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I meant to say Proxxon Lathe in the post above. Damn auto-correct! Frank

Hello, I was finally able to make it to my friend's house to borrow his large Bridgeport milling /drilling machine. With his guidance, I finished drilling the holes for the Thore-pins perpendicular to the waterline or table. The drill depth went about halfway into the main beam. Thore-Pins installed. 30 on the starboard side and 29 on the port side. Thore-Pins at 90 degrees from the waterline Next step was to start work on the railing stanchions. Since the stanchions are square (4-sided) I purchased a 4 jaw chuck for the Proton lathe. It worked nicely for drilling pin holes to support the stanchions on the deck. Upper and Lower Stanchions Attached with pins Each Stanchion will have a flag pole attached to the aft side. I added 2 small eyelets to support the flag staffs (which I will add later) Railing Stanchions fastened to the deck. Similar to the Thore-pins, the stanchions are perpendicular to the waterline, not the curve of the beam of deck. One of the hazards of working off of two different plans (Corel and Fleur di Lis) is positioning of details might have to be altered. Because I used the Fleur di Lis plan and raised the deck pieces, where the chain for the shrouds come thru the deck, I had to slightly shift where the Corel plan says the stanchions should be. Lower railing trial fitted (will be installed later). Final touchup on on red paint will be done after I finish the swivel gun mounts. Also just realized that the eyelets will have to be removed on 3 of the stanchions on the starboard side. There are no flag poles where the long boat davits will be located. Next steps will be making the swivel gun mounts and working boat davits. Thanks for stopping b for a look! Frank

All those little details you are adding make for a very fine model! Congrats! Frank

Great! Thanks for assisting Clark. Appreciated!! Frank

Hello Ogun, I hope all is well. Yes, I have the instructions and parts list. Give me a day or so to clean it up. (I penciled thru all the parts that I have installed in the parts list and crossed out all the directions I have completed). I will erase my pencil markings and get the instructions to you. The instructions come in English, French, and what I believe is German. You want the English instructions correct? Thanks, Frank

Looking nice Mark! How is the quality of the Carronades that come with the kit? From the photo, they look to be cast? I hope all is well, Frank

Nice touch with the use of different woods. You’re moving quickly!! Frank

Hello, Small update: My next step is to make the oar pads and drill for the 1 mm pin that makes, what the Corel plan calls, the thore-pin. There are 59 of these. The plan calls for the thore-pin to sit right behind the oar pad, but I modified this a little. I made the oar pad a little longer and will incorporate the pin into the pad. The reason I did this is so a starter hole could be drilled onto the pad. Then when the pad is attached to the beam, the final drilling into the beam can be guided by the starter hole in the pad. (Yikes, I hope this makes some sense!) The reason for all this is that the pins need to sit perpendicular to the waterline and NOT perpendicular to the curve of the beam. (At least this is what the Corel plan calls for). Probably over-kill, but I took the time to have a small fixture made (helped by my friend with his equipment). This fixture will hold the oar pad for the drilling of the 1 mm hole Oar pad located on fixture. Thore-pin hole (1 mm) drilled thru on center of oar pad All oar pads drilled and ready to attach to the beam. In order to get the positioning correct on the side beams, a couple of simple fixtures were made. The first metal fixture sets the correct distance of the oar pad from the edge of the outer beam. The second wood made fixture sets the position of the oar pad along the length of the beam relative to the rower benches. I made it so the point where they intersect is the correct position as shown in the photo. Oar pads installed on the starboard beam. After I finish installing the pads on the port side beam, I will bring the model to my friends house, where I will set it on his large Bridgeport mill / drill machine. Using the existing holes on the pads as a guide, the 1 mm hole will be drilled perpendicular to the waterline into the beam and the thore-pins installed. Then the pads will be painted the ship's red color. Probably over-thinking things, but having fun! Thanks to all who have stopped by for a look! Frank

Nice job Michael! Good luck picking which plans to use for the rigging. Yikes! Lol! Frank

Hello Michael! Happy New Year! And thanks for stopping by for a look (and kind words) at my progress. Appreciated! Best, Frank

Hi Clark, Thanks for stopping by. Happy New Year. The only reason I added the Rudder chain is because I saw it on The excellent Fleur De Lis plans by G Delacroix. I am assuming his plans are more accurate than the Corel plans!!! As far as the figurines, I do have enough to add to the remaining areas. Some of them, as you know, are in bad shape and not fully cast. But I believe I have enough good ones for the remaining areas! Thanks, Frank

Back working on the model after some time off! Continued working on the rudder assembly. The Corel kit supplies the modeler with 2 sets of upper and lower hinges for the hull and rudder. Thank goodness they did. The hinges are very brittle and if bent or shaped too aggressively, they break off. I had to learn the hard way! Hinges attached to the hull of the model. Hinges attached to the Rudder Ornamental Cast Tiller painted and ready to install. Both the Corel plans and The Fleur De Lis plan show a short tiller going into the Royal area of the ship. I don't quite understand this. There must have been a tiller crew member manning the tiller in the royal sitting area. Also, as stated in Clark's log, the tiller seems very short. I'm thinking a lot of the steering must have been done by the oarsmen. The upper hinges are supposed to attach to each other with only a 1mm brass rod. The only thing keeping the rod from sliding thru would be glue. I wasn't happy with this, so I made up a brass pin with a top head on it for safety. The next photo shows many things: Before attaching the rudder, I added the many cast metal decorations. As told to me by a post on Clark's Reale log, the decorations were actually painted on the real ship. I filed off as much of the flashing as I could, then painted them the antique gold I have been using and attached to the model. Also add a lower trim strip piece just above the upper hinge. The lower pintle is interesting in that it extends from the lower hinge to above the water line. The Fleur De Lis plan seems to show the upper end tied to the hull. Since it was real tight in there, I attached a very small eyelet to the hull, and slid the curved rod into it. Not sure what the purpose of this long pintle is, but since it ends above the waterline, could this have allowed a crew member to disengage it from the lower hinge, if needed, without having to go underwater? Finally, an eyelet was added to each side of the rudder for the rudder chain. The Fleur De Lis plan shows 1 chain attached between the hull and rudder with a horseshoe type clamp. Since it was very tight in there, I modified it and added a chain to each side. Decorations added to the bow area. Port Side Decorations near stern Rudder chain added to both sides of Rudder The next step in the build, for me, is to start work on the topsides, drilling and installing 59 oar wear pads and 59 oar thore-pins. The thore-pins do not follow the curve of the deck, but are perpendicular to the water line. This will require me to bring the model to my friends shop and borrow his large Bridgeport drill / milling machine to drill the 59 holes perpendicular to the waterline. So in preparation for this I had some temporary supports made to sturdy up the ship and level the model. Thanks again for stopping by and visiting. Appreciated. Happy New Year! Frank

Thanks Michael! Just ordered the shapers! Frank

Beautiful work on the door and platform! Lots of detail! I'll have to order the micro shapers you showed in one of the photos!! Best, Frank

thanks for the information Clark! I will be working on the pins soon. Still working on the rudder assembly. (A real pain with the brittle parts) Frank

Hi Clark, Nice job on the Thole Pins. A couple of questions if you don't mind: 1. What height did you set the thole pins to? 2. As you know, the horizontal beam that the thole pin drills into has a long curve to it from the stern to the center. Did you place the thole Pins perpendicular to this beam or perpendicular to the water line? Thanks for the assistance, Frank

Hi Clark, Thinking ahead a little, since you are ahead of me. Do you think the real ship had all these ornaments on the hull? I am undecided as to whether adding them is overkill or not. Let me know your thoughts. Also, what glue did you use to attach them to the hull? Thanks for the help, Frank

Thank you Gimo! Hopefully this will help Clark on his build. After I am done with the rudder, I have to start working in this area also. Frank

Hi Clark, I am not home now, so I can't check my Fleur di Lis plans. Check out this link, I I think you will see that the oarlocks are correct facing the stern. The oarsmen are facing the stern. I hope this helps. Frank

Congrats on finishing the first planking layer! Frank

Clark, Nice job on the difficult bow deck planking. Yes, I agree. the Corel kit supplied catheads are horrible. I made mine from scratch also! Frank

Hello, Glad that visitors like the carvings! Thanks for the input and for visiting. Small update: As can be seen on this photo below, I thankfully, and with relief, was able to pry the carving off and re-position it right side up! Crisis averted. Both the Corel plans and the Fleur di Lis plan show 3 small hatches under the decorative side panels. The Fleur di Lis plan shows the hatches to be more oval in shape (as I made them) than the rectangle shape of the Corel plan. Another difference is that the Fleur di Lis plan show 2 of the hatches roughly where I put them (see green arrows). The one I marked with the red arrow is located more forward(Past the stern yoke). I could not do this however, since I have 5 knees supporting the upper deck in this area, while the Fleur di Lis plan shows only 1 knee. So I kept the 3 hatches in the locations shown on the Corel plan. Added some thin wire to simulate hinges. Starboard side I did a test run on the Mica material, suggested to me by Michael. I glued on a few of the window cutouts from the plans to the Mica, using Elmers Rubber cement. Interestingly, when I tried sanding down the Mica to the shape of the window openings, the Mica thickness started peeling (flaking) off in sheets, like an onion. So, I will experiment later, using some microscope glass pieces I have instead. Painted and sanded the rudder decorative sheet metal. Pre-Painted the rudder Attached the decorative pieces to both sides of the rudder Now I will take a week or so off to spend time with family! Thanks, Frank

Excellent work! Frank

Oops, I'm having a bad week! Just noticed the view on the port side, I put the wood figurine upside down! Yikes! I think I need a break from ship modeling this week! Frank P.S. I was able to get the wood carving off the port side without breaking it. I will reattach right side up tomorrow!

The external sides of the canopy area have some sheet metal decorative art work. Using the same technique taught to me in earlier posts, the background was painted the ship's blue. The decorative pieces have what appear to me to be a boxed frame. Feeling that something was left out, I wanted enhance these pieces. I put my wife to work and at the Etsy site, she found a company called Victoriaminiland, located in Victoria, Canada. They have some beautiful thin delicate wood art pieces that we thought would fit perfectly in the space. This is what we picked out. (Photo shows wood art painted with the Antique Gold) Wood art glued to sheet metal decorative piece. Stern facing decorative sheet metal painted the ship's red. Note the slots where the ships ladder will fit into. In an earlier photo, I show the drilled relief in the wood that this piece will sit on. Piece attached to stern yoke. When the sheet metal decorative pieces were attached to the sides of the model, I didn't like the look of the edges of the sheetmetal. therefore some trim pieces were added to give it a more finished look. Finished area on Port side. Finished area on Starboard side: After taking a few days off for Turkey Day, my goal for the next month or so is to a) Finish the 6 (3 on each side) port opening lids b) Play around with the Mica, suggested to me by Michael, to see if a window look added to the side panel arches are possible and c) Start work on the rudder assembly. Thanks again for the input and suggestions, Happy Thanksgiving! Frank