Sovereign of the Seas by andy - FINISHED - Mantua/Sergal

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

Very nicely done, your planking looks ok to me.

Re stain, I did stain mine but I also sealed it before with 2-3 coats of sanding sealer, then sanded it down with I think 600 grit but making sure I did not sand all the sealer off, I then brushed some mahogany ( wiping stain on ) then left it for about 5 min's then wiped it off with lint free cloth, then left it for 48 hours before varnishing.

 

Denis

Do a test first on some wood.

[pirozzi]

Nice work Andy.

 

Vince P.

[andy]

After a lot of sanding and 2 coats of Minwax wood conditioner, I was finally ready to apply paint and varnish. I used water based flat black and antique white for the top and bottom of the hull, respectively. I used a solvent based Minwax stain called Red Oak in the middle. I gave everything 3 coats and then applied 1 coat of varnish, water based for the paint and solvent based for the stain. I only applied one coat of varnish because there inevitably will be touch-ups required, and when all is done I will varnish again.

 

I am pleased with the darker stain, and think it will really look good when all the bling is applied.

 

 

 

 

[marktiedens]

Nice build you have going.I built this kit many years ago.From the looks of your kit Mantua must have totally redesigned the kit since I did mine.

 

Mark

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

Coming along very nicely .

Like you said when you  get the brass on it should stand out very well ( the contrast will look very good indeed ).

 

Nice build Andy , well done.

 

Denis.

[andy]

I have been working on the ship's railings and have started adding a small number of the brass fittings. I have decided to paint all of the inner railings red and have painted the outer railings a combination of wood stain and black. Because of the paint job the ship looks quite a bit different than other builds, but I think it stays within the realm of historical possibility.

 

The instruction manual says to continue adding brass fittings to the hull but I'm not sure that is the way to proceed. I'm thinking it might be better to add the gun port covers and channels to the hull before adding more brass. Any advice?

 

 

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

Looking very nice.

 

Denis

[pirozzi]

I have been working on the ship's railings and have started adding a small number of the brass fittings. I have decided to paint all of the inner railings red and have painted the outer railings a combination of wood stain and black. Because of the paint job the ship looks quite a bit different than other builds, but I think it stays within the realm of historical possibility.

 

The instruction manual says to continue adding brass fittings to the hull but I'm not sure that is the way to proceed. I'm thinking it might be better to add the gun port covers and channels to the hull before adding more brass. Any advice?

 

pica.jpg

 

picb.jpg

Hi Andy,

Having already done this, I can give you my opinion. Painting the inside railings and bulwarks red is actually realistic. I have seen some museum models that have it that way. I reality, warships were often painted this way because of the very bloody results of trading cannon broadsides. The blood did not show up as much against a red background and was easier to clean up. The only reason I did not do mine this way, was because it just was too much red for me.

As far as the brass decorations go, it is wise to install all of them as soon as the hull is planked and painted. They will get covered up pretty quickly as you proceed with other building and also need to be in place for reference in locating other parts and fixtures.

The cannon gun port doors should be left to last as they are easy to damage while working around the ship. After the chain wales are mounted and the deadeyes secured, those gun ports that will get covered by the shrouds should be completed first. The rest can be left until the end of the build, just like the anchors.

 

Vince P.

[andy]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have started on the brass fittings and so far things are going quite well. As usual, the directions provided by the instruction manual are not correct, and many of the fittings do not fit in the space provided, but a little grinding takes care of that problem.

 

I came across a portion of an article in Ships in Scale Magazine written by William Mowll that so precisely echoes my thoughts about model ship building that I thought I would share it here:

 

"To my mind, models are like three dimensional pictures, and all artists strive above all else, to make their pictures or portraits tell a single story. There has to be a binding factor if the all important message of the picture is not to be lost in a confusion of detail. We have all seen models which have often been professionally made and are more or less perfect in their presentation, but have no soul or bite to them. So what is it that gives a model that precious gem-like quality which manages somehow to take one's breath away?

 

I think it has to do with unity; The scene which the model creates must, in spite of all its detail, send a single clear message to the viewer. This means finding a medium which will encompass all the single parts which go to make up the whole model. If there is a detail which stands out from all the others - however beautiful or however long it took you to make - don't allow it to confuse the over arching message."

[andy]

It seems like I have been grinding away at brass fittings forever, but it really has only been a couple of weeks. Although beautifully done, many of the castings simply don't fit in the space provided. I would ordinarily think I had made a mistake, but many of the problems are in areas where the base parts were laser cut by the manufacturer. Nevertheless, the ship ends up being beautiful, and it is hard to believe it was built as a war machine.

 

I have completed the port side and am about half done on the starboard side. Then its on to the the bow and stern. The ship has become heavy and difficult to move. As you can see from the pictures below, I have placed it on a turntable that I use to work on my bonsai plants. Now I can simply spin it around.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by andy

[Vivian Galad]

Beautiful ship Andy!! Gj! ^^

[pirozzi]

It seems like I have been grinding away at brass fittings forever, but it really has only been a couple of weeks. Although beautifully done, many of the castings simply don't fit in the space provided. I would ordinarily think I had made a mistake, but many of the problems are in areas where the base parts were laser cut by the manufacturer. Nevertheless, the ship ends up being beautiful, and it is hard to believe it was built as a war machine.

 

I have completed the port side and am about half done on the starboard side. Then its on to the the bow and stern. The ship has become heavy and difficult to move. As you can see from the pictures below, I have placed it on a turntable that I use to work on my bonsai plants. Now I can simply spin it around.

 

good2.jpg

 

good0.jpg

 

good1.jpg

Hi Andy,

Looking very nice. I too had to modify many of the ornamental pieces because they did not fit. In some cases it was necessary to rearrange the metal striping in order to make the spaces larger because they were so far off. I also found that the diagrams provided that tell you where each piece goes were incorrect in several places and had the wrong pieces in places. I referred to other museum models to get the correct locations. Watch out for the stern pieces as the instructions are way off. The metal strips are not correct and the pieces will not even come close to fitting. Again, I used other models on line to get the proper design for the metal strips, and then the pieces did fit perfectly.

 

Vince P.

[andy]

Hi Vince,

 

Thanks for the advice. I will keep it in mind as I attack the stern. I was so far off that I actually left one piece out. It was a wooden fitting that went just in front of the galleries, and I had no idea what it was. I studied the pictures of your build and saw that you had bent the metal stripping up so it would fit. Although not historically accurate, I decided I liked the curvature of the metal strip better without the piece. I am afraid I am not as precise as you and Denis when it comes to historical accuracy. For me, just getting the model together is challenge enough.

[Evo R]

Looking great !!

[ZyXuz]

she looks just fantastic! 

Great job!

[Landlubber Mike]

Gorgeous work Andy - very impressive indeed.  Nice to see that there are others with similar addictions to mine (ship building and bonsai).

[Sailor1234567890]

I have never really had much of an appreciation for just how beautiful these ships were. The detail is outstanding. Imagine spending that kind of money on mere decoration in today's world? Unheard of. I'm glad we have the opportunity to see and build these ships as models because we'll never see another full sized version like this again.

[Keith_W]

Wow, this ship is stunning. I just went back and re-read your build log. Great work!

[andy]

Finished the brass decorations on the starboard side and the stern.

 

 

[Shipyard sid]

Andy

It's something to be proud of, a wonderful build , just keep enjoying it. DAVID

[Sailor1234567890]

She really is a beauty isn't she? Imagine the work invovled in repairing her fancy work after a slugging match? Extravagance indeed.

[andy]

Between the Holidays and a lingering cold a couple of weeks went by without any ship building work. I think things are now finally back to normal.

 

I have been working on completing the brass decorations for the bow and the 64 gun port covers for the hull. The directions, as shown in the photo below, call for 3 layers of wood to be glued together to make each cover. I built one as directed and decided it looked unnaturally thick. I checked with the other Sovereign build logs, and as near as I could tell, they were built as directed. I still couldn't get over the thickness, so I went with 2 layers.

 

As i examined the pictures of the gun port covers on the other build logs I noticed they had used black rope for the lines used to hoist the gun port covers up and down. I wondered if this is correct since this rope would have been used frequently while sailing and would have been more like running rigging than standing rigging.

 

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

 

 

[pirozzi]

Between the Holidays and a lingering cold a couple of weeks went by without any ship building work. I think things are now finally back to normal.

 

I have been working on completing the brass decorations for the bow and the 64 gun port covers for the hull. The directions, as shown in the photo below, call for 3 layers of wood to be glued together to make each cover. I built one as directed and decided it looked unnaturally thick. I checked with the other Sovereign build logs, and as near as I could tell, they were built as directed. I still couldn't get over the thickness, so I went with 2 layers.

 

As i examined the pictures of the gun port covers on the other build logs I noticed they had used black rope for the lines used to hoist the gun port covers up and down. I wondered if this is correct since this rope would have been used frequently while sailing and would have been more like running rigging than standing rigging.

 

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

pic1.jpg

 

pic2.jpg

 

pic3.jpg

Hi Andy,

I thought about thinning the covers also. Now that I think about it, maybe you could just leave the middle piece out and just use the two outer parts with the planking lines on them. On the ropes, I used black because they stood out better against the light color of the hull. I notice however that your hull finish is darker than mine and the tan colored ropes would look good on your ship. You are correct however. The real ropes would not have been tarred since they were moved alot during opening and closed the ports.

 

Vince

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

Will you please look in your message box and see if it is full, if it is will you delete some.

 

Denis.

[andy]

Hi everyone,

 

I have been working for the last couple of weeks on completing the gun port covers, attaching them to the hull, and inserting the cannons into the previously installed support blocks. Very tedious, but I finally have finished.

 

It all went pretty well, but I wish I had used slightly smaller line for the ropes used to raise the covers. When I started it looked right, but I couldn't get the line to look taut, as it should with the weight of the cover pulling against it.

 

Oh well! Hopefully there is so much bling on the ship that no one will notice except in really close-up pictures. Also, I really should have dusted before taking the pictures.

 

 

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

 

Your doing a fine job of your build.

Just one thing that I noticed, have you got room to put the catheads in.

 

Denis.

[andy]

Hi Denis,

 

I have trial fitted the catheads and they seem OK. The photo is foreshortening the actual room.

 

Andy

[andy]

I have been busy for the last several weeks primarily assembling and installing most of the deck fittings. I ran into a problem with the bell tower. I had the wood components but I could not locate the brass columns and the bell. I have tried to be very careful with all of the kit components, but although I searched diligently, I could not find them. I had 4 surplus brass columns from a previous build, and although not exactly the same I used them and they worked pretty well. I have ordered a bell from Cornwall Model Boats, and will install it as soon as it arrives.

 

While searching for the bell tower parts I came across a carved lifeboat hull that also came from a previous build, and since it seemed to be about the right size, I decided to use it. I made the rest of the parts from scratch but couldn't make oars that looked right. Along with the bell, I ordered some from Cornwall. I also installed the rudder with a lot less problem than I thought I would have.

 

The ship is so heavy now that I finally put it permanently in its cradle. The kit's cradle is somewhat ugly, but I dressed it up with a brass nameplate holder I had. I used Photoshop to create an appropriate label and glued it on.

 

Next, it is on to assembling and installing the 50 chain plates required. Assembling the components requires soldering, and soldering is not my strong point. Not only is there soldering, but itsy-bitsy somewhat neat joints are required. I have gathered solder, flux and a decent soldering iron  and will give it a try tomorrow.

 

On the theory that a picture is worth a 1000 words, here are four:

 

 

 

 

[DenPink]

Hi Andy

You are getting on like an house on fire.

Nice work.

You will be finished before me.

 

Denis.

[andy]

Vince P. was kind enough to privately send me the message below so I wouldn't be embarrassed by my somewhat stupid mistake:

 

Hi Andy,
I have looked at your latest pictures. Coming along nicely. One thing I have noticed and that is the reason for sending you a private message. You fell into the same trap as me when mounting the rudder. It is mounted on the hinges upside down. The rudder hinges should be on top and the hull hinges on the bottom, else the rudder would have just fallen off. The instructions show it upside down! I caught it just as I was placing the rudder and had to redo all of the hinge positions and mount it correctly.
Vince P.

 

I have decided to include it here as a warning to anyone else who will be building this kit.

 

Vince, I don't know what I was thinking. I have owned several full size sailboats with removable rudders and know full well that the the hinges should have been reversed. I also know not to take any part of the instructions at face value. My brain must have been on vacation that day. Fortunately, I did not glue the hinges on. I just used the nails. I will be able to disassemble the rudder and do it correctly this time.

 

Thanks for your sharp eye.