drobinson02199 Posted September 27 #1 Posted September 27 Starting this model from Mantual's Panart line. This is the larger and more complex of the two versions of the Amerigo Vespucci that Mantua offers. This model comes with a really comprehensive set of manuals (8 books), and they are well-illustated. There are also charts, as well as the usual large wall diagrams. Lots and lots of laser cut wood parts, some very nice loose metal parts, and of course strip wood. One thing to watch out for: there is one very fragile laser cut piece that is just put in with the other heavy ones, and the shifting motion of shipping fragments it somewhat. I have taped it back together and the parts that have been split I'll have to reconstruct when mounting. When you unpack this, if there are parts missing look carefully in the box. Regards, David ccoyle 1 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted September 29 Author #2 Posted September 29 Here's the hull structure. The laser-cut wood parts are well-made and fit together well. Regards, David David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted October 3 Author #3 Posted October 3 Framing completed on bow and stern; decks installed. Ready now for first planking. Regards, David David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted October 7 Author #4 Posted October 7 Started on first planking. I think the curve of the bow is nice. Regards, David SiriusVoyager and ccoyle 2 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
Jimbo1963 Posted October 10 #5 Posted October 10 Great start - a prodigious kit, by my estimation around 4 feet long? Those drawings are nice resources - I have the Occre kit and they’d come in handy! jimbo
drobinson02199 Posted October 10 Author #6 Posted October 10 Jimbo: Thanks. The hull itself is 38 inches, and according to the kit listing the ship with bowsprit is 49 inches -- so yes, just over 4 feet long. I'll need to find a space in my office for it. Regards, David Jimbo1963 1 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
LoydB Posted October 11 #7 Posted October 11 This is one of those kits that I absolutely love, and absolutely do not have the space for it. Following along to live vicariously through you. Current Builds Bandai MG Zaku Warrior Live Concert Version Model Shipways Lowell Grand Banks Dory
drobinson02199 Posted October 11 Author #8 Posted October 11 Welcome aboard! Regards, David David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted October 13 Author #9 Posted October 13 This is kind of a first for me in planking. I've tapered lots before, but I felt like I was running out of tapering and curving room, so I carefully dropped in this diagonal plank, which I can now work from both sides. Think of it as multiple massive stealers going in now. Hopefully this will work out OK. Regards, David SiriusVoyager and king derelict 2 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted October 16 Author #10 Posted October 16 Most of the first planking is done. What remains is completing the sides up to the decks, and finishing off the bow and stern. Then filling and sanding. Regards, David SiriusVoyager, LoydB and king derelict 3 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted Saturday at 02:23 PM Author #11 Posted Saturday at 02:23 PM Stern area planked, not yet sanded down. Regards, David king derelict 1 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted Sunday at 10:50 PM Author #12 Posted Sunday at 10:50 PM Bow area planked; not yet sanded down. The instructions say to plank the small bow foredeck now, so I've done that. Mantua/Panart uses an interesting approach for deck planking (and other wood items in the kit). They give you two small bags of water-soluble walnut stain, with instructions on how to mix. So I bought some small lidded jars from Amazon and mixed my first batch. The walnut strips, unstained, are very light brown -- and you can see that when stained they make a nice looking dark-colored deck, which should look even nicer when varnished. You have to be careful to pick the right strips. There is a bundle of the walnut, and another bundle that's darker but turns out to be mahogany. I searched through the parts lists to figure that out and make sure I used the right strips. Since I had the stain and a brush out, I stained about 100 strips so that I can start the deck planking when the time comes. Regards, David king derelict and SiriusVoyager 2 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted Monday at 03:36 PM Author #13 Posted Monday at 03:36 PM First planking now filled and sanded. I have blue tape on the bow deck to protect it from the next step, which is brushing diluted alphaic glue (Titebond) onto the sanded hull. I haven't done that before, so I'm interested to see how it works as a sealing and smoothing approach. Regards, David LoydB, king derelict and SiriusVoyager 3 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted Tuesday at 11:58 AM Author #14 Posted Tuesday at 11:58 AM I varnished the little deck section at the bow to protect it. The stained wood comes up nicely under varnish, so the main decks are going to look really nice. The two shades aren't as pronounced to the naked eye. The alphaic glue seemed to work fine as a first planking sealer/smoother, but I think I'll use varnish on the second planking -- unless I decide to go forward with the Modelspan paper and nictric dope (called for in the instructions), which at the moment I'm disinclined to do. Regards, David SiriusVoyager 1 David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
drobinson02199 Posted 2 hours ago Author #15 Posted 2 hours ago I've started the second planking, and I'm pleased with the way it's laying. Very smooth, and the planks are very flexible. The kit supplies Modelspan tissue for a final step on the hull, and I've been mulling over whether I should try it. Having researched it, I have a pretty good idea of what's involved in using it, and I'm not totally comfortable. If the second planking remains as smooth as I go around the curve of the hull and taper, I'll probably stay with multiple coats of varnish and sanding. Regards, David David Robinson Boston, MA area Completed: Constructo J.S. Elcano, Artesinia Latina Sanson, Dumas Mt. Washington, Bluejacket Nantucket, Amati Revenge, Artesania Latina King of the Mississippi, Amati Grand Banks Heritage 46, Amati HMS Fly, Amati Titanic, Dumas Chris Craft Commuter, Mantua Cutty Sark, Mantua Bruma, Kolderstok Batavia, Vanguard Models HM Cutter Alert, Caldercraft HMS Victory, Dumas USCG Fast Response Cutter, Amati Bismarck, Occre Jupiter Locomotive, Caldercraft Brannaren Currently Building: Mantua/Panart Amerigo Verspucci
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