Santa Maria by mkmossop - FINISHED - Amati

[mkmossop]

This is my first build ever, which I've been working on for a looooooooooooooong time now. I've had so much trouble building this thing, and I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I think its turned out pretty well so far.

 

I've finished basically everything now other than putting the sails up. I lost a bunch of pictures I had of the progress of the build, so I don't have nearly as many pictures as most people here. Since my older pics aren't great I'm only posting pics of where the build is at now. I won't finish any more for a while since I'm going away to school tomorrow. Hopefully I can get something done around xmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Sailor]

Your Santa Maria looks very nice and you can be proud of what you did.

[cdogg]

Looks great! Nice first build, you planning the other two ships to make a set?

[ZyXuz]

wow, she's a beauty!

you should proud of her

[mkmossop]

Thanks for the comments .

 

Not planning on the Nina or Pinta right now. I still have the sails to do on this one which will take me a while I'm sure.

How long in general does it take someone to finish one of these? I've been working on this one for years... really, lol. Although I did take a long time off building. If I were building consistently and spending a few hours every night though I'm sure this would still have taken me a couple years to finish.

[jastrząb]

Very nice! I'm starting my schoo,l too (from the other side f the desk, though). Good luck!!!

 

Paweł

[mkmossop]

I'm having a bit of a problem I hope someone can help me with. I'm doing some of the rigging and can't get the pieces circled in red (no idea what they're called) to sit straight (parallel to the ones on the bottom). The rope pulls them crooked so they face forwards. I guess it's no big deal, but I'd like them parallel to the others if possible. The tighter the rope, the more crooked they are. I don't like the look of them being super loose though.

[jastrząb]

they are dead eyes. you can put a drop of CA glue and twist them to the demanded position. But try at first in a spare thread to practice before you start dealing with your model. Write about the effects!

[mkmossop]

Sorry where exactly am I putting the glue?

[jastrząb]

onto the rope slightly above the dead eye. And then twist it. But try on the separate rope first please. You can tie something and experiment with the glue.

[marktime]

The twist probably comes from your method of threading the dead-eyes. Try another threading sequence so that when you pull on the top dead eye the threads stay flat. Otherwise, nice build.

[Moonbug]

Nice clean version of the SM. It's always interesting to see the variations different kits bring of a ship that has such little historical documentation.

 

Marktime is dead on (no pun intended) with the likely cause of your twist. Also check how they're tied to the mast on the top end. A twist up there can translate to a twist at the bottom.

 

- Bug

[mkmossop]

I have no idea why, but when I did the other side none of the deadeyes twisted... and I used the exact same method. I may try putting a piece of wood across the ropes above the deadeyes and tying them on to untwist... that should work.

 

Also what type of knot or tying sequence do I use to attach the horizontal pieces of rope? (as shown in the pic attached on another model)

 

I tried to do what was shown there but it didn't quite look right.

 

Also is the rope between my deadeyes waayyyyy too long? Everywhere else I look (for example in the pic below of another model) it's way shorter. On the box cover of my model it's the same length I have though. I think it looks better this way.

 

Edited January 5, 2014 by mkmossop

[mkmossop]

Nice clean version of the SM. It's always interesting to see the variations different kits bring of a ship that has such little historical documentation.

 

- Bug

 

Yes I notice that every model of this ship (even from the same kit) look very different. I tried to make mine look as similar to the one on the box cover as possible because I think it looks awesome. It looks different (and much better) than how it looks in the instruction booklet.

Anyway here are a few updated pics. I need to take some better quality, more detailed pics.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2014 by mkmossop

[mkmossop]

Got a bunch more rigging done this summer... hopefully this post isn't too picture heavy.

 

I decided I'm gonna redo the flags because I rushed to get them up and the edges are frayed from when I cut them.

 

Pictures are bigger if you click them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Sailor]

Very nice rigging. She's a real beauty.

[mkmossop]

Thanks .

[mkmossop]

So after struggling with the ratlines for a while I finally got them done. I shortened the distance between the deadeyes a lot, and used very thin thread for the ratlines, which helped me keep the shrouds straight. I know the ratlines are a bit far apart, but I like the look better like that and that's also how the model is on the box cover.

 

 

I've also been doing a lot of work on the sails. This is a picture of the original sails that came with the kit, where I painted the emblem on.

 

 

The problem was I couldn't sew over the stitch lines while keeping them totally covered up... the brown stitch lines would show beneath the thread which I thought looked really bad. After trying a bunch of times to get it right I decided to order some new sail material and trace all the stuff by hand with an erasable marker.

 

 

 

 

I was planning on taking them to a professional tailor to get the stitches on perfectly straight, but I was able to do a pretty good job myself I think. Because the material is so thin they're a bit crinkled because the fabric gets pulled up while sewing. I'm gonna pull the stitching and iron them to get some of the crinkles out. Also the blue erasable marker is still there, so I need to wash that off. I'll post the finished product once I wash and straighten them and sew the edges down.

 

 

 

 

 

[mkmossop]

I got rid of the blue lines and ironed out the creases and folded down the edges.

 

Looking for some opinions... should I sew down the folded edges, or just glue them down? I think if I sew them it may look too "busy", and there may be loose thread ends showing. If I glue them it'd look pretty much like it does now, but cleaner. Also I need to glue and sew ropes around the edges... anyone have any tips for that?

 

[druxey]

Don't try to sew at that small scale, MK. Take a look at paint on SilkSpan and glued bolt ropes, etc. in the photos and see what you think.

[mkmossop]

Hey thanks for your help .

 

So I notice that in your picture that although the yard is tapered, the sail is tight against the yard the whole way. I was thinking that you would want to have the sail horizontal the whole way across, and since my yards are tapered, the sail wouldn't be totally flush. Does that make sense?

 

Also here's a picture of my main yard (couldn't take a good one without other stuff in the way). It's two yards stuck together, so as you can see the right side is much higher than the left. Here I would assume there would have to be space between the sail and the yard or else it would look funny. Would it be correct to attach the sail as the red line is drawn?

 

[mkmossop]

Here's another example. I took this from shipcarpenter's build log on this forum of the same ship. I see he's pulled the sail tight to the yard the whole way. Is this how it should look?

 

Thanks!

 

[Moonbug]

I would go ahead and keep it tight across the yard. It's functionality being attached to the yard would take precedence over the visual symmetry of it.

 

-Bug

[mkmossop]

Ok cool thanks for your input.

[Oliver24]

Hi to all,

 

I have bought the Amati Santa Maria myself, however I am struggling with the hull planking. The hull has a round shape which needs a lot of tapering, however even so it seems that I can not plank it with simple horizontal planking. My question would be how did you planked it?? Could you give me some detailed opinions? Thank you very much and happy building!

[Louie da fly]

Hi mkmossop,

 

I just came across this log after a reorganisation in the MSW site. That's a very cool Santa Maria. Did you ever finish it? If so, any chance of some photos?

[mkmossop]

On 6/23/2020 at 7:41 AM, Louie da fly said:

Hi mkmossop,

 

I just came across this log after a reorganisation in the MSW site. That's a very cool Santa Maria. Did you ever finish it? If so, any chance of some photos?

Hey my friend... yes I did finish it finally.

 

I completely forgot that I never finished this build log. I just came on this site to ask some questions about my new model build and saw your question now 😅.

 

I will post some detailed pictures of it in a few days. For now here's just a couple as I just put it up in my new apartment behind my couch.

 

I'm very happy with how it came out considering it's my first one. I spent many many hours on it figuring it all out.

[Knocklouder]

That is so cool,  Looks really good ,I know I copied more than just your life boat for mine, well done,

Edited August 17, 2022 by Knocklouder
typos of course

[Baker]

Congrats 👍

a very nice  model 

[mkmossop]

Ok here are a few more... I tried to get a bunch of good angles.