San Francisco II by kostas_gr - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - bashed

[kostas_gr]

I want to put some led lights in this kit, so I will try to bash it a bit.

First I will leave the doors open, so I have to make the cabins look more realistic. I cut some parts from the hull sections

 

stern view

 

bow

 

stern cabin

 

main deck

 

Captain's quarters, windows will be real so you can take a look inside cabin, hopefully I will make some furnitures

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

For the deck planking, I used planks with 9cm lenght following the rule of 3 (repeat patern every 3 planks)

before staring gluing the deck planks, I have drawn the patern on deck, to decide which rule looks better (3 or 4)

and some treenailing using bamboo toothsticks

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

For the coating I have choose once again tung oil

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[Dimitris71]

Hello Kosta, you are off to a great start . This is your first build? I like the idea off leaving the doors open. I will follow along if you don't mind!!

 

Regards

Dimitris

[kostas_gr]

Hi dimitris, thanks for your comments. Actually it's my second build. The first one is http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/875-san-juan-nepomuceno-by-kostas-gr-artesania-latina-my-first-build/page-4

[stangone50]

Awesome! Looking forward to your progress.

[kostas_gr]

I have tested white and standard yellow LEDs, I liked the yellowish ones.

Soldering SMD LED wasnt as easy as I was rememering it, after 5-6 tries managed to figure it out

 

 

Led tresshold is 2,5V, so I used two batteries providing 3V. I am going to use only five leds so 2 batteries should be ok.

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

When I finish this ship, It will be impossible to change Leds if they burn out or fail. So I will make 2 separate lines and use a small DIP switch to enable them.

 

The deck is too thin and when i light the LEDs you can actually see a ball of light beneath it. I used planks to fill the ceiling of the cabins and paint them black

 

 

 

 

all wires in place, there is a similar line of LEDs on the other side

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

wiring is almost finished, batteries (AAA) will be placed into the hole, under the deck cabin and right behind I will install the DIP switch for LED controlling.

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

 

I have paint the sides of strips with black marker, before I glue them, to make doors look more realistic

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

Next step is to make some furnitures for captain's cabin. From the windows I have opened combined with LED lighting you could see inside cabin, not as much as I have planned, not only becouse of the scale, but becouse of the way that stern is designed. 

 

 

a closer one

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[fish]

This is a great variation on this kit!

[kostas_gr]

stern planking is ready

 

 

working on hull planking, I will try the other method of planking (different from the one I used on San Juan) am going to use planks with full length, from bow to stern

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

first rows of planking

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

garboard

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

I am using full length planks from stern to bow, trimmering each plank a bit for stern, more trimming as I am reaching bow. As closer as I am getting to garboard, making calculations to figure out and pinpoint the start of sanding. The marked area represents the area that planks need no trimming, there is a difference between left/right, but as I am getting closer toward garboard the painted areas will be even.

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

 

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[donrobinson]

You're planking looks real good, not much sanding is going to be required! Is this this a painted hull or is it going to be natural?

[kostas_gr]

thank you very much don, is going to be natural, I have used tung oil for varnishing.

I will paint the wales black (actually wales are finished, I will post pictures afterwards)

Each time I was placing a plank, I was sanding it in order to check if it was fitted correctly, took me quite a time, I was doing 2 rows (each side) per day.

[ChrisLinden]

Wow that's some clean smooth planking. Wish I was that tidy lol ! 

[kostas_gr]

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

 

kit's instructions point to assemble uper part of bow separate from hull (yellow line is the border). I have choose to make it part of the ship's hull, more like it was instructed in a previous release of San Francisco

 

This is a sensitive part of the ship, in many San Fran builds shipmates pointed a "heads on" warning, i have ignored. Not a big deal, but in fact, I have damaged a lot of parts of this thin plywood part....

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

this is the result, cant wait to place wales and boat sliders (which are going to be painted blackish)

 

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

hull is finished

 

 

 

applying tung oil..... during the fisrt coat, wood planks must be "wet" for 20 mins, if we see a spot that is getting dry we need to apply more tung oil. After 20 mins using a soft microfibers clothe we try to wipe out all oil and polish wood planks. we are leaving it out for a couple of hours and we apply a second layer the same way we did before. At all cases we dont let tung oil to dry.

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

 

I will let San Fran to rest for a couple of days and leave tung oil to create a nice patina, next step will be to open gunports, install wales and boat sliders etc

during that time I will work with deck crates

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

Artesania's instructions indicates that I have to put a plank under rails

i will not use those planks, as shown in the picture (not my build)

 

I need to trim down the upper hull, to lower it a bit so rails can fit corectly

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[donrobinson]

The tung oil sure brings out the beauty of the wood, nice work. Rather than lowering the rails, have you thought of building up the balusters by gluing a small piece of wood on each end and then shaping accordingly only drawback is that you would probably have to paint them. 

[kostas_gr]

Not a bad idea, but to be honest I dont like the idea of painting balusters. I think I will keep this for all rails on the decks (I have to install them temporarily to check how it looks)

[kostas_gr]

all wires and batteries are in place

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

 

boat sliders

Edited December 27, 2017 by kostas_gr