Amerigo Vespucci by DanielD - OcCre - 1:100

[DanielD]

Good morning mates, it has been awhile since my last update, so...here it is. I have finally finished the aft section of the upper fore deck with all its motors, derrick, lines, and tool boxes. These parts are a huge departure from the kit and built much more like how the Amerigo Vespucci looks today. Next...moving on to the equipment of the mid deck.

 

[DanielD]

Well mates, not often I update twice in one day, but a significant part was completed today. One that I’ve been putting off as I was not sure how to manufacture them. Not sure what these are called, but on the AV they line the midship gunwale. These “toolboxes” appear to hold ropes and tools needed on the main deck and have a blue canvas/cloth cover to keep the water out and the deck looking clean. And in the case of the AV, have lighting.
 

[DanielD]

Question for the more experienced ship builder. In my previous post I manufactured a “toolbox” that is covered by a blue canvas. My question is how can I stick the blue fabric down to the frame without losing the look of it being fabric? I can’t use glue as it soaks into the fabric and alters the color. Double sticky tape would work, but it dries out over time and becomes ineffective. Is there a process or product that acts like double sticky tape but lasts, well…forever?

[clearway]

not sure Daniel- i use painted tissue paper to simulate canvas which when dry is stiff and stays put. 

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, here is a simple hatch update. Another departure from the OcCre plans, but a nice set of hatches.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates and a Happy New Year! Today’s update is the completion and permanent installation of another hatch. Only two more hatches to make on the mid ship.
 

 

Edited January 1 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Another update has to do with the wood staircase between the different decks. The first image is the metal part supplied in the OcCre kit. I have been thinking for weeks how I would make this complex staircase look like wood. This is my first attempt and I think it came out well so I will do the other three staircases the same.

 

I could have painted the steps brown, or attempted to make a paint pattern that looks like wood, but what I decided to do is laminate the metal part with very thin lime wood and then stain and varnish to look like the rest of the wood on the model.

 

[clearway]

Looks good Daniel and a happy new year to you.

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Happy New Year mates. Today I spent some time completing my first of four wood grand staircases that go between the mid deck and the fore/aft decks. I think my fingers are too big for these small parts! Size comparison is with a U.S. dime.

 

Edited January 2 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good afternoon mates, I hope you all are having a great start to 2024. This week progress has been slow but I finally have finished all four grand staircases, two from the mid deck to the fore deck and two from the mid deck to the stern deck. Finishing these features about completes the hardware for the ships mid section. Now I need to focus building the stern equipment.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, today I spent time in the shipyard working on some details I forgot. In this image reproduced the lectern that exists on the Amerigo Vespucci. The second image is an actual shot of the AV.

I think I need to make it a bit narrower, but that’s an easy thing to do. The hard part was a very small rifle, jus 6-7mm long and still make it look like a rifle.

Edited January 8 by DanielD

[ccoyle]

8 hours ago, DanielD said:

The hard part was a very small rifle

 

Pretty sure that is a flare launcher. Nice work on a very busy deck!

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, slow progress this week. I did make the lectern narrower, more like the actual AV (see above) and also working on the railing and equipment on the top of the bridge. Like I said, slow progress.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, it’s a winter wonderland here so that means more time in the shipyard. The last few days I’ve been working on the AV radar antenna farm. Totally off OcCre plans, but very much like the working Amerigo Vespucci.

 

[DanielD]

More time in the shipyard as temps outside have been below freezing and can’t go anywhere. So I have finished the antenna farm and added unplanned lighting as per the images I found of the real AV. Now on to a new project.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, I hope you all had a great weekend. I’ve been working on some detail work on the stern deck, which seems to be taking a long time! In this update I’ve added a fire house hanger, an access hatch, and some equipment covers. All these objects are from scratch as either not included in the OcCre kit or, in the case of the equipment covers, not very realistic.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, this week has been slow progress due to the small size of the stern deck equipment. Today I found myself scratch building a windlass as the ones supplied in the OcCre kit are nothing like what is onboard. I still have a little detail work to do, but the main windlass structure is complete. (The one on the left is what came with the kit)

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, it’s been a few days since my last update. I’ve been working on the stern deck equipment and just started the railing. Takes so long to do these little projects…

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, today I was able to spend a little time in the shipyard to finish the stern railing. A tedious process, but it looks great.

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had some time in the shipyard today and needed a new project so I decided it was time to build the captains deck located at the stern of the ship. Outside the OcCre plans, I built the deck with micro grid to better emulate the real AV. Along with adding the doors, I built, what in the building trade is called wainscoting, but I have no idea what this feature is called among the mariners. Basically, some vertical planks topped with a chair rail, only this version sits out in the elements.

 

[DanielD]

Oh, and one more thing, she finally gets her “Ships Name”.

 

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, I finally started the masts for my Amerigo Vespucci. Here is the progress on the mizzen mast. The real AV has metal masts and I needed to get some wire to the top of the masts for the red marker light, so another modification to the OcCre plans in that I used appropriate sized brass tube so that I could run the wire inside the tube and all but be invisible. It’s hard to see in the images, but the red marker light is working as planned!

 

 

 

Edited February 12 by DanielD

[clearway]

looking mighty impressive there Daniel- well done.

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, here is the latest from the Amerigo Vespucci shipyard. Finished the mizzen mast except for the rigging hardware. The white light on the main boom is for a lantern that I have yet to source. Currently I’m looking at a set of lanterns designed for the HMS Victory. The main requirement is that I need it to be between 10-15mm tall. Any ideas?

 

[clearway]

Caldercraft do their lanterns for the Victory kit as a spare but more on the 15mm + side

 

Keith

[DanielD]

Good day mates. Have you ever had "one of those days"? Well, I have been having "one of those weeks!" It started when I realized that I needed to drill a 1mm hole in 3 places on my mizzen mast for future rigging. As you may know, I have wires running through the middle of the masts so these holes should have been drilled before I put the wires inside. My new plan was to gently drill the missed holes. Well...I apparently nicked one of the wires on my first try and as a result the red marker light at the top of the mast no longer worked. As such, I had to dissemble the entire mast, pull out the damaged wire, DRILL THE MISSED HOLES, reinstall the wires with a new LED as I damaged the old one getting it off, remove the paint and primer as I scratched up the mast adding the holes, and sprayed a new coat of primer. This time before adding the final color, I added the strings of rivets to the lower two sections of the mast I forgot to add the first time around. Last night I sprayed three coats of the final color and set to dry over night. Tonight I hope to touch up the white and black details and re-install into the ship (hopefully for the last time) with working lights! All in all, about an 8 hour mistake.

 

What is your biggest model screw up that cost you more then a couple hours of time?

 

Updated pictures coming once I have the mast installed again.

[DanielD]

Update on my search for a lantern. Below is an image that shows a lantern on the stern of the Amerigo Vespucci. I believe this to be a decorative option that they sometimes install it when in port as I have seen many current and past images with and without the lantern. I have decided to showcase this lantern on my AV with LED illumination.  To be close to scale, I need a hollow lantern that is between 10-15mm tall that I can paint to make look like brass. I have checked into the Caldercraft lanterns for the HMS Victory which are unassembled brass except that the smallest one available is at 16-18mm. This option is about $19 plus shipping; however, finding it available in the U.S. has been difficult. A second option that I found (smallest version) fits right in at 15mm is a 3D printed set of lanterns for the HMS Victory from Shapeways $13.50 plus $8 shipping arriving in about 3 weeks.

 

Both of these options are viable. 1) Having a metal brass lantern would be wonderful, but hard for me to get, and slightly too big, and assembly may be a challenge. Option 2) 3D printed version manufactured in the U.S. without much assembly but delivery time is long as they are manufactured upon request so no stock on hand. Hmmm.... Has anyone used either of these options in their models? How have they worked out?

Edited February 21 by DanielD

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, well…I’m finally back to where I was a few days ago! Mizzen mast installed with working lights.

 

[ccoyle]

Looking more impressive with each update!

[DanielD]

Good evening mates, one good thing about making mistakes, we learn from them and the next similar project takes much less time. Here is the main mast with working lights and all ready for paint.

 

Edited February 24 by DanielD