After a good number of years, I am excited to say that I have started my DeAg build of Santisima Trinidad.
The kit has been sitting under my bench for almost five years and the time has arrived when I feel ready to start.
There are a couple of comments at the start of this that I feel are worth a mention. The kit includes a cross section kit as well and the parts issues were all jumbled up so a lot of sorting required at the onset. Secondly, I am not that impressed with the quality of the plywoods that are supplied. They are very fragile and need a lot of attention before using them.The quality and size of the deck planking is so bad (to my picky mind) that I have bought replacement ships . Enough moaning, lets' get on with it.

Contrary to what the DeAg instructions say, I was always taught to get the false keel built flat, horizontal and not twisted. I therefore diverted a bit and built up the keel and ribs from the start, getting everything to my satisfaction.

Starting to separate full build from section build.

The first job was to add temporary "nibs" to the false keel so that I could hold the model in my alignment clamp.



I also used " belt and braces method" of adding small dowel pins through the splice plates to keep everything in place.






\A laser beam along the false keel to check for true.




Tempory placement of floor beams and clamps to help straighten some of the ribs which were moderately distorted. Hot water on the ribs and a gentle blow with a hair dryer soon sorted them out.

Premature deck planking with newly purchased wood strips.


Orlop deck fitted





That's it for now. More very soon.

Lot of work gone into that, great work.

Mark

Hi Chris,

How pleased I am to see a wooden ship on the forum again, this is a wonderful build and I wish you well with it.

Will be following

Regards

Trev.

The next stage in the build was to place all the gunport templates, one of which I managed to destroy! I couldn't source replacements so I made some using 1.5mm balsa wood. Once liberally coated with a mix of water and wood glue they became quite robust.











The following stage was to begin attaching the upper hull section planking.
Only two layers fixed on each side so far.















I also completed fitting the upper deck grilles but left the ladders until a later date.

lovely work goddo. Sometimes soaking the brittle planks for a minute or two helps. Stunning work on the varnish

Martyn