Bill97

Back to the shipyard now. Hope all had a nice Christmas. Got a bit more time to work on my AV during the holidays then I originally thought I would. Spent most of the time working on the mid deck area. This included the main crane, the motors that operate the crane, the smoke stack, and a couple funnels. DanielD did a fantastic job on this part of his ship especially the crane hardware and the motors. I use his build as inspiration but my abilities fall short of what he did. My goal is to land somewhere between the OcCre instructions and what Daniel did.

I got the structure rebuilt and paint touched up. The lights inside work fine now. I left the clear plastic out of the dome top. I had previously left the plastic out of the windows in other places and structures because I wanted a clear surface. I have never been able to put that plastic in my models and have it look good. I usually get a drop of glue here or there, a scratch or blemish, or whatever that disappoints me. So I just leave it out. I added the safety cages and ladders to the upper level openings. When I zoom in tight on the structure I can see there is more paint build up in some areas than I like but I am pleased I got it back together. Now on to the next exciting part of this build.

Daniel I wondered if when I drilled the holes for the safety cages that go up to the openings if I hit a wire. They worked perfectly before.

So I had my first major “oh s- -t” today. I had the deck structure in the below photo completed and ready to mount on the deck. I was pleased with how it looked. Thus structure has two sections (rooms if you will). I have LED lights in school room. I connected the wiring and glued it down in place on the deck. I turned on the circuit that powers these LEDs and was pleased to see through the windows that the lights weee glowing. However within a few minutes I noticed one of the 5 LEDs in the structure was flickering. Decision time. I knew it was most likely a loose connection. Do I just live with it? An option I knew I could not live with. Or do I try to get inside the structure to solve the problem? I picked the option of fixing the connection but soon determined there was no way to find the issue and then fix it through the little windows. I decided to cut out one of the doors to give myself more room. Still no way to get in enough. Eventually I decided to cut the structure open to expose the LEDs and wiring. I found the problem, soldered it again and tested it. All was good. Now I had to glue the structure back together and apply wood filler. Once it sets up I will redo the sanding and painting. Hopefully get back close to how nice it looked before. In the process of cutting it open I unfortunately collapsed the dome structure that sets on top. I will have to remake it. Fortunately the wood glue had not fully set where I glued the structure to the deck. Had I waited till tomorrow to test the lights I would have had a serious problem. Probably not solvable.

Thanks my friend. Merry Christmas to your family as well.

Well it is looking like my shipyard workers are demanding time off until Christmas. Only want to work limited part time with so much other stuff going on and needing to be done. So I guess my available time working on my Amerigo Vespucci will be somewhat limited the next couple of weeks😢

Brilliant young man!!! What did you do to keep the little cover on top the LED? The red/green and brass covers fit perfectly over the top of the bulb but can slip back off. Thought a dot of supper glue but then it is locked in place forever. However there may not be a problem with that.

Perfect Daniel. Now the next thing I am looking at reference these little guys that maybe you had as well. You can tell by my photo that I made them from a piece of brass I had. Actually a piece of old piano hinge. Since they are brass they obviously will conduct electricity. After I paint them black I need to put the prongs of the 3mm LED through the hole to begin the assembly. I need to prevent the positive lead coming in contact with the bracket. I have a couple ideas to try. Will see what I find to work.

Great idea Daniel. I believe that is the route I will take. Then also change the protective cage to stop at the bottom of the bracket instead of going on down to connect to the supports which would no longer be there?

Daniel another logistical question on your build. I am crafting the holders/brackets for the side red and green navigation lights. I have a shape/design that I am pleased with. Very similar to your’s which is no doubt since I used photos of your’s to design mine. I am very curious about your installation. In the first photo you show them mounted in the side of the ship. In the second picture the brackets from the lower shrouds pass behind the navigation light fixture. Would you care to share what you did here?

Added the pin rails around the ship. The pairs at the bottom of each mast and the straight rails that circle the outside of the deck. The supports for the pairs of rails at the mast came with metal supports supplied with the kit that were to be painted to resemble wood. Similar to the four staircases I decided to cover them with wood veneer.

A little slow but steady progress since last update. I now have all 4 staircases installed. I have the 4 raised watch platforms with ladders I made to replace the ones provided in the kit. I also have made the 6 storage chests, 2 with bench seats. Reinforcement bands placed around them as on the actual ship.

First of 4 grand staircases and a photo of the same stairs on the actual Amerigo Vespucci. I have the stain a little darker than the actual.

Been a bit since my last update so I would catch up with what I have been doing. Have spent my available time in the shipyard making small items that will be added to the ship. OcCre supplied metal stairs for the four main stair cases that were to be painted like wood. I did like the appearance much so I decided to cover them with veneer, stain, and varnish. Still need to make the handrails. Also started making the elevated watch platforms, two for each side. Used copper wire and solder to form the rails and canopy cages. Will still need to file down the joints. And finished up the bridge adding rails, stairs, storage cabinets and radar units.

Thanks Daniel. I have the rigging line chart from my 1/100 HMS Victory. It is close enough scale that I will most likely use it to determine rope sizes for the AV. The different lines on the Victory should be similar to those on the AV so whatever size it said to use for a particular application I will use in that application on my AV. The Victory had numerous sizes from .2 up to 1mm. I will most likely use just 3-4 sizes like you did of light beige for the running and black for the standing. The block sizes on the Victory also varies for the different applications but I will most likely do what you did. I very much like your idea and plan of using the higher quality non fuzzy thread over the OcCre supplied.