EJ_L

I've made some more progress.   starting at the taffrail {which I added earlier},   the aft railings were added.   they have tabs that locate on the outside of the bulwarks,  so it works out rather well.


for the pair on the bow though.....I smell trouble....the tabs want to locate on the inside of the bulwark.  there is to be some trimming at the cat heads as well,  so I guess fitting is in order.  the figurehead was painted at this time.   instead of being instructed to paint it in one color,  I gave it three.


keeping with outfitting the bow,  the cat heads were added.

adding the third step to the masts was going to be a trial.........and it's living up to my expectations.   the cross trees are used to trap the shrouds at the second step cap,  and then cemented in place at the tops.  one of the cross trees was deformed and broken.......I tried to fix it,  but it broke again as I tried to slip it over the top end of the mast.   abandoning the idea of including the shrouds in this endeavor,  it was repaired in place and the shrouds were located on the outside of the cross tree.

the third step was added after the masts were dry,  and the shroud tabs were trimmed off.

along the hull/bulwarks where the deck opening is,  there are two more railings that continue the bulwark railings to the bow.  they were added at this time.

the flag staff was added......painted wood brown and accented with the flat black wash.  by this time I had to make more of it...very easy to make....just botch up some flat black paint    "hey knucklehead........make me a batch of spotted paint!"   "botch a batch of paint!"  

I was beginning to get curious about a few things.....I had to see if they would work.   the bow rails were added to the beak....along with the figurehead.

I don't mean to be,   but I do tend to get a bit flighty with my ideas.........sometimes taking me to other projects.   perhaps I should leave bread crumbs?   to see where I went to next,  you would need to look in the scratch build forum.   the trawler's beckon call   

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... 

Marc,
 
Your build log is a great reference tool for anyone looking for serious, in depth research and information of this great ship. Yes, it is not really a "build" log yet as you have not really built anything but, it is full of relevant information that will benefit anyone looking to scratch build and/or expand their knowledge of this ship. The building part will come soon enough!

Dan has voiced a question that has started to bug me in the accuracy of the overall shapes of the ships being painted. When we have ships that the known information is largely based on artistic renderings from hundreds of years ago, how much reliability can we give to the those artists when it comes to proportion? It is not uncommon for artists to exaggerate an objects shape in order to make it "pop" on canvas or allow room for details. Even more detailed and accuracy oriented artists who were truly attempting to reproduce the object they were painting may exaggerate a line in order to allow it to fit especially when translating a 3 dimensional object to a 2 dimensional drawing. It is almost the opposite problem that model builders have in translating 2D drawings into a 3D model. There is always something lost in translation.
 
Now take into consideration the time period. This was long before high definition pictures, lasers, 3D scans or even binoculars as we know them today to provide a clear up close image or measurements. Most artistic paintings were done from the shore at a distance or even after the fact based on people's accounts of the action/object. Just these facts begin to raise the question of reliability. Not to discredit Berain's, or anyone else for that matter, drawings as they are excellently done and I am relying on them immensely myself. I think some lee way must be given that they are not proportionally accurate. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that it gives us more freedom to model the ship as we feel it may have looked, within reason. The curse is we do not know what the historically accurate ship would look like. 
 
 

Beautiful work!!  Just discovered your log and will be following from now on.  The delicate work on the small boat is amazing.  I need to scratch build a launch for my Bounty and it's given me some good ideas.  Cheers and keep up the good work
Nigel

I have also read through that FineScale build log.  It has to be said, though, that it could have been many pages shorter if certain participants in that discussion could have restrained themselves from reminding everyone just how aweful they found the kit to be.  To be fair, I am sure some feel MY log could be many pages shorter, if I'd just get busy building something!
 
There certainly was a lot of usefull information there, though.  Hopefully, I can push that conversation forward a little, with this model.

Thank you, Dan!  Yes, with this Berain tracing layer, in place, the full parameters of my proposed model are now in place.
 
I realized, after posting, that I probably should have used GIMP's eraser tool to eliminate the Berain sheer cap because it is so exagerated, and its presence muddles my intent.  The only aspects of this drawing that I will incorporate into my own are the quarter gallery, the quarter piece, Africa, and the caryatid figure supportig her.
 
What's interesting to me about the sheer line, as it is represented in Berain's drawing, is that to some degree it must represent the more pronounced sheer line that would have been a feature of ships of the First Marine.  However, I do not think it is an accurate representation of what the first SR's sheer line would have looked like.
 
Consider first, that I had to rotate the drawing, significantly, in order for the sheer of the  QG to align with the kit's degree of sheer - which is much less pronounced.  Having done that, the Berain sheer still rises at a steep angle from my own!
 
The second issue with the Berain drawing that I do not think can be taken too literally is the fact that the Berain sheer is shown to be very straight and stiff looking, when in actual practice almost every battle ship sheer line, up to and including the IOWA class, is a fair curve.  
 
In reality, SR1's sheer line was almost certainly more pronounced than shown in the Heller kit, but probably not radically so, ala the Vasa.  The truth, I think, lies somewhere between what I feel must be a VDV quality portrait of the Monarch of 1668 (which I have posted many times), and the VDV portraits of La Reyne, where the wale strakes are shown to rise more steeply.
 
It is my belief that Berain, Puget and other designers of ship ornamentation applied what were intended to be, variously accurate representations of the ship's decor (Berain more so than Puget) to a sort of boiler plate template of a ship's side - which I don't think was ever intended to be taken too literally as an accurate presentation of naval architecture; the perspective of the hull in these drawings always seems approximate and flawed to me.
 
 

Hi Marc - 
  Those plans are getting better all the time.  Tracing the Berain drawing is a good idea, but the sheer looks to be exaggerated, especially at the upper rail.  Maybe the artist did this as an attempt to show perspective, because there seems to be a progressive tilt from deck to deck.  If so, maybe your GIMP program has a "free transform" or similar function that would allow you to pull down just that corner to make it match your space a bit closer.   Also, I just ran across this discussion of the Heller SR kit when I went to renew my subscription to FineScale Modeler.  Don't know if you have seen it.     http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/68138.aspx      The discussion ran from 2006 to 2011 and was dominated by Dr. John Tilley, professor at East Carolina University and former curator at the Mariner's Museum.  He hated the kit, though he built one.  Lots of links in the discussion to some pretty well built examples. Judging from those, it can be turned into a very nice looking model.  But the effort to do so is tremendous.  One link I read said that it had taken the builder 14 years to finish, mostly in research and correcting kit problems.  Whew!  I don't have that kind of dedication.   With all the research and work you are putting in, yours has all the makings of being one of the best, despite any non-correctable kit issues.     Dan                    

Oh and no not convict stock myself. This is actually a proud ancestry in Australia if you come from the original convicts that were sent here. 
 
I'm Dutch Indonesian, my Dutch father coming from the Dutch East Indies before returning to the Netherlands in 1949 and my mother, Indonesian from Bandung in Java. 

Thanks guys, an enjoyable side project of their own  
 
Added in seat slats, interior gunwale and floor boards and gratings. Still a bit to go but started to paint it also now. The only painting which shows the sovereign with any boats is a modern painting of a model built in the 30's with a large longboat that has a black hull and golden filigree work. The filigree on the boats upper strake is scribed into the plank itself. I've taken my colour pallet from the early 18th century with reds and blues leaving the hull wood and White below the waterline as I think the black hull would be too much.  I've again used my oak wash over the hull planks which give it the darker wood colour of typical ships boats of the 17th century while still having decorations being from a royal warship. The final pic shows Van de Velde sitting comfortably forward making his sketch of the Sovereign:)

excellent metal work Johann,
 
those silver soldered cross trees look look lovely...
 
Nils

Your work and craftsmanship are just amazing!
 
Thomas

Looks really great with all the masts up Michael!
 
Cheers,
Peter

Hi Mates,
 
He are some updated full views as of today. Always thanks for dropping by.

Karl,
 
Thanks for responding - I was wondering about that detail in the mizzen sail.

super!...what nice shots....such even warm lighting.....bet it feels good......cheers.......

Wow! That is incredibly small yet very well done!

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... 

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... 

Beautiful, Ken!

Anton,
 
Now that is, as some of us still say across the pond (from your ancestral roots) "ridiculous", my son would say, "that is sick". Well done indeed !!
 
PS: BTW - I hope that your ancestors were not criminals sent to Australia by the English - ha ha ah - lol
 
PS 2 brilliant work!
 
Cheers,
 

The hull can now be turned over and the hull former gently pulled out. Being careful with the placement of the CA glue this came out without any hitch. The strips are now cut down to the height of the upper strake and the final strips added for the remainding frames. Still more to go, but this is how it looks so far.

Hola Michael:
Sure, if I can help you in anyway don´t doubt to ask.  All the stitches were made with my wife sewing machine after marking previously the lines.  About your specific question, for that sail i didn´t put any reinforcement, but I put it at the foremast lower sail. (picture) I took several pictures of the sails and don´t remember which of them I sent it to you, please tell me  if you want any in particular.
 
Saludos, Karl

E J,
Just beautiful in every way.
 
Regards

EJ,
 
Very nice. I'm just in the middle of standing rigging so understand the intensity that this part of a build creates (you are a veteran - not me (:-) ) 
 
Looking really good indeed. 
 
PS: I remember seeing a Nat Geo doc. where they gave a spider LSD and then photographed her web building - always stuck with me ha ha