time to build the captains deck located at the stern of the ship. Outside the OcCre plans, I built the deck with micro grid to better emulate the real AV. Along with adding the doors, I built, what in the building trade is called wainscoting, but I have no idea what this feature is called among the mariners. Basically, some vertical planks topped with a chair rail, only this version sits out in the elements.

Good evening mates, today I was able to spend a little time in the shipyard to finish the stern railing. A tedious process, but it looks great.

Good evening mates, it’s been a few days since my last update. I’ve been working on the stern deck equipment and just started the railing. Takes so long to do these little projects…

Good evening mates, this week has been slow progress due to the small size of the stern deck equipment. Today I found myself scratch building a windlass as the ones supplied in the OcCre kit are nothing like what is onboard. I still have a little detail work to do, but the main windlass structure is complete. (The one on the left is what came with the kit)

Good evening mates, I hope you all had a great weekend. I’ve been working on some detail work on the stern deck, which seems to be taking a long time! In this update I’ve added a fire house hanger, an access hatch, and some equipment covers. All these objects are from scratch as either not included in the OcCre kit or, in the case of the equipment covers, not very realistic.

More time in the shipyard as temps outside have been below freezing and can’t go anywhere. So I have finished the antenna farm and added unplanned lighting as per the images I found of the real AV. Now on to a new project.