shipcarpenter

I realize that a number of you following this build may not be aware that Michel Saunier passed away, earlier this month.  Michel had been working diligently to complete his masterwork, however, a fatal heart attack robbed him of that opportunity.  His loss, among the worldwide community of ship-modelers, is deeply felt by people such as myself and many others whom Michel helped along our way with his deep knowledge and advice.
 
Following funeral services for Michel, on February 7th, Marc Yeu was invited back to the family home and afforded the opportunity to photograph the model one last time.
 
While it remains a possibility that one of Michel’s children will be inspired, some day, to complete the model, Michel’s Soleil Royal will virtually disappear from public view.
 
Marc Yeu has granted me permission to post his high-res photographs, and it seemed to me that Michel’s own build-log was the most sensible place to do so.
 
Marc captured numerous angles so that this photo essay is an invaluable and enduring resource to all who are interested in this ship, and contemporaries of her time.  As Marc commented to me, just recently - regarded in its entirety, it truly is a staggering piece of work!
 
Enjoy these pictures, mes amis:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
photos courtesy of Marc Yeu, AKA Nek0

Hello everyone
Progression on the bow. Realization of different sculptures, horse's head on the crown of the herpes, rider leaning against the sea horse of the figurehead, Naiade behind the herpe.Figures and overview
Friendships Miche

Thanks for all the supporting comments and likes, folks!
 
This was a psychologically tough stage - painting the hold.  Even drawing a pencil line on that clean wood gave me heartburn! For quite some time I guessed and second-guessed this decision but when I sat down to do this there was no hesitation.  I started with a Vallejo acrylic primer, followed later by Vallejo white.  The aft part of the model will remain unpainted.  The three forward-most pillars were painted as well.  Once everything was dry I brushed on a matt varnish to the entire hold and all pillars.
 


 
So, while things were drying I was drafting the iron pigs in Fusion 360 (free version) based on the proportions and layout according to Anatomy of the Ship:  The Frigate Diana. In photos of ballast in HMS Victory and HMS Trincomalee you can see the ubiquitous British government broad arrow so I added them to the design.  By my count, I would need over 200 pieces of this permanent ballast.    Rather than printing 200 single pigs I created side-by-side “gangs" of 10, 6, and 3 along with some singles.  I soon realized that end-to-end gangs could be used so I designed sets of 2, 3, 4, and 6.  [I plan to dedicate a post to this whole process shortly].

 
Looking closely at the Diana plans I discovered I had to add ballast cants that run parallel to the limber strakes and act as a stop for the iron ballast.  The cant can be seen in the photo of HMS Trincomalee's hold.  Yes, I had to add pieces to the FRESHLY PAINTED AND VARNISHED hold!  Well, time to scrape…



I made suitable stock on my table saw, scraped the paint + varnish so I could glue down the ballast cants in place.  I had some ballast fresh off of the printer and couldn’t wait to see how things looked together. 



After trimming and painting the newly installed cants I went to work on the limber boards. To get the bevels on the edges of such thin, flexible strips I ended up clamping the pieces between two popsicles sticks. This let me hold them  at a constant angle, making the bevels on the limber boards quite sharp.


Once shaped, I painted the limber boards (and the keelson) a dark brown based on HMS Trincomalee. I was going to cut the limber boards shorter but couldn’t find the correct lengths.  I was going to ask you folks if you knew the right dimension until I discovered it a few minutes ago! Looking at the photo of the Trincomalee's hold just now I can clearly see the cut lines.  Before I install them on the model I will chop these to an accurate size.
 
Again, I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to paint all the ballast I had printed before dry fitting to my Triton.  So, with limber boards in place, this is what the iron ballast on a frigate would look like: 

 
Iron ballast was arranged in three tiers (see the previous layout photo).  The starboard side of the hold (left in the picture) has an accurate set up with two tiers (the third tier would be just a couple of pigs next to the well).  The port side (right in the picture) is only the first tier. The broad arrows look white but are just filled with resin dust from sanding.  I took pains to print the arrows in a random pattern (using dice!). 
 
I'm amazed at the amount and breadth of the ballast on these ships!  I'm glad that I’m adding them.  Painting and installing them permanently is next (gulp!)
 
Clear skies,
Gabe
 

Great work on your Triton! Well done.
 
Here are a few pictures from Anatomy of a Ship: The Frigate Diana (White, 1987) and AotS: The 24-Gun Frigate Pandora (McKay and Coleman, 1992) that might help.
 
Clear skies and sharp tools!
- Gabe
 

First off, thanks everyone for the likes and comments, my apologies for not responding sooner.  I haven't been able to keep up with everyone else's builds as much as I would have liked.
 
Been tinkering with a number of items that I want to get a head start on hopefully avoid pitfalls later.  I'm leaning toward getting as much work on the hull planned out or complete before the cannons get installed and the upper deck can go on - although that will still be a while because I needed a break from gun carriages.
 
Trimming the bow height:
Way back I'd mentioned that I took the approach to build the bows up higher than I would likely need to allow for the unforeseen.  I have now shaped these to be much closer to where I think they will end up, less a little finishing.  The bulwarks at the bow appear to be parallel to the whale, just like the rails, which was used as a guide.  This was an exercise in reconciliation as of course various small (or not so small) errors have crept in along the way.  This proved not too difficult, the only hiccup was found when dry fitting the deck, to ensure that the height of the bulwark is symmetrical on both sides, some shims were added to the top of some of the forward bulkheads.  The error is unlikely to be in the kit cut bulkheads, but more likely a combination of small discrepancies in my positioning of the position of the whales, waterline etc.  You can see in shots below the discrepancy in the height of the foremost gunport, this was a result of positioning the ports to be of equal height off the deck, which was clearly not fitted as well as it should have been.  These add about .5-0.75 of height on the starboard side, but the very small 'twist that this will introduce will not be noticeable.  The sheer rail at the bow has also been added.
 

 
Headworks:
Have been doing a lot of thinking about how to approach the headworks, clearly a rather challenging area.  Frankly, the kit supplied parts are a little disappointing being rather grainy and splintery, with some questionable dimensions.  The main rail seemed to be the place to start, and after a lot of experimentation decided to build this and the false rail together rather than in separate pieces - mainly because it seems sturdier, and less challenging as the false rail is rather lengthy and thin at this scale.  The main rails were cut from 2mm castello, and a profile introduced using a scraper to simulate the various features of the genuine article.  Curved, tapering shapes have to be the hardest to get right, especially with fine details and there were many time consuming rejects which painfully got me up the learning curve until I was happy.  The AOTS side elevations were scanned and manipulated digitally to correct for the angle to get the appropriate shape.  Caution!  I think the placement of the slot for the boomkin is not shown correctly on the AOTS side profile, I adjusted this looking at contemporary models - the revised position matches closely with the kit part which does provide some comfort.
 
The false rail was cut from 0.6mm pear sheet and 2 were laminated together.  The panel section of the false rail was cut out carefully to be shaped later by beveling the edges before replacing back in place.  First photo below shows a little how these were built up, with the first successful but discarded prototype, and a main rail that failed scraping.  Second photo below shows the kit supplied part next to the one of the scratched final articles.  Ignoring the quality of the wood (and to be fair, I made no effort to clean up the supplied parts), the AOTS plans suggest a subtly different profile curve, and a thicker main rail which looks too thin on the kit part.  The head of the main rail was deliberately cut a little longer to allow final shaping once these are finally installed.
 

 
These were then positioned with the head of the main rail vertical in both head on and side elevations.  It was found that these were quite easy to keep in place using mini modeling clothes pins  (scale replicas of the actual clothes pins used in actual ship construction  ).  Posting a lot of photos because I would really appreciate comments and suggestions from those more experienced with this to help me avoid fatal errors!
 

 
Finally, to confirm the layout of the boomkin slot, a copy was copied and scaled from the AOTS diagram.  This shows the tight proximity of the boomkin and seat of ease.  The triangular gap at the rear of the grating behind the false rail screen is where I believe there should be another seat of ease.
 
Again - I'm fumbling my way through this following the excellent TFFM book, so please do not be shy to point out errors and mistakes!
 

 

Thank you so much taby.. I thank everyone for the like..😇
 
Dark wood posts. When milling with white glue, it is glued to the board and then soaked..
 

 

 

 

 
Construction glued to the template..
 

 
Railing dry located..
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

Lantern.

Good morning.

Chapter 12 - Woodcarving and stern remodeling
In this chapter I'll focus on the stern. I had to remodel this part to my liking and I happily could buy some real boxwood.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Then I realized I made an error and the frame is to high. So, I took it apart again, adjusted the height, made a new frame and assembled it again.  
Let's say I wasn't too happy in the beginning... 🙄
 

 

 

 
Time to find a use for the boxwood.....
I made a drawing of a Baroque theme of Acanthus leaves.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
That's it so far, this topic is back on track with the current status of the build. 
 
regards,
Peter

I wait for you!!!
 
Some little progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your nice comment Michael.  And thank you for the likes.
 
I have another small update.  Today I finished the black bands on the side of the hull.
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
Robert

Google translator.
Thank you Albert, thank you all for the likes.
Sorry for the poor photo quality. The old cheap camera does not always capture the fine details of the thread.
 
Cold, artificial lighting.

 


 
Natural light (weak sunlight).

 
Natural lighting (bright sunlight).

 

A new part has been just a moment installed :
 

 

some progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The block and the pitch and tar rooms:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Greg,
I can't really remember what I used, but mostly a scraper, small chisels and files. It's now over 2 years ago, that I build them. But it was't an easy job, that can I remember very well. But I thought, when they did it in the 18. century, why should I not do it 😉
 

 

Hello some progress - gun deck is almost done..

Hello,
and many thanks for your efforts Mark. Alexander found in Goodwin's book English Man of War, 1719 establishment list, under gun deck and plank, page 249 binding strakes. The same for the middle deck, under Flat, page 252 and for the upper gun deck also under flat the next page. What is the difference between plank and flat?
 
That means, I have to build them, but as you already said, I do not inlet them. 
 
I have also a little upgrade at the shipyard

 

Thank you so much Backer. I thank everyone for the like..😇
 
I continue to shape the balcony railing on a template made of waste..🛠️

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now it's time for the dark wood posts..😴
 

Upper Deck - Main Mast Partner
   Similar to foremart counterpart.
The Carlings (6.36mm x 5.3mm deep) have already been made.
They are set 14.84mm apart. The fore outer aspect needs trimming to allow for the Pins of the Main Topsail Bitt.
The Carlings are half joined to #12 Beam which is cut underside by 2.12mm.
The upper surface of the Carlings are partially recessed to allow the Mast Partner to sit on the beam after being let down by 2.12mm. The depth removed is 1.59mm (2.12-0.53) following the “footprint” of the Partners.
The octagonal opening for the Pumps are filed out-but became more round than intended.
NOTE -Hanging Knees, after #10 Beam, are now placed FORE between beams
Also note that there  are 4 ledges in outer group, and 5 for inner group.
 

Thank you all for your thumbs up and for watching. 
 
A bit further on, port side is finished except for the last part of the bow, this I will finish later to make it fit nicely with the starboard side. 
The strip on top will be painted later on. 
Only the starboard side to finish the waterline and the cover strip and finally the rudder. 
Below some photos

Some progress on the longboat: Planking and clean-up is finished (imgs 1-3), hull is painted (imgs 4-5), floor boards, front grating and thwarts are done (imgs 6-7), chocks are mounted on the gallows bits (img 8), and the windlass is installed (img 9). Img 10 gives an overall impression of the Syren with the (unfinished) longboat in place.
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5
 

Image 6
 

Image 7
 

Image 8
 

Image 9
 

Image 10
 
 

Permanent rigging. Greetings, Piotrek.

Thank you Patrick, your Pelican is an inspiration for me.
Next, I decided to make new gun ports.
It was even more difficult because they are not square.