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Hubac's Historian

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  1. Hubac's Historian
    Hey Matt - can you make a good recommendation on files? I have an old set of X-acto needle files, but I'm looking to replace them with something better. The X-actos were good for a while, but the more useful profiles lost their tooth pretty quickly.
  2. Hubac's Historian
    EJ, she looks great! I'm curious to know what, if anything, the plans say about raking the masts. La Couronne is from a time period when mast raking tended to be more pronounced. I ask, though, because I will need to establish mast position and rake very early for the SR build, and I won't be able to rely on the kit's standard positioning of the masts because I'm cutting out the bottom and building up the decks form scratch. Most of what I see of mid-century rake for French ships - particularly the main mast - seems negligible, at best. In fact, one could say that the main mast appears almost perpendicular to the waterline.
  3. Hubac's Historian
    I picked this one up a few years ago - one of my BONUS finds at the STRAND, here in New York. I still go into the store, on the regular, because I know that one in twenty visits will unearth a real gem! This is really a great book for the quality of the illustrations, the story of each model's provenance, and what it is to have the luxury to collect these truly fine works of art.
  4. Hubac's Historian
    Far from perfect. The lettering is too big. But this would be the idea:
  5. Hubac's Historian
    One of the artistic license details that I'm thinking of adding is a furling banner scroll beneath the stern chase ports, in light blue, bordered in gold. It would be a kind of king's motto plate, like the "Dieu de Mon Droit" of the English royal coat of arms. It might read something like this: "Je suis le soleil du monde" "I am the sun of the world" I think it appropriately captures the egotism of Louis XIV, and for that matter, all kings of the period. I could even make a small baby face carving of Louis XIV, with the gilded rays of the sun shining around him, and mounted to the rudder, in line with the banner. It's a thought. Maybe good, maybe not, but I think I'll try and draw it.
  6. Hubac's Historian
    I was thinking it might be fun to model the ship, preparing for action, since it will be a waterline diorama model. It would be interesting to show the crew lowering the fore t'gallant mast. I'd have to do some research to find out what, exactly, that process was for dismantling the upper rig because you would want to show the mast actually being lowered through the top. Anyway, just a thought. EJ, do you have any reading recommendations on the subject?
  7. Hubac's Historian
    Happy Holidays to you and everyone here!
  8. Hubac's Historian
    Great answer, Dan! Yeah, I wonder also, about one-on-one encounters. I'll have to delve a little deeper!
  9. Hubac's Historian
    An open question to the forum: In pouring over all of these images of 17th C. Ships of the line, in battle, it strikes me that the ships are almost always depicted as only carrying their main and topmast courses, even when it is generally known that the ship also carried fore and main t'gallant masts and sails. Was this a particular consideration for battle: less top hamper means less to clear and cut away, in the event of a dismasting? Was it simply the case that the extra sail power and maneuverability were not worth the cost in damage or extra manpower to work the sails, during battle? Just curious. All insight and theories are welcome.
  10. Hubac's Historian
    I will definitely be updating my Dremel with a flexi-shaft to rough things in, but I anticipate grinding small scrapers and making a few micro chisels to do the detail work. In my experience, 90% of carving is about having a good layout to begin with. It takes surprisingly little to add shape and dimension, as long as the outline of the thing is to scale and a nice profile. I say go for it!
  11. Hubac's Historian
    Well, ordinary life stuff has kept me busy these past two weeks, but I have put in some drawing time. Perhaps the most important carving on the entire model is the tafferal frieze of Apollo and his horse-drawn chariot, riding across the sky. The Heller kit does a pretty good job of interpreting this detail, and really, it's a shame that I couldn't extricate it from the stock stern plate and glue it onto the new one. However, it's too tall for the new frieze area, and it's also flat - unlike the round-up I intend to model into my new stern plate. That all adds up to re-creating the carving from scratch. My initial thought was to do a line tracing directly over Berain's drawing. When I tried this, however, the background is too dark and muddy to read the lines I want to pick out through vellum. The trick, here, is to pick out the essential outline of the thing and some of the detail, but leave out the really fine detail that will make our tracing difficult to transfer to the material. The process of relief carving is one of removing material in layers, and by degree. For the initial layout, I just need to know the relative sizes of the individual elements, and their relative position to each other. In lieu of a tracing, I opted to map out the maximum area that the Berain drawing of the carving sits within. With a simple grid, I now had reference points with which to map out the size of the chariot, Apollo himself, the torsos of the horses, etc. Berain's drawing shows Apollo's toga blowing, wildly, off his right shoulder and against the framework of his chariot. I initially tried to include this detail. I later decided, though, to leave it out on the final re-tracing because it just looked too busy and I was doubtful of my ability to pull off such a vague detail, in such a small scale. With this final tracing, I refined the lines, and one can see that the whole business of the chariot is much cleaner and easier for the eye to understand. Small considerations like the way the Horse's manes appear to blow in the wind add tremendous movement and interest, if time is taken to incorporate some variety into their array. I played with this for a while until it looked good to me. The tracing, at it's current size, almost fits the new tafferal area perfectly. It will, however, need to be re-sized in Corel, which is why I didn't just trace it into it's location on the ship.
  12. Hubac's Historian
    Looking good, so far, EJ! I'm in for your build.
  13. Hubac's Historian
    Yes, discovering Pinterest was like fuel on a fire for me. It just exposed me to such a broad spectrum of original 17th C. ship artwork, schematics, models as well as contemporary models and full-size replicas - a few of which I have even worked on, personally. I have a few ship blogs. There's also Navies of Other Euro Nations, for everything else that wasn't specifically French.
  14. Hubac's Historian
    Well, EJ, I scanned through Vaisseaus Du Roi Soleil several times, and could not find it - although, I'm sure it's in there somewhere. For now, you'll have to do with the much smaller version (and poor iPhone photo-quality) from Designs: In any event, it gives some sense for the paneling and general affect that would be appropriate in the aft cabins of a ship like SR. Here are a few pics of the Royal Louis of 1692, 1/100 scratch-build. Given the complicated nature of the carved ornament, I think this builder did a really exceptional job of using what I assume is polymerized clay. He mentions, on the site where this appears, that he was breaking with his usual method and experimenting with "clay." Really great work!!
  15. Hubac's Historian
    Also, EJ, I was wondering what your choice for third 17th C. ship would be and I think RL, 1692 is the perfect choice, as it is so well documented with a contemporary model. I recently found a really wonderful scratch build of RL, which I posted to my Pinterest Page, under my screen name Tafferal. The blog is French Vaisseaus. The model is 1/100 scale, and interestingly, he modeled ALL of the decoration with polymerized clay, and the results are really spectacular. Check it out, if you have a chance!
  16. Hubac's Historian
    Hi Dan, thank you! Yes, I know what you are saying about the placement of that window. It's in line with the quarter deck guns. Those are round port guns, however, and the window is furnished with mullions. Interestingly, the color rendering of the ship shows two octagonal ports above the quarter deck guns. Perhaps, this is Heller's halfway compromise to adding another piercing to the hull. I will keep this a window port, as opposed to a gunport, as this additional small window is a common feature among 17th C. warships of all nations. EJ - you are in luck! I have in my possession, what was either the proposed decor of the three aft cabins of SR, or in fact, the actual decor. It is contained in my book by J.C. Lemineur, Les Vaisseaus Du Roi Soleil. I will try to take a decent picture of this later and upload it, here. By the way, the same schematic is re-produced in the Admiral Paris, Dessins, 3rd Edition - albeit, much smaller and of a lower print quality. I was impressed with your build of Couronne. I got to page 3, on my phone, and thought that was the whole log, so I started to comment. After I posted, of course, the other 16 pages came up. I'll be looking at that more, in depth, later. Great build!
  17. Hubac's Historian
    Great looking build, EJ! The planking looks incredible - very nicely done!
  18. Hubac's Historian
    EJ, I'm so glad you stopped in to visit my build and I'm excited to have a co-builder to trade tips with. I wish I had made your acquaintance sooner because I recently discovered an interesting resource for French naval architecture of the 17th C.: Souvenirs De Marine - Collection Plans Ou Dessins De Navires, by Vice Admiral Paris, 1886. In taking over the Musee de la Marine, V.A. Paris took it upon himself to preserve what was known about early naval architecture. He recreated lines plans, interior structure, masting, rig and sail plans for a number of important ships from all epochs. In this, the third edition, La Couronne is the feature ship. He also spends quite a lot of time on Royal Louis of 1692 - which I expect to be quite helpful in filling-in the blanks, here and there. It's in French, and apparently written in his maddeningly tiny cursive, but I am translating portions of it. Very. Slowly. I know from my background in furniture making that the first time you build something is when you draw it. That's what I am doing right now: drawing, working out construction problems, theoretically. Every day the picture gets a little clearer. I know this must be frustrating to those who are following along. I'm sure they really want to see me do SOMETHING. But, I promise the good stuff is coming. I have sufficiently developed hand skills to render in three dimensions, whatever it is that I put to paper. But if the design - the layout - isn't good, then the model won't be either. No matter whether it's well crafted or not. I have a few more hand drawings to do, and then I will disappear for a while, while I learn how to use drafting software. But I guarantee my plan is going to be worth sticking around for. Please start a build-log EJ, and I'll follow you, as well. Do you have pictures or a log for Couronne?
  19. Hubac's Historian
    It just isn't baroque until all sides are embellished! Not sure why, but the image orientation changes from portrait to landscape when I import image from my phone. Too aggravating to correct on the device. You get the idea.
  20. Hubac's Historian
  21. Hubac's Historian
    I have been toying around with ideas to give a little shape and dimension to the rectangular window that is moulded into the upper stern, just forward of the quarter galleries. They are kind of plain, as is, and lack shape and dimension. For the time being, below is one preliminary idea that I kind of like. It isn't drawn to scale, but just roughed-in on a piece of scrap paper.
  22. Hubac's Historian
    Tonight, I was hypothesizing about how I might go about laying out the new upper bulwark frieze. My initial plan was to simply scrape away the existing shells, fleur-de-lis, and knotted rope twists - as well as the raised sheer strakes - and just build it up from scratch. I think that is ultimately what I am going to do. What was fascinating to me, though, was the realization of just how directly Heller pulled inspiration from the color rendering of the ship. If you really study the pressing for the kit upper bulwarks, it becomes apparent that the placement and alternating arrangement of the shells and fleur-de-lis is a direct takeoff from the drawing. The knotted rope twist things are simplified representations of the lattice-like grid, into which the shells and fleur-de-lis are placed. It's all simplified, but it is there. It's just not as profuse and continuous as depicted in the color draft of the ship. I still think that the way to go is to scrape it away and build it up from scratch. Perhaps I can preserve sections of the sheer strakes, but only in so far as they flesh out the raised, horizontal elements of the frieze; there will necessarily be breaks in these strakes where the grid drops down to intersect between levels of sheer strakes. Inevitably, though, after scraping away portions of the raised sheer strakes, the shells, the fleur-de-lis and the rope twists - no matter how carefully and completely it's done - their ghost image will remain in the plastic. My hope is that the overlay of the new frieze will completely minimize whatever trace clues remain. I think that part of the answer, here, is to use the existing placement of elements to layout the new frieze, so that new more detailed elements take the place of the old.
  23. Hubac's Historian
    So, tonight I made pretty good progress on the bow drawing. It was a little frustrating, at first, to realize that I made a mistake very early in this process, while establishing the draft of the hull below the waterline. While it is true that what happens below the waterline won't matter on this model - references I was drawing upon from the waterline, in order to locate the upper wales, were not accurately established in the first place. Consequently, the location of my lower main wale was not correct either. So, I corrected all of that, and now my drawing accurately represents the kit moulded draft. This is enough of a scaled "area" drawing to digitize and flesh out the plan. I will, however, trace in the kit cutwater and the knee of the head because I know from my first SR that the space between these two elements is not perfectly parallel, and that will ultimately affect the layout for the shell and fleur-de-lis trail board that fills this space. While I'm at it, I will probably lay that detail out by hand and draw it in before digitizing. I re-drew the shell for the frieze legend. It's still a bit taller than I would like, but I can trace it into the program and more easily manipulate the proportions of the thing in the computer. I will probably also do a really good line tracing of the Apollo frieze for the tafferal, directly from Berain's drawing. Like the shell, this is something that can be scaled to fit the available space more easily, once it is traced into the computer. We are getting there! Thanks to all who visit my build. Your interest and likes are greatly appreciated.
  24. Hubac's Historian
    Here is the last of the frieze legend: Each of these elements will be scaled down to about a quarter of the size shown here, and placed upon the lattice frieze of the upper bulwarks. The fleur-de-lis will be scaled, also, for the lower and middle deck gunport lids. The shell is a great example of something that is almost easier to draw with the tools, as it will have more of the undulating surface of a clam shell, than the hard crease that is drawn here. I suppose I should change the edge detail of the shell to reflect that. Anyway, that is pretty much it, as far as the stern drawing is concerned. Next, it's onto the bow, which should not be nearly as involved because it shares most of the same repeating elements as the stern drawing. Then, it's digitization time. Then, it's build time.
  25. Hubac's Historian
    I'd be curious to see if I could find these plans, myself, Richard. I'll have to check out the Lahoche website.

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