Amerigo Vespucci by DanielD - OcCre - 1:100

[DanielD]

Good evening mates and for all you U.S. modelers, I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. This weekends update involves completing the stern deck (for now) with its brass inlay and micro (0.4mm) grid.

 

[Quimp Slattery]

You score ten out of ten for attention to details. I love what you did with the rivets. 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, this week I have been working on installing the captains/stern deck with its supports. Just applied the primer with one more enhancement before final paint.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening all, started the hull “ladders” (not sure what they are called). These are small round iron rungs installed on the hull as foot and hand holds to traverse from the deck over the side of the hull to a likely important area. In my first attempt, this ladder runs from the deck to the anchor hawse. These will be painted to match the area they are installed.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, this weekend was all about paint! Still have two colors to add, but need a day or two between layers to allow paint to cure.

I have a couple spots to touch up, but overall very happy about the white stripes!

[clearway]

well done Daniel- i remember the fun i had when applying the yellow/ black stripes to my billings HMS Victory.

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Good morning mates, here is the latest update on the hull painting…only one more color to add.

Question for you experienced modelers. Once I finish the hull painting, should I clear coat it with something to better protect the paint? If so, what kind of product have you used?

Edited September 12, 2023 by DanielD

[Mike Dowling]

I use clear satin varnish.

[clearway]

clear matt acrylic varnish here

[Bob Cleek]

I, apparently contrary to conventional wisdom, do not see the need to add any clear coating over a finish paint job unless one needs to flatten a finish that is too glossy. What's the purpose of "protecting the paint?" It can take care of itself. I don't know where this fad of covering everything with clear varnish comes from. All it does is thicken the paint coating and thus obliterate surface detail. Obviously, other's mileage differs.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[DanielD]

34 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

I, apparently contrary to conventional wisdom, do not see the need to add any clear coating over a finish paint job unless one needs to flatten a finish that is too glossy. What's the purpose of "protecting the paint?" It can take care of itself. I don't know where this fad of covering everything with clear varnish comes from. All it does is thicken the paint coating and thus obliterate surface detail. Obviously, other's mileage differs.

Thanks for your comment. I’ve not used clear top coat to this point, and I can see some problems with it if I have to retouch something it will not match. I’ve put a lot of hard work into the detail and I don’t want to hide it, but at the same time, acrylic paint doesn’t like to stick well to brass, even after roughing the surface and proper primer. So I thought maybe, just maybe an acrylic finish would help. But I’m no paint expert.

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, DanielD said:

I’ve put a lot of hard work into the detail and I don’t want to hide it, but at the same time, acrylic paint doesn’t like to stick well to brass, even after roughing the surface and proper primer. So I thought maybe, just maybe an acrylic finish would help.

If the paint isn't going to adhere to the metal surface, it will fail between the bottom coat and the metal. Adding more paint will do little, if anything, to make the bond between the metal and the paint any better than the paint alone. Adhesion difficulties on metal surfaces is but another reason why oil-based coatings are preferred over water-based acrylics by many modelers. That said, any yellow metal which is well-cleaned before painting with acetone or a similar solvent to remove any dirt or oil from handling and primed with a suitable metal primer coating should easily meet 100+ year archival standards. 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, the final hull paint update. All major colors have been applied and I’m very happy with the clean lines separating each paint color. A few touch ups, but nothing major.

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by DanielD

[clearway]

looking great Daniel- i bet occre hate it when we start build logs on here

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Today I did not have a lot of time in the shipyard, so I took on the easy task of installing, I hope for the last time, the port and starboard marker lighting. My quest to find images of the marker lights on the real Amerigo Vespucci was a long one. I finally found an image of where i thought the markers would be, then performed some fancy image manipulation to get the marker mount to finally show up (final image below). Keep in mind that the image you see here is only a very small thumbnail of the original picture.

[DanielD]

Here is a series of posts for todays visual progress! Starting with the ships propeller. OcCree calls for the propeller to be painted black; however, the dry dock images I’ve seen of the Amerigo Vespucci indicate a brass or similar colored propeller and thus the choice for my version topped off with a video of the propeller spinning under its own power.

 

And then…I discover that I have the propeller running in reverse! There is no way to change it now as the entire ship runs on a common ground and to make the change required I would need access to the motor. Lesson learned, next time I’ll add a switch so that I can run motor forward or backwards. I guess I could possible find another propeller that is structured opposite to what I have now…hmmmm….

Edited September 15, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Next up is the main bridge, complete with interior equipment and lighting.

 

[DanielD]

Then we have another deck building with as much detail as my skill level allows.

 

[DanielD]

Last added building for today is the chart room with its interior furnishings and lighting.

 

[DanielD]

And mates, another look at the new assembly, gradually coming together.

 

 

[DanielD]

Good afternoon mates, I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Todays update is all about the rudder. I have added a couple details from the real AV along with some rivets to match the hull, and finished with a matching pint job.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Also had time today to build and install the stern marker lights. Installed 3 white and one amber per the real AV.

 

[theoracle09]

Daniel, those rivets absolutely blow my mind. I'd love to build this model some day and shall use your log heavily as inspiration, thanks for putting so much detail into it! Your work is incredible, and I especially enjoy the lights you're adding.

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, a little work on the deck today with some detail taken from the real Amerigo Vespucci.

 

[DanielD]

Good morning mates, more work going on for the deck equipment. I’ve been painting up the deck vents (not sure what they are called) but they add some nice color to the ship.

 

Interesting note, I showed the completed vents to the admiral and her first comment was “why does the one vent not have a black base like all the others?” Ummmm, well, I really don’t know. However, when you look at pictures of the actual AM deck, this one vent has a white base while all the others have a black base. Not sure why, but that’s the way it is.

 

Thanks to the Amerigo Vespucci virtual tour for the real deck image.

 

[DanielD]

Good afternoon, more deck equipment for today. I took on the task of making the brass deck “scuttles” (waterproof hatches, sometimes used to load coal). These were made from flat brass stock, cut into an approximate circle, then soldered a brass rod to the bottom center so that I could turn in my mini lathe.

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, I have spent a few days working on the forward capstan, lots of layers of paint and time between coats. Below is the before raw metal version provided by OcCre, followed by my completed version, and the last image the real one installed on the foredeck of the Amerigo Vespucci. The real version appears more straight, but I’m not sure I want to make one from scratch. Keep in mind that this entire piece of equipment is smaller than an American dime.

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, it’s been a couple weeks and very little AV progress. The admiral and I took our first ever cruise so have been out of touch. In this update, I have secured the equipment to the fore deck and am about to start working on the hatches and finish up the chart room / fly bridge building.

 

[DanielD]

Good afternoon mates, the last couple of days I attempted to make one storage bin with seat. I had to modify the OcCre plans to make more realistic, but I am fairly happy with the outcome. 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, I hope you all have had a great weekend. I’ve been a little under the weather so more time in the shipyard. This weekend I’ve been working on another storage bin with seats and a couple of cranes (see next post). For this one I had to modify the OcCre supplied parts and create one like the one on the real Amerigo Vespucci (see last image). I find that it takes hours to work on these miniature pieces, some of them about the size of an American dime.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by DanielD