tkay11

Fear? I live in dread of every new step. I look at the plans. I look at previous builds. I read the books. But believing I can do it is a whole other matter. OK. I make a stab at it. I make a mistake. I start again. I make another mistake. I go on until I reckon I can live with the mistake. Then the next step. Several steps down the line I find I've done something which makes the next step very difficult. Think .... and this is the exciting bit ... how to get around the mistake and carry on. Ha! I've found a way out. I can then continue. And so on. I really like modelling not only for the satisfaction of completing a build and the beauty of wood, but even more for the satisfaction of thinking. Thinking how to interpret plans. Thinking how to approach a problem. Thinking of how to overcome mistakes. Thinking about the skills of those who made the ships and sailed in them. I am sure that in your life of working with wood you've experienced something similar. So to my mind fear, anxiety and apprehension are an intrinsic part of the process. Getting over it is part of the satisfaction. Tony

Bear with you? I'll do more than bear with you. I'll follow your build avidly. It's a great model to start with, especially as there are so many pieces you may well find yourself improving or modifying as you get into the swing of things. There's no single 'correct' way of finishing it, as you will have found out from the various builds, so no need to worry: you'll be doing it right! Tony

That's how the modellers on the French forums/fora interpret it. It's worth having a look. In addition to the ones I have mentioned, there's Marine & Modélisme d'Arsenal at http://5500.forumactif.org/. The pictures tell you most of what you want to know. Tony

If you look on the French modelling forums there's plenty of discussions about the rigging and history of La Toulonnaise as a topsail schooner. For example, from the Forum Marine at http://forummarine.forumactif.com/t3369-la-toulonnaise-construite-en-1823: "Lancée à Toulon le 13 août 1823, la TOULONNAISE prit part à la guerre d'Espagne sous les ordre du commandant JOURSIN, stationna à Barcelone puis atteignit Cadix ou elle contribua au canonnage des équipements portuairesEn 1832 à Brest le navire fut soumis à une révision complète. Pour les puristes ce vaisseau aurait été armé de Caronades" Which translates as "Launched on the 13th August 1823, the Toulonnaise took part in the Spanish war under the command of commandant Joursin, stationed in Barcelona, then at Cadiz where she contributed to the bombardment of the port. In 1832 at Brest the ship had a complete re-fit. Purists tell you she would have been armed with carronades." The discussion on La Royale Modélisme says in addition (http://www.laroyale-modelisme.net/t15358-la-toulonnaise-goelette-de-1823-au-1-75-maquette-musee-marine-auto-bce-n-36-2015?highlight=la+toulonnaise): "Elle contribua à la répression de la traite des noirs sur les côtes d’Afrique. Elle participa aux opérations d’Alger en 1825. Ses périples la conduisirent alors à Cayenne, en Martinique, à Terre- Neuve. En 1832, de retour à Brest, le vaisseau fut soumis à une révision complète. Elle resta ensuite dans les Antilles. En 1836 elle fit l'objet d'une nouvelle campagne de réparations à Fort de France. Elle croise ensuite durablement dans les eaux des Caraïbes. Enfin elle revint à Brest en 1843 où elle fut radiée des listes de la flotte le 18 décembre." Which translates as "She contributed to the repression of the trafficking of black people on the shores of Africa. She took part in the operations at Algiers in 1825. Her voyages then took her to Cayenne, in Martinique, at Terre-Neuve. In 1832, on return to Brest, the ship was completely re-vamped. She then stayed for a while in the Antilles. In 1836 she had further repairs at the Fort de France. She then cruised in the Caribbean. Finally she returned to Brest in 1843 where she was de-registered from the lists of the fleet on the 18th December." In all the builds on the French fora the plans from the Musée de la Marine are followed with the deadeyes as shown. They are also shown in other schooners of the time and their recreations. I can't vouch for the validity of these statements, but I hope this helps, Tony

How's progress? Tony

Thanks a lot, Danny, for the meticulous log showing the individual steps and methods. I also appreciate your noting the time it took for several of the steps. In all a real help to others, as well as a good reminder of the attraction and skills held by card modelling which differ so much from those of wood modelling. I find I have to have a very different mindset when approaching card modelling and your log demonstrates perfectly that mindset. Tony

I hope you're having a nice break, Radek. Will you be coming back to this build, or is it still on hold? I really like your guidance on techniques in card modelling, so am looking forward to more! Tony

It might be construed as a dangerous weapon. Tony

We have thousands of CEOs all over London. They're Community Engagement Officers -- the new title for Parking Wardens. Tony

Lovely work, Phil. Tony

wefalck: Out of interest I thought I'd find out where to buy acrylic foam in the UK. I can't find any sites, including Plexiglas, that talk of acrylic foam except in relation to acrylic foam tape. I found a reference to syntactic foam as another name for acrylic foam in a paper on flexible acrylic foams as a carrier for speciality tapes. That led me to look up syntactic foam on Wikipedia, where it says: "Syntactic foams are composite materials synthesized by filling a metal, polymer, or ceramic matrix with hollow spheres called microballoons or cenospheres or non-hollow spheres (e.g. perlite). In this context, "syntactic" means "put together." The presence of hollow particles results in lower density, higher specific strength (strength divided by density), lower coefficient of thermal expansion, and, in some cases, radar or sonar transparency. A manufacturing method for low density syntactic foams is based on the principle of buoyancy. The term was originally coined by the Bakelite Company, in 1955, for their lightweight composites made of hollow phenolic microspheres bonded to a matrix of phenolic, epoxy, or polyester." So I looked up syntactic foam suppliers, and their offerings include rigid, high strength composites of epoxy resin and hollow glass microspheres. Would this be the material you refer to? It's probably very expensive. Would it be very different in properties to the generally available PVC foam or foam board, which sounds similar to polyurethane foam and is very crumbly in character? Tony

Hellmuht: I'm sending you a Personal Message with Dane's email so that you can negotiate directly. Tony

Thanks for posting your model of the Chaloupe, Hellmuht. It's a pity you don't have a build log for it. But I've been admiring your build of the Bounty, and your post led me to your log of the build of the Spanish Longboat. While I'm recovering from surgery (which has prevented me from working on the Chaloupe for the moment), I've been looking at a card kit from Russia for an 18th Century French longboat at a scale of 1:48. I'm still working through translating it, but it has a very interesting construction method -- similar to Chuck's longboat and to your Spanish one -- and it's entirely card. Dane, who developed the kit, posted his completed build on this forum in 2013 at It has particular interest in that it also gives plans for all the extras (buckets, barrels, anchors, hooks) and very full rigging plans. It was also very cheap (about €25 including tracked postage). The instructions are incredibly detailed (far more than most card kits), and as a result it is well worth the effort in translating them. You can see the creation of the kit from its inception and its subsequent build in Dane's log at http://only-paper.ru/forum/85-12867-1 The cover of the kit (which you have to order from Dane directly) is: Tony

I agree it's a beautiful model, G.L., but it's by Hellmuht, who's just showing me the possibilities and offering help should I need it. Tony

I used balsa as filler for all the bulkheads in my first build (Sherbourne). I found it wasn't very good with glue for the planking, but maybe that was my fault. It doesn't hold nails or other fastenings either in case you are thinking of going down that route. It certainly was better than nothing, though, and extremely easy to shape. I'd go with pine or basswood/lime in future as suggested by Jaager. Tony

Gosh! Three complementary and very useful replies all at once! Thanks very much vossiewulf, Bob and Michael. Very interesting indeed. Tony

Thanks, Alex. I'll get back to you on this as I'm still debating my next build. Tony

Thanks for the info, Alex. I didn't see a price for the drawings/plans for the Imperial Yacht Queen Victoria. Have I missed something? Tony

Thanks very much, Chuck and Wefalck. I think that gives me all the answers I need to satisfy curiosity! Tony

Thanks, Welfalck. I suspected it was through software. I realise that 3D CAD can show the spiled planks in their fully fitted form. Can it work out the shapes when flat, before bending to the curvature of the hull. I can't see how to do that with my 3D TurboCAD (though admittedly I am only really conversant with it in its 2D form). Tony

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering how kit makers are able to provide pre-spiled planking. I have just received one such Russian kit for a longboat in card, and have seen others (such as Chuck's longboat) with laser-cut pre-spiled planks. Is this done with some computer software, or is it that when making a pre-production model the spiled planks are carefully traced, or that paper is laid on the frames or shell to achieve the same outlines? Tony

Milling is fun, isn't it! Nice result. Tony

Thank you very much for your advice, Ab. I took the run of the deck from what I take to be the beams supporting the deck, above which runs a dotted line. I see the outline of the wale as quite separate from the dotted lines running on top of the beams. I outlined the beams as brown squares in the drawing, but I quite see that this could represent the central spine and that I had not taken into account the camber. I agree with your analysis: the point is just to get on with it and not be too picky about a couple of millimetres (equivalent to 14cm at full scale), when the plans are themselves photos or scans of original work, and were possibly drawn up just to give the idea of the ship. I also agree that the safest thing is to work from the half-breadth plan to make the bulwarks for the model as correlation with the sheer plan might be too difficult. Thanks again for the help! Tony

Ab, I have followed your log with great interest, and while I am recuperating from surgery have been drawing up the plans just to make the hull of this fish-hooker in card before I can get back to my chaloupe model. I have started this by tracing the lines in CAD. Unfortunately, perhaps because of my failure to understand the plans, I cannot seem to reconcile what I take to be the line of the deck on the sheer plan with that on the half breadth plan. You will see in the following tracing the lines for the fore bulkheads K and M together with the general outline for all the fore bulkheads. On the right there is the sheer plan on which I have drawn the station lines for the bulkheads. I the uppermost three lower lines on the half-breadth plan do seem to signify roughly the tops of the bulkheads and the lines of the deck, but the lowest two horizontal lines from what I take to be the line of the deck on the half-breadth plan do not seem to match the line of the deck on the sheer plan for station lines K and M (they are out by about 2mm each at a scale of roughly 1:70). I am pretty convinced that either I have not understood the plans correctly or that the original lines were not drawn with the level of accuracy necessary to a CAD drawing, so I would be very grateful if you could let me know whether I am being far too picky or just plain wrong in my interpretation of the plans. On the drawing I have erased all the mast drawings for the sake of clarity. Thanks, Tony

Have you given up on this model? Tony