Ahoy Shipmates! Not sure if this type of build is of any interest here...I don't even know if I'm in the right forum

I have always had a love for sailing ships, the beautiful craftsmanship, the skill of the sailors, the romance of a non-electronic age. For all that, I know diddly squat about them, so time to build and learn.

I plan on doing the Artesania Latina San Francisco II full ship in 1:90 scale, but thought it might be a good idea to gain my sea legs on this much simpler cross section. Might be kind of cool displayed together, too.

This is a 1:50 scale which will be around 26" tall and about 4" long.



A view in the box shows the laser cut pieces, which look very good, some bundles of timber, and a plastic case holding lots of fittings for what is only a partial build. The instructions are contained in 2 large books with lots of full color photos...and not much text, although more than I expected. The blocks and deadeyes look good, and the inclusion of the wooden cannon ball buckets was a pleasant surprise.



A major disappointment right off the bat was the cannon barrels. I was expecting turned brass, these appear to be cast metal with a very visible mold line and poor definition at the back end (have no idea what the proper term would be). At this scale I didn't want to use them so I ordered some turned brass ones from Ebay.



While looking at the barrels, I noticed the brass carriage wheels axle hole looked a bit small for the 1.5mm wire, I drilled one out to see if it was doable...31 more to go!



This build will take a bit of time, but it will be a nice change for me to work in something other than plastic.

Best of luck with that. I've had for a couple of decades an interest in building wooden ships, but found that they require certain skills I just never had the time or tools to develop. Of course, starting with a full plank-on-frame model of the Fair American was probably not the right way to begin. I think your choice of starting out with a cross section is a great idea. You won't have to spend so much time perfectly fairing the framing or shaping the planks in order to get a nicely detailed finished product.

Wow how many times have I looked at this kit and thought . . .

Will be watching this build with interest

Cheers Kev

I'll follow along with interest.

Mark, I hear you! Patience is key with these kits and I'm certainly not expecting an easy road...hopefully an enjoyable one though

Kev, if you can wait you'll be able to see one all together before pulling the trigger and picking one up! It looks real nice with a few exceptions:

The cannon barrels as I noted above. Found some on Ebay for $25 shipped, for 10 of them, we'll see how they look.

No surprise, as it can be seen on the box top, is the exposed plywood edges for the decks and bulkheads. Still deciding what to do about them and leaning toward sheathing them with veneer.

And no 1:1 plans included, I would have liked them for the rigging, although the instructions really take this step-by-step.

Russ, always great to have you here Matey

Hopefully will have a bit of a progress report over the weekend.

Given all the foibles you've mentioned with this kit, I'm left wondering exactly what Artesania Latina meant by the words "Museum Quality" emblazoned in large, friendly letters on the box...

I did a Cutty Sark cross section a number of years ago and loved the build, it came out nice.

Bill

No worries, I'd say you are in the right forum and I will be watching with high interest! That's something off the beaten track, certainly a nice project!

Jan

Mark, well I guess anything can be "Museum Quality" in the right hands...I'll be happy with shelf quality

Bill, it is a nice change of pace. And with the amount of time these kits take we can still work on other projects at the same time! I'd love to see some pics of your Cutty Sark.

Jan, very happy to see you here, definitely off the beaten track for me!

So...a bit of progress. First up was covering the exposed plywood frame edges. These really don't look the greatest even sanded down, plywood just doesn't do it for me. I used the deck planking to do this and only did the two outer sections as I didn't want to use too much (hopefully AL gave a little extra and I don't run out!). Since these had to be shaped to follow the curves of the frames I soaked them in hot water for about 20 minutes. CA adhesive was used on the ends with wood glue in the middle section, the CA sets up very quickly when exposed to water so no clamping was required.




The frames are attached to the false keel making sure everything is square and plumb.




The sub-deck is fitted into place and to cover the sub-deck edges I used some thin veneer. Would have liked a lighter color but this is all I had. Will continue with this as the other decks are placed. Decking went down next.




Since the decking can not be laid all the way to the edges without the hull planking in place, I deviated from the instructions and started the hull planking. I found this idea for a great little plank clamp on the 'net, ingenious idea.




This is definitely a beginners kit, which I'm thankful for. The end product probably won't be as detailed as some of the other x-sections out there, but a great place for someone like me to start!

Hi James,
you've set the standard now . . . impressive!

I shall be watching and learning

Kev

PS Like the plank clamps

Very nice progress and highly interesting to follow your steps through the build! Even though I am not really in the wood modeling, the build log of yours makes some appetite to try!

Jan

That is an interesting build James. There seem to be a lot of these cross section models around. I bid for a cross section of the HMS Victory on E-bay, (lost of course).

Ahoy James

A very neat project indeed.

Following with a keen interest.

Cheers


Sean

Thanks for coming aboard, gentlemen! Planking is slow going as only 1 on each side can be done at a time and wood glue is slow setting. I guess I could tack nail them, but I'm in no rush

Kev, that is a very nice compliment, thank you! Hopefully you won't laugh too hard at the end result

Jan, you should give it a go...it's quite a different feeling having wood super glued to your fingers instead of PE

Julian, I've seen the Victory x-section from Corel (though not in person) and it really looks sharp. I would definitely grab one for around $125 if available. The 1:20 - 1:24 scale autos cost that much after adding in AM stuff!

Ahoy Sean, very happy to have you aboard. I'm already learning what NOT to do for the next one!

Hi James, very nice project. You need some time and patience, but the result will be good for sure.

Good decision to replace the cast cannons.

The plank clamps: great smart idea.

I am doing this build. Need some hints on how to cut the gun ports and scuppers