BLACK VIKING

Cargo Hatches finished and rabbet started
 
After sanding and priming the deck fill sheets blend in nicely:


 
Progress will be slow for a bit while I cut the rabbet for the bulwarks around the circumference of the main deck (given the size of the hull it works out over 4 linear feet). I was going to try using the Dremel tool but after practicing on scrap wood I discovered that while it can deliver accurate and consistent wood removal in one dimension, the second dimension is not as good so I’m going to go with the kit directions and take it slow with a hobby knife. Another reason for using the knife is that I want to angle the rabbet around the bow and stern so that the bulwarks will "tilt" out slightly and so be fair with the angle of the sides of the hull in those areas. The rabbet is 1/4” high and will be 1/16” deep.
 

Jud, I think you misunderstand my motivation for starting this thread. I'm not trying to 'judge' anyone, and I'm not saying a beginner can't complete a complex model (we've all seen it done). But in the pages of MSW 2.0, its predecessor MSW 1.0, the old Dry Dock Models forum, and the anecdotal evidence provided by manufacturers, we have overwhelming evidence that newbies regularly attempt more model than they are capable of handling. We don't send first-time skiers to the black diamond runs, and we don't let first-year medical students do heart transplants -- the same principle applies to ship models: try something commensurate with one's skills. I'm really not trying to turn people away -- I'm trying to help them make a choice of first model that will increase their chance of staying in the hobby. Success breeds more success. And haven't we all read about the much-bemoaned demise of the hobby? Hundreds (quite literally) of people quitting their attempts at building certainly doesn't alleviate that problem.

I have built two or three model boats, probably with lots of mistakes, and I certainly consider myself a beginner.
I have completed these models only by reading members builds on this site and trying to learn from them.
However I firmly believe that if a model is classified as suitable for a beginner then the instructions and plans should reflect this. In my limited experience this is definitely not the case. Instructions are very sparse and the plans very complicated.
If manufacturers say a model is for beginners then instructions and plans should be written with the beginner in mind. If that was the case then maybe more models would be completed and more people would carry on with this hobby.

Francis, how many ship model kits have you built? An experienced modeler who would have built half of this kit or model would have finished it no matter how poor the contents were. Like I said in my previous post, no matter how good or bad a kit is really shouldn't make too much of a difference to an experienced modeler, who should have come across a number of kits great or poor before even attempting a model such as the Victory by which ever kit manufacture. They surely wouldn't have gotten it half built only to give it away due to poor materials to become someone else's problem, they would have replaced the poor quality components with better aftermarket components or scratch build your own materials. 
 
I'm not the best modeler in the world nor due I claim to be, but I could hold my own against most and up to now I have built about 30 ship models for myself as well as to sell and on commission basis. During this time I have come across most if not all of the major kit manufactures and I would admit that all of them have some issues. But all in all I have never come across a BAD kit from any manufacture no matter how cheap or expensive the kit cost. I have even built kits that were furnished to me that was found in dark wet basements from the 40'-60's and felt that for the time period they were good kits. But I also understand that a kit no matter who it's from is only a starting point and it is up to the modeler to take it and make as good a representation out of the subject chosen as possible.
 
mike       

Well, well, well, I should have checked this BEFORE I started installing the guns, but you know the old saying "would a, should a, could a, hind sight is 20/20. But once I started installing the upper cannon on the opposite side of the Monte, I quickly although not quickly enough realized that OcCre failed to supply enough of the smaller dummy cannon. I'm missing like 7 dummy cannon. But in it's place, I have an over abundance of standard length cannon of the same caliber as the small dummies. So what to do, what to do? I decided to back up and punt and made a MUCH larger hole inside of the cannon port so that I could slip the length of the full sized cannon into the gun port and then using 5 minute epoxy and bracing around the cannon as to make sure it points in the right direction and doesn't move while it dries. With this option, no one really knows about this punt except for me, wellllll and now you. The only difficult this about this is, you have to make sure and keep the same amount of gun barrel protruding out of the cannon port as you look down the side and make any adjustments BEFORE the epoxy dries.       

I would also like to mention here that the cannon carriages provided are not wood, they are preformed metal, which I do not care for and might look to replace them with wood carriages if I can find any suitable replacements. If not I will use what is supplied.
 
 
mike

OK, I got down to the nut and bolt of why I was shorted like 7 of the small caliber dummy cannon that were to be placed inside the upper gun deck. I contacted OcCre and was told that this kit when first manufactured was supposed to have dummy cannon on bother lower and upper decks, but they had received requests for the ability to actually use rigged cannon and carriages on the upper deck mid-ship where the center deck has been cut out. This is why there is a lot of full sized cannon and well as ample enough carriages provided to do this if you want. But the instructions don't give you this option, it shows dummies to be installed on both upper and lower decks. They offered to send me the missing dummy cannon at no charge even though I explained how I bought this kit second hand. They said it was most likely an older kit, which I have to agree. But either way, I like the look of the dummies and it saves a bit of time having to mount and rig the cannon and carriages in that area so no harm done.
 
I just want to make sure that if anyone who see's this build and buys this kit and wants to build it that there is two ways of doing it and it seems the manufacture is leaning more towards the 8 rigged and installed cannon mid-ship.
 
 
mike 

Good afternoon.
 
More progress on the launch. After removing the launch from the jig and sanding down the ribs, I began work on the outer hull. I started by giving a light coat of grey primer to help me see the areas that needed work first, then began the process of filling and sanding and filling and sanding.

I didn't want to go for a perfectly smooth finish, these boats were made of wood not fibreglass. The final coat of filler was diluted and brushed on.
After I was happy with the hull I began with the colour coats. Started with a mist base coat and gradually added very very light coats to build up the paint. Took about 4 very light coats in the end, lightly sanding between them.
 
I've not put the final topcoat on yet as I needed to fit the stabilizers.
 










 
Thanks for looking in.

Made the first of the tubs and buckets for both builds

 
Fitted to the deck

 

Good afternoon.
 
Continuing with the Launch. I finished assembling the frames onto the jig, and after some rather delicate fairing, (and only breaking one rib), I started on the planking. Pretty straight forward job.
 
I did give the inside of each plank a light sand first just to make things easier further on in the build. Once finished, I brushed on 1:1 diluted PVA to help seal the planks, and then a light coat of Admiralty matt white so make seeing the area's need filling easier to see.
 









 
Today, I applied white wood filler over the entire hull, and begun the process of sanding/filling/sanding...and repeat. Still have some work to do around the Bow, but will know more once I've been able to apply a light undercoat.
 




 
Thanks for looking in.
 

Thanks cerberusjf

Hello all,
I made some progress on Santisima Trinidad. First of all I need to thank to Pablo from Spain (in this forum known as Anaga) who is my consultant during designing of the kit and who give me a lot of important information about the Santisima Trinidad. After consultation with Pablo I decide that the kit will offer two options for building the stern gallery-one is shown in the photo of prototype model and one is shown in render from 3D CAD.
The kit will contain gun carriage and full gun barrels in all four gun decks (36pdr guns are shown in the photos).
Best regards
Daniel

Thanks Dirk

Hello again folks. I've been away for a while, life and work gets in the way sometimes.
 
However, Fathers day has just been (UK) and I got a pleasant surprise. A new subscription to Deagostini's Sovereign of the Seas and a new Dremmel to go with it
 



 
Some of you might recall me mentioning I was building this particular one before. I was, as a 3 year part work. Things didn't go according to plan and...well we won't go there. The advantage of that though, is for a good portion of the series I know what is to come, what to avoid, where to correct my first attempt...not to mention a lot of spare parts
 
The first thing I wanted to do before actually commencing the build was to correct the way I made supports in the keel for attaching to the base further down the line. (Remember me saying we won't go there...). So a quick visit to the hardware store I picked up some steel threaded bolts with square nuts. There are easier to fit into the keel.
 





 
Before starting on the main build, I wanted to build up the two cannons that came with the first months pack. Previously, I collected the cannons to make them in batch. However I found, personally, that I ended up focussing on the overall project of making 10 or 20 cannons at once, instead of looking at each individual cannon as a project. I am hoping the results this way will be better.
 
Not really a lot to say about this, sanded/smothed/painted the sides whilst still in the fret. I used Ensign red instead of Red Ochre as I found it a brighter colour. As there is no hard and fast historical data on the ship, I used artistic licence and will continue to do so throughout the build. I also primed and painted the cannon itself and the wheels. Strictly speaking the cannon should be bronze, as per cannons of the era, but I stuck with a satin black.
 




 
Then it was simply a case of removing the truck from the fret, sanding the edges and then assembling it before giving it a final coat. Another advantage of having previously built this/having a 12 month sub is again, being able to skip ahead and see what is to come. I knew I would be having to drill holes for the eyelets, and would rather do this before the truck was assembled.
 
Finally, I put everything together and made the first parts of the tackle to go with them.
 




 
With pack one came the first parts for building the ships launch. I always like these from Deagostini as they are almost like mini kits. The first time I did this didn't turn out too bad, but I knew I could improve on it by tweaking the order in which I did things. The first change was sanding/smothing/painting the ribs before fitting to the assembly jig. I've started on assembling the frames...and that's where I am upto so far
 






 
Thanks for looking in.
 
 
 

Cargo Hatches (cont)
 
Fake bulkheads with stiffeners were added to the fore and aft bulkheads since they can be glimpsed thru the main deck hatches. I decided to just order a couple of extra hatch covers from BlueJacket for the Tween Decks rather than make my own so they would be consistent with the main deck ones:

 
The main deck fill pieces were easy to fabricate and fit snug enough that they do not move around.

Next steps will be to glue the fill pieces in place, fill the gaps with Bondo, sand and prime.

Very nice. I have built several kits from Deag the Sovereign of the seas and San Felipe and the joints have always been good. This looks a good kit
 
BV

Second planking complete.  Since the planks weren't very wide (3mm), I found it easier to work with them in batches.  I'd take 6 of them, side by side, and secure them together using Scotch tape (6 planks are almost the exact width of the tape).  This seemed to work pretty well.
 






 
 

Very nice. I have built several kits from Deag the Sovereign of the seas and San Felipe and the joints have always been good. This looks a good kit
 
BV

US Navy  aircraft gunner is buried at sea  still aboard his duty station.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMWz10jaK0g

Peter, thanks for the pic. A black stain (maybe ebony?) would do the job I see. Will have to scrape the red paint off from the tight little corners since the carriage is quite small...     
 
We'll hope that the quality of the kit will continue. 

Very nice. I have built several kits from Deag the Sovereign of the seas and San Felipe and the joints have always been good. This looks a good kit
 
BV

Buck,
 
Thanks indeed. You have more confidence in me than I have of myself, but your kind words have been taken to heart.
 
The stern section of the SOS, for example is NOT for the faint of heart (:-) It is such an amazingly beautiful ship that needs, deep attention to details to make it look "right". The carvings alone are in-and-of-themselves works of art. Not sure that any of the kits available have proper castings? hmmm
 
Cheers, and thanks for your kind post.

Hi Sjors having built this kit bamboo is a bit strange to work with but it works ok . All of it is covered with second planking the lower planking is covered with basswood the top is covered by seple . Hope this helps
 
Martyn

Another small update - after tweaking that lower deck a little more,I glued it down. I had some nice brass moulding left over from a previous build,so I formed it to fit the edge of the deck & glued it on. Then I decided to make some small knees to go under the rear edge of the deck at the top of the columns. they are simply 2x5 walnut with a radius filed in them & painted gold to match the columns. They are shown on the plans,but are not part of the castings. After clamping the fascia in place the lower railings line up nicely with the outer edge of the moulding.
 

 

 

 
Mark

Hi Sjors having built this kit bamboo is a bit strange to work with but it works ok . All of it is covered with second planking the lower planking is covered with basswood the top is covered by seple . Hope this helps
 
Martyn