Dziadeczek

Years ago I built my French 74 gun ship upside down, mounted in H. Hahn's building base, following his method (sort of). I remember, I had to add (draw) the remaining frames, since J. Boudriot only has shown in his books the so called, station frames. The hull turned out OK, not perfect though, but - for the first scratch built, Admiralty type model, - acceptable.
Right now I am starting to install the running rigging on it.
Thomas

Some degree of edge (lateral) bending is possible, if you pre-wet your plank in luke warm water and carefully heat bend it.
Long time ago I posted an entry on this topic, including a link to a short video by a German modeler Gebhard Kammerlander who demonstrates this technique. 
He speaks German, but the video is "in English" for everyone to understand  😁 .
Go about 3/4 down this page to find the video.
 
 
I learnt how to spill planks from an excellent brochure by the late Jim Roberts "Planking the built up Ship Models", (which, I understand, is still available from Model Expo). Jim describes there authentic practices of ancient shipwrights (a bit simplified for ship modelers). This technique never failed me.
I use a set of proportional dividers (a paper strip alternatively), and I fashion two planks at the same time - one for each bulwark (since they should be identical, if your hull is perfectly symmetrical). I sand one edge of a plank a bit angled so that it abuts tightly the next plank on a curved hull.
 
Regards,
 
Thomas

Years ago I built my French 74 gun ship upside down, mounted in H. Hahn's building base, following his method (sort of). I remember, I had to add (draw) the remaining frames, since J. Boudriot only has shown in his books the so called, station frames. The hull turned out OK, not perfect though, but - for the first scratch built, Admiralty type model, - acceptable.
Right now I am starting to install the running rigging on it.
Thomas

Years ago I built my French 74 gun ship upside down, mounted in H. Hahn's building base, following his method (sort of). I remember, I had to add (draw) the remaining frames, since J. Boudriot only has shown in his books the so called, station frames. The hull turned out OK, not perfect though, but - for the first scratch built, Admiralty type model, - acceptable.
Right now I am starting to install the running rigging on it.
Thomas

Years ago I built my French 74 gun ship upside down, mounted in H. Hahn's building base, following his method (sort of). I remember, I had to add (draw) the remaining frames, since J. Boudriot only has shown in his books the so called, station frames. The hull turned out OK, not perfect though, but - for the first scratch built, Admiralty type model, - acceptable.
Right now I am starting to install the running rigging on it.
Thomas

Years ago I built my French 74 gun ship upside down, mounted in H. Hahn's building base, following his method (sort of). I remember, I had to add (draw) the remaining frames, since J. Boudriot only has shown in his books the so called, station frames. The hull turned out OK, not perfect though, but - for the first scratch built, Admiralty type model, - acceptable.
Right now I am starting to install the running rigging on it.
Thomas

The QD guns are smaller.
 
I started working on the forecastle area of the ship. The first four beams are in along with lodging knees, hanging knees, carlings, cat tails and the manger. To my count there were 32 individual pieces needed for the work so far.
 
The manger which consists of 12 pieces was assembled as one. A card stock template along with layered blue masking tape was used to establish the location for the boards which will sit on the deck. Btw, those char lines on the bowsprit step are no longer visible. They were blocked out with some boxwood color mix that was applied before painting the manger red. Also, those arrows show where I drilled for the next gun carriage.
 

 

 

 

 
Mike

I wouldn't worry too much about the filling pieces now. Make all hawse frames first and make sure they all fit and that their external surfaces are smooth (inner surfaces will later be smoothed). And only then try to make those fillers, carefully  sanding down their thicknesses to fit to the available spaces in between the hawse frames.
I too had a hard time making them for my "Frenchie" (of course, later on I bought the addendum brochure from Ancre with all profiles of the missing frames, including the hawse timbers, but it was already after I managed to shape them all by myself from the waterlines). Tough luck...

Hi Doris,
If I may ask you another question. How did you make your figurehead from the modeling clay? I understand completely the theory behind these flat  reliefs, which you executed so perfectly (rolling thin slivers on the wax paper and shaping them with a small brush + tweezers).
But when it comes to a 3D, free standing pieces, obviously you cannot place them on a paper. Did you fashion a skeleton for your horse-mounted king from a wire - an armature, before you started to build up his body from clay?  Can you bake the initial body and subsequently add to it more fine details (like arms, details of clothing and armaments) and then you bake the whole thing again, or you have to make the entire figure at once and bake it in the oven?
Thanks in advance for your answer.

Un-freaking-believable!!! Hats off!!!
Could you tell us what book is in the pics, placed in front of your model?

Doris, I would like very much to see your sculpting tools. A couple of pics, please, if possible?

Hi Doris,
I think Dan had a point, talking about your entry port being a bit too close to the next gun port. On all models (your links, and others) I see this placed rather symmetrically in between two gun ports, so that all rigging to the guns can be securelly fixed to the inner bullwark.    Perhaps it is not too late to tweak it?
I happen to have a handful of photos of the late Ed Marple's model of his Royal Katherine, exhibited in the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard, Southern California (I included one in my earlier post, above). I took them succesively during my numerous visits there, over the years. I don't remember the sources of documentation Mr. Marple used for building his model, only vaguely I seem to recall that he had some drawings from the NMM in London.
If you think that those pictures would be helpful for building your model, let me know and I would be happy to send them to you.
Regards,
Thomas
 

This was my very first attempt at focus stacking, using my old Nikon d200, standard kit zoom lens 18-70, a tripod, no rails. Merging on Photoshop.
I am quite satisfied with the result.  What do you think, guys?
Thomas

This was my very first attempt at focus stacking, using my old Nikon d200, standard kit zoom lens 18-70, a tripod, no rails. Merging on Photoshop.
I am quite satisfied with the result.  What do you think, guys?
Thomas

This was my very first attempt at focus stacking, using my old Nikon d200, standard kit zoom lens 18-70, a tripod, no rails. Merging on Photoshop.
I am quite satisfied with the result.  What do you think, guys?
Thomas

This was my very first attempt at focus stacking, using my old Nikon d200, standard kit zoom lens 18-70, a tripod, no rails. Merging on Photoshop.
I am quite satisfied with the result.  What do you think, guys?
Thomas

Hi everyone! My name is Adam and I'm from Warsaw, Poland.
Ship modelling was my big fascination when I was a teenager but I didn't do much with that because there were no hobby shops in my town and I had no internet at that time. Besides, wood modelling is kind of expensive and we didn't have that much money. The biggest thing I did, well at least started to do, was a model of Titanic from Hachette collection. Unfortunately I didn't finish it - when my mom saw that it will have 100 issues she said "honey, nope". Nevertheless I liked the idea of model making. Some time later I saw in one of our press shops an issue of polish modelling magazine which discussed a type of ships that I fell in love with instantly – galleons. Oh Lorde. The thing that brought my attention the most was rigging. I also liked over the top ornamentations, and castle-like structre – a lot of decks that were placed high in the aft. But rigging – how in the hell that worked? What it consisted of? So many questions, no way to answer.
In the meantime we got internet, so I started reading as much as possible. I liked drawing projects of galleon models (and also shipyard cranes, what a weird passion 🙃), but that is that, I never got the chance to do a proper model. Time flied by, and I put the whole idea to rest.
 
Until 2019, when I saw an advert of new DeAgostini collection - Soleil Royal. The passion came alive again, but with new possibilities! Internet, books, money 😁 Of course, silly me, I wanted to bash the kit and do a lot of enhancements. But the problem was, and still kind of is, that this model has a lot of design flaws, which caused my enthusiasm to die for a while. It got back to life as soon as I had an idea what to do with this model, which was not that long ago, but more on this in a separate topic.
 
In the meantime I bought and started assembling Montanes by OcCre. Yeah, I know. Big and difficult set for the beginner, a straight route to a disaster. But I guess I did pretty well with what I did. I stopped at hull planking since I felt I needed to gain some experience on something simpler. Montanes has only one layer of planking so there's no room for learning - you have to know what you're doing. I'll get back to it some day, when Soleil is finished.
 
Rigging is still my biggest fascination. I'm reading about it as much as possible. Anderson, Lees, Pettersson. Also I love book by Wolfram zu Mondfeld. During the time I was reading books, forums and other sources I realized that 16th and 17th century galleons are my main interest and probably I will focus only on them (maybe HMS Victory will be an exception). Some day I want to start scratch building, but until that, I'll gain my experience working with kits. Also, and that may be a little bit controversial - I am not that much focused on, and devoted to, historical accuracy. I mean, I was reading topic on Royal Katherine by Doris, and she didn't do some things in the cabins because English ships didn't have that at that time, but Dutch did. If it was me I would go for the Dutch looks, more than for English historical accuracy. Maybe it's more accurate to say that at the moment I'm building a model that resembles Soleil Royal, more than recreates it in the most accurate way. E.g. I plan on implementing La Couronne rigging to it, even though I know it's an anachronism. But hey, that's my way of doing it, you don't have to like it 🙂
 
Besides modelling - I am 30 years old, I have masters in theoretical physics and my interests focus around the geometrical foundations of quantum and classical field theories. I work as a private teacher.

Done yesterday and this afternoon , based on HMCS Montreal and HMCS Skeena 16.5” X 11.75”

Also you can plank your hull with full length planks and afterwards score each plank across with a sharp exacto blade to imitate the joints between individual planks. I think this way might be a bit easier rather than trying to shape each shorter plank individually and identically to the rest of the short ones.

Over a period of ~ 25 years, I visited this museum probably about a dozen of times, or so. And each time I took a handful of photographs. So, today I have quite a collection of pics from there.
It is not nearly as big as, let's say, The US Navy Museum in Annapolis, but It is a very interesting little maritime museum, with an exceptionally friendly staff, mostly of volunteers, passionate individuals, who fondly greet every visitor and are willing to help him/her.
This is the museum, the next NRG conference will be held next year.
Their collection of ship models includes, among the others, about half a dozen ship models by the late Edward Marple, who was a dental technician, so he was quite handy with his dental drill and was using it quite skillfully for carving the ornamentation for his models. Among those especially interesting ones, are his Sovereign of the Seas, the Royal George and the Royal Katherine...
The museum also has quite an interesting collection of maritime paintings, among them a large format painting of the Royal Sovereign by Van de Velde the Younger. I also like very much their paintings by John Stobart.
Here is a handful of my pics from my last visit in June 2019. (Hopefully I will be able to attend the upcoming Conference and revisit their models again).
 
 

Sovereign of the Seas by Edward Marple
 

Sovereign of the Seas by Edward Marple
 

Sovereign of the Seas by Edward Marple
 

Sovereign of the Seas by Edward Marple
 

Vasa by William Siegfried
 

Xebec L'Indiscret by Unknown
 

galley La Reale de France
 

Frigate Seahorse by James Cutler
 

Royal George by Edward Marple
 

Royal George by Edward Marple
 

Royal Katherine by Edward Marple
 

John Bentham Dinsdale "English King Charles II receiving the fleet after the Battle of Solebay 1672"
 

prisoner of war bone model
 

Royal Katherine by Edward Marple
 

Mars
 

HMS Serapis
 

Charles Martin Powell "British Man-O- War with Dutch Sailing Vessels in a  Choppy Sea" 1805
 

Chinese Exhibit
 

Steam Yacht "Mayflower"
 
 

Steam Yacht "Mayflower"
 

John Stobart "Vallejo Street Wharf, San Francisco 1863"
 

Montague Dawson "The Atlantic sailing packet Daniel Webster"
 

Jonn Stobart "Clipper Ship 'Nightingale' Towing Out Past Greenwich in 1852"
 

John Stobart "Nantucket Sunrise"
 

Edward Marple's workplace (museum reconstruction)
 

E. Marple's workplace
 

E. Marple's workplace
 

E. Marple's workplace
 

HMS "Prince" Edward Marple's last model (unfinished)
 

E. Marple's workplace with unfinished HMS "Prince"
 

E. Marple's workplace & unfinished HMS 'Prince'
 

E. Marple's workplace - detail
 

Roy Cross "Robert E. Lee in New Orleans 1870s"
 

Roy Cross "Steamer Adelaide Passing Fort McHenry"
 

Roy Cross "The Devonshire"
 
 

John Wilson Carmichel  "Squadron of Frigates and Fishing Vessels in a Choppy See off Holy Island"
 
 
And the last pic here is a general view of Mr. Marple's workshop (reconstructed) again

Hello,
I am very happy about the extremely nice comments from all of you and the many LIKES.
That of course motivates me a lot and gives me the feeling of being part of a really great community that pursues the same interests. Thanks again for that.
 
Continuation: Mizzen topgallant stay - Étai mât de perruche 
As already reported on this topic some time ago (LINK), the monograph by J. Boudriot does not reveal in detail how the mizzen topgallant stay was attached. In this respect, I orientated myself on examples from relevant literature.
Before attaching the stay (model rope ø 0.46 mm), its length must be determined on the model, as it is guided over a single block (length 4 mm) and integrating the thimble on the model is not necessarily recommended.

 
The next picture shows the finished mizzen topgallant stay and the two-legged sling (counterpart for the lanyard lashing), which is attached to the trestle trees.

 
The lanyard for the lashing to fix the mizzen topgallant stay was set up with a simplified splice or fake splice (unfortunately I don't know the English name).

 

 
In the last picture you can see the finished lanyard lashing. A corresponding enlargement in the cut-out at the top left.

 
Sequel follows … 

Could I please. trouble you for a close up photo of your figurehead? What is it made of?
Regards,
Thomas

I wouldn't worry too much about the filling pieces now. Make all hawse frames first and make sure they all fit and that their external surfaces are smooth (inner surfaces will later be smoothed). And only then try to make those fillers, carefully  sanding down their thicknesses to fit to the available spaces in between the hawse frames.
I too had a hard time making them for my "Frenchie" (of course, later on I bought the addendum brochure from Ancre with all profiles of the missing frames, including the hawse timbers, but it was already after I managed to shape them all by myself from the waterlines). Tough luck...

Thank you all for commenting . Haven’t been doin much lately. Did this book cover for a friend. The original was taken to Canada by RCN Minesweeper along with a rare Corvette's skiff , discovered in the boat shed in Portsmouth Dock yard 

I wouldn't worry too much about the filling pieces now. Make all hawse frames first and make sure they all fit and that their external surfaces are smooth (inner surfaces will later be smoothed). And only then try to make those fillers, carefully  sanding down their thicknesses to fit to the available spaces in between the hawse frames.
I too had a hard time making them for my "Frenchie" (of course, later on I bought the addendum brochure from Ancre with all profiles of the missing frames, including the hawse timbers, but it was already after I managed to shape them all by myself from the waterlines). Tough luck...