knightyo

I can already feel myself doing the same thing on this build. I've made a lot of fairly sketchy assumptions on this build, and instead of "Nina", I should probably call it "Fanciful Representation of a Ship and Hypothetical Components from the 1400's, 1500's, 1600's and 1700's". I'm still working on the binnacle section of the model. The drawer and actually entire front of the binnacle have been remade in order to accommodate a compass. The compass still needs to be filed down a bit more in order to allow the drawer to close; that little piece of brass round stock is hard to handle. It's too small to be able to be held between finger/thumb, so I've been holding it as tightly as possible on the tips of tweezers while gently running my smoothest file along the bottom to reduce its height. I'm shocked it hasn't fallen prey to the carpet monster yet. I'm still planning to print a very tiny compass rose to insert into the housing, with a drop of acrylic over the top to mimic a slightly convex glass top. We'll see how that goes. I've also been able to file a piece of brass square stock into the shape of the lantern which will illuminate the surface of the compass via the mini light below at the end of the wire. I'm planning to cut small slivers of clear acrylic, securing them to the inside of each "window" in the lantern with super glue and leaving the back of the lantern windowless, as that's where the light is going to be coming into the lantern from the back side. My plan is to fill the lantern with hot glue and then to insert the light from the back which will hopefully secure the light permanently into the lantern. The wires for the light will extend through the back of the binnacle to the mast directly behind and down through the deck right down through the keel and out through one of the hollow round brass stand tubes to the light switch. My hope is that the wire will be completely invisible to the viewer no matter what angle they are viewing from. That's the theory of this section, at any rate. I have to admit that the little brass pieces are just unbelievably hard for me to work with, even under magnification. At least I'm about done with each piece now, and just need to create a top for the lantern from which it can then hang from a chain coming down through the top of the binnacle. In looking at the photo, I see that I also still need to make another handle for the new binnacle drawer, and probably enlarge the front window a touch more as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this little piece looks like after it's been cleaned up and layers of shellac applied.

This is going to look spectacular after you've applied your washes. Alan

Thanks Steven, and as you say, it will be hard to prove I've done wrong if installing these, due to the scarcity of reference material! I'm pretty sure if the original Nina suddenly appeared, a viewer would just laugh comparing my version to the original. I also agree with you Bob, in that this vessel probably shouldn't be relied upon as a historically accurate example. I've already made a few decisions/guesses on my model which I'm pretty sure would be frowned upon by a researcher in the field. I might incorporate the look as below. This (Santa Maria) is from the cover of the Anatomy of the Ship's series "The ships of Christopher Columbus". However..... In the same book, is the 2nd photo below, which is a model of the Nina built by a researcher, which shows "bare" masts, which made me wonder if the lateen rigged Nina didn't have these reinforcements at the bottom, whereas the larger Santa Maria did have them. (Perhaps since the Nina was a smaller vessel lateen-rigged and originally used up and down the coasts of Mediterranean, reinforced masts weren't necessary?) Or if it was just a matter of the researchers taste, not to add them. I admit that the mast without the reinforcements/wedges looks a little more elegant. Alan

That's exactly what I needed to see, Steven. Thank you Alan

Thanks Jaager, Below are the types of wedges (now that I think about it, I might be using the wrong term) that I'm referring to. I'm creating a replica of the Nina, except as she was when she still had lateen sails. And now I'll reveal the true nature of my question. I fouled up the mainmast while shaping it; it is a perfect cylinder, but too thin at the base! I was thinking that I could hide my error (and making the mast stronger) by incorporating the wedges around the mast as in the below photo to hide the fact of it being a little skinny at the bottom, but wasn't sure if that would be appropriate to do for a mast with lateen sails.

Whoops.... You aren't missing anything at all. I totally worded my question wrong, and will go back and fix. Thank you for your response tho! I'm building a 1490's Spanish Caravel, and intending to portray the ship with lateen sails, but just wasn't sure about the wedges around the mast(s). Alan

In general, would ships rigged with lateen sails have wedges around the masts, or were those not usually used on fore-aft rigged ships? I'm referring more to the types of wedges which extend up pretty far out of the deck around the mast. Alan

Thanks Steven! Montaigne has made me think about adding perhaps two chests or maybe even a small side table. One with a scroll of my name/build date, but perhaps the other with a scroll with a funny/inappropriate limerick or such. That would sure be a surprise to a future viewer. It would destroy whatever thoughts they had about the builder, however. lol Decisions, decisions...... Alan

Chuck, I'll bet you've been cringing wondering how long it would take someone to ask you if you were also going to create a mini-Winnie as well, yes? It even rhymes. Alan

Those are absolutely gorgeous. I also think they look the best when matching the color of the surrounding wood, and agree that the center looks best as constructed the same as the outers. Are you going to have individual panes for each "square", or one sheet of acetate for each pane? The posting recently in which someone used a heat gun to "melt" plastic sheet around panes giving the illusion of individual windows was pretty nice. Alan

It looks like we share the same long middle name . Maybe the scroll can be placed into a small sea-chest somewhere on deck. I do know that there are a few flaws on the deck in the cabin area that should probably be covered, so it should work out pretty well.

One of my longstanding and fairly irritating quirks is to jump into a project, get so focused upon what I’m doing, and ending up doing something exactly wrong because I’ve forgotten the big picture. That quirk has shown itself again; at some point, I’d forgotten that the drawer in the binnacle is actually what the compass itself sits within; it’s not a separate stand-alone drawer for maps, etc. The below photo from “The ships of Christopher Columbus” shows how that drawer is supposed to be used, which I’d completely forgotten about once I started to cut wood. That shouldn’t be impossible to fix however, and it will actually allow me to create a little more elaborate compass than I’d originally intended. I think I’ll cut a piece of brass round-stock to shape, insert a small printed compass image within, with perhaps a coating of something over the top replicating glass. I’ll unfortunately have to get rid of the scroll/map in the drawer with my name/build date, which is disappointing. I guess the scroll/map turned out to be slightly oversized anyway.

I agree that depressions should be filled, but that it would be far better to fill with wood than filler. For my Triton, I filled the spaces between the bulkheads with basswood, but would use balsa wood if I had it to do over again. Balsa is so much easier to sand/shape. Alan

I'd love to see the log of that!!

This is very true. What I use works for me based upon my physical characteristics and preferences, but might not work as well for others, or even the majority. Alan

I have Reed's books as well and have always been very tempted to build the exact ship he did in the exact manner. I know I'll never get around to doing it however, at the slow rate of speed of my other projects. One thing I'd point out to anyone considering a small scale is that once you are used to working under magnification, it's not really any more difficult to build at a small scale than it is large, especially once you get used to "bracing" your hands/work. I've grown very attached to a pretty low-quality, inexpensive magnifier I use to work on my Nina. I tried the optivisors, but to me, they were almost more of an irritation than a help. It's much easier to work under a "desk lamp-arm style" magnifier. The only drawback to working in a small scale is your audience. If you build a ship that is a couple of feet long, your viewers will probably be far more impressed than they'd be by a tiny ship, which may have taken you just as much time to build. They may also be more likely to label you as weird. However, since we are really supposed to be enjoying this hobby for ourselves alone, neither factor should matter. Alan

The trennails are about done in the bow area. I'm now leaning towards shellacking the model after it's been cleaned up. The inboard parts of the bow are about complete now as well. Now it's time to start trennailing the decks, knees, etc.

Ok, still plugging away on this one. The below parts have been burnished a bit to see what the final look might approximate. They are still a bit thick however, so will be thinned out a bit, and the recessed areas near the tops will also be thinned down more. Then they'll receive trennails along with the adjacent knees. I'm still building up the back quarterdeck area, so not really affixing anything to the deck yet which could be knocked away. Binnacle! I've been building up the binnacle, which I'll be able to install after the masts have been installed, and the quarterdeck complete. Below is the drawer, and a little knob which was almost impossible for me to make. They are resting on my drawplate next to the smallest hole. I couldn't see what I was doing with these pieces unless working on them under magnification, but I'm happy with them now that they are done. Below is the main body of the binnacle with the drawer hanging out. If my printer will do it, I'm going to print a scroll with my name and build date, and will then place in the binnacle drawer which I'll leave slightly ajar. The "pegs" sticking out of the sides will be clipped off and sanded down; they are just trennails which have just been glued in and are drying. There will actually be 4 more attached lower on the legs. Once that's done, I'm going to be cutting a circle in the top of the binnacle for a light to hang down into it, which will illuminate a very small compass, providing my printer can print it small enough. Since the backside of this binnacle will be resting against a mast, I'm thinking of installing a very small led up through the deck and between the binnacle/mast, and into the back of the binnacle, which can then provide light. Hard to explain, but I'll post pics.

I think you might have hit the nail on the head with that summary (I couldn't resist). I'll bet that's exactly what we are seeing on the replica Pinta as well.

Thank you Allan, that was exceptionally helpful, and explains why there were only bolts shown on the bottom parts of the standards on tlevine's work. I might do two bolts on the bottoms of the standards, and trennels on the tops. Below is what I'm approximating, (working replica of Pinta), but it's hard to tell how they were constructed there. I don't see any bolt protrusions, but for this working replica, they might not have been trying to replicate the original to that degree. Or, they were, and trennals are just the way to go all around. Decisions.. Alan

This might be a fairly obscure question, but regarding a photo from tlevine's Swallow log below... Are "fasteners" to be inserted ONLY on the bottom portion (see arrows) of the standards? I'm close to attaching similar components on my 1492 caravel (bottom photo), and am not sure of how I should reflect the fasteners; for that matter, I'm not sure if they should be trennails, or raised nails. Any guidance on this would really be appreciated. I do know that the standards are currently too thick, so will be adjusting that, but I'm really wondering about the fasteners. Initially, I was thinking that I'd apply fasteners to the upper sections as well, but now I'm assuming that tlevine's fastener's are correct, and that I'd I'd install two of them, both on the bottom section of the standards, but wanted to pick the collective brain of MSW on this one. - Alan

My palms became sweaty while reading this thread. I never would have made it in the navy. Ironic, as building models ships is my passion. lol Alan

This is gorgeous work. Alan

Wow! That water turned out great! Alan

Ok, so working at my usual pace, but incremental progress is better than none, I suppose. The entirety of the hull inside and out is now planked with pear. It's dusty in this photo, but compressed air and brushes should remedy that before any finishes are applied. I'm considering applying tung oil and/or shellac, and will be experimenting quite a bit with both. The replica Pinta had a unique looking capstan which caught my eye, and which I wished to replicate on the Nina. Who is to say that the original Nina didn't have this type capstan as well? Below is a start, but will need to be "skinnier" to match the replica; especially the center "X" sections. Not pictured are a few more brass parts I've cobbled together which will need to be blackened. Time to start working on these little guys. Making these at this scale is quite a challenge, and I'm having to make these under magnification. It's still a satisfying exercise, however.