Hubac's Historian

Thanks, Henry, for the quick reply. You have corroborated what I have found in my own reading, regarding the main and fore sheets. On Dan Pariser’s Queen Anne’s Revenge, he incorporated sheaved fair leads into his bulwarks, but that ship is a little bit later - around 1710. I know what you are referring to on Michel’s SR. I’m not sure about whether that was a common practice for the time, on the beakhead bulkhead; no idea, really. From a mechanical advantage standpoint, it makes perfect sense. I have, however, seen a similar belaying station between knight heads, aft of the main and fore masts. Maybe also on Dan’s QAR. I can’t remember clearly, but a little later I’ll reference his log to see what I find.

Hi Henry, Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the issues of sheets and tacks as I begin detailing my upper bulwarks. I thought I would come visit your log again because I remember that you were grappling with the fair-leads on these, earlier in the log. I definitely agree with you about not attaching the main brace to the flagstaff. I really like your work-arounds for the spritsail sheet, Main sheet and fore brace. I was thinking, though, that I might incorporate a sheaved block for the main sheet, that then enters the main deck upper bulwark, just forward of the QG. Perhaps a similar scenario could be employed on the fore sheet? The thing I was trying to ascertain, though, was whether the practice of incorporating a sheet sheeve directly into the timbers of the upper bulwarks, was a practice observed by the French before 1692. Any advice there? I've also been thinking about belaying pins. No matter what, I will be shaving off the moulded belaying pins (because I've already broken off a number of them, anyway) and replacing them with brass. In your research, would you agree that the use of pin rails did not really come into widespread use, by the French, until later in the 18th Century? Would you say that this practice of tying off to the sheer rail is accurate and appropriate for the time period? At the moment, I'm working through Anderson, trying to figure out my mast and spar dimensions. That has been interesting, to say the least! I've said it before, but your rigging work is really awesome! I marvel at your ability to re-create full-scale practice in 1/100 scale.

This looks to be a truly fascinating and instructive build. You are making a very neat job of it, so far, and I will be following along with great interest. I loved your router table technique for cutting the rabbet into the stem!

I encourage you to carve the same ornament for the starboard side, before moving on to the next ornament. The reason being that your carving technique will improve as you go, and you want to have consistency from one side to the other. That way, your improvement will be more evenly dispersed throughout the whole composition of the stern.

The upper finishing came out really well, EJ, and your carving is a vast improvement over the kit fitting. Keep going, and you’ll be a carving pro before this model is even completed. Great work!

The fitting of the riders; the iron work securing them; the clean run of the ceiling planking; the beautiful, exposed diagonal bracing; the finish work of the head timbers; All I can say, Patrick, is WOW! Time well spent.

I’ll be following along more closely, Mark, as you approach the challenge of masting. Though you are working at a period a good deal later than mine (some 60 years), your log has had many fruitful discussions. As I did with the random length decking, I expect to learn much more about the makeup and particulars of mid-18th century French masting. Your ship is coming along beautifully Mark, and I appreciate your efforts at re-working various details to get it right. Here’s to a happy and healthful 2018 for you and your family!

Hey EJ - the stern is really coming along nicely. The windows look terrific and I agree that leaving out the glass is a wise move. The quarter galleries are a daunting task on this model. If I may make a suggestion, while it is still early in the construction phase: I think that if I were building this same model - rather than plank over these vertical framing ribs for the upper finishing of the QG - I would carve a solid piece of close-grained wood (maybe poplar, because it will be painted and poplar is easily worked). This affords the builder an opportunity to improve the outline of the upper finishing and the depth of it’s shape. The complicating factor, of course, is whether re-shaping the upper finishing will make it more difficult to use the kit supplied ornament. Either way, it will turn out well. To my mind, though, this is one area where an upgrade is worth considering.

HJX, the milling results are really pretty incredible! Even with just a small amount of handwork, you could finish this carving on a level that most would really labor to achieve by sculpting alone. This is really a fascinating process that you use to make models. I’m glad to see you are still plugging away at it, and I look forward to your progress. Happy Holidays to you and all on MSW!

One more just for fun: http://crysis.rajce.idnes.cz/LE_SAINT_LOUIS_-_Airfix_1_144/ Beautiful paint work on this model! And a fine pressing that would make a really nice waterline diorama model!

Bow: http://crysis.rajce.idnes.cz/LE_SAINT_LOUIS_-_Airfix_1_144/

Stern: http://crysis.rajce.idnes.cz/LE_SAINT_LOUIS_-_Airfix_1_144/

Here’s a really nice executionof Airfix/Heller’s Saint Louis: http://crysis.rajce.idnes.cz/LE_SAINT_LOUIS_-_Airfix_1_144/

A quick trip to the archives, and there we have it: The Hannibal as she was in 1659, and the Tre Lover as she was in 1667. Both of these ships have much earlier origins - closer to the time of La Couronne. And given the cross-pollination of Continental shipyards, there is little reason NOT to believe that the French did the same. Happy holidays!!

Yeah, that portrait is interesting. I remember seeing it once, in a bound edition of something pertaining to historic sailing ships, but never again until now. It appears to be a modern (20th C.) rendering, as it does not follow the conventions of 17th C. maritime artists. It seems to agree with many known details of La Couronne, though I share the same confusion about Le Saint Louis. So far as I understand it, that waist deck would be sufficiently supported to carry the launch, but I would have to go searching for examples to verify that that was, indeed, done. Right now, I am vaguely remembering that this may have been Danish practice around mid-Century.

Wow Don - great link!! These cannon look almost se good as the ones Neko and Michel had cast. I’ll have to look into whether using three of the smaller sizes will work for my 1:100 scale. Good looking out!! And happy holidays!!

Just leafing through this build, and I just wanted to say what beautiful, clean work you do!

I was thinking of you recently, when I found this pic on the net: https://pin.it/4w6fiegh3b7mtf You have done a masterful job here, Vic! This has breen one of the best and most resourceful builds that I have had the pleasure to follow, and I am really stoked to see her on the water. Will you keep this model, or do you have a buyer for her?

Ken, your build was a pleasure to watch, and many of your resourceful techniques will serve me well on my own projects. The ship really came out beautifully, and you should be justifiably proud of a job well done. I’m looking forward to whatever your next project may be.

Oh, just a teensy-weensy little update 😉. Dan, that’s more progress than I post in five updates on my log! All superbly well done, and I agree that the bright hand rails are a nice touch. Rest yourself for the nitty gritty.

I hear what you are saying about keeping some variety from one tier to the next, but in my opinion, this is largely accomplished by the varying ornament of the stern balcony railings. The mitered panel surrounds are a good argument for consistency on that particular detail. As for the stern paint scheme - like you, I have been mulling over the water colored draft of Berain’s stern, which appears to show a very faded red color for most of the stern, with ultra-marine accent on the tafferal. A while back, J.C. Lemineur suggested to me that it was more likely that all of SR’s upper bulwarks were painted something like Vasa red, rather than ultra-marine. Yet there are first-hand descriptions of the ship that confirm a black boot-top along the lower main wales, ventre-de-biche along the lower and middle batteries, and royal blue upper bulwarks. Personally, while I will incorporate two shades of blue into my upper bulwark broadsides, I am strongly considering the use of something vivid, like Vasa red, for the stern, which would also be accented with ultra-marine blue in a way that is consistent with my use of this color as an accent on my broadsides. In my vue, there is at least a contemporary document to suggest that this was possible/plausible, and I have yet to see the ship modeled in that color scheme, so I like the uniqueness of that presentation. The aspect of that presentation that I haven’t completely figured out yet, is where the middle-balcony wraps to the quarter gallery. On your model, EJ, the lower balcony also wraps to the quarters, so this suggests the need for using blue in the right spots to create a natural transition between the two colors.

EJ, the middle tier really looks fantastic. I really like your layered approach to adding in the details. In particular, Inlike the beveled moukdings that frame the lower panels of the middle tier. The mitered corners look really great and finished. All of this adds tremendously to the appearance of the stern and makes a great base for the ornamental accents tyat are soon to come. I wonder, though, whether you will re-work the upper tier to match this middle tier, or will those panels receive a different treatment?

You’re off to an excellent start, there, EJ! I love the shaping of the window top.

Planking coming along beautifully, Don. Having never done it before, it seems to me that getting around a curved transom, like that, is a little more tricky than it may appear. Is it necessary to back-bevel the top edges of the planks, in this area, to keep the seams tight?

A while back, Dan had brought to my attention the fact that the main deck ports, especially aft, run perpendicular with the sheer of the wales, but not plumb with the underlying framing, as they should be. Here is a shot of my first SR, to illustrate the point: The problem also exists in the bow, but oddly enough the middle and lower deck ports, in this forward part of the hull are also out of plumb. I suspect that to fix the main deck ports, in the fore channel area, would actually end up looking more wrong because of what is going on underneath it: So, with that in mind, I have decided to replace the port frames for the six gunports, aft of the waist ladder. Once again, Henry has come to the rescue! I am salvaging port frames from his spare upper bulwarks. The essential process is to rough-cut them out with a scroll saw, and then use the drum sander attachment, in the Dremel, to get pretty close to the port edges first, and then waste away the backside until I am within a light 1/32” of being left with the frame alone. Then I work the frames, back and forth on an 80-grit block until the background disappears. At the very outset, I had rubbed away most of the gold paint (very efficiently) with a maroon ScotchBright pad. With the frames extricated, I then used the tip of a #11 blade to scrape away most of the remaining paint from the frame edges and the delicate moulded crevices. This is, by far, the most hateful step in the process. That being said, I can do five frames in a night (a couple of hours) - start to finish. In all, I cleaned 14, just to have two extra to choose from. Here is an array of the process: I started with the port side; each time I introduce a modification, I try to alternate the side I start on so that one side of the ship does not end up looking significantly or at least perceptibly better than the other. My technique improves as I go What I spent the most time on, was getting the upper bulwark piece to sit snugly in it’s rabbet. That has to be where it’s going to go before setting the frames. The first time I built this model, I had to fill a significant gap all along the length of the upper bulwark. This time around, the fills will be minimal. Here are the port frames installed and as they appear next to the ports below: It is a very slight adjustment, and it may seem that relative to the window above it, that I didn’t tilt them quite plumb enough. I did, however, manipulate the first two before the glue set, and any further just didn’t look right with the other gunports. For comparison’s sake, here is the starboard side: I still have to fair the interior edges of the port frames with a file and putty. On the finished model, this will be a detail that you will never notice. But without it, astute eyes have noticed and will continue to do so.