Hubac's Historian

The Blue Ensign log us a now completed build of a Heller kitbash into La Superbe. It is a spectacular piece of work, and his tutorial on sailmaking is very thorough.

In my SR log, I asked Micheal to post links to pics of his 1765 Victory build. It was there that I first noticed his sail furling technique and asked him to describe it. Between Michael and Blue Ensign’s methods, I should eventually arrive at a dynamite suite of sails!

I’m glad that you posted these pictures of the sail, in process. Now I can see what you were describing in another thread about their shape. Would you say that the same shape works regardless of whatever type of sail you are trying to mimic - square, lateen, etc? All of that just really looks fabulous!

WOW!! That is just completely fascinating and incredible.

“CLINK”

Let’s all raise a Friday glass to the VASA🍺

A sudden rush of “affordable” housing opportunity has slowed me down considerably, this past week, but I have managed to make some progress. I’ve closed-in the port side quarter gallery. In the process, I left a small CA fingerprint on one of my glass panes. It isn’t terrible, but its presence annoys me. I haven’t tried acetone for fear that it will mar the acetate. Isopropyl had no effect after a half-hour of effort. Does anyone have any experience with using this product from BSI on plastic? https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Smith-Industries-BSI-161-Debonder/dp/B0000DD1QS/ref=asc_df_B0000DD1QS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198100706044&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3451084920448221665&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9067609&hvtargid=pla-379516931894&psc=1 If need be, I can live with the blemish, but I would rather remove it. Any other ideas? Otherwise, I’ve been coping together the parts for the wrapping balcony: After I secure these, there are planking overlays that complete the illusion, while also providing a glue-lip for the balcony rail. As they are really quite good, I still plan to use the stock Four Seasons figures: They will require some delicate chiropractic surgery in order to reach the new geometric relationship between the lower false balcony and the wrapping middle balcony. I’m not sure yet how I will go about this, but I have a spare set, in case I mess up. I am debating placing corbel support beneath the outermost extension of the walk. It doesn’t make sense to me that there wouldn’t be additional support, here. My walk is not quite as deep as the stock kit part; I recognized that there would be limitations to how far I could stretch the Four Seasons figures, so I made the walk a little more shallow. The unintended result of that, though, is that even the smaller of the stock corbels are too big for here: It is not a big deal, though, as I would only have to make one pair from scratch. Today, I was near the WarHammer shop, so I picked up a vibrant silver metallic and a plant-green wash coat. My idea is to incorporate silver leaf into the build, in select spaces, and to even use a faint green over-wash, on top of the silver. One possible application for this might be the acanthus-flanked monogram escutcheons between the main deck guns; I’ll experiment with greened silver on the acanthus branches. Maybe it will look terrible, but it might be interesting. I took the idea from the elaborately painted and gilt interior of St. Francis de Sales church on East 96th Street. In other activities, I picked up what is actually the Grand Chaloupe from my father’s house, this past weekend. It is significantly larger than the one I did earlier. I am detailing as I did before: There is a significant warp in the hull, but the thwart insert piece straightens this out, for the most part. Well, that’s where things stand, for now. Thank you for the likes, comments and for stopping in.

I would say it was a bit lazy on their part. If I were making this part, in this scale, I would first scribe a bulkhead out of 1/16” styrene sheet to fit the space. Then, I’d layout the pilasters and waste out the open spaces with drill bits and a sharpe EXACTO. To finish, I’d use styrene strip to increase the thickness of the top and bottom rails, which also gives the impression that the pilasters are set into the rails. I hope that makes sense. One thing to keep in mind is that the bottom rail rests on top of the cathead timbers.

There should definitely be a rail there, yes.

Michael - will you present your model in the dark colors of the preserved Vasa timbers?

Now I see where you are headed. I had thought, perhaps that you would not paint between the guns. Personally, I liked the variation and grain of your chosen material. Be that as it may, she will look very smart fully painted.

Per, this earlier comment on Heller deck heights, I was at my father’s, this past weekend, so I took a measurement of the Heller Victory: From the top of one deck ledge to the top of the next (or, in terms of the real ship - underside to underside of deck planking) measures 7/8”, or 7’ at scale. Subtract 8-10” (approx.) for the sided beams, and 3-4” for the decking thickness, and one arrives at a clear headroom of just under 6’, which corresponds with my recollection of visiting Victory in 1994. At the time, I was just a hair less than 6’ tall. I am shorter, now. That same exercise applied to SR results in 17/16”, or 8’6” from deck plank underside to plank underside. Ultimately, that allows for a comfortably clear headroom of 7’+. The 17th C. seaman’s diet was not robust enough to produce giants like that. As I say, though, the interspace between gun ports is sufficiently long to mitigate the impression of incorrect deck heights.

WWII was such an interesting time period in battleship development; every nation had their version of the super-ship. I read recently that the US Navy is trying to develop an effective projectile range of hundreds of miles, as opposed to the obsolete Iowa class range of 25 miles. If they can achieve that, we may yet see an era of the deluxe super-ship extraordinaire!

She’s an interesting fish, out of water; I had no idea how full she was below the waterline. The ship looks so sleek in period footage. I will gladly follow along on this one, as you are doing some really nice, clean work.

This is some incredible work you’re doing, Channell!

You have rendered me speechless.

Oh my! What are your plans for this battlefleet?

I love that Airfix kit. The detailing is better than on the more recent Revell version. Years ago, I scrapped my first attempt at it, which was somewhat regrettable because the paint was really good. I have a second one, though, and someday I’ll get to doing something good with it. Anyway, I’ll sure enjoy watching you build it!

Michael, which version of the Vasa will you build?

I wouldn’t say it’s a necessity, but it’s a nice detail if you choose to take it to that level. I chose not to because I was having a difficult enough time re-joining the knee extensions, where I had cut them. After all of that, I wanted to paint and move on.

Confirmed, albeit, a little hard to see in this photo from Fred Hocker’s book:

It is a feature rarely seen on models, but I think it’s origin predates, even the ships of the first marine. I’d have to check, but I’m pretty sure this breakwater exists in the original timber of the Vasa. It’s purpose is to relieve turbulent stress on the knees of the head.

This looks interesting!

Beautifully done, Mike!

will you show us a few pics of the other hulls, in process? Just curious.