Dziadeczek

Awesome models!!!
I used to live and work in S. Africa, in Natal, not too far from Pietermaritzburg and Ixopo. Worked as a medical officer in one of the Catholic missions.
Sweet memories...!
Greetings,
Thomas

Good day from South Africa
 
I am 56, male and a Control Systems Engineer by profession. I am an avid RC helicopter pilot and modeller ( see attached, 2 of my models). Got into machining as an extension of the model building and as an exercise, I fond a nice cannon to make. This led to that and…well I am hooked on naval guns. Next project is a post mont Falconet…(hope that is what it is called)
Wonderful work on this site…well done to all

I made mine from ebony, but later on I decided to paint them with an iron-looking paint, because the ebony looked too much like 'ebony' and not enough like iron. So, any hardwood should be OK, provided that you paint them afterwards with flat black paint.
Greetings,
Thomas

I have some left over supplies of great boxwood blocks made by Lloyd Warner (unfortunately he doesn't make them anymore), which I am using for my French 74 gun ship model.  Some of them, especially the smallest ones (2 mm), have holes that are a bit too small for my ropes. I enlarge them by gently drilling them with an appropriate  drill bit held in the pin vise. The original hole will provide a guide for the bigger one. After I pass the rope through the new hole ( I stiffen the end of the rope with PVA glue to facilitate passing it through the hole), the bigger hole will be invisible in the block, covered by rope.

I have some left over supplies of great boxwood blocks made by Lloyd Warner (unfortunately he doesn't make them anymore), which I am using for my French 74 gun ship model.  Some of them, especially the smallest ones (2 mm), have holes that are a bit too small for my ropes. I enlarge them by gently drilling them with an appropriate  drill bit held in the pin vise. The original hole will provide a guide for the bigger one. After I pass the rope through the new hole ( I stiffen the end of the rope with PVA glue to facilitate passing it through the hole), the bigger hole will be invisible in the block, covered by rope.

I have some left over supplies of great boxwood blocks made by Lloyd Warner (unfortunately he doesn't make them anymore), which I am using for my French 74 gun ship model.  Some of them, especially the smallest ones (2 mm), have holes that are a bit too small for my ropes. I enlarge them by gently drilling them with an appropriate  drill bit held in the pin vise. The original hole will provide a guide for the bigger one. After I pass the rope through the new hole ( I stiffen the end of the rope with PVA glue to facilitate passing it through the hole), the bigger hole will be invisible in the block, covered by rope.

thanks...was a bit scary, but i'm happy with the results....here's some better shots.....

Hi Matiz. An awesome model you built. Wasn't it however already built in the past and you are showing us old pics? On the French forum you presented this model finished several years ago.
(I was hugely inspired by your model while building my own version of the Boudriot's 74 guns ship in 1:48. Excellent work!!! Congratulations!!!)
Thanks again,
Thomas

Hi Matiz. An awesome model you built. Wasn't it however already built in the past and you are showing us old pics? On the French forum you presented this model finished several years ago.
(I was hugely inspired by your model while building my own version of the Boudriot's 74 guns ship in 1:48. Excellent work!!! Congratulations!!!)
Thanks again,
Thomas

If you have troubles locating an appropriate scraper, you can use a piece of broken glass (its sharper edge), just be careful not to cut your fingers during scraping (shaving) - for protection wrap the held edge of the glass with duct tape.

Hi Matiz. An awesome model you built. Wasn't it however already built in the past and you are showing us old pics? On the French forum you presented this model finished several years ago.
(I was hugely inspired by your model while building my own version of the Boudriot's 74 guns ship in 1:48. Excellent work!!! Congratulations!!!)
Thanks again,
Thomas

Hello,
in between I made a video about the naval artillery of my french corvette. I tried to show the different stages of construction. 
I hope that one or the other likes it and perhaps serves as inspiration.
Have fun !  LINK

At about 3:15 min. into the video, he starts edge bending with his hot bending iron (you can use an ordinary soldering iron with a heat control).

At about 3:15 min. into the video, he starts edge bending with his hot bending iron (you can use an ordinary soldering iron with a heat control).

At about 3:15 min. into the video, he starts edge bending with his hot bending iron (you can use an ordinary soldering iron with a heat control).

If you use Windows 10, it has a free, already factory preloaded program, (Microsoft Office Picture Manager), where you can click on "Picture" and than select "Rotate and Flip", and finally "Save".
 

You can easily adapt an ordinary soldering iron for plank bending (if you have difficulties locating such a specialty tool).
Than yu can build a heat control from a household dimmer (not the digital one!). I learnt this one from my old stained glass class ages ago.

You can easily adapt an ordinary soldering iron for plank bending (if you have difficulties locating such a specialty tool).
Than yu can build a heat control from a household dimmer (not the digital one!). I learnt this one from my old stained glass class ages ago.

You can easily adapt an ordinary soldering iron for plank bending (if you have difficulties locating such a specialty tool).
Than yu can build a heat control from a household dimmer (not the digital one!). I learnt this one from my old stained glass class ages ago.

Part 5 The Stern Galleries
 
Once more thanks to for interest and encouraging comments.
 
First off, I'd like introduce the ship's cat "Pogo". Project manager, little best friend, and lays on the exact tool I'm looking for. Been on job just about 15 years.
 
(Bottom photo) This is what Victory looked like for years, so after finishing the middle deck with the 24 pounders, it was time for a sanity break to start closing in the back of the ship. 
 
Each of the middle deck windows consists of 32 individual pieces of wood. I made templates for all of them.
 
The upper deck balcony was especially fun to build.
 
"Victory" was painted by cutting a mask and then sprayed with my airbrush in gold leaf lacquer. The ladies are hand painted with a brush in oils. I had to chuckle at the drawn stage curtains revealing the gun ports. 
 
This is the pattern I made in Photoshop for the balcony balustrade using the 1765 model for reference.
 
Next, in Part 6, the magnificent figurehead that was removed in the 1800-03 rebuild.
 
 

I am building the French 74 guns ship of 1780, following the four volumes by Jean Boudriot (the third volume talks about rigging). This source is quite good, although there are a few mistakes here and there Jean did not manage to avoid. But they are minor.
I am currently modeling yards, sails and all the running rigging associated with them. Very tedious and time consuming work!
In addition, I have Francis Jonet's "Fitting and rigging a 74-gun model ship", which complements  Jean's books, especially the pictorial part of it. 
 
I am not sure if the monograph on the Gross Ventre is adequate on this topic, but generally those books from Ancre seem to be quite good, detailed and reliable. Certainly good enough to build a model.

I am building the French 74 guns ship of 1780, following the four volumes by Jean Boudriot (the third volume talks about rigging). This source is quite good, although there are a few mistakes here and there Jean did not manage to avoid. But they are minor.
I am currently modeling yards, sails and all the running rigging associated with them. Very tedious and time consuming work!
In addition, I have Francis Jonet's "Fitting and rigging a 74-gun model ship", which complements  Jean's books, especially the pictorial part of it. 
 
I am not sure if the monograph on the Gross Ventre is adequate on this topic, but generally those books from Ancre seem to be quite good, detailed and reliable. Certainly good enough to build a model.

You Sir, are nuts! (off course, in the positive meaning of the word).
I am trying to pick up my teeth from the floor, after my jaw dropped after seeing your model!
 
Regards,
Thomas

Making the yards - Main yard - Grande vergue
Before starting to make the yards, I made myself a planing jig in advance, inspired by Ed Tosti's build report for the clipper "Young America" in the MSW, as shown in the drawing below. Rotating and locking clamps allow lumber of various widths and lengths to be fixed in place for machining, especially with a wood planer. 
 
To make the main yard, I prepared a drawing with dimensions based on the plan by J. Boudriot.

 
The next two pictures show how the holding device mentioned at the beginning of the report can be used in practice. 
It performs valuable services in the manufacture of yards. For example, a wooden strip with a V-shaped groove was clamped in place. A square timber inserted in this way can easily be planed into an octagonal timber. In this case for the main yard and later for the leeward spars. These timber blanks are then much easier to machine on the lathe. In addition, they are used to roughly preform the octagonal areas of the yards or studding sail booms. 

   
With the following pictures I illustrate the further processing steps in the yard production. 



       
In contrast to the main yard, the studding sail booms are much more delicate logs with diameters of 3.7 to 2.2 mm, which had to be machined. So that this succeeds also without breakage, I built for this with simple means a small steady rest. With this I can bring small ball bearings for round timber with diameters of 1 - 10 mm into position for support. In the meantime, the small tool has already proven itself very well. 

On the last picture you can see the first results.

 
To be continued ...

 
 

Final Bounce
Based on 'China Clipper' Boeing 314 at Hong Kong. The golden age of Air Travel.
w/c 16" X 11"