La Couronne by EJ_L - FINISHED - Corel - 1:100 - 1637 Version

[Liberto]

Hello friend E.J. I like very much "La Couronne" your work is very clean and tidy, you are doing very well, and I built it about 30 years ago, the plans were the Italian Vincenzo Lusci. Un abrazo Liberto.

                                                      "MERRY CHRISTMAS"

[Hubac's Historian]

EJ, she looks great!  I'm curious to know what, if anything, the plans say about raking the masts. La Couronne is from a time period when mast raking tended to be more pronounced.  I ask, though, because I will need to establish mast position and rake very early for the SR build, and I won't be able to rely on the kit's standard positioning of the masts because I'm cutting out the bottom and building up the decks form scratch.  Most of what I see of mid-century rake for French ships - particularly the main mast - seems negligible, at best.  In fact, one could say that the main mast appears almost perpendicular to the waterline. 

[EJ_L]

From what I can tell on the rake from the plans that I have, it is only a degree or two off perpendicular. I have not yet seen any written instruction one way or the other yet but, honestly I have not really looked for it either. I am building mine with just a slight rake as that makes sense to me and is what I have seen on all the prints I have looked at but I could easily be wrong.

 

As an update, I managed to get a lot of work time in this weekend. Finished up ratting down the main mast shrouds and got the main forestay installed. That being done, I have switched back to SR for a little while and when I return it will be time for the mizzen mast construction. 

 

I will try to take some more close up pictures also in the coming days. Forgot all I took were overall pics.

 

 

[WackoWolf]

Beautiful, and yes I know what is behind her LOL.

[EJ_L]

Happy New Year! While the holiday was a busy one with family in town I still managed to find some time to work in the ship yard. Told myself that I wanted to have all the lower masts stepped in place with shrouds ratlines and stays before starting the planking on S.R.. So with S.R. having reached a point where I will be starting planking soon, I gave her crew a much needed vacation and got La Couronne's back to work.

 

Mizzen mast is the last one to build and so construction began a few days ago on the top. Finished it up today with the deadeyes for the mizzen top mast ready to go and stepped it in place. I plan on running the shrouds this week after I finish placing a couple of blocks on the deck for future rigging. As I only have 5 pairs of shrouds on the mizzen, I may even get started on ratting them down by the end of the week. 

 

My plan is to finish the lower masts then start the planking on S.R.. I will set a goal of so many strakes and once I reach that I will stop and come back to Couronne to start working on her top masts. Here are a couple of picture updates.

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice work EJ - you work quickly, yet very precisely.  This is coming along really beautifully.

 

Just saw you started the SR - signed up for that one too

[EJ_L]

Thanks Mike. It doesn't always feel very quick as I am rounding out the 700th hour probably tomorrow and I will be crossing the one year mark at the beginning of February.    In all reality, I have been fortunate with my build time availability this past year. The admiral is in a clinical internship for her master's degree and so she is never around to stop me! As long as I take care of the dog, house and cook food for us to eat, I can build to my heart's (or at least my hand's, eyes' and butt's) content. I'm sure when the internship is over and she starts to regain some of her free time I will not have as much for the shipyard but that is okay. Actually, she is also very much into crafts and now has her own hobby room in the new house so I may not see her that much after all.....

 

No picture tonight but I did start rigging the shrouds on the mizzen mast. Might get them done tomorrow evening depending on how things go. Then ratlines.

[EJ_L]

After completing hour 705 today La Couronne has her mizzen mast in place with shrouds ratted down and the forestay in place. She is starting to look like a proud tall ship sitting there now. Next up will be the top masts. I am going to take a break though from her for a little while to work on S.R.'s planking. The top mast's rigging starts to get more intricate with the way the stays are run on ships of this era. Fortunately as a trade off the ratlines get fewer as you go up. I want to give the eyes a break before diving into the first set on the fore topmast. So back under the plastic she goes for a week or so. Till then....  

[donrobinson]

I missed this, looks great!! The shipyard looks too organised though

[EJ_L]

When I packed up the old ship yard I had years worth of stuff everywhere and it all went in to boxes that are now stacked in my closet. I unpacked the stuff I use all the time and stuff that I know I will need but a lot of the extras that have been hanging around over the years are still packed away till needed. That combined with the fact that my table is now three times bigger than what I had at the old house and the clutter doesn't pile up as fast. Plus I am trying to keep up with the mess since it is a new house and all...  I will have to take some in between pictures especially when I am planking so the true mess shows.   

[Roadking]

EJ

What an amazing job you did on this build. I am building a Corel model as well, the Sirene 1775 French frigate. It is my first build so I know I will not come anywhere close to your workmanship but following your build log is a great help. Congrats on a great accomplishment.

[EJ_L]

Thanks for the compliments and I am glad you are learning as well. That is the greatness of this site. Showing off our work is good too but, being able to share in how we build so others can learn and grow is it's true success. Welcome to the log and I will go take a look at your build also.

[fmartins]

Took me a while to reach the end, but it was well worth!! Incredible build EJ_L!! I'll keep following the developments in your ship. She is looking fine!!!! Congrats!!

[EJ_L]

Thank you very much for the kind words. I am glad you enjoyed reading through and now can sit back and watch the new work!

[Hubac's Historian]

The rigging is coming along really nicely, EJ!  Congrats on the new house! 

[EJ_L]

New update! It took a bit longer than I was planning as I have been sick for the past week and didn't feel up to much ship building. However, I had managed to get work done prior to that and some more tonight. The fore top mast is progressing nicely. Finishing up the wood work on it now and getting ready to start installing eyebolts, blocks and deadeyes. Shrouds will follow soon as well, plan is this weekend. The stays will be where the rigging gets interesting. The backstays are straight forward enough and I am not concerned but the forestay will be a new rigging challenge for me. The way the stays are rigged on 17th century ships is a lot more complicated than those I have done before with their spread webbing (not sure if there is a better term for this) at the bowsprit to contend with. I am still reading up on how they all connect to try to figure out my plan. I've got an idea but we will see. Definitely getting some good use out of Mr. Anderson's books. I think once I figure out this first set the others, there are 5 total on this ship, should be easier.

[EJ_L]

So today marked the one year anniversary of building La Couronne. Spent time rigging blocks to the fore top mast to roll over my 710th hour. Wow! Time sure can fly when you are having fun! Plus it makes the Admiral happy to see that large financial investment stretch out as long as it does and keep me happily occupied. Money well spent she has told me. I just happen to send her links to many of our fine sponsors with my wish lists as my birthday is next month....

 

So here are a couple of pictures of her to celebrate. The first is the very first stage in her build and the second is how she looks today minus the blocks I rigged tonight. I will update pictures of all of that in the next day or two.

[yancovitch]

and at the end you say '' i can't believe i built that whole thing!''

[Roadking]

WOW! Beautifully done. Display her with pride.

[ca.shipwright]

EJ,

I can't believe how fast you are building this ship. I'm at 18 months and just starting the rigging on the Endeavour; and. the la Couronne is a much more complicated build.

[EJ_L]

Michael,

I've been rather fortunate this past year with my free time. My Admiral has been in a 2 year clinical internship for her Masters degree and so while she is doing 70-80 hour work/school/internship weeks I have been left by myself a lot at home. Yes, my workload has picked up around the house as I am the only one available to do things there but, I still have lots of free time and since she is too busy for us to do much out or with friends I get more hobby time. Life will be returning more to normal though after she graduates this summer so I am sure that I will slow down then. Plus with my wood shop up and running I have a few projects out there that will be taking up some of that time.

 

Admittedly though there are some things that I should slow down and do a bit better and plenty that I wished I had taken more time on. Changing those stubborn habits can be a bit of a challenge though. I still have a lot of stuff to build on her though so there is hope for me yet!   

[yancovitch]

haha....changing habits is a full time job ........

[Elijah]

Happy one year anniversary for your ship, EJ! She is looking superb!

[Heronguy]

It looks terrific. Well done.

[EJ_L]

Elijah, Doug, thank you for the compliments!

 

Had a good weekend for working on the top mast. Got it in place with shrouds and half the ratlines done. When I finish the remaining ratlines I will update a picture or two. Hopefully I will reach that point tonight or tomorrow.

[EJ_L]

Finished ratting down the fore top mast shrouds! Always a good feeling when those are done. So here is where she sits. Starting to get some of that height going which is making me have to stand up to do a lot of the rigging as my chair doesn't adjust any higher. May need to get an adjustable stool so I don;t have to stand for all the rigging. Plus S.R. is even taller!

 

Next up will be the stays. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the back stays are straight forward and familiar however, the fore stays are rigged differently than ones I have done before so those will be an adventure. I'm ready to get started though not till after I have had some sleep.    So with that, I say good night and enjoy the pictures! 

[donrobinson]

Nice job on the ratlines E.J.

[ca.shipwright]

The late Frank Mastini, a master modeler and author developed a chair for working high on the model

 

Take an old wooden captains dining room chair, even the armrest all around and nail a board  across the arms toward the rear to sit on. Your feet will stay on the seat of the chair. This will raise you up a good 8-10 inches depending on the chair. You can also rest you elbows just behind your knee for steadiness.

 

Regards

[EJ_L]

That is a good idea Michael. I think I know where some old captains chairs are at that I could easily get a hold of one. May have to look into that as it sounds like it just might do the trick and be very cheap to modify. 

 

Thanks Don! I think I am starting to develop a good pattern now to tying them. Of course I will completely forget what that is by the time I get back around to them on the next ship but that just seems to be the way the cycle goes.

 

Zoltan, what I do to keep the tension on my shrouds is mostly work one side at a time. I pull my rope down through the lubber's hole and secure the deadeye to it. Throw the rest of the rope over the opposite side of the top and place a hemostat clamp on the line for weight. Any weighted clamp will do, you just need something to provide resistance when you rig the deadeyes. Then I run my rope for the first set of deadeyes, making sure to keep tension on the opposite side (side with weight) so I can set the desired elevation of the top deadeye. Once I am satisfied I secure the deadeye rigging and dab a little glue on the ends to make sure nothing slips. Next, remove the weight and cut the rope to the length needed for the opposite deadeye. Be sure to leave a little extra to make adjustments with. Pull the rope through the opposite lubber's hole and check to make sure that the rope is laying where and how you want it around the mast. When happy with the position I add a little glue to hold the rope in place to the mast. this keeps the right amount of tension on the side I have already done and keeps the shrouds in alignment so they do not bunch up on top of each other at the top. Now just repeat the process on the remaining side.

 

I don't try to get a perfect alignment with my deadeyes. I do try to get close but if some of them are off a little I don't worry to much. I have seen both sides of this debate on keeping them aligned and I lean towards the side of since they are designed to keep tension on the shrouds and are meant to be adjustable, they would probably not always have been perfectly even. Granted this does not always a cosmetically pleasing effect which is typically what we are trying to achieve in ship models. So to each their own on that.

 

So basically, weight and lots of glue make tight shrouds.

 

Well, I didn't spend much time in the shipyard tonight but I did get started on the first back stay. More to follow soon I hope!

[Heronguy]

EJ - would you clarify one detail on your shroud description above? As I read it one rope length does both port and starboard shroud. If that's correct then is the rope just wound around the mast once? What's holding it on the mast at the start of the 1st shroud in the pair. The diagrams I've seen for shrouds seem to have both sides of the rope heading to the same side of the ship and the loop at the mast siezed to hold it there.

 

Sorry if this is a beginner question but I qualify!