Ragusian Carrack by Bender - Marisstella - 1:59

[Bender]

It has been a few years since I have started a build log or worked on a model ship. There are many things I will need to re-learn. I noticed the ad banner for Marisstella Models on Model Ships World's home page and found this model of a Ragusian Carrack. I emailed the company, and Zoran Pavlocic' replied. The process went smoothly. I ordered and paid by PayPal, and 12 days later the mailman dropped off the package.

 

 

The model box was packaged inside a sturdy cardboard box.

All the material is top quality. I'm very impressed.

 

 

 

 

The sails have already been stitched.

 

 

Directions are in English

 

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The building will start tonight, and I will have pictures tomorrow. It looks like I need to learn how to take pictures with my iPhone.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Bender

[mtaylor]

Welcome back, Al.  Nice to see that you have returned.   Interesting kit from what little I've seen and from one the "new breed" of companies it should be an interesting build.

[Bender]

The keel, stem, stern knee, stern post went together well. All these parts are laser cut from walnut.

 

 

 

The only thing that I needed to do was scrape and file the laser char off the glue joints.

 

The bulkheads are laser cut from plywood. Fit was near perfect.

 

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The bulkheads are held in the proper position with wooden dowels. Each bulkhead has two or four holes, and the dowel is inserted.

 

 

These dowels help hold the bulkheads all level with each other and keeps them square. If a bulkhead is not seated correctly, the dowels will not slip through the hole.

 

[skipper1947]

I have been eyeing this kit for a while now. I am glad to see a build log for it.   Looks good.

 

Skip

[Louie da fly]

I'll be following this build with interest. Carracks are a great love of mine.

 

Steven

[donrobinson]

These are great kits and Zoran is always there to help. Enjoy your build, I'll be watching. 

[Cathead]

Those dowels are a really cool idea. Is that unique to this company? Nice start, I'd like to follow along.

[Elijah]

This should prove fun to follow. I like Marisstella's kits.

[Bender]

Thank you everyone for looking in on my build log and for the encouraging commits as I jump back into ship modeling.

 

I have added filler blocks at the bow and stern.

 

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Before the hull planking starts, I had to plank three of the bulkheads.

 

 

[donrobinson]

Looking real good, you are off to a great start

[Bender]

I am almost finished with the planking.

 

The aft end needed to be finished and shaped first. I didn't take a picture when I finished planking the aft end, but here is a picture as it sits now.

 

 

 

I started at the aft side rail and worked my way down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Good to see a Marisstella kit build log here, I really like the different approach that Zoran seems to be taking with his kits.  Thanks for posting this!

[Bender]

More pictures as the planking continues. This is a single planked kit, and the planks are 4mm X 1.5mm walnut. As I get closer to the keel, the planks need to be bent against the 4mm width. In three days I've managed 3 planks on each side.

 

 

 

 

 

To take a rest from plank bending, I jumped to deck beams at the head of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to the plank bending. I lack 15 planks on each side.

[Seventynet]

You are doing a very neat planking job. This is going to be a beautiful ship.

 

Best, Ian

[Bender]

Thanks, Don, Brain, and Ian, for your commits. Don, before I ordered this kit from MarisStellia, I searched for someone else that had dealt with the company. I guess I didn't do the search correctly because I missed your Trabakul build.

 

I have finished planking but haven't resized all the pictures yet.

 

Here is a picture of the last plank before being glued in.

 

 

I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

[donrobinson]

Looks good from what I can see, I'll be waiting to see more tomorrow

[Bender]

A few more pictures of the planking near the Keel.

 

 

 

 

 

Next is removing all the upper ends of each bulk head that sticks above the deck. You can see in this picture from earlier in the planking the twelve bulkheads that will need the upper "ears" removed.

 

 

[Bender]

I started the decking. You can also see on these pictures where the upper parts of the bulk heads were removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stevinne]

The ship is coming along beautifully. Great planking.

Can you tell me the cost of shipping the model to the US?

Maris Stella has some interesting galleys and I've been thinking about trying one, but worried that the reasonable price of their kits will be negated by expensive shipping costs.

[Bender]

Stevinne,

 

Zoran at Maris Stella is great to work with. The shipping was 36 usd, but Zoran took care of half the cost. I had the model in ten days.

[Bender]

Zoran, I do not consider the shipping information you gave as an disruption. If someone is looking for a new ship model to build, then it is good to have all this information available in one location.

 

I am delighted that you are watching the building of one of your models. I sometimes don't follow all the directions, and I occasionally change little things.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Bender

[donrobinson]

Hi Bender, the decking is looking real good. I love the shot with the bulkhead it looks real impressive.

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Bender,

looking at work so far, this will be a nice model ... I watch interested in it ....

 

Regards,

Zoran

[Stevinne]

Zoran, Thanks for the information. I appreciate it.

Bender, I'm sorry for hijacking your log. I look forward to future entries.

[Bender]

Well, I made a mistake. I'm a firm believer in reading the directions very well, and then maybe changing things if I think it might be easier or look better. This mistake is 100% me not reading the directions correctly.

 

Notice in this picture from earlier in the build: Starting at the bow there are three bulkheads that are tall and solid. These are bulkheads 1,2,3. Next are five bulkheads that are short. These are bulkheads 4,5,6,7,8. Next are four taller bulkheads that form the bridge deck. These are bulkheads 9,10,11, 12. The direction clearly state to extend the planking along bulkheads 13,12,11,10,9 and nearly to bulkhead 8. The direction say to refer to the drawing to get the measurements to know how much past bulkhead 9 toward 8 to extend the planking. I stopped at bulkhead 9.

 

 

In order to fix this I made two pieces for each side.

 

 

And attached one where bulkhead 9 was--which is where the planking ends--and one where the planking should have ended.

 

 

I then ran planking up the gap.

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to match the color of each run of planking.

 

Now the side profile matches the drawing.

 

 

I did get lucky. A timber goes on the outside on top of the seam. Here are some pictures of the drawings that show the timber. I used a small file as a pointer to indicate which timber

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Nice save, Al.  A lot better than ripping off planking.  

[donrobinson]

I'm with Mark on this one, It really helps to get a break now and then.

[Bender]

I cut the cannon holes and the deck drain holes.

 

I leveled the keel to the work table and used a building quick square to mark the side of the holes.

 

 

Drilled holes

 

 

Used a file and a knife to cut the hole to shape.

 

 

 

Inside view

 

[Bender]

I'm about two weeks behind in posting pictures. After finishing the decking on the main deck, the bridge deck comes next. I first needed to cut the holes for the main mast and mizzen mast. Here a picture of marking the main mast hole.

 

 

The directions said to use the supplied 4X4 walnut and bend to the correct shape or cut and shape from a larger pieces. I had some cherry wood, and decide it would be easier to cut and shape the beams.

 

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These last pictures show the decking going down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Red]

Hi Bender,

Looking very nice.

Love the colour of the planking.

Looking forward to more.

Regards

Red