Greg Davis

Did a bit more work up front - added some of the head rails. The upper ones are actually L-shaped. The recess is for a good deal of grating. Unfortunately, the appropriate amount of grating was not included in the kit. I didn't feel like making any so I went ahead and ordered enough to finish the project. It should get here in a day or two. Started work on, and attached, the front cupolas. They will get lights at the same time the stern ones do; i.e., not today! Between the blue planking, fore and aft, the bulwarks are to be raised with wood containing a decorative triangular motif. The kit includes numerous bits of wood with notches that when matched properly form the triangular openings. Unfortunately the supplied pieces are not well formed having rough / chipped edges and inconsistent heights. The amount of work that would be needed to get a reasonable outcome from these pieces is definitely not worth the time and effort. I will be making this section of bulwark in a slightly different fashion instead. To get started, I've milled some 2mm x 2mm Castello boxwood. The bulwarks will then be made in three layers - first a 2x2 strip, next a line of trapezoids about a centimeter wide and sides that will form the triangular shape, finally another 2x2 strip will top it off. Once this is all in place another walnut rail is to be added. Unfortunately, soon after ordering the grating material I found that there were other missing parts from the kit - notably a number of castings that I was planning on using. So a request went off to Model Expo (where I had purchased the kit) and they claim to have forwarded the request to Corel with the expectation that the parts will be sent to me in 4 - 6 weeks. I hope this actually happens! Else some additional work I wasn't planning on.

I do have a well equipped model shop and enjoy scratch building as well! Here are a few pictures of a 1:36 scale model of a 1750's French dredger I built from ANCRE plans a couple of years ago. It was made from cherry that I milled specifically for the project. All the 'bolts' are copper wire, and the remaining metal work (including the scoops) are brass.

The stem and keel are now completely 'planked'. As expected, the result is OK; but I'm still going with Corel could have included solid would for these features! It certainly can be done as an example, Constructo has found a way to do so and for the most part their kits are less expensive. Time to start adding deck and interior details - then onto the part I'm most looking forward to: the masting and rigging :).

Still it seems there might be a good option for kit manufacturers and/or after-market opportunity here to sell upgrade packages - replacement keel structures / planking material / blocks / rigging material for specific kits. Analogous to PE upgrades for plastic models. I would guess that builders of a kit such as La Couronne would dish a couple of hundred for a set of upgrades in one box - the right number of higher quality blocks, ample amount of good rigging line, better wood package, etc. - without having to look around and sourcing everything individually.

Started some work up front - the stem was added and now I am 'planking' the stem and keel. It should look OK when done, but if I could go back in time to the start of this build I would have replaced the stem / keel structure with solid wood. Quite frankly, I do not understand why many kits haven't been improved / updated to have solid wood showing in these locations instead of plywood. I don't think it would cost the manufacturer / consumer very much to do so and it would be a nice improvement to a lot of kits.

A bit more progress on the galleries.

Kurt - Thanks again for all of the helpful information. I actually spent a good deal of time earlier this week looking at your work on the Ships of Scale forum - great work! Greg

Thanks! I have one of their monographs - Le Phenix - that is quite nice, so I expect the one on La Couronne is equally well done. If I were at the start of this project and/or was more advanced in my modeling sense when I did begin it, then I would certainly procure the AAMM monograph for guidance. But now that I am so far into the construction, I think I am going to take a pass on the monograph and stay close to the kit instructions for the rest of the hull. I will probably make a few corrections / enhancements when getting to the masting and rigging and perhaps at that point I will rethink the value of getting the AAMM monograph. But even there, I may not need to given the wealth of period information in several ANCRE monographs I have. Actually I am quite fascinated by the Le Phenix monograph and (someday) hope to use the AAMM monograph together with the ANCRE publications 'Album de Colbert', 'The Three-Decker of the Chevaler De Tourville - 1680', and 'The Ships of the Sun King' to build a 1:48 scale framed model of Le Phenix.

Kurt- That is an interesting picture - particularly because it helps me understand a comment in R.C. Anderson's book 'The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spirtsail Topmast, 1600-1720'. In some ways, both ships in your picture have aspects of the Corel model! I have a few ANCRE books related to French ships around this time period and am disappointed that La Couronne is barley mentioned. Since the ANCRE books are very well researched I have begun to wonder if there is very little knowledge available for La Couronne and what is available does not have collaborating evidence. However, in this particular case, I very much like the lines and decorations of the model so I am more than willing to complete the model and view it as a representative of the time period - even if many details (and possibly the name) are conjectural. In particular, I am looking forward to having a go at rigging a ship from this time period. But mine will be sail-less - there is no way I am going to try to duplicate the impressive rigging, and sail making, that you did in your model. I read your build log on Ships of Scale today - magnificent! I too would like it if there is time we would meet up to talk shop. Greg

I've started to form the stern galleries. Quite a bit still to add!

Thank you for sharing your work and the complement on mine. You certainly put a lot more thought and modifications into this part of the ship's kit than I have! I will be using the kit provided barrels for the upper stern guns and the closed ports on the lower deck. In fact, I was having a mindless day when I installed the forecastle deck - now I will have a bit of a tussle getting the 4 guns under the deck nicely positioned. Good to 'meet' another Midwest modeler at approximately the same latitude! Don't be surprised if I take you up on your offer for more information / questions on this ship. Greg

I've been able to open up the 4 round gunports under the forecastle deck. There couldn't have been much room to work / manage the guns in this area - the spacing is much closer than on the gun and lower decks. Besides these closely spaced ports, there are 4 more more that open to the front - so 8 guns in a small area!

Bulwarks completed! Next couple of tasks will probably be cap rails (straightforward) and forming 10 round gunport openings (not as). The gunports are centered on the walnut strip that separates the blue planking from the brown planking. I'll probably start with a very small drill with diameter less than the walnut strip and then larger until I can start to pass a round file into the hole ... .

They are very confusing, many typos and material out of order. I have a multitude of notes all over my booklet! As I got closer to the end of the build, I also saw that the main drawing / plan had some serious limitations. I feel that the model / instructions should have been beta-tested by an out-of-company builder and the instructional material revised before it was released to the public. Some of the problems may arise because the instruction booklet has been translated from Portuguese to English with limited editing.

Yes the higher side is to the front. I remember having some confusion with the wing jig labeling and finally decided that they had been labeled for someone looking from front to rear of plane; i.e., not from the pilots perspective. It probably would have been as good, or better, if the jigs hadn't been labeled and the instructions said make a pair!

It's taking a bit longer than expected (but that always seems to be the case) for me to get the inner bulwark planking completed. The bulk of the planking is in; now I'm mostly left with the smaller fiddly pieces along the upper decks. Probably another 2 days and this phase will be done. I don't expect to be painting anymore, the rest of the ship will be left in the natural wood colors.

The last deck, the foredeck, has been added and planked. I also finished the blue second hull planking just below this deck. The red painted planks in the fore ground have been prepared for the inner bulwarks - that will go in next.

I bought the Corel La Couronne kit in 2011, during one the many Model Expo sales, thinking the sprit-sail rigging was interesting. I still feel that way and am looking forward to having the completed model on a shelf sooner than later! It took until 2020 before I began the kit and within a year was shelved in favor of a number of other ship modeling projects. As part of a reclamation of workspace, I am now going to make a concerted effort to finish the model. At this point almost all of the hull planking is complete; also, all but one of the decks have been installed and planked. This is what model looks like presently: Unfortunately, I did not take many pictures earlier in the project, but there are a few things that I do recall such as: The decks are planked with 1/8" x 1/16" basswood instead of the thinner material provided in the kit. I do recall that I used a good deal of basswood filler between the bulkheads so the first (lime) planking would create nicer contours. The second layer blue strakes were supplied already colored. Similarly, the stern is planked in pre-colored yellow planks. Going downward through all of the wales, I had planked with strakes that went from stem to stern - inspired by pictures I had seen of dockyard models of ships from this era. I then changed my tack and the lower second (mahogany) layer is made from approximately 3" long planks was applied with a three-butt shift. I recall that once the mahogany was in place, I went to my basement to sand the planking smooth and after a short time of work started to have a nosebleed. A check on the internet had me find that this was not an uncommon reaction to mahogany dust. Because it was winter when this happened, I decided to wait until the weather was warm enough to sand outdoors before continuing. It is now several years later and I am about to take it outside for a little more hull sanding and then continuing with the construction process. So, hopefully, starting this build log will keep me going more quickly (or at least steadily) to the finish! My main goal here is to get a nice looking model, one that has the rest of the work well-done, but not too dissimilar to what has already been done; i.e., an even presentation.

Here are the nacelles by the pontoon. Presently deciding if I should build the engine support / pylon next or if I should work on the nacelle / pontoon attachments.

Ron - I agree that the butt joints are difficult, especially because you are working with dowels. I had run a round file on the end of the dowels as they met up in the joint to provide better contact between the pieces. I also 'reinforced' the joints with an additional fillet of superglue. Even with that, they remain delicate. I think a really nice model could be had with the surfaced covered. At first I thought that silkspan may be a good covering; however, I then started to wonder if that may be to heavy for the wing structures and if a tissue covering would be a better choice. Either way, I hope that construction starts become more pleasant and that you post some pictures - especially if you give it a covering! Greg

The second nacelle has been going together quite well. Waiting for tip filler blocks to dry so that I can form the two ends of the second nacelle. After that the cross-bracing will go in both. Got a new shop addition also - a larger stand alone router table. Still need to add a safety switch before using. Looking forward to using it for case fabrication among other projects!

I now have one nacelle nearly done - it still needs the cross bracing wires to be added. Constructing the nacelle has been more work than expected. The main pontoon was quite a bit easier for me, probably due to the larger size of the hoops. Nevertheless, progress is being made; hopefully the second nacelle will be easier given the experience of making the first one. After I had added the hoops I didn't like the envelope of the nacelle. The middle hoop was a little too small in diameter to present a nice outline. I made a set of middle hoops, increasing the diameter by 1.5mm, and now the shape looks good to me. When making the new set of hoops today, I tried out an alternate method for making a hoop. This time, on a lathe, I turned the hoop out of a solid piece of wood. First the exterior diameter was turned and then the interior was cut out before parting off the hoops. This method doesn't take much time at all to make very well dimensioned hoops that seem quite strong. The resulting hoops don't look bad at all, but I think that the laid up ones look better due to the grain direction and are probably closer to the way Santos-Dumont had manufactured the ones for his boat.

John - I'm glad that you are interested in the project and I really appreciate your support. Noting your list of builds (and location) I have a Slo-Mo-Shun kit waiting in the wings - last year I was out to Seattle to visit my son and we went to the Hydroplane Museum in Kent to see some of the classic hydroplanes and then saw Slo-Mo-Shun IV in the museum near Lake Union in Seattle. Such a cool boat! I have obtained and read the book "Wings of Madness" as part of the background research for this project. It is certainly an entertaining book and I learned a good deal from it; however, I was really disappointed when noting that the author did not seam to understand that the No 18 Hydroplane was actually a watercraft / boat as opposed to an aircraft that could take off / land on water. Greg

Today, I got up the nerve to part off the nacelle hoops. The work appears to have been successful and they all thread onto a 1/4" alignment dowel. Next I will set up a jig to hold the hoops in place during the stringer attachment process.

It turns out that laying up the 15mm wide strips is a bit more challenging than the narrower strips I used for the main pontoon hoops. Nevertheless, all of the nacelle hoops are laid up. The 0.25 inner diameter hoop has 4 very thin strips, whereas the other 4 have been made with 3 layers. The smallest diameter one really took some patience - there were a couple of times I thought about laying up a pair of narrower strips for this one. But all is good now and it is time to go back to the lathe to turn the hoops to the required 1mm thickness before parting off the 10 hoops I need to proceed to the next step. I also hope I remember to drill center holes to pass an alignment dowel thru the parted off pieces!