Henry Grace a Dieu (Great Harry) by Louie da fly - FINISHED - Scale 1:200 - Repaired after over 50 yrs of neglect

[RdK]

 Hi!

 

I was following along silently but now I have to say it:

 

On 2/2/2021 at 9:01 AM, Louie da fly said:

A word of warning - building a mid-16th century vessel at 1:200 scale means that your biggest deadeyes are triangles 2mm on each side. 

 

This is an amazing undertaking! Somewhat...masochistic...And I thought scale 1:100 is already enough "pain in the neck". You do a great job here. I am truly amazed! For my Mayflower I also needed 2mm triangle deadeyes, but I went a short cut and bought 3mm round ones and filed them into shape...

 

I also like what you did to the underwater hull. Great work!  Can you share more pictures?

 

Rgds,

Radek

[Louie da fly]

Thanks Pat and Radek. And thanks everybody for the likes.

 

Radek, the idea for the deadeyes is very good, but I'm really wanting to make all my deadeyes myself, masochism notwithstanding.

 

 

6 hours ago, RdK said:

I also like what you did to the underwater hull. Great work!  Can you share more pictures?

 

I'm not quite sure what else I can add - I've pretty much posted everything as I went. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see? Such as the hull shape from different angles? If there are photos I can provide I'm happy to do so.

 

Steven

[norseman]

I have been looking at your build. You are doing a great job. Can't believe how much work you have done. Makes my ship look easy compared to what you are doing.

 

Jim 

[Louie da fly]

2 hours ago, norseman said:

Can't believe how much work you have done. Makes my ship look easy compared to what you are doing.

 

Pure masochism. I just like suffering . . .

 

Steven

Edited February 13, 2021 by Louie da fly

[RdK]

7 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Is there anything in particular you'd like to see? Such as the hull shape from different angles?

 Hi Stephen,

 

Yes, that's what I meant. After you sanded down the hull I can see from some of the photos you posted that it came out really smooth and beautiful!

 

Rgds,

Radek

[Louie da fly]

As requested . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the remnants of a CA spill on the last one. I need to do more sanding to get rid of it, I think.

 

Steven

 

 

[RdK]

Hi!

 

Wow! I am speechless. Such a great work on restoring this model! The lower hull looks amazingly well done! And the stain will surely go away smoothly. If not, CA is soluble in acetone (and alcohol to some degree) but I don't know if that would stain the wood even more. Maybe modellers with experience can tell better? I work only with card an paper (and balsa wood now and then), but mainly with rocks...(geologist  ).

 

I particularly like the difference in appearance between the lower hull and the upper parts. The underwater hull is nicely smooth compared to the planks above the waterline. But I like the look of it! Give it that authenticity of a very old (40 years was it?) model! Quite antique looking. I am sure the original stained sails would fit nicely!

 

Rgds,

Radek

[Louie da fly]

Thanks everybody for the likes; and thanks, Radek. I was hoping the photos would be what you wanted.

 

I've done some extra sanding and most of the CA is gone now - along with a bit of red paint that must have transferred from my thumb while I was painting.

 

I might be about to disappoint you, though. I intend to darken the underwater planking with shoe polish - it'll be sort of brownish-black in line with what they used to do back in the day (tar) - you can see an example a page or two back in this build on the bottom of the longboat. You'll still be able to see the planking, but it won't stand out so much like a sore thumb.

 

Unfortunately the old sails are way past redemption - the fabric is actually crumbling. And anyway I plan to give her a whole new suit of sails in fake cloth of gold as in the reconstruction picture on the first page of this log. That was the original plan when I built her back in the day, and I think she deserves to look as good as she can. As we (used to) say here in Oz - as flash as a rat with a gold tooth . . .

 

Steven

[druxey]

Until I saw your hand, I'd forgotten just how small the model is. Very impressive.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Superb work!  Yes, we do sometimes have to 'suffer' for our art - for ship modeling is an art form as legitimate as any other, and one that goes back to the time of the Pharos (if not beyond).  

[Louie da fly]

1 hour ago, druxey said:

Until I saw your hand, I'd forgotten just how small the model is. Very impressive.

 

Oh, that's just one of the giant hands I keep for when I photograph model ships. I got them from Kenny Everett . . .

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Louie da fly

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Talk to the hand ...

[dafi]

One of the few boats that survived is the one of the Vasa. If I remember well it predates the ship of 1628 by far.

 

One sees a light convexity towards the end, also the inside has a clear direction, also the position otf the mast. Near the stern there are two small posts for the rudder.

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180323_8913.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9570.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9614.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9615.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9616.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9617.jpg[/img]

 

[img]https://www.mediaharmonists.de/bilder/Stockholm/Stockholm-180325_9618.jpg[/img]

 

XXXDAn

Edited February 19, 2021 by dafi

[Cirdan]

Dafi refers to the discussion on page 8 of this build log, where the question was raised whether the boats were double-ended or not.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/12426-henry-grace-a-dieu-great-harry-by-louie-da-fly-scale-1200-repaired-after-over-50-yrs-of-neglect/page/8/?tab=comments#comment-786313

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Vasa was built by Dutch shipwrights and her longboat is typical Dutch Ships Boat construction;  Flat bottom with side frames (futtocks) arrached to the bottom planking and not attached to the floor timbers.  These boats are also accurately shown on many Van de Velde drawings.  Interestingly, the structural details for these Dutch built boats are exactly the same as those for the American Revolutionary Gundalow Philadelphia.  Although,  the sides of Vasa’s Longboat were lapstrake, Philadelphia’s are carvel.  Philadelphia and her sister gundalows were built in an area originally settled by Dutch colonists. The shape of Vasa’s boat is also similar to Dutch inshore Craft; wide, shallow, with a blunt scow shaped bow, narrower stern.

 

Although by no means technical draughts, the boats towed by ships shown on the Anthony Roll are more like the that Steven has modeled.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[Cirdan]

Yes, and I think Steven is right to do so. Even the Vasa longboat is double ended and shows cones or stoppers for steering oars aft (see Dafi's pics). Of course at this time (1628) this kind of steering may be a little anachronistic. Most boats painted by Vroom show a flat transom. I found a painting of 1616 by van Wieringen, that also shows a double ended boat:  https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12215.html

 

 

 

I think the stoppers aft for the steering oars are visible.

 

Hartmut

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Cirdan

[Tony Hunt]

On 2/15/2021 at 10:55 AM, Louie da fly said:

 

Oh, that's just one of the giant hands I keep for when I photograph model ships. I got them from Kenny Everett . . .

 

Brother Lee Love!

[Louie da fly]

I discovered some gaps between the planking, so I put filler in them.

 

 

Later on I sanded it down again so it all looks nice and smooth now.

 

Decided the paintwork on the top wale of the aftercastle was too rough so I sanded it down again.

 

Discovered that though the red and white zig-zags on the starboard side were correct,

 

 

 

those on the port side were facing the wrong way.

 

 

So I fixed them.

 

 

And now I've done all the painting I'm prepared to do. I've left some of the original paintwork unchanged, but most of it needed freshening up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steven

 

[druxey]

Looks terrific, Steven!

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, Druxey.

 

Of course I can see all the faults in the paintwork, but I doubt I'll be able to do it any better, so I'm leaving it at that.

 

Steven

[BANYAN]

Com'on Steven, you have to be happy with that result considering the age and scale of the model, but more importantly your goal of not altering the 'look and feel' of what you built back then.  I think you have done a terrific job.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[druxey]

Agreed, Pat!

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, guys!

 

Steven

[Louie da fly]

I've made the chocks for the longboat and glued the chocks to the longboat and the hatch cover. I've dry fitted the assembly to the deck to give an idea of how it's going to work.

 

   

 

I've finally decided not to continue trying to make the deadeyes out of wood - I just get too many failures from splitting. So I'm goingahead with card impregnated with CA. It works much better. Here's a strip of card to cut them from, and the three holes drilled with a bit made of a brass "sequin pin" (very useful, these - about the diameter of a dressmaker's pin but with a point like a nail, so it acts as a drill bit - you can get them from art supply shops).

 

   

 

Trimmed to shape and the strop attached on one side: 

 

    

 

And carried around the other two sides. And a few deadeyes - some of wood and some of card.

 

    

 

At this scale there's really no point in making chains for the lower end of the deadeye assembly - much too fiddly - so I'm just going to fake it with thread. When I made the model way back in the day I had no idea that chains existed anyway.

 

I next went to work on the rudder. Here it is all cut out, with the tiller next to it.

 

   

 

I thunk and thunk about how to attach the rudder to the sternpost -  there's no way I'm going to make pintles and gudgeons at this scale. I went back to my tried and tested method of inserting pins. Those sequin pins are a Godsend. First photo shows them complete, the second one shows them trimmed to length.

 

      

 

For the rudder irons I went back to my trusty aluminium foil catfood containers. They're purely for decoration. When I tried blacking the aluminium previously, I found the paint scraped off really easily. So this time I tried roughening the surface with sandpaper. It seemed to work, though I think I should have brushed off the sandings better as I seem to have got some grit in with the paint. But I don't think this is really a serious issue.

 

       

 

      

 

I cut strips with a craft knife:

 

    

 

I wasn't happy with my first attempt:

 

    

 

 

So I did it a different way.

 

     

 

 

I used CA glue in this case - PVA (white glue) doesn't stick to metal.

 

     

 

 

   

 

And finally glued the rudder in place. 

 

    

 

Voila!

 

Steven

Edited February 26, 2021 by Louie da fly

[liteflight]

Great ironwork, Stephen

Well persevered!

The catfood trays I would expect to be pretty pure Aluminium, so they might anodise well and could be dyed a rusty black.

you have completed the task - I’m thinking for myself and the future.  Anodising is a skill I would like to acquire

[Louie da fly]

Well, this is a step forward in a way -  when I first built the model I never got around to making and fitting the rudder. Most of what I've done so far is simply re-doing what I did way back then. But this is new.

 

I'm not saying that means I'm getting close to finishing or anything like that, but it is nice to be doing something I haven't done before.

 

Steven

[druxey]

PVA or carpenter's glue adhesion depends on the porosity of wood, which metal isn't! Either epoxy or CA is the way to go with metal to wood joints.

[Louie da fly]

Here are the cannons for the main (lower) deck, which is open to the sky so the carriages can be seen. They're based on those found on the Mary Rose, though I haven't been able to reproduce the shape of these rather unusual barrels with the equipment to hand (hell, at this scale, I haven't even given them trunnions!).

 

   

 

I made the barrels the same way as I have previously, with a piece of brass tube from a hobby shop in my "poor man's lathe" (electric drill), and shaped with a small hacksaw and files. And here's the cascabel, made from yet another "sequin pin" with the head filed down:

 

   

 

   

 

I glued it in place with CA.

 

And here's the construction of a gun carriage (note the giant matchstick):

 

     

 

The wheels were cut from a piece of pear wood I'd carved into a cylinder and drilled the holes for the axles with another sequin pin. And more sequin pins for the axles.

 

    

 

And all complete.

 

   

 

Some of them are a little too high to fit through the gunports, but I'll just sand the wheels down a bit and they should be fine.

 

 

Steven

    

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Louie da fly

[Keith Black]

11 minutes ago, Louie da fly said:

I haven't even given them trunnions

 We don't need no stinkin' trunnions. Steven, they look great particularly considering the scale. 

[Louie da fly]

And here are the cannon in place. I not only had to sand down many of the wheels, I even had to whittle away at the tops of the gunports to get the barrels to fit through. Not a lot you can do about that - you only find out when everything's made, and all you can really do is adjust things a bit, unless you want to start again from scratch (which I'm not prepared to do!)

 

 

I'm going to put the breechings on the cannons, but I'm not so sure about adding the tackle for running them up. Gunports had only been in use for a relatively short time when the ship was built, and I'm not sure there'd been enough action with guns to get people thinking in turns of tackle - perhaps they were more likely to run the guns up by main force, as they did on land. They'd only just started using 4-wheeled carriages - most of them still had a pair of wheels at the front and a skid at the back. Granted the circumstances were different, particularly with a ship heeling over. I realise that's going out on a limb a bit and there's no real evidence to justify it (or to disprove it, for that matter) , but that's what I've decided to do.

 

Steven