Spanish Galleon by ships88 - Billing Boats

[Koerant]

Your model is looking incredible so far. 

[ships88]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:38 PM, Koerant said:

Your model is looking incredible so far. 

Thanks Koerant for the kind words. It is greatly appreciated!

 

After applied 5 coats of the matte polyethylene on the decks. It is time to continue with the build.

 

Belaying pin rack installed in the bow.

 

first two rows of planks for the forecastle installed.

 

The kit provided forecastle rare structure is reasonably detailed but very flat.

 

Adding plankings to add depth to the forecastle rare structure and filling in the gap between the hull side profile (this took awhile as numerous small cut back/ measure steps taken to avoid over cut). The gap in the middle for the two vertical stud will not visible once the 1.8 x3mm overlay is installed over it (i didn’t have any thin 6mm wide veneer to cover it).

 

Test fitting the updated forecastle 

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by ships88
Adding narrative text

[ships88]

Concentrating on the bow and the forecastle construction.

 

The top bow rails for mounting the shields are installed.

 

A frontal view of the bow with the installed top rails. I need to square off the front post later.

 

Added the trim flushed with the upper forecastle deck. Installed the port side vertical support studs for the top bow rail. 

 

The Billingboats drawing indicated the vertical bow rail studs are to be in parallel angle with the forecastle and not to the bow head studs.

 

Top view of the installed top rails & vertical studs.

 

Port side forecastle side planking almost completed. I left off the last top plank row until i can finish the other side so the deck can centered between the two forecastle wall plank later.

 

Added a trim piece at the back side of forecastle aligned with mid deck profile. The center segment will be the support for the bridge planks between the quarter deck & forecastle.

 

Test shot of inserting the vertical post that will cover up the gap. This  is a component called out in the construction plan, which will extend beyond the top deck and be part of the forecastle hand rail studs.

 

A side view of the model to date.

 

PS. My drunken sailor seems to have jumped ship and a walled. Can’t find him anywhere.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by ships88
Editing text.

[Baker]

On 2/10/2022 at 4:48 AM, ships88 said:

PS. My drunken sailor seems to have jumped ship and a walled. Can’t find him anywhere.

He has a hangover and is sleeping somewhere in the hold 😇

(nice work)

[ships88]

After scrape the hull with old #12 blade (this method give a more constant surface than just using sand paper), then finish sanding with 100 grit sand paper. 3 coats of matte polyurethane was brush on with light sanding between coats with 220 grit sand paper. I liked the polyethylene result, clear, not shinny and hard to tell there is polyethylene coating at all.

 

 

The kid supplied hull waist trim pieces test fitted. They fit in like a glove without trimming. Got to give Billingboats a lot of credit of able to engineer such a feat using 1960’s available technologies (no cad or computer assistance).

 

I see a big problem here. Only 2 hull studs for the mid-ship hull bulwark (they are also sticking out too far) ? I will need to add additional studs (i think the more appropriate for the time period) or build up an enclosed inner hull wall. What is your thoughts ? please comment.

 

 

Cut out the forecastle gun ports. Adding the hull trim aligned with the forecastle top deck.

 

A closer shot of the forecastle.

 

Forecastle rare view with the two stories studs test fitted.

 

The top forward trim piece on the forecastle installed and excess overhangs trimmed off.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by ships88
Added narration & picture.

[ships88]

Pre-occupied w the Ukrainian crisis (unbelievable what Putin is doing and the bravery of the Ukrainian people). Hopefully Ukrainian will emerge victorious at the end.

Back to the build…  

 
Cut off the the kit’s mid-ship bulwark piece (way too large and wider than the trim cap).

 

Installed more to scale replacement hull studs. Using a scrap wood piece as the spacer template.

 

Overview w both side bulwark studs installed.

 

Dry fitting the kit supplied mid hull trim piece (need to to be clean up more later on).

 

Both sides installed.

 

Installed the rails on the back of the forecastle.

 

Started the aft hull plankings after the mid hull trim piece was installed.

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by ships88
Edited picture

[ships88]

Decided to concentrate build efforts around the forecastle area as the remain build has dependence from this area.

There are substantial upper and lower channel knees pieces for galleon of this time period. The kit provided printed knee outline on a board. The plan calls for two knee shape (# 61-upper and 62- lower) for the foremast channel.

In reality, each knee need to be individually customized depending their location on the hull (hull shape is constantly changing

 

from this angle, it is clear that the knees are impossible to be identical as the kit plan suggested.

 

The top rail overhang will be trim off later when the other 3 side rails are installed.

 

All 3 directional axis need to be aligned when installing the channel knees.

 

One more lower knee to be created and installed.

 

 Frontal view.

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by ships88
Narration text correction

[ships88]

Have not worked on the model for almost a month due to other matters. Finally have a chance to pick up from where I left from April.

The knees on the port side are finally done (the whole task almost brought me to my knees😂😂,, very time consuming to custom fit and trim each piece).

Added entry trims to the forecastle.

Frontal view.

 

Installing forecastle side rail. Using a 2 x2 mm stake to maintain proper spacing.

 

Installing the port side forecastle railing stake. Both railing stakes are rough shaped as tolerances are needed for the railing (curve and tiling inward). Once all the railings are installed, the two stakes will be sharped into the specified dimensions. 

Edited May 22, 2022 by ships88

[Baker]

nicely done 👍

[ships88]

Thanks Baker for you kind words.

 

Got off work early today and I was able to finish the forecastle railings. 
 

Wishing all a happy Memorial weekend !! Cheers 🍺🍺.

The side rails are installed.

A paper template copied from the plan is used to mark the excessive materials to be removed from the side post. This need to complete before installing the front. Otherwise it will be more difficult due to lack of access.

 

Below are couple of pictures of the finished railing from different angles. Enjoy !!

Installing the kit provided printed rail caps next should complete the forecastle structure….

Edited May 27, 2022 by ships88

[LCdr Dave]

Ships88, I will be following your build. I also just got a Billings Boat model - the Mayflower - and I will hopefully learn from you as I navigate the dearth of instructions. Your build is looking fantastic. 

LCdr Dave

[ships88]

Thanks LCdr David for your kind words. I liked the Billing boats’ Mayflower model( it has a very classic hull profile) and will be look forward to see your build log.

 

After reviewing the construction drawing, it became obvious the main deck hatch need to be completed before aft hull planking can resume (due to the horizontal trim (2 x3 mm stock running from the end of forecastle all the way to the hull stern. This is the upper support beam for installing the shields over the mid ship area). Once this trim piece is installed, any work in the main deck will be more difficult afterward.

 

I don’t  have the Billingboats’ fitting set for this kit. But based on what i can find  online, there isn’t much included - plastic hatch covers, turned wooden  crow nest,  plastic dead eyes and blocks,,,etc).

I decided to build the hatch grill from scratch using one of my favorite and cheapest wood - wooden coffee stirrers.

it took awhile to construct the grill from the coffee stirrers

(Material costs next to nothing), but it looks better than the Billingboats’ one piece flat plastic grill. What do you think ?

 

The mid ship hatch area is quite large. I decided to divide the area into two sections; a main hatch and a smaller forward hatch. Spare walnut stakes (2 x2 mm) from previous project were used to frame out the hatch framing.

 

The forward grill is constructed. Keep in mind most of those deck grills are removable in real life and should have an all around framing surrounding it (a lot of the build i seem omits this - frameless).

 

Both grill hatches installed.

 

.

Edited July 9, 2022 by ships88

[Baker]

6 hours ago, ships88 said:

What do you think

Indeed.

Much better 👍

[ships88]

Thanks Baker for your confirmation.

 

Updated 6/7/2922.

Installing the upper rail for the shields to lay against. This rail would also serve as the drapes support for the anti-boarding net (back then, naval engagement is about get close to the enemy’s ship and board the ship to fight it out & take the ship as the prize. Unlike later on, to sink the enemy ship as far away as possible with canon fires).

This rail  runs all the way to the stern (this why the components on the main deck need to installed beforehand. Access will be harder)

using one of shield to check for rail spacing.

The vertical rail supports installations turned out to be a nightmare (as they tend to pull on the upper rail as the glue dries. This distorted the rail to linear instead of the original curve parallel to the hull). I ended up gluing the vertical supports to the mid ship deck rail. After they are firmly dried, then glue the top rail one at a time until each is solidly dried first. That did the trick.

Since this is a single plank model. The rail (a horizontal light wood streak running in parallel against the darker hull bulwark) will be visible. A portion of rail that would visible is craved out(see right side arrow) and replaced w the same hull wooden strip (mahogany).

The hull bulwark looked as it should after the craved out replacement   (no light color rail strip visible).

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by ships88
Adding pictures & narration

[ships88]

 

Billingboats’ older kit lacks detail depths (printed flat outline for details). Adding scrap wood strips to build out the door frame, door and side planking.

New door hingers & handle were added (the printed image was covered by the door planks). They were cut out using heavy black construction paper and glued in place.

Glued into placed. The horizontal planking will be added as the hull planking is being installed (to ensure there wouldn’t be gaps between the two).

 

Three overview pictures of the model as build to date:

Will update when more progresses are made. Stay tuned…

[Prowler901]

Nice work on adding depth to the flat printed details.  That's a great addition to the model.

 

Todd

[ships88]

The stern half of the upper hull went up quickly after installing the poop deck & the stern cabinet front & back piece.

The fast pace was possible because the area is less curvaceous. 

Bow view toward the poop deck.

With most of the quarter deck hull planked, the familiar high hull silhouette of the galleon is now apparent.

Hull curvature carried through from the bow to stern can be clearly appreciated from this angle. Ps. The main deck hand rail (slightly lighter color) will likely to be cut back flush to the hull and a  new trim piece made out of the same wood used for other hull trim will be fitted in its place.  The wood color difference is just too much for me to ignore.

A paper template traced out from construction drawing is used to gauge how much of the quarter deck hull need to be trimmed off.

 

stay tuned…

[ships88]

The curve part of the stern was planked in. Due to the extreme curvature and trying to keep the plank as the same size as others presented a challenge.

The solution was to make number of parallel cuts (1/2 the plank thickness) from the back side of the plank strip. Those cuts allows the plank to be spread out into the curvature as needed.

The main mast channel was installed according to the drawing.

Top view of the installed main mast channel.

The quarter deck hull edge was cap off with a 2x7 mm end piece. A notch was cut into the strip to accommodate for the upper shield rail.

Quarter deck hull edge piece installed.

Rough cut outs for the lower knees were attached to the main master channel. It was pointless trying to cut accordingly to the printed outline from the component board (which are identically inform), as the hull shape is constantly changing and unique. The rough cut out just need to be larger and longer than what the final knee shape needs to be. 

The lower knees were shaped individually to the final dimension.

A side view of the main mast channel & shaped lower knees.

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by ships88
Word correction

[ships88]

Starboard side main channel upper and lower knees completed. Took awhile as each knee is individually fitted and carved to shape.

The first step is to ensure the rough knee is carved to the contour the hull’s lines.

The third upper knees has an added hull stiffener stake behind it, so it is narrower compared to the other three knees. This hull stake extends higher than the quarter deck hull for supporting the upper railings (to be installed later).

Installing the second rough knee cut out.

Starboard side main channel knees shaped to the final dimension accordingly to the plan.

Three quarter starboard view.

Side view.

 

correction update: after the initial upload and viewing the side view picture. I realized the the second upper knee vertical was slightly misaligned. It was corrected.

 

before correction.

 

After vertical angle correction.

Edited July 9, 2022 by ships88
Error correction

[ships88]

Narration text to be added later

 

[ships88]

Added channels, rails & rail caps.

The third & fourth channels installed ( this is a four masts galleon).

Fitting the rail toward the stern.

Adding the forecastle railing cap.

excessive cap piece will be trimmed off after the glue dried.

All hull rails installed. Rail cap for the quarter & poop deck still need to installed.

 

The kit provided a single sheet for the stern gallery window. Decided to plank this section for better visual.

Making the stern ladder from coffee stirrers.

Completed ladder. Took about an hour to cut, trim and glue together.

Overviews of the model after applying 2 coats of matt water based polyethylene.

The main hull is almost completed at this point with only 4 rails to be added to the hull bulwark.

 

I can’t seem to be able remove the below duplicate pictures no matter what,,,, oh well.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by ships88
Duplicate pictures removal

[Baker]

Great work 👍

[robdurant]

When you add pictures to your post, so they show in the attachments box just below the text, but then you don't insert them into the text, they are automatically added at the end of the post instead... you can remove then if you want by editing the post, hovering over that attachment in the box under the post text and clicking the black x on the top right corner of the attachment you wish to remove.

 

You've done a beautiful job with this model. The varnish has brought out the wood really nicely. Looking forward to seeing all 4 masts stepped... she'll be even more impressive.

[harlequin]

never done a billings boat kit but this looks great....

[ships88]

On 10/2/2022 at 3:27 AM, robdurant said:

When you add pictures to your post, so they show in the attachments box just below the text, but then you don't insert them into the text, they are automatically added at the end of the post instead... you can remove then if you want by editing the post, hovering over that attachment in the box under the post text and clicking the black x on the top right corner of the attachment you wish to remove.

Thank you for the tip. Greatly appreciated!! Learned something new. 
 

Rounded kit provided 4x4 mm square stock into the round rod and niched the indentations according to the drawing.

Of the few available built of this kit, lion figure head or other ornament was install on the head. The Spanish galleon of this time are basic utility vessel without elaborating decorations.

 

I can’t find specific about those two head rods (please add, if you have info about them). I believe they are used like stag-horns to tie the bow of the ship to the dock.

 

can’t help myself to do a bit of side by side comparison of my Mamoli roter lowe (un varnished, around the same built stage, 1/64): enjoy.😊😊

Roter has painted decorations and gallery balcony. Isabella (this the arbitrary name Billingboat give for this Spanish galleon) is approximately 50-75 years older than Roter (based on the masts configuration)

Mamoli’s models are double planked kits. Although the two model are similar in size, roter weight about 3x as heavy (8-10 lbs)

There are also common feel about the two ships. Roter has a curve head while Isabella has a straight and longer portional head to it’s hull length

Roter’s fore mast is located within the forecastle while Isabella (this the arbitrary name Billingboat give for this ship) fore mast is in front of the forecastle. Isabella has 4 masts vs Roter’s 3 masts.

[Baker]

13 hours ago, ships88 said:

I can’t find specific about those two head rods (please add, if you have info about them). I believe they are used like stag-horns to tie the bow of the ship to the dock.

I think it's just decoration where some of the beams meet.

This can sometimes be found on early galleons.

[ships88]

Stern windows & rudder installations 

 

The kit provided stern framing & windows on printed plywood sheet. I decided not to use them. Scratch built the window frame and fit the stern frame individually.

 

Stern frame and windows installed.

 

The single piece plywood rudder was covered w thinned down hull planking strips to match the hull and shows the 4 pieces of wood stock that makes up the rudder.

I obtained the kit from Ebay years ago without the fittings. Making the rudder braces from scrap brass photo-etch left over from my other model kits. Using an applicator wooden shift rounded down to the correct diameter to form the eye.

The partly formed bracket is then placed over the rudder then blend into shape. The same process is repeated for the stern post brackets. 

The cotton applicator’s wooden shaft is trimmed to make the three rudder pins. They will be painted black later.

The 4 pin rails on the quarter deck and the walk way between the forecastle & quarter deck installed.

Side view w rudder installed.

View from The stern.

[Flambeaux]

Lovely work--it's great to see a Billings Boats kit underway. I had the Santa Maria kit but barely started the display base before selling it. Those instructions were interesting in translation, to say the least. I preferred the Galleon to the Santa Maria but just couldn't come up with the money back in 1989. I think in Willem zu Pferde's book it's called the Sant' Yago. And your model of the Roter Lowe is fantastic, too!
Lyle

[ships88]

Getting back to the build after a long break. I paused because I didn’t have the fitting (belaying pins, dead eyes,, etc) and don’t love what is available on the market either (out of scale, incompatible with galleon of the time and too expensive). 

 

Figure to tackle the belaying pin first. Decided to make 10 mm pin with =~ 1mm diameter (the plan’s belaying pin holder opening is 1 mm). It fits the convention standard.

toothpicks turns out to be a great material option. It comes in a 500 per box for $1.25 at Dollar tree store. The toothpick’s wood characteristics, shape and size is ideal for this purpose.

A Belaying pin made from toothpick (took about 5 minutes total)

A size comparison to the Occre fitting set’s belaying pins for the Golden Hind (1/85 scale)

Test fitting couple of the handmade pins onto the rack. Looks like good fit and scaled well.

Test fitting pins that were stained darker (instant coffee works great) to better shows contrast w the rail color.

This galleon requires a ton of  belaying pins. Time to make more,,,,

 

PS. If there are interests to seeing the pin creation process, let me know and i will post the step by step illustrations.

Edited May 6, 2023 by ships88
Narration stat error correction