Reale De France by fmodajr - FINISHED - Corel - Scale 1:60

[Hubac's Historian]

I love the tassels and the overall excellence of the build, at this late stage, Frank.  Personally, I would opt not to cover all the beautiful work under the canopy.

[fmodajr]

Thank you Marc and Michael. And for your opinions! Appreciated!

Near the end of the build, I will see if I can accomplish a rolled back canopy that would look nice. If not, I will leave it off!!

 

thanks for stopping by,

Frank

 

 

[md1400cs]

Frank,

superb build log - with arguably a super difficult kit to look as yours came out.

Regards as always….oh tassels- brilliant indeed! 

[fmodajr]

On 2/3/2023 at 5:34 PM, md1400cs said:

Frank,

superb build log - with arguably a super difficult kit to look as yours came out.

Regards as always….oh tassels- brilliant indeed! 

Thank you Michael!

great to hear from you.

did it stop raining where you are yet? Lol!!

Best

Frank

[fmodajr]

Hello,

 

While waiting for some new pedestals to come in for the base, I started working on the oars.

The oars that came with the kit leave much to be desired, so I figured I'd make them from scratch.

Instead of making all 59 at once, for my sanity (lol) I decided to make them in batches of 15 or 16 in order to verify my process before making them all, only to find out something was not right!

 

First step was to cut some stock .250 by .250 to the correct length.

Then mill one side to .220 for the oar width and the other side .160 thick. (Ending up with .160 x .220).

Finally milled the oar end to .120 thick

 

 

Put the oars into the 4 jaw chuck and rounded the oar side to .125 (1/8 thick) or so.

 

 

At the oar end, the wood was tapered from the center to the edges on both sides and the top end finished off.

 

 

At the handle end, the wood was rounded to about .135 and the stub end to about .090

 

 

16 oars finished. I'm happy with the way they turned out, so going back to make the rest of the 59 oars plus a couple of extra.

 

 

 

After the oars are finished, they will be painted and then the handles and lashings will be added.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Frank

 

[Tim Murphy]

My God Frank! What a job. Your work is just beautiful. This is going tho be your best model ever.

Do you have any idea  how many hours you have into this build?

Just Gorgeous!

 Tim

[fmodajr]

18 hours ago, Tim Murphy said:

My God Frank! What a job. Your work is just beautiful. This is going tho be your best model ever.

Do you have any idea  how many hours you have into this build?

Just Gorgeous!

 Tim

Hi Tim.

Thanks for your comments. Appreciated!!

I do keep track of all my hours, but have not pulled out my calculator to add them all up yet. However, I know I'm over 2,000 hours. Lol!!

Frank

[72Nova]

Those look fantastic Frank!👍

 

Michael D.

[fmodajr]

Hello,

It's been a while since my last post.

I took a month off for vacation. When I returned, I turned the water to the house back on. Unknown to me that night, the water valve in the master bath shower started leaking down the wall into the basement over my work bench. So lucky that the model was 2 feet away from the dripping and not harmed in any way!

 

Finished forming the 60 plus oars and proceeded to paint them.

 

 

 

Made the battens and stained and glued to oars.

 

 

I am now working on attaching the lashings to the oars. First 3 done.

 

 

After finishing the lashings, work will begin on the handles for the oars.

 

Also finished up the base for the ship model.

Painted the 2 main stanchions the ships blue. 

Turned and painted 4 smaller posts and threaded and polished (4) 1/8 inch rods to the correct height.

 

 

 

Model mounted onto base.

 

 

 

Found another piece of cherry wood and have begun to cut the wood for the overall case.

Once done with the case base, the model base above will be fastened to the case.

Then the oars and remaining flags will be installed.

 

Thanks for the previous likes and for stopping by,

Frank

 

[Tim Murphy]

Frank, this build gets better and better. I can’t wait to see the finished Ship!

Great piece of work Sir!

all my best!

Tim

[Katsumoto]

Wow, lovely build of a difficult kit from Corel. It's an expensive kit and not being build often. What a great job you did! Congratulations with this result! 

 

[fmodajr]

Tim and Peter,

 

Tim, thanks for your comments. Looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting!

 

Peter, thanks for stopping by. Yes, an expensive kit, but fun to build. Thanks for your kind comments.

 

To those stopping by and with the "likes" appreciated.

Frank

[fmodajr]

Hello,

 

I finally finished up work on all the oars. Quite the project.

 

Lashings attached on all oars

 

 

I made the oar handles out of 1 mm thick walnut and then sealed the wood with polyurethane.

 

 

Handles attached to the oars.

 

 

The oars are complete and set aside until the model can be mounted to the case.

 

Turning my attention to fabrication of the case base. I had to keep the base of the case as narrow as possible so that the finished case would fit on the piece of furniture we bought to place the model on. (Strict warnings from the admiral to not exceed the width of 24"!!)

So the model with the oars attached will finish up at about 20 inches wide. I added roughly 2 inches on each side for the plexiglass case and just made the 24 inch restriction. Because of this I kept the design simple. I would have liked to add some corner rounding radius and made the frame wider if I had the room.

 

Cross section of Cherry wood used for the base

 

Top side view of finished case. I will stain and seal the wood after I receive it back from the manufacturer of the plexiglass top.

The assembled base was sent to Altec Plastics in South Boston. I sent them the base so the plexiglass top could be fitted into the top slots without any miscommunication!

The 1/4 inch plywood in the middle is covered with self adhesive black felt and protected for now (while at Altec Plastics) with plastic.

 

 

Underside photo of completed base. I mistakenly took this photo before I attached thin metal L-Shaped brackets at each corner for extra support. So they are not shown.

The middle strips are for extra support down the middle to prevent any sagging over time and to help give the screws, used to attach the ships base, extra material to grip.

 

Steps Left to do:

1. Stain and seal the case base, when returned from Altec Plastics

2. Attach the ship base to the case base and place and permanently set the model

3. Add the oars and oar lashings

4. Assemble and add all the small flags next to the oars on both sides

5. Fix the ship's rudder and bow cannon that have been knocked around

6. Finalize decision on stern canopy

7. Lightly dust 

 

Thanks for stopping by and again thanks for looking in and for the likes.

Appreciated as always,

 

Frank

 

 

[72Nova]

Hi Frank,

The oars look fantastic and the case is coming along nicely, I'm curious to see how step #6 turns out.

 

Michael D.

[fmodajr]

5 minutes ago, 72Nova said:

Hi Frank,

The oars look fantastic and the case is coming along nicely, I'm curious to see how step #6 turns out.

 

Michael D.

Thanks Michael!

I forgot to mention a minor detail. The oar handles have 4 large openings (as shown in the above photo). The Corel plans call for 6 openings. I chose the 4 openings following G. Delacroix's plans. the 5th oarsman held the very tip at the end of the oars. Also G Delacroix's plans called for more ornate battens with the lashings. But I couldn't follow this because the openings under the railings to fit in the oars is so tight, leaving me little to no wiggle room.

Also, Michael, I am starting to look at the multiple small flag assemblies. I looked again at your nice log and am trying to figure out how to attach them to the 1mm posts and get them to look realistic. (You might see some questions from me in the near future, lol!!)

thanks for stopping by.

Frank

[72Nova]

It's always a pleasure to admire your work, I believe I chose the 4 openings also but my issue was once I installed the battens there were a few areas where the posts for the estropes were too close to the railing posts so I had to relocate those so the oars would fit. Frank I just used the same brass rings for those flags also but happy to answer any questions you have, have a great holiday.

 

Michael D.

[fmodajr]

Hello,

Small Update,

 

Finally received the plexiglass case top made by Altec Plastics.

Keeping it wrapped in bubble wrap until model is finished.

 

 

Stained and Polyurethaned the underside of the case base and added protective pads.

 

 

Topside finished stained and polyurethaned.

Ship model base screwed onto case base from underside.

All 4 sides will have a 2" clearance between the ship and plexiglass when oars are installed

 

 

 

Model Ship permanently attached.

 

Finally beginning work of installing oars and lashing.

 

 

 

So far so good with the oars clearing the railings.

We'll see how it goes as I work along each opening!

 

Thanks for stopping by as always!

Frank

 

 

 

[72Nova]

Hi Frank,

Beautiful craftsmanship on the case and stellar work on those endless on those oars👍.

 

Michael D

[fmodajr]

4 hours ago, 72Nova said:

Hi Frank,

Beautiful craftsmanship on the case and stellar work on those endless on those oars👍.

 

Michael D

Ccoyle and Grandpa Phil thanks for the likes!

 

Michael, 

Thanks for your comments and for stopping by. Yes, endless oars!! Hopefully I can get 5 or 6 oars done each night. I checked under the long boat and the oars seem like they will fit, but be very tight! It would be a shame to get thru the whole model only to find trouble with the oars fitting. Fingers crossed.

 

Frank

[72Nova]

I had a few tight ones also Frank, I had to shave the post and batten a little on those particular oars to make them fit and not be noticeable.

 

Michael D.

[fmodajr]

Hello,

Another minor update.

 

I finished installing the oars on one side.

 

Observations and agreeing with Michael (72Nova) in his post above) !!

 

I ran into problems, some small and others not so small.

1. Had to pull up and move a couple of the rigging coils I had laid down on the deck so the oars wouldn't sit on top of them. This was no big deal.

2. The rigging cleats that were installed on the sides of the center walkway were in the way of a couple of the oars. So I had to file down a couple of the nubs of the oars so that they would fit under the cleats.

3. I got lucky on a couple of other cleats sitting on the outer walkways. The oars barely missed them.

4. The biggest issue I had was with one of the oars that sat next to the fwd side davit for the long boat. Earlier in the build I modified the davits to try to make it more like the Fleur De Lis plan. (See davit section of this log). Well the davit post was too wide for the oar assembly to fit. So I had to file down some of the post and also some of the batten on the oar and everything worked out. Not noticeable!

 

 

 

 

The oars on the port side should be easier to install (i hope!)

 

Thanks for visiting.

Frank

[72Nova]

One step closer on completion of a beautiful build Frank!

Michael D

[fmodajr]

17 hours ago, 72Nova said:

One step closer on completion of a beautiful build Frank!

Michael D

Thanks Michael,

 

Almost done with the other side. No issues so far except for moving a couple of rope coils!

Frank

[Hubac's Historian]

Frank, all of your extra care and attention to detail has really elevated this model far beyond the kit it started out as.  Brilliant work!

[kirill4]

Good day Frank,

Fully agree with all pozitive comments above!

Outstanding work! 

Very well done!

Ps

I have very big "personal " doubts that the boat lashing  is shown correctly  ... there are few options for the correct boat fastening on deck , and they are well known ...

for a model of this level of execution, it might make sense to show this element more correctly?

 

All the best!

Kirill

Edited August 15, 2023 by kirill4

[fmodajr]

7 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Frank, all of your extra care and attention to detail has really elevated this model far beyond the kit it started out as.  Brilliant work!

Hello Marc (Hubac Historian).

thank you so much for your kind thoughts and for stopping by!

Frank

 

[Tim Murphy]

Frank, as always you have outdone yourself. As I have said before, this is by far your best work yet. I cannot wait to see this on display at the February 2024 Show.

This will definitely be the height of the show at the Museum!

The more important question question is. Where is your Wife going to allow it to be 

displayed? Also who is Kirill that he could be so petty to criticize you on your build.

If he can create a model that looks so good, than he can criticize.

All my best!

Tim Murphy

[fmodajr]

4 hours ago, kirill4 said:

Good day Frank,

Fully agree with all pozitive comments above!

Outstanding work! 

Very well done!

Ps

I have very big "personal " doubts that the boat lashing  is shown correctly  ... there are few options for the correct boat fastening on deck , and they are well known ...

for a model of this level of execution, it might make sense to show this element more correctly?

 

All the best!

Kirill

Hello Kirill,

 

Thank you also for stopping by!!

I have been looking at other logs and the boat lashings seem to be similar to mine. I have seen other style lashings for boats sitting on top of gratings, but not on top of davits. Do you have any photos of boats on davits that I can check out? It would be appreciative.

If I do any modifications to the lashings, it would have to be done quickly before I install all the small flags!

thanks again for your kind thoughts and comments!

Frank

[fmodajr]

6 minutes ago, Tim Murphy said:

Frank, as always you have outdone yourself. As I have said before, this is by far your best work yet. I cannot wait to see this on display at the February 2024 Show.

This will definitely be the height of the show at the Museum!

The more important question question is. Where is your Wife going to allow it to be 

displayed? Also who is Kirill that he could be so petty to criticize you on your build.

If he can create a model that looks so good, than he can criticize.

All my best!

Tim Murphy

Lol  Tim!!!

Too funny.

Yes, wife is stressed. Just spent $1,500 on an extra wide table top to hold the width of the model case!  Oh well!

Kirill has been a great help with his wealth of knowledge. I've seen his posts on other logs that I follow and he has offered some great suggestions!

If I am able to make the boat lashings better I certainly will. Lol!

Very close to being done.

Haven't figured out yet how to get it transported. My SUV doesn't have the height. Probably will need a Suburban style SUV

Thanks Tim!

Frank

[fmodajr]

Hello,

 

Finished up the oars on the other side. 

Less drama on this side. Just had to re-position 2 rope coils.

One less oar on this side due to the cooking area.

I have 4 extra oars left over that I'll keep and hope that I will never have to use. Lol! only if disaster strikes. My hands keep seeming to get in the way.

 

 

 

 

Next step is to finish all the little flags attached to the railings.

 

Cut the brass posts a little extra long for now and sprayed on a protective coating that will hopefully negate any future tarnishing of the brass.

 

 

The flags were made earlier in the build using the same transfer process posted on my earlier posts.

Just had to cut out of the pattern.

Wanting to put a small cap on the flag posts, I cut some tiny walnut slivers out of a round piece of stock I had.

Drilled a tiny hole in each to accept the brass rod. Started to paint them the ships red.

 

Will finish up and mount these flags.

 

Thanks for all the comments and for stopping by!

Frank