Hubac's Historian

The gold looks like a metallic lacquer to me, but that will certainly be the photograph. The other colour ... I would expect some white-ish streaks in it ... with reference to the name

And here are the seat cushions. They were carved from some pear stock 3" thick. The piping along the edges was some fine line left over from another model. It was applied using acrylic matt medium. Had I used white glue, it would have dissolved when I painted the cushions with acrylic paint. I may deepen their color.
 
Experiments with 'gold' are beginning to yield promising results. More soon.

Hi Druxey - 
 
The last several posts have been nothing less than stunning - and you know that I don't give out compliments like that lightly.  As usual you remind me why I love the artistic puzzle that is model shipcraft, and how how high you and a few others set the bar.  Many thanks for the inspiration.
 
If I can put in one thought, it is that the openings might not have been glazed at all, but had roll down screens of thin oiled fabric, much like the stagecoaches of the same period.  They would have been used only in inclement weather.  Light curtains for privacy also could be hung.   My sources here are closer to Forrester and O'Brian than to actual historic research, so I could be wildly off base.
 
Be well
 
Dan

Thank you, Hakån. I now intend to use a toned rather than pure black. The latter would look too intense at this scale.
 
This morning I performed surgery successfully on the planking and frames in the coach section. The end patterns for the coach have also been cut and fitted. Elastic bands hold the model to the pedestals temporarily.
 
There was some hesitation on my part as to the completeness of the draught. The side windows showed no indication of panes. Were they open spaces? In the 1830's modern sheet glass techniques had not yet been invented. Only spun glass was available for glazing, limiting pane size. The height of these openings was 19". Most panes during this time period were only about 15" high at most. I finally found a reference to spun glass panes that said the maximum dimension of these was about 23". Therefore I have the confidence to install single, large panes along the sides of the coach. Of course, these would have been expensive, showing off the Commissioners' importance and rank.

Another minor update:
 
The underwater hull has been refined and the gudgeons added. The lower gudgeon is conventional, but the upper one on the transom is a small eyebolt. This was often the case with open boats. I looked at photographs of extant ceremonial barges and noticed that the transoms were invariably painted. It was an awkward job to do at this stage of the build, but I was successful using a 00 sable brush. 
 
The mounting of the model now needed to be considered. I decided to make a simple pair of pedestals in clear acrylic. These were turned, then polished. I was filing the keel slot in the second of these when one side cracked off. I had to repeat the set-up to produce a duplicate piece. Grrr!

Well, you'll all have to wait a bit yet. 
 
The forward deck/platforms are made and fitted. The same card template strategy was used as for the footwaling and aft platforms. There are a few more details on the thwarts to take care of: iron strap standards that attach them to the side. Then there are small corner benches to make and fit just forward of the coach (cabin).

The inner bulwark sheathing proved interesting. It took several pattern pieces to figure out the developed shapes of the planks. The first photo shows one plank being wet-bent into position. The card pattern for this is in the foreground, as well as patterns for the steersman's bench.
 
The second photo shows both inner sides complete and the vertical portion of the steersman's bench in position. The top of this has been made and painted. The same strategy as for the other horizontal surfaces was used to build it. The paint is in the process of drying and I'll install the top tomorrow.
 
There are several possible items I could now tackle, but I think that the risers (horizontal planks that support the ends of the thwarts) should be next.

The footwaling is now complete, after making a false start. I initially tried cutting and bevelling each board to length in situ. The result, as you can see, was not pretty. Having thought things through, I then made a card template which was used to actually attach the boards to. When complete, I channelled out the card so that the boards would sit at the correct height on the keelson, then glued the assembly in. This gave a much improved result.

Well, a challenge it has certainly been. The aftermost plank of the sheer strake is unlike any plank I've hung before. The pictures describe this plank better far than I can write about it. There was a lot of shaping required to get this plank to lay down properly. One can now see the beautiful sweep of the sheer properly.
 
Now all I have to do is repeat this on the other side!

Thanks again for your interest and comments, folks.
 
I realized that the second strake of planking (the sheer strake) at the mini-transom does not stop there, but sweeps aft to a secondary transom (I don't know what else to call it). So I had to trim back the end of the plug by a scale 1½" and rubber-cement this second transom to it. Eventually it will be hidden under an ornamental carved badge. 
 
The plank here will have an interesting dog-leg shape and need some fancy bending to fit properly. That's my next challenge!

GHB rev lines.pdf

Greetings Druxey;
 
I have some photos of the stern,  with mermaids holding dolphins,  and other carving details,  but unfortunately none of the rowing benches.  I do remember that they had the typical central plank joining all the thwarts,  and parallel to the keel.  However,  I will be back at the NMM before too long,  and I will take some more pictures for you.
 
In the meantime,  I am posting those I have already taken.  For anyone else interested in the details of the carving,  I will also post these on the contemporary models gallery.
 
All the best,
 
Mark P
 
The first two (they were last when I uploaded them!) are of the interior of the cabin,  and taken through the glass.  It takes a few moments to realise what is inside the glass,  and what is a reflection.

Here are a couple of photographs of the land - the bevel - being sanded on the edge of the garboard and of the gain at the end of the rabbet (arrowed). The gain is basically a rolling bevel. It ends at 45 degrees so that the next plank will come in flush at the rabbet. Essentially clinker becomes carvel over the last 9" or 12" of the strake.

A little more time was spent on completing the starboard garboard strake. The next step is to shape the lands for the second strake of planking. If one were to omit this step, the second strake would not have any gluing surface and there would be a gap under the strake, A. Obviously, a bevel is required. It varies in angle along the strake according to hull curvature, B. To cut this accurately, I took some scrap wood the width of a strake and rubber cemented some 220 grit sandpaper along one edge, C. Keeping the 'safe' corner of this along the mark-out of the second strake's far edge, it is easy to shape the correct bevel along the installed strake. The next instalment will show this completed.
 
A note: I found the short pins under the keel not very effective in holding the keel straight, as the keel kept popping off. On a another long narrow hull I would drill the pins all the way through the keel.
 
A digression: One side effect of modelling an open boat at this small scale is the amount of wood required to build it. Very little is needed, making this a very economic exercise in materials, but not in time.

Further progress. The garboard is in on the port side and the forward plank on the starboard. The interesting thing is that, at any point in planking, provided one has spiled and shaped the plank to lie without stress, one can remove the model from the plug and it will retain its shape.

Thank you, gentlemen all. 
 
Finally had some quality time on the model. The first garboard plank is now spiled, cut, shaped and fitted. The stock is thin enough to cut with a sharp scalpel blade. The twist was achieved by cold wet bending and holding in place using rubber bands until dry. Castello takes more persuasion to bend than holly. Once the plank was dry, it was glued in place. I needed to cut back the plug more at the bow to allow the plank to land nicely in the bow rabbet.
 
One plank down, many more to go!

Hi Druxey - 
 
Always a pleasure to watch you work.  I have long wanted to do a similar ceremonial barge, but my questionable skills at the final decorative fiddly bits always held me back.  I have a handy supply of popcorn and Makers Mark and have settled in to enjoy.
 
I am wondering how you will make the butt joints between planks in each strake.  In full size practice they are beveled scarfs pinned with the same rivets as the lap between the planks.  Are your joints going to lie on the ribs that you will install later? 
 
Dan

A small update: Before waxing the plug, I drew in the overlaps of the clinker planking. I made them 1" wide and are seen as dashed lines on the plug. Two coats of Clapham's beeswax polish were used over the mark-out.
 
Leaves of ¾" thick Castello have now been prepared for the planking. They were cut a little over-thick and then taken down almost to spec on a thickness sander. Finer grades of sandpaper on sanding blocks produced a smooth surface. Hopefully there will be time to commence planking soon.

After some re-working of the planking runs, I've devised a scheme for the shift of the butts and marked these on the plug.
 
Now that the 'non-boat' work is almost complete, it's time to get back to the actual model. I needed to devise a method of keeping the keel straight on the plug. If not stabilized, it will deflect as I fit the garboard strake. My solution is to drill small holes at intervals along the plug, then set sharp-ended pieces of hard brass wire, points uppermost. The keel will be pressed down onto these points. The resulting holes will be hidden under the keelson later on.

Thanks, Siggi. I do have some photos of that barge, but if you have some you'd like to share....
 
Update: I had to rework the forward hull, as I'd omitted to remember that the sheer strake narrows almost to a point at the bow. Both sides of the plug are now lined out to my satisfaction and have been checked by viewing from all angles. It always surprises me that lines that look sweet from one angle look awful when viewed from another! Several re-works were required before arriving at what you see in the photos. I may spot more minor adjustments to make before committing myself to the plan.

Now things start to get interesting. The plug was repeatedly gessoed and rubbed down to a smooth surface. The next step is to line out the planking. There are two stages to this process. The first is mechanical: dividing the surface into equal parts at various points along the hull. In this case the draught showed eight strakes. The distance around half the hull at the dead flat was exactly 4' 0", so each stroke is 6" wide at that point. 
 
Once the hull has been divided into 8 bands or strakes, these need to be finessed so that, no matter from which direction you look at it, the planking runs smoothly to the eye. The bow-most third of the hull gave the most difficulty, as there is a pronounced hollow to the form. In some cases the variation of the thickness of the pencil line (very thin) was enough to make the difference. In others the line had to be moved by as much as 1/32". I may still play with the layout a little more before I'm completely satisfied.
 
The layout at present makes no allowance for overlaps of the clinker planks - that will come later, as will the shift of plank butts.

I hear what you're saying about the full scratch-build Druxey. I do.

From my perspective, though, that seems like infinitely more work just to produce a hull form.

Let's assume, for a moment, that it's still a waterline build, but that I'm going to do the least involved hull construction: bread and butter lifts.

I first have to come up with a suitable lines plan because, currently, nothing verifiable exists for French naval architecture, circa 1669. Let's say I adapt the lines for L'Ambiteaux. I still have to configure the guns, which likely means lengthening the hull in the waist. I would, then, have to draft a full set of plans. Finally, it's a whole lot of wasting, shaping and fairing before I can even think about mortising for the ports and planking and setting the main wale.
Lastly, I would have to re-create all of the ornamentation.

What I'm proposing involves a certain amount of hull modification, however - even accounting for the fact that I've never attempted anything like what I've laid forth here - it is still a lot less work because I'm starting with 99% of the hull shell, right away. Ports all located. The largest carvings - good, as is; head rails, figurehead - all perfectly useable.

Also, this is a sort of mock-up for my concept, so that I can do a fully designed scratch-build in wood. When your framing, in wood, is wrong - backtracking is significantly more laborious. If I don't like what's happening in styrene, i can just cut it out and try something different. The process is literally more malleable.

Your sentiment, though, is one that any reasonable person must consider.

My guess is that it should be workable after the lower hull and stem have been cut away, and the 5/16" addition I need in the bow should be obtainable from the first 1/2 of the hull because it is essentially a flat piece there. I may have to do some fairing in around the stem, or possibly some heating of the casting to re-shape it a little. Any which way, it should be easier than building up and bending in these additions out of sheet styrene, which was my original intent.

I've been reading around and watching YouTube videos on how to cast resin parts. Eureka! This morning it dawned on me that I can make perfectly mating bow extension pieces, with perfectly matching plank lines and grain detail by casting the first half inch of the hull, at the bow. Theoretically, that should work perfectly without any problems or difficulties, at all, because that's just how life works. Easy button!
 
I could apply the same technique to the stern for my 1/4" add-on piece, and then i'll have the added benefit of perfectly matching tumblehome. Awesome! I'll have to do two castings for the upper and lower stern. I'll also have to rig up a means of holding the hull half and upper stern plate vertically, so that I can dip their ends - again, about a 1/2" into a mould box. A long cardboard box with one short end cut out, and a dowel through a gunport opening should do the trick.
 
Geez - I wonder what could possibly go wrong. Thoughts?

Tonight, I drew the Antler escutcheon carving that goes between the main deck guns.  This is one aspect of the kit that I will not be altering.  It was a witch to draw, and it is still only a reasonable facsimile, but I only need it as a spacer for the full rendering.  Having it in place will give me a better sense for the entire composition of added details.
 

 
What I find interesting about this process of first renderings for repeated details is that now, with an example of the Antler carving and the sheer cap carving in position, relative to each other - it seems as though maybe the scale of the sheer cap is too big.  Considered on it's own, though, it seems just right.  The truth is, I probably won't really know until all of the detail is filled in around it, with Corel Draw.  The program will allow me to make minute changes in scale, after first tracing my renderings in a larger, workable scale.
 
Towards that end, I've begun listing a legend of the small carving details that make up the frieze.  The first is this leafy scroll that is placed on all of the transitional corners of the frieze.  In actuality, it will be quite small.  But after fiddling with it for a while, I like this shape:
 

 
There are a number of other small details that I will add to this legend:  a diamond cartouche thing, a shell, and a fleur-de-lis that can be re-sized for the three different applications where it is needed.  The real value of Corel will be in layout out the arc-ed grid of the frieze because the sections of the grid will vary, in length, according to whatever is going on around them, in the way of fixed detail.  By hand, this would be a nightmare of messy erasures.

Hey Dan,

I will definitely look into Alumilite - thanks for the tip.

As for stamping into clay moulds, my thought was to use regular earthenware clay - and not the polymerized stuff - and maybe some kind of light release agent that wouldn't interfere with the curing and detail of a product like Alumilite. I figure that, in the worst case scenario, if the castings don't come cleanly from the clay, you could just scrub them clean and stamp a new mould. Worth an experiment, anyway.

Where the Fimo/Sculpy will come in really handy is for the large, one-off carvings like Apollo and his horse-drawn charriot.

Failing that, I know the RTV will work, just a little more slowly.