DARIVS ARCHITECTVS

I don't know. Found them in the bowels of the internet.

Hi Allen! Only two single blocks? Oh well. I just rigged almost 100 of the guns on three decks with a single and double blocks for the gun tackles. Knowing that earlier would have save me a lot of work! A fellow ship modeler (Szkutnik on the SoS forum) made 3-D models of the barrels and printed them out for me. They are detailed enough to have the touch hole and emblem on top recognizable as John Browne's work specific to the Sovereign of the Seas.

Augezeichnet!!!

Washing the gold castings with black or dark brown thinned paint toned down the brightness of the recesses and brings out some details.

Absolutely beautiful, Jan!

I can provide the ship's boat and several other parts leftover from my La Couronne build. In a couple days, I can dig around in the parts box and provide a list of the Corel parts. I did not use them, since my build was heavily modified. I have most of the pressed fiber window frames, the ship's boat, the figurehead, the stern lanterns, some of the fleur-de-lis other decorations, all of the false cannon barrels and more. I can provide pictures later.

Unfortunately, there are NO kits which do not need some parts and materials upgrades such as the ones I mentioned earlier. Even the Caldercraft HMS Victory has crappy blocks. Kit bashing allows you to add better parts and details to make an exceptionally nice model with reaserach work only focusing on those details, so you don't have to research and develop the whole model from scratch. It's the fastest way to achieve exceptionally great results. When you get more experience from a few models, try your hand at scratch building if you have the tools, materials, and skills to do that. I am still in the kits bashing phase of learning this hobby. You have to choose how much more money in replacements to dump into a model, whatever you are most comfortable with. The more you build, the better the results. It's a journey.

Very nice. I had to veneer over my keel too, similar to what you did, since I didn't know the pattern of stem assembly parts at the time. My next ship has a keel cut from maple hardwood. It's easy to trace the plywood parts onto good hardwood, or better yet, make a custom stem made with typical parts that make up the stem (apron, stemson, gripe, etc.) and keel parts. The keel is made up of three to five segments, stretching from the stem assembly all the way back to the rudder. For La Couronne, the seams between the veneer overlays can make a reasonable simulation of the multiple parts that make up the stem, keel and sternpost. Since you already used the veneer method on your keel, you can opt to make hardwood replacement parts of the keel on your next model as a future upgrade. You'll need a bandsaw and will have to sand and file the parts so the edges at the seams fit nicely, then stain or paint them before or after they are attached to the hull. Typical parts for an 18th century English stem assembly: My current model of HMS Sovereign ofr the Seas under construction: The original plywood stem with penciled seams on top, and the maple hardwood replacement parts cut and fitted below. Stained and assembled stem and keel. The final planking has not yet been applied. This gives you some idea what a stained hardwood stem assembly looks like with one coat of stain. Bow after painting and weathering the hull bottom's white stuff. The final planking seams can still be seen, which was the desired effect. Another modeler's stem assembly. The pattern of the parts varies between each ship.

...because plywood is CHEAP. That's it. It's the same reason kit blocks look like cubes with two holes in them. It's all about keeping the price down as far as possible to encourage sales. Blocks, rigging line, and sometimes the final planking wood are typically replaced when building a kit in order to correct for lack of details, and when these parts are replaced, it definitely shows.

Splendid sister blocks!

Here are a few clear pictures of the Navire Royale from Fornier's Hydrographie. You can translate the French, which provides some basic information about the features. It depicts a typical warship commissioned by the French, built by the Dutch. Many aspects of La Couronne are found in this design, however La Couronne was built by the French, and was larger than those bought from the Dutch. La Couronne only saw eight years of service, and despite no complaints about her capability at sea, she was stripped of her guns and later scrapped, the reasons why are lost to history. Her construction was known to the English, and provided some of the basis for their King Charles I to build HMS Sovereign of the Seas. There was an arms race of a sort going on among the European and English monarchs to each create a "great ship" as a royal prestige symbol, even at the cost of almost bankrupting a nation and making a vessel which was overly gunned and heavy to the point of being impractical for the tactics of the time. These great ships were experimental to a certain degree. The model I built (below) departed from the Corel plans to a large degree, and incorporated elements from Fornier and the P. Pett sketch I posted earlier, most notably the location of the channels to the correct vertical position, number and location of gun ports, and redesign of the beakhead. Choosing this ship as my first wooden ship model was inspired by another member on this forum, EJ, whose build log is here. Many other smaller details were added including internal lighting and LED's in the stern lanterns. If you want to know any details, I have a complete build log on Ships of Scale forum. I can also provide rigging diagrams and other research sources on La Couronne. R.C. Anderson is your bible for rigging this vessel. I must have read it a dozen times and referred to it many more. It would be my esteemed pleasure to assist anyone who is building a model of this elegant vessel. Link to Build Log Photos: La Couronne by DARIVS ARCHITECTVS For comparison, this engraving is believed by some to be the St. Louis, particularly because of the figurehead:

In case you are interested, below is the only first hand depiction of La Couronne and the smaller, very similar ship St. Louis I have been able to find, drawn by an observer (attributed to P. Pett) from a hilltop high above the harbor. The St. Louis is circled. It is hard to see the features of the vessels, but if you are careful, you can make out a lot of things. Note the details on La Couronne. The channels are located below the upper gun deck, like on the Mantua model kit, which is correct for a ship of this time period. Many of the changes I made in my mdel of La Couronne were based on this sketch. One I didn't incorporate, but deserves attention, is the stern gallery, which appears to be covered, and not an open balcony like on the Corel model. Note that only the lower masts are shown (the topmasts and topgallant masts were taken down at the time). La Couronne's masts were taller than average for a ship of her size. Take note of the number of gun ports on each deck. I trust the details on this simple sketch more than any artist's depiction or generic French royal ship engraving, because if the drawer was indeed Peter Pett, he knew what he was looking at, being a ship designer. If you were to make modifications to your model, these features are worth considering. Hope this adds to your research. Hope to meet you one day so we can talk shop! Close up of both ships: The full sketch:

There isn't a lot of room as you say, but the frame locations for the model are not accurate to the actual ship's construction, and they crowd the guns even more. In my build, I used three sizes of guns, closer to what the ship actually had. The nine pounders on the upper deck are slightly smaller that the 18 pounders on the lower gun deck, and as you can see below, the 6 pound sakers are smaller still, such that they fit better along the forecastle's forward bulk on both upper and lower gun decks. The saker carriages are scratch built and gun barrels are bought seperately. I agree that the stained wood appearance is far better than painted wood, and Corel did a great job providing quality stained wood to work with. Your build is coming along beautifully! I see you're in Wisconsin. I'm in Minnesota. Hi ! 🖐️ I finished this model in 2 years 8 months, and it's complete with full rigging and full sails. If you have any questions or need research information on La Couronne, PM me.

The Rattlesnake looks fantastic, Ed.

These are amazing! Do they fly well under rubber band power? It takes a special talent to make custom models this small with such detail and get them to actually fly. These are a unique art form.