Roter Lowe by Stevinne - Mamoli - 1:55 - Dutch-built Galleon

[Baker]

7 hours ago, Stevinne said:

I was looking over photos of the replica ship Batavia that Baker thoughtfully provided. My one takeaway was that I might need to rethink my plan to paint the gilded pieces provided with the kit. I thought ships of the era probably didn't have as much glitter as my kit implied, but the Batavia does seem to have more than I would have thought. Also, looking at the photos, I was wondering what is the point of this planking at the bow. It looks almost like a second layer of planking, maybe to provide extra protection when muscling through the waves? These photos were a big help, so I really appreciate being directed to them.

They took the Swedish Vasa partly as an example, and she has those planks too. indeed probably as extra reinforcement against waves

[Waldemar]

 

That's right. This small triangle is to avoid a heavy and damaging splash against the waves while pitching.

 

Good, interesting work.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Waldemar

[Stevinne]

More work on the starboard side planking.

[Stevinne]

More work on the starboard side. For some reason, I've found planking this ship to be a real chore. Happy that most of it seems done. I've also noticed that most of the photos I shoot for this log seem to come in upside down. I eventually figured out that's because I'm left-handed, so I use the shutter button on the left side. When I flip the phone and take pictures with the shutter button on the right side, the photos come in right-side up. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Starboard side work mostly completed. Going to move on to planking the deck as this kit is proving to be pretty stingy with materials. While other kits I've worked on have always provided plenty of spare wood, I finished planking the lower hull with literally the last piece of wood provided. 

My preference is to continue planking the upper hull with mahogany, which will then be covered by printed decorations provided in the kit, but I'm not sure if I will have enough wood.

If anyone has ever worked with pre-printed decorations on card paper, any advice on working with such material will be appreciated. So far, the only thing that I am sure of is that I will complete the hull sanding before installing the decorative card.

I think it also important to note that I purchased this kit several years ago. I believe Mamoli is under new management, so I'm not sure if the wood supply situation has improved. I'm just surprised that materials are so tight, since even cheap kits I've purchased in the past always provided an excess of wood. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Stevinne

[Baker]

8 hours ago, Stevinne said:

I believe Mamoli is under new management

Mamoli is now owned by Dusek    http://www.dusekshipkits.com/products

8 hours ago, Stevinne said:

If anyone has ever worked with pre-printed decorations on card paper, any advice on working with such material will be appreciated

You may find this info in Revenge build logs i think (hope)

   https://modelshipworld.com/forum/133-kit-build-logs-for-subjects-built-from-1501-1750/

 

 

[Stevinne]

Getting ready to plank the deck. The first step is removing the supports from the frames and then making sure the stubs are flush with the false deck. I found my sprue cutter did a good job clipping the wood nearly flush and then I used some chisels of various head shapes to remove whatever wood was left. I was happy that I took extra pains when installing the hull planking to ensure no glue was anywhere near the supports, since when snipping them they easily came away from the planks.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Started the deck planking. First step was running to the store for a permanent marker to add "tar" to the plank edges. There were no black Sharpies available, so I had to settle for some brand named "Jot." They smell pretty strong, so there's no chance I'm going to forget to cap the pen.

I'm already concerned the kit hasn't come with enough deck planking, so I'm trying my best to stretch it. That's why the planking ends at the focsle door, since the closed door will hide what is inside. I do have to plank some of the deck under the sterncastle, since that entrance is open. But I'm saving that to see if my odd-sized left-over pieces can be used. 

[Stevinne]

More progress on the deck planking. Have to start on the little deck near the beakhead. The planks look a little overscale to me.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

A little more work. Trying to get the run of bulwarks right. Stained the deck with "Bright Pecan." I thought it would be lighter, but I'm sort of happy with it. Also ordered a reference book and also "Sovereigns of the Sea," just because it sounded interesting. The "Sovereigns" book was used and came with an interesting book mark tucked inside.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Stevinne

[Baker]

Very nice bookmark 😉.

And model 👍

[Stevinne]

Been adding wales and cutting the upper gunports. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to paint below the waterline white. I want to see what she looks like once I add the decorative strips and she's a bit more colorful. I also have to do more sanding on the gunport edges and cut the sections of wale that runs across the top. But I want to keep them in place for the time being to provide support to bulwark as I work.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Added some decorations to the hull. I was concerned about getting the decorative strips to line up, but it actually was easier (at least on this side) than I had anticipated. The vertical stripes at the very rear are actually strips of 4mm wood, which allows some wiggle room about the the card positioning. Thanks to Aon for advice on what glue to use. I still need to add caprails and to remove the strips across the gunports in the waist, as well as some decorations for focsle.

[Stevinne]

Sometimes, I ask myself "Now why did they do that?" I'm working on the starboard decorations. The Mamoli printed cardboard is entirely covered in faux wood grain printing. But, for some reason, Mamoli also outlined the decorations with a thin black line to show you where to cut. That really doesn't leave any wiggle room for fitting things, as this photo shows. Apparently, the curve from the sterncastle to the waist is a little too long. It wouldn't have been a problem if Mamoli hadn't seen fit to provide a helpful black line to show where things should end. 

[Baker]

That is not good. 😲
Maybe best to remove the black lines first (fine sandpaper?) then you have more space to adjust the pieces

[Stevinne]

Making progress. I've completed the decorative strips, cap rails and railings over the cabins. I've ordered some very thin strips of walnut from Model Expo and am considering adding some trim around the edges of the decorative strips to maybe cover up that black line. I've experimented on the leftover bits of cardboard to see if I could sand or use colored marker to cover the black line, but I haven't been happy with the results. I'm currently sanding the stem piece to the figurehead to slide on. I'm happy I thought to test fit the figurehead before I got too involved in installing the beakhead, since the opening on the figurehead is considerably narrower than the stempiece. I've been sanding intermittently all morning and am finally beginning to see some progress. I do plan on painting the lion before he takes his place. 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Started painting the doors and windows and noticed something odd. While most everything is cast white metal, the small window frame at the bottom is black plastic. I'm not sure what is the reason for the change. My guess, with the paucity of spare wood that came with this kit, is that Mamoli was cutting corners where ever they could at the time I purchased it. I also decided to paint the gilded pieces, which aren't shown here. Good thing I did. As I started painting, I noticed that on many of the pieces the gilding was unevenly applied with the white metal showing through in spots. I'm debating whether or not to paint the doors tan/black to match the decorations on the ship or just leave the brown. I'll probably try one, see how it looks and then make a decision. My plan is to highlight the scroll work on the now brown gilded pieces in white or red to add a little color. 

[Stevinne]

Moving on to the gratings. On the plus side, the kit provides a lot of grating material. On the minus side, it's probably the worst grating material I've encountered, with lots of the pieces bent or broken and others really badly cut with lots of whiskers and half-done cutouts making it difficult. I'm happy Mamoli is under different management since I purchased this kit, because while I really like the subject, the materials on this one definitely have a bottom-of-the-barrel vibe about them.

[Stevinne]

Some progress with gratings. One thing I hadn't thought about is how much of the frames show through the openings. The break in the grating on the forward starboard side of the quarter deck will host a bitt, but if you look closely, the frame takes up much of the space and will be visible. I don't think I can remove the cross piece, as it supports the deck I probably can trim the white frame sections a little further back, but might settle for staining them a darker, less noticeable color. Also, I removed the molding at the front of the poop cabin as I realized that the opening I left for the door, while it fit perfectly, would have had the door jamming up against the pilot house in real life. I'm going to move the door a few millimeters over to starboard and redo the molding.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Been adding railings.

I'm happy with the height of the focsle railings.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do about the poop railings - whether I should end them at the end of the poop deck or extend them to the end of the outer planking. I decided to do the later, after viewing Ondras' amazing build log. He really has set the bar for me. Though I'm having trouble clearing it, he does supply inspiration and things to think about.

After installing the poop railing, I still feel it's about 1mm too high. I based the height on my little figure of Sir Francis Drake, who has been supervising construction. While the rail seems to fit Sir Francis just right, it looks a little too high for me. Also, the photo points out a gap to the support posts I hadn't noticed.
 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

The railings are on, and I'm not displeased with how they turned out. I also put together the stand, which gave me a chance to give her a place to rest while I cleaned up the workspace. I also painted some wood to make the black stripes that will adorn the beakhead. I feel like I'm making progress.

[Stevinne]

Been doing more work on the kit. Have the rudder mounted. Getting ready to install the stern gallery and beak head. Materials are still an issue as some pieces appear to be missing.

[Stevinne]

Added the stern galleries and the beakhead. I think the kit was missing some pieces, since they listed some parts for the back of the stern galleries that I simply didn't have, so I just backed the laser-cut forepiece with some walnut strips. The beakhead was made by covering a laser-cut piece with alternating strips of natural and black wood cut to give the diagonal effect. It took a little tweaking on my part while the glue was still wet to get them to sit right, and even then a stickler for perfection will note some problems. After having some health issues last August, I feel good that I'm at least at a point where if I were to keel over tomorrow, the kit is in a state where it can be displayed. Of course, that means that once I start adding shrouds - the likely next step - I'll need to complete the whole thing quickly so as to guard against the half-finished look if I can't complete things. 

[mrcc]

Looking great!

 

I think old Mamoli kits were famous for missing strip wood and fittings. The old kits though make into excellent models though…

 

Hopefully no “keeling” over until you are finished as you are doing an excellent job. 
 

Cheers!

 

 

[Stevinne]

Tapering masts and yards is one of my least-favorite aspects of ship building. This time, however, I used a mini-plane that I purchased about a decade ago to get one of my Mom's doors to close when the wood swelled during summer. That really got the job done, with me then chucking the mast into my battery-powered drill and using some 100 grit sandpaper to smooth out the plane lines. The mast caps on this kit are cast metal, so there's little opportunity to widen the holes with a file. That's meant that the top masts are tapered at both the bottom to fit into the cap and at the top. I still need to work on the mizzen top before staining and adding some rope bindings. Tapering masts is so tedious, I took a break from my efforts to pick the first salad ingredients from this year's garden. Starting plants from seeds usually means my garden is running a little late each summer, but it gives me great satisfaction to grow my own. This is the first year I tried cherry tomatoes, but it looks like we are in for a bumper crop, so I'm pleased.

[Stevinne]

A bit more work on the masts. I used a technique I learned wrapping the guides on my bamboo fly rod to make the mast wraps. The crows nests went together easily, the support pieces were white metal that I painted brown. The masts were stained with pecan stain. Nothing is glued in place yet. I'm waiting on some backing links for the chainplates, since the plates that came with the kit are too short. I'm not sure if I'll use them and the backing links or just create my own to use with the backing links. 

 

 

[Froggyman]

Did you ever complete this project???
I am building the same and have many questions..

 

[Stevinne]

Been a while since I posted, but I've been slowly and steadily working. Got the sticks and deadeyes in her and rigged and installed the cannon. Those were a pain as I left too much wiggle room between the blocks and the brass pins that anchor them to the deck. Looking forward to getting the shrouds on her.

 

[Stevinne]

I've started adding fore and back stays, but early on into the process I ran into difficulty. I don't know how many needle threaders Sir Francis Drake took with him when he sailed the Golden Hind around the world, but at $1.50 per pack, for $10 today at Walmart I got enough of these bad boys to hopefully last me a decade or so.

Edited April 14 by Stevinne

[Stevinne]

Put in the fore stays and the foremast shrouds.