mtaylor

After seeing the picture, I'd be leaning towards tossed.

Denis, You just never cease to surprise me on your builds. Keep up the great work, friend!!

You're doing some nice work on stern, Maury. I would think that laminating up rising wood and deadwood like you did would prevent bending/warping. Thats a good way to make that area, In my opinion. A lot less fiddly than chiseling.

After much thought, reading, Googling, staring at the ship, fiddling with paper and cardboard, I'm starting the galleries. First, here's the drawings of the Licorne as built in 1755 with the same style galleries as Renommee and others of that era. Ornate and distinctively French. After the rebuild, the wales changed to more like Belle Poule and other frigates of that era. There is one problem though, the galleries are NOT like anything I've able to find. I trust the NMM drawings as the lines, etc. were taken off after she was captured. The big "whoa" moment is that the galleries extend beyond the transom taffrail. Newer ships fell under the edict of galleries, when viewed from the stern were to be "hidden" by the transom taffrail. See drawings... these are from the Hahn plans but match the NMM plans. There are no plan views (top down) that show the galleries shape. What I ended up doing was using cardboard, paper, cellophane tape, blue tape, lots of invectives, and finally some rationalization. Hahn built them as semi circles and I think he's pretty spot on. The mockup was pretty much destroyed fit the bits and pieces into the scanner for converting to parts drawings. So, sorry there's no pictures. It wasn't very pretty to look at but it filled the need. Here's the first parts I've cut. Basically the upper matches the bottom as to size but with some reshaping as to the outside for the trim strip. If you'll look carefully, they are not a true semi-circle. When I viewed the mockups from the side and the rear, this curve is the only one that matched the views and this didn't match the other ship plans I looked at. Part of the reason, I believe, is that Licorne's stern is a bit narrower than the normal of the time and the sweep of the top rail has more arc than other French frigates I looked at. I'm starting to fit them now. I'm starting with the bottom piece on one side and then make the other side a mirror image. One other note.... On the old style galleries, only the center pane of the window (or of the center window for larger ships) was glazed. I'm in a quanadry about glazing all the panes in all the windows and all the models of frigates of that period that I've seen haven't had glazing. Even Frolich's... just black or blue paint in the panes. Hmm... my decision at this moment is to glaze the center window entirely and deadlight the other two. However, that's open to discussion.

I think the answer to the question about all that rigging for hauling boats, cargo, provisions, guns, etc. is "depends". Not a solid answer but there's variables such as type of ship, country of ship, and even the Captain and the Master have input. I've seen some where the line is left run through the blocks and then both ends are coiled and belayed. The free hanging block has a hook and is set to an eyebolt. Others, just pull the lines and blocks and not worry about it. The pendents are usually fixed. I suspect they were coiled on the stay or yard they were attached to. But again, I've seen where they ran a line through, put a stopper knot and belay the bitter end. If you can, look for James Lee's book on Masting and Rigging of the English Man of War. It's very thorough.

I'm just playing catch up... as always it seems... Looking great, Chris. I like your planking over of the middle window. Looks cleaner than painting it black.

Joss, My first thought when seeing that first pic, was "cherry?". The second was "speed". I've run into that with cherry myself and good, preferably new bit and as high a speed and as slow a feed as I can do will usually get it. But, cherry is an iffy wood due to the grain in my opinion. They look great in that last photo... really good.

Lovely work on the mast and it's great to see that you can get back into the shipyard, Nils.

That is an amazing production line you had going for those blocks, Kees. The came out looking great.

I love your inlay work. And as Mike pointed out, that 2nd from the last picture is wonderful.

Hmm... the only problem I see with Terra Cotta tiles like a restaurant kitchen is that they get really slippery when wet. However, go with what you feel is right in absence of any hard data.

Rock on, Mario. Go with what you think will work best for you.

Tom, Get a look at the MS Confederacy and see if that's an inspiration on your framing idea. I think that the instruction book might be on line at ME.

The method of displaying the oars is problem I wouldn't want to face. Standing upright looks impressive but it hides details and masting. Bundled, seems kinda' of waste of all the work on the oars. Having them in rowing position would require a larger base and again, hides the lines. Maybe a couple in rowing position or standing up and the rest displayed on the base? I would think the oars were not stored in the barge but near it?

Tom, Goto the Scratch Area and look at the DaveS topic on "Hahn". It's pinned at the top. Basically, the spacing on Admiralty models which seems to be the precedent did not actually follow shipyard practice. It was stylized and Hahn did a very similar thing. There's been more than one discussion of room and space...

Kees, The photobucket link says it's "broken"... Can you re-do it?

Nenad, With that compass and the other small bits and pieces, your tiny pieces show incredible skill. Great work!!!!

Mike, There's also the mini-Mamoli kits that are still available.

In spite of the problems with the plans and the wood supply, you're doing a beautiful job, Jack. Looking super good.

Indeed, it was impractical. But at the time, if you look at lot of the ships of the line, they had guns pointing every way they could think of. Including at themselves.

On the swivels... I like to add one bit of conjuncture. The Brits did arm the tops with swivels which were manned by Marines. At Trafalgar, Nelson ordered the Marines down from the tops as they were closing due to the heavy French fire. I would think that the Marines would bring those down with them and set them up on the deck/bulwarks. I'm quite possibly wrong in this.

Beautiful work, Greg. That capstan is an interesting detail. Another one of life's mysteries....

Denis, it looks like it belongs there. Nice work.

I love the way you're turning the guns, Jesse. The template is a great idea and ensures they all look alike. I'm hoping you start feeling better....

Ben, Look to the model railroad types also. They use weathering powders and other trick for wood structures.