TJM

It does sound reasonable, but the little circumstantial evidence I have seen suggests that it may have been coppered. The model of the smaller sister ship Delphinen at the War Museum in Copenhagen is shown as coppered, and it was a guard ship at Nyborg, which is entirely within the 'home water' boundary. I don't know if the model builder Peter Maack had any hard evidence of the coppering of Delphinen, but I will go with it on this model as well.

That makes good sense, thanks!

I think they are asymmetric to simulate an overlap of the plates, but I am not sure why I need different patterns on left and right. Of course that is necessary if I have to have symmetry between the two sides of the ship, so perhaps it doesn't matter which I use for left and right, as long as I stick with a decision?

Log entry 12 - painting: white black and red I have been looking forward to this since I began the build: painting the main colours. This is when you really get a god idea of how the final piece will appear at the end, even though there is much left to do. I started masking of the deck and the whales and painted the outer and inner bulwarks white: It is actually a light gray primer and then pure white on top, but only a light coat. So the end result is not completely white. This is preferable and allows for more details to be seen as well as create subtle shadows. The next day, I masked off everything except from the bulwarks down to the waterline and painted that black: Lastly, I masked off everything but the trim stripe and painted that red, using three layers: light brown, dark red and the the final flat red (from Vallejo). I was very excited when I pealed off all the layers of masking tape, and very pleased with the result! I had no bleed in any spots and in particular the waterline came out basically perfect. It is almost a shame I will be coppering the hull below the waterline, I will definitely not be able to get close to such a nice line with the copper plates. But coppering was one of the main reasons for this subject, so I will continue with that plan. Here's a few close-ups of the bow and stern: It looks quite rough in these images, much more so than in real life! Macro shots are cruel... It looks ok from 30-50 cm away, and totally fine at 'normal' viewing distance. I may do a bit of filler and touch-ups in the worst places. Here is a few overall shots of the current status (with cannons): Alright, there will be a bit of a pause in the log as I am headed for vacation. But when I return, I will begin coppering. I have acquired some 1:64 copper plates from Amati (the ones used on their Mercury and Pegasus kits), and I know there is a right and a left sheet, but can anyone tell me which is which? (And why it is that way around...). BR TJM

Wow, this build is so next level. I am amazed and humbled every time you update this thread 😁

Yes, I believe so. I am not sure when I will have tome to start mine, but it is not right around the corner. Perhaps I should take a loss and sell the v2 and get the new v3 instead. I will have to think about that

I have v2 sitting for a future build, I will follow with interest!

Log entry 11 - stern and raised deck I had forgotten that I had to finish the lower stern before I can move on to painting! So I have been working on that, cutting out paper templates, scanning, drawing in CAD, laser cutting and attaching. This is the result: I had to use a bit of filler, but I think I need to get another kind. This one is a bit grainy and I won't sand as smooth as the surrounding wood. I think it won't be hodden enough under paint. So I will look for something smoother to use on top. Before painting, I also need the raised deck st the stern installed, as the little vertical piece need to be white like the inner bulwarks. I have drawn and cut the railing as well, as that is nicer to do map out on the unpainted hull. In these images, it is just loosely attached with a few pins, but it gives a good idea of the future appearance of the ship. As you can see, they double as channels for the shroud rigging - an interesting arrangement and not one I have seen replicated in the few other models I have seen of these small Danish schooners (see examples a few posts back by me and Beckmann). But it is quite clear from the original plans. And I couldn't help myself, but had to try to place the short 12 pounders on the deck. I think it will be a nice looking deck eventually 🙂. Thanks for looking! BR TJM

Log entry 10 - inner bulwarks pt. 2 Returning now to give a bit of attention to the inner bulwarks. I have added all the vertical bulwark elements (is there a technical term?). They are simply made from 2x2 mm boxwood - I would have preferred pear to keep it consistent, but boxwood is what I had. And it really doesn't matter, as everything will be painted white anyway! They are raised 2 mm above the deck to make space for the edge that will be installed after painting. I have also taken care with the spacing, which is a little inconsistent in the plans. I have used the shot garlands as templates to get the correct distances where I could. At the stern you can also see a cardboard template for the raised deck section. Now I will mark the waterline, mask everything off and get busy with the airbrush! After that, coppering will begin and I am both looking forward to that, and dreading it! BR TJM

Hi wefalck, Thanks for the comment - yes, I am very mindful of that. Elben was made at around the time where they moved away from black/red/yellow trim and moved to black/white/olivegreen trim. How it was originally is anyone's guess, but the great model builder Peter Maack chose the former colour scheme for Delphinen, Elbens little sister: This is the colour scheme I am going for. I am sure it was re-painted later, likely when it was still in Danish service, before 1864, and I imagine it would have been painted like the Corvette Najaden, as captured by Eckersberg in this painting from the 1830/40's BR TJM

Thank you Matthias, I had not seen any of these before! Great for reference! Much appreciated 😃

Log entry 9 - whales I have now installed the molding and the wales: The molding is from Amati and in walnut, hence the different colour of the wood compared to the pear planking. The moulding is a tad oversized compared to the drawing, but I still think it is preferable to a simple thinner strip. Everything will soon be painted: white for inner bulwarks and outer bulwarks above the whales, black below. The molding itself will be red, as will the inside of the gunport lids. This painting will happen after I add vertical strips on the inner bulwarks as per the drawings: BR TJM

Log entry 8 - second planking completed! It has been a while, but I finally have some solid progress to show. I have completed the second planking, and it has turned out fine, in my opinion. Not at all perfect, but good enough. Here are some images before the very last planks were added: And here it is completed, but before sanding: And then after initial sanding: I am happy with the hull shape, but I need a bit of filler at the stern. The hull is nice and smooth, but as mentioned, it is not visually perfect - that is ok, as it will be entirely covered by paint and copper plates. The next step is to add a molding that sits just below the gun port lower edges and the whale in connection to that. In total, it will be 11 mm wide, including the molding. More to come soon, I hope! BR TJM

I completely understand! What you can do is to try it out on heroforge.com and if you make something you like, you can purchase that stl file and have a local 3D printing service print it dor you. As long as you own the file, you can have others do the printing for you.

I use QCAD, it is very cheap for a lifetime license, I find it very easy and intuitive to use with no prior CAD experience and there is a free trial you can just download to evaluate if this is for you. The downside is that it is strictly 2D, so all the spacial considerations will have to happen in your head! It's like doing it on paper, but with digital precision and layers. It is very easy to import an image, scale it, and then start to draw your design on top of that reference. I have designed several PoB hulls from original construction drawings like this over past year. Have a look here: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37190-historical-plans-via-cad-to-laser-cut-parts-practicum/ You can also use Onshape, which is online and completely free AND full 3D. But the learning curve is steeper and I have not progressed very far on mine yet!