Hermione La Fayette by kostas_gr - Artesania Latina - 1:89

[kostas_gr]

I haven't finished my latest project, Victory-Corel, and as I wanted to embark on something new this year, I decided to pull Artesania's Hermione from the shelf....a very promising kit. 
Upon opening the box and unpacking its parts, the high quality is evident from the first glance

[kostas_gr]

The entire hull will receive a complete paint job, eliminating any wood detailing.
Following Artesania's guidelines, the next step involves applying putty to the hull.

I've decided to plank the hull using the "rule of 3," using 9cm planks (with 3cm repeat mark for each row)

 

 

[kostas_gr]

dec beams are installed

 

I will be filling up that space beween beams with balsa wood, so I can start planking with 9 cm planks

[jks1981]

Looking forward to following along. And maybe motivate me a bit to get mine moving again...

[kostas_gr]

Hull is ready, I will start planking with 12cm planks ( 4cm step using the rule of 3)

[kostas_gr]

I have installed the first temporary plank from stern to bow to use it as guide, in order to start the final planking using 12cm length for each

Edited February 12 by kostas_gr

[kostas_gr]

12 cm planks ready to be installed

few bended planks ready to be used at bow

first bow plaks are in place

[kostas_gr]

I have just finished 7 rows from the left side. I will sand the the 2 planks that somehow I didnt fit them well... 

These planks are quite thick so I need to bend them very carefully, let them dry well, and adjust them without haste in order to fit correctly.

I will sand those planks in order to follow ship's curves

 

 

I have done some calulations, to check out how much I need to reduce the width of the planks for the bow section. 

 

[kostas_gr]

the upper hull planking is done, next step at this point is creating the portholes, Artesania provides a nice paper layout in order to set them up correctly

After placing the layout on the hull, I have noticed that the vertical lines are not fully aligned with hull beams

some portholes are very close to hull beams and will be very difficult to install the cannons later ,

so I have decided to cut the paper layout and slide it a bit (creating a gap)

 

and finally the aligment looks much better now

 

finally before opening the portholes I have marked the centers to drill them first, will be helpfull in a later stage when I have to setup the false cannons.

[kostas_gr]

I have draw the frames on the hull getting ready to cut the off

for some reason some port holes are smaller then the others. I have made a "frame sized plank" to meazure and fix the gun ports at the right size

 

[kostas_gr]

the inside of the gunports is painted black. 30% (more or less) of hull planking is done

The next step will be challenging, bending the planks for the stern will be a hard task

[kostas_gr]

According to Artesania's instructions, I was supposed to trim three stern planks. However, I decided to attempt bending those planks instead

Since this part of the stern will be painted, small gaps won't be an issue for me. My main objective is to ensure the Hull planking is as firm as possible

I had to fill some parts of the stern with additional balsa wood to create a sturdy base for the bent planks

I had to fill with balsa wood 

[kostas_gr]

It's been a while since my last post. Right now, I'm planking the hull, though progress has been slow. I’m focusing on fitting the planks as tightly as possible because I want a smooth finish.

This precision is essential for the next step, which is painting, as I’d like to minimize the need for putty

[kostas_gr]

[kostas_gr]

One side almost ready...

3

 

one to go

[kostas_gr]

left side completed

 

right side completed

 

 

There are a few small gaps that have been filled with putty.

If I were keeping the natural wood color, I would have replaced one or two planks. However, since it will be painted, I believe it should be fine

The next task is painting. I'll start by priming the hull with a light gray smalt color

 

[kostas_gr]

According to the instructions, the upper deck gunholes are installed at a later stage. However, after some consideration, I have decided to attach all the wooden parts to the hull now, completing as many steps as possible at this point

[kostas_gr]

Ready to begin painting! I'll start with a light grey enamel paint to prime the hull.

The neutral grey tone ensures it won't interfere with the subsequent colors (yellow and blue). Additionally, grey is ideal for spotting minor imperfections

I’ll be using an airbrush to apply color in thin, precise layers as needed.

This is my very first airbrush, over 30 years old! I got it back when I first started building plastic aircraft models

 

 

[kostas_gr]

After completing the first layer (base color), I noticed a few small gaps that needed to be filled before moving forward

I chose to fill the gaps with superglue, not just because it was faster, but primarily because I needed a strong material that could hold securely.

The next step is to carefully sand the filled areas to avoid creating noticeable "steps" between the sanded sections and the painted surface