Imai Santa Maria 1/60 (WIP)

Thanks, fellas!  

A star?!?  Well, I don't know about that, but I certainly appreciate the kind words!

I'm just trying to make something pretty to look at, and learn what I can along the way....with the help of such excellent and admirable peers, it's been easy (sometimes!)...

And it's been a bunch of fun so far!!

Dave

David I think she's looking sweet.Question are you going to retouch the keel and stern because of the seams and gaps that did to be repaired ? I love your colors.

Rod

Thanks, Rod!  

Haha...it's funny, because I test-fitted the stern a few days ago, and you're right....there are some serious gaps!  I won't make a big deal out of it, probably try a little sanding to close things up, but I'm not going to fill it in and re-paint it unless it looks terrible!

Off-Topic, Rod...I'm probably going to pick up a Minicraft 1/80 Chebec....I believe it's from the same Imai molds as one I saw of yours at Modelwarships?  How did you like it? You can PM me if you have any thoughts on the Chebec...

Dave

Quick pic of some current work....deck furniture...

I don't like the cannons, but I guess they'll be mostly obscured under the deck....the only visible part will be the barrel tips, which happen to have no holes in them!  Part of me wants to drill them out, but the part of me that wants to make *build progress* is more persuasive!

Also in the pic:  deck boat, lantern, windlass, and anchors....another issue: the kit only comes with two diameters of line, neither of which seem to be nearly heavy enough to represent anchor rope...the question is, do I find replacement cordage, or just use what I have?

Some of this stuff has a fresh black oil wash, hence the *shiny-ness*....

David

 On the cannons yes drill them out. Take some rope and wrap line around the barrels to the trucks will make them a little more realistic. I used  The Ships Of Christoper Columbus by Xavier Pastor for my build plus others. The Cannons are real close to his drawings. His drawings have more rigging on the cannons then I put on,but like you said they are hard to see.I used heavier rope for my anchors I got at my LHS .Model Expo brand. I can't remember the size .050 possible.

Rod

You're right, Rod...I need to be patient and take my time to do it the best way I can.  I'll need to obtain some supplies (a full set of pin vise bits, some better rigging line, etc.), but then I know I'll feel better about the build than if I always look at the finished model and think, "I sure wish I'd have done something about those cannons"!...

Looks like the build will be on pause, for a little while anyway...guess I can work on some future parts...

Thanks!

Got out my pin vise and drilled out the gun barrel tips....so glad I did!  They were pretty corny looking before!

Now that you have drilled out the barrels (nice job on them) I am wondering whether or not if they were plugged to avoid corrosion in the barrels. I would suppose that they were, although brass/bronze barrels would be less susceptible to corrosion than iron ones.

Holy smokes... my model comes up in searches?

Here's the actual build...

Cheers,

Rob

You're doing great work on this build. Love to have this kit again, but I've long since run out of space...

That thing is cool , Rob!  I love the fact that it's the only SM kit that represents a forecastle...and I dig your color scheme!

I actually got a few things done on mine this week....finished up the deckworks...my next step is prepping yards and masts, hard to believe I'm already this far in!  I'll get some pics up soon.  

Also, off-topic side note: I got my ERTL Imai 1/100 Pirate Ship today...looks awesome!  It's in terrific shape and has beautiful molding, which is no surprise! I think it's a better molding than the SM!  It does have premolded shrouds, but I'll be foregoing them and rigging my own....

D

Here's a few pics of the Hull and Deck....using a new camera, still need to get the settings figured out!

I wish I'd have gone a little more crazy with the deck weathering...but I'm learning new stuff with each new build!

Next up is yards and masts....

That looks beautiful.

One thing I've learned the hard way is that brand new cables don't look so great. A suggestion was made to me that they look good if dipped in tea. What flavor I have no idea...

Chamomile.

Seriously, considering that the suggestion can be found in old British modeling periodicals, I'm thinking Earl Grey...

Rob

They look really conspicuous, don't they?  They were really bad at first, but they've been steeped in a strong Gingerbread Spice tea for 10 minutes!  Maybe I'll give them a little dark wash later....  :)

The model is looking great. That bears repeating.

Here's a link to a wooden scratch build. If you look at the last half dozen pages, he did a nice job of recreating all of the various lashings and other sailory stuff.

modelshipworld.com/.../viewtopic.php

His windlass has a neat little detail with spokes to turn it, and since it doesn't seem to have a pawl; a sort of keeper rope.

That thing's crazy!  

Working on the masts and yards, and it occurs to me that I haven't come to a full decision regarding the sails...quick poll question:

Should I go with open cloth sails, furled cloth sails, or leave them off entirely?

I'm kinda leaning toward no sails at all....any input?

Beautiful job so far.

I'd vote for either bare spars or furled sails - and there's no way I'd make sails of any kind on a scale smaller than 1/4"=1' out of cloth.  There simply is no cloth that's opaque and simultaneously thin enough to come anywhere near scale thickness.

There are several threads here in the Forum that might be relevant.  If you do a forum search on "furled sails" or "real cloth sails," you'll get them.

I agree with John. Furled or bare.

Agreed.  I'm now considering furled sails.  I know the cloth sails that come with the kit are overthick, but I want to use the material anyway (something in me likes using OOB parts)...even though I remember John peviously mentioned that silkspan material as being very good for sails.

I think I'll have to cut the included sail cloth down to a smaller size, and then *furl* them up to keep from having a giant *sleeping bag* tied to each yard!

Thanks, guys...I'll have some updates soon.

David

The Occidental Portuguese caravel originally had fabric sails, and it is 1/100 scale -

The kit is now being manufactured by Zvezda as the Nina. 

The sails are horribly out of scale, but I'm going to use them nonetheless.

Cheers, and good going!

I would suggest that you test your technique and get one that works before investing too much time in the final attempt. In other words try a few mock ups using simple square pieces of various materials before going to the trouble of cutting out the correct sized sails and furling them. It's always good to remember that with projects of this type, you are going for effect. Cloth is much like wood, it doesn't cooperate when asked to scale itself down.

I remember kits of old that supplied a pair of vacuum formed "halves" for each furled sail- a front and a back. Not a bad concept if you could ever get rid of the seam.

As you probably know, silkspan is a paper tissue, not a woven material. The trick is to get it to fold up realistically.

You are a brave chap, and seem to do uncommonly well when you try new things. I've heard wet tissue works too.

I skip sails because I also usually skip the running rigging, but that's me.

Yeah, I used tissue paper wetted with diluted Elmer's glue and tan paint for my Revell Vasa last year...while I wasn't thrilled with the result, the tissue did seem to represent the appropriate scale...though I'll repeat my position for those who don't know:  I love details, but I'm not a stickler for scale and authenticity...

I'll try some experimentation...the next "step" is to attach blocks to the yards, and *furl* if I'm gonna *furl*...so once the current application of Oil Paints are dry, I'll be heading into that territory...who knows, I may just go with bare spars...I kinda like the look of the yards.

Thanks again for the kind words!  I now have a stash that includes pretty much every plastic ship kit that I'm interested in building, so I expect I'll be expanding my skill set for the next few years!

David

You might try this .I stain all my line with India ink mixture. I take a plastic pill bottle and put about 20 drops of India ink in it. I then fill the rest of the bottle with Denatured Alcohol . Shake it up put your rope in let it soak in. Depending how dark I want the weathering I leave it 20 Min. to overnight.again trial and error. I take it out run it down a paper towel to wipe off the excess .I than bees wax the line.I get the look I want for weathered line..Sir your model is winner in my book

David do I have your email i got a ship I just finished I like you to look at. Ans i'm not great at posting photos here

Rod Millard

Thanks, Rod...I need to pick up some india ink, for that and other purposes (didn't you also say it works well as a wash?)

I actually took that anchor cord off the model last night.  I just got some Corel Beige (hemp?) rigging line 1.2 mm and it seems to look better, both in terms of thickness and color....but the Corel stuff seems to have strong memory, and it was all bent up....I soaked two lenghts in a cup of diluted white glue, and have them hanging off of my shelf with weights on the end until they're dry....hopefully they'll be *straighhtened out* enough to use.  :)

I'd love to see the ship pics!  You and I have similar taste in these old sailing ships!  I've seen your galleries at Modelwarships.com....I love all the Imai stuff, and I've got their Pirate Ship (Spanish Galleon) and the Minicraft (Imai?) Chebec under the bench, too...

Anyways, I'll send you a PM with my email address....

Thanks!

Alright. so I went ahead and furled up the cloth sails and lashed them to the yards...

I basically used only a small portion of cloth for each sail, nowhere near the actual size of the material from the kit... I soaked the material in tea for a few hours, and though they still look quite bright, I assure you they are much toned down.  After drying, I cut them out and wetted them with a little dilute white glue (to help reduce fraying), and let them dry for awhile, until they were able to be folded and somewhat hold the creases I was making....got a reasonable effect for folded cloth, and tied them on with slipknots, and a dab of CA at each knot.

Anyway, here's a pic...I like it much better than my last effort (tissue on the Vasa), and much better than I expected them to turn out:

First class work.