EJ_L

They really were magnificent creations. It is well documented though that they were not the best built ships though. Many of them only had a short service life due to either poor maneuverability, weak structurally or just unable to hold their own against the much better built English ships. Not saying they did not have successes but their record is rather weak when compared to other nations of the time. Granted, the French Navy at the time had a less aggressive strategy as well. They trained their crews to focus more of crippling the rigging of an enemy ship to allow them to escape rather than destroy or take the enemy's ship. As such, when they would fire they would wait till the ship was rolling back to gain more elevation on their guns. This is great for targeting rigging but left the lower hull vulnerable to enemy fire. The English especially at the time trained to fire at the hull of a ship to sink them. This proved to be a downfall for the French at sea. Still, their ships did inspire awe in their decorations and appearance. It is a shame none of the ships from this great era of sail survived like the ones of the 18th century. The Vasa is almost the exception to this but it didn't truly survive and much of it's glory was lost over the time it spent under water. As awesome as she is in her condition today it would be even more so to see her when she was new.

Don, I just spent my lunch break reading though your build and now I will be sure to follow along. Great job on her so far as she sure is shaping up nicely. It is always impressive how varnish brings out the colors of wood. Instantly takes something from bland and rough looking to a beautiful creation.

The Mantua plans were lucky finds on Google and Yahoo searches. I thought I had saved them but I cannot find them. I will keep looking but they were bad resolution and small. I think there are some on modellismo.net. The link is for a nice build of her but I do not think the plans are in this build log. I do know that model-dockyard.com and hobbyworldinc.com have them for sale.

I have the Corel plans, and have seen most of the Mantua/Sergal ones online. Now I have these and each one is different. The overall layout and design is the same but there are considerable differences in each that have made me question what was authentic and what is "educated guess" or just an artistic rendering that looks good. My model has become a mixture of all the various references I have found combined with what I have been able to read about her and common building practices of that era. She won't end up in a museum but I can justify my decisions and until a time machine is invented so I can go back and see her in person that is good enough for me.

Good work on the anchor. I have had similar issues with having to scratch build a new rudder as there was not a good way to hide the plywood layering.

So I have been building a few smaller items lately. One of those items is the capstan which I finished up last night. I never could find a good representation on what it should look like so I made up my own largely based on the photos from the Vasa museum and models of ships of the same era. I decided to model it with the poles in place since it sits so far down on the upper gun deck that once the launch is in place and rigging up it would look like a oddly placed wooden post. This way a viewer can instantly tell that it is the capstan. On a design note, when in use, the clearance is very tight against the spar deck support columns. I may have these to far forward but in all reality, the clearance was probably minimum though if scaled up that tiny gap is probably closer to 1 or 2 feet. Well, enjoy the pictures and I hope to have the rudder finished and installed soon as that is the other item I have been building lately.

Mark, Thank you very much for those. I can see a lot of differences between those plans, and the model and the current plans and models that are out there. It has me wondering what she really looked like and how much artistic freedom has taken place over the centuries to bring her to her current design. It is also interesting to see that she has guns pointed across her deck much like SotS does. This was a common feature in the 17th century but this is the first I have seen it on la Couronne. I will be spending a lot of time studying these as every time I look at them I notice something new and different than what I've spent the past year looking at. Thanks again!

Always nice to have a good shipmate along with you.

More scale figures would be nice to see but with so many scales available I would think that would have to be a custom order from someone with the time and equipment, mainly a 3d printer, who would be willing to do that. If anyone knows of someone who is let me know as I would love to have some sailors on my ships!

You are right in that the wood detail will probably not be visible once everything is installed especially if you going to fully rig the canons in place. Still, it is a good idea to add texture to the carriages. Even if the wood grain was heavily painted over on a real carriage, there would have been some rough spots and you would have seen the seams between the layers of timber stacked together to form the carriage. Looking forward to seeing them installed!

Well she is in fine shape for spending 10 years waiting in dry dock. I don't see anything that can't be repaired. I'll follow along and watch you finish her journey.

You might try a little less glue. Wood glue is surprisingly strong and if you apply a little and spread it evenly over the plank before applying so that it is a thin coating instead of a thick line or blob it will adhere just a strong without the squeeze out. A damp cloth will also wipe up any glue that does come out without soaking the wood or getting on your fingers. If all else fails a pair of latex gloves might help prevent your skin from cracking. I am of that group of modelers who tend to glue their fingers to things then rip off the glue removing skin in the process. I am fairly certain that all my ships have parts of me on them. Blood from a cut finger or glued skin, I leave my mark on them as they leave theirs on me.

Martin, Mark thank you both for the kind comments and to everyone who has liked this and followed along. The appreciation is motivation enough to keep going. Mark, I don;t know if I would call it quickly. As of last night I am at 490 hours and over 6 month in. What helps is that with my admiral in graduate school and a clinical internship I have a lot of free time where I am alone and able to work uninterrupted. In a couple of months when the new shipyard is built and we move that free time will shrink considerably as I will have a lot of work to do setting up the admiral's office and the rest of the house. So I am taking advantage as much as I can in the meantime. By the way, I would love to see those pictures of the admiralty model as well as the plans if you would be willing to share them. I have been doing a lot of research on the ships of this century and would love to see how they show her framing. Thanks,

Finished the second tower! All of la Couronne's hull structures are now built. It is good to see her looking like herself. I still have a long way to go but I feel like I have reached another big milestone on her build. Now to work more on all the misc. decorations, rudder, furniture and the build out of the ram. Also sometime soon I will need to build her launch. The kit came with a preformed, solid hull to use for this. I think I will build that one for a place holder but I would like to frame and plank one from scratch. I have never done that before but as my desire to learn how to do actual framing is constantly growing greater and greater I think this may be a good place to attempt a first try. Worst case I have the solid hull one I can use and best case I will make something great! I also need to give her a good dusting/cleaning. Since most of my work is currently being done very close to her she is collecting some saw dust build up on her edges. I am looking forward to having my large table back at the new shipyard to help prevent this. I will try to give her a good cleaning hopefully before the next major set of pictures. Working around the bow more lately I have also noticed the very pronounced twist at the forecastle deck. I new this was there but as much of the build up till recently has focused on her stern I didn't pay that close of attention. Now however it bugs me. There is nothing I can do at this point and really other than acknowledging my mistake the reason I bring it up is to stress the importance of making sure the false keel, on these kits especially but on any build really is straight and true. Most of us know this but reminders are always good and for anyone new who is reading this, there is your warning! Still I am very happy with the build as she is by far still my best wooden ship to date. Enjoy the pictures and I will get back to work!

Bob, you are not far off with needing sunglasses. When the LED lights on my visor reflect back off those pieces it can be extremely bright and blinding when looking through magnification. If this cloud cover will break I want to take her outside for some pictures. I have a feeling it will be even brighter then! Mike, glad you are enjoying it! The kit wood is not too bad. I did add some other wood to it though. The mahogany on the lower hull, below the bottom wale, and the pear wood that is on the interior bulkheads and the cabin walls came from Jason at Crown Timberyard. All the rest is from the kit. I have found that most kit wood is usable it just sometimes takes extra effort to make sure the thicknesses are even and the edges straight. Nothing that we shouldn't be doing already anyway. I will keep an eye out for that Unicorn build if you decide you want to give it a shot.

Looks like you are progressing nicely. I think I will pull up a chair and follow along.

Completed the first of the front towers as well as adding more of the gilded decorations with 32 fleur-di-lis. Now to repeat on the other side. She really is looking more and more like the iconic ship she is.

Nice job on the shield. That will look great on the ship. I agree that the wait times would definitely help in keeping the desire up to work on her. Having wait all those weeks in between steps would have me ready to get going every time that package showed up on my porch. On a plus side though, it would be great for allowing two builds to happen at the same time. Being able to work on a different one while waiting would help with the downtime and keep burnout from happening on either one.

Henry, thank you for that. I will look him up over there. Also, your own build of this ship is very nice. I will be following your log with great interest also.

Henry, I just found your log and I must say that you are doing a fantastic job. As I'm researching this ship and looking through build logs for ideas and clarifications for my own build in a few months I will be following along with yours as it is truly great. Keep up the excellent work!

Fantastic work. I know all those parts are a pain to install but the end result is more than worth it. You are going to have an awesome model when completed.

Bill, Can you provide a link to his build? I am going to be starting a wood version of the Soleil Royal in a few months and would love to see his as I am currently in research and ideas mode on that build. I have tried searching both his user name and the log title you provided but I cannot seem to find it. Thanks,

Well you can't go wrong with any of those choices. I do wish that the hardest choice any of us would have to make is which ship to build next. Life would be much more enjoyable on the day to day level. I look forward to seeing whichever you choose.

Looks like you are off to a good start. Smart decision to wear the gloves. A person usually tends to learn more from a mess up than a success. Mostly because they happen a lot more frequently! Nothing wrong with collecting future projects ahead of schedule. I think we all have a few sitting in the boat yard waiting their turn. Which one did you choose to do next? Have a good vacation! Look forward to seeing more on your Phantom when you get back.

Thanks MIchael! I have spent several hours over on the scratch build side looking at many of the awesome ships shown there. Many unbelievable works there. The gilded works are adding some nice character to her. In the below photo I have started to add more of them to the sides now that I have finally completed the port side quarter galley. I did find out that some of my carving skills will be put to the test shortly as the decorations that go on the uppermost wedge directly below the poop deck do not fit the dimensions of the ship. I am not completely sure what happened as my measurements match the 1:1 drawing and all other decorations fit but in any case they are too short for this model. Luckily they are some of the simpler ones so I believe I can do it. We shall see. At least I do not have to make a hundred fleur-di-lis! The metal ones actually look fairly good so that is a relief. Enjoy the picture. Once I finish up with the current decorations I will add some updated pics of the whole ship.