Royal William by marktiedens - FINISHED - Euromodel - scale 1:72

[marktiedens]

Hi all - this will be my attempt at building the Royal William from Euromodel. I say attempt because I consider my skills as just average. Upon opening the very heavy box I took a few pictures of the contents.All the bulkheads & the keel former are nicely laser cut. The keel former is good & straight but some of the bulkheads are warped a little. The contents include the usual fittings & a lot of cast metal pieces - most nicely done. There are 17 sheets of very nicely done 1:1 plans & a lot of strip wood which seems to be good quality.

 

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[DenPink]

Hi Mark

 

Welcome to the RW club.

 

Have a look at Vince P  log also Keith W   log.

 

You will get a lot of help from the logs.

 

Denis

[Keith_W]

Great to see another RW log starting up. I agree, you really should study the other build logs. You will come across many problems with your build. I'll keep an eye on your log and see if I can help  

[marktiedens]

Thanks guys. I have been following the other logs & am aware of some of the issues. I dry fitted the bulkheads to the keel former & found I had to make a few adjustments to the slots in the forward bulkheads like the rest of you. Also frame F is a little short at the top - will need to add a shim across the top. After making those adjustments everything lined up nicely.

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[marktiedens]

I thought I would dry fit the false keel & stem before gluing the bulkheads & ran into a little problem. First the stem was broke in 2 places which was not a big issue - just glued it back together. The breaks were not in a spot that would be easily visible. Second - the false keel & stern post are 7mm thick but the stem piece is almost 8mm thick . After some work with the disc sander & a sanding block I got it down to the correct thickness.

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[marktiedens]

Thanks Brian. Having already built one Euromodel kit I kind of know what to expect.

 

Mark

[NMBROOK]

I am sure someone else will probably chime in Mark.As you know I have the plans and did scratchbuild the stem,keel and a few frames before putting the build on hold until my domestic situation resolves itself.From memory(the parts are in my storage unit)the prow tapers in both directions,downwards and towards the figurehead.I believe the section at the top touching the hull should be 8mm thick,but this tapers working downwards and forwards.This explains why your kit parts didn't match up.From memory (again) this is shown on the bow view on the sheer plan.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[Mirabell61]

A good start Mark,

 

wish you furtheron much fun and success with this lovely model

 

Nils

[Keith_W]

I am sure someone else will probably chime in Mark.As you know I have the plans and did scratchbuild the stem,keel and a few frames before putting the build on hold until my domestic situation resolves itself.From memory(the parts are in my storage unit)the prow tapers in both directions,downwards and towards the figurehead.I believe the section at the top touching the hull should be 8mm thick,but this tapers working downwards and forwards.This explains why your kit parts didn't match up.From memory (again) this is shown on the bow view on the sheer plan.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

 

I agree, Nigel. In my build log, I remarked that Frame F was too low compared to Frame E. I shimmed mine, but later on in the build I realized that it was deliberately stepped to allow for the installation of the front railing decoration. It was no issue for me, since I ended up scratchbuilding my own. But if you plan to use the Euromodel supplied part, you may have an issue. 

[marktiedens]

Nigel - thanks for your observation. I guess I should have looked at the plans a little closer - my first mistake. I don`t think anyone would ever notice 1mm taper over the length of the stem anyway .

 

Nils - thank you very much.

 

Keith - thanks for the info.

 

Mark

[NMBROOK]

No,I certainly don't think it is going to make any difference in the greater scale of things Mark

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[md1400cs]

Mark,

 

Hi -- I will follow along as well. Always loved this ship, but still think of it as still out of reach for my skills. I feel more comfortable in the 16th century ha ha.

 

Good luck, you are off to a good start. Many excellent teachers at MSW for this ship !! You chose an excellent kit.

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

[marktiedens]

Thanks Michael . There is a bit more scratch work on this build than I am used to,but I will try and do my best.

 

Mark

[RobZorba]

Hi Mark,

 

I will follow your build log with great interest, it is a possible future model for me also (but currently out of stock and I have much work remaining to do on the Vasa).  The RW model looks really nice - because the upper gundeck is provided, their metal castings for decorative pieces are superb, and the quality of instructions and plans are high.  I see that the castings are sold separately and cost more than 60% of the total price of the kit.  Are they cast in gold? :-)

 

Joking aside, I wish you much success and great fun with the build, matey!

 

Best regards,

Rob

[donrobinson]

nice start, will be watching for more updates

[pirozzi]

Hi Mark,

It is good to see another builder working on the RW. A word to the wise. Euromodel purposely adjusts the dimensions of some parts to allow for some later fitting, and they don't mention it. They expect the builder to figure it out. Like you noticing the false keel was smaller than the stem and stern post. That was actually done to allow for tapering later on and also as a rabit for butting the planks. If you find something off by a little, it is best to leave it alone until later on when you might find it was done intentionally to account for another issue later in the build. All of us working on her have found this out the hard way.

Also, it you have not gone on to their website and downloaded Pete's notes, you should, because they will be invaluable as you progress.

 

Vince P.

[marktiedens]

Hi Vince - I do have all of Pete`s info plus the Keith Julier book. If I would have looked at the plans a little closer I would have noticed the taper of the stem . I sometimes get in too much of a hurry.

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

Hi all - proceeding along without any more bumps in the road so far. After dry fitting the bulkheads & decks I left the decks in place & glued the bulkheads - they all lined up nicely with the decks in place. Almost no adjustments were needed to the deck slots. I also left the decks in place when gluing the stringers in place. Extra supports were added between the bulkheads which made the framework very strong. Then I glued the lower gun deck in place along with the stern blocks - I hope they are in the correct place - it would have been nice if they would have given some kind of measurement as to their placement. I also added some bracing to the top of the stern frames as it would be very easy to break them at this point.

 

 

 

 

Mark

[Beef Wellington]

Glad I found this build before you got too into it, looking really nice so far.

[RobZorba]

Hi all - proceeding along without any more bumps in the road so far. After dry fitting the bulkheads & decks I left the decks in place & glued the bulkheads - they all lined up nicely with the decks in place. Almost no adjustments were needed to the deck slots. I also left the decks in place when gluing the stringers in place. Extra supports were added between the bulkheads which made the framework very strong. Then I glued the lower gun deck in place along with the stern blocks - I hope they are in the correct place - it would have been nice if they would have given some kind of measurement as to their placement. I also added some bracing to the top of the stern frames as it would be very easy to break them at this point.

 

Hi Mark,

 

The way you assembled this seems very innovative to me.  A question: how did you manage to glue the bulkheads to the keel with the decks in place?  Individual bulkheads could not be removed with the decks in place.  My guess: did you first fix all the bulkheads together by fitting the stringers and extra supports, then lift the bulkhead and deck sub-assembly away from the keel, apply glue to all the keel slots in one go, and then press the keel back into place? 

 

Also, I believe the Euromodels/ Como kit provides half cannon and false canon posts for the lower decks.  Will you use those, or will you make complete cannon for the lower decks and replace the half cannon provided by EM?  I am very impressed that EM provide all decks.  Have you thought of providing some kind of "cut out" view in part of the hull, maybe only from one side of the model, so a part of all the internal decks can be seen, perhaps with some deck fittings / scratch built ladders / rigged canon etc for the visible area?  For me, when I can afford the RW, I think I would use a 2mm perspex sheet as a "window" between two or three of the frames, and cut "gun ports" into it, as well as fixing part of the canon rigging and gunnery accessories to the side of the perspex.  Perspex can be moulded quite easily by gentle heating and applying pressure where it needs to bend.

 

If you haven't seen it already, there is another build in progress on another forum, build log here

Edited November 3, 2015 by RobZorba

[marktiedens]

Thanks Jason - welcome aboard.

 

Rob - what I did was run some medium CA glue down the joints to hold the bulkheads in place. I plan to add some regular wood glue to the joints to make sure they stay in place. I do not plan to show any cut away for the interior - I will just use the false cannons for the lower decks. Unless I put lights inside it would be hard to see any interior detail & I am not adding lights. 

 

Mark

[marktiedens]

A little update - I got the stern & bow filler blocks shaped & bulkhead edges beveled in preparation for the first planking. Also added a support on the lower gun deck for the mizzen mast. I will fasten the keel & stem before planking - have always done it that way. I will plank from the main deck level down to the lower gun deck so I can locate the openings for the gun ports following the lead by Vince P on his RW build. I also tapered the stern keel former down to 5mm so the planking will go up against the keel properly.

 

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[marktiedens]

A little update  - before starting on the planking I thought it would be a good time to make the hole for the bowsprit. Planked down from the main deck to just below the lower gun deck. After triple checking the gun port positions vertically & horizontally I drilled pilot holes for marking & cutting the gun ports out, I am trying to decide whether to cut out the gun ports now or finish planking down to the keel & sand the hull first. I`m thinking it may be easier to plank the lower part of the hull first so I don`t snag the sandpaper on all the holes.

 

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

[marktiedens]

I haven`t posted for a while - been planking. The first planking from the main deck down to the keel is now done & sanded. No filler was needed  . I was careful to add small shims & file a little as I planked. next will be cutting out the gunports & adding the mounting blocks for the cannon barrels. I will probably not be adding guns to the ports that are blocked by the bulkheads.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark

[DenPink]

Hi Mark

 

Nice planking well done.

 

Denis.

[donrobinson]

beautiful job on the planking

[Keith_W]

That is beautifully neat, Mark. Yours will be the RW to beat, I am sure. 

[mtdoramike]

Very nice start on your build. I'm quite surprised though at the contents of the kit. I figured with the price of this kit, the small bits and pieces would have at least come in a plastic container and to not lose any once the packages are open. That is one thing I like about Artesania Latina and OcCre, they supply nice reusable plastic storage cases with the bits and pieces already separated and stowed away.

 

 

mike

[marktiedens]

Thank you all for your kind words - I would rather spend more time on the first planking than trying to fix it in the middle of second planking. Mike - I have a number of those plastic containers from previous builds. Due to the number & size of the castings if they put them in hard containers the box would probably need to be twice the size it already is. By the way - the castings are top notch except maybe the windows. Photo etch would have been nice for those.

 

Mark

[RobZorba]

Hi Mark,

 

Masterful job of first planking!  Looks really good.  I notice the lower hull planks have one join ... what is the reason for the join?  ... maybe it was easier to plank if you did the bow and stern separately?  ... anyway, I wonder if you have any pics showing the planking of one side's lower hull in progress at 50% stage?  What technique did you use for holding strips in place?  ... did you use CA glue to tack the planks to the bulkheads, and PVA glue between planks to glue them together?

 

Thanks,

Rob

Edited December 9, 2015 by RobZorba