EJ_L

Simply outstanding!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Michael,
 
The sails look like they came out really nice. Congrats! 
What is the model lathe you are using for forming the yards, if I may ask?
 
Thanks,
 
Frank
 
 
 

You say obsessive, I say freaking awesome!

thanks for the likes gents      the work week is over........back to the fun stuff.......tomorrow  

She looks incredible! You have done an excellent job and that large scale just adds an even bigger wow factor! 

Those lights are very well done. The dissipated light makes a nice soft glow that looks like lantern light. Great addition!

She looks incredible! You have done an excellent job and that large scale just adds an even bigger wow factor! 

Thank you all for the nice words and likes.
 
I thought I would take a few more overall pictures to add on here and for my own records before she goes under the plastic while I work on S.R. I moved her to the dining room also so there would be less random stuff in the background that makes it harder to see her rigging. Also I needed a drink and that table is next to the bar so... 

Busy week in the shipyard as all three of the mizzen yards have been rigged! The actual rigging for these yards was simpler than the other masts but threading the ropes through all the lines from the main mast yards and behind the lower main shrouds was a pain. I've also started to add in the rope coils but I still have a lot of those to make for all the rigging ends. Now I just have the two yards on the bowsprit but those will have to wait till after I work on S.R. for a bit. I need a break now from rigging!
 
As always, thanks for stopping in and enjoy!

Well, I just surprised myself and finished up my crows foot rigging a day earlier and it even looks good!
 
With that, all the main mast yards are in place and I am ready to move on to the mizzen mast. Partly because I am still in the mood to rig and partly because I am not in the mood to start sanding on S.R., I am going to go ahead and push on with La Couronne. So that means more pictures and entertainment for all of you! For now, here are the current pics.
 
Michael, I did include a close up of the Euphroe blocks. Hopefully that clears that up a little more. I had to use the camera on my phone as both batteries on my good camera are apparently dead... so focusing in on the close ups was difficult but I think you can see enough. I can always upload better if needed once the batteries charge. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been hard at work but I feel like it has mostly just been chasing my tail. I finished framing all the starboard gun ports Friday night but something had been bothering me. I got up, left the room and played with the dogs for a while and when I came back in I realized that the bottom two rows of gun ports were shorter than the top row. Width was great but they were all squatting. I measured them and they are in fact shorter. I could not figure out how that happened as I have measured them time and time again what happened?!?! and why were the top ports all the correct size? Then I realized what I did. I did not oversize the height on those port opening for the framing. Still don't know how I missed that but I caught it. So now I get to go back through and re-frame the ports in order to make them all the correct size.
 
On the bright side, while I still have rework to do on the port side gun ports, I should just be able to transfer over the dimensions from the starboard side and rework them once instead of the 4 times I have reworked them on this side..... I wish I could say that simply pulling the dimensions off the prints would work, and the would normally but, with the interior modeling I am doing there is no way to make the kit plan layout align with the actual decks.
 
So, here I go. Already fixed a few in this picture and got in a couple more since it was taken. The repair work is going fairly fast so hopefully in a few days I will have some forward progress to show. Then I get to fix wood filler and finish sanding the hull and repeat on the other side.

Had to take some time to reorganize the lumber rack this evening. It had been needing it and with the new wood I finally decided to take the time and clean it up. Found some pieces I thought I was out of and now I have a better idea of what I have.
 

 
Then it was back to work on gun port framing. Slowly advancing down the hull. Focusing on them has also allowed me to see areas that will need a little more fill and sanding work before the 2nd planking. It is like looking for a lost item. Stop looking for it and it appears! Same with dips and uneven planks. Stop looking for them and there they are. Not a problem as I was expecting to have to do another sanding anyway. I am just marking the spots I want to fix as I see them and will get to it when done with the framing.
 
The top row of ports I am still not certain how I am going to do them. At the moment the have been cut out to receive the metal fittings that came with the kit. These contain the port frame and the ornate casing. The more I look at them the more I think they will be replaced by something I create. This of course means I will have to resize the ports but at this stage that is not a big deal to do. I will sleep on it as I have a couple more days before I reach those ports anyway. 
 

S.R.'s planking arrived today making for a nice couple days of acquiring new stuff for the build. The mahogany and walnut strips are from Crown Timberyard, the bass wood is just from Hobby Lobby but works great for sub structure work. I also picked up a pair of those pliers for making wire loops for eyebolts. Looked like they might be a good investment after seeing them used on some other logs here. I realized when I bought them that I own a very nice collection of jewelry making tools and supplies for having never made a piece of jewelry.... 
 
Well, I guess I better get to building as I no longer have any excuses!

I don't know if I actually build fast or if I am just fortunate to have a lot of time I can dedicate to building. Just to get to this point I around 230 hours and La Couronne to date is around 860. While the compliment is appreciated, in fact I need to slow down. I tend to get impatient and want to keep going and I have sacrificed details and a cleaner look on some things that I wish I had not. It is one of my faults I am constantly working on improving with every build.
 
I do use a power sander for rough sanding to knock down the really bad planks and the clinker effect. Still, most is done by hand and all the wood filler sanding is done by hand. I have to be able to feel the curves on the hull as well as the low and high spots as I sand. Now I get to start squaring up the gun ports and installing their framework. Once I get all of those done, I will give the hull another sanding. I like to do this as it helps to make the port framing match up to the hull shape as well as just giving the hull another go over before the second planking goes on. I also like to use a rough grit to lightly hit all the places where I applied wood filler to provide grooves for the glue to bond to. 
 
 

Ship yard is open again and I'm back working on the starboard gun ports. As you can see from the many re-drawings and a couple of patched back in sections, I have been fighting this layout. Since I decided to model the interiors I had to build the interior decks. The kit was never designed for this and so the gun port layout did not need to follow a deck until the main deck and upward. When I added actual decks in the hull I quickly saw that the gun ports were not going to align and many were ending up in very odd places. As I began to modify the ports to align with the new decks I started to see more and more that the sheer at the stern seemed to be much more pronounced than I felt it should be. The more I looked at it the more it bothered me and so I began the process of leveling out the decks slightly which in turn lowered the sheer. This of course threw off my gun port layout again.  
 
After the nice long break that I took to work on La Couronne I am seeing the entire layout much clearer with all my adjustments and now I just have to once again re-draw the ports but now I can finally cut them out with confidence that they are where they need to go. The downside is I have to adjust a few on the port side so they match. Oh well, I tell people all the time that it is better to fix something that is bothering you now than leave it till it is too late. Then it bothers you forever. I guess it is time I start to take my own advice!

Those lights are very well done. The dissipated light makes a nice soft glow that looks like lantern light. Great addition!

Welcome back form your camping trip. Judy and I really enjoyed meeting you in Amsterdam.

sorry I didn't get back last evening.........I had supper and Zonked out.   .....tough day at work     these two pictures were taken before the camera decided it needed a recharge.   I was at my desk,  so the pictures may not be too good.   the blocks work well.......here is the what the lower one looks like.......the bottom main stay is doubled and will look thicker that all the rest.

the stay will terminate with a pulley assembly at the base of the fore mast......like this...

then I realized that doing the stays in this manner,  would be too much for the mast trees.....causing them to bend very easily.   I had to add the back stays to help me out.   later,  it ended up on my table.....I had to stand to better run the rigging.   I didn't take too many pictures...feeding the camera.......but I ended up with this bit of progress.

here's a better shot of the main stay rigging.

.....and the pulley assemblies associated with them.

the mizzen will only have this one stay that is done this way.........it's not tied off yet.

the other blocks you see will be devoted to the braces.    there is one other stay that I need to add to the mizzen........I may do it this way as well.

this is the standing rigging ......so far.   I will do the rest when I get back to her.   then I can start the running rigging     thanks for looking in      thanks for the good word Piet........and thanks to those who hit the like button  
 

Thank you Anton. You are well educated over your project....great! 
 
Christos

She does have a nice glow with the lights. Not to strong either. Well done

ok....lighting is done....still may do some tweeking.........placed some led's in glass tubes to dissipate the light.......

Definitely do a log for it. That would be fun to follow along with. I'll keep an eye out for when you do get started.

Definitely do a log for it. That would be fun to follow along with. I'll keep an eye out for when you do get started.

Good seeing you back in the shipyard Mark.  Keep that ticker ticking my friend.
 
Cheers,

Hi Mark,
I am happy that you're back.