GrandpaPhil

The lower hull is assembled and dry fitted: And glued:

Amazing work!

Thank you all for the likes and just for stopping by! The main deck is on: The mast holes aren’t supposed to be cut out, but I am going to use the original masting diagram to mast the ship. That gives the length and diameter of each piece. The dimensions are in meters and go from mast step to the top of the masts. You must account for this or you will have the problem I did on my Prince de Neufchatel in which the lower masts are too long. One side effect here is that I will be using actual deadeyes and making actual ratlines. I also have 600 very small blocks that will work beautifully for the rigging. Currently working on cutting out the lower hull pieces and laminating the double thickness pieces. The framework for the hull is a lot more complicated than the one I made for my Hannah, but so far this has been a very similar process. I use these logs as much for myself, as I do to share. I have been taking notes in each of my build logs to use for later models. That’s part of my learning process.

Thank you all for the likes and just for stopping by! Solferino’s lower hull: Now, to put it under glass for the evening!

Dummy carriages on on: The main deck is currently drying underneath a small part of my library: Hopefully, I made deck thick enough to avoid the starving cow look, although I should probably have used poster board for the deck itself. That’s what I did for Hannah (corrugated frame with poster board decks) and it worked well. Oh well, too late now, lol. In all seriousness, the corrugated cardboard worked a lot better than the multi layered poster board that I used for the Prince de Neufchatel. Also, the Mont Marte PVA glue is great for card models. It doesn’t make a mess of the printed part of the model like the American equivalent does.

Thank you very much! Gundecks are installed! Currently working on installing the dummy carriages: So far, so good!

Steven, I am going to buy Conrad's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 before I start cutting. I photocopied the main deck of the Solferino to begin the process of reconciliation with the 1859 builders plans. The primary purpose of that build, at this point, is for research of the Magenta (which is mostly identical). The bow is to the right. At first inspection, on the stern is a raised platform that was not shown, either in the model in Paris, or in Orel’s Solferino. But I want to build Magenta as designed/first built, so I will add it. There is also a platform on the very stern, which is a grating. That will be included too. To the very right on the drawings (the far bow), there looks like gun emplacements. I’ll show those too. The plans also show an extra set of ladderwells going down into the hull by the main platform amidships. I’ll have to take that into account as well. This will definitely be a learning process, but it will be fun.

Eberhard, Thank you very much! The research and the learning is my favorite part of model building.

Thank you all very much for the likes and just for stopping by! Solferino’s above waterline framework is mostly complete. She still needs gundecks and the main deck. I photocopied the main deck to reconcile it with the 1859 builders plans, which I downloaded from the French Ministry of Defense’s website, adjusted the scale in The Gimp, and printed at Staples. The primary purpose of this build is for research for the sister ship, Magenta, which is also the lead ship of the class. The bow is to the right. At first inspection, on the stern is a raised platform that was not shown, either in the model in Paris, or in Orel’s Solferino. But I like the idea of including it for my Magenta, so I will. There is also a platform on the very stern, which is a grating. That will be included too, on my Magenta. To the very right on the drawings (the far bow), there looks like gun emplacements. I’ll probably show those too on my Magenta. The plans also show an extra set of ladderwells going down into the hull by the main platform amidships. I’ll have to take that into account as well. This is going to be fun!

Looking good!

Looking forward to seeing this build!

Looking good!

Very nice!

The author of the Osprey book didn’t cite anything in the section where he talked about the Solferino and the Magenta. In the further reading section the author pointed people to the Conway’s and Jane’s Press books. I don’t think much was a match for Krupp. Krupp was legendary. The 36 smoothbore 30-pounders and 16 50-pounders line up with the 52 broadside guns (not sure what caliber) that came with my Solferino. In other news, I found a good rigging plan for a 3-masted Barquentine in Harold Underhill’s Deepwater Sail, for the Magenta. In the same book there is one for a 3-masted barque, which will be important when I rig the Solferino (I can’t just leave it as a hull, plus I have the perfect spot for it in my office).

52 dummy gun carriages! Now, on to the bulkheads!