Landlubber Mike

Wow, stunning work Jason!

Thanks guys this is all very helpful information. Still not sure about adding “colors” to the build. I’m already adding blues, reds and whites to my Pegasus build, and not sure I want to take a similar approach here. There is a simple aesthetic elegance of working in as few colors as possible, as seen in the work by the European masters. For now, I think I’ll go with brown for the gun deck bulwarks and port sills - that will make things much easier. I can decide later as I move up to the main deck whether to add redheart or not.

Not sure if this is the right section to post this, but here goes. I am trying to finalize the color scheme on my Euromodel La Renommee build. I'm trying to avoid paint where possible, and right now I'm using walnut and cherry for dark and light brown, and will use black/ebony stains for black. I haven't fully decided what to do with the ornamentation, but I might break down and use gold with various washes. I'm considering whether to add other colors to the build. I have a little redheart that I could use for a touch of color. I could use it for a stripe on the upper outer hull, inner bulwarks on the main deck, and possibly the colors for the cabin walls under the quarterdeck. I wouldn't want to use a lot of red though, so, for example, would not make the bitts, capstan, other deck items, and gun carriages out of redheart. The ship has 40 guns, so 40 gun carriages is a lot of redheart. Then again, the kit included carriages are overscale and need a bit of work to reduce their dimensions - it can be done, but probably the same amount of work in the end as it is to just build new carriages in redheart. That leads me to a couple of questions: 1. If the inner bulwarks are red, would it look odd if the gun carriages are in brown? Do the carriages have to match the inner bulwarks? 2. If the inner bulwarks on the main deck level (which would be visible) are red, would the bulwarks on lower deck levels also be in red? The reason I ask is that it would be a bit of work (and I probably don't have enough redheart) to line the gunport sills, inside face of the gunport lids, and inner bulwarks on the gun deck in red. Typing this out, I'm wondering if I should drop the idea of adding redheart at all and just keep the model in brown/black/gold. But, in case I change my mind and want a little color, I just want to make sure that I understand the paint schemes on ships of the period so I end up with something that looks good aesthetically as well as is generally historically accurate. For what it's worth, I think the kit actually represents a Swedish ship, and I can't find much out there on color schemes except for some Gota Lejon (and the models and pictures I've seen have used various color schemes). Thanks in advance!

I have the Amati Pegasus/Fly practicum. I have to say it wasn't really worth it. He took a lot of shortcuts in putting it together, including using pictures from other models. He also rushed and did a lot of errors like gluing photo etch the wrong way and probably another half dozen errors he freely points out. A bit odd to buy something for instruction that essentially says "don't do as I do." I'd also note that he doesn't have anything on rigging in that practicum. Some really basic stuff came in handy when I was working on my first build (which wasn't the Pegasus) and had no clue what I was doing, but I probably could have gotten better answers posting here. Some people say the Constitution practicum is pretty good. Maybe it's a lot better than the Pegasus one, I don't know though.

I like them also Martin - very nice!! I'm a little curious where you come out on how to install them. I think we had discussed this on your log a while back, but it's hard to tell from the plans how they sit. They almost seem (at least on the Pegasus) to angle at like a 45 degree angle outward, so not fully square with the stern or fully square with the side of the ship, but sorta in between. Pinning would probably be the safest thing, but maybe you can run a pin from the figures' backs? Or pin them into the lower decorations which themselves are pinned in securely?

Really beautiful rigging Joe!

Hi Max, coming along really nicely. Look at the size and shape of the stem on the FWZP! I agree with you and Pete on Euromodel kits. I'm currently working on the La Renommee, and the plans are so detailed you have the ability to choose along a long spectrum of whether to build the kit from the box to almost a scratch build to somewhere in between. It's been fun and a great learning experience working on my kit so far.

I added new LED 4’ fixtures to my workroom. Amazing difference! My fluorescent was starting to go, and I noticed I was straining to see what I was working on. Having good light is very important! I tend to agree about having bright white light for a work area, versus softer whites for the rest of the house. When playing with woods and finishes though, I like to bring them to a room with natural sunlight/softer white lights.

Thank you Popeye, Santa was very good to us. I even got a few nice gifts this year. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well! Mark, that's what I did - though, I usually use my kids' Legos 🙈

Thanks guys. So assuming I go with the lids, is it more correct to go the TFFM way of planking the inner hull (where the planking covers the edges of the port sills) or zu Mondfeld? The cleanest I think would be the TFFM way, so that's what I was planning but open to doing it differently if there's a more correct way. Reason why I'm asking is that under the TFFM way, I'd line the gunport now after the first planking. Under zu Mondfeld, I'd have to run the second inner hull planking, then cut the gunport. Thanks!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help. So, I'm still not quite convinced that the ship represented by the kit is French (I have an extensive discussion about this on my build log). It clearly is taken from Chapman's Architectura (Plates 31 and 32), but there has been some research that Admiral Paris in his book miswrote a description and mistakenly ascribed the Chapman drawings to the French ship La Renommee. It clearly is a different ship from the one in the Ancre monograph (the dates also don't line up). My guess (and others as well, including zu Mondfeld) is that it is a Swedish ship as it shares many of the same design elements as Chapman's Venus: Looking at the Venus, there are gunport lids. The kit plans show gunport lids, and I took a look at a number of other builders of the Euromodel kit (or builders off its plans), and every one includes lids except for the one from Kenji Nakajima interestingly: https://www.euromodel-ship.com/eng/la-renommee-2.html Not sure if this is dispositive, but Chapman plate 32 shows the bridle ports with closed lids - does that mean if the bridle ports had lids, the rest of the gunport did as well? So, I'm not exactly sure what to do. I'm leanings towards adding lids I suppose given that Chapman's Venus plans clearly show lids. If a ship did have lids, I imagine there would need to be a sill?

I’m at the stage in my La Renommee build where I need to think about the gunports. I’ve completed the first planking, and will add not only a outside hull planking but an inner hull/bulwark planking as well. The question I had was on how the inner hull planking lines up with the port stops. TFFM says that the upper edge of the spirketting lines up at the same level as the tops of the lower sill stops, and that the quickwork is flush to the inner sides of the stops at the sides of the port. Zu Mondfeld’s picture doesn’t show the quickwork, but suggests the upper edge of the spirketting lines up with the bottom edge of the lower sill stop. I’m assuming TFFM is correct, so was thinking my construction sequence would be as follows: 1. Cut out gunports with an extra 3-4mm or so per side to account for gunport frames with sills using 1.5-2mm material. 2. Add the gunport frames, and sand them back to contours of outer and inner hull curvature so they line up flush on both sides of the first planking. 3. For the inner hull planking, run the planks so that the sills are overlapped (planking runs to edge of inner edge of sills). 4. For the outer hull planking, run the planks so they only slightly overlap the port frames to end up with the port sills equal to that on the plans. Does this seem like a reasonable approach? If zu Mondfeld was correct, I would probably change things be planking the inner hull planking first, then cut out the gunports, then finish with the outer hull planking. I’m hoping TFFM is correct because I think the construction process will be a lot easier and cleaner in the end. Thank you in advance for any advice. Merry Christmas and Happy 2019 to all my friends on here!

Sorry I was referring to the Wallace Mark. But I tend to agree with you too Mark on the use of spacers.

Thank you very much Robert, Nick, Pete and Mark. Really appreciate the kind words! Mark, I’m wondering about using spacers and braces between bulkheads. I’ve always been concerned that there might be some flex depending on the what the bulkheads are made of. For example, if basswood, there probably will be some flex. On the other hand, my Amati Pegasus used MDF, and there was zero flex. When I installed the spacers/braces, I was very careful to use Legos on the opposite sides of the bulkheads to keep them square. But, if your braces/spacers are slightly too short or too long, it seems to me that you end up pushing or pulling the bulkheads out of alignment. Is it just better to include square blocks in the corners where the bulkheads meet the keel? I don’t know. I guess you do your best, and make any adjustments when the skeleton is glued.

So I've finally had some free time and completed the first planking (I also installed some new overhead LED lighting which are making a world of difference in lighting up the workshop). I used my palm orbital sander to sand the hull down - it's a great tool that makes sanding much easier and quicker for jobs like these. I need to do some touch ups and finalize the heights of the bulwarks, but figured I could do that once I had a better idea of how things were lining up with the gunports, rails, etc. Wont need much filler at all, but I want to take another look at the top area near the stem, where the bulkheads seem to suggest a more vase-like curvature: Before doing all that, I spent considerable time measuring and adjusting the bulkheads. Part of the issue is that the replacement keel Euromodel sent me to replace the kit's warped keel was itself slightly warped with a very tiny twist beginning near the eighth bulkhead. I thought I had largely resolved it (using blocks and wood brackets between the bulkheads), but when looking at the stern directly from the back I noticed that there was a slight lean about 2mm towards port. That meant that the starboard side was too high and too far to the midline, and the port side was too low and and a touch too far to port. So that required hours of measuring, adding/subtracting material, etc. Everything now looks much more symmetrical and square. It was a pain, but I'm glad I took the time. I also had to make some adjustments to the quarterdeck area bulkhead tops. As PiratePete notes in his very helpful build notes, BH 14 needed extra material. I also ended up having to add material to BH 11 - BH 13 to varying degrees to get the proper slope to the quarterdeck. I noticed, however, that one of the plans has the quarterdeck more level while another plan has it more on an incline. I went with the latter and will deal with it once I am closer to installing the quarterdeck. I also added material to the ledge where the rear balcony sits (just aft of the stern extensions in the picture below). In part I needed to adjust for the twist in the keel. The plans also suggest that the balcony is a touch higher than where the kit parts end up, but that might ultimately depend on how I build the balcony. In any event, I can remove any excess height from that area when I figure out what needs to be done. The plans can be somewhat inconsistent with one another which can be frustrating, but they are usually pretty close. Much better than the Corel Unicorn where measurements differed by as much as 5-10mm amongst the plans! I imagine this is one of the issues builders had to contend with when kit bulkheads were/are hand cut and plans hand drawn. New kits probably are a lot more precise and consistent with laser cutting and computerized plans. I'm pretty excited about how things are coming out - it looks more like a ship every day. It's also got a lot of curves and some decorative elements that should make for a nice model. It's been fun in the meantime as this kit, as I understand other Euromodel kits, bridges a little of the gap between pure kit builds and scratch builds. It's also been fun and a big learning experience comparing notes with PiratePete, whose build notes are a real asset for people building this kit or other Euromodel kits. Happy holidays!

Really nice Joe. I found I had to modify the pedestals as well for my Badger. The canarywood looks great. I really like it!

David, really nice work on the deck structures. Coming along really great! Seeing the Morgan in person is well worth it. Makes working on the model all that more special in my opinion.

This is a stupid question, but can I ask how you use your plane? I have the mini plane and mini chisels, but haven’t figured out what ways they can be used (and even more basically, how to use them.

Sherline has an option of converting their lathe into a mill. That could be an option.

Nice job Joe. Rigging looks fantastic!

Your work and experimentation are inspirational. Thank you for sharing your efforts!

Amazing! That last shot looks like it could be taken off the box cover! Looking forward to your barge build!

Looks great Nick. The colors are all complementing each other nicely. Fantastic!

Max, looking forward to following your work on this kit. I have it on the shelf and agree that it’s a really fantastic kit of a beautiful subject.

Beautiful work Marsalv! Thank you for sharing your build progress and techniques! I bought the monograph off eBay years ago when it was listed for a great deal, and have always wanted to build it once I gained more skill and experience. It's a relatively plain ship compared to some of the other Ancre subjects when it comes to ornamentation, but I think it's a beauty.