Dutchman

yust finish the corronsdas rigging (rope coils is not on board yet)
some dry fittings again before i get some more detalj on the deck fittings.
fore me this part of the work on syren is the most fun parts😉
its now everything comes together !!

Coppering or copper sheathing. Started today using the Amati plates 17x5 mm. The size is within the sizes  used by the french navy at that time.
 
Amati has left and right plates, to indicate the overlapping. In my case I used the overlap to the upper and stern side of the plate, simulating the way was done then.
 
My experience building Hermione the first time say two pkts of plates shall be enough.   Thats 518 plates each pkt. Am going to use about a thousand.... as many as was actually used in 1779 on Hermione. Cost incl.  shipm. 60 euros.

painting the hull.  Most of us dont like painted ships.... wood is warm and beautiful... no comparison! 
 
Still I enjoy painting Hermione. She looks very happy with those colours of her.
 
I have used  the  pigments of Hermione of the 17th century, which the Hermione-Lafayette History Committee found after extensive research. A pantone data table with those, is given  in the AL kit. Plus the fact that a gentleman from AL was kind enough to send me over the corresponding paints from Vallejo.
 
So... the Blue of the King, for the bulwarks. A costly colour then, as it contained ground lapis lazouli
 
The Naples yellow, a widely used recipe in the 17th and 18th century in France, was used for the level of the gun-ports.
 
And the remaining hull over the waterline was painted black. And ofcourse the underwater hull was white, which a few months after the launching of the ship, had been replaced by  a  copper sheathing.
 
Last but not least the  red (from red ochre and natural clay)  "to hide the blood" according to popular rumour, was used for all the gun-deck, the quarter deck and  the fore castle.
 
Here are the pictures of the painting procedure.
 
Note 1: The white paint seen over the waterline, its the vallejo primer (its a thin primer) which I brushed painted as thinly  as I could, in order to allow the underneath planking to be visible.
 
Note 2: The white colour, under the waterline its a spray primer which I sprayed thick enough , in order to prepare the hull for the copper sheathing. 
 
 

Thanks everyone.
A bit more progress on the rigging. This ships seems to eat lines and blocks so I had to order some more from Chuck.
The royal yards with their rigging are done as well. It's becoming quite a spiders web of lines and it's getting more difficult to show the complexity with clear photo's. At least it's covering up some of the mistakes I've made nicely...lol
Some photo's...

Stempost, sternpost and the three parts false keel are in place.
 

😉  @cog dear friend, Is it a sign of old age... or is it just old age? Ofcourse important its not the age but how you feel.
 
I remember my late father when with 82 he got upset and stopped going to  his club because "too many older gentlemen there... he preferred something more appropriate for his age".... and that worried my sister a lot, calling me all the time and asking his whereabouts. 👍
 
@Dutchman yes ofcourse... actually thats the whole fan in this blog.... Its a getting together of people from every corner of our planet! I believe thats a wonderful feeling!!

Ha, ha, I think you do know you're not out there alone, after all this time!  We keep following and enjoying your build!

Thank you guys for the likes. Its a nice feeling knowing you are not alone out there, talking to your self. 😍
Thank you.
Christos

Is that what you are doing ... it is a sign of old age you know

Planking finished and sanding already had some rough passes. I think its time to build a supporting jig in order to keep the model safe from keeping as the build goes forward. 
 
 

Hi everyone,
 
Am back again. 18 days grandson kept the shipyard shutdown. Now he is back to UK... time to catch up some work.
 
Just recalculated  the remaining plank gaps. It seems a joggler will be needed on each side. And ofcourse two correction planks, a long one and a small short one.
 
Started preparing the jogglers... and installed two bow planks, on each side, which are the last in full width. The next planks two close the bow will be a joggler almost identical in each side, which will be projected after the third frame into two thinner planks. Lets see how well it goes tomorrow. 

The apartment move is over, so we are finally back to modelling! 
Hull sanding took a while, and it was a big lesson about patience and persistence. 

To make sure that planks would not start peeling off - we used plenty of glue. Maybe too much, it took forever to get it out using a nylon dremel brush (did not want to apply any moisture to that fiddly planks, they are very sensible to it):

Before sanding:

After:

There are some gaps visible, probably due to wood shrinkage.
But we liked the process, good teamwork  And she loves making something smooth, even though it is hard to keep going without breaks.

I trimmed the plank ends, it was too risky to let Daria do it - they can chip out, it is easy to scratch the transom with a scalpel, etc. A mistake in this area would be hard to fix.

 
But the result is ok. I am not sure what I think about this ebony, not very familiar with the way it sands and scrapes, kind of course and shiny at the same time. 

Hi, today working on the deck aging, decided to use Citadel paints and inks to make it a bit darker. Later will work on the second deck support. Few photos.
 

 

Great! Good news! But will it be included in the box or do we have to download it somewhere?

Thanks guys! Like I got the instructions with the Polotsk kit I bought from V-Hobby. I was just wondering (and wandering). All clear now!

Great! Good news! But will it be included in the box or do we have to download it somewhere?

Hi all, thank you for all the likes and the comments! Today started doing my deck planking, i decided to use 8 mm length planks. Few photos of my work.
 

 

Hey, started rigging the Carronades tonight. I spent a lot of time figuring this out tonight (still have a ways to go) I think I’m on the right track, but I would love to hear any advice anyone has for how to improve this before I move on to the rest of the guns. 
 
-Joe
Just am Army dude that likes ships.

Thankfully, if you follow the instructions and use the right planks, you can save it even with it as far gone as it was above. Below is my second attempt  and as you can see, it turned out much better. Every now and then a bold move pays off. 
 

 

 

 
You may notice some refinements to the gun ports. During this part, I started being very concerned about measurements and ended up adjusting several gun ports so the size was consistent. Again making up for mistakes due to inexperience.
 

 
Finally I was ready to start the hull planking. (don't worry I adjusted the coloring later, it looks better now).
 
-Joe 
Just an army dude that likes ships

Hull planking for some one that hasn't done it before can be daunting. I had previously completed the 18th century long boat and had just had a major victory in correcting my bulwark planking so I thought I knew what I was doing... yea, I was wrong.  Thankfully, I did approach this with much more caution then previous portions so after a lot of patience, research and the obligatory steam, shape, dry fit, curse, steam, shape dry fit place the hull was completed fairly quickly.
 
  
 
I was initially concerned about the rear of the ship...
 
but following some trimming, I cleaned up nicely
 

 
Again, inexperience nearly got me, I had planked only one side of the hull! some folks pointed out that I was in danger of creating a twist and that I need to finish the other side with a sense of urgency. It took me about two weeks to do the first side, I did the second in about 4 days. Thanks army for leave just happening to line up with this.  
 


Some good sanding and the hull looked solid. I finally had positive momentum.
 
-Joe 
Just an army dude that likes ships
 

The next steps I completed the stern, planked the interior and built the deck. I don't have a ton of pictures of this process and It was fairly uneventful. 

 
 

 

I had some issues determine a water line, this was a struggle for a while. I ended up painted the entire hull black until such a time as I can successfully determine the water line (I figured it out later)
 
 

I really enjoyed the process of decking the ship. This went very smooth thou, in hind sight, I should have done an step with the planks instead of the pattern I ended up with. Regardless, I like the way it turned out and I'm not ripping this one up.

 

 

In the finial step, I stained it using the golden oak stain. 

-Joe 
Just an army dude that likes ships
 
 
 
 

The next step in this build was coppering the hull. This part was equal parts rewarding and overwhelming. The first step, build and test the press. 
 

 

 

 
I wasn't really sure if I like this, they imprints seamed to large for individual rivets and in fact, they are. However, when taken in the whole, they actually look really good, and so I started the process. 
 
Dear lord, this was a lot of copper plates.... 
 
But four weeks of work, and its complete! 

 



 
and with that, you're all caught up. The next step for me is the hull details. I'm very excited to see where this thing takes me. It's been a huge learning experience so far and I expect I will have plenty more opportunities to learn before I finish this one. 
 
-Joe
Just an army dude that likes ships
 

Team, very excited to share my progress. Since my last update I completed the head rails, Cannons, exterior details and started on the internal details. Plenty of lessons along the way but I'm very happy with it so far. Check out the photos below!
 

Quarter Badges
 
 

Carronades! (I added elevation screws after this photo and they have not been glued or rigged yet) 
 

Long Guns
 

Head Rails.
 

 
Some belay pins placed 
 

 

Head Rails with the Bumpkins and Figure Head
 
 
 
Thanks for taking a look! I'm open to any feedback you have. I'm learning along through out this build and thoroughly enjoying it! 
 
-Joe
Just an army dude that likes ships
 

Thanks Everyone for the comments and the likes.
Just a quick update on my progress with the running rigging. At this point I am up to the Topsail Buntlines, just following the order of proceedings in the instructions. It's starting to get pretty busy.
My slow motion mode seems to get slower and slower, trying not to get snagged as my hands move and trying to cut one line at the time (preferably the one I am aiming for).
I had my in-laws over on the weekend and they are in their late seventies. Seeing their hands whizzing around the model pointing things out to each other made me break out in a cold sweat. Luckily the model and I survived their visit...lol
A few photo's...

Started to work on the deck. 
Removing the unnecessary portion of the bulkhead. 

Planking the stern section.