Amerigo Vespucci by Bill97 - OcCre - 1/100

[Bill97]

I am about to open and start my next project the OcCre 1-100 Amerigo Vespucci. You are invited to come along for my journey. I just completed the OcCre Endeavour which was my first wooden ship and was very impressed with the quality of the OcCre kit. I have no doubt the Amerigo Vespucci will only enhance my view of OcCre models. 

[Bill97]

An so it begins. The unboxing, sorting, and identifying the pieces. I always enjoy this part. Looking at all this and imagining what it will all turn in to over the unpredictable amount of time I will spend with it in my ship yard. Always feels like Christmas morning. 

[Bill97]

And so it begins. Built the ship skeleton. The deck sections are just in place to hold everything square. Once the glue dries the deck sections will come back off for a good while. During the weeks, and maybe months,  ahead the deck sections will get planking then be reinstalled. Some of the ship structures that will be on the deck will need to be built as well to determine their deck placement. Similar to the real AV I plan to outline deck structures with a different planking pattern around them.  

[Bill97]

Today I am getting into dry fitting the main deck structures so I can begin the layout of my future deck planking. My plan is to go way out of the box and do a herringbone deck pattern with the included deck planking material but also outline the structures with walnut planking left over from my Endeavour. Will dry fit a bit of the planking to see how it looks before I proceed with the scheme. 

[Bill97]

Call me crazy but I think this is going to look pretty cool. I have started planking the main deck. I used walnut strips to border the sides and structures and run a band down the center of the deck which will be furthered copied on the fore and aft decks. The area inside the borders is being filled with the lighter planking supplied with the kit. I am laying this planking in a herringbone pattern.  Nothing at all authentic about this. Just something I want to do to add additional visual interest.

[Bill97]

Here in the very early stages of my AV build I want to take a brief pause here to give credit where credit is due. As I progress through my build and post my updates there are a number of bashes to the kit I have planned. The vast majority of these bashes are inspired by my following another AV build here on MSW. It is often said imitation is a great form of flattery. DanielD is building this same ship and has his log here on MSW. He is miles ahead of me on his build. He is doing an amazing job of lighting his AV and an incredible source of information and advice on my future attempt to do the same. So as I move along if I copy something DanielD did I intend to say I got the idea from him. No plagiarism of his work. Thanks so much Daniel. 

[Bill97]

Starboard side lower deck herringbone deck planking complete. 5m x 15m planks. Eyes crossing but very enjoyable. 

[Bill97]

Daniel I continue to read through your build log (several times in fact) to pick up tips and pointers from your experiences before I get to those points in my build. Correct me if I am wrong but it seems I definitely need to determine my wiring plan in advance of adding structural elements to the ship. I need to know where I want to add lights, inside and outside of structures, and which circuit I plan for those lights. It appears that it could be difficult to add a run of a circuit into an area that was not previously set up for a light(s).  I notice in some of your photos you have a rolls of wire that will eventually run and connect to a circuit. I am thinking I should draw up my ship plan showing each circuit before I even begin running wires and LED’s instead of deciding I want to put an LED somewhere and try to find a connection point to a circuit already run. Your thoughts?  
 

P.S.  I am going to post this comment over on your build as well. I would not expect you would be looking here at mine that often. 

Edited April 10 by Bill97

[Bill97]

Just a little bit of an update. Continue the planking of the deck sections. Finished the main deck. Also assembled and put primer on the white structures that will later will be put in place on the main deck. The back panel wall I divided it to produce the inset where the doors will be installed as it is on the actual AV. Following Daniel’s lead and the online virtual tour I filed grooves on top of the structures where LED lights will hang from the top of the walls. Also started soldering resistors to some of the LED lights I will use in this build. 

[Bill97]

Did some work designing and building my lighting board. The board will for now set to the side of the ship while the ship is under construction. The wiring will run from it to the ship. Some time next year, or who knows when, as I get close to the need to design the base I will incorporate it. My lighting board includes 4 circuits with each having an on/off switch and each having a voltage regulator so that I can adjust the voltage for the LED’s on that particular circuit. I will power the board with a 12v power brick that I can plug in. The four circuits I intend to run are:

 

1) Deck Lighting

2) One set of cabin lights

3) Second set of cabin lights (will be able to turn on one set of lights or the other, or both)

4) The famous AV night lighting and maybe the marker lights included on this circuit. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Bill97