shipmodel

The plankshear was installed next.  These planks are 2.5" thick, are flush with the inner planking and extend 3" beyond the outer hull planking.  Each plank is approximately 15 feet long and ends in a scarf joint.  A simple double-beaded edge was made with a scraper.  I made them from pear, the same wood the lower hull planking is from, for a slight contrast in color.  The knees at the stern have also been installed.  The capping rail was shaped by wetting it and clamping it in place overnight.  The edges were then shaped, putting the same edge treatment on the stern side.  The  fashion pieces were cut down to their final height and the corners rounded over.


The bollard timbers help secure the bowsprit.  A dowel wrapped in sandpaper (the bowsprit) was temporarily installed and the bollard timbers were sanded against the dowel to get the correct shape.  

I had been trying to decide on how much decoration to show on the model.  The model in the RMG has a lot of fancy work, including gold leaf.  Considering the type of ship, I thought a little bit of painting was appropriate but just at the stern.  I wanted a pop of color and so decided on black edging with a field of red.  The double bead motif was extended onto the aft end of the fashion piece.  The mottled appearance of the red is the wood grain.  I made this from pear.  

The black extends over the capping rail.  The same paint pattern was put on the fashion pieces.  Just for fun, I added red to the depths of the double-beading.




 

To say that my self-imposed deadline has lit a fire under me would be an understatement!  It has been a week, now, and I’ve been painting in the day AND in the evenings.
 
At this stage, all of the primary colors are down and I am ready to spray the ink wash before the gilding of the ornaments.  It is all extremely vivid, right now, but these pics will give a sense of how the frieze will come to life on the aft bulwark pieces:
 

 
Yellow ocher, I think, is a good unifier of these three colors as they all seem to play nicely with the yellow.
 
Figuring out exactly how I wanted to highlight the timberheads took a minute, and execution of the painting took many more minutes!
 

 
I wanted to draw attention to the fore and sprit sheet block entry, so I painted it black.  It seemed unlikely that the sheaves, at this time, would be cast bronze, so I painted them a dark wood brown.
 
Merely by padding the thickness of the sheer railing by 1/32”, I have created a much more realistic sense of scale for this detail:
 

 

 
So, I will finish up the wash and ornamental paint for this piece at home.  Incidentally, the dolphin hances will get the same aqua treatment as the figurehead, and this will be a consistent theme that runs through the ship, all the way to the dolphin on the rudderhead.
 
Tonight, I’ll airbrush the red base-coat for the port side bulwark piece, and the whole process will begin again!  Despite my urgency, this is the standard that I will doggedly maintain.
 
Thank you for the likes, comments and for looking in.

Thank you guys so much for your kind compliments!
 
And, so, the elephant eating contest goes into full swing.  Fortunately, because I was such a good little brother, when we were kids, and I let my (now) superstar makeup artist sister use me as a hair and face model, my sister has agreed to let me borrow her airbrush and mini compressor that she sometimes uses to apply makeup.  One hand washes the other!
 
Buried, somewhere in the boxes from our move to Brooklyn, is my own Badger airbrush, but for the life of me - I can’t find it.  Anyway, it has been such a wonderful rediscovery of the magic of airbrushing.  There is simply no better way to paint broad, highly detailed surfaces.
 
Early returns on the forward bulwark pieces are looking very good, so far.  I was careful to mask off the monogram escutcheons - the crossed “L”s - because an undercoat of red would make the cobalt look dark and purplish - definitely not what I’m after.   I am also very pleased that I took the time, during the modification stage, to engrave plank lines between the main deck guns.
 

 
Without a doubt, it will always be the yellow ocher that is the most time consuming stage, but I have determined that a 2:1 ratio of paint to tap water is the perfect viscosity for even application with good coverage.  It still takes 2-3 applications, over a color like red, but that is far better than the 6-7 I was averaging before.
 

 
The most fiddly painting is the timberhead trim that I applied to box-in the timberheads.  It is exactly as tedious as painting a picket fence:
 

 
Eventually, the walnut ink wash will work its magic to lower the volume on these colors, while adding depth and dimension to the surface.
 
Whereas, in the past I cringed at the thought of traveling with these fragile, bigger parts that I already have invested a huge amount of time in - I have now acquiesced to the reality that that is the only way I will be able to jam-in the number of hours it will take to cross the finish line (of this build stage), by October.
 
Wish me luck!

Hi Rob - 
 
Very nice work on the breaching ring irons and the deadeye chains. 
They will show up beautifully as details that will give you a knowing smile when you see them on the completed model.
 
PS - Woolsey was not the only one supervising.  Ensign James Fennimore Cooper was also there and working on the ship.
 
Looking forward to future progress.
 
Dan 

Hi all –
 
Here is the finish of this restoration build log.  I begin with the cannon.  Two of the guns were detached when received, with one having a carriage made out of a completely different material than the others.  A third cannon was on a similar carriage of unknown material.  I removed it so I could work on it.
 

 
I cleaned up the old glue from all of the guns, then fashioned two new carriages from ivory.  The barrels were set on the new carriages and secured with cyano.
 

 
The new carriages were aged with coffee grounds.  Actually, they took up the color a bit too well, so the brown was sanded back a bit after the photo was taken.
 

 
When I was happy with the color they were installed on deck with PVA glue.  The originals were pinned through the rear of the carriages and into the deck, but there was no room for such reinforcement, so they will have to rely on the strength of the glue itself.  Judging from other models that I have worked on, I am confident that it will be at least 50+ years before anyone will have to worry about glue failure.
 

 
Finally, I mounted the two British flags.  The large ensign at the stern was set on an ivory staff, although it was shown detached in the client’s original photos.  He failed to bring it with him when he delivered the model, so he dropped it, and a few other detached pieces, into a plain envelope and mailed it to me.  When it came the delivery process in the Postal Service had broken the staff into four pieces.
 

 
I cut a 1/8” square piece of ivory about 2 ½” long and made it octagonal with sanding drums.  Further sanding rounded it to an approximate cylinder.  Finally one end was chucked into a Dremel with a bit of paper towel to protect the ivory from the jaws of the chuck.  On low speed the shaft was held against a large flat sanding block and turned to a cylinder.  The original halyard block and line were used to mount the flag to the new staff, which was slid into two metal fittings on the inside of the taffrail.  I also took a moment to hang the boat from the davits at the stern.
 

 
At the bow the small flag was remounted in its hole in the jib boom.
 

 
With a quick cleaning and oil rubbing of the base the repair was finished.    
 

 

 
To replace the heavy glass cover a new acrylic cover was ordered and set on the base.  Two small brass nails on the short sides were installed by drilling through the plastic and into the wood of the base.  These will prevent the cover from coming loose if anyone picks it up by the cover rather than from underneath.
 

 
The client mounted the model on a pair of heavy brackets in a prominent place in his home.
 

 
He has told me that he and his family are very happy with the restoration, as am I.  I hope you all have enjoyed the journey as well.  I can only hope that the model will last another 200 years and represent a glimpse into a long-gone world of naval history and art.
 

 
Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.
 
I will be back again with some more of the models that I am building for the Merchant Marine Academy museum.  Until then . . .
 
Stay safe
 
Dan

Hello again to all –
 
Thanks for the likes and compliments, and especially from you, Michael, whose own restoration work is so exceptional.
 
Eric – passing along some of the tips and techniques that I have learned over the years is one of my greatest pleasures in this activity.  There are lots more in my earlier build logs if you go through them.
 
As for the model, it was now time to finish off the rigging repairs.  With the mizzen topmast shrouds done I reattached the topmast stay.  It is a smaller diameter than it should be, but the main t’gallant yard braces are tied to it, so I used it in place.  Then the topmast backstays were created from new line and secured to the final deadeyes on the mizzen channels.  You can see the head of the backstays here and the deadeyes in a later photo.  I strung the t’gallant shrouds through the topmast crosstrees and tied them to the shrouds, then ran the t’gallant stay from the tip of the mizzen mast to the topmast doubling of the main mast.
 

 
I ran the t’gallant backstays from the tip of the mast to eyebolts on the mizzen channels.  Although the eyebolts were new, I found holes in the correct locations on the channels which had originally held eyebolts, confirming that my rigging layout was correct. 
 

 
The mizzen t’gallant yard was lifted and clipped to the mast.  This let me easily string and tension the yard lifts, which was done just after the photo was taken.  The lifts for the mizzen lower yard were also later tensioned by taking the slack through the blocks and down to the belaying pins at the deck.
 

 
Now the rigging to the driver gaff and boom were restrung, including the topmast yard braces, the topping lift, the vangs, and the rest of the lines that had been detached so I could work on the mast.
 

 
After final balancing and tensioning of any slack lines the rigging was done.   At the aft end of the mizzen channel you can see the deadeyes for the mizzen topmast backstay and the eyebolt for the t'gallant backstay.
 

 
From dead ahead this photo reveals that while I was able to reset the masts and yards to a great extent, there is still a bit of unwelcome variation in the angles of the yards relative to each other.  The largest issue is the main topmast yard which was unfortunately glued in place by an earlier restorer and which I could not adjust.  Nonetheless, I think the overall look is acceptable.
 

 
So here are two photos of the fully rigged model, taken from the stern quarter and bow quarter.  I believe the client will be pleased.
 

 

 
The final tasks will be to replace the unsatisfactory rudder, the cannon carriages, and the flags.  I will post that soon.
 
PS – I have been having some issues, as you can tell, with getting the lighting right for taking the photographs.  The bright white of the ivory does not show up well unless the color saturation is turned down so far that the blue background turns grey.  I just bought some additional lights and I am playing around with the flash settings on the camera, so I hope that the balance of the photos will come out better.
 
Stay safe
 
Dan

Hi Rob - 
 
Very nice work on the breaching ring irons and the deadeye chains. 
They will show up beautifully as details that will give you a knowing smile when you see them on the completed model.
 
PS - Woolsey was not the only one supervising.  Ensign James Fennimore Cooper was also there and working on the ship.
 
Looking forward to future progress.
 
Dan 

Michael - 
 
You can add my sincere wishes to all the others for a speedy and complete recovery.\
Hang in there , my friend.
 
Dan

Hi Rob - 
 
Very nice work on the breaching ring irons and the deadeye chains. 
They will show up beautifully as details that will give you a knowing smile when you see them on the completed model.
 
PS - Woolsey was not the only one supervising.  Ensign James Fennimore Cooper was also there and working on the ship.
 
Looking forward to future progress.
 
Dan 

Hi Rob - 
 
Very nice work on the breaching ring irons and the deadeye chains. 
They will show up beautifully as details that will give you a knowing smile when you see them on the completed model.
 
PS - Woolsey was not the only one supervising.  Ensign James Fennimore Cooper was also there and working on the ship.
 
Looking forward to future progress.
 
Dan 

Lieutenant Woolsey continues to supervise the building of Oneida.
 
The missing breech bolt ends have been blackened, and installed with the rest--
 

 
 
The brass wire pieces for the backstay chains have been  cut, bent, assembled, soldered, bent some more, and blackened (in that order!).  Then the deadeyes were bent into their loops, and some general remedial bending done to some links that were still too far out of whack--
 

 
 
These will be installed next.
 
Ron 

Thank you, Bill!  I am more than happy to elaborate.
 
Over the course of this project, I have come to the conclusion that Tanneron was attempting to show Soleil Royal at both ends of the spectrum of her development; 1669 and the newly-build SR2 of 1693.  His model’s stern embodies specific characteristics of these two very different eras in French naval architecture.
 
Specific to 1669/1670, you have an extremely tall sheer, with an expansive tafferal space in which to display Apollo’s horse-drawn chariot.  Tanneron also chose to show three tiers of open, walkable stern balconies that wrap to open, walkable quarter galleries.  This detail is mostly consistent with the Vienna portraits of what I still believe to be the Monarque.

 It is my observation of Puget’s portrait of the Dauphin Royal, however, that this lowest stern balcony was most likely only a centralized Juliet balcony that did not allow direct passage to the quarters:

 
The primary difference between Tanneron’s representation of the quarters, and what appears to have been actual practice in 1669, is their shape.  Above, on the Monarque, you have three balustraded tiers, supported by split-tail tritons between the first and second tiers, and by corbels for the third tier.
 
Yet, Tanneron chose an overall shape and structure that is more consistent with the late development of the “bottle” style of quarter gallery, in which, the quarters are completely closed.  This is what I believe to be the re-worked quarter drawing for SR2, in 1693:

 
And so, likely owing to the multiplicity of conflicting and fragmentary primary sources, it is my opinion that Tanneron tried to have his cake and eat it too.
 
While I have yet to find an authenticated confirmation, I do believe that Puget was initially contracted to refine LeBrun’s original draft for the stern allegory.  With a few exceptions - notably, that the figures of Africa and the Americas were male, and that a docile tiger sat at the foot of Asia - the composition was only lightly altered to fit within the more restrained and compartmentalized style of Berain.
 
The model I am making reflects a particular transitional moment in the evolution of the French quarter gallery - a middle stage between completely open and fully closed.  The lowest tier is fully closed, as that was the functional toilet.  There is one open walk on the main deck level that communicates directly between the stern and quarters. The upper stern balcony does not extend beyond the quarter pieces that support the side lanterns.
 
The tromp l'oeil structure of the upper amortisement is a weight and cost saving measure that came into voque as so many of the early First Marine ships had their sheer reduced (1672), and their ornament pared-down, in an effort to improve their handling characteristics.
 
My belief that this is what is intended by the Berain/Vary quarter portrait is perfectly supported by the 1677 refit portrait of the Royal Louis:

 
The only notable difference, here, is that the third level of the amortisement, that corresponds with the rail of the upper stern balcony, projects away from the hull and is supported from below by female figures.  The windows, above that, are a more flattened tromp l'oeil structure.
 
And so, that is essentially why I am doing what I am doing.
 

Progress has been a bit slow, lately.  I have continued to be amazed by the amount of prep that is necessary before painting the forward bulwark pieces.
 
I was having trouble making good eyebolts out of 28 gauge annealed wire.  The scale wasn’t quite right, and the eyes were more ovoid than round, before the stems would break from twisting.  So, I switched to 32 gauge galvanized steel wire, and consulted Marsalv’s amazing log for Le Gros Ventre:
 
Somewhere, in there, he shares his particular technique for making these eyes, and it involves twisting the shank through a hole drilled into a clothes pin; doing so ensures a straight shank and a neatly centered eye:

 
I did not happen to have any wooden clothes pins, on hand, so I took a poplar scrap and was able to achieve the same results:


 
I found that I had some difficulty while drilling into the bulwarks for these eyes.  I repeatedly drilled all the way through the bulwarks.  On a wood model, this would be a disaster!  On this model, I could simply plug and fair the holes, on the outside, with .030 styrene rod.
 
I had been debating whether to glue-in the gangway supporting knees, before paint and assembly.  Ultimately, I decided that it would be much easier to locate these accurately before assembly.  As with all of the stock kit parts, I spend a significant amount of time and effort cleaning these parts up and breaking all sharp edges.

 
Lastly, I drilled through the cap rails for the baying pins that I will add later:

 
After masking any surface that I didn’t want to scrape away paint from, later, the parts were ready for a coat of spray primer:

 
The beauty of the primer coat is that it always reveals whatever might need a little additional attention.  I can see that there are a few places where I let the upper port enhancements into the drift rail, above, but was a little overzealous.  A small bit of filler will clean that up.
 
Thank you all for looking in.  More to follow!
 

Michael - 
 
You can add my sincere wishes to all the others for a speedy and complete recovery.\
Hang in there , my friend.
 
Dan

Michael - 
 
You can add my sincere wishes to all the others for a speedy and complete recovery.\
Hang in there , my friend.
 
Dan

Michael - 
 
You can add my sincere wishes to all the others for a speedy and complete recovery.\
Hang in there , my friend.
 
Dan

Michael - 
 
You can add my sincere wishes to all the others for a speedy and complete recovery.\
Hang in there , my friend.
 
Dan

All the best for a quick and speedy FULL recovery Michael.  I think we all need to take that break every so often, but not with such extenuating circumstances.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Here is the work to make up my lost breech bolt ends.
 
A strip of cut brass sheet, a bit of wire--drill holes in the sheet and insert the wire--
 

 
 
Solder the wire in place, then trim them and cut apart.   I made the mistake of placing the wires too close to each other.  I ended up only getting half of these, fortunately I didn't need all of them.  I think I might even have one or two extra now--
 

 
 
I wasn't as far along as I remembered on the backstay deadeyes and chains.  I just have the deadeye loops.  So I need to make up a bunch more loops and string up 12 'units'--
 

 
 
Good news is that the shroud dead-eyes and chains are all attached!
 

 
 
Ron
 

Continuing with the chains,
 
I improved my procedure a bit.  Thread is better for temporarily holding the deadeyes in their channel slots--
 

 
 
This is more secure, easier to arrange, and allows better visibility for checking and gluing the molding--
 

 

 
 
I have only made enough of these clamps to do one channel at a time, so I'm working my way around the ship.  You can see in the next photo that I am also getting ready (pin holes drilled) to glue the boarding steps on the port side.
 
You will also see that I have not glued the carronade breech rope through-bolt locations on the port side, as I did recently with the starboard side.  Having made up the pieces many years ago and stored them away, I have now somehow lost a few, and don't have enough to complete the port side.  I will have to make up some more.   My backstay chains have to be blackened (that's one reason they are not getting attached now, with the shroud chains), so I will blacken the new breech rope bolt ends with them, and that will be next.  --
 

 
 
Looking at the starboard side, here are four phases of the channel/chainplate fixing, and you can see those breech rope bolt ends I mentioned, one at each lower corner of the gunports--
 

 
 
Ron
 
 
 

Thank you, Henry and John.  Henry, I remember that phase of your build, and I thought that was an ingenious use of this awkward gap in the joint.  I would do the same, but for the fact that I have lowered the fore and main channels to this upper main wale, so that my chains will now be secured at the middle deck level.
 
Speaking of that troublesome joint - the lapping-lip of the port side bulwark piece is significantly thicker than the rebate it fits into on the hull.  This creates an awkward landing for my waist spirketting/joint re-enforcement.  In order to create a flush landing, I furred-out the hull side of the joint with .030 styrene strip:

I then sanded away any high spots for a flush mating surface, while protecting the painted deck with painters’ tape.  Weirdly, this problem does not exist on the starboard side.
 
I’ve also been making a pair of hanging knees for each side, that will be visible beneath the break of the forecastle deck:

The top edge of these knees doesn’t have to reflect the deck camber because they will be situated behind the deck beams which are cambered.  In order to include this aft-most knee, without placing it beneath the beam, I am increasing the length of the forecastle deck so that it comes to within about an 1/8” of the waist timberhead railing.
 
This small increase in deck length (say that three times fast 😂) will help with the layout of the forecastle; I need room for the deck railing supporting knees, the stove chimneys, and the capstan drum.  There must be enough clearance for the capstan bars to travel without interfering with the fore bitts.  There is some debate as to whether a forecastle capstan would really have been a feature of a First-Rate from this time, however the Louis Quinze model features a vacant space where the drum should be:

Above, you can see the locking pawls and the hole for the drum barrel.  I have found other evidence on contemporary and near contemporary models to support this detail.  I’m excited about that because I really wanted to scratch-build a capstan.
 
I knew before I started that the rear gallery bulwark would be a tremendous amount of work, but it was time well-spent.  As is my practice, I like to build-up a part like this as a series of layers of varying thicknesses, which results in a part that has depth and enhanced detail.  Here is a montage of the progression:

Necessarily, this process begins from the center, and proceeds out, towards the ends.  The critical consideration is that both the bottom and top edges of this railing are beveled to account for the railings back-raking angle.  Each layer has to be optimally placed so that not too much material is removed from the lower edge.  This is especially important for the lattice pieces.  Before moving-on to the next element layer, I make sure to fair these top and bottom bevels, so that I have a reliable reference for placing the next layer.

 

 

 

This fairing step was critically important for these scroll brackets that flank the nameplate.

 

Another consideration is that the outermost pair of pilaster mouldings is just slightly wider than the innermost pair.  They all had to be individually fit.

Just before modeling of the scrolls and central lattice:

Afterwards:

There is still some modeling to do yet, and I still need to add tiny scroll ornaments around the nameplate, but here is the part taped in-place to give an overall impression:

I didn’t set out to make this bulwark railing wider at the center, and more narrow at the corner joint, but it was necessary to taper the ends, in order to come down flush with the side bulwark pieces.

I probably won’t focus on painting this part until I am closer to actually installing it, but I am satisfied with what I think is a rather stark improvement over the stock kit railing:

As ever, thank you for your likes, comments and looking-in!
 

Work on the open-walk aft bulwark, continues at a steady pace.  The piercings are too narrow to work with files, so the entirety is cut to the line with a No. 11 blade:


It is an easy thing to extract these panels, all around their perimeter, but I will leave them intact for the time being.  Next, I will cut the pilasters and the projecting center portion.  Then, assembly can begin from the center, outwards.
 
As I mentioned, prep of the upper bulwarks is proving to be quite intensive.  I decided the best approach for building up the hull was to begin with the forward bulwark pieces.  To that end, I installed the beakhead bulkhead, and glued-in a strip of re-enforcement, where the bulkhead meets the main deck.
 
What immediately became apparent, once this piece was secure is that the bulkhead is not square with the centerline:

This mirrors the same problem that I have noticed at the stern.  Essentially, my ship is a parallelogram:

Obviously, this is not ideal.  It is hard to say with any certainty, at this point, but the error must have been introduced at the very  earliest stages, when I glued the lower hull halves to the plinth-base; I must have induced the port side to slide aft, somewhat, or perhaps didn’t realize the geometry that I was creating through some other error or oversight:




This second stern picture seems to show the problem, but this is really a perspective problem of the photograph.  I know that my rounded stern counter started as a squared layout with the centerline.  Whatever the case may be, now the job is to make it all look okay.
 
Among the myriad tasks for the upper bulwark prep, I glued-in the kevels, scraped away the forward-most monogram escutcheon (because there will be a robed figure just aft of the headrails), filled all of the remaining holes and low fairleads for the sheets and tacks.
 
One error of the Heller kit is that the entry points for these lines are all low, where they would run a-foul of the gun carriages.  To correct these errors, I recycled one of the Four Winds carvings to make chess-trees for the fore and main tacks.  I then decided to make a housed double sheave for the fore and spritsail sheet lines:

I based the decision to do this on Puget’s drawing of the Royal Louis, following her refit in 1677:

Frolich’s L’Ambiteaux of 1680 is also a solid reference for this detail.

One other unintended consequence of my hull-widening modifications is that the extreme ends of the beakhead bulkhead now sit about a 1/16” below the top sheer of the forward upper bulwark piece:

This was perplexing to me until it dawned on me that the beakhead bulkhead side-extensions follow the top-rail camber, so that now that arc extends further outboard and intersects with the bulwarks (which are still the same height, naturally) at a lower point.
 
This creates something of an interesting dilemma.  For the time being, I have decided to take a little authorial license, here.  Although I can find no pictorial evidence for this on contemporary models from the 17th C., I have fashioned an entry-point for the cathead line, along the top of this beakhead railing:



I have subsequently filled that small forward gap and refined the shape of this cleat(?), a little.  My argument for plausible deniability, here, is that the intersection of the cathead timber with the beakhead bulkhead is now closed-in with plank, yet the cathead line needs a working contact point for sweating onto the small kevel.
 
In the end, there will also be a horsehead sculpture that rests on top of the bulwark top sheer.  Even if this detail isn’t correct for the period, it’s presence will be minimized from the outside looking-in.
 
The other major consideration for these forward bulwark pieces is that the joint to the lower hull is just garbage.  I had to do quite a lot of fairing to close the gaps along the outside of the joint, and there remains some significant tension as one flexes the part into its place.
 
I may, ultimately, induce a bit of a bend into the part by clamping it into a form and leaving it like that for a few weeks.  That should take tension out of the piece and ease the assembly process.  Regardless, though, I wanted some added insurance, and so I glued an additional re-enforcing strip that will bridge the joint and increase glue surface-area.

Just fore and aft of this strip, I will fashion gusset pieces that lend additional strength, while also providing deck beam mounts for the forecastle deck.  Above, I am fitting card templates that I will use to pattern the 1/16” styrene sheet gussets.  All of this structure will not be visible from the waist, nor will it interfere with the ship’s stoves.
 
In the waist, where this joint would be visible, I will cover the joint with spirketting.  Just as before, the added glue-surface will really solidify the construction.
 
Before I can paint these bulwark pieces, I still need to fashion a supporting knee that will be visible from the waist overhang of the forecastle deck.
 
In a departure from my usual, I will be airbrushing the primary ground colors, as there is too much fine detail that might be obscured by brush-painting.
 
All of this will, of course, take time.  Thank you for stopping-in!
 
 

Hi Mark = 
 
Your model is coming along very nicely.
Welcome now to the wonderful world of carving.  It really is wonderful, despite a pretty steep learning curve.
As others have said, the more you do, the better you will get at it.
Having worked my way up the curve, I have some thoughts and a tip that works for me.
 
First, there are two basic methods for miniature carving - chip, or knife carving and rotary carving.
In the first, the unwanted material is removed with a blade or chisel.  In the other, by burrs and bitts in a Dremel or similar.
To see an excellent use of the first method, check out Hubac's Historian's build of the Soleil Royale. 
Although he is carving styrene, the principles are the same.
To see what rotary carving is about, look at my build of the Queen Anne's Revenge [just click on it below in my profile]
The carving of the figurehead starts on page 2
I do 95% of my carving with rotary tools and only the last little bits with a knife to get a crisp edge where I need it.
It is just a process of removing everything that does not look like the piece that you want.
 
As for the tip -
When you begin carving the flags and lances, mount the carving blank to a larger disc of scrap wood.
Use cyano or rubber cement, or another solvent based adhesive.
The round shape will let you easily turn it so you can attack the work from all angles.
The backing will support the thin shafts of the lances and other delicate details.
When you are done soak the entire piece in acetone or denatured alcohol until the carving comes free without force.
 
I hope that this helps a bit.
Keep up the excellent work.
 
Dan
 

Hi Chuck, and all - 
 
A quick internet search led me to these, from Woodland Scenics - 
https://scenearama.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/SP4454/page/1
5 Revolutionary soldiers, officers and men, who look like they could be modified very easily.  Only $9.99
I also found highly detailed individual 75mm figures, including a Royal Navy commander
https://www.sabotminiatures.com/The-Commander-Royal-Navy-XIX-sec-75mm-p/best_75018.htm
Not cheap at about $50 each.
 
Hope that helps
 
Dan

Hi Mark = 
 
Your model is coming along very nicely.
Welcome now to the wonderful world of carving.  It really is wonderful, despite a pretty steep learning curve.
As others have said, the more you do, the better you will get at it.
Having worked my way up the curve, I have some thoughts and a tip that works for me.
 
First, there are two basic methods for miniature carving - chip, or knife carving and rotary carving.
In the first, the unwanted material is removed with a blade or chisel.  In the other, by burrs and bitts in a Dremel or similar.
To see an excellent use of the first method, check out Hubac's Historian's build of the Soleil Royale. 
Although he is carving styrene, the principles are the same.
To see what rotary carving is about, look at my build of the Queen Anne's Revenge [just click on it below in my profile]
The carving of the figurehead starts on page 2
I do 95% of my carving with rotary tools and only the last little bits with a knife to get a crisp edge where I need it.
It is just a process of removing everything that does not look like the piece that you want.
 
As for the tip -
When you begin carving the flags and lances, mount the carving blank to a larger disc of scrap wood.
Use cyano or rubber cement, or another solvent based adhesive.
The round shape will let you easily turn it so you can attack the work from all angles.
The backing will support the thin shafts of the lances and other delicate details.
When you are done soak the entire piece in acetone or denatured alcohol until the carving comes free without force.
 
I hope that this helps a bit.
Keep up the excellent work.
 
Dan