marktiedens

Well it's been a while, but I have made some progress with the Monte, I've started with the standing rigging as well as the ratlines and shrouds.

Update....
 
little cabin structure beneath the bridge, and preliminary set up to try position of the first stb. boat (dummy boats cradle only),
There is still so much to do...
as mentioned earlier in this log, some of the upper structures will be of wood, as for the actual ship way back in 1897.
I still did`nt get the ordered "stack- brass tubes", so I chose an alternative material, now its aluminium tube with slightly thicker wall thickness, found at Ebay- Austria, but that should do as well. Expecting this by end this week.
 
Nils
 

 
the structure is only 16,5 mm high. Could be that this is the captain`s quarters...
 
 

 
the crew figurine is "railroad N gauge"  scale 1:160
 
 

 
it must have been about nearly 1000 or more "caulked"  planks to lay over all decks, and still not finished.....
 
 

 
trust that the boats will go on last, when all the upper structures and the four stacks are done

It will be a while before I start mine - I am in the middle of another build right now.
 
Mark

It will be a while before I start mine - I am in the middle of another build right now.
 
Mark

Hi Anja - I also have this kit,so I will follow along with great interest .
 
Mark

It will be a while before I start mine - I am in the middle of another build right now.
 
Mark

Hi Anja - I also have this kit,so I will follow along with great interest .
 
Mark

Hi Anja - I also have this kit,so I will follow along with great interest .
 
Mark

ok...made the entrance way, although the steps are a bit too far apart, which i can't change now....got pirates of the caribbean figures which i will modify ....they may be a bit too large... .i don't know......added the bell and did a lot of work which is not evident ...........will  have to make two more smaller lamps.....will look for some amber tint......

all,
 
My Halve Maen build was already on hold, but during our move to a new house in November 2015, she got lost because one of our friends put her box on the pavement instead of in our car.
 
After that the enthusiasm to build was completely gone. I spent last year enjoying my other hobbies.
 
But, as a Dutch saying goes: 'Blood is thicker than water' and the urge to build another ship came back.
 
So, May I present to you the Spanish Galleon Nuestra Señora del Pilar De Zaragoza (Our lady of the pillar of Zaragoza), a Spanish Treasure Galleon.
 

 
Measurements
Length: 1110 mm
Height: 970 mm
Width: 520 mm
 
History
During the 17th and 18th centuries Spanish galleons served the Spanish crown as merchantmen and warships. Many of them sailed between Acapulco and Manila, transporting South American silver to the Philippines and exotic goods from Asia to Mexico, from where the treasures were sent back to Spain.
 
Commisioned in 1731 and launched in 1733, Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza) was one of these Manila Galleons built of the finest Philippine wood, she was 112 feet on deck and displaced 1,000 tons. A 4th rate of the Cavogonda class, she was fitted with 50 cannon, two stern chasers and six swivel guns. She carried a crew of 385 men.
 
For twenty years she sailed the route from Mexico to Manila and in 1750 underwent a complete refit in the Port of Cavite. In 1750, on her last voyage, she set sail from Manila bound for Acapulco. Despite being overloaded, and contrary to the opinion of both pilots and Master, her Captain insisted on weighing anchor at the beginning of September. En route for the Mariana Islands, in the Pacific, they began to have difficulties after sailing into a heavy storm, and she sank taking all of her crew down with her.
 

Frames dry fit.
 

Frames glued in place. Reinforcing pieces not glued yet.
 

Frames glued in place.
 

Last three frames fitted and glued. Reinforcing pieces glued.
 

Close-up bow section
 

Close-up stern section
 
 
Enjoy and thank you for watching.
Anja

Hola;
Following with the cannons and carriages, apparently the problem was solved changing the eyebolts but that was not so. I tried to accommodate the cannons in its place but they do not look good, the reason: the blocks are out of scale and are to big (the correct size would be less than 5/64 instead the ones provided 3/32). So, instead of two blocks per side I remove one of them to get more space. They are not as they must be but they look better.
 
Here with the two blocks:
 

 
Here with one block removed:
 

 
Here you can see the difference of both
 

 
Saludos, Karl
 

After several days of working on prototypes for cannons and carronades.... including their carriages, and rigging.... I guess I'm about ready to move back to the ship for a while.

With so many of these guns to create, I'm hoping to get the technique for creating and installing them down to within reason.  The mock up of a gun port has been invaluable in that respect.  I came to the conclusion that a few trade-offs was necessary in terms of being able to install each gun.
 
The hooks that attach the block to the bulwark has to be much longer in order to get them to anchor into the eye rings.  
I also learned that all rigging must be attached to the carriage and cannon before attempting to install.
Also.... the cannon restraining rope must be hooked in place before attempting to hook the block and tackle hooks.

 
Finally, I was able to develop this little jig which will be used to make all of the rigging the exact same length.... very critical.

With 30 long guns and 24 carronades needed, my plan, for now, is to build three long gun and two carronade modules per week as I continue with progress on the ship..... in 10 weeks I should have all the guns completed.
This is, by far, more fully rigged guns than I have ever installed on a ship.
 

Update.....
 
Build log part 52
 
today is the day where the forward boats deck will be permanently glued on. Between brass frame and deck I use CA and  white wood glue between the lower deckhousings and the boatsdeck.
On this part I did not forget to place the connection holding points for the funnel stays. On the lower bridge its a bit tricky to get the convex deck curvature correct and adjusted to the forseen places of the nav light towers, here also used CA, hope its strong enough...
 
Also today a last chance to have a look into the inside of this liner, as it is now closed for ever after. Like on all my ships I put a short note (description, year of build, etc . ) into the hull before closing the last opening.
 
Nils
 

 
little red tags mark the places for putting the clamps on (whist glueing)
 
 

 
last look at the inside of the hull
 
 

 
below the deck to go on....
 
 

 
the nav light towers are the forward "anchoring points" for the boats deck
 
 

 
forecastle deck
 
 

 
 

 
aft deck
 
 

 
deck glued on and clamped down
 
 

 
the boss with the screw is just to curve down the lower bridge wings during glue curing
 
 

 

And some more:
 
Installing knightheads( 3 x 3 mm) and top timbers
 

 
There are waterways to be installed, mine kept splitting on me so I spread some ca on them to strengthen them, and as you can see it bled though to the good side. Time to make new ones.
 

 
Then I decided rather than cutting out notches for all the top timbers in the waterway and going through more frustration I will install them on top of the waterway so..............
 

 
then I decided it was time for a change...the windlass. This was made from cherry turned on the lathe what you see here is the fourth attempt, I also replaced the supports and made them from cherry also.
 
This showing the filed down nail used to make the holes square. This is an idea I got from DocBlake.
 

 
Gluing .5 x 1 mm strips onto drum
 

 
The finished product, still needs one or two more coats of wipe on poly. The fancy ends are inspired by B.E.'s cathead decoration on his Pegasus

 
Thanks for stopping by
 
 

A little update:
 
Grates for ship's stove, just brass rod ca'd together
 

 
The pieces for stove
 

 
Completed, added handles and hangers. The pot is a flattened out penny with brass rods soldered on for handles
 

Vince - a very sensible comment about the weathering of those barrels. The guns look well finished and good luck with their rigging. It's amazing how often builders side-step this important feature and just install them 'rig-less' (if there is such a word).
 
Pete

The quarter and forecastle deck guns have been assembled. These guns are smaller than the main deck guns and even more difficult to work on if you want to add all of the detail. Since these guns would sit out in the weather all of the time on a real ship, they would look pretty dirty and tarnished. When I blackened them I tried to get a weathered and worn look on the barrels. I think they came out pretty nice and will look authentic out on the decks. Next up is to place and rig them.
 
Vince P. 

Thank you very much Denis, and B.E.
for you kind comments...
 
the nearly midship bridge platform goes over the whole ship width and allows a good sight alongsides for the crew (and passengers).
There still needs to be the upper railing attached and the platform fitted out.
The dark grey horizontal tank with the two vents on top, is the one for daily warm water and is heated by exhaust gasexchanger of the second funnel
On the platform where the tank is standing on, there are brought in 4 interlocked eyelets with counter flat heads from below to take up some of the appropriate funnel stays safely
 
Also many thanks to all the "Likes"
 
Nils
 

 
 

I am also building this kit,so I will add my two cents. As far as the laser cut parts go,mine fit perfectly - nice & snug. Is it difficult - yes,but it has been an absolute joy to build. My only real disappointment has been those gun port hinges - I would still have used them,but they are just way too short. They are all 9mm long,while many of the lids are 13 or 14mm long. Comparing it to other large kits I have built is like comparing a fine oil painting to a paint-by-number painting - with a little extra work you can make it as nice as you want to. I would not hesitate to recommend it to an experienced modeler with some scratch building experience. The best part is all the help & information from Pete - he is a joy to work with.
 
Mark

Mark,
 
Amazing and beautiful work!
 
Congratulations!
 
Frank

Hola:
 
Continuing with the last steps of the deck I installed the Gunports lids that must remain closed:

 
Also I fixed the rudder blade to the hull:

 
Special mention deserve the cannons and carriages: If you try to follow the instructions you are dealing with an impossible task mainly because the gun tackles are out of proportion (compared with the instructions drawing) and there is no way to accommodate both tackles in the space provided, additionally the eyebolt position on the carriage is in wrong place, instead of being at the center it must be put a little behind the smaller trucks and in a vertical position: All of these changes can be seen in the real picture of the ship.
 

 
Here you can see the differences I talk about. The first two are according to the instructions and the other ones with the corrected position.
 

 
Final comment about the carriages: the brass rod provided to serve as the tackle rods are very thin and so I must to do them  filing toothpicks to the right size.
 
Saludos, Karl

Update - moving right along,I added some cat heads to the catheads . Then I added the staghorn cleats to the quarterdeck bulwarks. I am pretty sure the hull is now complete  except for the stern lanterns,which will be installed later .
 

 

 

 

 

 
Mark

Update - The next thing I did was make up the anchors. The kit provides 4 anchors of 2 different sizes. The flukes were a little too wide so I narrowed them down & filed down the mold lines. The stocks were of the generic kind & way too fat & short,so I made some new ones with the correct dimensions. a groove was filed around them to look like 2  pieces & the iron bands were simulated by using some heat shrink tubing. New rings were made from some .8mm brass wire & wrapped with black thread for the puddening.      Next,the anchor buoys are provided in the kit as barrel shaped wood pieces,which I made  slings for with some .6mm black rope. They don`t look the best,but they were difficult to hold & get all the ropes tied on.
 

 

 

 
Mark

Hi all - another little update. first of all the two small brackets for the ensign staff were shaped & glued in place at the stern.
 

 
Then I figured it would be a good time to build the stern lanterns. They come as a central former with 6 window sections for each one. They fit nicely with very little clean up needed. I decided to cut out the "glass" sections of the windows as I did with all the other windows on the ship. The center section of the former was painted a combination of bright yellow & orange to try & simulate a flame. The window frames were then painted gold & liquid glass maker was used to make the windows. All frames were then glued to the formers & after a little filler & some filing on the edges I finished painting the tops & bases. I didn`t quite get the look I was after,but I think they still look better than just painting the window areas. They won`t be fixed in place until much later & some side supports will be added at that time.
 

 

 
Mark