popeye2sea

This would also only be possible if the port was fitted with a port scuttle

Great information! Though I am not convinced about the gun port being closed after each shot.  The port would have had to stay open to allow for the rammer, swab, and worm to be able to be inserted into the muzzle for loading the next round.
 
Regards,
 

Planking is FUN!!
 

Thank you to everyone for your likes and comments, and thank you MD!
 
Yes, EJ, the process of making and fitting bulkheads seemed okay, theoretically, but I was a little skeptical about how my planking would ultimately resolve into the plank rebate, along the hull sides.
 
In the end, I will have to file the outer hull flush with the new transom planking and re-scribe the joints into the plank ends, but that’s a small price to pay.
 
The next big litmus test for this build will be - as Druxey notes - planking the stern counter, which is a subtle reverse curve.  And I will likely be modifying the profile of those false balcony extensions, once again, to match the profile I drew for the quarter galleries.  It is that shape I drew, after all, that will be used to pattern the upper bulkhead formers that are spaced between the stern windows.
 
After that, though, I get to see whether I can re-cycle the kit’s stern windows to make up the six-window span.  At the moment, I have no fewer than three stern plates to cut from, thanks to Henry and Guy.  That will give me enough spare stock to figure out how best to bend the windows to the round-up curvature.  As Daffy has done with his Victory, I will also be thinning the window mullions down so that they don’t appear so heavy.
 
Hopefully, if all goes well the new windows will look like this photo-copy cut and paste job:

In truth, a part of me would prefer to make the lowest tier from scratch, in order to achieve a closer fidelity to the size and shape of what Berain drew.  There is also the consideration that the windows of the QGs will all be made from scratch, and will be slightly different from Heller’s version.  I’m not sure that bothers me enough to ignore the time-savings of recycling.
 
The other variance with what was likely the reality of the ship would be the placement of the two stern balcony access doors on the middle and upper balcony.  The following survey drawings were made of the ship’s actual interior, in 1688, while the re-build was well underway:

Perhaps I can do a little surgical gymnastics to match this, or just bash the doors from scratch, into their proper locations.  I just haven’t put any real thought into it yet.

Truly incredible. It is a rare thing to see this much framing work done on a plastic build as usually (and I or one am guilty of it) the builder simply slaps the two hull halves together and closes the seams with putty as needed. The customization work takes place with the guns, deck furniture and rigging. The hull is accepted as is and other than the paint job, there is nothing unique about it. What you are doing in changing the entire structure of a molded plastic hull is such a rarity that it is a unique joy to watch as well as inspiring. 
 
If you ever get around to publishing that book or even if you simply compile your notes and images from this log and wish to sell them, let me know as that would be something worth buying.

The pics:
 

pictures not visible

Oh ! I almost forgot ! I can post some pictures of a carpenter I painted a few weeks ago. It's a resin 3D printed work by Bernard Huc, a man on the french forum "marine et modélisme d'arsenal", and he was kind enough to give me a 1/72 carpenter. Here is the thing.

 
 


 

The lower transom bulkheads are all in and faired.  All but two of the lower deck beams are in.  I wanted to install the lateral round-up former at the counter level, however, I realized that I should first make a pattern of the interior planking rabbet, as the vertical bulkheads would need to match this shape.
 
With a piece of green tape abutting the wing transom former (in the hope that I could simultaneously establish the bottom angle of the fashion pieces), I took a tracing of the planking rabbet:

With drawing curves, I established a fair line, and I also marked the inboard and outboard boundaries of the lateral formers so that I knew how deep the cantilever of these counter bulkheads needed to be.
 
After connecting all the dots, this is the over-tall pattern that I arrived at:

I cut close to my lines and then tested the pattern at various points along the wing transom.  On the starboard side, from which I established the pattern, agreement between the bulkhead former and the outboard profile of the fashion pieces was very nearly identical.
 
However, as I moved the bulkhead pattern across the wing transom to the port side, it became visually apparent that the shape of the port side fashion piece was a different, more compressed arc.  The question became just how much these two shapes differed, and what to do about it.
 
Doing nothing would result in an unfair and awkward run of the planking as it seated on the port side.  Creating two different patterns that converged toward the centerline did not seem like a better approach.
 
This difference was difficult to ascertain, concretely, by eyeballing the bulkhead pattern as I shifted it slightly inboard or outboard, relative to the fashion pieces.  It dawned on me, though, that I could make a “negative space” pattern from the bulkhead former and then offer that up directly to the fashion piece profile.

Above, on the starboard side, the match is nearly perfect.  However, on the port side, I could now clearly see the variance:

I could also, now, use my negative pattern to trace a new line over the top end of the fashion piece, just beneath where the stern counter rises:

With that sorted out, it became a simple matter of reshaping the outboard profile, in order to achieve a perfect match between starboard and port.
This same principal could then be applied to the planking rabbet, in order to ensure that the rabbet was a consistent depth, all along:


This new reference line showed me exactly how much higher I now needed to set the counter former on the port side:

By this point, I was getting too tired to reliably do the actual fitting, so I left off here.  After making these adjustments, though, I should be able to glue in the counter former and use one bulkhead pattern to frame-in this space.

This is a confusing subject.  My research indicates that in the US Navy boats were designated by both type and service.  For example, the “lifeboat” was a boat suspended from davits that be quickly launched to rescue a man overboard.  The boat needed to be a good seaboat; often a whaleboat (a Navy design, not a true whaleboat).
 
The only authorative text about Royal Navy Practice  that I know of is CDR May’s Warship’s Boats book.  I don’t have access to my copy at the moment but if my memory is correct the RN did utilize a specially designed lifeboat.
 
Again, American Practice,  the gig is the Captain’s boat and the barge is the boat used when a flag Officer is embarked.  So, yes it would be quite possible for a ship to carry specially finished whalers designated as gig and barge to be used by the captain and flag officer (if embarked).
 
Most warships of any size did carry a launch to do the heavy lifting; hauling ordnance, setting out anchors, and watering.
 
Period photos document the proliferation of boats, especially during peacetime as boats were handy tools to help the ship to get its job done.
 
Roger

It’s been a solid week in my dry-dock.  I decided, after all, to fir-out the stem piece, and now - short of a Battle with Bar Floor, as Popeye2Sea once funnily quipped - there should be little chance of my bow crumbling.

I also added a series of tabs 1/8”x1/8”, along the hull/base joint before glassing the whole thing over with epoxy.

So, now I could turn my attention to the fully scratch-built component of this project - the stern.
 
Earlier, I had created an over-wide pattern for the lateral/outboard (port to starboard) curve of the round-up, but I also needed to create an over-wide pattern for the upward-arching camber of the round-up, as round-up is a combination of these two curvatures.
 
For this camber pattern, I used the bottom edge of the stock kit stern plate to establish the line.

This is necessary because I will be extracting the stock stern windows from this plate and heat-bending them to conform to the lateral round-up.  I’m always looking to recycle what I can, so I suppose the stern isn’t “completely” scratch.
 
For my immediate needs, though, I duplicated the camber pattern and made a glueing fixture with a 1/4” separation between the two curves.
 
The reason for that is that I am laminating 2, 1/16” pieces of sheet styrene to form lateral framing ties that bridge the transom, and tie the whole model together.
 
The first of these, above the base plate, is in the position of what would be the wing transom of a traditionally framed ship.  For the sake of all SR nerds out there (like me 🤓), I will note that the Tanneron/Heller positioning of the wing transom is below the stern chase ports - as popularly became the French practice after 1672?/73; the actual first SR had a wing transom that remained above the chase ports, even after the re-build of 1689 - if the Berain stern drawing is to be interpreted as a literal document of the ship’s actual framing.
 
So, for this model, I set to work patterning my “wing transom” below the ports.  In order to make reasonably accurate measurements, inside the hull, I cut two strips of scrap styrene so that they were each about an inch longer than the centerline.  I cut points on one end if each strip, and then I lapped the strips and extended those points to both the outboard and inboard spans that I was trying to measure.  Once I made contact, at each end, I marked the overlap of the strips with a sharp pencil, so that I could then measure that against my ruler.  One picture would have explained all of that very succinctly, but I failed to take that picture😔
 
Anyway, after a fair amount of fitting, I got one lamination pretty close to the right fit (without spreading the upper span of the stern more than I wanted), and then used that first piece to mark out and cut the second lamination.  Factored into the layout of these pieces is an extra 1/32” of an inch, beyond the straight span, so that the piece will still fit snuggly after the camber is induced.
 
After spreading plenty of styrene adhesive, I taped the assembly into my camber jig and left it over-night.

Although I was skeptical that such a shallow curve would impart much permanence to the cured assembly - there was virtually no spring-back:

So, then, I did the final fitting (except for the stern post notch) and glued the wing transom in place.  In order to make the glue-up easier to locate, I glued in positive stops (small trapezoidal tabs) just above each joint, in order to ensure that the WT lands between the two lower main wales, on each side.


Tabs visible in pic, below;

For the stern post, I laminated four pieces of 1/16” sheet into a 1” x 2” billet.  It’s way over-size, but I wanted plenty of room to layout the vertical round-up of the lower transom and the corresponding rake of the stern post.  After easing the plate notches to accommodate the stern post billet, I was pleased to see that the assembly had remained square.
 
My plan for the stern post is that it will notch into and also support the wing transom from underneath, as a means of ensuring that the camber remains consistent throughout the construction process.  In the next picture, you can see how the billet notches into and over the base plate and into and under the WT:

Also pictured are the lateral blanks being made for the next  level of the stern, at the level of the stern counter.
 
For visual guidance, in laying out the vertical roundup, and the rake of the stern post, I referenced Lemineur’s monograph of the SP (visible on the chair):

The curve of the round-up is pretty well proscribed between the outboard edge of the WT and the planking rabbet of the base plate.  I had to re-draw the rake of the stern post several times in order to find the happy medium that looked appropriate, while helping to balance the somewhat exaggerated overhang of my stern counter:

The outboard parallel line indicates the beveling of the stern post.  The rudder, itself, will be a separate assembly, however, I am not concerned about that, at the moment.  I will be, though, when I have to pierce the counter planking, in order to accommodate the rudder head - what the French call the “Jaumiere.”
 
I’ll now need to profile the stern post.  I’m not sure whether the stern post also receives a slight out-board taper, but I’ll investigate that.  It may be possible for the sternpost to notch into and support the camber for the counter-spanning piece, which I have nearly completed fitting:

Here, my finger induces the camber that the gluing fixture will soon impart:

Once this second camber piece is glued in place, along with the stern post, I can frame in the vertical members that will make planking possible.
 
Thank you to everyone for your likes, your comments and for looking in.  Have a wonderful weekend!

I was going to wait a little longer to  post, in order to also show interior re-enforcements, but today was something of a milestone.
 
Today, this project ceased to be merely a collection of super detailed and modified parts; today, my collection of parts became the beginnings of a scale model!
 
The foundation of the model is 5/32” sheet styrene.  After scribing a centerline, and clamping the hull halves together, at the stem, I set the transom distance, apart, at 3 7/8” for the lower stern counter.  This is the space allowance, within the exterior planking, that I need to incorporate the missing sixth stern light.
 
The arc for the round-up of the transom was a gentle curve, by eye, and in accordance with what Lemineur shows in his monograph for the St. Philippe.
 
After tacking the hull in place, with blue tape, I used a mechanical pencil to mark both the interior and exterior location of each hull half.  This was necessary, as my objective, in the glue-up, was to set the hull halves down on the plinth and allow them to set, without top weights.  When I tried to use a book or two as a top-weight, during the glue-up procedural trial, the extra weight would inevitably introduce a noticeable degree of hull distortion, while opening gaps at the plinth joint.
 



Once my lines were clearly established, I scribed them all in with a no. 11 knife.  Above, the transom appears radically out of square, but this is merely a trick of perspective.  I squared the transom layout with a Starrett combo square.
 
After scribing in my lines, I sanded the surface of the plinth base with 150 grit paper.  Of all modeling materials, styrene is questionably more ephemeral than most, so I like to ensure both a solid welded bond and a solid mechanical bond, for the later application of epoxy. Sanding assists both ends.
 
A slightly less distorted pic of the squared transom:




A few of the pictures, above, create an exaggeratedly spread impression of the transom, but again, this has more to do with my inept photography.  These two pictures, above, give a better sense for the reality.
 
Next, I wanted to incorporate a series of doubling strips for the bow, waist and stern.  The waist doubling, will also serve as the footing for the main mast, and so, it is scribed with cross-hairs to mark the mast location.



The tapered arc pattern to the left, here, is actually a wider pattern that I will need to carry the round-up, up through the stern.  It is merely taped, here, for convenience’s sake.
 
After sanding these doublings, I glued them down within their scribe lines.



The two holes drilled along the centerline are for the quarter/20 screw and nut that will attach the model to it’s plywood construction base

The comparison, above, illustrates the comparable sense of breadth, achieved with the bow extensions, while allowing for the more rounded Heller Hull form.  The St. Philippe is notably flatter in the waist and bluffer in the bow, nevertheless, both proposals offer a stable platform for heavy armament, IMO.
 
So, with all of that sorted out, I taped-off from the waterline, up, to avoid glue seepage above the waterline.



I applied a generous bead of styrene glue (Testors liquid) to both the hull edge and the plinth edge, in order to ensure a good, welded bond between both surfaces.
 
There was good white/black seepage, along most of the edge, indicating a strong bond.  I will use a coarse card file to pare back the heavy 1/32” of excess plinth, outside the hull.  It will be clear when the card file frees the masking tape from the glue squeeze-out.
 
While the glue-up was in process, I worked this paint spatula, beneath the plinth, in those areas where there was no squeeze-out - indicating an area where there was not a perfect mating surface.  My belief is that doing so made a positive weld across 95% of the joint surface.

The subsequent gusseting will only serve to stiffen the construction.
 
At the end of the day, this really doesn’t amount to much, but for me - this is very gratifying.  I appreciate every one of you who have stuck it out this long.
 
Thank you all very much for taking an interest in this project.
 
 

Nice work on the carriages. I particularly like the way you did the carriage bolts.  Much less time consuming and fiddly than the way I did mine.  Wish I had thought of that.
 
IMO the molded notches for the trunnions sit a bit too high and the pegs/pins for the attachment points for the cap squares are too large.  The cap squares are the the parts that hold the gun barrel to the carriage. They fit over the trunnions.  One end hinges on one of the pegs the other is fastened with a through pin.
 
Regards,

Not sure what you mean by reef line.  Are you referring to reef points or a reef tackle?  Also to my knowledge Constitution does not set a crossjack or mizzen course.  The sole purpose of the crossjack yard is to spread the foot of the mizzen topsail.
 
Regards,

Nice work on the carriages. I particularly like the way you did the carriage bolts.  Much less time consuming and fiddly than the way I did mine.  Wish I had thought of that.
 
IMO the molded notches for the trunnions sit a bit too high and the pegs/pins for the attachment points for the cap squares are too large.  The cap squares are the the parts that hold the gun barrel to the carriage. They fit over the trunnions.  One end hinges on one of the pegs the other is fastened with a through pin.
 
Regards,

I am contemplating how to fix the area around the head of the ship.  The knee of the head is in two sections (upper and lower) separated by a gap with two cheeks  I am thinking of filling in the gap between the cheeks with a piece that I will carve with decorations to match some of the other decoration of the ship.  I also want to add in the timbers that are missing that would have held up the head rails and head deck.
 
I am looking for some advise here.  As you can see in the photo below if I construct the timbers by having them arise from the top of the upper cheek they will have a nearly horizontal lead out to the lowest head rail.  The other options would be to have them arise from the top of the lower cheek or to have them run from the upper cheek to the middle head rail.
 
Any thoughts?

 
 
Henry

Nice work on the carriages. I particularly like the way you did the carriage bolts.  Much less time consuming and fiddly than the way I did mine.  Wish I had thought of that.
 
IMO the molded notches for the trunnions sit a bit too high and the pegs/pins for the attachment points for the cap squares are too large.  The cap squares are the the parts that hold the gun barrel to the carriage. They fit over the trunnions.  One end hinges on one of the pegs the other is fastened with a through pin.
 
Regards,

This would also only be possible if the port was fitted with a port scuttle

This would also only be possible if the port was fitted with a port scuttle

Great information! Though I am not convinced about the gun port being closed after each shot.  The port would have had to stay open to allow for the rammer, swab, and worm to be able to be inserted into the muzzle for loading the next round.
 
Regards,
 

Great information! Though I am not convinced about the gun port being closed after each shot.  The port would have had to stay open to allow for the rammer, swab, and worm to be able to be inserted into the muzzle for loading the next round.
 
Regards,
 

Great information! Though I am not convinced about the gun port being closed after each shot.  The port would have had to stay open to allow for the rammer, swab, and worm to be able to be inserted into the muzzle for loading the next round.
 
Regards,
 

Great information! Though I am not convinced about the gun port being closed after each shot.  The port would have had to stay open to allow for the rammer, swab, and worm to be able to be inserted into the muzzle for loading the next round.
 
Regards,
 

So, some bit of progress.  The lower hull is completely painted!
 
The most time-consuming aspect of this was getting good clean lines where the wales join the side planking.  One of the peculiarities of the kit is that the wales are moulded with tremendous variation in their projection from the hull planking; around the bow, it’s almost 3/32”, but in other places, it’s a shy 1/32”.
 
The important thing is that the line be clean, and not bleed onto the planking.  I have had little success with masking, so the best way was to cut it in by hand.  When I did bleed, I would quickly wipe away the mistake with a dampened Q-tip.  If I noticed other irregularities, in process, I would very gently scrape away at the still-soft acrylic until the mistake disappeared.

What was satisfying is that I found an application for all of the distressing mediums that I had bought to experiment with.
 
The Van Dyke Brown oil paint was, of course, the main distressing agent.  I found that the starboard side - which I distressed after doing the port side - was darker in appearance, so I had to then go a little darker on the port side.
 
Rather than a full application of VDB, I applied small dabs with a Q-tip, in a sparse but well-distributed pattern, along the run of guns and between the wales.  I then used my “dirty” chip brush to spread and blend the paint, evenly, across the surface.  This was an easy solution to the problem, and quickly brought both sides into agreement.


The walnut ink was the perfect distress medium, over the ModelMaster Insignia Red of the gunport linings.  It was very easy to dial back the effect with a slightly damp brush, if the accumulation was too heavy.


Lastly, I was able to muddy the spray-primed ultra-white waterline  with two different Testors enamel stain washes; first, I brushed on a light layer of grey wash, and wiped off the excess with a Q-tip wrapped with a t-shirt scrap.  I found that two applications of the grey - one after the other, with only a 5-minute set time in-between - gave me a satisfyingly lead-white color.  To finish, though, I used a brown enamel wash, and only one coat was sufficient to give me the ring-around-the-ship effect of the vessel anchoring at what was likely a pretty polluted waterway, at Brest.  This was one area where leaving the moulded kit grain was beneficial because the grain caught traces of the brown wash.
 
The very last thing was to seal everything under a spray-coat of clear matte medium, which homogenized the two different kinds of black acrylic that I used for the port and starboard sides.
 
So, now, I can begin laying out the mounting base and constructing the model - 🥳!!

Most of the line you will find on a ship will be 3-strand right hand layed rope.  That is the basic, flexible type of rope.  Good for the running rigging because it bends nicely around pulleys.
Left hand layed rope was slightly stiffer, so you will see it used in some of the standing rigging; like shrouds.
Stays were often layed up around  a 'heart' strand.  This gave the rope additional strength.
Larger ropes were made up of three right hand laid ropes layed up left handed into a cable (cable laid);  an example would be the anchor cables.
 
While you can tell the difference at scale in right hand, left hand, and cable laid ropes you will never be able to tell if a stay has a heart.
 
Regards,