Santa Maria by mrcc - FINISHED - Mamoli MV42 - 1:50

[mrcc]

It has been a long year and a half since my last posting and I am embarrassed to say I took a break for this length of time as I was intimidated by doing the ratlines. Plus perhaps being a little lazy...

 

Anyways... they are done on one side and they look good to my eyes!

 

Now the other side...

Edited March 16, 2022 by mrcc

[mrcc]

Further to my last post, as evident in the first picture below, I had to redo one of the shrouds and ratlines...

 

The one on the port side was terrible and I can blame it on Covid as the last time I did work on my ship was late October 2020 and my work speaks for itself as I did those ratlines in the midst of my infection.

 

Anyways picture following is corrected... really easy as I took a dental pick and teased apart the knots and luckily I did not have to tighten up the shrouds and there was only three of them anyways.

 

Both looking good and in the same scale and appearance now

[mrcc]

Anyways... all my shrouds and ratlines are completed and I am very happy with how they all turned out!

Pictures below...

 

Now on to the sails...

 

Some debate on what to do now with regards to the sails... the premade sails at hismodel.com look very very nice but a little expensive or I could purchase the premade sails that Mantua makes as I am sure they will fit as the Mantua Santa Maria is the exact same scale as my Mamoli.

 

Or I can try and sew them myself...

[mrcc]

This is the sail material for the Mamoli kit...

 

Definitely going to upgrade!

[mrcc]

A small update as I am awaiting the sails that I have asked hismodels to do for me...

 

I have done 2 out of 3 mast parrels.

 

[mrcc]

Still patiently waiting for the sails...

 

Thought I would update the log with a few simple things that I have done in the meantime.

 

Was meaning to add the extension to the rudder post... looks much better.

Also built the ladder to access the crow's nest.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Gosh that rudder looks swell ... I'll have to try an emulate on another project of mine, where I've been 'stuck' for awhile.

[mrcc]

Thanks Johnny for checking out my build log...

Yes, we are all "stuck" for a while at one time or another.

 

Cheers,

[Knocklouder]

Looking really good I think I am just as anxious to see your sails as you are , your detail is amazing 

[mrcc]

Still patiently waiting for the sails from Europe...

 

Thought I would do a few of the little things in preparation of receiving the sails and getting them onto the yards.

Please take a peek at my progress on finishing of some of the blocks under the crowsnest in preparation of the mainmast yard.

Edited August 22, 2022 by mrcc

[mrcc]

Also did the gammoning of the bowsprit.

 

This was not in the instructions of the original Mamoli kit but decided to make the effort while waiting for the sails.

 

A little nerve wracking but drilled the holes with the pin vise, widened them with the Dremel from above and below, and then threaded the rope with a coarse needle.

Lucky that the direction and angle of the two pilot holes were correct.

[mrcc]

PS All the little scratches on the deck and bowsprit completely buffed out, wheww!

[mrcc]

Good news for me as Hismodel has completed the sails, and now that they are paid, were shipped out today (from Europe).

 

Here is some pictures of the sails to expect.

 

The one on the wood counter was redone as the cross transfer had slipped on the original, barely perceivable, but Hismodel redid the one sail anyways.

 

Much thanks to Jakub and Radimir form Hismodel.

[mrcc]

Also added some of the running rigging blocks to the fore stays.

[mrcc]

And finally, the sails as prepared by HisModels...

 

They look excellent in my opinion; the sail material is very light weight, the cross images are very well done, not too bright or bold, the bolt rope is perfect, and the main sail bonnets look good.

 

I could accent the bonnet seams, I don't know?

 

The only small issue is the mail sail is about 2 cm short for the main yard.

I did custom order the measurements, and having checked my measurements that I gave them, I think the mistake was on their end.

 

Fortunately this was the only one a bit off... 

[mrcc]

Hi all,

 

Preparing as much stuff as possible prior to the sails being mounted on the masts.

 

Lots of studying of the standing and running riggings plans and getting everything on the masts, yards, and sails before hand.

[mrcc]

Just a quick picture before I set the sails.

 

I plan on stiffening the sails with a product called GAC 400 used to stiffen linens or canvas in the art world and create a wind blown appearance for the sails.

[mrcc]

Some progress to report...

 

I wanted to create the look of wind blown sails and upon further research decided to go with a product called GAC-400. It is an acrylic based fabric hardener for natural fibers.

I was lucky enough to go to a local art supplies store and on noting they only had a large bottle for my needs, the sales representative was very kind to give me a small free sample, which was more than enough to complete my job.

 

The product is very watery and milky and I essentially set up the sail for with some L brackets and alligator clips on the bottom corners and with a brush soaked the fabric with the product and then with a hair dryer blew into the sail with hot air which to my understanding speeds up the cure process.

 

As the product dries it puckers the material a bit and actually simulates a wind blown effect quite nicely and it does firm up the material very well.

 

I only took pictures of the foresail and they all turned out excellent with perhaps the exception of the big large main sail. Perhaps given its size is puckered up a bit more than the other sails did but I think it still looks very good.

 

Pictured below is my set up...

If any interest I can take a picture of the bottle of the product and perhaps the other sails as they now sit on the ship.

[mrcc]

I had a PM for more details on the product I used from Golden Artist Colors (GAC) but I will post a picture of the bottle and others can do their own specific research.

[mrcc]

The pictures listed below are some of the images of the results I attained with the GAC 400 product and technique that I did.

 

The sails are cured to a firm state with the exception of the main sail, perhaps due to its large size or perhaps I did not use enough product; not sure.

 

It is fine but not as perfect as the other sails that I treated.

I will provide more photos at a later date...

 

Cheers,

[Knocklouder]

Hey thanks so much for the GAC 400, we can't get it here in our province, 40 bucks to get it here , will find a way to get some because ,it sure looks good on your model great details it's going to look so good in the display case thanks for sharing your build

[mrcc]

Hey Knocklouder...

 

Best to source an art supply store in Winnipeg, I am sure they would carry the product.

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by mrcc

[Knocklouder]

Yes I phoned them all yesterday,  can find GAC 900 but no 400, Michael's won't even order it in for me .No worries  have people in AB coming soon they will bring me some  thanks again for the tip on the product 

[mrcc]

My technique for mounting sails is to add as much detail when off the ship. I added the sheets, which is the rope that controls the sail, essentially controlling the direction of the sails, prior to mounting the yards, including the halyards which are the ropes that are used to hoist the sail, flag or yard. If you look carefully you can see the hole that I drilled to accept the pin... it is mid yard on this the lateen sail. 

 

I had created mounting pins on all the masts and just pushed the yards on with a bit of epoxy, allowing me to position and align the yard with the attached sails optimally. I let it cure overnight prior to proceeding with final completion of the running rigging for each sail individually.

 

Below is the one example I photographed prior to its attachment to the mast.

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by mrcc

[mrcc]

The following series of pictures are in order first, the spirit sail, the foresail, the main sail and top sail, and the lateen sail finally.

 

I noticed with the GAC 400 that the results were much better with the smaller sail footprints as compared to the larger ones.

Once some of the running rigging and sheet lines were added and tied off, I lost some of that "perfect" shape.
 

Essentially I am done all the rigging at this time... just need to add the flags and other minor extra details.

[mrcc]

I do have to tighten just a couple lines, so that is not bad.

I have to fix a few lines creating a nice natural sag with regards to a few lines on the foresail that don't sag naturally at this time. 

 

I have to of course make and add all the rope coils but true to Mamoli, I will be short the 0.4 mm rigging line that is the vast majority of the rigging lines, to complete the task on the various pin rails on the decks.

[mrcc]

Well, got a few final things done this past weekend.

 

The kit supplied flags look very good to my eyes...

 

[mrcc]

I soaked the silk-screen/polyester flags in GAC 400 with some trepidation as I presumed GAC 400 is designed for natural fibres such as cotton.

I draped them over an old sea shell while still wet, hoping to create some free forms in order to simulate the wind and wind gusts.

With a hair dyer, while draped on the shell, dried them out and then with a hobby knife, gently peeled them off the shell...   without success!

 

So i just re wet them lightly with water and crumpled them up gently with my hands. 

[mrcc]

Here they are attached to the masts...

 

Mamoli had short changed me on the 0.4 mm rigging thread.

I have been careful with usage and barely saved enough to create enough rope coils for my rigging line belay points onto the pins.

 

So I tied the flag poles to the top masts with 0.8 mm rigging thread (all that I have left) and thought it looked fine and walked by the model a dozen times and then one walk by and oh boy, the 0.8 mm line looks out of scale all of a sudden!

[mrcc]

Name plate...

 

Funny as the contrast between the letter and background is perfect to the naked eye but once the image is taken with the Iphone camera... contrast is lost (to a degree).

Anyways... I am essentially done. I just have to tighten a couple rigging lines and present some final images later this week. 

At that time I will provide some final thoughts on the Mamoli kit of the Santa Maria.