EJ_L

Adding those people really puts that into perspective and I must say, WOW! Excellent work!

I highly encourage people to start small and work up and fully support messages like this cautionary tale however I say that as a "do what I say not as I do" message. The only beginner ship I built was Constructo's 1:150 scale Bounty and it was my seventh build. It was more of a filler ship build that I had picked up while waiting on La Couronne to arrive. I've always been one to dive into the the deep end from the start and while I will never say that all those experiences turned out good, it is just the way I am. I have a few bad models as a result of doing things this way that while I am proud of myself for pushing through them, they could have turned out many times better had I started slow. Burnout, frustration and a lack of knowledge and skills limited what I was able to do and as a result I would unknowingly skip critical steps or just settle for what it is as I had no way of knowing any different. Those models are now on the rebuild wish list. Still, I do not discourage a person from tackling that larger, more difficult build from the start if they have their mind set on it. Being passionate about a project is just as important as that drive can help carry you through those tough times when it is easy to quit. Also, with great communities like this one where helpful knowledge and a friendly conversation with people who know your struggle it is much easier to attempt those harder builds early on. We are no longer isolated to build by ourselves and having to figure things out on our own. More than likely that question you have has been asked and is answered on here and probably in multiple threads. I can testify to how well this community works. My current build is my first one on here and just what I have learned from MSW has made this build a hundred times better than the last and myself a much better modeler than what I was a year ago. Know yourself when choosing your model. Know your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about them. Build where you feel comfortable, don't be afraid to ask for help and above all be sure to enjoy it. If you can manage that then you can build any ship you want.

I do the same. I've been using a lot of the same nails for years though a lot of them got turned into hinge pins on my current build.

I've seen a lot of things on ships that make me question how and why they are the way they are. I guess function was always the greater concern over comfort ease for the sailors. Your ship sure is looking good!

The bowsprit rigging is an interesting rigging system. I'm still learning my way through it all in trying to decipher how the lines are attached to each other and where they g plus how they get there. I think I have most of them figured out now but there are still a few unknowns. I was wanting to put more of the blocks on the bowsprit but soon realized that a lot of them need to wait on the forestays to be rigged. Looking at the print there are maybe three more that I could go ahead and place and I will probably do that in the next build session or two. One of the most confusing parts is trying to figure out if some of the rigging is on both sides or just one. There are a few lines that appear to only be on one side of the bowsprit but I cannot find where it's counterpart is on the other side. Fortunately for me the rigging on the Vasa is very similar to Couronne's and as there are many fine builds of that vessel and some excellent pictures taken of their rigging I can combine that with what I'm reading in different books to get my answers. Just a slow process but it is worth it.

Bowsprit and bowsprit topmast is installed. La Couronne has now reached her total length of 32". There is still a lot of rigging to be done on here but until I get the foremast built the rest has to wait. So that brings me to the foremast which as you can see in some of the pictures, I have started to shape. It is nice to be building upward now as well as a different type of construction. I do think though with rigging I spend probably more time trying to identify what goes where and what do I need to make sure I have attached to make it happen. Just tracing and translating the rigging from the plans to the model is a task in and of itself and then researching exactly how those lines run through blocks, sheaves or tie off at their start and end points is a huge undertaking. Just in the couple of hours I have worked tonight I have spent maybe thirty minutes actually building and the rest was reading. I'm not complaining at all and in fact I love it! To me the research and learning is a large chunk of the fun of this hobby. Ok, that is enough talk for tonight. I will let you get to what you actually came here to see, the pictures!

Didn't you see the memo about a 10 seat a day minimum! Seriously, those seats look great! I know what that is like doing a very tiny, highly detailed part and then having to repeat the process many many time. It does indeed hurt the eyes and can quickly become tiresome. The results are worth it and those seats are going to look fantastic when you get them all made.

Those inserts look sharp. Well done!

Welcome to MSW Bob! Glad you came back to give model ship building another go. We all have those projects that were stopped for one reason or another and yes a lot of times it was because something got messed up. No shame in that especially when you try again! You have found a great place to learn and hopefully work through those tough spots so you don't have to give up again. Best of luck to you and I look forward to seeing your build!

Nice work on all those pieces. Looks better and better with every update.

Truly inspirational and educational work. As I have been moving into the rigging stage on my la Couronne, your build log has been a great source of information on rigging as they are close enough in design to answer many of my questions and your pictures are nice and clear providing up close shots of a lot of details that I often cannot find. Thanks for sharing your build with us!

La Couronne is looking good and will be an impressive ship no matter how historically accurate she may be. Your Confederacy is also a fine looking model. Excellent job on that one too.

It would certainly take a few tries but then maybe they could find all my missing pieces and parts.... A few years back I had flown back out to California to visit a buddy from the Navy. We were going to do some serious work on his model railroad and so I packed up a tool box with all the model tools I thought I would need. A few days before my trip the admiral asks if I thought I could actually get all those sharp objects to pass security. I stopped and looked at the dozens of knives, carving tools, spare blades, sharpeners, wire cutters, pliers etc. and thought nope. That box went overnight on Fedex as I figured I would end up spending some time in a white interrogation room with all that hardware.

Go slow, check, double check and check again to make sure everything fits. Have all the tools needed ready, glue at hand and hope that your knee or the dog doesn't hit the table! It really is just a lot of being patient and trying not to rush. I do knock things down or break those little parts but I think I shoot more pieces across the room out of my tweezers than anything. A few weeks ago I was packing up the old ship yard for the move and I picked up dozens of eyebolts and blocks from past builds that I thought were lost forever to the carpet jungle. lol

Outstanding! That finish is beautiful. I'm loving all the oar ropes and tension cables. They are adding another layer of detail that makes this build more and more incredible.

That has always been my thought. Some of the places they would have to shimmy out on and the heights of those masts. When you think that gallants and royals could put you easily 40-50 feet or even more above the deck which could be 20-30 feet above the water on a first rate and then factor in the pitch and rolling of the ship plus rain and wind, that make those sailors either extremely brave or equally crazy! Maybe they are one in the same.

Yes it is. I've had a couple of scares already with my tweezers getting caught on a shroud. I love my OptiVisor but it is easy to lose track of the back end of your tools when looking at the business end and what you are doing. I've manged to snip off the wrong bit or rope when trimming up the lines and have had to run a new piece. That is not fun either in the confined space. Still, the end result is worth the work required.

Spritsail topmast is coming along rather well. Got it stepped into place and the deadeyes rigged. One side of shrouds and ratlines has also been completed and the other side started. I also added the cross tree to the top of the mast. Couldn't find what would have been there to hold the shrouds into place. Some references say a ring or collar, others a cross tree and even looking at other ships of the era has not left me with a uniform decision and so I made the executive ship yard decision. I'm happy with the look and it will aide the rest of the rigging better I think than a collar would have. Took these pictures with a tape measure in the background for size reference. Family and friends keep asking for that so they can put it into perspective easier. It does help to do that from time to time as with all the close up pictures it is easy to forget just how small some of the individual components are. Enjoy the photos and once it is all done I will take some better pictures.

Brian, good to hear that you are stepping back and working on improving your planking. You will be much happier that you did. I'm looking forward to seeing how she turns out.

Those ribs are an excellent addition. It is always amazing at how something as simple as a frame can make the whole ship look even better. I am with you on quality over quantity when it comes to what goes in my glass.

Sorry to heat that. Hope the damage wasn't too bad and that you can get it fixed.

Mostly that huge rail that runs around it. To me it looks as though it would be a tripping hazard or at the very least a major pain in the shins. In low visibility and rough water I could see a lot of falling down over that thing. Then again, I guess like most things if you are around it all the time you would get used to it.

Excellent job on the cockpit and especially that wheel. Much better than the cast one. I also was thinking that the cockpit is a strange design. Im sure there is a reason for it but I wonder why?

You got it. Those are all the things to improve on. The next time around it is easier. Now that you can see the bad results, a lot of what the tutorials are saying should hopefully start to make better sense. As to the tapering, it should start further back. That is the importance of measuring the spacing on each frame. By doing that you will see when and where the spacing begins to shrink down and that is where the taper needs to start. Often it will be across many frames not just one or two.

This is a normal problem with planking a ship. You are taking a straight piece of lumber and making it bend in two different directions as we as taper to fit into many different dimensions. This is why making sure the hull is properly faired and that you take the time to do a proper layout and you stick to it. With only having the one picture to go off of and not being there to see what and how you are building, please forgive me if I state obvious things that you may already be doing. Also please keep in mind I am not criticizing to be mean or to put down your work but to help you out so that you can learn, fix and improve. I will start with the first thing that it looks like I am seeing and that is all of your planks appear to be the same width the entire way through front to back. This is why you are running out of room. The stem and stern of a ships hull have less space than the center due to the way the center widens out for stability. Your planks will be at their widest here and will taper down narrower at the stern and especially the bow. Often this taper will be as much as half the width of the plank. This is why taking the time to measure and lay out the plank pattern on the edges of the frames is vital to a successful planking. For example, you may have planks that are 5mm wide in the center and from the center frame they will begin to taper till they are only 2.5mm at the bow and 3mm at the stern. If you do not do this you will run out of room just like you are at the bow and stern and have a big gap in the middle. So how to fix this. There are really only three solutions. The first is to rip it all off and try again. Depending upon the glue you used or the spare material available will help you decide on this option. The second is to just fit in the planks as best you can, sand it smooth and paint over it all to help hide the mistakes. The third is to read up on using stealers and drop planks which are common to see in models to solve this problem. Try not to fee l bad as this is something we all had to learn our way through. My first wooden ship model has a lot of this same issue as I didn't know what I was doing and worse yet, I didn't have this site, or anyone else for help. To the problem of running out of attachment points, again mostly see above. If the planks were all measured and tapered properly they would all fit on the frames front to rear. This is also why filler blocks are recommended for the bow and stern areas. With the extreme curvature and the smaller space, filler blocks give extra attaching points to help hold the planks in place. That is still an option for you if you choose to just fill in the missing planks as best you can. Get some scrap wood to glue between the frames and now you have a place to glue your planks. There are a few more issues that are need to be addressed as well, fairing the hull and how the planks are tapered to form tight joints but unless you are planning to start over I will skip those for now. If you have not found it, here is the link to a group of very good tutorials and how to's. Basically everything I have been saying is in here plus some drawings and more great information. You should read them all as they all are good however I recommend to start with A Primer on Planking, Simple Hull Planking and Planking Tutorial - Lining Off a Hull. The first two deal with the basics of planking and explain drop planks and stealers though they both explain that with the proper planing neither should be needed. The last one deals with ensuring you won't need drops or stealers and introduces spiling which is a planking method that deals cutting the planks to a curved shape before bending them to guarantee a smooth and easy fit and taking care of all the problems you are now encountering. I know this is a lot of information to throw at you but that is why we say take your time. I know it is exciting and easy to get carried away but slow up and things will come together. In a way you are fortunate that your mess up ison the bottom of your ship as that is the easiest spot to hide.