ChrisLBren

Thanks guys - yes Mike - it is my French Pear - cuts beautifully.  

This really is a learning curve - I'm having to relearn how I build using for the most part the Byrnes tools, the Proxxon Mill and chisels.  I am finding the larger scale 1/36 a little more approachable.   So far its really challenging and I have yet to complete the keel and its assemblies !  

Nice work Patrick !!!!

Greetings MSW.    I am back after completing Chuck's Confederacy scratch after a 7 year build finished in 2016.  (he did give me some cheats on the figurehead and some sculptures....)  She is an incredibly designed kit - I learned a ton - and ironically it was built in several apartments while single with nothing but a crappy Delta scroll saw and an old Preac table saw, along with Xacto knifes.  Jeff Hayes perfectly milled wood helped a ton !  And then I got married and my twins were born which slowed down everything in 2013. 

I have always wanted to build a fully framed French ship and collected a full library of Ancre subjects (the 74 Gun Series, Monographs of the 74 timbers, Commerce de Marseille, and La Renommee).    So  after buying a house in the suburbs - I built out a workshop.  I gathered the necessary tools over the past few years -  Byrnes Table Saw, Thickness Sander, Disc Sander,  Proxxon Mill, Proxxon Planer, Wood River spindle sander and a Dewalt full size table saw to reduce my flitch of pear wood to usable size.  I have also collected Lie Nielsen chisels and its Lee Valley Sharpening system.  

So it seems I can't fail right ?  

I did...

Call it being a Dad of young twins or just sheer intimidation.  I could not complete the stem for La Renommee to my standard so I quit.  I then decided - maybe a simpler subject would work - so I began construction on La Jacinthe in 1/32 scale.  Not only did I have issues with consistency of enlarging the plans (thanks FedEx/UPS store) - I grew bored with its construction - I have already successfully completed several plank on bulkhead models. 

So I returned to the enlarged plans that Delacroix sent me for Le Gros Ventre in 1/36 scale - a noble subject - with nice lines, simpler sculptures and yet a serious challenge.  I have heard from several members on this forum that building fully framed in larger scale is easier...

So here is the start of my build log - it will be messy showing all of the mistakes in order to build a fully framed model.  Here are my results after 2 months of work - the last photo showing my useable parts.

Sweet !!!!!

Chris - the Bellona would be your best bet in terms of interest.  If I were producing the kit - I would offer it with cherry wood (very affordable/cuts well) and a lighter inexpensive wood for the decks.  The kit bashers can adopt as needed.   You can't please everyone - but a nicely designed kit with costs under control will keep you in business - especially with this subject - a British 74.

Hi Mark,

Congrats on your new build ! She's always been one of my favorite subjects.  My friend Keith built this ship in your scale and drafted her in POF.  

http://i-am-modelist.com/2011/10/22/belle-poule/

Im sure he'd be happy to help - send me a PM if you want his contact info.  

Best,

Chris

Nice work !!!!

Hi Jim,

Actually its a brand new Thurston 293 .040 kerf - and this is a 1/4 inch piece of Basswood - something is off.  It should cut this like butter.    We can start a new thread - I hate to hijack this one - unless everyone finds this helpful.  

Those are great videos for both tools - quick question - I did a check today on my saw.  It looks like when I rip a piece of wood Im off about .008 - meaning the front of the piece is .008 narrower than the rear.  I bought my saw used here so just want to see if my saw needs adjustment.  Based on the video its perfect out of the box ! Thanks so much for any feedback.  

Looks great - congrats on another fine build !

Interesting technique !!!  Really nice progress 

Chris

I scratch built the kit while Chuck was designing it. I used Swiss Pear and boxwood and don't regret it. I prefer hard Woods to soft ones like Basswood. 

Great kit -build - if you have any questions let me know

Chris 

Hey Alan

The first needs to be cut 50 50 with mineral spirits to set up your base coat for even penetration. Then allow 24 hours to dry in between full strength coats. I personally like 3 total coats - it's up to your personal preference. 

So I am about to start cutting out the bulkhead former and have attached a copy of the suggested method in the Monograph.  In the past when I have built POB upright the top of the former coincides with the deck making for longer slots in both the former and bulkheads. 

In the method described in the monograph you can see its much skinnier and the top of the former (well bottom in the diagram since its inverted does not follow the deck line) and just seems an arbitrary straight line for the slots which in this case are less deep in both assemblies.  Any thoughts here ?

Monograph Method #2.pdf

Hey Chris,

The other model that would be a huge seller would be the HMS Prince.  I think you were working on a prototype with Amati.  An HMS Prince along with a HMS Victory, USS Constitution, and an 18th Century English or French Frigate could be the basis for a line of ship models that would sell as they are popular subjects.   I do agree with Lou regarding a plank on frame build - however these can be very challenging for the average modeler and therefore a smaller niche.  Your new technique of full guns and carriages (none of this dummy gun nonsense from the 70s designs) is also a  big selling point.  

Good to see you back Chris ! 

Just curious if the 1/64 Victory will ever be released. I'm a scratch builder but I'm sure there are many modelers on this forum that would love to build your design 

I'm following the Monographs method - the only filler blocks will be at the bow and the stern. The extra thickness of the bulkheads gives you more of a surface to plank and lessens the naturally tendency of plywood to warp.

We will see !!! 

Bit of an update - not exciting but necessary groundwork - all of the bulkheads are cut out (1/4 inch plywood laminated to approx 1/2 inch thick) with their lugs.  I have also highlighted the bevels and have left a little extra meat on the bulkheads for the faring process.   Next up - drafting the slots on both the false keel and bulkheads and cutting out the false keel. 

After showing my wife the various versions of this ship Ive decided to copper the hull below the waterline (this will be a first for me), the rest of the hull will be black (either dyed Pear or Ebony if I choose to make my life difficult - well aware of its challenges - this hull has very gentle lines working in my favor), the deck and masts will be pear wood and the figurehead and sculptures Euro boxwood.  

Looks great !  I have this Monograph with plans both in 1/36 and 1/48.  I will follow your progress !

Thanks for the likes - so now that I have assembled bulkhead 10 - I used Gorilla Spray Adhesive for the lamination - this is great stuff - I can see why this method makes so much sense.  As you can see everything lines up on the build board. I have highlighted the bevel and left some extra meat on the bulkhead for proper fairing.  Every bulkhead - regardless of deck sheer will be 4 and 3/4 high - so the keel remains exactly parallel to the build board.  When all of the bulkheads are built and their slots created for the false keel they will be drilled into the the wooden slats and then into the build board.  

Hey Group,

Bit of an update - I decided to proceed with the "upside down" method for Topaze.  I wanted to give this a try to make the planking process easier as an inverted hull secured to a build board vs planking in my lap.  

First step - I cut out all of the plywood blanks from a 5 and 1/2 inch wide board for the bulkheads with my new 10 inch Dewalt Saw (great buy for 380.00) and marked both centerlines and as a vertical reference point the rabbet line.  This way I will insure the keel will be level for all of the bulkheads.  I then adhered the plans to the boards using repositionable spray mount.  

Lastly I drew the lines for the lugs on the blanks that will be used to mount the bullkheads to the build board.  Every bulkhead will be laminated with another 6mm inch thick plywood bulkhead (without lugs) which should give me more surface to plank later.  

Im hoping to cut out all of the bulkheads with the Dewalt scroll saw (no product placement - just a big fan of these tools ) this weekend.  

Congrats on a job well done.   Beautiful Confederacy my friend !!!!

This Mono is designed for beginners and outlines a proposed building method - so I thought I would give it a go. It seems much more complicated than building right side up that most are familiar with.

Hey Group,

So I would love some feedback.  I fully intended to build this ship with the suggested method in the Monograph - which is unlike any method I have ever used in past builds.  Im really starting to scratch my head.  Let me explain.  

So as you can see in the first photo the build board has been constructed and the wooden slats you see correspond with the various bulkheads.  These are to be screwed to the bulkheads and then to the build board.  The ship is build upside down - once the bulkheads are installed you insert the former.  

Here's where it gets tricky - you can see I have copied mirror images of the enlarged bulkheads from the plans.  These will be copied and glued with spray mount to a vertical line drawn on the square of 1/4 inch plywood and the bulkheads can be cut out with my scroll saw.  Later the notches will be added for the former.  As you can see from the plans - I drew on "lugs" on the bulkheads - these will be screwed into the slats on the build board.  The only issue here is you need to create a reference since the heights are all different on the various bulkheads to account the deck line - which is not horizontal to the keel.  I used the edge of the plans to create the reference line.  After carefully measuring and comparing the enlarged plans to the originals - Im seeing a variance between .25mm - 1mm.  

Im not sure if this is due to the fact these plans were originally hand drawn by Boudriot, if its my error measuring or an error in the copying process.  

This whole approach seems very odd.  Not only are these bulkheads laminated - resulting in 1/2 inch thick bulkheads - the recommended method in the monograph recommended a bulkhead former or 1/8 inch - which was clearly an error - it should be 1/4 inch according to the plans. 

I am seriously tempted to just build up right - create bulkheads that run from deck line the the rabbit line - use a 1/8 inch wood to line the bottom of the former (to create a rabbet - like on my Confederacy build) and then add the keel and stem parts.  Also I dont really see the need to have 1/2 inch thick laminate bulkheads.  The spacing seems fine to me especially if I choose to fill in the spaces between the bulkheads with basswood.  

Does any of this make sense ?

Hello Group,

I want to introduce you to my good friend Bob Putnam of Rare Woods.  He just sent me an email regarding a nice supply of Boxwood.  This guy is first class - I have purchased a flitch of Swiss Pear from him along with some Ebony.  This wood is in larger dimensions than most of us need - but I have locally sourced milling operations to reduce my stock to our requirements for ship modeling.  Its a very cost effective way to have a good supply of quality wood.

Boxwood reply info sheet.pdf