Red Dragon by Vivian Galad - Artesania Latina - 1:60 - modified

[Vivian Galad]

Hi again and well, I coundn´t hold myself that much. 3 days after finishing my caravel I´m beginning a new project and hope you all enjoy it. Took me 3 months and some days to my last ship to be finally complete, and, today I started a new counter ^^ (not that I want to beat it).

 

So, first thing first, I´ll say my impressions on the kit. I bought it from an e-bay auction. The box is a little bit worn, with some small scratches on the fringes. Since the kit is from the 80´s, there´s that look in it:

 

 

Opening we can see a good care with pieces and wood, all arranged in a practical manner. My last experience was a bit disappointing regarding opening the box, cause the fittings and everything else were almost thrown in the box, with no preoccupation about the pieces´ overall look. AL, in other hand, do know how to sell it´s fish.

 

 

Unboxing the fittings box I found a beaultifull set of small wooden and metal parts. Loved the distribution and care. Didn´t like the brass fittings for doors and windows, or even the lanterns - decided those will be made by me.

 

 

The wood planks with pre-cut parts are easy to cut. It´s not laser cut, since in 1989 it wasn´t that common, lol. There´s a fine selection for woods, all woods. I detached the first parts to take the false keel and mount the structure.

 

 

For this build I just designed a holder - Big change for better, for my last ship was builded almost in my lap, or on the kit´s base, which devastated my hull, as I saw sometime after the mistake. So, false keel on holder ready to receive framing.

 

 

After cutting and sanding the frames, got numbers to them so I could follow the instructions - and make no mistakes.

 

 

So, I took care to align all frames with the false keel, since some of them needed some fixing to go smooth with the keel. After that I glued them and the girders, as follows

 

 

 

 

 

I got the impression that it was a little bit crooked and drawn a line to compare, but was just an impression. Began first planking but need to buy a small hammer, so, all paused till I buy one.

 

Other consideration - after studying the plans I found it easy to give the ship some cabins. With a little modification on the castle I can put some nice furniture inside the ship and, following Doris inspiration, will let the windows and doors show the inside (after scratching my own windows and doors, of course).

 

Well, that´s it!

[olliechristo]

I look forward to following you on this journey. What a lovely ship to build. I would like to build a Chinese ship, if i could find a sampan I would like to do that or scratch one...  Your off to a flying start.. Yee Ha   Regards Ollie

[Vivian Galad]

Hey Ollie, take a seat!!! She is a view, really. I have to confess I know little about chinese ships in general and, since I´m focused on medieval ships, my red dragon have to show that. Lots of study on my horizon. I´ll give a look on the sampan ^^

 

Jerome, let me see... got some port wine and sake, or some coignac, maybe? Beer, there´s always beer on my fridge.

[Vivian Galad]

Hey, Jerome, come direct to São Paulo! Rio is some 400km from here, lol. Would make some snacks too. Spread the word!!

[cdogg]

Looking forward to this build! How are you liking the AL kit so far? I have not worked on one yet.

[Vivian Galad]

Casey, it seems good, but for the shortage of parts. I counted it and there´s almost no spare so I´ll have to be careful. Already talked about the brass fittings that I´ll substitute by mine own. On overall, it´s a good kit and instructions seem to be easy, at least in spanish, but already noticed some strange translations to english, a little childish I would say. Wood is good, better than I got with the Caravel kit.

[Bindy]

Hi Vivian!

 

I think I am almost as excited as you are to see you start this new model haha. 

 

I really do look forward to watching (and learning from) you every step of the way, but I have to say it is even more interesting watching you building different types of ships that are not so common.  Although I love all the favourites too of course!

[Ulises Victoria]

Hey Viv.

 

Nice kit!!! I will follow it closely.

My favorite part of building a ship, is the very beginning...   

Edited February 9, 2014 by Ulises Victoria

[ziled68]

Hola Mija,

I just finished seeing your Caravel and I must say, "Bravo". I see that you are starting with the Red Dragon. She will make for a beautiful model. I finished my Vietnamese Junk and I found an external link that explained the sails and rigging for Chinese Junks. Here is the site if you choose to have extra information at your disposal, http://www.thecheappages.com/junk/platt/platt_chinese_sail.html

I will look in on your build with interest.

[maggsl_01]

Hi Vivian

 

*haha* could not wait .... I know very well what you mean... my Half Moon has not yet got the second mast, but I am thinking always about the next model to build... crazy world, isn't it? If I would be interested in Soccer probably I would come to Brasil to the Championship... but I am not.... So I will watch your build from good old Germany on my computer

 

wish you a lot of fun with your Dragon and I am looking Forward to see the next pics

 

cheerio

 

Max

 

[Vivian Galad]

Bindy, ! I´ll share all my steps as she becomes my second baby . Yesterday I almost got myself in this excitement and planked the first row, but could stop and see that I needed a small hammer first. Now she´s await for the "hammer time" lol. As for the unusual builds, the main interest is for medieval ships, from 12th to beginning of the 16th century, all around the globe. As kits go, there are few on my field of research (AKA hobby), and it´ll look all my ships are unusual . Ty =*

[Vivian Galad]

Ulises, the beginning goes with the wind. The fastest step on the building, at least for POB kits. And when it takes form we enter on a dreamworld - thinking about all things we´ll do next. ^^

 

So many things to do, it´s a bright horizon.

[Vivian Galad]

Hola, Raymond!! I saw your vietnamese junk, nice work in her. Took my time to read some of your link and compare with your build - nicely rigged! And it is a valuable source, many thanks. ^^

[Vivian Galad]

Well, Max, it´ll be a messed championship - too much heated feelings about it. Think u won´t miss anything from staying at home with your ships. Danke!! It´s been fun already! =*

[Vivian Galad]

Well, was just experimenting and did this:

 

 

That´s the first modification on the kit, since this brass windows won´t be glued to my ship. Also, as I wish to have cabins or something of the sort, windows need holes, so ppl can peer inside. Thinking about some led to throw light in there too.

 

It seems a good window frame or should I work a little harder on them?

[DSiemens]

The frame looks good to me and I agree it will look nicer then the metal.  I wonder though are you planning on making them bigger than the metal fittings?

[maggsl_01]

Hi Vivian,

 

I like the idea to bring light into the dark of the model ship world...   Sounds very cute and interesting... Go ahead

 

Cheerio

 

Max

[Vivian Galad]

Daniel, in truth, yes. I thought the metal fittings too small to be a good peering hole to my cabins (if I opened holes on them, for example), so it would be if I made the new window frame in the same scale. As the size I choose is still small, on a scale for 1:60, I have a window of about 1,2m x 0,8m. Not so bad. ^^

 

Max, still thinking what I´ll need to do for that, but I will! =D

[src]

Vivian,

I enjoyed following you last build, looking forward to another fun trip.  The wood window looks much better than the metal one, just curious, how did you do your joinery? Butt joint, lapped joint? Enquiring minds want to know.

Sam

[Vivian Galad]

Sam, thanks for sharing all the fun and be always welcome. I made a butt joint for the external framing and lapped for the internal; thinking on buying some magnifiers to see if I can do them cuts even smaller, lol.

[mtaylor]

Sweet!!!   Looks to me like you are getting closer and closer to the darkside (scratch building).  I like your ideas for opening up the hull.  I'm pulling up a seat, some popcorn, and some adult beverages.   

 

I think you're having way too much fun.  But that's what this hobby is about.. having fun.

[Doreltomin]

Hello Vivian, have fun on this one! I also think the same as Mark above, you are slowly and surely approaching "the dark side" 

 

Best wishes, this will be a nice build!

[gjdale]

Alright then! Now that Mark has finally arrived with the popcorn and drinks, I'll take a seat and follow this one too. Looks to be an interesting build Vivian. I like your ideas for improving her. I did wonder if the new windows were a little too large, but hey, you're the Captain, it's your choice!

[popeye the sailor]

....off again on another adventure....BRAVO!   your off to a really good start.......I'll look forward in seeing your progress    you can alter the scale a little.......but check fit them to be sure they are not too large.   I totally agree with you on the window thing though.....I did a few things on one build,  but because the windows were too small,  you couldn't see the interior      I never use a hammer on any of my builds.

    I have a pin pusher for the brad work.......then when dry  I usually pull them out.......to used them again on another build.  this tool can be found on E-Bay......not very expensive.

 

create........imagine..........and enjoy!

[Vivian Galad]

Mark, I´m already intending on buying the Cocca Hanseatica plans from Euromodels, let me just recover from the last buy (3 kits on a row were a bit expensive, since I paid a lot of taxes). Then, only the time can say what I´ll do! Darkside calling is too strong.

 

Doretolmin, lots of fun, lots of research. I´ll get there on the scratch.

 

Grant, I´ve been looking through a lot of immages from this type of vessel and discovered that there´s a lot of freedom on building them ships, since the junks are there for about 2.8k years. There are a lot of variants regarding riverine types and seagoing vessels and regions. As I put on scale, the window didn´t seem too large, yet, I´ll try not to hurry and be careful on instaling the windows. Doors I´ll keep the kit´s, cause I can just put some hinges and open them. Lots of work and fun on the next days. A question, though; can the modelist go for the beverages too?

 

Popeye, as said before, I´ll be very careful on scaling, but the cabin has to be seen, that´s for sure. A pin pusher sounds nice, I´ll be searchin for it. Ty for the tip! =*

[DSiemens]

Popeye there's a SIB bidder in another forum that always says if the ship won't fit in the bottle get a bigger hammer.

 

I've used them just not very often.

[DSiemens]

I should rephrase that. I've used them to build not to put a ship into the bottle.

[wim500]

Good luck with this beautiful ship, I like this kind of ships.

I've build the Amati Junk so I will follow this log:).

[src]

Woo Hoo! Look like we found the party build. Vivian you can only drink when your not playing with sharp tools.

 

Now to keep this comment oriented towards the build; did you reinforce your butt joints by any chance? Maybe a treenail or two? Dont want them falling apart in the future.

Sam

[Vivian Galad]

Wim, many thanks. As I build my ships and study about them, I learn a lot and begin wishing to build more of them, for the Junk has so many regional variations and lots of forms to explore. But that is for the future. ^^