Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Zaragoza by marktiedens - FINISHED - OcCre - scale 1:46

[marktiedens]

Thanks zappto & to everyone for the "likes".

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Hi everyone - been working on the stern. The stern fascia is in 2 pieces which are glued together after adding a spacer & some PE windows. One thing that was puzzling me was the instructions said to paint the window frames black along with the outside frames,while the enclosed photos of the finished ship has the frames painted gold. I decided to just paint the windows & frames white. The decorations on the inner fascia were added also.  Hard to tell from my picture,but there is a space of about 10mm between the 2 pieces at the deck level. I don`t know why,but the windows look uneven in the last picture - may have something to do with the zoom on my cheapo camera. In the third picture you can see that they are in reality nice & even.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark 

Edited May 3, 2018 by marktiedens

[marktiedens]

Hi everyone - after a lot of shimming & re-shaping (plus a few choice words)I got the framework for the side galleries on.In order for the wedge shaped pieces to fit the hull and the stern fascia plus the PE windows,they had to be modified quite a bit.

 

 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Update - the side gallery windows are now in place. All the windows are PE brass & rather plain looking,so I framed them with some .6mm strips. Still have some railings to add & a bunch more trim work to do on the stern fascia.

 

 

 

Mark

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nice work on your quarter gallery windows!

[marktiedens]

Thanks Phil.

 

Mark

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks fantastic Mark, really nice job.  Interesting how the quarter galleries have that ledge.

[marktiedens]

Thanks Mike - a railing will go on the outer part of that ledge. I also added some of the mouldings on the edges to hide the plywood. The plans showed the edge mouldings in some places,but not in others. This is just about the worst design of the galleries I have seen - the brass etched windows did not fit in the places like the plans show,so I had to do a bit of filing on them as well as some major surgery on the framework. The problem is the window sections are made straight - they should have been made with a bow in them so they would lay flat when bent to fit the curve of the floors. I`m not totally happy with how they came out, but I will leave them as is.

 

 

Mark 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks like you made some sweet tasting lemonade despite being given lemons.  Nice job!

[marktiedens]

Thanks Mike. Everything up to now went together really well with very little "adjustments",so it`s kind of a mystery why the stern is so far off.Also,I`m still fighting the plywood which tries to fall apart when I sand or file near the edges. I will soldier on,but no more OcCre kits for me!

 

Mark

[Old Collingwood]

Looking very very sharp  - love the detail in the window frames.

 

OC.

[marktiedens]

Thanks O.C.

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Hi everyone - a little more progress. More mouldings & some paint work done. Also,the railings for the galleries are now done - a bit fiddly to line up all the stanchions. More windows have also been added forward of the galleries. Still have another railing to make for the stern fascia,and of course, more mouldings. Thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

A little more progress.......The the railing & mouldings are now done,which nearly finishes the stern of the ship - came out better than the semi-disaster of the side galleries. Since I am not following the order of assembly of the instructions,I think I will finish off the stern by installing the rudder & making the 2 gunport lids.

 

 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Hi everyone - the stern is now finished. The rudder & chains were installed along with the gunport lids. The instructions showed them 3/4 shut with no cannons,but I decided to show them open & added cannon barrels from my stash. They were made curved to match the curve of the counter.

 

 

 

 

An afterthought of the stern problems - I think it all started with the lower row of windows. They were made with way too much curve in them, resulting in having to build the side sections too low so all the windows would line up. I took a picture of one of the pics in the instructions to show you what I mean. The stern fascia is laser cut & the windows are PE brass,so not a lot I could do with it without scratch building the whole thing(not gonna do that with this kit). Don`t know why they made the actual kit parts so different from what`s shown in the instruction manual.

 

 

Mark 

[zappto]

Incredible work as always, pleasure to watch!

[marktiedens]

Thank you,zappto

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Hi - a little more progress. The next thing I did was installed the small poop deck.The columns across the front were to be made by cutting the large supplied columns in half,which would be a pain to do and get them all even,so, I used some from my stash that were just the right height. There was nothing at the transom to hold up the aft end of the deck,so I just glued a couple of pieces of wood to the transom to support the deck.

 

 

Next, I started working on the bow. First thing to do was glue the figurehead in place. It was a bit heavy,so I added a pin at the back of the lion`s head to help hold it. Next was the cheeks & their rails. The cheeks & rails consisted of 2 pieces each & when glued together fit pretty good. They are to be painted black with a yellow stripe down the center - no problem painting them black, but much trouble painting the yellow stripes. So,I decided to use some very thin pinstriping tape instead. The tape was sealed down with 2 coats of clear. Then,the fairings for the hawse holes were glued in place & the holes drilled into the hull.

 

 

 

 

Mark 

[Old Collingwood]

You are doing a wonderful job mark  a true inspiration to many of us.

 

OC.

[marktiedens]

Hi everyone - work on the ship continues(slowly).  Working on the head rails,I was hoping they would go a little smoother than the stern work - not so.  The upper head rails are pre-cut from 1.5mm plywood & attach to the bottom of the samson posts which are pre-cut from 5mm plywood - glued end to end. So what I did was make the .8mm brass bar for the trim a bit long to overlap the post for strength,plus I tapered the inside part of the post to make a better transition to the much thinner rail. The plans show using some 1mm brass wire for the trim,but I thought that looked a little cheesy,so I used square brass bar instead. The middle head rail was pretty straightforward & fit where it was supposed to.  The lower head rail was shown attached to the bottom of the cat davit support knee,but to do so it would fowl the first gunport,plus it would be impossible to bend the 1.5mm plywood to conform to the curve of the hull without breaking it. So instead I fastened it to the rear edge of the samson post/upper head rail assembly.  The rails were painted black,with the yellow pinstriping in the center before glueing in place. After the rails were glued in place,the short pieces were added between the rails. Still need to finish the starboard side,then work on the bow gratings.

 

 

 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Update - the bow gratings are now done. quite fiddly working out the curvature along with the framework. The bow knightheads have also been added - the plans show it as 10mm thick,which I thought was a bit excessive,so I thinned it down somewhat. The holes in the gratings seemed a little large,but being at 1/46 scale maybe not too far off. With that out of the way, I will move on to the deck furnishings. Looks like I need to do a good dusting also.

 

 

 

Mark

Edited June 20, 2018 by marktiedens

[fmodajr]

Hi Mark,

 

I have been away from the site for a while, and it was fun to catch up on your latest build. 

As always, the workmanship is superb and the ship looks to be a fun project for you. 

I look forward to watching you mast, rig and add sails to this unique build!

 

Frank

 

[marktiedens]

Thanks Frank - good to hear from you. The kit has some issues(like most kits),but I am trying to work around them. Just found out that the positions of the gunports as built according to the instructions don`t match the plan sheets - just one more thing to work around. 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Continuing on........ The gratings & ladders were made up. Small dimples were made in the cannonball racks to keep the cannonballs in place. Back to the bow,the fenders on the upper headrail were installed. They were laser cut items,but the instructions said to cut a line around close to the edge & paint it yellow with blue elsewhere. Well,that wasn`t gonna happen,so I made up some trim pieces from 1/32x1/16 brass bar & glued them around the edge. 4 cleats were also added forward of the fenders on top of the upper headrail. Next,the fenders & ladders at the waist were made up & glued in place. I made the fenders by glueing short sections between the wales,then the long pieces on top of those. The steps were made by glueing 2x2mm strips to 2x6mm strips. After a little shaping,they were painted yellow to match the hull & glued in place.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark

[Old Collingwood]

Really splendid work.

 

OC.

[marktiedens]

Thanks O.C.

 

Mark

[puckotred]

Hi Mark, a great build!!!

I'm also building this one, doing the first steps of the gunports atm.

Have you had any thoughts about what to do about the stove? Instructions say to paint the bricks? 

I bought some ceramic bricks that should be in scale and build up the stove with them. Stiff tissue paper as mortar. At least the side that will be visible...

[marktiedens]

Hi Pucko - thanks!  I haven`t got to the stove yet,but it seems ridiculous that they would want you to "paint" the brick pattern. Micro Mark has some textured heavy paper that simulates bricks,but I think I will go to my local hobby shop & see what they have - they have a LOT of train stuff.  What do you think of the kit?-I am NOT impressed!

 

Mark

 

edit - after looking at the instructions,I see that they want you to file grooves in the wood panels,then paint the "bricks" - possible,but would take a lot of fiddly work to make it look good.

Edited July 2, 2018 by marktiedens

[puckotred]

I'm quite satisfied with the kit. I bought some lighter colored strips for the deck, but the rest of my kit has ok quality wood. All the plywood straight.

My first model was from Caldercraft and the wood was so bad it almost ended the hobby for me... And the kits I built from Turkmodel/NCB are far worse. My DeAgostini Vasa is from Artesania Latina and is maybe equal of Nuestra. I'm also building "Terror", Occres latest kit and the that wood is better but the instructions are worse...

But we'll se how I feel when I get to the galleries.... 

[marktiedens]

Glad you like the kit. As I stated in an earlier post the wood in my kit is very bad - all the wood in mine is badly warped. It may have just been a bad batch that they had for mine. Also,the parts that are plywood fall apart when sanding the laser char from the edges. Wow - you have a lot going on - I can only manage to build one at a time.

 

cheers,Mark