G. Delacroix

Hi All
 
Work continues on the deck and I've been making the short and thinner half beams.  The plans give you a very good idea of the shape but don't give the individual shapes for the undersides although the lengths are shown separately.  This simply means that you have to use your brains a bit and translate the drawings as you see fit.  Thinking back I would have struggled with this concept at the beginning of this build but now I can see what is required.
 
So here are the eight half beams.


Now just for a change and to try something new I thought that I would make the female part of the dovetail joint first and then fit the end of the beams to suit.  This was not a great idea and I won't be doing that again - it's so much harder that way around and I couldn't get the joints as tight as I wanted.  Anyway they turned out ok and here they are fitted on the ship.



I still need to drop a few of them further into the deck clamp but thats an easy job.  On the whole I think the run of the deck looks pretty good as this is only a dry fit and I don't think it will take much sanding at all.


I can see some slight variations on the dovetails for the waterway and spirketting so I guess that will need some adjustment when the time comes to make them.  I'm not going to make the pump partners until the deck is fixed in place either.  So now I have to remove all of this work and make a start on the deck shelf which is fitted to the entire length of the deck clamp.  This shelf is there as no knees are fitted to the beams on this ship and it looks quite difficult to make.  Hopefully I'll have something to share soon
 
Cheers Mark
 

Good morning and thank you all for the messages and likes you are all too kind.
 
 

Luggage and final tweaks:
 
A few Items of luggage such as a suitcase, a trunk and a hatbox were all constructed in essentially the same way.  A wood frame was constructed and then ech was covered with dark brown Nappa.  Hinges and detail were added an the items placed on the roof rack.
=


 

And now the completed model:-

 
Thanks for all the "likes" and comments during the course of this build.
 
John
 
 

I couldn't resist, as racers seem to let me go fast . Decals went on beautifully and luckily there are only four of them. I glued in the propeller blades and went through the painful task of denting all the chrome cowling holes with a toothpick. I will need some finishing touches, but then the beautiful Caudron is done. The kit was near perfect and an absolut fun to build. This will not be my last racing plane, there is another green one in the pipeline.
 
Cheers Rob
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Another update from me as I finished the mast partner in far less time than I thought it would take.
 
The first thing I did was to make sure that the carlings were a very good fit in between the beams.  As mentioned earlier I had placed beam 7 in the incorrect place and once this was sorted the parts fitted as they should.  In this picture they are sitting proud as I had not yet cut the rebates to make them flush.

The cut rebates and how they sat on the beams after.  I have deliberately left them slightly proud so that I have something to sand down to deck level.


Next I cut out the notches for the other two parts of the mast partner and the dovetail for the half beam

Nothing like a nice piece of symmetry 👍

I then made the other two parts which basically followed the same process.  The actual hole is bevelled towards the stern but this is not difficult to achieve.

The parts assembled

The parts on the ship between the beams.

To complete them they still need some small corners made but I'll make and fit them once the mast partner is fixed in place.  I've still got loads to do before I get the half beams in.
 
Cheers Mark
 

Spritsail yard.

Thanks mate 👍
 
Work on the deck continues - Having found the centre line of the beams I placed the templates on each beam to cut out all of the required notches.

There's quite a lot of them to cut and I had to look through quite a lot of the plans to find the required sizes.  I was cutting for the carlings, binding strakes, bowsprit partners, mast partner and pump partners too.  Also some to the cuts follow the curve of the beam and some need to be cut vertically.  There was one dimension that I just couldn't find and a quick email to Gerard Delacroix gave me the place to look - Thanks Gerard 
 
So lots of cutting which I mainly did on the mill using a 1mm twin flute end mill and then squared out all of the corners with a chisel


Once that job was done it was a pretty simple job to make the carlings for the hatches - I was just trying to get the tightest fit that I could.



I now need to make and fit the 8 half beams that fit along side the hatches and mast partner.  So I guess I'm going to have to make the mast partner too.  I think this will take quite a while so I'll update you once I get somewhere with it.  Thanks for all of the encouragement 
 
Cheers Mark

The last couple of days have been dedicated to the scoop arms and the scoops themselves.
 
I've formed one of the scoop arms. It has an interesting contour, the lower part changing shape in a convex nature, whereas the upper part is more conical. The scoop arms are near 40cm long, 8mm diameter at the base, and tapering to 3mm at the top. It took me nearly two days to turn the first scoop arm. I found it difficult due to do the turning because of the large length to diameter ratio. I have a steady rest rest for my lathe but it seemed to offer just limited help. I've ordered a follower rest in hopes that this accessory will help in forming the second scoop arm.

I believe that I have cut enough brass stock for the sides of the scoops and also stock for the straps. I have started to assemble the first scoop and have made the first couple of solder joints. I have essentially no background in successful soldering so this is really a learn as you go part of the build! I am following the basic scoop assembly order and method that is shown in the Ancre monograph. 

Since my last post, I have added all of the superstructure fasteners and metalwork. Here is the last picture I took before oiling the deck and superstructure:

Today I spent nearly 4 hours swabbing linseed oil onto the deck and upper works. I think it is looking pretty nice, and am really looking forward to seeing it with wheels and scoops.


In a few days, when completely dry, I can think about adding 6 ring bolts to the deck. I believe the main purpose of these ring bolts was to attach ropes with hooks that could then secure the wheels during transport / anytime one would not want them free to turn. 
 
Now my attention will turn to finishing the wheels. Simultaneously, I will start working on the scoop mechanisms. I guess it is also time to select a mounting / display mode for the vessel. 

@Dziadeczek
@noel_colledge
Hello,
thank you for the lovely comments.
 
Continued: Equipment of the lower yards - more blocks - poulies
As already described, I preferred to produce more blocks for the lower yards. These are blocks for the braces, clew lines and lifts of the main and fore yard and for the sheets of the mizzen yard. A total of 12 pieces with a length of 5.6 mm had to be made. The brass sheaves of the single blocks have a diameter of around 3.2 mm and are 0.6 mm thick.

 
For the clew line blocks (Poulies de cargue de point - the main yard) I have already made the strops as you can see in the next picture.

 
Here's a look at the workspace:

 
Finally a picture from the middle of the main yard with a clew line block that has been lashed down in the meantime. Here, too, a rose lashing was used, which was not easy to accomplish with the necessarily somewhat thinner rigging yarn.

 
The brass tubes have now been delivered. So I can continue with the thimbles for the foot ropes. I hope that the size will be appropriate.
Up soon …

Something else in between...😀
Ron Neilson of the Philadelphia Ship Model Society asked me if they could use a detail photo of my La Créole as the cover photo for their next club newsletter "Quarterdeck" in April.
Of course I was happy about the interest in my model and agreed.
This is what the cover looks like:

If interested: www.philadelphiashipmodelsociety.com

@dvm27
@Testudo
@uss frolick
@bdgiantman2
@druxey
@jdbondy
@hollowneck
 
Hello,
I am very pleased with the lively interest in my report. I also thank you for the positive feedback and the nice comments.
Of course I am also grateful for the many LIKES.
 
Continuation: Equipment of the lower yards - Footropes and stirrups - Marchepieds et étriers
As often practiced, I also try to clarify the implementation of details for the foot and jumper horses by making a sample specimen.
According to the specifications and the description from the monograph, the two-piece foot horses of La Créole consisted of tarred cordage, taken with spliced eyes over the yardarms. Thimbles were spliced into the inner ends and lashed to the center of the yard by means of lanyards.
In the main yard, the rope for the footrope had a diameter of 32 mm according to the monograph. The ropes for the stirrups are given with a diameter of 30 mm.
 

Source: Monograph on the La Créole by J. Boudriot
 
For the execution of the foot horses on the model I orientate myself on a drawing from the atlas.
I received corresponding information from G. Delacroix, for which I am very grateful.
 

Source: Detail from Atlas du Génie maritime, annexe No. 1, Pl. 1
 
The first test piece shows that the used thimble with ø 2.1 mm appears much too dominant in the model scale. The smaller thimble with ø 1.5 mm, however, is too small for the rope thickness ø 0.67 mm. To be able to make a size in between, I am currently missing the appropriate brass tube, which I have already ordered in the meantime.


So I will now bring forward the production of the other blocks for the main yard.
 
To be continued ...
 

My visit to the INHA, National Library of France was interesting, if not as directly productive as I had hoped.
 
One thing that I was able to request and look at in the fantastic oval reading room was Le Chevalier de Tourville, the Boudriot monograph of the proposed 1680 First-Rate L’Ambiteaux.  It is an impressively documented project and a beautifully hand-drawn monograph.  The plans, in 1:48, give a strong impression of just how large a model one can produce from this set.  Even at 1:72, one needs a slipway to launch such a behemoth.
 
There were a few new plates of interest in the monograph that I hadn’t seen before:
 



Belle Viue is the same Brest sculptor and draftsman responsible for the following drawing of the highly fascinating Souverain of 1678:

As an added bonus, the following is the best and clearest image I have yet seen of the RL of 1692:

While I was really only skimming the monograph, in the interest of limited time (I had a 3 hour window that I stretched to 4), I will say that I was fascinated by Boudriot’s skepticism of the VdV drawings of La Reyne, with specific regard to the sheer and placement of the artillery.  Perhaps this is my personal failing in that I imbue the work of the VdV’s with a degree of photo-realism only paralleled by Puget for these times.  All I can say for sure is that I am no expert.
 
My primary objective for this visit was to see whether there were any catalogued references to the “Gilded Ghost” portrait:

Unfortunately, an image search produced no direct result.  Upon walking amongst the stacks, I realized that I happened to be in a room divided between artists both pre and post 1845.  And so, I did what I usually do when I visit the STRAND bookstore in NYC; I went in search of my coterie of famous French artists, sculptors and Dutch Master marine artists.
 
And so, I skimmed through the six books in the stacks for Charles LeBrun, the four for Antoine Coysevox, the six for Puget.  There was nothing in the stacks for Van Beecq.  Regrettably, I did not think to look for Francois Girardon.
 
Only the works on Puget made any specific pictorial reference to his work at the arsenal at Toulon; not much there that I hadn’t seen before.  But, then I found the three volume Robinson set on the Van de Veldes.  Again, if I had more time, I could probably have pulled more, but following are a number of fascinating portraits that help clarify things I couldn’t see clearly before.
 
For example, this whisper of a portrait:

Appears to have very much in-common with this portrait:

They do not appear to be the same vessel, but perhaps the same type of Second-Rate - that of the “interrupted” third deck (an un-armed and open waist).  Other corollaries:

I have never seen the following two before:

The boutielle, below seems out of proportion, but it is nonetheless fascinating:
 
Here is one of the early Holland-built ships of the 1660’s:


Fantastic detail!
 
A different perspective and fascinating study of La Royal Therese:

And then, of course, there were quite a number of fascinating studies of famous English ships.  SR’s early rival, the Royal Charles:



The London:


A particularly interesting re-fit of the Royal Sovereign:

And, a perhaps conjectural ship:


At least I can say there may be sound artistic precedent for pulling a ship out of thin air!
 
All interesting to me, and so the journey through Paris and maritime history continues!  Dad is having a great time, despite the expected travel exhaustion of his 88 years.
 
More to follow, and thank you for looking-in.

Over the past few days I did make a new set of axles. These will be keepers!
 
Later the big wheel axle will get some doublings to help support the scoop chains.

Above you can also see that I am adding the fasteners to the scoop guide components. I've been doing a lot of fasteners lately - guard rails, cleats, foot boards, ... Still quite a few to go on the superstructure, but progress is being made.
 
Here is the new small wheel axle.

I've been doing other odds and ends as well; for example all of the small wheel steps have been made flush with the rims and some metal work has been done on the davits.

All the necessary blocks are attached to the yards, so the yards are ready for installation.

The wheel bearings are complete and firmly attached. Cleats are in place as well - not too easy to see, but they are on the inside of pillars 1,2, 5, and 6.

The two wheel axles in these pics are now classified as 'practice pieces' - they were fails, better ones will be made! However, they are being used to check wheel alignment, etc. Looks like everything is going to be were it belongs.

 
 

Hello,
 
In English "canal des anguillers" can be translated by: limber-holes.
 
GD

Hello,
 
In English "canal des anguillers" can be translated by: limber-holes.
 
GD

Hello,
 
In English "canal des anguillers" can be translated by: limber-holes.
 
GD

Over the weekend, guardrails and foot boards were added to the superstructure pillars. Also, I finished the last two knees - the ones that fit onto the slanted pillars. For some reason, these knees presented a great deal of difficulty for me to get all the angles right. Quite a few attempts were made before I was able to make a pair that I was willing to attach to the model.

Today I began work on the wheel bearings. The big wheel bearings are being done first because they looked to be less complicated than the small wheel bearings. The main challenge being that the bearings have footprints that match the curve in the superstructure carling (i.e., the bases are not rectangular) and the required shape looks to be more pronounced for the small wheel bearings than that for the big wheel bearings. Also, because of the carling / base shape, the recesses in the bearings need to be milled at an angle so that the wheel axles embed properly. 

 
 

Continuation: Equipment of the lower yards - Quarter blocks / Slings - Poulies d'ecoute et de cargue-point / suspentes
In the meantime, the quarter blocks of the main yard have been fastened at the appropriate positions by means of rose lashing. I continued with the slings. These strong ropes with ø 43 mm (0,9 mm in 1:48 ) are completely served. There are two of these slings per yard, each with a spliced eye at the end.
In preparation for serving these ropes, they were wormed in advance. As described some time ago, the pre-wormed model ropes simply look more realistic.

Here is a picture of the current condition of the rigging elements on the main yard:

Next I will make the truss pendants and jackstays and mount them to the yard.
The following picture from the Atlas du Génie maritime shows, among other things, the truss pendants as it was most certainly used on the La Créole, which is also the case on the original model. Accordingly, I have provided the necessary sheaves when making the longitudinal salings. The slings shown in this picture do not correspond to those of the La Créole.

Source: Extract from Atlas du Génie maritime, annexe No. 1, Pl. 23
 
To be continued ...
 

With Martes' active help some of the ship's decorations are being made, but only such a model of the stern lantern was available at the lantern booth in 1627 fair, and modellers today will be rather unhappy. Then again, neither are my computer's processors and fans.
 

 

 

 
 

On to a better subject!
 
Today I spent time fabricating components that will support the scoop guides. Here are the parts before installation on the dredger. I connected the smaller roller pin supports onto the external guide beam before drilling holes for the pins. I saw no other reasonable way to have half the hole half above (and half below) the joint.
 
The external guides / beams were then installed. This was easy because the notches placed everything into the right place. I then went to install the inside guides. Note that they come in two sizes with the smaller ones forward; also the smaller ones are not symmetrical, there is a front and a back to these. I set these four guides onto the superstructure to check their fit and at first thought I had done something radically wrong as they looked to be sitting way too low. But then I looked through the holes from one side and was pretty sure I could see through all four. To confirm, I grabbed a piece of stiff wire and passed it thru all four - and yes, all was as it should be! I then use the wire to aid in gluing the inner guides in place. I threaded the wire in place, slid an inside guide into the open space between the superstructure and the exterior guide, spun it over to apply glue, spun it back, and set it in place. Repeat 3 more times and all done.

Later, hourglass shaped rollers will be turned to fit between the guides, as well as the pins that keep them in place.

I'm opening this topic dedicated to the Frégate de 24 l'Egyptienne, designed by François Caro and built in Toulon in 1799.
The documentation (based on the English and French archives) was established by Gerard Delacroix in a monograph published by Ancre in 2019.
This exceptional monograph includes a history, then very many 3D sketches that run through the entire ship. Many photos also of two models of the Egyptian exhibited at the Musée de la Marine in Paris, then 39 plates complete the work.
I chose to build my model ( poirier, buis,ébène érable ) at 1/48 which will make a model of almost one meter thirty. 24 frigates were called "heavy frigates".
 
I post some photos of the beginning of construction:
 
 

Hello Thomas,
where is the problem?
Karl