Spanish Galleon ISABELLA by deckape - FINISHED - Billing Boats

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                       Here is a fresh build I went to my vast stash pile and rooted this one up I had this kit since 1962 one of Billing boats first kits the Crabincutter was the first kit. I decided it is best to start this one to finish the wood in the kit is starting to dry out if I let this kit sit another few more years the wood will crumble way. Thus far in the construction the keel and formers are dry fitted and trimmed finally the structure is glued together and let dry 24 hours next will be the tedious planking. My wife loves this one so you got to keep mama happy.

Frankie Day

[S.Coleman]

Ahoy!  Glad to see a great start has been made. I'm sure this ship was the first ever ship i built years ago, It was a plastic Revell kit and I would of probaly been 13 or 14 years old.

Best of luck on your journey.

[Lucius Molchany]

Cool Frank I will be watching this one as well s your Youtube vids.

[Jean-Pierre]

Looks like a fine kit.  Were the frames precut?  Could you post a picture of the box art so we can figure out how much better your build will be

 

Drying wood can indeed become a problem, especially on old kits.  I did that experience with an old Mamoli kit of the Yacht Mary for which I had to replace most of the walnut for the second planking: it had become very brittle and would break or split at any attempt to curve it.  Hope this time Bilings will have provided a better wood quality, or your stocking conditions will be better.  Will gladly follow your build.

 

`Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

JP

[deckape]

13 hours ago, Jean-Pierre said:

Looks like a fine kit.  Were the frames precut?  Could you post a picture of the box art so we can figure out how much better your build will be

 

Drying wood can indeed become a problem, especially on old kits.  I did that experience with an old Mamoli kit of the Yacht Mary for which I had to replace most of the walnut for the second planking: it had become very brittle and would break or split at any attempt to curve it.  Hope this time Bilings will have provided a better wood quality, or your stocking conditions will be better.  Will gladly follow your build.

 

`Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

JP

Ahoy Jean

                 No such luck on this kit I had it to long I bought it in 1953 been sitting idol all this period of time,  This is the reason I started this build thread if I don't build this kit to soon all of the wood will crumble away rendering the kit useless and a waste of money and time ther wood in this kit is very brittle in some respect not all of it Just longer time to cut and work with without any breakage. Okay here is a update build report on this old relic kit The box top is tattered from old age kept in a dry place for years on end. Now I am paying penalty LOlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll On the box you will see the beauty of the kit that inspired me to construct thanks Jean for tuning in good friend.

Frankie Day

[deckape]

Ahoy

               Here is the first update of the construction of the Billing boats Isabella. the kit in general is ancient I had it for years since 1963 my third kit from Billings The norske Love was the first one hell of a kit to say the least the second was the Danmark and now the Spanish Galleon Isabella. The construction is straight forward your typical plank on frame construction I had to take care and work slowly on this I let this kit stand idol for years on end and all of the wood is drying out I applied 3 coats of polyurethane so it will soak in the wood making the parts more easy to work with, The kit gives to listels or plank strips in the kit the deck is typical for Billings they give you the printed deck and it needed to be varnished. But I can do better then that I am planking the decks No hobby shops in my neck of the woods stock up on plank strips you have to order it online from a mail order house or dealership, I went the easier route I made my own planks I have a balsa stripper that can rip wood planks as much as 1/16th I bought some boxwood and ripped out a bunch of planks in minutes I need to rip some more. The pictures of the update will show you the planking session

Frankie Day

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                   Okay the fun has just begun the planking has started I should have her done this evening with the planking session. The planks in the kit are very old and drying out I snapped off four planks if they continue to snap off I will most certainly run out of planks.so to prevent this I took all the planks and wood from the kit and gave them three coats of polyurethane so the wood will soak up the moisture. Thus far no problems of the wood splitting my advice to all modelers who own ancient kits such as this don't let them sit idol for years on end or kit will discentergrate before your eyes. The kit gives you these thick tough mohogony listels or planks so you got to be careful when forming these planks to conform on the hull or they will break and you will end up pulling your hair out.  For the bends around the bow area I took wire nose plyers and bent the front end of the plank as you walked up the plank with the plyers this method works like a plank bender and it works very well without fuss.   So far I am enjoying the build of this relic of a kit it still stands out well today compared whats on the market today. At my collection end I have over 18 old Billing boats kits I purchased through 1962 up to 1972 all of the kits were bought separately back in those days the fittings kit was not present in all Billing kits they had to be bought separately by doping this they keep the price down on the kit for everyone to efford and if the builder finds it to difficult to build and abandons the project no money has been lost only with the exception of the kit. Below are update pictures of the ISABELLA..

                                            Frankie Day

[Lucius Molchany]

Looking good Frank!I liked your latest Youtube vid.I guess I better heed your warning and start my Billings Touolonaise after the Hermione is done.I checked the kit and the wood does not seem too dry and the mahogany is not warped but it is over 30 years old so it should be built soon.

[popeye the sailor]

I've only build one old kit.......I started with an early Billing's Nordkap.   I enjoyed it quite a bit.   most of the kits I've done have been Billings.......some of my scratch builds were done by tracing the hull parts from billing's kits.   I saved the parts panels.   I've not seen this kit before.......I have a few vintage model site I like to visit.   nice to see someone else who likes to dabble in these older kits  

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                    Slow process but this is what model ship building is all about lots of time and plenty of it.  At this stage of construction cant do much more until the water line of the hull has been pre paired and painted. Then after that the real fun will begin the upper planking and transom will be next on the genda. Although an ancient kit with all of the wood saturated with polyurethane the wood is holding its own, I should have built this kit ages ago but when you spend 30 years of your life fighting for freedom in the NAVY as a career man there is no time to build just collect and build when I retired now I am paying penalty for letting this kit go idol for almost 50 years. with all of the wood pre pared and moisture prevasils makes the build more enjoyable at first of its construction I had second thought in what to do build or scuttle.  A kit with this beauty and the fittings set I purchased separately made me make the decision build on .  The photos at the bottom shows the results of the separation of the waterline from the natural wood planking. The pictures before hand shows the planking since the this portion of the pl;anking at the bow differs from the rest is because it will be filled with putty masked down sanded and painted it wont be seen. Here are the update pictures.

Frankie day

[Steve 12345]

Ahoy frankie dam you can put these things together quickly putting us young fellows to shame great build log I also signed up to your utube channel thanks for posting 👍

[deckape]

4 hours ago, Steve 12345 said:

Ahoy frankie dam you can put these things together quickly putting us young fellows to shame great build log I also signed up to your utube channel thanks for posting 👍

Ahoy Steve

                  Thanks buddy I am honored building models is my lifes work and it keeps me Sane youing and happy. thanks for the comment The Spanish galleon Isabella is taking shape

Frankie day

[Steve 12345]

Ahoy frankie I am currently building a Hms bounty by billings I see you have made a very nice example of the same ship I would be honoured if you could take a look a steer me right 

 

steve 

[deckape]

22 hours ago, Steve 12345 said:

Ahoy frankie I am currently building a Hms bounty by billings I see you have made a very nice example of the same ship I would be honoured if you could take a look a steer me right 

 

steve 

Ahoy Steve Can do I built the Billings Bounty years ago and still have the model all those years it was released in 1980 all parts had to be cut out b no laser cut parts in those days purely old school design as incorporated in those kit in those days.  I will break out the model from below in my finished basement an take a couple pictures I will go and review your build nice to see someone who has this kit for the money and the laser cut parts makes this kit a must to buy and build. Thanks Steve for checking in buddy

Frankie Day

[Lucius Molchany]

Nice Frank!you really achieved a nice finish on the hull with a brush no less!Old school model ship building at its finest!

[deckape]

Ahoy Philo

                   she is getting there my man glad I decided to build this if this thing was to be left idol for another 5 to 10 years it would crumble into wood dust polyurethane saved my bacon stay tuned for the next update should have another here by this evening.

Frankie Day

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                      Okay update for today more will follow, Having a lot of fun building this old kit thus far no problem with the breakage of the wood its pretty well saturated with polyurethane it slowly bringing life back in to the wood.  Building this randomly to complete the hull and the deck furniture will follow I should have this pretty well planked off by tomorrow sometime.  all wales and rubbing strakes are completed the after decks will have to be planked before I move onward.  The kit in general is a difficult kit to construct not only because it foreign made the splitting of the wood parts makes it difficult to cut without splitting into pieces . to prevent this I used masking tape and taped the back side of the printed sheets this way if the wood starts split it will be in its entirety  on the box top and instruction booklet calls out for green and red stain on the upper works of the hull this will be done when hull is completed. The plans in the kit typical Billing boat is very helpful and easy to understand in the construction then the booklet key is that you got to keep looking at the plans and plan your attack on the build.  Once I get the hull fully planked the aft end of the fore castle superstructure will have to be planked like did on the front view of same.  These period ships make very beautiful subjects they reveal the beauty of the evolution of ship building. As a technical note anyone who has these old billing kits in their stash that were produced in the 60s and 70s these kits need to be built if not and lay idol for more years to come the kit will crumble in to saw dust and it will be a lost kit.

 

                       Okay guys I have a little more to go and I need to catch up on some more builds I got started

Frankie Day

[Steve 12345]

Looking good frankie big thumbs up right at you buddy 

[Lucius Molchany]

Yeah Frank,when I made my old Billings Wasa/Ersatzia the wood was very dry and prone to shattering even when soaked overnight.When I applied Polyacrylic to the hull it took 3 coats!The wood just absorbed it all on the first and part if the second coats!

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                 thanks Steve and Philo for the comments I am honored Beautiful job on the Wasa Philo, Yep same thing on my Isabella the first coat it soaked it up like a thirsty drunk. about 5 coats of poly to get the life sprung back in to the wood, Here is another update build report on the Isabella. Thus far I done some tidying up on the build I let dry over night and ponmder over the build and look for mistakes I found a couple and got them squared away ship shape.  The hardest part of the build is over and the rest will be a piece of cake. after I do some moire tidying up I will go and plank the remainder of the decks and finish up the planking on the hull resume to the deck furniture and some color staining

Frankie Day

[popeye the sailor]

look'in really good Frank  

[deckape]

3 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

look'in really good Frank  

Thanks buddy I am honored

Frankie Day

[Lucius Molchany]

Looks great Frank!What will you do about a display base?

[Steve 12345]

Ahoy frankie love your work thanks for the pics on the bounty

[popeye the sailor]

awesome!      

[deckape]

On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 8:17 PM, Steve 12345 said:

Ahoy frankie love your work thanks for the pics on the bounty

Looking Great Steve The Bounty Looks Superb She is one of Billings best produced kits Thumbs up at ya buddy

Frankie Day

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                     Okay guys the Isabella is getting there I spent some time going back tuning up the build every time I finish a sequence in the build I stand back and marvel at the progress anything that don't look right or I over looked I tear it out and start all over again.  Tomorrow I should have the entire hull complete the opening of the gun shutter bays will be next along with the red and green stain  then the deck furniture will follow and add the fittings

Frankie Day

[Lucius Molchany]

Cool Frank!coming along quite nicely!

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                   Another update build report thus far in the construction finishing up the planking and adding channels and knees should have the hull wrapped up by this evening and the real fun will begin. The wood in the kit is starting to cooperate  no more splitting it goes to show the dead wood needs moisture.  I have 7 other old Billing Boats kits in my stash pile I went bqack and checked them out to see if the wood is like that of Isabella but I lucked out the wood is still fresh. The wood Billings use in their kits are differ then the usual mostly Ramon and Mohogany these woods in time will dry out very fast and its better to store these old kits ion a cool and dry place no humidity.  I mixed me up some green and red stain for the upper courses this will be applied later when everything is buttoned down.  Thus far not a bad kit last night I tried on the internet to get some reference on this old kit to my surprise there is none I am the only reference that is available to this kit/ Mr. Einar Billings stated in the instruction book the origin in unknown and the plans don't exist, Makes you wonder if this kit is fictional But I know for one its a typical Spanish galleon of the Spanish main still in search for reference to this vessel I will keep looking perhaps I will get lucky. Okay guys the next set of update build report pictures the hull will be completed.

Frankie Day

[deckape]

Ahoy Gents

                        Okay Gents here is another update build report on the old Isabella.  Thus far in the construction all channels and knees have been installed to the vessel doing the mail top course rails when finished the front and aft parts of the super structures need to be stained and planked as follows basically the entire hull has been planked.  I should have the hull completed by this evening and the opening of the shutter bays will follow the deck furniture gratings cannons and lots more and lastly the construction of the four mast and another challenge when it comes to the cutting of the rings that make up the crows nest. A difficult kit to say the least not a kit for the Novis at heart.  I cant stress anymore then what I have experienced in these old Billing kits the wood they give you in the kits dry out to fast specially in hot and humid climates kits from the 1060s and 70s need to be built on the fly if not and left idol until the day you decide to build it you will pay penalty the weood will crumble away leaving you a set of plans and whats left of the wood not good. Okay fellows here are the update pix.

Frankie Day