popeye2sea

That looks like the lacing of the sail to its mast hoops

And two more, the 'main' bilge pumps:
 

 
Best,
Michiel

Also bear in mind that if you are displaying your guns run out that they are in their firing position so decorative coils are not appropriate.

Good morning everyone
 
and that concludes this thread, i think i have posted something everyday, at present i have nothing to replace it with, thank-you for the support you have given it

Also bear in mind that if you are displaying your guns run out that they are in their firing position so decorative coils are not appropriate.

I still maintain that the gun tackles were faked down and not coiled.  Faking the tackles would allow them to run free an not kink or jam when the gun recoiled.

I still maintain that the gun tackles were faked down and not coiled.  Faking the tackles would allow them to run free an not kink or jam when the gun recoiled.

All of the gilding on my Soleil Royal build is done with Testors Gold enamel.  I am very pleased with the results.  The one thing you have to make sure of is that you stir or remix the paint frequently.  Even after very short periods of time the pigment starts to settle out and the finish starts to go on very dull.

First, wash the parts in warm soapy water to remove any release agent.
The method you use to glue the parts together really depends on the type of glue you are using.  If you are using a liquid solvent type of plastic cement (actually melts the two parts together) an efficient way of joining the hull halves together is to put the parts together and then run the glue applicator along the joint.  The cement will wick into the joint by capillary action.  It's easier than applying cement to the halves first and risking over gluing or messy smears while trying to fit the hull halves together.

First, wash the parts in warm soapy water to remove any release agent.
The method you use to glue the parts together really depends on the type of glue you are using.  If you are using a liquid solvent type of plastic cement (actually melts the two parts together) an efficient way of joining the hull halves together is to put the parts together and then run the glue applicator along the joint.  The cement will wick into the joint by capillary action.  It's easier than applying cement to the halves first and risking over gluing or messy smears while trying to fit the hull halves together.

Found the link to this print on reddit.com  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Regulus_under_attack_by_British_fireships_August_11_1809.jpg
 
Its an image from the Battle of Basque Rodes of April 11th 1809 ( Its the anniversary!)  and it depicts Cochrane's fireships attacking anchored French ships in the Basque Roads.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Basque_Roads
 
 
Of interest to me was the appearance of what appear to be signal lanterns seized into the mizzen shrouds in triangular patterns port and starboard on the anchored French ship. I have never seen this practice demonstrated anywhere else, its new to me and I figured it could be of interest to others as well.
There is a lot of great rigging detail in this print.

First, wash the parts in warm soapy water to remove any release agent.
The method you use to glue the parts together really depends on the type of glue you are using.  If you are using a liquid solvent type of plastic cement (actually melts the two parts together) an efficient way of joining the hull halves together is to put the parts together and then run the glue applicator along the joint.  The cement will wick into the joint by capillary action.  It's easier than applying cement to the halves first and risking over gluing or messy smears while trying to fit the hull halves together.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.
 
The build was a big hit at the Shipwright Guild meeting.  I got some good tips on soldering techniques for the upcoming deadeyes and chainplates project. The cannon rigging continues....a long and tedious project.  But, it is progress none the less.  Of course it is taking longer because I keep refining my methods as I go along.  The first cannon in place is a test piece.  Here are some pics of it as it is today.  I may still change some things.  I think I will make the breeching thicker.
 

 

 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards,

I had a bit of a set back (at least in my mind) and I would like your opinions.  After taking a long time with painting all of that gilt work on the ships sides, stern and quarter galleries, I wanted to put a coat of lacquer over all to protect the paint.  I sprayed the sides with dull cote and the result is to my eye a bit disheartening.  I do not like how dull the gold becomes, but I do not think there is any way to fix it, or if I should even try.
 

 
I am thinking of leaving the quarter galleries and stern with more of a bright finish even though there will be a contrast with the sides.
 
What do you think?   Any suggestions?
 
 

Finally have some new progress to report. Seems like there is never enough time to work on the build.
 
I am working on correcting the deficiencies in the head of the ship. Since no one really knows what this area of the ship looked like I took some artistic license. I was also pointed in the direction of a build log on another site which gave me some good ideas.
 
Here's what I came up with:
 
I filled the space between the cheeks with a billet carved from styrene stock. Then I cast some silicone molds using the decoration on one of the quarter galleries and cast some pieces in resin.
 




 
Here are the resin pieces mounted and painted

 
Next I carved some head rail timbers from strip styrene

 
And mounted them




 
Then I cast another decoration to ornament the head timbers and mounted them to finish out this project

 
And here is a couple of pics with the head rails and grating temporarily fitted


 
That's all for now.
Thanks for looking in on the build.
 
P.S. I'm hoping this is not too horrible a build. No one has commented yet

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

First parts of the rigging.
I decided to rig the ship using as a reference The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast by R.C. Anderson. I chose sizes of rigging thread accordingly. Here you see the wooldings, the gammoning and the Main Stay. The thread is poly/cotton dyed black using Minwax Ebony stain. It took a few attempts to get an eye splice turned in; not so bad on the 0.08 inch diameter Main stay but a real bear on the 0.03 inch Gammoning. I don't think I will be making real eye splices on anything smaller than that. I'm sure simulated ones will look just fine for the smaller rope. The wooldings are 0.02 inch and seized around the masts using the method of taking the required number of turns round the mast and over a bight in the line and heaving the ends taught underneath by pulling the bight down beneath the turns. Not all the wooldings have been put on the Fore Mast yet. You can also see the mast coat I added to the main mast. I will put one on the Fore and Mizzen once the deck level can be determined.

I still need to raise a mouse on the Main Stay and seize a treble block in on the lower end.
 




 
Enjoy,
 
Henry
 

Here is the start on some of the brightwork. The unpainted area of the after bulwarks is where the quarter gallery will go.

I opened the quarter galleries. Still working on fitting floors for the quarter galleries out of sheet styrene. The ornamentation that was cut out of the openings will be mounted on the bulwarks.
 






 
 
 
 

I've finally found the time to reconstruct my build log after the great crash of 2013
 
Some of the pictures are lost so the log does not start at the beginning.
 
This is my first serious foray into ship modeling. I say first serious attempt because 30+ years ago I built a Revell USS Constitution. But I was still in High School and not very concerned with accuracy or craftsmanship. I just wanted to finish the kit and display it. This kit of Soleil Royal was given to me as a gift way back then and I am just getting around to continuing building it.
 
I am very much looking forward to a build that I can be proud of. Even though I know that my skills are not up to par with some of you I am trying to incorporate as much research and accuracy as I can muster in a plastic kit.
 
Here are some of the pictures of what has been done. I'll try to summarize what I've done so far to catch everyone up.





 
 
I decided to display the ship with all gunports closed to starboard and opened on the port side. Eventually I plan on setting just the fighting sails (topsails, mizzen, and perhaps the spritsail topsail)  with the courses clewed up. 
I did not like the look of the eyebolts supplied with the kit so I replaced them with brass. The holes for them were drilled and the eyebolts pass completely through the upper wale. The ends will be trimmed and bent over to lay alongside the inner bulkhead. The ends will lay inside the gap between the hull and the upper bulwarks, in an area that needs to be filled anyway. Doing the eyebolts this way should also prevent any pullout cause by strain from rigging.
 
I am leaving the lower hull unpainted for now until a proper cradle/base is finished. I don't want to ruin the paint job. It will be painted a dirty white to represent white stuff.  I also drilled a hole through the bottom of the keel, roughly amidships, and fastened a threaded nut inside the hull over it prior to fitting the decks. This will take a bolt from the base to fasten the model down to it. I don't know how other people secure their models to the display bases so I just improvised with what I had on hand.
 
The head grating in the bow has been noted by others to be a problem with this kit. It has no supporting structure to it and seems to be just floating there. I do not know how this would have looked with respect to ornamentations and design, so I have not decided what to do with this area yet.  [/size]
 
The decks went in easily. The kit has a series of stanchions along the centerline of the first battery deck to support the 2nd battery deck. There are none for between the 2nd and 3rd battery. As a result there is a lot of flex in the 3rd battery deck. Since there will be quite a bit of rigging fastened here that will produce an upward strain on the deck I added some extra support. I trimmed some sprue to length to make stanchions for the centerline to hold the deck up. And I added a boot (coat?) to the base of the mainmast to hold the deck down. The mast coat was fashioned from sheet styrene and quarter round molding. The masts are dry fit at this point. I do not think I will cement them to the step. I'm going to let the rigging hold them in.
 
I added some shims beneath the hatch gratings to raise the gratings above the deck level to give the appearance of a coaming. All of the eyebolts for the decks were replaced with brass.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
.

Hi
I'm a bit surprised by the very positive comments on my painting work on my Fly model. It is a quite easy process from my point of view so I thought I'd share my technique. Forgive me to all of you who know this already or do it better. My painting technique dates back to house painting in my student years, the principles are the same.
 
Brushes:
- Do not scrimp by buying cheap brushes. Get the best quality, sable hair, that you can afford.
- For painting a large area of your model use a square headed brush about 3 mm - 4mm wide with a tapered head and medium stiffness. Same as house painting but at a much smaller scale.
- Look after your brushes. Clean them in lacquer thinners, turpentine or water according to the paint you use. Do not let them soak in any of these solutions. After the first clean wash them in hot water and concentrated dish wishing liquid. The idea is to get rid of any paint residue in the brush and especially in its barrel. Always clean straight after you finished the area painted. Good brushes treated well will last for years.
- For clear finishes I use a larger, soft, round or oval head brush - these give a softer application and allow quicker application than a square head. I find clear finishes work best if they go on quickly. I use Testors Dullcote but that is just my choice.
 
Application
- Several or many thin coats are better than a few thick coats. If the wood behind is showing behind your first coat you are on the right track.
- Do not overload the brush with paint. I take the paint from the pot or bottle and lay it with the brush on to a piece of fresh paper. I then brush out the loaded brush on the paper until it is only lightly loaded with paint.
- Work in one direction from one end to the other of the ship - aft to stern or the other way round. Never start in the middle and then head aft followed by forward.
- Never go back to a perceived mistake behind you in a single application. The paint will have tacked and, especially with enamels, you will get pulling which will turn a minor mistake into a major mess. You can fix that perceived mistake on the next coat.
- Always allow the paint to fully dry. Enamels need at least six hours. Partly dried paint if processed will make a major mess. When you sand the paint should turn to dust. If it rolls into little slivers it isn't dry.
- After each coat lightly sand with 1200 grit paper. If this takes the paint back to wood it doesn't matter there is another coat to come.
 
Finish
- After your last coat of paint, leave it to fully dry and the rub it down with tissue paper. This will even out any brush strokes and colour differences.
- Apply a lacquer (or your favourite clear finish). I use Testors Dullcote. When dry, Testors can again be rubbed back with tissue paper to a dull sheen. I also do a second coat of clear and rub it back again. If you have any shiny spots 1200 grit plus a further tissue rub will get rid of them.
 
The above only applies to easily accessed surfaces. Strakes, fenders and other things in the way will make the rub off impossible. My theory is to get the base painting about right before those bits are added. I could be proved wrong...
 
Here is a picture of the upper works paint plus the wales paint. the upper works are a Humbrol enamel, the wale a Polly Scale acrylic. A little bit of grain shows through which suits me. This is more paint grain than wood grain. A too perfect finish would make the model too plastic looking (I'm not meaning to deride plastic models).
 
If any of you have better ideas I'd be keen to hear them - this works for me.
 
Cheers
Alistair

Steve, 
Sorry for the long wait on this reply.  Here is what I understand is a history of the ships configurations.
 
As built Constitution had open rails ( no enclosed gunwales) from abreast of the foremast to the taffrail with stanchions defining the gun ports on the quarterdeck aft of the main mast.  The line of the cap rail did not follow the sheer line, it had a flatter appearance. Her bowsprit was steeved higher than it is currently. She had open head rails and ornately carved trailboards with a figurehead representing Hercules.  She was pierced for and carried 30 guns on the gun deck and carried 14 carronades on the quarter deck (rated as a 44).  The carronades on the fore deck were added later bringing her war of 1812 armament to 50 - 54 guns (including bow chasers).  The transom was ornately decorated and had 5 windows
 
I believe that the first Corne painting that you posted depicts this configuration.
 
Sometime around 1802-1803 Captain Preble was fitting out for her Mediterranean cruise and it is at this time that the section of rail aft of the mainmast was closed in by a solid gunwale.
 
After a collision with President in the Mediterranean on Sep 12, 1804 Constitution lost her jib boom, flying jib boom and part of her bowsprit.  Also lost were her figurehead and parts of her cutwater and head rails..  Repairs in Malta were functional only and her bow has never looked the same since. She received a billet head in place of her figurehead and the trailboards and head rails were not restored to her original appearance.  The head rails were still open during the war with Britain.  Subsequent overhauls and repairs would gradually alter her bow appearance to what it is today.
 
During 1812 Captain Hull opened three gunports in the upper transom (above the windows) in order to fire stern chasers at the British squadron.
The second Corne painting you posted shows this configuration.
 
During a refit in the 1830's  the sheer line of the gun and spar decks was lowered aft of the main mast.  2 1/2 feet in height was added to the bulwarks from the main gangways aft to the transom.  The fore mast was shifted 2 feet aft and its rake was increased 2 1/2 degrees. The main mast was shifted 2 feet forward. The mizzen was shifted 13 inches aft. The rudder port was lowered and the rudder head moved forward.  A dog leg was added to the tiller to clear the deck beams of the lowered gun deck.  The transom was moved slightly aft.
 
During her conversion to a school ship for the US Naval Aceademy in 1858 two of the windows of the stern were filled in

Stay tackles in conjunction with yard tackles would be used to sway out cargo from the holds.  The yards would be braced round so that the tackle was more in line with the hatch.  The tackles would be hooked to the load and the stay tackle heaved upon to hoist the cargo clear of the hatch.  Hauling on the yard tackle and easing off the stay tackle would swing the cargo over the side of the ship till the yard tackle bore all the strain.  Easing off all together would lower the cargo to the pier or the lighter alongside.

As I mentioned before, the stern of this kit is a series of difficult fitting jobs.  The stern balconies were fitted in the order of lowest to highest.  The balconies were aligned as well as possible using the side profiles as a guide so that they match up to the quarter galleries.  Then the brackets were added to the undersides.  Any filling that was necessary was then done followed by touch up painting.  The carved pillars were added last followed by more touch up paint.  I had to add some height to the carved pillars between the second and top balcony by using some strip styrene shaped to form a continuation of their pedestals.  The large figures on the sides have no real attachment points so finding out where they actually come in contact with the various surfaces to prepare them for glue was interesting.  Those contact points are rather small, hopefully they will adhere well enough.  There remains to be added two reclining figures on the taffrail and the stern lanterns in order to complete the stern.  I have to wait until the poop deck is in before I can finish.
 
Overall, I am quite pleased with the result.
 




 
Thanks for looking
Regards,

Stay tackles in conjunction with yard tackles would be used to sway out cargo from the holds.  The yards would be braced round so that the tackle was more in line with the hatch.  The tackles would be hooked to the load and the stay tackle heaved upon to hoist the cargo clear of the hatch.  Hauling on the yard tackle and easing off the stay tackle would swing the cargo over the side of the ship till the yard tackle bore all the strain.  Easing off all together would lower the cargo to the pier or the lighter alongside.

No, this is no broadside ...
 

 
... nor fire alarm ...
 

 
... only ...
 

 
... one of the easiest ways to prevent things falling inside of the ship. Cheap, easily placed, easily taken out without danger for paint or flimsy details :-)
 
Cheers, Daniel