Lapinas

Good morning! A little update from me. Glued on doors+hinges on the 2th deck: Glued all vertical hull reinforcements, they still need to be sanded a bit: Added steps for reaching forecastle: I am getting closer and closer to the most scary part of the ship - sails and rigging

I think you should try Olfa knifes.. Both AK-4 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Olfa-AK-4-Professional-scalpel-comfort/dp/B0027IVSXG) and AK-1 (https://www.amazon.com/OLFA-AK-1-Standard-Knife-Blades/dp/B0006SJAXE/) are extremely good. I refuse to use anything else If you order it please make sure to include spare blades in your order. My favorite blade: https://www.amazon.com/OLFA-9161-Art-Blade-25-Pack/dp/B0006O87T6?ref_=ast_sto_dp Using Olfa and anything else is day & night difference to me.

A little update here. Did some work on vertical support structures on the sides of the ship (I am pretty sure these wood columns has their specific name as everything in the ship has ) Each vertical column is made from 9-11 parts - depending on length.

Thank you guys! Yes, I had to bend planks both ways. To bend planks I was using simple electrical iron... I do not see this technique advertised enough Basically I wet the plank, turn the electrical iron at the max setting and press down and twist. You will need to "twist" with iron in multiple places, I tend to use just the tip for the twisting motion. I saw many unnecessary complex and time consuming ways to bend the blanks laterally, but using the electrical iron is the best one I think For other simple bends (non lateral) I use home made form-a-strip tool (https://store.amatimodel.com/en/tools-and-equipment-parts-per-model/product-form-a-strip-b7381.html) and soldering iron. I found said lateral plank bend technique on some obscure russian video on youtube I can no longer find unfortunately. Video is 100x better explaining it. WARNING: this technique is not safe for your electrical iron since it left marks on the ironing surface. Will have to buy a new one for clothes. Also, modelshipworld has collected excellent books about planking techniques. I suggest reading it. Youtube videos can help you a lot too.

Wow this build is out of this world. I was amazing to see difficult ship body assembly, but when you started hand carve ships crew...

Hey, After a while an update from me Made canons. I have replaced metal canon carriages with wooden ones and painted canons black with acrylic paint: Assembled anchors: Little fences to be placed on the deck: Water pump was missing from the kit, had to order from Amati store. I also ordered some walnut 0.5 x 4 mm planks, because with my modifications there is not enough of them to finish the ship: Something on the main deck: Rudder (will add nails later): Tried to attach rudder to the ship temporary: Cut planks to size that will hold upper deck. Rotary tool was a great helper shaping plank with curved surface: I do not like how staining turned out with those (mistake #1), so I have sanded those a bit (mistake #2). If you were looking attentively you can spot that plank with curved surface is made from different wood - found some scrap walnut in the kit: When supporting structure was glued in place overall view got a bit better. For all future Santa Maria builder here: be very attentive with placements of these planks. Attached upper deck: Started building structure for captains deck (I think this is the name, sometimes I get very confused with all the names): Dry fit and Quality Assurance inspector: Attached backside: I absolutely hated making side panels for upper decks. You need to glue it 0.5 x 4 mm planks side by side, messy job: Planked captains HQ, glued sidewalls in place and more: When working on railings / etc I recommend making spacer templates in order to keep spaces equal and planks parallel: I have found no other to way to glue it and keep it tidy: Vertical 2x2mm planks glued to the sidewall: Prepared forecastle deck: After railing are attached it started to look like a real ship: I mean really: That last photo really made me clean all the glue spots from the deck that I was not able to notice before... Anyway, I found out that really close up photos are a really good way to spot any defects that could go unnoticed otherwise. So at this time the ship is at this stage: Honestly, I had no idea it will be that hard to build model ships and as rewarding at the same time

Looking very good so far! It is good that we will have more detailed Amati Santa Maria build logs.

A little update this time. Did a second layer of black acrylic paint at the front of the ship. Then glued a 2 mm x 2 mm square plank around the ship perimeter. I am really satisfied about the 45 degree angle joint at the stern Next update is going to be a bit delayed - need to experiment with varnishes and stains on wood scraps.

Hey guys! Thank you! I have made a bit if progress... I have planked false keel and rudder attachment place with hull walnut planks. I could not stand the raw material and painting/staining option was not looking good either. I just hope that there is enough walnut 1mm x 4mm planks in the kit. Also, Amati instructions could be better... but that might be just my lack of experience. I just noticed some little glue spots shining in the photos... I will have to clean those until the next time

Did some work on decks: Laid planks in the inner side: Added vertical columns: Added upper railings: It was a bit of pain to bend upper railing like that

Thank you guys for comments on my build! Photo credits goes to the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE9esmf5U1o I have a question about upper railing plank... Is this supposed to be from the same material as hull second planking is made? In the instructions it is written as 1mm x 4mm planks, but hull second planking is more like 0.5mm x 4mm walnut. In other builds on the internet (like from the picture above) material looks like real 1mm x 4mm and not the thin hull planking kind 0.5mm x 4m. I am wondering if my kit is missing some planks or tings look different in upclose photos Not much hope go get an answer for question this specific though... I have sent an email to amati though. I am going to post a nice update with model photos later Doing some good progress right now! I am also going to experiment with matte acrylic varnish. I was doing lot's of research on the finish and this looks like a best non-toxic varnish option. Don't know what I am going to do with hull color though. I bought some wood stain, but was not satisfied with the results on some test wood... Another option is to use tung oil (or linseed oil), but I am slightly worried using that. Also, with use of oil varnish is out of the picture then.

I have finished deck planking. After start I have noticed that I was supposed to use 4 butt shifting pattern... but when I have tried to remove planks they were attached to the false deck too well so I had to finish it as is. Lesson learned - do not rush and do your research more than one time. I was using wrong reference. Deck still looks good though

Hey, fellow Amati Santa Maria build here. Pay attention to the bottom line of "ribs", especially where garboard plank sits. By raising frames to get an even deck level line you make it harder to prepare frames for planking. In some places I had to add extra wood strips in order to have an even surface for planking. Honestly, I have regretted lifting frames...

Second planking is nearly done I am quite happy with the result. Not sure what I am going to do with the finish.

Answering to my own question, no it is not. See: http://www.learneasy.info/webs/300cubits/ark_encounter/planking/planking-the-stern.html http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/plankingprojectbeginners.pdf It is somewhat disappointing to see that in Amati instructions, I was about to go with their example of planking

Is this a correct way to plank santa maria? I am referring to some planks not reaching stern, but forming pointy strips. When I was doing my first planking I was able to tapper each plank and avoided any "pointy" strips.

I have a couple questions though: 1) Do you have any idea how long hull planks were on the real ship? 5 meters? 6 meters? 10 meters? 2) How do I overlap hull planks correctly? 3) What varnish do you recommend using?

Hey! No need to write a history of this model. This is my first wooden ship build ever. I bought this kit from a local shop in my city. I had no idea where I was getting into! First look inside: Work of first evening: It was a really tedious process to sand all the edges: I had to get some power tools in order to sand trickier parts: I have made clamps from document clams (similar to Amatis https://store.amatimodel.com/en/tools-and-equipment-parts-per-model/product-clamp-set-b7377.html) Getting first planks in place was difficult since I was doing that first time. I had to read and watch lots of videos to understand all the techniques. Props for this forum and written guides! I was really surprised that I my planking speed was 2 planks / hour. I was using hot water and soldering iron to get planks into the shape. Dremel tool was a huge help shaping this line: Starting to look like a ship: I saw no point covering back of the ship with these planks, but instructions showed that I have to do it: It took a while until I have prepared hull for second planking, but it is smooth as butter now: Started second planking: