yvesvidal

Crazy...crazy....It is time to call the White Coats.... !!! I have been thinking about the railing of the rear quarter deck. If the planking was done in a curved and harmonious way with stealers and all the necessary stuff, the shape of the planking would follow the curvature of the railing. That is a view of the mind and it does not happen too often. So, after postponing this stage for a while, I decided today to jump into it and go "Crazy". The first thing to do is glue that nice strip (not included in the kit) that is supposed to delineate the hull from the railing. That is done after many dry runs and positioning of the freezes and ornaments. The rear of the hull is painted with that rare greenish blueish color described in the Monograph and that was in fashion at that era, in the French harbors. The strip is then positioned, secured and glued with liquid CA (1-3 seconds), carefully dropped from the top. The glue runs gently following the strip, without leaking underneath. I have used that technique with the HMS Bellona and the strips are still holding fine. Another final checking that all the ornaments are fitting between the two strips..... And then we go crazy..... Using my Dremel with a cutting disk, I am butchering all the planking and framing above the top strip: You have to be super careful and hold your Dremel with two hands to prevent an irrecoverable slippage of the cutting disk.... This is it. Now, we have to sand to bring everything to the level of the top strip. From that point, I will install a flat rail that will be my base for building the decorative railing comprised of freezes and other CNC carved parts. The original ship (and the kit) uses the frames as holders for the railing. My model will not have that. I think I can live with its absence. A little bit of painting, to make things more elegant: I kind of like that deep cobalt blue/green. Below is the other side, which has not been butchered yet. You can clearly see that the planking would never align with the elegant curves of the stern. To make your mouth water and as an appetizer of what to come (it will be a while...), here is what it will look like: The White Coats have arrived and I must go.... Yves

Great kit and beautiful trawler. I will be following your build log. My brother has the kit but never started it. Yves

Installation of the door and the remaining deck beams to the cabin wall. The other beams cannot be installed yet, because of the guns. I started building the planking of the rear bulkhead, after using some spacers to account for the quarter deck planking. I am approaching the construction by mixing elements of the instructions: I am also modifying very slightly the rear wings (1K-5) to better accommodate that platform on the stern (3K-1 on the picture). I am adding a small strips to support the platform, on both sides: I am also adding a 2 mm strip to increase the height of the "wings" and compensate for the thickness of the platform: Before gluing the platform, I am trying to finalize all the gold painting of the freezes, that will be hard to reach, once glued: Finally, the platform is glued, making the stern a lot more solid and sturdier: There is still a lot of sanding and painting that has to take place, to make it presentable. Yves

It should fit in your tub, for the ballast testing. Seriously, what a beautiful model. Yves

Glad to see you back on this beautiful model. Yves

James, I read your description of the kit, in detail. I have to say that CAF Models improved immensely their instructions and approach to building their kits. These instructions make sense, are clearly detailed in English (and not in Chinese) and they are providing you with pictures, which is a first in the History of CAF Models !!! The acrylic jigs are also a great addition. After building two of their earlier kits (HMS Bellona and Le Requin), I can tell you that their original instructions and directions were not that great....and you had to spend a lot of time, just wondering and trying to find a solution to the assembly. Yves

I am not sure, but it would make a lot of sense to have them there. Will you be posting some pictures of your fantastic model? Yves

Moving on with the installation of the beams supporting the quarter deck. The guide holding and aligning the mizzen mast has been installed. I also added a couple of poles underneath to make it sturdier. Now, I have to finish the door, glue it to the cabin wall and complete the assembly of the beams, at least up to the wall of the cabin: Below, you can see the extra support. Once the deck is in place, it will be quite solid, but you never know.... Yves

I am still progressing without following the official instructions, just going along with what makes the most sense for me. After installing the stern panel, I managed to glue the side extensions of the hull: All this is still very fragile and will require a lot of care to avoid breaking them. The large wooden grid on top will help re-enforce but cannot be installed until I built the planking on the stern from the inside deck. And before doing that, I have to build the quarter deck and its planking. The following drawings will give you a better idea of what I am trying to do and how it needs to happen: Of course, before completing the quarter deck planking the door of the cabin and the guns must be installed, on the gun deck. Therefore, the various hooks are set in the frames: Yves

Caldercraft Kits are among the best. Excellent choice. Yves

Great stuff. Very clever. Yves

The following is not properly described in the User/Assembly manual and as such, I am not posting any pictures of the CAF Models instructions. It is a very delicate (in my opinion) phase as the parts are really not fitting well together. The first thing I did was to build some kind of support for the stern bulkhead: This was done with multiple layers of 0.8 mm planks, I had left from the Bellona. Some curvature is done to accommodate the stern panel. Despite all this preparation work, it still does not fit precisely. The stern panel is made of boxwood (I think...) carved with a CNC machine. The carving is delicate and actually well done. The next steps consist in gluing the various parts that will define and stabilize that panel on the stern. Again, this is my way of approaching that task and there may be better and more intelligent way of doing it. Above, you can see the rectangular opening, used for the tiller. Below, the stern panel is painted in black and dry brushed (delicately) with Tamiya gold leaf color: The panel is then glued as well as possible, keeping the alignment of the rudder and keel. I have to say that the Monograph by Boudriot came handy as the CAF instructions and plans are very quiet on this subject. You can see on the left and right side, some light peeking through. Once the quarter deck and the rear veranda are in place, not much will be visible. This assembly is still very fragile and it is important to continue building the planking of the upper part of the hull: I have been agonizing before that task for a while, and even though it is not perfect, I am glad it is behind. There are more challenges coming, so stay tuned. Yves

Mark, you did a fantastic job with these paintings. It looks terrific and I know how satisfying it feels when you get to that point of your Bellona build. Yves

Me too. That kit was fantastic to build and later on operate on the water. Yves

Now, I understand why you went with a full planking of the hull. I suffered with the 72 guns of the HMS Bellona and I understand perfectly your position with 96 guns or more. That ship was a monster, similar to the modern Cruise ships that are haunting the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. Yves