Apostol Felipe by Slowhand - OcCre - 1:60 - Spanish Galleon

[Slowhand]

I love a Spanish Galleon and have been intending to build this kit for a while. I saw a build log by Costeo a while ago and it inspired me to build the ship. I don’t intend to modify it as much as he did. Two photos from his build below and a link to his build log too. Such a shame it was never completed.

 

Edited August 19 by Slowhand
Link added

[SiriusVoyager]

Looks like a cool build. I look forward to seeing it!

[Louie da fly]

Looks like a very good project. I'll pull up a chair and watch progress, if I may.

 

Steven

Edited August 14 by Louie da fly

[Slowhand]

Nice to see I have two followers, plenty of seats left in the theatre. Still have the same night watchman just a bit larger and slower. She doesn’t like popcorn.

Edited August 15 by Slowhand
Mor info

[Slowhand]

A typical OcCre kit,  with nice materials, sharp cuts and the sails especially, much better since my last build. The false keel,bulk-heads and deck all fitted together nicely, tight on a dry build but with a bit of easing made a nice frame. 

 

Lots of metal fittings  I hope to replace, as many as possible but we’ll see.

Edited August 15 by Slowhand
Typos corrected

[Slowhand]

The fit with the false keel, bulkheads and decks was so snug, I didn’t need to build a slipway, just glued 4 blocks of wood on a plywood base to hold build upright. As for my San Martin of a few years ago added blocks between bulkheads to fit false cannons to poke through gun ports.

 

LED lights added to stern areas to twinkle and shine in gloomy interior.

 

OcCre always suggest planking decks before fitting. I decided not to as wanted a deck Color sympathetic to the hull so will plank hull and see how it looks. Definitely not using veneer sapelli planking for the hull.

Edited August 18 by Slowhand
Correct auto type error

[Slowhand]

The plywood hull sides went on very nicely then started first layer of planking 2x 5mm of lime, following instructions from OcCre, not quite realistic but give a nice shape. 

[Louie da fly]

Nice smooth lines. Is that going to be a double-planked hull?

 

Steven

[Slowhand]

Steven,

 

It certainly will be, not sure what wood to use yet.

 

steve

[MikkiC]

Can't wait to see this one being built. I'm glad the initial setup was fairly painless. I built Occre's Revenge. The setup was not so painless. : )

 

I'm interested in knowing what you think of Occre's directions/plans. For the Revenge, they were pretty good overall. In truth, I like Mamoli's plans. Artesania Latina's leave quite a bit to be desired. 

 

This ship is on my possible to-do-in-the-future list, so I'll be watching along with the others.

[Slowhand]

I find all OcCre’s plans and descriptions very similar and building the hull follows the same steps and I ignore them as I’ve build enough models now. When I built the San Martin I found instructions to be very deficient for the rigging and I expect this one will be the same. That where this site comes into its own. 
 

But rigging is a long time ahead and I am not called Slowhand for nothing!

 

Edited August 25 by Slowhand
Missing words

[Slowhand]

Nearly finished first planking layer typically manage 2- 3 a planks day, slow, but waiting for glue to set slows down the process, not much sanding of bulkheads needed on this build

Edited August 30 by Slowhand
Commas

[Louie da fly]

You're doing very well, mate. And speed is not an issue in this hobby. Particularly not at the expense of care and precision, which is much more important, and is what you are achieving. Beautiful work.

 

Steven

[Slowhand]

Finished the first planking layer today, not too much filler needed. Looking at Costeo’s build I think it must be walnut for the second layer so probably what I’ll go with. Turned out to be quite straightforward.

[Slowhand]

Started second planking layer with African Walnut, didn’t realise it wasn’t actually proper black walnut but more akin to a mahogany. Anyway, it has quite fine grain and well,  I think that’s what Costeo must have used in his build.

 

Better Pictures added now. The camera can be unforgiving

 

 

Edited October 1 by Slowhand
Poor images

[Slowhand]

Well more second planking, back from holiday so slow progress.

[MikkiC]

And she sure looks quite good. This is a very nice build! Thank you for sharing it.

[Louie da fly]

You're doing a good job on this. Nice clean, crisp work with the planking.

 

Steven

[Slowhand]

Finished one side above the wales. Will have to ask on this site about bending the wales as I don’t think my current method with the Admiral’s hair tongs will do the business but that’s later. Afterwards changed image to one showing better scarf joint only left hand length of wales is fixed. Most likely remove brass pins later.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:15 PM by Slowhand
Correction replace images

[MikkiC]

She is looking really good.

 

The wales on my current build are 2mm x 5mm walnut. I bent them pretty easily by soaking in warm water for about 20 minutes then formed them around a jar lid. I used clothespins for clamps. I just let them dry overnight. The bend may be too tight, but planks bend out significantly easier than in. I'm sure others have tricks, so I'll be watching to see what others do. 

[Louie da fly]

I soak mine then bend them around the barrel of a cheap electric soldering iron held in a vise.

 

Steven

[Slowhand]

On 11/21/2024 at 10:42 PM, MikkiC said:

She is looking really good.

 

The wales on my current build are 2mm x 5mm walnut. I bent them pretty easily by soaking in warm water for about 20 minutes then formed them around a jar lid. I used clothespins for clamps. I just let them dry overnight. The bend may be too tight, but planks bend out significantly easier than in. I'm sure others have tricks, so I'll be watching to see what others do. 

Thanks Mikki,  the wales on mine are 2 x 5 mm walnut too, just been to check. I thought they might be 3 x 5 mm. Previously I have soaked and bent with heat but quite a few people on the site say heat is the only thing to have an effect which why have only used heat tongs so far on this build.

 

On 11/22/2024 at 6:39 AM, Louie da fly said:

I soak mine then bend them around the barrel of a cheap electric soldering iron held in a vise.

 

Steven

Thanks for the advice will see how I get on.
 

With winter here the white glue is taking an age to set. All the chemistry I studied is of some use for every 10 degree C temp drop, rate of reaction at least halves (Arrenhuis equation).