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Hubac's Historian

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Everything posted by Hubac's Historian

  1. Hubac's Historian
    Over that span, EJ, I have some concern that your keel plinth and mounting board aren’t up to the long-term task of keeping your keel straight, as the hull takes shape.
  2. Hubac's Historian
    Really nice work on the chains, Marc.
  3. Hubac's Historian
    As they say - don’t allow the “perfect” to be the enemy of the really very good.
  4. Hubac's Historian
    I know just how crazily small all of this is, and your macros show every tiny detail. If there are flaws, I certainly can’t find them. It amazes me every time! What you do so particularly well, from a paint perspective, is scale wood-graining. The effect is so true to life.
  5. Hubac's Historian
    YUM - those port wreaths look awesome! And the washer/wedges look incredible.
  6. Hubac's Historian
    BONDO is just common auto-body filler. The vinyl paste is so fine that it fills-into small details really well. It’s very sticky stuff, though.
  7. Hubac's Historian
    I’ve spent the better part of the week fretting out these panels. They are pretty small, at 3/8” x 7/16”+: As such, I was having a lot of trouble NOT breaking off the ears of my fleurs. I set them aside, to glue them back-on once the fretting was done. Despite that precaution, I still managed to break one off again. I realized I would never be able to model the shells and fleurs unless they were secured to a backing, so I glued the .032 fretted panel to a .020 backer. In order to preserve some sense of lightness, I filed out the scalloped recesses around the perimeter. When I get to painting these, I will use flat black for the ground behind the fleurs and shells - a nod to theater carpentry. The fret-work will be red ocher, and the ornaments will be yellow ocher. I’m going to experiment with Bondo to see whether I can cast extras of the small squiggles that ornament all the corners of the frieze. These might be nice accents for the corners of each panel: I ran out of viable resin and don’t feel like buying more because it has a shelf-life, and I won’t use it enough to justify the cost. As long as the vinyl Bondo releases from the rubber moulds I made, we’re in business. We shall see.
  8. Hubac's Historian
    The effect is very good - stylized, but in a good way.
  9. Hubac's Historian
    Hey EJ - it’s great to see you back on the forums! I’m excited for the latest project, and I am here for it!
  10. Hubac's Historian
    Hi Bill - yes, I just recently became aware of this kit. I can see the appeal of open frames, but I don’t think the kit is at all representative of the ship, and I think it is way over-priced.
  11. Hubac's Historian
    Bravo, Eric! I really admire your willingness to keep revising and developing different processes to arrive at your desired results. Your method of applying the triangles to the mouth, as a means of guiding the buildup, is really an excellent idea. And, of course, the copper wire really does give the dolphin body a dynamic sense of 3D movement. I predict that your build following will really jump, once you begin assembling all of this work that you are so meticulously modifying and scratch-building. Patience and determination have carried you this far, and ultimately they are going to produce an entirely unique interpretation of the Heller kit. You have corrected a number of things like the wale sheer, gun placement and head structure that I did not previously think could be corrected. Hat’s off, my friend!
  12. Hubac's Historian
    Incredible work, Patrick!
  13. Hubac's Historian
    My plan for the poop deck is to make this kind if bridge gangway, over a cannon, and down to the QD: For the poop royal deck, I have not yet decided whether to do this kind of simplified Dutch bulkhead with simple treads attached to the bulkhead, directly, or to do another bridge gangway to a ladder between the 4-pounder guns: In other developments, the capstan mod is complete:
  14. Hubac's Historian
    Henry - do you mean making custom breast-rails, a capstan or both?
  15. Hubac's Historian
    Thank you, Gentlemen. I’m going to go ahead and modify the capstan. Over the course of this build, you guys have made a number of really good suggestions. I don’t always follow-through on them, but here is an instance where I can bring a detail more in-line with historic reality, without having to scrap the truly labor-intensive aspect of the part. I value all of your input, and Waldemar is quite right to point this out. I am also happy to report that I have arrived at my f’ocsle breast-rail design. My idea with the breast-rail will be to adapt an exterior detail - in this case, the bow trailboard - and bring it in-board. For a reminder of the particular framing of the trailboard: The trailboard is, itself, an adaptation of the original design. Where the “X’s” are, there should be shells in the top and bottom negative spaces. At the time that I made this part, that was just too small and fiddly for me to make a good job of, so I chose to leave those spaces open. For this breast-rail, though, I could show alternating shells and fleurs within the same lattice framework: The beauty of this process is that I only have to draw one of each panel. The spacing remains the same for all six openings, so I merely have to make a mirror photocopy for the starboard side. It will be fleur/shell/fleur, which picks up on the alternating design of the bulwark frieze. French belfries tend to be rather plain, in comparison with their English counterpoints. There’s enough ornamental work going on below, so I decided to pick-up the reverse cyma curves of the tafferal for the belfry’s coronation. When I get to the quarter deck rail, I will again draw inspiration from an exterior detail. In this instance, I will adapt the framing and monogramed cartouches of the middle balcony rail: At the poop breast rail, I will adapt the quarter deck level of the gallery, with it’s series of X’s: The Arms of France will also appear at this level. The breast rail of the poop-royal deck will adapt the simple sheer rail “linked circles” of L’ambiteaux: (photo courtesy of Marc Yeu)
  16. Hubac's Historian
    One last thought on Waldemar’s observation - a closer look at the L’Ambiteaux capstan does show a staggered 2-level series of sockets for the capstan bars, while Lemineur’s SP is a single level of sockets. Really, I have no idea whether that represents an evolutionary timeline from 1680 to 1693, or whether it is merely a designer’s assumption that has the privilege of plausible deniability for the lack of primary source information. As I have one more radiant fleur emblem at my disposal - I could grind off the existing emblem; fill every other socket on the existing level; add an upper level of alternating sockets; and re-cap with a new top and emblem. That is a possibility that - so long as I don’t botch the emblem extraction, wouldn’t take too long to do. What do you think guys? Is it worth it? I will weigh your responses, carefully. Currently, I have begun designing the f’ocsle breast-rail and belfry. I’m playing around with another ornamental extraction. This time it is the garland-ensconced royal monogram that would be a fitting central panel beneath the belfry: This whole process begins by fitting a card template (always soda boxes) to the exact camber of the f’ocsle deck beam. Once my sanding stick brings the template to rest, I like to harden the card edge with CA, because this template is now a drawing tool for transferring that camber up the breast-rail. The central belfry will rise up above the breast caprail by almost the same height as the breast-rail.
  17. Hubac's Historian
    Always a pleasure to look-in, here. Everything is so crisply executed. I love the capstan and breast-rail details. Also, that is a very clever way to make the rudder hinges.
  18. Hubac's Historian
    Well, as I well know - you have gone to great depths to reconstruct line drawings into more plausible outcomes. Your insight on a wide array of vessels is invaluable. I’ll take a look at the Delacroix forum, though. Thanks for the reference!
  19. Hubac's Historian
    What are the other main issues you see with Lemineur’s reconstructions?
  20. Hubac's Historian
    Agreed - I am hearing from a number of friends who are interpreting the SP drawings, in particular, and there appear to be a number of inconsistencies. As for the capstan, I’m not sure whether I will remake it. Probably not, but if it gets under my skin, I will have to revisit that possibility.
  21. Hubac's Historian
    Hello Waldemar! Your observation, on this point is well-received. Honestly, I did not think to consult the Album de Colbert. I, instead, referenced Boudriot’s L’Ambiteaux: And Lemineur’s SP: Interestingly, the style you reference shows up on Lemineur’s Francoise, which is closer to the 1670’s. I did not think to look here, though, before you raised this question: Generally, I assumed that by the late 1680’s, France had shifted to the more familiar drum capstan.
  22. Hubac's Historian
    So, I’ve managed to make some progress. I finished painting the deck hardware. On the one hand, the degree of detailing I put into the lin-stock tubs may seem like overkill for something so small, that is largely overshadowed by the waist gangways. However, I truly enjoyed the process of engraving them, boring them out, banding them, painting/weathering them, and making ears and annealed wire handles for them. It gave me the sense, once again, that I was engaged with the project, in the limited time I had available. For placing these tiny items where clumsy fingers fear to tread, I found that wall-tack putty rolled around the end of a toothpick enabled me to place these items precisely, in the limited time before the CA sets. I did make one shot-rack placement error, but it will be completely concealed beneath the f’ocsle deck. It wasn’t worth creating a paint repair problem. Now, I still have cleats and blocks and cavals to place on the main deck. I still also have to belay sheet and tack lines to the inner bulwarks for the eventual rigging. I had momentum, though, and wanted to continue making significant progress. I decided to begin detailing the f’ocsle deck as a motivator to finally route my belay points on the main deck, so that the whole project can move forward. A few of these plank lines are a little ragged, but from most perspectives those flaws will not be very apparent. I found that, at first, I was moving a little too quickly with the engraving, and not taking enough score passes to create a clean channel to back-drag the tip of my blade. The proof will be in the paint, when those lines really jump out, but I think it will be okay. Next up, I decided to make the galley chimneys: I blacken the edges with graphite, so that I can more easily gauge the bevels I am filing into them. Next up - I wanted to make a f’ocsle capstan because I see evidence of one on the Louis Quinze model at the musee. A montage: The foundation of the machine are 4 pcs of .100 square stock cemented together, and then trimmed to 3/16” square. I then faceted the barrel into an octagon: I am always looking for places where I can re-purpose the stock ornamentation, and these radiant fleurs from the quarter galleries seemed like a fitting complement to this machine. The capstan will stand four scale feet above deck and the capstan bars will just clear the height of the chimneys: All-in-all, this little machine was one of my favorite elements to make for this project. I still have to make the capstan locking pawls that engage at the foot of the machine. Next, I think I will design the break rail and belfry. Thank you, as always, for the likes and looking-in.
  23. Hubac's Historian
    Nice progress on your latest build, here, Bill! I really like the herringbone decks - they look really cool. Also, love the GH project with your grandson!
  24. Hubac's Historian
    Wow - these are a tremendous improvement over earlier efforts, Eric! I like how you did the scale detailing.
  25. Hubac's Historian
    David, I am surprised every day. Life moves real fast with teens today. All good, though.

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