EJ_L

Hi Bill.
Thanks for your comment on my SR. Not a patch on your Victory, I have to say. Have you been to Portsmouth and seen the original? Quite an experience.
My kit had the original paper instructions and certainly not in full colour. I printed off the English (Aurora) version as I don't know enough French, and have looked at the Imai instructions too, which are different again. Like others, I also refer a lot to the St Phillipe monograph to clarify things. I'd be doubtful if Heller have changed the kit at all. They are constantly re-issuing old kits and never seem to update them - I have many of their French and German modern ship kits, most of which are many years old, and they just change the box art.
I am building the SR for fun; it's not at all my main model-building hobby, just the odd half hour now and then. It's not meant to be a museum piece, so whilst I am following Marc's build with amazement and respect, there's no way I could replicate his skill or patience. And you are right, being able to exercise one's imagination and judgement I think adds a lot to the interest. I'll follow your own build with interest. I like to think we all have something to bring to the table.

John I am a new visitor to your SR build. I am currently building the Heller HMS Victory (14 months in process) with help and advice from Ian and Marc who have commented here. I have what I understand to be the new production of the Heller SR in my stash ready to begin after I finish my Victory. My Heller SR model came with the new instruction book in full color. I am curious if your kit came with the older paper instructions or the new instruction book?  Which will then make me curious if Heller improved it’s part molds with the new production and corrected some of the flaws. I have your build along with Marc’s and two others saved for reading and reference once I start my SR build. I have taken note of the reference books recommended. Since the SR no longer exists and there does not seem to be much first hand reference to that ship, and of course no photos, it is good to have the artistic freedom to modify as you see fit without strict concerns for authenticity.  The SR will be the first of my 6 ships I have built and displayed that the original or replica does not exist. I am very much looking forward to my SR build and will definitely be referring to your build when I do. Beautiful job.

Too quick off the mark with that last comment, as usual. There are a few annoying paint repairs to be done first and I've spotted the bolt heads for the gun tackles on the upper decks have yet to be installed. As the holes I originally drilled for those are now occupied by the eyelets on the inside, they'll most likely be a blob of acrylic moulding paste then painted.
 
I am inclining towards not altering the bowsprit angle. Apart from having to redo work already done, I did a bit of research which leads me to think it might not be so far out after all.. My measuring showed the actual angle to be about 32-33 degrees. The St Philippe plans show that angle to be 40 degrees. Mondfeld says that around 1650 the angle would be c30, then in 1665 40, but by 1675 reducing to 35, so whilst 32-33 is on  the low side, it is potentially not that far out. If Mondfeld had stated that bowsprits were 40 degrees from 1650 to 1700 then I would alter it but it seems there is room for manoevre there over the period of the ship.

yea....have been waiting for some action...good shew.....i'll have to think about incorporating some of your ideas on my effort....really original......vc

I see it's been over two months since I last posted. I was away from home for the whole of June, but have been slowly working away since I got back on the various access stairs and ladders as I mentioned before. We know there are lots of details missing from the Paris model which must have been present, so it isn't really a guide for these. Mondfeld's book is pretty clear that ladders had handrails and I'm happy to follow him. There is a photo in his book of the model of the Royal Louis which shows the light handrail round the edge of the uppermost deck, so I feel that is supported too. That photo also shows a lot of decoration on the inside of the ship which I would have loved to replicate to some degree but I lack the skill, time and patience to do all that from scratch, so red oxide with a bit of gilt here and there will have to do.
 
Next steps: deciding whether or not to alter the bowsprit angle and making a start on the channels, so plenty to think about.

I feel your pain! You know I love to chop up the framing on kits to allow for interior build-outs and other modifications, and what seems a simple change at first, later reveals itself to be a major issue. I now have a hefty pile of kit decks that would no longer fit the structure as intended, especially balconies. Almost all of mine end up being scratch built to either align properly with the interior decking or to fit the curves of the hull. 
 
I think your plan to extend out the framing to add more hull will work fine... just a lot of frustrating work. I have watched you recover from "whoops" before beautifully. I believe you will do so again.   You do have an added bonus of the hull being black in this area which will help hide mistakes or imperfections easier than natural wood.
 
Otherwise, she is looking great!

Allan, I'm no expert but the "anatomy of" book clearly shows belaying pin rails. Also, and again I can't speak with huge authority here but, the replica Bark Endeavour, on which I have sailed, is said to be among the most accurate ship replicas in the world, the original was launched in 1764, and you guessed it, belaying pins everywhere!
 
HMS Victory launched 1765 and this is the original, not a replica. AT 33 seconds into this vid you see belaying pins!
 

There's been a bit more progress.
 
The plan calls for two spiral staircases, one either side leading from the top of the kings cabin to the main deck but they don't include the doors which provide access below for the crew. According to the plan the hand rail across the front of the kings cabin carries from all the way starboard to a point which allows access to the stairway to the deck below on the port side therefore while the plan calls for two staircases it makes one redundant. 
The "anatomy of" book about this ship clearly shows there is only one staircase, to port, but there is access to the below decks on both sides.
 
The kit doesn't call for any kind of hand rail for the spiral staircase but I'm working on a wooden hand rail. I bent some brass wire around the staircase following it's descent then found a round object of the same radius and laminated two pieces of walnut around it after soaking in boiling water. So far so good but a bit of work to do yet.

This is good news, both for herself as well as for us!

Well, it sounds like good things are happening in her life.  Doris looks happy and healthy!

Greetings to all Doris fans. The good news is that Doris is slowly returning to Czech forums. 💐I believe that you will soon welcome her here as well..♥️
 
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=110763&start=1605

gads....if i only had  your patience.....so cool....such clean work...i should be embarrassed about how quick i'm putting mine together and taking shortcuts...but you are an inspiration

@Dziadeczek
@Nunnehi (Don)
@albert
@AJohnson
@Pirate adam
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for the interest in my work and the nice comments. Also I would like to thank you for the many LIKES. 
 
Continuation: Standing rigging for jib boom and flying jib boom - Bâton de foc et bâton de clinfoc
On a grommet strop (ring rope) as a base, the standing rigging for the jib boom was laid on top. Building on this, first come the footropes, which are slipped over the boom with a served cut splice. At both ends the footropes had a served eye for tying to the top of the bowsprit at the back eyebolts, to which the single blocks for the bowlines of the fore top sails were also attached.
In order to guarantee the sailors a secure hold during their work, knots were worked into the 22 mm (ø 0.46 mm in model scale) thick rope of the footropes at intervals of two feet, e.g. as Turkish head knots. In 1:48 scale, I think it seems quite sufficient in this case to make overhand knots.
After the abolition of spritsail yards in the 19th century, the jib boom guy and flying jib boom guy were often spread to the cathead by means of iron outriggers, thus giving the jib boom and flying jibboom greater strength laterally. Accordingly, this was also the case with the La Créole. The rigging was mounted on iron spike-like outriggers on the fore channels.
In principle, the jib boom guys perform the same function as the shrouds, hence their designation by the French, such as Haubans bout-dehors beaupré, which corresponds to the jib boom guy.
The jib boom of this corvette had two 22 mm dia. ropes on each side, one of which was stiffened with tackles and double blocks.
The jib boom guys were attached individually with served eyes to the top after the footropes, and as already described, led through the outriggers to the cathead to the fore channels for mooring. The area of the lead through the booms was served against rubbing.
Next came the jib boom stay, also a 22 mm dia. rope. This was slipped over the top with a served eye and attached to the iron martingale in a groove provided for it. Underneath, the two jib boom stays were slipped over as counterparts, which were then attached to eyebolts on the port and starboard sides of the bow.
With the already shown triple block for the bowlines and the fore topgallant stay, the rigging of the jib boom came to an end.
The following picture shows the rigging elements that were partially mentioned before.


The second picture shows the finished jib boom top. After all, six ropes have been laid there, as well as the grommet and the triple block strop.

And in the last step, the flying jib boom was rigged, as can be seen in the last picture.

Building on the grommet, the following ropes were stripped over the flying jib boom top:
- footrope ø 19 mm (ø 0.40 mm in model scale)
- flying jib boom guys ø 22 mm (ø 0.40 mm in model scale)
- pair of flying jib boom guys ø 19 mm
- strop with 2 thimbles for the bowlines 

Finally, the fore topgallant stay ø 15 mm (ø 0.35 mm in model scale) could be passed through a disc in the flying jib boom top and fitted in the forecastle.

See you soon ...

 

Well, Ian, thank you!  I have been known to practice a little home dentistry, when necessary, so I suppose those abilities see some light of day.
 
There hasn’t been a whole lot of time to put into the ship this past week, as a dear friend from Sweden has been visiting.  It has been an extremely social and active time for me.
 
I have managed to continue detailing the port headrails.  This is very time consuming because all of these fine border mouldings have to be cut and fit by hand.  I decided that the best course for the middle rail was to affix the top moulding and leave the bottom moulding off until I had fit and secured each section of the bellflower garland:
 

The forward end of the headrails gets an inside bevel so that I will have some glue surface to attach to the upper knee of the head, just behind the figurehead:

As it stands, I am modeling the bellflower garland.  This is, naturally, time-consuming, but the effort is always worthwhile:

After that is complete, I will make the inside lamination for the horse carving from 1/16” styrene.  Most of this figure, as you will see in a minute, rests above the f’ocsle sheer rail.  As with the drift-rail serpent ornaments, I want a more 3-D appearance for this carving.  It will make a tremendous difference, in the end.
 
So, at this point, I wanted to really suss-out what my exact headrail positioning will be.  It is complicated by numerous considerations and hard realities of the kit.  It is impossible to do this perfectly, and according to actual practice of the times.  What I can do, however, is prioritize those aspects of the construction that I most want to improve upon.
 
To that end, I have already lowered the forward scroll below the level of the sprit-mast.  Next in importance are the transverse support timbers for the headrails:  I wanted to create enough open space for elegantly arching supports, instead of something that  was more flatly aligned with the horizon.  I think that this spacing provides for that:

The fundamental problem with the kit architecture is that the forward sheer of the lower main wales rises too dramatically.  The whole knee structure of the head should, in fact, be a good bit lower.  Consequently, I am having to choose to position the horse carving a little higher on the f’ocsle sheer rail than I would ideally like.  I can live with this.  There is another important implication concerning the run of the beakhead grating that I will discuss in a moment.
 
On the plus side, the lowest point of the headrails does not dip below the level of the middle main wales.  I also really like the harmonic sweep of the knees and the headrails:


Really keen observers will note that the Berain/Vary drawings show the forward and aft headrail medallions in the same plane:

However, super-keen observers will note that both of these drawings mysteriously and completely ignore the presence of the f’ocsle deck, which would have raised the f’ocsle sheer a step.  So, I don’t think I am wrong to represent the aft medallion as being in a higher plane.
 
Although, as discussed, I still find it necessary to incorporate some shape to these headrails, I do not find it to be terribly exaggerated or noticeable:


And, finally - the second complication of the abruptly rising sheer of the lower main wales; the beakhead grating on French ships of the period should run behind and follow the curve of the upper headrail.  I, on the other hand, have chosen to prioritize the sweep of the headrail support timbers.  Consequently, I will run the beakhead grating in-line with the middle headrail:
 

It isn’t exactly correct, but it will make it easy to tuck my new seats of ease between the beakhead deck and the headrails, as Michel Saunier did here:
Photo, courtesy of Marc Yeu
 
Next, I have to pierce the beakhead bulkhead for the cathead timbers, so that I can figure out the ideal placement for the cathead support carvings.
 
None of this is exactly right or perfect, but considered in its entirely it will be better and closer to the truth than what Heller has presented out-of-box.  As always, thank you for stopping by.  More to follow…

Interesting stuff, Marc!
 

Sometimes a thumbs up just doesn't cut it, we need a "cool" emoji 

This morning, the idea occurred to me to do a reverse-image search for any number of images that I was hoping to find better resolution for.
 
I tried a few different image checkers, but the one that loaded results for the greatest number of search engines was DupliChecker:
 
https://www.duplichecker.com/reverse-image-search.php
 
In particular, the Yandex search engine seemed to pull the broadest range of related images.  Now, while I didn’t hit upon my “Gilded Ghost” portrait nor my Battle of Barfleur VDV portrait, I did have one fascinating hit.  Here is the original fuzzy image I found years ago on some corner of the internet:

And then, via Duplichecker/Yandex:

A fuzzy enlargement of the ship:

A sharper resolution enlargement:

Okay, now that is really interesting!  I still can’t tell whether this is the Royal Louis or Soleil Royal (both pierced for 16, initially, and poop guns are visible, here), but I can at least get a clearer sense for the ornamental tableaux and the structure of the quarter galleries.  I can say this, though, the deadworks are not painted white, as was the case for the RL, according to Hyatt in 1677.
 
What is of particular interest to me are a series of figures that appear to be seated on the main deck-level, gallery and balcony rails.  The foremost figure on the quarter gallery has no corollary on the Vienna portraits of the Monarque.


The aft seated figures, at the turn to the stern balcony, do not resemble the Neptune and Thetis figures that are associated with both the RL and the Monarque.  In fact, the starboard figure appears to have an up-stretched arm that is reminiscent of the “seeking” posture of the Africa figure of Soleil Royal.
 
While that is nothing to draw any firm conclusions from, it must also be noted that the overall structure of the stern and arrangement of statuary has much in common with that of the RL, including what seems to be a swagged-garland ornament beneath the stern chase ports:
 



My hunch, more-so than before, is that these two portraits are directly related:


On a separate note, I churned a pair of low-res VDV drawings from 1672 through the DPI enhancement app.  Although it is very hard to see much appreciable difference, the DPI supposedly increased from 92 to 5000.
 
Before:

After:

Before:
 

After:

The second, clearer VdV sketch is nearly identical in identifiable details to the much less clear portrait, above.  Perhaps the second is simply a more finished portrait of the same subject.
 
‘Nothing earth-shattering, here; just playing with tools at my disposal.
 
Work on the model continues at a moderate pace.  Progress update to follow in the not too distant future.
 
All the best,
 
Marc
 

Some work on the bowsprit mast. As with all masts and yards, I’m trying to attach as many blocks and other components as possible before securing to the ship.
 
This is made trickier as I intend to have sails but of course the rigging plans do not include that information. To figure out what is needed, a lot of consulting other books and examples is taking place for each sail to try to find all the components needed. Even more fun is that I am used to building ships with spritsail topmasts, and this one has a jib boom and sail. My accumulated knowledge of the former is not helping right now… 

Bowsprit assembly complete and installed. Missing a few blocks still but those will install when the rigging commences. Foremast up next. 

Marc, Vic, thank you very much.
 
Still very busy but I've managed to get in some build time and finished installing the gun port lids and canons. A couple more items and Royal Louis will be ready for masts and rigging.

Some work on the bowsprit mast. As with all masts and yards, I’m trying to attach as many blocks and other components as possible before securing to the ship.
 
This is made trickier as I intend to have sails but of course the rigging plans do not include that information. To figure out what is needed, a lot of consulting other books and examples is taking place for each sail to try to find all the components needed. Even more fun is that I am used to building ships with spritsail topmasts, and this one has a jib boom and sail. My accumulated knowledge of the former is not helping right now… 

Bowsprit assembly complete and installed. Missing a few blocks still but those will install when the rigging commences. Foremast up next. 

Indeed, we all do, Amalio as her last post was last year.   I understand she had some health problems and her husband's death was hard on her. Hopefully, she's doing well.

We miss you so much.
Amalio.

very clean...lovely....