Hubac's Historian

Thanks, Druxey! You may be right about the wood. I have no prior experience with lime, either, so I can’t really say. As I have plenty of it, I thought I was going to use it to carve the new figures of Africa and The Americas. While it seems perfectly suited for the QG substrate, I don’t think it is hard enough to hold fine detail. I’ll have to get my hands on some boxwood for the figures.

Thank you, Jonathan! After sealing with plain old brush-able Crazy Glue, I sanded smooth with 320, and then transferred the patterns for the inset panels. When Dan gave me this wood, he told me he thought it might be apple, but that it had been sitting around so long, he had lost track of what it was, or why he had bought it. I was impressed with the stuff because the grain was absolutely clear and even, and the stock had remained perfectly flat and straight for over a decade without any special handling. Although I had never worked apple before this, I have to say that I think this wood might be some other species. I was expecting “apple” to work with roughly the same density and hardness of cherry, for example. This material is nothing like that. It shapes beautifully, and easily, but it is fairly soft and a little thready; strands of grain can pull away from the surface, fairly easily, if you are not careful, and if your tools aren’t razor sharp. While I thought my knives were sharp, they were crushing/compressing the grain, as I tried to carve the beveled border. So, I sharpened my knives. Here is a montage of the lower finishing as it has come into focus: Now, I made a mistake, here, in the placement of the bellflower ornament. I placed it according to how I thought it was framed best by the central stile. However, that’s not what was drawn. Notice how the scrolls meet in the middle, above the bellflower: I should have placed the bellflower a little lower, in order to accommodate this detail. A little finagling later, though, and I found that I like this alternative layout just as well. Grinding away and remaking the bellflower, on such a fragile substrate, did not seem worth the risk of ruining all of the work done so far. Here are a few more detail images that show just what a difference a little modeling makes, once the outline of the carvings is clearly defined: Obviously, there is still some work to do on these. I’ve been much busier than usual, so progress has been slower. I have continued to assemble the starboard side amortisement. Everything from the canopy and above went down smoothly enough. I’ll have to do a few minor putty fills. What I found really fascinating was the space available below the canopy, where the two false windows go; the space between the upper main wale and the canopy is a full 1/8” bigger on the starboard side than on the port side! Now, for the port side, I did fill above the windows with a 1/32” square shim, and I didn’t even bother to fill above the dolphin ornaments because I got lazy and figured that the viewing perspective wouldn’t ever reveal that gap, anyway. On the starboard side, though, this is an additional 1/8” gap. Up until now, I have encountered a number of these dimensional anomalies of the kit. In certain instances, while unaware, my modifications have probably exacerbated these differences. In this instance, though, it is a difference that exists and must be dealt with. I think it is likely the case that when this kit was prototyped in the 1970’s, by hand, there likely was not the high degree of symmetry that computer modeling offers us, today. As a result, the model was made to fit together and had visual symmetry, if not actual symmetry. This is just something to keep in mind, for anyone contemplating a similar modification project. There is no way that I was about to re-draw and re-make the windows and dolphins. I am a field carpenter, after all, and being such requires one to just make things work, visually. A few things are certain: the windows must meet the upper main wale, so that necessitated filling that space, above, with a tapered wedge of styrene. I also wanted the added framing pieces, beneath the dolphins to match what I had done on the port side. Toward that end, I started with the forward dolphins. I coped them into the mermaid’s tail. I had to trim a solid 1/32” off the aft straight edge of both dolphin carvings, so that they’d fit between the mermaid’s tails. I then filled above the forward dolphin so that the space beneath these dolphins would match that of the port side. Here it all is in pictures: I still need to fill in those lower framing pieces, but I think that, overall, I managed to mask those differences well enough. One can only look at one side of the ship at a time, in any case😉 Well, steady as she goes. I’ve cleared the space on the hull where the active seats of ease are located. Soon, I’ll scribe in the wales, so that I can fit those pieces and then I can clad them with all of the styrene rails, stiles and ornaments. After struggling mightily to paint the bowsprit, on the model, I will certainly paint these QG sections off the model and install, afterwards. As ever, thanks for the likes and for looking in!

Your plank work looks really fantastic, EJ! This has all been time well-spent establishing the foundation for the next phase. BRAVO

Thanks for the info, Jonathan!

Would you mind describing what different glues you used to construct the sails - particularly the bolt ropes (think that’s what they’re called) around the sails?

I am thoroughly convinced that this silkspan method is the way to go. As long as you go to the effort of proper scale and silhouette - which you certainly did! - then, they read so much more naturally, at this scale, than cloth. These sails are really going to accentuate all of the other upgrades and modifications you made, Jonathan.

It looks as great as I had hoped it would!

Beautiful work, Siggi!

Interesting. Thank you!

It seems to me that you have the ventre-de-biche color just right, Oliver. What specific pigment are you using?

Definitely still interested! I am happy that you and your family have found your way through COVID. This past year has been a DOOZY! The sails are really looking fantastic - I love all the detailing. The sail silhouette, up and down the mast, looks just right to me 👍

I think what you are doing with what you have is both incredible and fascinating. I love the resourcefulness of your approach. You are off to a great start!

Incredible work, Don - really nicely done!

A very impressive video presentation, Mr. Budzik!

Actually, T_C, I had not thought of that, but it sure makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the tip! And thank you, Mark, for your continued interest and support - I appreciate it very much.

Thanks, EJ! So, here are a few pics of the bow area with everything re-touched and distressed, the beakhead doors in-place, etc: I realized that I shouldn’t glue-in the beakhead bulkhead until I have painted the lower transom because I will need to remove the model from its working base and flip it over, in order to access the underside of the stern counter. Just for fun, here’s what the built-up amortisement looks like in place: I also realized that I can’t paint the lower transom until I’ve made the lower section of the quarter galleries. I’ve held off on doing this for a long time, while I tried to figure out what exactly my approach would be. The greatest difficulty is in trying to ascertain what the volume and shape of the sub-structures should be. Ultimately, I decided that I would carve these sub-structures from apple solids, and use the pieces above to inform the shape of those below. For additional reference, I looked back on Drazen Caric’s excellent tutorial for the making of his QGs on the Provincien: The logical starting point of this process seemed to me to be the widest section of the QG - the middle-deck section, which is the functional level of the officer’s toilet. I know that the projection from the ship sides should be about four scale feet, or a 1/2”. As the above amortisement hints at, I wanted there to be a slight rounding of this level, at the middle, before tapering in towards the hull, at the foremost end. The pictures below are a pretty clear evolution of this shaping process: One thing worth mentioning, here, is that the projection of the false stern balcony is a bit exaggerated. This owes to the fact that I did not, initially, realize that there needs to be a shelf of sufficient depth to support the four seasons figures. Consequently, I had to graft-on an extension piece: Ideally, the end-shape of the counter should match the moulded shape of the sides. That won’t be the case with this build, but it does not appear too distracting on the model. Lesson learned! Now that I had established this shape, I could trace its bottom onto the top of the piece below it: Please bear in mind that positioning on this scrap hull is only approximate, as the hull was cut down, in order to make my hull longer. At this stage, I can begin applying all of the styrene pilasters, mouldings and ornaments that decorate these sub-structures. Once, they are fully sheathed in their paneling, I can use them to determine the outside dimension and overhang of the transitional mouldings between sections. I am wondering whether I should sand and seal the wood with something before using CA glue to attach the surface ornament. Or, would I be better off sanding, applying surface ornament and then sealing with poly, or something else? I’m just concerned about CA adhesion, here. Also, considering that these wooden surfaces will be painted, how fine a grit do I need to sand to. Is 220 sufficient? The wood grain is very fine. As always, any advice is welcome. Thanks for taking the time to visit! More to come...

The past few weeks have been mostly about tying up loose ends. The bow area is nearly done with the paint re-touches. I also realized, recently, that the beakhead bulkhead should be equipped with doors, in order to prevent heavy seaways from swamping the middle gun deck. I got myself busy making a pair of those: I also spent quite a lot of time building up the port side amortisement: I took extra care to beef-up the portion of the crown that rises above the sheer rail: One can get a very good sense, here, of just how shallow the amortisement really is. The next detail I wanted to affix before priming the upper bulwarks are the quarter pieces that support the side lanterns. One peculiarity of the Heller kit, vis-a-vis the Tanneron model, is that the side-lantern support boxing rises above the sheer rail. This contributes, greatly, to the exaggerated height of the tafferal. For reference, here is that detail on my first SR: Note, the extreme difference in style between the kit QG and the 1689 version. This transformation has been the primary motivator of the entire project. I suspect that Tanneron took his cue for the lantern boxing from this later QG drawing for SR2, in 1693: The earlier drawing, though, shows the boxing below the rail: As a constructor of things, and considering just how massive the side lanterns actually were, it makes much more practical sense for the lantern boxings to mount solidly to the ship’s sides. There also exists a solid foundation of Van de Velde drawings to support this detail. Using Dan Pariser’s Photoshop collage as a reference, it seems more likely that this, in fact, is the arrangement that was intended to correspond with the stern drawing: Thinking back to the start of this project, this lowering of the side lanterns was how I decided to shorten the tafferal tableau for Apollo’s horse-driven chariot. As I do when the opportunity presents itself, I more deeply defined the acanthus detail of the quarter pieces, while cutting away the unnecessary lower portion: My hope had been that I would be able to re-cycle the kit figure of the Americas, for the port side, but she is scaled for the much taller tafferal, and she now looks too far out of scale. As I was going to have to carve Africa, anyway, it is best that the Americas be proportional. I have also begun making the lower section of the QG. Henry’s hull continues to be invaluable. Without being too delicate about it, I could grind away the wales in the QG area, so that I could closely fay each section to its location: There will be 1/16” styrene spacers between these sections that define their shape, while providing the moulded transitions. More to come! As always, thank you for the likes and for looking in.

I submit that Revell’s Batavia was a nice recent addition to the cannon of plastic ship modeling; what’s moulded into the kit is good, and the model provides a solid foundation for upgrades. On the other hand, Revell’s Vasa doesn’t come close, IMO, to bettering the Airfix version. In response to the earlier question of gravers, I use the back of a #11 blade to engrave plank lines, after first taking a few light, marking passes with the sharp side of the blade. As Dafi mentions, a steel rule is essential for straight lines, but I have found that the curving plank lines of a deck can be scribed and engraved without a template guide. The trick is to make a series of shallow passes until your groove is sufficiently deep enough to track easily - then, you can make more aggressive scraping passes. If I go too far, I just nock it down a little with the 50-grit paper that I use to represent wood grain/structure. This is in 1:100 scale. Nailing patterns, admittedly, are probably taking it too far in anything smaller than 1:96. Engraving your own deck, though, affords you the opportunity to upgrade to a realistic butt-shift pattern, and to build better hatch coamings and deck furniture. These details are apparent under even mild scrutiny. Most of these details are not difficult to scratch from sheet and strip styrene, and they greatly enhance the pleasure of the build, IMO.

What I’m thinking about, EJ, are these transitional pieces that ornament each step in the sheer railing:

I have a question that is not related to this discussion - more a point of curiosity. This beautiful, old dockyard model of Bellona - even in its interior - appears heavily aged and distressed; much much more-so than your typical dockyard model. Was the distressing deliberate, on the part of the model-maker,do you think, or is the model’s appearance the natural by-product of vigorous handling, over the years? Either way it is curiously different from most other original models I have seen. Apart from that, Mark, nobody could ever accuse you (and Gary) of not doing your due diligence. Fantastic work, as always, and an interesting engineering conversation.

I appreciate the thought, T_C. When I first painted the ship sides, I worked in manageable sections (3-4 port openings), and I only left the oil on the surface for five minutes, before wiping off the excess. This go ‘round, I left the oil on for significantly longer - about 15 minutes - but the contrast was still high after cleaning away the oil, in the darker areas, with spirits. Fortunately, what I proposed seems to have worked pretty well. It will certainly be good enough in this area which is overshadowed by the headrails, anyway. A shot of the stippled effect before blending: Then after blending: Tonight, I’ll resume the yellow ocher. I’ve also been affixing the port side amortisement. I cut through for the octagonal ports and the one real window - the oval of the Admiral’s quarters. This would be moving faster, but I am too nervous about traveling with the upper bulwarks. There is too much time invested to risk damaging them in-transit. In the daytime, I’ve been doing more tedious tasks like cleaning up the kevels. I spent a good bit of time re-reading Henry’s log, today, as I consider how I will run all of my tacks and sheets.

Hello, Kevin! Your approach to this kit, and your engineering work-arounds are fascinating. I appreciate your commitment and will follow the project with great interest. You are making a fabulous job of it, so far! All the best, Marc

Take your time, Man - she’s coming along beautifully! I’m wondering whether the kit provides fittings for the transitional hance pieces that foot each step in the sheer. I’m not sure if I’m using the correct terminology, here.

It has been a slow week of mixed results and some small progress. Painting-in of the head timbers was going well enough. Unfortunately, I over-estimated the blending capability of Van Dyke Brown oil paint to conceal the color-fills I made to the ventre-de-biche of the deadworks. I thought I was being careful to feather-in the new color, yet because of the contrast of the original weathering, I still ended up with a clear line of demarcation: This was after two applications of oil and wiping off the excess. Part of the problem is that the original weathering is sealed under a clear top-coat, so I can no longer lighten or manipulate it. I can only go selectively darker. Toward that end, last night I began applying heavily thinned wash-coats of the oil paint, and have succeeded in eliminating the strong contrast. I didn’t take additional pictures, but the appearance is much improved. At the moment, though, the color appears a bit mottled, as I was applying the color with light dappling touches, over and over again; a brushing motion only “washes” away the color you put down on the previous layer. I then charged the chip-brush I’ve been using with un-diluted oil paint, and left that to semi-cure overnight. My hope is that, this evening, the wash-coats I applied will be sufficiently durable that I can take light sweeping passes with the charged chip-brush to smooth the tone and blend back smoothly into the ship sides. We shall see. In preparation for building up the amortisement on the upper bulwarks, I coped together all of the individual parts, and this helped me feel better about the paint problem. Thank you for looking in, and enjoy your weekend!

Thank you, Mark and Jan! Yes, T_C, the forward wing will be inset into the frieze - eliminating a shell - the afterwing, though, lands directly over the aft octagonal port. I will pare that wing away.