Amerigo Vespucci by laps - Panart - 1:84

[Jim Lad]

Hello Lars - it's good to see you back home!

 

John

[laps]

Shocking! I just realized that I started this model in May 2010. Hmm, perhaps it is time to get her finished. 

Main things to finish are three more small boats, boat davits, stairs for the port side, fit the remaining boats and some other bits and pieces. 

I found the stairs quite tedious to make. I couldn't used the supplied stanchions as is so I cut of the top and soldered rails to the remaining piece - not easy to maintain the correct angle while trying to hold the pieces and solder at the same time. But I think they are acceptable - at least from a distance. 

I have uploaded some overall pictures of the model. It's not easy to get good pictures without a wide angle lens which I don't have. 

Have to start thinking about where to put her when she's done - that's going to be a head scratcher.

 

/Lars Peter

[Kevin]

WELCOME BACK, my long lost friend

[laps]

Rowing boat 4 of 4

I still have 3 small boats to finish for my AV. 2 small motor boats and 1 rowing boat. I started on one of the motor boats which is currently being painted. I'm currently waiting for some small disposable pipettes to arrive as I'm having trouble transferring paint from the small paint can to the airbrush. It just results in a big mess!

 

So I decided to finish the last rowing boats. It is a small plank on frame structure. Everything is glued with CA and accelerator to be able to secure the mahogany planks. The first picture shows the planking in progress. The boats is around 4 inches long. 

Once planked I did a rough sanding and covered everything with filler. The bottom will be painted. Once dry I sanded everything as smooth as possible with some 240 grit sand paper.

I covered the stern with mahogany strips and turned my attention to the inside. First job was to remove the top of the frames and approximately half of the keel. Access is limited so I decided to use my Proxxon drill with a diamond burr. It worked out great for removing the remaining plywood and CA residue.

Next up is to cover the vertical parts of the frames with mahogany strips. I remember this as quite a fiddly task. 

 

To be continued ...

 

/Lars Peter

 

 

 

[laps]

Work continues on the rowing boat. The inside of the boat is more or less done. The bottom of the hull has gotten a coat of mahogany stain as the 1x1 mm strips of mahogany were of a different color. Everything else has gotten a coat of satin varnish. I'm considering staining the bench seat in back also as the wood was of a lighter color. Is may not look like much but more than a 100 small pieces of mahogany have been used for the inside of the boat. 

The first of the small motor boats has now been painted. There is quite a bit of bleed through of white paint I will have to remove. I will then stain it in some areas and give everything a coat of varnish. I broke the top of the rudder when I removed the masking tape. So I will have to do a bit of touch up here as well. The top of the rudder will also be painted black. Only thing remaining is to add the hardware.

Only the last motor remains to be build which bring the total number of small boats for my AV up to 11.

 

/Lars Peter

 

 

[laps]

Just a quick update.

 

I have completed the first small motor boat.

The next picture shows the size compared to one of the large motor boats already in place on my AV. It is simply a scaled down version.

The last rowing boat is waiting for paint and then I have one last small motor boat to make - almost done 😊

 

/Lars Peter

[laps]

Rigging small boats

I have started hanging the small boats from their davits, starting with the first rowing boat. This is time consuming work, took me around 3 hours for the first boat. A total of 8 blocks are needed per boat.

 

First picture shows the attachment of the line to carry the weight of the boat.

Next picture shows the two slings that will hold the boat to the davit.

The slings are tied to the davit.

Boat in place.

The last picture shows the blocks for for the slings. I'm not sure where the lines for these should be tied off so for now I just tied them to the railings.

Only 5 more to go 😩

 

/Lars Peter

 

 

[laps]

The starboard side of my AV is now more or less complete - just have to fit a few life preservers. 

The three small boats are in place in their davits and the stairs are complete.

 

Now I can start all over with the port side 😄

 

/Lars Peter

[Kevin]

sorry i missed the update, i have been so engrossed in my own AV project,  she looks great, lol perhaps i should have stuck to the original colours