Rudolf

Hi All
Didn't realise it has been so long since I last posted....
Still working on completing the fitting out and the decks are nearly complete, not a lot more to say really at this stage just steady away.  Out of the box, I've not come across any major issues and any small issues have been of my making...anyone planning on building this model make sure you get the first layer of planking tight against the top of bulkheads in the bow area, I didn't and its causing a few issues getting the bulwarks to fit properly and I've some work to do to the forecastle bulkhead as a result.
I've left some decking incomplete at this stage as I want to try and get a continual run of the planks along the waist gangway but we'll see how that works out
 

 
Thanks for looking in
 
MP

Thanks for the likes and encouragement. 
It’s been slow, with work and family demanding most of the available time and energy, but I’ve managed to make some gains. 
First, I worked on deck equipment and spars. Painted the deck equipment too (no pictures).
Of course, to make the spars I needed to draw up a sail plan (below). I based it off dimensions from Chapman’s rigging plate, and adjusted a little. 
Do let me know if you think she’s terribly over-canvassed. I think the bowsprit/jib boom might be a little long. I plan to shorten it and go for a smaller flying jib. This is where expert opinions would be most welcome. 

Also, I made some bollards, but I’m not happy with them. I used them to fix the locations on the forecastle rail for now, at least. 

 
Then I remembered to paint the decorative filigree before I permanently attached masts and so forth:




I guess I’m happy with it. 
To paint patterns like this, practice a little off-subject until you’re comfortable painting the design, and -most importantly- sit back, relax your legs, and rest your elbows on your sides. With a steady posture and some practice, much is possible. 
 
Happy shipbuilding!
 
Meriadoc

Very little to report I'm afraid, as I've been caught up in other projects. However I've finally got round to gluing the cannon and most of the deck furniture in place so I'm posting a few pictures of the current state of play. Mostly components I've already described - the one small exception being the spouts on the pumps, simply made from short lengths of brass tubing.
 


Amazing what you spot in photos but miss on the actual model!  I've just noticed the main mast bitts are really wonky and will need fixing 
 
The only other work I've done recently is on the spars, where I've made some of the masts and yards.  I've had to put the Duchess in my dust cabinet to protect her while I file and sand the spars on the lathe, which makes lighting and photography a challenge. I'll record some of the detail in due course.
 
Derek 

Yes, you are right Wefalck - my bad.
 

 
Gary

Assembled. 

final_6179f4f2a05b1b0085b9799a_477588.mp4 la couronne sailing-0.mp4  

la-couronne-sailing-0_ZYw1vF0S.mp4  
so kind...i don't have it anymore, but i'll put what images i've saved here if they'll fit 🙂
















20210704_144738.mp4



couronne sailing.mp4

Post One hundred and eight
 
Snaggins.
Not for the first time I take a backward step and start ripping up the work I did the day before.
Why I didn’t stop when I sort of knew  the colour match wasn’t ultimately going to satisfy my eye I don’t know, a case of hope over experience perhaps.
 
It is not that difficult to remove planking without disturbing the adjacent planks. Dampening the strake and easing using a thin blade they can often  be removed intact.

6470

6472

6473
Another day to rectify what I should have done in the first place but I am now happy with the colour match.
 
Movin’ on.
 
B.E.
12/04/22
 

I have made hatches, so far only in wood, without nailing and without oil. Now I am making metal rope guides.

Hello everyone,

as is often the case in life, various circumstances prevented me from showing the finished model earlier, including the war in Ukraine (I live 100 km from the Ukrainian border). But the time has come to present the rest of the work on the boat.

 
The very construction and making of individual parts was so trivial that it is difficult to write it in elaborations. As I treat this model as a test model, I decided to make a certain distortion, consisting in the fact that half of the ship goes to Gdańsk with grain and the other half goes up the Vistula with imported goods. This is because the rafting was carried out with the mast folded only with the help of oars, and during the return the mast was erected.

 
Since I had never done dioramas, so after many attempts to make grain in a scale of 1: 100, I gave up the idea and covered the entire cargo space with linen. I put barrels and bales of cloth in the bow part.

 
Laziness made itself felt when carrying out the rigging - the blocks are not made of cardboard (as would be recommended by the art of cardboard modeling), but of a 3D printer and painted.
Well, that's what I got out of this project.




 
Greetings
Tomek
 

Originally posted Nov. 6, 2021
 
Constructing Trestle Trees
Trestle Trees are built near the top of the lower masts.  Their function is to hold the lower end of the top masts and contain the spreaders that keep certain rigging lines fixed in the correct places.
 
Construction Steps
1.       Before starting to build the trestle trees, I laid the mast on the plans and marked where all of the brass metal bands are supposed to go on both masts.  This will be easier to do now without wood parts sticking out all over the place!
2.       The first step I performed was to flatten the sides of the mast where the cheeks and trestle trees will go.  Some builders attach the Futtock Shroud Band on the Main Mast first. I waited to ensure the band will be in the proper position and have the correct diameter around the mast.  Mark the location on the masts where the dowel needs to be flattened and use a file to sand it down.  Be very careful to get it flat and straight.  The flat portions must be on the port and starboard side, and must run perfectly parallel with the hull, or the trestle trees won’t be straight.  Getting stuff like this straight has been one of my most challenging tasks.  If anybody has a secret technique for accomplishing this, I would love to hear it (for future builds)!!

 
3.       So, next step, I attached The Futtock Shroud Band which sits right below the cheeks that hold up the trestle tree.
a.       Make the band from kit supplied 1/16” brass strip. 
b.       Close the band by soldering.
c.       Drill a pair of holes in both the P/S sides of the band.  Slip the band onto the mast and CA glue the band in place. 
d.       Deepen the holes into the mast with #64 pin vise bit and insert a wire “staple” into the holes to simulate the shackle-like fitting that belongs here.
4.       Prepare the following pieces from strip wood.  Make 2 sets, one for each mast.  The wood parts are the same except for the size of the spreaders.
a.       Cheeks – provided as laser cut pieces.  Sand to clean them up and taper the bottom point.
b.       Bolsters – 1/16” square strip wood.  The top outside corners need to be rounded off
c.       Slabs – 1/32” thick sheet wood. 
d.       Trestle Trees – 1/8” square strip wood.  File them down to be narrower around mast and toward aft.  Before installation, drill the required holes in the spreaders.  Size these for eyebolts for the fore mast holes.
e.       Spreaders – 3/32” square strip wood.  The spreaders are tapered from the center to the ends.  The larger spreader is tapered on the fore side, by 1/32″.  The shorter spreader is tapered on the aft end by 1/32″.  Both are tapered on the bottom by 1/32″.  The lengths for both spreaders are longer for the main mast.  Check the plans. Carve a notch at the center aft position in both small spreaders.  This is used for the crane.
f.        Cross Blocks – This piece fills the space between the trestle trees, fore & aft sides, seated under the spreaders.  Therefore use 1/8” square.
All pieces ready to assemble:

 
 
5.       Assembling all the wood pieces
a.       Glue on the cheeks first, then the trestle trees.  The longer/wider ends of the trestle trees need to face FORWARD.  Fit the cross blocks in next between the trees.
b.       Glue on the spreaders next.  The longer ones need to face FORWARD.
c.       Finally, glue the slabs on top of the bolsters.
d.       Paint everything white
 
Completed Main Mast Trestle Tree:

Completed Fore Mast Trestle Tree:

 
 

Originally posted April 14, 2021
 
2 Hatches
The next step was building the 2 hatches, one each for the fore deck and quarter deck.  These were pretty straightforward to build.  Here are the construction steps I used.
 
1.    Measure and cut the outside frames according to the plans.  Use lap joints w/ short ends at the fore & aft. 
2.    Measure and cut the inside ledge to hold the lids.  I also inserted a center brace to provide added strength and another place for gluing/holding the lids.
3.    Start gluing the sides together.  Make sure they are perfectly square using one of my jigs.
4.    Cut in the small cove around the outside of the frame using my new 1/32” ball tip stylus to impress the wood.  You can see this tool in one of the pictures below.
5.    I wanted to make the lids according to the plans, in two halves using individual planks.  I measured and cut really thin boards to frame the planks and also the planks themselves.  After constructing the lids I dry fitted them and rubbed the hatch on a sheet of sand paper to make sure they were flush with the outer frames.
6.    Paint the outside frames white and the lids with the dark walnut stain.  I started using sanding sealer whenever I stain to help even out the color.  The basswood planks seem to vary a lot in the amount of stain they will absorb.
7.    Sand the bottoms to fit the curvature of the deck.  I used the same technique as with the cabin.
8.    Seal them with Minwax satin wipe on poly.
9.    Add the eye bolts and rings according to the plans.

Originally posted Oct. 29, 2020
 
Deck Planking
I completed planking the deck today.  This took most of the month of October.  I found the nibbing to be the most difficult task.  Inserting the final  plank on each side was also a challenge.  But, I think it turned out pretty well for my first time.  The next major step will be painting the hull.  I plan on using an airbrush that I purchased for this build.  Except for doing the waterway, I've never airbrushed before.  I had difficulty with lots of goobers in the paint.  I've since repainted them several times with a regular brush.  I bought some Vallejo Air paint for the hull painting.  You guys seem to think it's pretty easy and smoother than brushing, so, I'm going to do it too.
 
 

Originally posted on Oct. 1, 2020
 
Since my last post, I removed all of the bulkhead stanchions and smoothed down the waterway with some heavy sanding.  I was not happy with the way it looked after building it last month.  I think it looks much better now.  I glued in all the stanchions using CA glue.  I followed the process I found on the build log from CPDDET.  Thanks Dave, your procedure worked great!  I cut the scuppers and attached these bulwark planks including the waist plank. While these were exposed, I painted the waterway light grey and the inner bulwarks white.  I also planked the transom, inside and out.  These are photos from this point taken today.
 
The next step is planking the deck.  I am following the process from Suburban Ship Modeler.  He inserted butt joints using a staggered pattern across the bulkheads of 1,3,5,2,4.  Although more difficult, I think this looks a little more realistic then running planks the full length of the deck.  There is a tutorial on this process here:   http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Deck_PlankingIIbuttshifts.pdf
 
 

Originally posted on Sept. 6, 2020
 
Well, I reached a major milestone this week!  I completed the planking of the hull.  I don't think it turned out too bad for my first time.  Here are a couple of pictures of the completed hull before sanding.  Next up I will start to work on the sanding and filling of the cracks and gaps.  I don't expect to need too much wood filler, but will see how it goes.  I will post more pics when I'm done.  Do you recommend applying some sanding sealer after sanding is done?
 

The painting of the guns is finally finished. On the computer screen they appear very blue, they are a little greener in reality. Taking advantage of having all the guns painted, I did a little simulation... 110 guns is a lot of guns ! Of course they are balanced on the sill of the portholes so they are more prominent than they should be. (and the three on the forecastle are missing)
I can now continue the construction of the hull.

 
 

Hello, I’m new to this forum and would like to share my build of the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.  I’ve put a short history from the actual ship below which I’ve found on the Occre website.  
This is my second wooden model build (my first being the Amati Nina) and I am very much liking it. I’ve started with the model in august 2020 and it is now almost nearing completion.  I hope you’ll enjoy this thread as much as I have been building it.
 
Kind regards, Jason (aka Sonny Skipper)
 
The frigate "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes" was built in 1788 in Havana owned by the Spanish Royal Navy and equipped with 34 cannons.
Having left Montevideo on August 9, 1804 he was loaded with gold, silver, copper, tin, wool vicuna, Peruvian bark and cinnamon.
On October 5, 1804 takes place the Battle of Cape Santa Maria, where a projectile of the English fleet, hit the Santa Barbara, causing their tragic and fast sinking.
The company Odyssey, using a modern and sensitive sonar discovered in May 2007 in the Gulf of Cadiz, the wreck of the frigate.
Using an underwater robot controlled from the surface and operating at about 1,100 meters deep recover the sunken treasure of Mercedes.
500,000 silver coins and gold. (Pieces of eight and escudos minted in Lima, Peru in 1803) is the largest sunken treasure has been recovered to date.
Currently, the National Archaeological Museum in Cartagena, displays some of the recovered patrimony of the frigate.
Enjoy the historical spanish frigate, with the assembling the ship model of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.
The kit is ready to mount with a high quality of assembling pieces.

My method for making the window plates is well-documented, earlier in the log, so I won’t go into great detail.  Some pictures:
 

 
I found it best to fit the rough blanks between the pilasters, first, before relieving the negative space panels.  This way, I could trace on the backside, the top and bottom edges of the top rail, thereby knowing just how thin to make the reliefs.
 

 

 
Once all of the panels were in, and I had also glued-in the central bell-flower ornament, I could begin modeling these reliefs:
 

 
It really doesn’t take much to give them a little shape and dimension.
 
I began framing in the bulkheads:
 

 
I like to glue-in positive stops, top and bottom, so that it is easier to glue-in the bulkheads and get them aligned exactly where they need to be.
 
Keen observers will note that the bulkheads do not align, neatly with the tops of the pilasters beneath them.  Instead, they fan out more towards the sides:
 

 
I considered whether to re-draw the plate, but determined that this would result in less pleasingly shaped and proportioned windows:
 
The discrepancy is a result of my decision to revise the tumblehome of the upper bulwarks.  The lower tier is based upon the more vertical tumblehome of my original drawing, so the pitch of the window stiles is less severe.
 
This middle tier simply follows the more pronounced pitch of the accentuated tumblehome.  In the end, the lower balcony railing will serve as a visual interrupter that minimizes this discrepancy.
 
I point all of this out to highlight just one of many imperfect compromises I have made, where I have deemed one aspect of the construction to carry more visual importance over another.  In this instance, the whole model is more ship-like with a more pinched tumblehome, and the windows have a pleasant shape and arc of camber.
 
Thank you for your likes and comments and continued interest in this project.  More to follow.

Thank you, Mike!
 
Kevin - I am far from quick, but I certainly am committed.  I’m getting back some of my former momentum, now, and am excited to continue climbing the stern.
 
I can also appreciate that certain aspects of the build seem a little exaggerated, like the raking angles of the stern lights, but that is all part of designing within the pre-existing architecture.  For their part, Heller maintained a more or less vertical window framing for the stock stern plate.
 
If I had gone with my original plan to use the stock stern lights, it might have looked something like this photocopied mock-up:
 

 
Instead, I’ve chosen a closer approximation of Berain’s intent.  Here, I’ve corrected the clearance issue for the outer pilasters:
 

 
Comme-ci, comme-ca; my happy medium between what is and what should be.
 

 

Here are the results of my latest minor modification. Below, you can see how the deck looks just aft of the mast. I cut open a slot and made a cover for it, which fits nicely into place. You can also see a pair of mast supports behind that, and there's deck reinforcement plate behind that. The reinforcement place is probably just a thicker section of the deck in reality. It is through this thick plate that a pair of halliards lead out from the deck and up to the tip of the mast.
 

 

 
 
The photo below is actually an earlier photo where I was using a temporary assembly to figure out the positioning and workability of the mast support on the left. Also, you'll notice that the thick plate I just mentioned is not in place yet.
 

 
Leaving the mast free and the deck covers removable allows me to illustrate how the mast might appear if it is in a raised position. Again, this is only speculation, based on what little I could see of the deck of the Saga Nagoya Castle Museum model. But, I think this makes sense, and this shows it as workable.
 

 
More work on the yagura, or box structure, to come next.
 
 

For those following my Atakebune build, my apologies for the progress delay!
 
I could try to make an excuse that sanding down all those sculling oars got boring and slowed me down. But, that wouldn't be entirely true.
 
I did finally finish sanding those oars. I guess the model only needs 66 of them, but I'm sure I counted 72 in the kit. Maybe there are spares. 
 
Also, I made the mast. It has a square cross-section and is tapered, but was actually quite easy make, as the parts are all laser-cut and simply need gluing together and then staining or dying of the wood. Also cut the hole in the deck planking. That was easy too, as the thin plywood sub-deck has the hole already cut, so the planking just needed to be cut through.
 

 
As I mentioned before, the forward rake of the mast is quite unusual, and it doesn't appear on any other Japanese watercraft I've ever seen or read about. But, I'm more convinced about my speculation that the mast would have been raised to a vertical position when carrying the large squaresail. 
 
One thing I found interesting that is unexplained about the kit, is that there is a hole cut down below to hold the foot of the angled mast in place. However, there is a second hole just in front of the first. If you place the foot of the mast there, the mast sits vertically...
 

 
Below, you can see the lower structure with the two supporting holes for stepping the foot of the mast.
 

 
My guess is that the designers at Woody Joe agreed that the mast would be raised to a vertical position when carrying a sail, but had it stay in its position at the very front of the hull.
 
My belief is that the foot of the mast remained in the same location, and that the mast was hauled into a vertical position, which really moves the body of the mast very close to the front of the castle structure. 
 
In any case, I don't plan to raise the sail, so I'll leave the mast in its forward leaning configuration.
 

 

 
Now, I'm going to place the panels that would cover the slot for raising the mast. I'm considering actually cutting open the deck now, so I can illustrate how this process would work, and how the mast would look in it's raised sailing position.
 
Hmmm... Okay. I'm off to it.
 
 

The castle structure is now done, except for the decorative fish fittings that adorn the corners of the castle towers. These fish figures are called shachihoko, and are found on many castles, gates, and the homes of some nobles. I'll save these for later, as it's easy to knock them off during construction – Something I know from first-hand experience. 
 
Anyway, here's where we are as of now...

 
Next, I'll need to get back to finishing the lower hull modifications. But, before I get to that, I thought I'd start taking care of the many sculling oars I'll need. These are partial oars, so I don't have to make the whole oar, just the lower part that sticks out of the ship. This ship is represented as having 36 pairs of oars. 
 
Below, at the bottom, you can see the pieces as provided on the laser-cut sheets. Immediately above those is an example of one oar that's been cleaned up. At the top is a sculling oar from another model, so you can see what the whole thing should look like. I might have to make some full-length oars from scratch if I display any of the doors open. But, I don't know if I'll do that, as that leads to so many other details that aren't provided in the kit, like the internal deck, walls, and structural members, etc.
 

 
Cleaning up all these oars is slow going. Below are 12 cleaned-up sculling oars. Only 60 more to go.
 
Now, another modification I'm considering, though perhaps this one will be fairly minor. The kit includes a forward leaning mast, equipped with a yard and sail. Only a mast is depicted on the museum model, as that's all that's shown in the original painting. But, the kit looks like this:
 

 
Now, I think whole idea that the mast wasn't in the center of the ship is somewhat controversial. But, that it leans out in front of the shipmay be even more controversial. To my knowledge, this arrangement isn't seen on any other Japanese ship in history.
 
Now, I have noticed that the museum ship has a feature on deck that leads me to think that the forward leaning position might be just to drop it out of the way from the castle structure, and that it might be pulled upright when actually sailing. This would pivot the mast at its base, deep inside the hull, and cause it to come up through the deck, a bit further aft.
 
Unfortunately, the best museum photo I have that shows any of the deck in front of the castle structure is the on below. But, in it, you can see a few features that I've marked out with color arrows.
 

 
The red arrow points to what look like mast supports. To me, these are familiar as the tops of supports that stand to either side of the mast. The mast would usually be lashed to these supports. 
 
The green arrow points to what look like deck panels. Removable panels that stick up from the main deck would cover a long, narrow opening, through which the mast could be raised to a vertical position. Similar panels are seen on coastal transports. And, similar slots for the raising of masts are seen on  other types of Japanese sailing craft.
 
Now, this could simply be a museum invention to try to explain how this forward leaning mast might work. But, it makes sense to me. I can't see the whole features, but I can speculate. And, it would be easy enough to add this to the deck. Plus, it would give me a reason not to add the sail provided in the kit, which looks a bit odd to me anyway.
 
I suppose the yard arm could also easily be stored below deck and brought up through that slot when they decide to raise the mast and sail.
 
I'm going to try running this by a couple people who are familiar with atakebune before I make modifications there.
 
 
 
 

Thank you  Patrick and Steven.
I'm a Japanese who is not good at English, so it's been a while since I last updated.
 

The grating is a surplus of other kits
 

The back window frame is  paper.
 

The back window frame is  paper.
 

The door frame is paper.
 

Belaying Pin is bamboo skewers.
 

The handrail and belay pin are oversized.
 

 

 
 

The barrel is wooden.
 

 

 
 

I painted it with a brush.

In my case, paints with low hiding power, such as white and yellow, are painted with an airbrush, but since the range of painting is small, it is best to paint with a brush.
 

 
 
 

Hello everyone, after completing the HMS Enterprize I realized that I am quite interested in building 3D models. So I started this project with little knowledge of 3D programs and completely learned them on youtube.
 
I built this project to be able to make a model builder kit so after done the model if anyone wants to buy this model kit please contact me. And of course there are full building instructions with pictures as well as structural designs.
 
I build this ship will change the texture and add some parts so it will be very different from the ships sold in the market. 
 
I first built this ship model on 3D program and now there are many programs that can be designed like 3Dsmax or Sketchup...
 

 

 
Then use a laser cutter to create the main skeleton and deck surface.
 

 
the scale looks pretty big compared to the Enterprize
 

 
I adjusted the transverse skeleton on the side of the ship to the oblique skeleton to increase the ability to fix the  main skeleton and it seem good.
 

 
then came the decking, I used sapele wood because they have a nice color
 

 
I use 0.4mm copper wire to make the nail 
 

 

 
the hull part I use wood walnut and I have to admit it's really nice
 

 
And of course, the lights can't be missing
 

 

 

 

 
That's all I've been able to do for the past 2 weeks. 
 
Tobe continue...

Good evening all! Another small test project, which building process I forgot to record.. It is in fact my first small scale scratchbuilt square rigged ship. Mostly an exercise on the rigging method at such a size, on a generic and rather simple base and hull, representing a 19th century greek merchant brig, circa 1/350, waterline. A single-post thread, with the end result straight away. If mods think there is no much point  please delete.