Amerigo Vespucci by ken3335 - Panart - 1/84 scale

[Ryland Craze]

Really nice work.

[ken3335]

Hi,

First thanks again to those of you who are following my build and for your likes and comments.

 

My build is progressing nicely and I have just completed the stern gallery, it went well with no issues. I kept the construction as simple as I could and have not kept to its proper colour scheme again choosing just black and varnished wood, some staining was applied.

 

The pre cut ply was too large to fit the hull properly so I added three planking strips to the inner edge, with the extra meat I was the able to sand it back to get an exact fit to the hull. I made up the several gratings then using the plans as a guide only, assembled it, painted and varnished then added the name. The only disappointment was that one of the cast supports was missing, I left the gap at the centre to keep it symmetrical and hope that the ships boat which will eventually  hang over the stern will hide the omission, apart from that it came out well.

 

Ken

[Kevin]

that looks very very nice

[ken3335]

Hi,    The build continues at a good pace. Today’s post shows some of the smaller projects that I’ve made up whilst waiting for paint/glue to dry, they include some hatches, waist lockers, deck storage units, skylights etc.

 

I’ve shown my start on the wheelhouse, I’ll continue showing this soon, I’ve done more of it but I haven’t sorted the photos out yet, it’s coming out better than expected

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hi,   Again thanks for the many likes and comments on my build, as I’ve said they are encouraging.

 

Here we go on to something that I’ve been looking forward to making, the wheelhouse. It’s one of the main detailed features on the deck and it gives me the chance to see how my brass and mahogany theme looks. 

 

Whilst the plans looked simple enough I found them hard to follow. All the detail and measurements were present but because they were spread out over three sheets like a mad woman’s diary and not shown to scale they were confusing, many of the small parts that were made up were not shown where they actually went.

 

In spite of that the wheelhouse turned out better looking than I had expected, I put quite a bit of work and thought into it and I’m rather pleased with myself. I’ve shown the process in pictures as I think that this explains better than words.

 

The glass canopy is another issue. A moulded acetate plastic one is supplied, with photo etch pieces meant to be stuck to the outside to look like the frame, that’s always going to end up messy. The moulded piece is misshapen, the wrong size with rounded and not defined edges, I’ve seen better jelly moulds.  I think that I will have to make my own so watch this space.

 

Ken

 

[Kevin]

i may resort to soldering mine this time, and your photo etch cabin walls are better than my lazered wood

[ken3335]

Hi,  Just a small post. I just couldn't resist putting on the stern decoration piece. It is a detailed casting made from a soft metal which molded easily to the hull shape, I nailed it on. It put a smile on my face, a couple of minutes work for a noticeable improvement.

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  Thanks again for your likes on my build.

 

As you know I was unhappy with what Panart wanted me to use as a canopy for the wheelhouse. I decided that I would make up my own frame and use acetate sheet to glaze the individual windows. I used a mixture of the kit photo etch brass for the top and sides and some brass strip for the rest, soldering them together. The outcome was successful but was far from easy. My soldering skills are very basic and leave a lot to be desired. It looked easy but in the end it took about four hours to solder together. Making up a 3D structure with many differing angles by eye proved a challenge, with many solder, de-solder, re-solder and swear moments, it was only with the help of my wife’s extra pair of hands that I managed. It was messy and needed a great deal of filing to get a decent finish, it was worth the effort. You can see the difference with the kit version from the photos.

 

On reflection it would have been easier to make a wooden mock up and use that to rest the pieces against as you solder, you would end up with the correct shape and fit first go, hind sight is wonderful.

 

Ken

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  Again thanks for your likes.

 

I’ve been putting in the hours on the build over the last few days and have got quite a bit done. The powered winch, the funnel structure and a few deck fittings were made up and fitted in place. I took quite a few photos as I built them up but unfortunately deleted them before I had downloaded them, a senior moment, so I only have the finished items to show. I’ll try and do better, as I used to say to my teachers.

 

I made the winch platform then worked out how to assemble the many metal parts. This looked simple on the plan but caused much head scratching, like those silly impossible puzzles you got for Xmas. I wanted the individual parts to have contrast with each other rather than just brass or plain black, more detail gets noticed that way so I blackened each part differently and got the effect that I wanted, I then assembled them. Again to get contrast rather than leave the platform a deck colour I stained it light teak.

 

Next was the funnel assembly. The funnel was a very nice brass one with a separate brass piece as the head, I left the funnel brass as that’s my theme but again for contrast I blackened the head. There are four sets of brass rings around the funnel and these are held in place with eyelets. Gluing the eyelets into the thin sided funnel wasn’t a good option so I glued a wooden dowel inside to give them more of a hold, I could also cut off the dowel and that would leave a good substantial area for fixing later. The funnel housing is made up from brass sheet, I first made up the housing to the correct size from a block of wood then glued the exterior brass sheet to that before finally fixing the funnel to it.

 

I’ve fixed these and the wheelhouse into place on the deck. I have made up a few deck fittings as well as the wheelhouse ladders and put these into place.

 

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hi,    Just to keep you interested, here’s pictures of some of the smaller detailed deck items that I’ve been making for later placement.  They are some pin rails, the training guns and the small cranes. I think that they came out well and along with all the other stuff will look good on the deck.

 

Ken

 

 

[Kevin]

it all adds to a very busy deck, 

[ken3335]

Hello to those following my build, and again thanks for your likes.

 

I have now finished the stern house ( or whatever it’s called )

 

It was made up initially from pre cut ply sides which were then covered with mahogany strips. I then used the same strip wood cut up to make the panelling. I added the skirting, made the upper detailed items from the plan, I added the rails and ladders then I glazed the windows before adding a coat of poly. Job done.

 

I’ve attached a few photos for you to see.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hi,     The next little project was to make and fit the two column radar structure that sits behind the quarter deck house. It was made up from dowels with sanded to shape tops and joined using strips, finished off with some brass wire to support the radar dish. I brush painted it with Caldercraft occre acrylic, before putting on some doors. I like this paint and the colour is perfect so I’ll be using this for some deck fittings and the masting

 

Ken

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  Again thanks for those likes.

 

The build continues apace, I feel that real progress is now being made as the deck fittings are starting to give it real character, I’m now very enthusiastic and look forward to each time I can get to it to continue.

 

I have now finished the waist deck cabin and a couple more hatches and skylights. These were a project of their own, they took a bit of time but presented no issues. The walls were made up from ply which was then added to as per the plans. There weren’t enough brass portholes supplied in the kit so for the skylights I used small brass rings, with all the other stuff going on I think I’ll get away with them. I painted it, again using Humbrol enamel then fitted it in place. Lots of pictures this time.

 

Ken

 

[Dilbert55]

Glad I found your new build, really enjoying it! Neat set of set squares and steel cube, were there any machinists in the family? 

[ken3335]

Hi Dilbert, Glad to have you along again on another build, I hope you enjoy it. You’re right to spot the square, I found it in a car boot sale, most people wouldn’t know what it was, just a piece of metal, I recognised it as an engineers square and for £1 a bargain. I use it quite a lot, for 90 degree angles, as small anvil and as a flat weight. I often look out for old tools and it’s surprising at what I find to add to my hoard.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hi,   Thanks for those likes.

 

I’ve been busy working away on the smaller items that fit around the decks, there are a lot of them and they take a surprising amount of time given their size. There are too many to show the making of them individually but you’ll probably notice them around the deck without them being mentioned.

 

I’ll show you the pin rails and you’ll perhaps understand the time it takes on this model of what is normally a quick and simple task.

 

There are thirteen pin rails with a total of 68 belaying pins, each pin has its own brass roller in its brass housing mounted on a shelf below the main rail.

 

As you can see in the plan the roller mount should be first nailed onto the rail then the roller can be fitted with a pin. Here’s catch 22 if you do it this way you can’t fit the roller pins because the other rollers get in the way and you don’t have enough room, it looks simple on the plan but in reality it isn’t. Now if you pin the roller into its mount first you then can’t nail the mount to its shelf. My solution was to use a length of wire and thread all of the rollers with mounts onto the wire like a bead necklace then cut them to the right length for each rail, bend them to suit the shelf curve an attach using thick cyno. I find brass doesn’t hold well when glued so if I’d glued them on singly I think that I would have had issues of them coming off during rigging, but glueing them on strips I think that their combined strength will be sufficient.

 

I’ve also been fitting a lot of the small items that I’ve made to the fore deck and it’s starting to look very busy, in a good way, I’m surprised at just how good its starting to look, I’ll get a good photo session in when it’s sunny, the metallic nature of the brass shows up much better in natural light than in my work area, I’ll post these pics quite soon.

 

Ken

[ken3335]

Hi.  Again thanks for your many likes. Welcome Chris, thanks for taking the time to view and like my build, it really gave me a boost to have your approval.

 

I promised a few shots of the overall state of the build so far, well the sun shone and I was able to photograph outside. The foredeck looks finished but that’s deceptive, quite a bit to do on it, even a couple more guns which I hadn’t noticed earlier on the plan. There’s the rails, some life rafts, platforms nav lights etc. After these I’ll start on the staircases so still plenty to do.

 

Ken

 

[MadDogMcQ]

WOW!!! That excited me and exhausted me in equal measures! An incredible achievement in just 6 months 😮 Stunning work Ken! 

[ken3335]

Hi.  Again thanks to all who gave their likes to my build, and welcome aboard Tom, Mad Dog. It’s still progressing well, here’s the result of the next session.  You will know that I had built the staircases earlier, now I have glued them into place and built up their rails as well as the rails on the upper decks. I have also started to make up the brass rails around the funnel deck, you can just about see part of them in the pics, again I’m pleased with the result.

 

I’m also still making up the smaller parts which add to its character. I have made up pike racks before but never a riffle rack so this is a first for me and I think a nice touch that you wouldn’t expect.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hello again.   Progress is being made fairly quickly, this build gets addictive once into the small detailed bits. I’ve now completed the rails at the bow end and around the funnel deck and a few other bits, the forward decks are now completed. You will need to look closely at what’s been done as I’m losingo track of the sequence of, build, photo, log as I’m doing bits everywhere at once with no particular plan in mind, a bit like a mad woman’s diary.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin]

lovely work, im missing mine,  didnt think i would

[ken3335]

Hi.  The build continues, this time it’s the platform that the two large pinnace sit on, a bit fiddly to make because of the round slats but no real problem. I’ve also made and fitted some small parts but these now seem not worth mentioning. I’ve attached some pictures.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  Thanks again for those likes. This is just a short update on my progress. Only the rails at the stern to show, but progress is progress. You may notice that I've started the rear boat davit, one of many, there are eleven ships boats on board, something to look forward to building, ( or not )

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi.  Carrying on from my last post I continued making up the stern davits. I’m getting quite a bit of soldering practice on this build and improving all the time. The davits were made up of thirteen pieces of brass rods and wire of various sizes, shaped and soldered together, again not to be painted. I won’t do the other davits just yet as I think that they would get in the way of the rigging. You will notice that I have also made and added the brass boom support. I also made and attached the reserve anchors at the stern and the lifebelts.

 

Next week I’ll be doing the strops and turnbuckles for the shrouds ready for the masting.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi, Once again thanks for your likes. Next I decided to make up the large derrick that’s used to lower the ships pinnace and motor launch from the midships. The plans for this at first glance looked easy enough but they were like a Chinese puzzle, almost impossible to interpret. First problem was that the plan was not to scale and only the diameters were given, there are three different size rollers supplied but no indication as to which size went where. There is no rigging guide for it so it was difficult to understand how it would work which would have helped understand how it all fit together.

 

It eventually came together and I now understand its concept. At times there were up to seven pieces that needed to be held together so that all the holes for the holding pins lined up, all of them very small and tricky to hold, I had to get my wifes help with this as I just don’t have enough fingers. I completed the unit by painting, adding lights and horn and the cable guides, it is now ready to mount and rig, but I’ll do that in another session.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi, Here's the derrick fitted and rigged.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi,   Again thanks for your likes, please keep them coming.

 

Another short update on my progress. I have now finished and fitted the strops and turnbuckles along the sides. They were easy to make, just folded over brass strips trapping a brass ring in the fold with the turnbuckle attached then nailing them to the hull. The difficulty came with positioning and spacing them. You will see that there is no way of avoiding the portholes, most models of this ship that I have seen have the strops at what looks like unrealistic angles to keep them the same length and avoid fouling the ports, they didn’t look right. I decided that I would keep the angles all the same and just cut them short where they would foul. I think that they came out well and even if they are not right they look more aesthetic.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  More updates, I’m really flying through this build, really enjoying it and can’t put it down.

 

I’ve made, painted and fitted the bowsprit along with its bracing chains and flagstaff. It all went okay. The dolphin striker and side spars proved just a little awkward as they are attached on hinges which needed to be made up, the chains had to be just the right tension each side so as not to pull them out of alignment. The flagstaff was an afterthought which I made up from a welding rod topped off with one of the small portholes that were left over, I'll remove it when I do the rigging then paint it white when fitted.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ken3335]

Hi,  After seeing some pictures of the actual ship I decided to alter the tension on the chains, mine looked too slack. The picture shows how it looks now after re tensioning.