Imai 1/50 Catalan Ship Completed

I'm also scratch building the beam ends that are are prominent on th model and the drawings in "The Ship." Using Evergreen styrene again....... I should buy stock in that company.

Steve

GM, Thanks for checking the history of bolts and yes the quaterdeck does have a beam across both the forward and after ends as shown in this picture.

Steve, Dave and Rod,

Thanks guys for checking in, I appreciate the kudos. I have been doing some more small parts such as staining the wooden hearts and blocks I will be replacing the plastics parts for. Also painting the cleats, knightshead, etc... that I scrtached. Starting to put the bolt heads on. All the small stuff that needs to be dealt with hopefully before you say, DANG, I should have done that first........

The one item(s) that I have been searching for but have had no luck finding are 'O' Scale Medeival lanterns for lighting around the tub. I can find Railroad style but not something appropiate for the 15th Century. I found a Stern Lantern from Model Shipways although it may be either too large or too elaborate. I'll post a picture tomorrow or later to see what everyone thinks......

Steve she' coming along great.I like all your details.

Rod

Steve, that is one beautiful model...she's coming along nicely...good work, my friend!

you really are a clever man steve , can't wait for your next upload

steve

You've got something special going.

I wasn't loving the idea of nut/ bolts. It seemed a little bit of an anachronism for the 15th C. I did do some research on that, and in fact they were invented around the 14th C. Threaded screws have been around since BC.

I can't tell from the angle of the pictures, is there a beam under the front edge of your quarter deck?

Truly a wonderful model.

Latest update of the scratchbuilding insanity. 

The bolts/nailheads arrived and unfortunately the 1.2mm were about the size of the nailheads molded on the model, so...... I won't be using them.

Moving forward, I scratched the cleats for the interior tie off for such lines as the tacks, sheets, bowlines etc.... I also made more ring bolts for tie offs on various points of the exterior. Here is a picture pre primer.

You will also notice that I scratched a knighthead for the halyard to be used with a ramsheads block from Modelshipways. This also means scratchbuilding sheaves on either side of the mast versus the single sheave provided for in the kit. The scratched posts next to the knightshead are for the tying off the anchor. The instructions have you just drape the anchor over the waist rails...... not great considering the size of the anchors provided.

In Landstrom's book, The Ship, he has a drawing of the Mataro Ship and shows square holes on each waist rail that would align with these post and would serve as a tie off. However, in Historic Ship Models, by Wolfram zu Monfeld, he shows that from the 13th to 15th centuries, two fairleads per side would be carved through the hull for anchor lashings. As I stated before, considering the thickness of the plastic of this model, and the state of my hands, I am going with the posts......

Here is an overall view of the model showing where I plan on placing the knightshead. The parts are still just dryfitted but it gives an idea of how things are looking.

Steve 

Thanks SteveB for chiming in. Hopefully I can keep the roll rolling.

Steve5, the nuts and bolts are from Meng and they are the Small Set B. They have others. The main issue I have is that trying to slice them off cleanly, is almost next to impossible. Therefore I ordered MasterClub's 0.9 and 1.2 Spherical head rivets off evilBay. They should be here in about 6 days so I am going to do a comparison at that time. The MasterClub rivets come in many sizes, and head configuration. 

The other thing I like about them, hopefully, is that they actually have a bolt. So, you can either drill a hole and insert them or cut the heads off And glue them on. It looks like it will be a whole lot easier to cut the heads off cleanly than the Meng product.

I will post pictures when I get them.

Steve 

really nice work steve , where did you find those bolt heads from . they look really cool.

Hey Steve, nice work sir. The bolts look very nice indeed. Glad to see you are enjoying the build. You are on a roll!

Alright, my AMS kicked in bigtime! The nailheads that I created were okay, but not exactly what I was looking for. So, I removed them all and picked up a set of Meng Resin Nuts and Bolts Set B Small that actually look like nuts and bolts.

The first pictures show the wales stripped of the plastic putty nail heads. 

Then I checked out how these looked on the model. There is a excess of glue at this point but I will clean that up after I remove the bolt. Again, this was just to test scale and look. I wanted the nuts and bolts to be faily substantial since they are holding the wales onto the frame........supposedly.

Here are the sheets of bolts and nailheads after and before painting. After that I started cutting them off with a new #11 blade and putting them into a tray, waiting for the insanity to begin.

I will have to repaint the wales first and then attach the painted bolts after the paint dries. After that, I am planning other additives and scratch built goodies to enhance this model before the oil paints go on her. I figure that as rare as these kits are and the price people are asking for them, this will be the only Catalan Ship I build and I want it to be nicely done to the extent of my abilities.

The liquid fish poop....... I might just pass on that one, but thanks anyway TB! The wife would probably regulate this ship to the fish pond where the smell would not be too offensive.

The seal oil would probably get me in trouble with PETA, and anyhow GM, how does one oil a seal?

On establishing a waterline with darker tones and a bit of scum just might do the trick. Thanks as always for the input.

Steve

Well, the thought might be seal oil.

Tankerbuilder suggested plopping the model in liquid fish poop.

If you want to get clever, establish a waterline, maybe one more below it unladen and do two shades of scum. I put little guys on my Gokstad ship. Thats a fun deal to do.

Thanks GM. Although, after seeing Modelcrazy's U-Boat diorama I'm pretty certain that I could never match how well he did it and that to make this tub look anything like seaworthy, I would have to bury her up to almost the second most top wale.

However, it brings up a point I have contemplating this week. I have been trying to decide if I should paint some antifouling tar on her or at least darken the hull that would be theorically submerged. Again, this would have to be almost up to the same wale to make it look right.

Anyone want to weigh in with thoughts or suggestions?

Steve

What a nice model!

It would really be cool in a waterline diorama as well.

Thank you guys. I appreciate that you are checking in on the thread. 

Jake, steal away. I agree with you about making the nail heads stand out a bit. I had already started the process, so we are on the same wavelength my friend.

Mike, I am glad to know that I am not the only one putting things in a "safe" place. I'll probable find them after I finish this model!

Thanks spiralcity for following along and the kudos.

Right then, I noticed another issue, at least in my mind. The model is really well detailed and has a boatload (pun intended) of nailheads on the hull; however, there are none on the wales! I'm not sure how these hunks of wood were suposed to be connected to the hull........

Anyway, I used some Vallejo plastic putty and a toothpick and added some "nailheads" or more appropiately, spike heads on the wales. 

The first picture shows the putty on the wales and the next picture shows them painted along with all the nailheads on the port side. The black on the nailheads looks a bit overpowering but you have to remember that when I get some oil paint on the hull that they will be much more subdued.

I also added the plates for the deadeye chains as well as drilling the hole on the forward upper wale for the line that I cannot remember at this time that helps hold the anchor to the hull. the hole looks a bit rough but I'll clean it up and add a blackened ring around the hole .

Steve

Shes looking great! nice work.

"....have put them in a very safe place that I cannot find........"

Steve,

I find that the above phenomenon happens more and more frequently in my world .....

Wonderful thread ... I'm going to use it, among other sailing ship builds, as one reference for the next sailing ship kit I do.

Mike

I have been planning the rigging and what needs to be done before I start glueing this together. I decided before hand that I would use Syren line and replace the plastic blocks and deadeyes with wooden ones, which is normal for me... that is if anything is ever normal for me.

Using Xavier Pastor's AOTS, "The Ships of Christopher Columbus" as reference in regards to 15th century Iberian ship buiilding practuces, I found that Pastor has the lower deadeyes secured with chain plates and rods and used hearts as the deadeyes.

I attempted using .032 brass rod but could not get a flush fit. I then tried thinner wire and succeeded. I then twisted the wire and inserted it through the opening that Imai provided.

I then used Blacken' It on both the wire and deadeye. The wire was blackened and the wood block was no worse for wear. Although I will stain the hearts to give them a deeper color.

Thanks Dave for the heads up from your SR thread and John Tilley for the heads up on spraying a dull coat on the blackened wire. It helped prevent the Blacken' It from rubbing off. I need to redo the anchors since the Blacken' It did rub off.

Looking at the dry fit pictures, I realize that I should scratch some plates for the wire connection point on the hull. Not a big deal, I'll just use some Evergreen.

Dave, I have also modified my brass pedestals to fit the various ships I have completed but this keel is way too thick to modify with any of the ModelExpo or Blue Jacket pedestals available. I had an older set that I had picked up but have put them in a very safe place that I cannot find........

Steve

I've had to modify brass pedestals to accommodate a thicker keel...nothing the ol' Dremel couldn't handle!

Yeah, the crisp lines of those Imai kits lend themselves well to light weathering....the texture just pops with even a little color in the crevices.  Don't get me wrong, I dig your heavier weathering (esp Nina and Pinta!), but this effort you're showing a subtle touch that I think really lets the model lines come through.

Nice work, as always my friend.
DK

Thanks bud! 

Good eye on the weathering techniques I am using on this kit. One of the reasons is due to the beautiful molding that Imai produced on this kit. I think it would be overkill on this kit if I really weathered it. Although, I must admit that I am REALLY tempted to weather the heck out of this ship! The other reason is because I am trying out new techniques and colors to see how well they work. Hopefully it will work out.

I did a dry fitting last night to see how all the colors work together and the decks really fit in well, so I am going to keep them as painted.

I also have been working out how to mount this puppy. With the main deck having to be inserted when the hull halves are glued makes it tough. With the weight of this kit, the mounting really has to be substantial. I also misplaced the only brass pedestals I had that had a slot opening of 1/4".

Anyway, thanks for checking in and please let me know if you think I am missing anything.

Steve

Steve....no seriously, these parts look awesome!

Your use of oil weathering seems a bit pulled-back on this effort, and I think it really works...very subtle tones, showing more grain and definition...really good work, my friend!  I'm super impressed.

Dave

Finally got a chance to do some work on the ship. I started the oil painting with the decks. Part of me thinks they may be a bit on the dark side, but then this is supposed to be a 15th century merchant ship, so maybe the decks will do.

Enjoy,

Steve

Steve,

Thanks, I really appreciate you folowing along. Let's just say I have a bit of experience in painting but thank you>

Cerberus,

Thanks for checking in. I can scan and email you the instructions if you would like. Send me a PM and let me know.

Steve

Hi,

you're doing a great job of this kit!  I have one, but it's missing the instructions unfortunately.  Hopefully I'll get round to it one day and do as good a job as yours.

you are one seriously talented painter docidle ., that is really awesome .

I have all the base painting done and ready for oil. 

The first photo is the hull halves with the upper bulwarks colored.

While going through Pastor's AOTS Columbus' Ships, I realized that there are no bitts for the hawsers. I realize that this is a model of a model and would capsize once it hit the water; however, I felt that she needed bitts. So, I scratched up some using Evergreen. I do not think they came out too badly.

Here is the stern carving. Red dragon matching the red dragon head at the bow.

And finally, a sundry of other parts and the mess that my workbench has become.

Thanks Steve for following along. I have actually done more work on her but have not taken any pictures yet. The majority of the painting is now done, so I need to measure off the ship and base so that I can set up the mounting. 

After that will be the construction process and the application of artist oils. I'm actually thinking of using the chunk of plastic that represents the sail..... We will see about that.

I'll try and get some pictures posted this weekend so stay tuned.

Steve

Hey Steve, your are really plugging right along, and what nice work that you are doing. This is a cool ship. I am watching with great interest.  

Steve