EJ_L

More work has been taking place in the shipyard and la Couronne is getting her 2nd planking. I am using mahogany for the majority of the planking. The wales and some of the trim is walnut and the white sections at the gun ports are maple. I am trying to have minimal paint and so I want the wood's natural colors to do the job. There is an exception to this as I am using a dyed blue boxwood for parts on the upper hull. I like the look of the blue dye over paint in this case and as it is a small area I think it will look good. Might have some of that on in the next update.
 
I've stated mid ship installing the wales and working upward. I wanted to work on the "easier" part first before tackling the lower hull. I also needed to have good starting points and I've seen from other build logs and planking instructions that starting this way seems to be the most common route for planking. In the past I have tended to just do things my way and hope for the best. Although I am proud of my work, I have discovered a deep desire after viewing many remarkable builds on here to push myself harder to make a better ship. This has involved changing a lot my methods and habits and so far I am very glad I did.
 
I have also discovered that the kit did not come with nearly enough mahogany to plank this ship. Luckily Jason at Crown Timberyard has come through for me and found what I was needing. They say that a bad review will travel faster than a good one and so I am trying to change that. This was the second time I have ordered from Jason and I have been very pleased with the service each time. The wood is excellent quality, and his service, response and shipping is very good as well. This was even more noticeable this time as it was a custom order and not "off the shelf." He wen out of his way to find the lumber to match what I needed. I will use him for all my wood needs for ship building and highly recommend anyone not familiar with Crown Timberyard to check it out if you are needing wood for your build.
 
And now enjoy the pictures!
 

More work has been taking place in the shipyard and la Couronne is getting her 2nd planking. I am using mahogany for the majority of the planking. The wales and some of the trim is walnut and the white sections at the gun ports are maple. I am trying to have minimal paint and so I want the wood's natural colors to do the job. There is an exception to this as I am using a dyed blue boxwood for parts on the upper hull. I like the look of the blue dye over paint in this case and as it is a small area I think it will look good. Might have some of that on in the next update.
 
I've stated mid ship installing the wales and working upward. I wanted to work on the "easier" part first before tackling the lower hull. I also needed to have good starting points and I've seen from other build logs and planking instructions that starting this way seems to be the most common route for planking. In the past I have tended to just do things my way and hope for the best. Although I am proud of my work, I have discovered a deep desire after viewing many remarkable builds on here to push myself harder to make a better ship. This has involved changing a lot my methods and habits and so far I am very glad I did.
 
I have also discovered that the kit did not come with nearly enough mahogany to plank this ship. Luckily Jason at Crown Timberyard has come through for me and found what I was needing. They say that a bad review will travel faster than a good one and so I am trying to change that. This was the second time I have ordered from Jason and I have been very pleased with the service each time. The wood is excellent quality, and his service, response and shipping is very good as well. This was even more noticeable this time as it was a custom order and not "off the shelf." He wen out of his way to find the lumber to match what I needed. I will use him for all my wood needs for ship building and highly recommend anyone not familiar with Crown Timberyard to check it out if you are needing wood for your build.
 
And now enjoy the pictures!
 

The following photo shows the assembly of the fore deck rails. They now have to be final fitted in place so that the joins are smooth and flowing from front to side rails.
 

 
More to follow.......

You hit upon something that is very important to my build. It has been a 'visual' build from the very start for me and at every step, I think about what the paintings show with the beautiful curvature of all aspects of the ship and have tried to duplicate that in my build. I build it to what pleases my eye rather than to specific dimensions and scale, keeping in mind that it must be in proportion to the scale of the model for the most part.
 
Regards,
Bill

Aren't you glad that you only had two to make? I'd have cheated and gone with the old 'cut nail' shape.

I have been working on a small project that required some small silver nails, these nails are 1/4 inch long and .035" at the largest diameter.
 
step 1 was to cut a wedge of silver from some annealed sheet silver, and using a tiny watchmakers hammer forge it roughtly into a rounded shape
 

 
step 2 was to clean up the long blank with a fine file
 

 
Step 3 using the same small watchmakers hammer to upset the head
 

 
step 4 back to the steel plate to tap the head into a round shape
 

 
step 5 with the rough nail in a pin vice a second peening to dome the head.
 

 
step 6 the top was polished with a leather polishing stick (Basically a strip of wood with some leather off cut stuck to it with double sided carpet tape)
 

 
The finished nails I actually had to make 2 of them.
 

 

 
Michael

If you are not afraid to put a little money in it the Knew Concepts Fret saw in one of the best.  I own three of these in different sizes.  They have received rave reviews from a number of magazines and have a boatload of videos on their website giving instructions on choosing one as well as use and adjustments.  Check them out, I have no affiliation with them other than as a satisfied user.
 
http://www.knewconcepts.com/

The jeweller's saw is an incredibly useful tool. Use it with a bench birdsmouth ('V') board. Follow Jesse's advice and you can't go far wrong.

I was a bench jeweler for 21 years. The jewelers saw was one of the most used tools I worked with every day. The secret is don't put too much tension on the blade. Tighten one end of the blade into the frame. Push the frame (top end against your work bench & the handle against your chest) very slightly & tighten the other end. You should be able to pluck it with your thumb & hear it "sing".  Don't force it with too much pressure. Let the teeth do the cutting. Take your time. When cutting metal lubricate it with something (we used bees wax in the jewelry trade). hope this helps some.
 
I just got one a t a local Hobby Lobby the other week. It felt good to feel one in my hands again!
 
Jesse

I don't do that much sawing with a fret-saw these days, put it seems that a 'standard' (as Otto Frey term it) jeweler's frame does the job to me. As with all fret-saw judicious tensioning adapted to the blade and material to be sawn is required. I don't seem to have a problem fitting the blade to the frame and then pre-adjusting the moveable part of frame before tightening it with the thumb-screw. You may need to play around a bit with pre-adjusting the arm and tightening it in order to not put too much tension on it. In any case it is tool proven in the trade for more than a hundred years.
 
Being in Europe, I wouldn't buy from Otto Frey anyway, but too me they always seem to be a bit on the expensive side. One has to always check that such supply houses, like the modellers' ones, don't put a too high mark-up on (certain) tools. Such jewelers' frames are bog standard and one can get them from many different sources. Their 'standard' model seems to be reasonably priced, but they also have titanium-frame ones for the price of which you can get a table saw  
 
I would also support the view that the modellers' supply houses flog-off to modellers a lot of stuff that can be had from jewellers' or dentists' supply houses at better prices and often better quality. 

I hear you!  I've encountered the same problem.  The fact is, most of the "tools," using the term loosely, that are offered by "modeling" mail order houses are bottom-of-the-line junk.  (Yes, that means you, Model Expo and Micro-Mark!)  I can't blame them that much, though, because good tools are always expensive to buy, but cheaper in the long run.  Tool buyers are often new to a craft and hesitant to lay out the big bucks, so the retailers offer what sells... and often at rather high prices when all is said and done.
 
If I were in the market for a jeweler's saw, I'd go to any of the big commercial jeweler's supply houses.  In fact, that's where I go for any miniature tools these days.  I've found Otto Frei to have a particularly nice selection.  Here's their saw page:  http://www.ottofrei.com/Store/Saw-blades-and-Saw-Frames/ 
 
Rules for buying tools:  1) Never buy a tool unless you really need it.  2) If you are going to use the tool more than once, buy the best one you can possibly afford.  It will hold its value, be a joy to own, and improve your craftsmanship because you won't be able to blame your shortcomings on your tools!
 
Buying the best is always the most economical way to go, unless you know a cheapo throw-away tool will serve the purpose in the short haul.  And, if you amass a nice collection of really good tools, they will hold their value and perhaps make your widow's cleaning out your shop worth her while!

Innocent on the Bounty: The Court-Martial and Pardon of Midshipman Peter Heywood, in Letters

Edited by Donald A. Maxton and Rolf E. Du Rietz

Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2013

6” x 9”, softcover, 250 pages

Illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $45.00

ISBN: 9780786472666

 

Maxton and Du Rietz’s work is an edited compilation of letters and poems corresponded between Peter Heywood, a midshipman whose first voyage took him aboard the infamous Bounty, and his sister Hester “Nessy” Heywood, who fought tirelessly to vindicate her younger brother’s conviction of mutiny.

 

In the introduction, the authors carefully relate the Manxmen’s common roots and association, and a summary of the mutiny and aftermath, including the account of Heywood’s actions during and after the mutiny. The crux of the conflict lay between acting lieutenant and second-in-command Fletcher Christian and the notorious William Blight. Bligh’s disrespect for the high-born Christian ultimately led to the mutiny in April 1789, where Heywood was reportedly forced below and unable to leave with Bligh and his loyal crew members. While the mutineers and Heywood took refuge at Tahiti, Bligh managed to return to England, despite the trials of a 4,000-mile voyage. Bligh, apparently never informed of Heywood and his shipmate Stewart’s intention to depart with the captain, considered Heywood as cooperating with the leader of the mutiny, Christian.

 

At 230 pages, the book is divided into seven parts. Following the introduction that provides the context for the rest of the book is a textual postscript accounting the initial organization of private letters and poems that form the basis of the book. These are presented in two parts, the first being the correspondence, the second the poems. These are followed by three appendices that address additional correspondence on Heywood’s status, a list of dramatis persona, and an account of Heywood’s naval career.

 

The argument for Heywood’s innocence is smartly supported by the incomplete collection of letters and poems exchanged between Peter Heywood and his sister Nessy. The reader might take issue with the potential bias of a collection of letters first organized by an “anonymous editor” after Nessy’s death in 1793. Heywood’s insistence of innocence and Nessy’s dogged support for her brother still prove convincing.

 

That said, the book remains an impressive collection of primary documents recounting the infamous mutiny and Peter and Nessy’s close relationship. It also illustrates the close-knit nature of serving as an officer in the Royal Navy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bligh, Christian, and Heywood all hailed from the Isle of Man. Heywood was nephew to Commodore Thomas Palsey (married to Nessy and Peter’s aunt Mary Heywood)—the list of connections is quite extensive. It also harkens to the much more deliberate and intimate style of eighteenth-century correspondence and composition. Granted, a midshipman imprisoned for mutiny would have even more time on his hands to compose poetry and write letters than the average sailor, yet it is a sharp contrast to the microsecond pace of twenty-first-century communication. Well worth a read for any fan of maritime history, eighteenth-century primary documents or poetry, and, of course, anyone interested in the infamous events that inspired both a novel and an Academy Award winning movie.

 

Daniel M. Brown

University of South Carolina

I decided I didn't like the way I set up the parrels on the mizzen yard, so I took another run at doing it the "right" way.  I went back to the arrangement with the double block at one end:
 

 
Then I wrapped the parrel around the mizzen mast.  I did not run the parrel lines around the mizzen yard - I think that's what messed things up the first time.  Instead, I brought the lines straight around and through the block at the end.  Then I seized the two lines to the mizzen yard tie, per the description in Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast:
 

 
Once the lines went through the block, I joined the ends together in a thimble and then attached the truss tackle block to that.  Here you can see the truss tackle and its blocks, with the end belayed around the bottom block.  Now I'm happy with the result.
 

 
On to the mizzen yard lift.  This was straightforward - the kit plans (mostly) agreed with the museum plans, my books, the 1:10 model, and Clayton's model, so that's good enough for me.  The line starts from a ring bolt on the mast cap, then down to the yard, where there's another block, a euphroe tackle, and crows feet.  Then back to a pendant on the mizzen mast, down through the top, and terminating at a ring bolt at the foot of the mast.  The kit plans belay to the caprail, which would mean you'd run the line outside the mizzen top and hope that it didn't foul on it.  I decided to go with the museum plans.
 
 
Maintaining tension on the lift's crows feet is easier once you rig the mizzen sheet, since they counterbalance each other.  Without a sail, there isn't a "correct" place to locate the sheet block, so I just attached it to the yard.
 

 
Fred Hocker kindly gave me some very useful pointers on where the sheet was attached on the deck - there's a staple on the center beam of the transom, to which a block is attached.  From there, the line can be belayed to that block or up to a location on the rail.
 

 
He also gave some insight into how the mizzen top rope might have been routed.  The museum plans and the kit plans don't show one, although one would be required.  There's no capstan in the area, and the knighthead doesn't have an extra sheave for the top rope like the fore and mainmast ones do.  His best guess is that there was a leader block at the foot of the mizzen mast, which would allow the top rope to run out to the weather deck, where a bunch of men could haul on it to raise the mizzen topmast.  That's what I did in the photo below; still not sure where/how I'll terminate the line.
 

 
And finally the mizzen yard "braces".  The kit plans are vague about how the lines run, but the museum plans, the 1:10 model, and my books are clearer.  Each brace has a standing end tied to a main mast shroud.  From there it goes to a block on the yard, back to a leader block on the shroud, and thence down to the caprail, where it's belayed.
 
This was surprisingly difficult to set up, just because there are so many lines in the way at this point.  While I was wrestling with the braces, I managed to detach the main mast bitts from the deck.  My fault for not pinning them when I initially installed them.  That meant carefully undoing the lift and sheet lines, re-gluing the bitts, and re-attaching the lines.  Fortunately the lines weren't trimmed yet.
 

  Now it's on to the crossjack yard...
 
 
 
 
 

The one rigging tool I find indispensable is the ear polypus forceps.  (Google it to see what they look like.)  Nothing can reach inside the shrouds and grab a line better..

Very nice table. I'm fortunate to have a space for my model building in the house but in my very tiny wood shop, I use several similar setups to move tools and one of my benches in and out when more space is needed. I too have been there when I was racing the weather to get some work done and had several tools in the driveway when it started to downpour. I was thankful for wheels that day!
 
When I move to my new place I will have more room and just might try out your table design.

Very nice table. I'm fortunate to have a space for my model building in the house but in my very tiny wood shop, I use several similar setups to move tools and one of my benches in and out when more space is needed. I too have been there when I was racing the weather to get some work done and had several tools in the driveway when it started to downpour. I was thankful for wheels that day!
 
When I move to my new place I will have more room and just might try out your table design.

Very nice table. I'm fortunate to have a space for my model building in the house but in my very tiny wood shop, I use several similar setups to move tools and one of my benches in and out when more space is needed. I too have been there when I was racing the weather to get some work done and had several tools in the driveway when it started to downpour. I was thankful for wheels that day!
 
When I move to my new place I will have more room and just might try out your table design.

Very nice table. I'm fortunate to have a space for my model building in the house but in my very tiny wood shop, I use several similar setups to move tools and one of my benches in and out when more space is needed. I too have been there when I was racing the weather to get some work done and had several tools in the driveway when it started to downpour. I was thankful for wheels that day!
 
When I move to my new place I will have more room and just might try out your table design.

Good day folks,
 
Well, what can be said other than that it is so sad that all the beautiful input has been lost from this site. There were so many wonderful models and a wealth of information for all to share. Now is the time for us all to rebuild the site together.
 
Today I will just post a photo of the stern of the Sovereign as she sits today while I consider if it is possible to revive the log as it previously was.
 
 

 
 
More to folllow...........
 
Regards,
Bill

I think tools like this make more sense to the tool merchandising people than they do to actual model builders. As a product, they have the appeal of being easy to manufacture and ship and they appear practical. From the standpoint of a model builder they do not bring much to the table when it comes to implementation. Molded handles don't add functionality in a case like this and limit, to some extent, where the tool can be menouvered. A spool of stout wire, which can maybe be found in the same price range, will provide the model builder with a lot more functionality over many more model building applications. Easily cut and bent to the desired length and shape, no store bought tool will match the adaptability of simple thick bendable wire. In actual use, I am using the wire to get lines onto fife rails my thick fingers cant reach through the shrouds and stays. A straight tool will not be as useful as a wire I can bend an elbow into in order to customize it to get around the whatsit that is blocking access to the pin I am trying to belay to.

I ordered a set like this from micromark.com. But I have to be honest the comment from Ulises Victoria is a very good one and much cheaper.
 
Grtz
 
Ray

Check the local sewing stores and you will find a number of items made for thread pulling that are very helpful.

Thanks! I know a lot of people in MSW have built her but there are only a couple of build logs on here about la Couronne so I am trying to keep mine up to date and as complete as I can.
 
What set of plans do you have? I have seen a couple different versions while researching this ship. I have seen a few discrepancies in the forward facing canons above the prow deck but from what I can tell all are in agreement that there are 8 canon in the stern. From what I have gathered for the 1637 version of la Couronne which was a 3rd rate carrying 64 guns, there were 8 on the bow, 8 on the stern, 24 on each side from lowest to highest decks, 10, 9 and 5.
 
Finding reliable information on her has been a struggle so a lot of how I am making her look is based on what I have gathered of my plans (which are Corel), other sets of plans that I have found online, pictures of completed models and comparisons of the construction of other ships of her era. If you have something different that I have not seen I would be interested in looking at it as I may be building wrong. 

Hi there,
 
I've recently got back into model making.  I've never made a wooden model ship (or any other type for that matter!) My forté was 54mm - 75mm scale figures and dioramas.  However, a 20 year career in the RN left me with a liking for the sea and I'm now part way through an Amati HMAV Bounty (there's "dust" everywhere in my work area at the moment as I'm filling and fairing!) 
When I was modelling before, I had a little compartmentalised "tunrntable" that came from a graphics shop that I once worked in.  I used it for standing a lot of my tools and things in.
The better part of thirty years, umpteen house moves and a couple of kids (now adults) have left my turntable heaven knows where! 
 
So now that I've "returned from the cold', I need some way of storing my modelling tools whilst having them easily to hand.  This will not only keep my workspace clear, but also keep my tools in better condition and keep me from injuring my self on needlepoint sharp kit!
 
I searched everywhere in stationery stores and suppliers, graphic art shops...  Allsorts. Nothing.  So I turned my attention to E-Bay.  Eventually, I found something...  in "Health & Beauty"/"Make Up"/ "Make up tools & accessories"
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201479390299?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=500659444906&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
I'm not sure that the full link will show so it was described on E-Bay UK as
"360-degree Spinning Cosmetic Organizer Display Makeup Box Case Cleanup Rotating"
 
It arrived in just a few days and I set to, "adapting it" to my needs.  It's not finished but I have managed to clear a BIG space on my work table!
 
I thought it might work for someone else, so I've posted it here...
 
I hope it helps someone else.

Very Hi-tech this build. I like it.