Amerigo Vespucci 1931 by Richard50 – Panart – Scale 1:84 - launched Naples Italy

[Richard50]

Here goes, my first time building a log on MSW.  If I've not created this properly, please let me know. But first, here is a brief history about the ship.

 

 

In 1925, the Regia Marina ordered two school ships to a design by General Lieutenant Francesco Rotundi of the Italian Navy Engineering Corps, inspired by the style of large late 18th century 74-cannon ships. The first, the Cristoforo Colombo, was put into service in 1928 and was used by the Italian Navy until 1943. After World War II, this ship was handed over to the USSR as part of the war reparations and was shortly afterwards decommissioned.

The second ship was the Amerigo Vespucci. It was built in 1930 at the Regio Cantiere Navale of Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, where it was launched on February 22, 1931, on the 50th anniversary of the naval academy’s foundation. It is still in use as a school ship. The ship also carries out the role of ambassador for culture and Italian naval tradition, as it takes part in several important activities and events all over the world.

The vessel is a 101m long steel hull sailing ship with engine and three vertical steel masts. The hull is painted black with two white stripes in reference to the two gun decks of the original ships the design is based on. All the sails are traditional canvas sails, and all the ropes of the rig are traditional hemp ropes; only the mooring lines are synthetic, to comply with port regulations. Originally it had 2-stroke 6-cylinder FIAT Q 426 engines, but in 1964 these were replaced with two 4-stroke, 8-cylinder FIAT B 308 ESS diesel engines. The newer engines generate electric power for one electric propulsion motor.

Its motto is 'Not those who begin but those who persevere', a sentence attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci.

 

 

The Dry Fit.
She is certainly is a large model! I began with a dry fit; everything fell in place with just some minor corrections to make sure the deck would be level. The replacement deck appeared to be thinner than original so I decided to reinforce the deck with additional pieces between the bulkheads.

 

 

 

Bulkhead and deck fitted.
The bulkheads are in place, shaped and glued. I think I have shaved the 1st bulkhead a bit too sharp of an angle near the top. I also plan to fill the stern and bow sections with balsa wood to help with the shaping of the planks. The top decks are temporarily in place and will be remove to make planking of the deck, and the walls between decks in kit No.2

 

 

 

First Planking
The first planking appeared to fit well with no real problems apart from me dropping the hull carrying it between rooms putting a hole, about the size of a 10p coin. As you can see, a section was cut out, strengthening planks glued behind, and then first planking laid on the top.
I am slowly loosing the use of my hands and arms; I think I have a good hold on something but find out too late. That the grip has gone. I spend a great deal of my time looking for items which have dropped on the floor.
Some of the work was carried out in the back garden; taking advantage of the warm spell in March.

There is an option with this kit to cove the first planking with a fine material the dope or to do the more conventional method of second planking; I chose the latter.

 

 

Second Planking.
The second planking on the port side went very well, but had a problem with the bottom half of the starboard side which was striped out and restarted.

 

 

 

There is still a lot of finishing off to be done before the first coat of primer is sprayed on. This is a POF model but has to have a metal hull finish so any impressions of the planking have to be emoved or covered. Perhaps useing the option of covering the first layer of planking with the material and painting over with dope might have been better, but I'm pleased I choose the wallnut planking.

 

First coat of primer.

 

 

This first coat of primer has shown up many imperfections that will require some work on.

 

 

Cabins

 

It has been a while since loading up the first lot of photographs. This part of the build was about a year ago, and I hope to bring the log up to date during the next few days.

I managed to loose the photos of the cabin build, but it was quite a difficult task for me. The plans were vague without much direction. It took several attempts to get it to this stage

 

Decking and Bulwarks

 

The Deck Planking went well. I used 1mm thread between the planks, and pencil lines for the joints. The bulwarks were not easy to fit. Whichever way I tried them they never looked right, I’m ot sure they are correct now.

 

 

A few more pictures to add to the build.  These were taken several months ago but I have only just got back to loading them, there are more to come but about 6 weeks back I decided I was not happy with all sorts of things, so I stripped everything off the deck to begin again. It will become more evident as to what I've done when I complete loading all the photographs.

[NMBROOK]

Hi Jimbob,glad to see another UK builder on the forum.I have only just started a log on here for the first time as well.You seem to got off to a great start on what is a very impressive ship.

Kind Regards Nigel

[Richard50]

Hi Jimbob,glad to see another UK builder on the forum.I have only just started a log on here for the first time as well.You seem to got off to a great start on what is a very impressive ship.

Kind Regards Nigel

Thanks Nigel, Keep a look out for more photos over the next few days. I'm about 14 months into this build, now working on the deck fittings, hoping to begin the masts in abut a months time. Currently I am rebuilding parts  I'm not happy with re-touching etc. What are you currently working on?

[NMBROOK]

Several projects.The one in the spotlight at the moment is Sovereign of the Seas.This is a partwork by Deagostini,but to be honest i think 99% will be scratchbuilt.The advertising literature for the kit seemed to address all the errors in Sergals kit.Unfortunately now I am well into the hull,the model we are building differs greatly from the advertising.Not one to be defeated,I am trying to build as accurate replica as is possible from this partwork and the research material that is available today.In hindsight a scratchbuild would have been better but I have several hundred hours already in the build.

Kind Regards Nigel

[edmay]

Hello Jimbob,I also have this model and the SoS(gifts from my wife),have two other models to finish first,as you I prefare to double plank,yours looks really good.There are many things to learn on MSW,will follow your blog with much interest,I saw a modelers apron wth velcro tabs which attach to table to catch dropping parts(must remember to detatch before leaving table) as I heard someone tipped over there model .Nice to make your aquaintance.Edwin(ex Liverpudlian).

[Richard50]

Hello Jimbob,I also have this model and the SoS(gifts from my wife),have two other models to finish first,as you I prefare to double plank,yours looks really good.There are many things to learn on MSW,will follow your blog with much interest,I saw a modelers apron wth velcro tabs which attach to table to catch dropping parts(must remember to detatch before leaving table) as I heard someone tipped over there model .Nice to make your aquaintance.Edwin(ex Liverpudlian).

Hi Edwin, firstly, my apologies for not responding to your comments earlier, ill health sometimes make it difficult for me to be at my computer as much as I would like.  Thanks for the tip about the apron, I tried fastening one to the desk with bulldog clips, but it didn’t work to well for the reasons you mentioned; fortunately no harm to any models, just pride.

You will enjoy building the Amerigo Vespucci I’m sure, but don’t rely on much help from the manuals. They vary from the main plans, have very little detailed information, and when research on the internet, you will come acoss many versions of the build. I think this happens because the ship, which is still sailing has been seen in its own changes which have been documented since the launch in 1931.

I have many more photographs of my build to place on Model Ship World which might be of some help, even if it is to avoid many of the errors I have made and corrected (I hope).

Good luck with the build

Jimbob (Richard)

[edmay]

Hello Richard,thanks for reply,I"m the care giver for my very ill wife,model a little and browse MSW in between caring,I"ve learn"t a lot on this site,technics,tools ,the importance of research and more,also the comradeship amongst members is outstanding,sometimes it seems like they are your living room.I will not use the wrap hull with rice paper idea,walnut was advertised so I got it from my model supplier,also waiting to get full scale drawing,there used to be 15 large sheets of plans,now I believe it"s 9 sheets,the picture books are not much good for use in scale.Sorry to hear of your ill health,do what you can when you can,a bunch of us will be here.Edwin.

[Anja]

Hello JimBob,

 

Happy birthday

 

I hope you have a great day.

 

Anja

[edmay]

Hello Jimbob,things have been on hold as modeling goes,wifes mother past away in Trinidad,she could not go ,so we have been doing international prayers ,via computer ,phone etc,around the world at the same time ,she did not know of my wifes illnesses,everybody thought in would be better that way,anyway I'm glad you used walnut for 2nd planking,yours looks very good,thats the I will go,I hope you are feeling a little better,drop me a line anytime,will always answer,Edwin    

[Kevin]

Happy Birthday

 

from just up the M5 Bridgwater

 

have a nice warm day

Edited July 17, 2013 by Kevin

[Jay 1]

Happy Birthday--hope you have a great day!

 

Jay

[edmay]

Hello Jimbob, Your special day has arrived,happy,happy birthday,Enjoy  (was it Queen Anne who said" if there"s no bread give them cake" Tat Tar for now.Edwin.  

[Richard50]

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes. I will soon be adding more photos from my library. A few weeks back I decided the work I'd done so far was not as I wanted it to be. I removed everything from the deck, stripped back the varnish and re-sprayed the hull. I'm now rebuilding and replacing all the fittings. Most of the larger parts, the wheelhouse etc. needed some minor repairs, but I'm now much happier with the ship. I will continue to post photos of the build up until June of this year, then those of the re-built ship.

[smarinid]

Great build so far sir.

Can't wait to see her finished and ready to launch.  And Happy belated B Day!

 

Mark

[transdev]

hi everyone, I hope someone can help me with my build. im building the amerigo Vespucci by mantua. Iam struggling to construct the masts. My plans have no sizes/dimensions for the construction of any of the 3 masts and I was wondering if some one could help me.

[Richard50]

Here are more images of the work carried out earlier this year

[Richard50]

It was during this batch of photographs when I decided I was not happy with what I'd done so far. keeping control of my fingers and hands steady was difficult, therefor the finish was not as good as it should be.  More to follow

[Richard50]

I removed everything from the hull apart from the bowsprit. The deck was carefully repaired where needed and the varnish was taken back using shards of glass,and re-varnished.

[Richard50]

The hull was lightly sanded and prepared for spraying

[Richard50]

Noe the re-painting, repairing, and re-building begins.

[Micklen32]

Just popped round the back to have a look and this seems a very interesting build

It's a shame you  mislaid some of the photos   

It would have been interesting to have seen the full build

She looks a real fine ship and you are doing a great job with her

Well done Richard

I will take a seat and keep an eye on this build   

[Richard50]

Thanks Mick, when I started this build I was not aware there were such fantastic sites such as Model Ship World. Unless I've done something wrong, you should be able to find some of the earlier photos somewhere on the site. The build is going through a slow stage at the moment; problems with the correct messages being sent to and from my hands and arms are hampering the more detailed parts of the build.

[Kevin]

Jimbob

 

i appreciate the health issue, but why did you start again, was it because you could now do better, or was it because, of the fact you are showing it off the build to the MSW community

 

she looks great

[Richard50]

Good question Mick, and I had not thought of it that way, although I can understand why you feel that showing it off would be important, however the early photos are as the ship was at that time, and before the re-build. I have periods of weeks where I'm very clumsy with my hands, and very tired. The images recently put on the sight of A.V. taken back to the deck are about 4 months old, and there will be more to include. It has been a difficult time of recent, but I am in a slight remission with less numbness and pain (yes although it might appear strange, the two do go together). The decision to start again was taken was taken because I was not satisfied with what I'd done so far, knowing I could do better; there are still areas of the painting which are not as I want them, but you can only correct and re-correct once or twice before the problems looks worse. I've already lost some of the detail. But hey, I enjoy working on it and my intention is to re-build the lifeboats too! I will update the site again soon, and thanks for you kind comments.

[Richard50]

A few more picture's of the re-build

[Micklen32]

That is one beautiful looking ship Richard

Great photos too

You should be feeling very proud of yourself

[augie]

Just saw this log Richard.  That is one interesting subject you've chosen.

 

Very sorry to hear of your problems.  But rest assured that I applaud you efforts to improve her from the original version.  You're a better man than I.

[Richard50]

Hi everyone, After yet another time of not being able to work on AM, I'm back and have begun building once more.  I have foolishly forgoten to make provision for pedistal mounts in the hull, which is now completely closed; can anyone pass on any advise to help me overcome this problem?

[laps]

Hi Richard

 

My advise would be to turn the hull upside down and then carefully drill holes through the keel preferably using a drill press to keep the drill bit vertical.

My AV is mounted with  4 mm threaded rod but if you fix a smooth rod at the top of the pedistals and then lower the hull onto these rods, I'm sure the weight of the hull will keep it vertical and down.

 

Another option is to use the cradle which came with the model.

 

Just a couple of ideas.

 

/Lars Peter

[Richard50]

Thank you Lars for your suggestion, I'll give that a try as I do'nt realy like the cradle. Thank you also for the images of your build; they have been of great help to me.