Santa Maria by Moonbug - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Bashed

[Anja]

Welcome back Moonbug,

 

You have been missed.

But it's great to see you found your way back and that you are doing well.

 

Looking forward to your build the second time.

Thanks for taking the time to re-post your log.

 

Anja

[Moonbug]

Although most of the research I've read indicates that the Santa Maria was by all accounts a very basic vessel, many of the models being manufactured and displayed have an overwhelming amount of embellishments and accouterments common to Spanish vessels.  However, many of these details were not evident until decades or even centuries later.  I have chosen to keep this version of the Santa Maria realistic, but I am taking some small liberties that have not been well documented. For instance, I wanted to include more decorative windows on the rear of the captain's cabin that were likely present.

 

 

  

 

 

 I framed the windows with 2mm X 2mm strips cut and glued. Then I covered them with "glass" made from the plastic container that held some screws. I scored the glass carefully with an older, dull Xacto blade being careful not to pierce all the way through the glass.

 

 

I then stained and mounted the windows to the rear of the captain's cabin trying my best to match the coloring as closely as possible on the outside, while maintaining a mahogany color on the inside of the cabin, a location which would most likely have been more decorative.

 

A very tedious task that I had been putting off was the deck railings. Like the bow of the ship, the poop deck railing consists of stanchions, railings, then wooden slats.

  

 

Each stanchion needs to be cut precisely then notched, rounded and sanded. Each stanchion mounted on the sides of the poop deck are the same absent the rounded top. More stanchions are then cut and prepared for the quarterdeck railings.

 

 

Rather than just gluing each stanchion to the deck (which would be terribly unstable),  I followed the same protocol as the bow and fitted the poles with a pin to hold them in place.

[Moonbug]

Thanks Anja!  Good to be back.  :-)

 

- Bug

[Moonbug]

To ease the tension of the rigging, the lines go through holes in the foredeck and around pulleys called reeving sheaves. To create these sheaves, I first drilled holes into the foredeck clinker planking.

 

  

 

 Then I created the pulley by cutting off the end of a dowel and grooving it.

 

The ladders are created exactly how one would expect - each piece is cut then glued together. It takes a great deal of patience and persistence to glue the ladders with all of the "steps" even and secure.

 

  

 

To ensure the ladders are held in place adequately, each ladder is fitted with a pin in the base. A corresponding hole is then drilled in the ship. This extra step dramatically increases the stability when the ladder is mounted between decks. 

 

  

 

Although some reference material shows only one set of steps from the poop deck, Xavier Pastor's reference shows two ladders. The final detail to the ladder is the chain guide running from the top stanchion to the bottom stanchion.

[Moonbug]

Once the Fo'c'sle has been constructed, the foredeck has been mounted to it, and the head beam is put in place, I was able to add both the bowsprit and foremast. Unlike later ships in which the bowsprit and foremast are mounted separately, the Santa Maria's bow masts are linked together. This made for a very tricky process.

 

  

 

The technique involved putting the two masts in place while the foredeck was unattached. I then bound the two masts together at the proper angle at their base. The patience then kicked in when it was time to mount the foredeck while matching up where the masts enter the main deck.

 

  

 

The final product with the head beam and windlass in place looked pretty good. It all makes me realize just how little space the sailors had to run around and actually sail the ship.

 

[Sjors]

Hi Moonbug,

 

Welcome home !!!!

I will follow you again with your great build.

 

[augie]

Welcome back, Bug.  And thanks for posting all the details.

 

Best of the New Year!

[Moonbug]

Thanks Sjors and Augie!  It'll be great to get back to seeing everyone's work!

 

And I guess it's off to scrubbing the decks so I can earn a little bit of rank back!  *laff*

 

- Bug

[gjdale]

Welcome back Bug. Nice to see your log back - thanks for taking the time and effort to re-post.

[marktime]

That is an excellent introductory log and many would do well to learn how to present their work in such an interesting fashion. Good job on the railings. Add my pleasure to see you here again with the others.

Edited January 1, 2014 by marktime

[Moonbug]

Thanks Grant!

 

And thanks also Marktime. And as I mentioned in the last forum when I started this project - your Santa Maria provided (and continues to provide) lots of reference and motivation for my own ship. So, again thanks for the great job you did on yours!

[Moonbug]

Like most kits, the cannons included in the AL Santa Maria fell very short of authentic. Although the die-cast brass cannons themselves were pretty close, the base on which they were to rest were woefully inadequate. So, once again, I turned to Pastor's reference material.

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

However, this was also an area where I didn't mind shifting slightly from authenticity. I also like the cannons created by Garik Grigoryan used in his rendition of the Santa Maria. Although much of his Santa Maria is a little too elaborate for my taste, I really enjoy his miniature deck fixtures.

 

I started with my cannons by letting them soak to create a patina coating.  I then drilled out places to attached fixtures to the cannons. 

 

    

 

    

 

The handles and loops are shaped brass wiring. I then re-soaked the entire fixture to build up the patina once again. Unfortunately the patina didn't build up as nicely as I would have liked, so I added some paint and other methods for aging as well - which I will get to. 

 

    

 

I carved the base pieces out of solid blocks of wood using both hand tools and a dremel. After the bases were carved out to hold the cannon barrels, the feet and backing are added, each is stained. The metal strips are cut and molded brass strips. The rivets are straight pins cut short and inserted into pre-drilled holes through both the brass strips and wood. 

 

I then used this fantastic product I came across by Tamiya.

 

 

 

The trick is to add the fake soot and/or rust to a slightly damp product. In my case, I sprayed each piece with a thin coat of polyurethane then added the weathering product. Additionally, I painted the brass fittings that would not patina properly, then coated the entire fixture with the soot just before the paint dried entirely.  

 

    

 

I was very pleased with the final product. 

Edited January 2, 2014 by Moonbug

[Moonbug]

I then moved on to the gun ports in the side of the ship. It always makes me very nervous to cut into the ship. Obviously making any kind of error would be very difficult to correct. So I spend quit a bit of time planning before I actually cut into the ship.  

 

After measuring where each gun port will be and drawing it in place, I started by drilling small holes to outline where the ports will be cut out. 

 

   

 

 I then used a larger bored carving and etching dremel tool to get close to the sides of the gun port. The rest is done by hand using pin-files. It's a very slow sanding and filing process because it's very easy for the siding and planking to fray, crack, or break off.

 

The outside of the gunports are framed with thin strips of mahogany that is mitre cut and mounted. In these cases I used "super" glue since the pieces are so delicate.

 

 

   

 

Since I always have difficulty creating frames this small, I used a technique similar to when I created the pieces for the captain's cabin. After pre-staining the wood, I cut and glued the 2mm x 2mm strips to a piece of paper. This makes it MUCH easier to eventually mount to the gunports.

 

 

   

 

After the glue dries, I use a fine X-acto knife with a new and very sharp blade to cut the paper from inside the frames. I then lightly sand the paper side until it is thin enough to not be noticeable on the final product. Each frame is then glued, sanded again, and stained. 

[marktime]

Liked the bombards (which you are calling cannon, tut! tut!). And thanks for the acknowledgement. There are three other Santa Maria builds on this forum and you are doing a great job in inspiring them to go that extra mile.

[augie]

That's delicate (and scary) work on those ports.  Thanks for sharing the tip.

[Moonbug]

Ha, Mark you got me.  :-)  Maybe that was over simplifying for civilians.  heh

[Dee_Dee]

Great detail and ideas!  I like the way you made the windlass, I've used that same lathe to make some of the parts on my Bluenose.

 

[Moonbug]

The rigging of the bombards is very basic and was relatively easy to accomplish. However, it drives me crazy when the ropes and rigging stick up further and flare more than looks realistic. Obviously this is a natural byproduct of using tiny little string instead of actual heavy rope that would lie naturally. So I tried to simulate the effect by using a couple small dabs of CA glue and positioning the rigging to look as though it has fallen naturally to the deck and along the bombard base.

 

Here is a before and after.

 

      

[augie]

Marked improvement.  I did something similar on the breech lines for my Syren.  WELL DONE!

[Moonbug]

Thanks Augie and Lawrence!

 

Augie, I went back to look at the Syren. Hadn't seen it since the crash, and hadn't seen the ME case and cabinet. Pretty sweet.

 

- Bug

[DSiemens]

I thought I remembered the name and now that I see the Santa Maria I think I remember seeing this on MSW 1.0.  Absolutely incredible work and a great read.   It sounds like you've done your research.  I wish I could have read this while building my Santa Maria.   

[Moonbug]

Thanks very much Daniel, I appreciate it!

[Moonbug]

Doing a little bit of work and watching the NFL Playoffs. I'm a pretty crazy 49ers fan, so I'll be setting the SM aside when that came comes on...

 

 

Like anything else with the Santa Maria there seems to be a variety of speculation regarding pinrails, cleats and the like.  I've had to scan the rigging over and over to try and figure out where these fixtures would have been.  

 

I've also been trying to speculate whether or not the belaying pins are more traditional looking (as they are with more modern ships) or whether they may have been more primitive in nature like some of the cleats appear to be. 

 

So, like the rest of the model I've looked at many of the builds and references that are our there and then pressed on with what I think works best while maintaining a credible level of accuracy.

 

   

 

 

   

 

I used a 4mm x 4mm piece of walnut and bevelled the top edges. I've stayed away from much ornamentation on this build because I truly believe the Santa Maria had very little. However, I wanted to include a little bit of craftsmanship that I think every vessel would have likely had. So, I used one of my mini pin-files (which sounds redundant) to notch out the top of the posts.

 

 

   

 

I  used a 1mm thick 5mm wide piece of walnut and sanded it at a curve for the rail portion of the piece. I then notched out both the posts and rail to give them a nice tight fit. After staining the entire thing in "Kona" colored stain (to match the weathering I've done on the rest of the ship) I put them all together with the belaying pins.

 

 

 

Although it's not clearly seen here, I mounted the entire piece in the same method that I've done railings and stanchions - which is to drill and mount pins in the bottom of the posts, drill corresponding holes in the deck, then mount the piece with a touch of CVA glue.  It's always a challenge come rigging time to get these pieces to hold well once the running rigging is attached and pulled tight. 

Edited January 5, 2014 by Moonbug

[Moonbug]

Although the Xavier Pastor book I have been continually referencing lists the Santa Maria as most likely having a single turn-crank water pump, every other reference I've seen has shown a more traditional pump-handle style water pump. Often times there are two, as in later ships. When it comes down to it - I think the pump-style handle looks better, so I went with that.

 

To build my water pump I started with a 5mm diameter dowel and thin basswood strips. 

 

   

 

I trimmed the sides of the basswood strips at a 45 degree angle so they would fit together mitre'd nice and snug. I then cut them at 15mm lengths and glued them around the dowel to create the base of the pump. I went with this idea to create a solid base that wouldn't collapse when I started working on it.  

 

   

 

I then hollow out the base of the pump with a drill. The base is made from a 10mm dowel of walnut with the center drilled out at 5mm to accept the base of the water pump. Of course the sides of the base are sanded and beveled.  

 

 

The spout of the pump is a 2mm dowel of walnut with the end drilled out hollow first with a 1mm hand bit, then with a 1mm etching bit for a dremel at low speed. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2014 by Moonbug

[Moonbug]

The handle of the pump is created from two strips of 2mm x 2mm square walnut sanded and etched out. They are based in 3mm x 3mm square walnut strips sanded to fit the side of the pump.

 

   

 

The pieces all put together initially and then stained.

 

 

The pump mechanism and the strips around the pump are made from a scrap brass dowel and scrap brass flattened pieces.  I flatten the end of the brass dowel out by putting it between the flat areas of a pair of pliers and striking it with a hammer.

 

   

 

All of the strips, the handle, and the pump mechanism are attached using a touch of glue, and then firmly attached using pins with the heads sanded down. Finally the pumps are re-stained, and the brass pieces are given a layer of patina.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Moonbug

[augie]

Nice work.....and good choice on going with the handles.

[CaptCraig]

Very nice pumps!

[Sjors]

I want one Bug !

Can you send it to me ?   

 

[gjdale]

Very nice work on the pumps Bug, very nice indeed!

[marktime]

Absolutely agree with you on the pumps. Well, that's because of this.......

 

"Fifteenth and sixteenth century ship's pumps consisted of three main components: a pump shaft, a piston rod and valves......early suction pumps worked on the simple mechanical principle of drawing water up through a tube...... with a one way valve.

 

The pump shaft was fashioned from a a straight tree trunk ...or fashioning a tube of individual planks, like the staves of a barrel.....The base of the pump shaft in the bottom of the bilge was fitted with a foot valve made up of short baulk of bored wood fitted with a leather flapper valve on top........Water usually exited the pump tube through a hole in its side near the top above deck level.

 

On the fourth voyage, Columbus was forced to stand for Jamaica, "especially since the ships were so eaten by shipworms, that day and night we never stopped pumping water with the three pumps. If one broke down, kettles were substituted for the job while it was being fixed. Despite these efforts, the caravels could not be kept afloat and at God's mercy, we beached in Jamaica."

 

 

Extracts from "Vanguard of Empire - Ships of Exploration in the Age of Columbus"  Roger C. Smith. Oxford University Press. A fantastic resource for information on the architecture and building of ships of this period.

 

 

Bug, your detail looks very authentic, makes me want to go back and redo mine!