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Hubac's Historian

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  1. Hubac's Historian
    It is not even a contest, Gaetan.
  2. Hubac's Historian
    Also, would it be fair to say that the collection of Tanneron models were commissioned, in the first place, to be the visual expression of the more evolved and codified Second Marine of the 1690’s? I don’t have good pictures of L’Agreable’s stern, so I can’t tell whether he modeled her with the pre or post 1673 stern: Like SR, though, her 1697 refit drawing shows the early stern: As you know - notwithstanding all of the problems you mentioned - I also agree with your basic premise that the Berain/Vary drawing must exist for a reason. From an evolutionary standpoint, this particular arrangement of the quarters is consistent with other examples that are better understood from the late 1680s/90s; lower gallery closed, middle gallery open and walkable, upper gallery a trompe l’oeil amortisement.
  3. Hubac's Historian
    Well explained, Marc! Do you hold a position on the pinrail debate?
  4. Hubac's Historian
    I dunno’ Bill - relative to the men sitting on the poop deck, those pins don’t seem too impractical to my eye.
  5. Hubac's Historian
    They also appear on the contemporary-build Louis Quinze model: And actual pinrails on Frolich’s L’Ambiteaux:
  6. Hubac's Historian
    Look at the area referenced by the red arrow; there are pins between the sheer railing and the top fighting cloth rail. One last reference - the poop sheer of the Monarque appears to have pins:
  7. Hubac's Historian
    Respectfully, I am more inclined to believe that the simple utility of belaying pins would have been universally understood much earlier than that. They show up in this Van de Velde sketch of a Dutch warship, following a battle: And another ship, where they are evident along the forecastle sheer rail.
  8. Hubac's Historian
    I am glad to hear you are still modeling, Vic! To be honest, I’m not sure about the question of belaying pins. I don’t think the French employed pin rails, at this time (1670-1700), but I do think it likely that pins were used along the sheer rail, as Heller shows. Then again, for his SP monograph, Lemineur does show pinrails. He also shows them for his Le Francois of 1683, monograph:
  9. Hubac's Historian
    I know of one English modeler who has purchased this kit and plans to correct the length of the hull, the spacing of the guns, the sheer-line, deck furniture, etc. He’s quite talented, so I am sure he will make excellent work of it. I also believe that there is solid potential in that kit to produce a fairly representative ship, but it would require a tremendous degree of reverse engineering.
  10. Hubac's Historian
    Simply one of the best resources on the subject.
  11. Hubac's Historian
    SR1’s armament fluctuated over her 22 year life span:
  12. Hubac's Historian
    Agreed. I can only guess at what some of Tanneron’s original sources were. I strongly suspect, though, that SR 1670 was very similar in structure to the Monarque of 1668: Perhaps this is SR, 1670: Or, perhaps this is SR 1670: There is no way of knowing until I can obtain better images of these portraits.
  13. Hubac's Historian
    Overall, Bill, I agree with you that Tanneron’s model is more representative of SR2, however, it seems to me that Tanneron was attempting a composite of SR1 and SR2; the most notable features of 1669/70 are three open stern balconies, and fully open quarter galleries. Stylistically, the shape of the QGs is more directly connected to what the shipyards were producing from the 1690s, onward.
  14. Hubac's Historian
    Nice work! Revenue cutters have sweet lines, and you did her justice.
  15. Hubac's Historian
    Alright, I am in! This looks like it will be a fun project, and your painting skills are evidence of a thoughtful, meticulous approach.
  16. Hubac's Historian
    The winch looks spectacular!
  17. Hubac's Historian
    I love the progress, Radek - very fine work!
  18. Hubac's Historian
    My method for making the window plates is well-documented, earlier in the log, so I won’t go into great detail. Some pictures: I found it best to fit the rough blanks between the pilasters, first, before relieving the negative space panels. This way, I could trace on the backside, the top and bottom edges of the top rail, thereby knowing just how thin to make the reliefs. Once all of the panels were in, and I had also glued-in the central bell-flower ornament, I could begin modeling these reliefs: It really doesn’t take much to give them a little shape and dimension. I began framing in the bulkheads: I like to glue-in positive stops, top and bottom, so that it is easier to glue-in the bulkheads and get them aligned exactly where they need to be. Keen observers will note that the bulkheads do not align, neatly with the tops of the pilasters beneath them. Instead, they fan out more towards the sides: I considered whether to re-draw the plate, but determined that this would result in less pleasingly shaped and proportioned windows: The discrepancy is a result of my decision to revise the tumblehome of the upper bulwarks. The lower tier is based upon the more vertical tumblehome of my original drawing, so the pitch of the window stiles is less severe. This middle tier simply follows the more pronounced pitch of the accentuated tumblehome. In the end, the lower balcony railing will serve as a visual interrupter that minimizes this discrepancy. I point all of this out to highlight just one of many imperfect compromises I have made, where I have deemed one aspect of the construction to carry more visual importance over another. In this instance, the whole model is more ship-like with a more pinched tumblehome, and the windows have a pleasant shape and arc of camber. Thank you for your likes and comments and continued interest in this project. More to follow.
  19. Hubac's Historian
    I agree with Mark - it’s been a long while since I’ve seen your beautiful model. I look forward to updates whenever you are ready.
  20. Hubac's Historian
    Thank you, Marc! My color choices come, in part, from Lemineur’s discussion in the St. Philippe monograph, where he discusses the likelihood that yellow ocher and red vermillion were much more likely paint choices for the deadworks. Given the exorbitant cost associated with true ultra-marine, it would only have been used as a backdrop to ornament that makes specific reference to the crown. I have been slightly more indulgent than that, but mostly, I have stuck to that premise. It also seemed likely to me that the extensive use of gold leaf, that may have been used on the ship as she was launched in 1670, would have been severely reduced by the time of her refit - especially considering they were preparing the ship for war. My lighter blue should probably be lighter still, and with a slightly greenish cast, in order to be fully faithful to the times, but I liked the way this cerulean blue relates to both the yellow and red ochers. Also, and I may be mis-interpreting the faded color, but Berain’s stern drawing appears to be shaded in a faded red color. As I had grown a little bored with always seeing SR as being tan, blue and gold, I wanted to present the possibility that a ship of SR’s importance would have used a polychromatic scheme to accentuate all of the ornamental work; this, much like the Vasa some 50 years earlier, would be an exuberant artistic expression in form, ornament and color. Here is a contemporary watercolor of a ship that I have yet to identify: My idea was to unify the red of the beakhead bulkhead to the stern, by painting the plank of the main deck battery in this same color. All of this may not be exactly historically correct for SR at this time in her career, but I do believe these colors are historically plausible.
  21. Hubac's Historian
    I’m excited to see your next update, Marc, and I’m really glad you’re back in the shipyard!
  22. Hubac's Historian
    Marc - thank you for granting me access to your pics and permission to post them. I’ve been in contact, recently, with another modeler from the UK who was also a great admirer of Michel’s work. He had just recently learned of Michel’s passing and was very saddened by the news.
  23. Hubac's Historian
    Hello Melissa - this is a very nice subject for a kit, and I am looking forward to watching your progress. You are off to a great start!
  24. Hubac's Historian
    Awesome stories all!
  25. Hubac's Historian
    Yes, there is an easy way to reliably rip consistent depth mouldings by temporarily cementing a depth stop to the Byrnes table, both before the blade and on the off-cut side. Then, one can simply adjust the fence so that the wood blank meets the stop. One caveat to this is that the fence adjustment on some micro-saws may not allow for a “soft” approach to an external stop, thereby exerting excess pressure between the blank and the stop - if that makes sense.

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