ChrisLBren

Hi, another pictures :
 
 

Hey Group,
If anyone is looking to upgrade and or wants to sell their current mf70 in good condition with any accessories - send me a PM.  US only.  
Thanks !  

Hi

The rear frames are mounted.
Karl 
 
 PART  3

I bought this product off Ebay and have a couple of jars of it - to me it works very similar to a sepia oil paint thinned wash.  Some of the Russians mix it with Tung Oil as a finish. 
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pentart-Liquid-Patina-30ml-Bitumen-for-Antiquing-Decoupage-/202061449669?epid=1565589069&hash=item2f0bcd09c5:g:xf0AAOSw7NpZw7GT

Proue and Lyres

Thank you all for such kind words, I put all my heart and will in this build, I take the time to make things as good as I can, and it's a nice reward to see that you like my work, I'm honored and it's pushing me forward to do the next steps as good as the previous ones. It's a very tough and painstaking work, very demanding in time and very rigorous. Encouragements are welcome !!  
Victor, in fact I'm very slow at work, and I'm alone ! My little boy is now 2 1/2 years, it's too young to be productive !   I even had to stop working on the SR for two years because of him, my job, and my martial arts gym. I only came back to the workshop a few weeks ago, in september. So I hope the build will now go on again ! Anyway thank you for your words that have great meaning to me. I really hope you will like the next steps !!
Marc, there are some flaws, but only I know where they are ! If you visit me eventually I will show you, but hopefully these are minor flaws... 
Indeed the sheerline is quite curved. I love these 3/4 views, where you can see the beauty of these curves. It seems much more linear in a side view, but the period drawings often shows 3/4 views. But I listened to your advice, (anyway that was something I had planed to do) and revised, not the top sheerline but the middle sheerline and dropped it a little more. (less than two mm, and it makes a difference) 
 
Here are the last pictures at this day, I did not post them earlier because of my job tooking me much time the last couple of days. Hope you will like them. The neon lights of the workshop make the ship a little bit darker than she is. 
 
 

Beautiful cabinet Mike !  Id personally go dark - your ship is swiss pear - that color will "pop" against a dark base.  Then again I am biased - I'm using a black base with my Confederacy

All parts of the case are finished, so starting the glue-up, side panes first.
 
First thing to do is to find a flat surface to glue on, since the sides are too flexible (both wood and plexiglas) to be rigid. 
My workbench is not flat enough (beech wood it is made of swells a lot with humidity, leading to warpage), but luckily the case base is dead flat and stable, since it is a torsion box. Checked with the straight edge:

 
Then I need to mask every part with blue tape, to reduce the mess after epoxy. For that I did a number of trials with different types of masking tape available locally, to find the one that leaks the less (epoxy can leak under some tapes). Scalpel is used to cut it just enough to let epoxy get out and avoid trapping it in the joint:

 
The rest is a time race:
1) Apply a bit of epoxy to all future joints (8 surfaces). They are all endgrain-to-endgrain (well, diagonal grain), so needs to pre-absorb some epoxy, otherwise the glue joint would be weak when real epoxy would be sucked into the grain.
2) Plexiglas is attached to the wood with a silicone glue, so every groove need to get a continuous line of it. (4 grooves)
3) Carefully insert the glass without moving it too much to avoid messy silicone glue squeeze-out.
4) Connect joints together, applying thick epoxy to it as you go.
5) Align everything, check squareness
6) Clamp and re-check again.
 

 
It was not so easy to keep track of all that, especially with a 10-15min working time for both glues.
Epoxy gets out to the masking tape, but all the mess stays on it:

 
So the first side ended up so-so, with some joints having gaps. But this side would be less visible than the other, so should be ok.

 
Full view:

 
After a full assembly, I will scrape and sand all jonts to make sure they are nice and flush. 
Second side window was much smoother, all joints look tight with no gaps. I have big hopes for that second side

 
The moment of truth is coming - joining these sides together with a top glass and front frame. Really hope that I will not need to scrap the entire thing and start over...

Work on the Fleuron continues.













 





 

Thanks for the kind words Kurt and Adam - really appreciate it.  It was a really fun build.
Chris

Yes thats the French ship with the curves.    Have a look at Patricks log here on MSW to see how beautiful this hull is - he's done an amazing job.  I can't wait to see how he handles the sculptures.  As far as the twins - yes it may be time to update their photos - they will be 5 in January !  

Below are the process photos of the floorboard installation. Shaping the planks was accomplished first. I traced a cap to create the rounded shape at the bow. Next step was to install the middle plank. After this dried, the next two outer planks were glued. Finally, the last two planks were installed. Wipe-on-Poly was applied the following day. Five non-consecutive days to complete this process. 
 
After applying the finish I noticed a plank was a bit loose. This will be fastened before the next steps. 
Steve

Put a pin in this one - Confederacy is completed !  I wrapped it up earlier this week than  I thought this evening - here are the latest photos.  I think the area I want to improve the most with the next build is metal work - my anchor bands look a bit chunky.  Johann is an inspiration in that area.  But overall very satisfied with the build and the enjoyment it gave me over the last 8 years.  Thanks again for all of the support/encouragement and comments.  And thank you Chuck for second to none plans and guidance with this build.  

Hi, another pictures

I am just wrapping up the MFG for the first 13 barge kits.  All of these kits are already sold.  They will be going to the San Diego club as they will be building this as a group.   I am waiting on a new delivery of wood to make the next batch and they will be placed on the site for sale.   I just wanted to keep all of you guys in the loop on my progress.  
 
In addition,  and this is good news all around.....after making the first 13 kits I was able to get a better handle on the time and $$$ for their cost.  Based on this info I am happy to report that my original price of $245 per kit was a bit high as I can produce them a bit cheaper than originally thought.  Therefore when they are released the price will actually be $225 per kit.  Shipping in the US will be just $7.50 while International shipping will be $22.50 which is the actual cost for most countries while a few others are even higher but I will cap it at $22.50 regardless.
 
Chuck

Hi All,
 
Bit of a catch up here. I've set the mast and have rigged the gaff and boom.
 
For the parrel I too used left over beads I had on hand. Mine were black though.
 

 
So far so good and still having fun!

Put a pin in this one - Confederacy is completed !  I wrapped it up earlier this week than  I thought this evening - here are the latest photos.  I think the area I want to improve the most with the next build is metal work - my anchor bands look a bit chunky.  Johann is an inspiration in that area.  But overall very satisfied with the build and the enjoyment it gave me over the last 8 years.  Thanks again for all of the support/encouragement and comments.  And thank you Chuck for second to none plans and guidance with this build.  

This is a spectacular build - I've been watching your progress on the Ancre site - such a gorgeous model - congrats !

Hey Group,
I just ordered the La Renommee Monograph  from Ancre.  I have fallen in love with this French ship.  The extreme tumblehome, oblique inner planking, and sculptures seduced me.  I will be figuring out the case situation for Confederacy while I wait for the Monograph to arrive.  Thanks again for your likes and compliments regarding Confederacy.  
Chris

Thanks Mark - I will have to up my game with carving - but that's a skill I'm interested in mastering. To me - sculptures are the very thing that transforms a ship model into art. I can't wait for the Monograph to arrive ! 

Thanks Mark - I will have to up my game with carving - but that's a skill I'm interested in mastering. To me - sculptures are the very thing that transforms a ship model into art. I can't wait for the Monograph to arrive ! 

Hey Group,
I just ordered the La Renommee Monograph  from Ancre.  I have fallen in love with this French ship.  The extreme tumblehome, oblique inner planking, and sculptures seduced me.  I will be figuring out the case situation for Confederacy while I wait for the Monograph to arrive.  Thanks again for your likes and compliments regarding Confederacy.  
Chris

My workshop is just barely big enough Ben !  LOL.  Again terrific save - most might have trashed the entire build after your setback.  Look forward to your progress in the Fall....

Nice save Ben and killer workshop !