Le Chebec by Yvesvidal - CAF Model - 1/48

[Nearshore]

A master piece in the making!! Very inspirational Yves.

 

Nearshore

[Freebird]

Extremely impressive!

 

Best Regards …. Rick

[yvesvidal]

After a good indigestion of deck beams, I have finally completed this stage of the assembly: 

 

 

 

The piece provided in the kit for the stern is way too thick and I have replaced it with a few scraps. I am still missing a couple of small pieces.

 

 

 

Close to 58 deck beams.....sighs!! The variations in colors comes from the fact that the beams are not made with exactly the same wood, and are cut on different plates. Not a big deal, since this will all be covered.

 

 

 

I am not cutting the central support quite yet. We will see when some additional deck beams will be installed.

 

Last picture of the inside....The camera won't fit anymore. You can see a mistake I made by positioning the main support for the deck beams, a couple of millimeters too low. I had to use small shims to compensate in the rear and avoid too much tensions on the beams. Everywhere else was perfect. I just hope that the beams do not swing back up as it would destroy the planking. I have used a good amount of CA glue to secure everything and I am crossing my fingers. With the shims, the tension on the beams is very small.

 

 

The inside of the hull is really dirty. I need to perform a good vacuuming and blowing of the dust. 

 

A few more pictures about some details: Ready to go down the monkey ladder? 

 

 

 

At this point, technically I "could" remove the assembly from the cradle. The problem is very simple: it will never go back into it.

Therefore, I am going to keep it inside a little bit longer, for the planking and the construction of the bulwarks. Everything is cozy right now and this cradle is very convenient to move around the model without much risks of breaking anything. The cradle gives me the perfect position of the bulwarks supports, which is a big plus. Extraction postponed for a few more weeks !!!

 

Yves

Edited January 27 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

Finishing the deck beams around the mast.

 

 

 

I looked for all kinds of information, regarding the colors of the Chebec features. In the end, I have decided to recreate an old model (more than 200 years ago) which is owned and displayed by the Museum de la Marine in Paris. A lot of the features on the deck are painted in red (ocre red), according to the Monograph. It will also provide a nice contrast with the clear wood of the deck.

 

 

And no, I am not cutting the central support.... it will be covered, anyway.

 

 

Next massive step is the planking of the deck.....

 

Yves

[bdgiantman2]

A blog I followed a while back on here was someone bravely scratch-building a Xebec, I'll have to see if still have that link attached or not. He had a spare anchor strapped solidly to that monkey ladder at the main hatch. I don't know if your plans do the same or not.

 

Brian D

[yvesvidal]

I started the deck planking. WOW, that is not easy, despite all the planks being pre-cut by CAF Model. As a matter of fact, I would have preferred at times, that it was not pre-cut....

 

 

This is how it looks out of the kit. You have two symmetrical sheets, including the entire planking of the main deck. If you think you can slap this massive piece on the deck and call it over, you are totally mislead. In fact, it becomes a very complex puzzle that needs to be addressed with respect and patience.

 

 

It is important to keep all the planks in the proper location and order, if you want to match the defined curves.

 

 

I started by the center as most people do and I am developing symmetrically as much as possible. Once the front center is done, I will try to position the long curvy planks that will also drive the stern planking. Measure ten times, and cut once as they say....

 

 

At this stage, I can place the long curvy plank (on both sides) that will also locate and allow me to plank the stern correctly. Note that the plank are made with Maple wood of 1.8 mm thick. That stuff is hard, stiff and really hard to cut. I wish they went with 1.2 mm or something of that kind. For sure, with such thickness, you can sand and polish the deck a lot. The laser charring provides a nice separation and caulking illusion between the planks.

 

Each plank is detached, sanded a little bit and glued separately.

 

 

 

 

I will try to use a pencil to correct the lack of caulking where the laser did not cut. Tree nailing? Hell no! I will just simulate with a pick and some pencil graphite as I did near the center of the deck.

 

Overall, not easy and almost as hard as planking the real ship. 1.8 mm x 48 ... that is almost 4 inches thick planks in real life.

 

Yves

[hamilton]

The kit might be challenging, but the work looks great!

hamilton

[yvesvidal]

I have managed to connect front and rear parts of the ship together. It is a real puzzle and I had to mark each plank with numbers. If you ever assemble this kit, make sure to take your time and label everything. Very easy to make a mistake at that stage.

 

This is how I approached it:

 

 

 

From the mid-section, the planks have not been glued and are floating. This will allow us to position them correctly with the rest of the mid-rear planking.

After a few hours of focused work:

 

 

Half of it is done!! It seems to work.

 

 

 

And now, from the center, I built the other side (starboard):

 

 

 

 

 

Still a lot to do...

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

That is the instructions sheet to build the planking. They even got the thickness wrong.....

 

[yvesvidal]

Planking of the deck is almost complete. I proceeded symmetrically, as much as possible: 

 

 

 

And finally. Just one more plank on the edge, to customize a little bit: 

 

 

 

 

Nice intricacies on the stern, which will unfortunately, be all covered.

 

 

The maple wood is extremely smooth to the touch after being sanded. A very sensual experience for the hands.... almost better than skin...

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

Finally, I ended up cutting the central support (the deck is now solid enough...) and you can see the monkey ladder leading you to the keel and dirty bilge.

 

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

The final planks have been added to each side:

 

 

 

 

The original planks have some very complex cuts to go around the frames in the bow. However, these do not match and thus, I cut them completely.

 

Because the deck is almost completely covered by the gun deck (slanted horizontally), the kit did not provide a perfect match between the deck and the side of the frames. Even though it will not be visible, I have decided to add some boxwood strips I had left from the Bellona to fill that gap.

 

Before:

 

 

And after:

 

 

At this point, the deck is flush with the side of the frames.

 

Finally, for some more fun, I am starting to populate the bow, which has a very elaborate and intricate arrangement, due to the front mast:

 

 

 

 

That's all Folks!

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

Next step is to install the bulwarks supports on top of the deck. According to the documentation, here is what must be done:

 

 

 

I thought I could use the slots in the cradle to guide me....Besides the first three or four supports that are working well, the cradle horizontal plates are conflicting with the supports. It is then mandatory to now extract the hull from its cradle. Rather delicate operation...

 

Last picture in the cradle (at least for a while or most likely for ever....):

 

 

Rolling drums......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

It came out nicely, without too many unpleasant noises and bad surprises. Nothing was broken and no parts were found at the bottom of the cradle:

 

 

Big relief overall.

 

 

That cradle was great and turned out to be very well designed and sturdy. The hull assembly is so light, it is incredible. What a contrast with the Bellona hull which was weighing 10 pounds with nothing built inside. The Chebec is clearly showing how light and sturdy it was designed and how quick it must have been on the Mediterranean sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weight is unbelievable. It is like holding these ultra-lights that people operate in large warehouses:

 

 

 

It is still a big hull and will make a nice model:

 

 

Yves

Edited February 2 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I have been able to place the small frames around the gun ports. A picture from the instructions, for reminder: 

 

 

 

I only did one side first.

 

 

And also started finalizing the fairing of the outside of the hull. Most of the heavy work was done when preparing the frames, so it is relatively easy, although very delicate because of the dryness of the wood cooked by the laser cutter.

 

 

 

All these small frames will be partially covered by the gun decks.

 

 

Et voila where we stand today. Now to work on the other side.

 

I strongly recommend to not install the lids in the middle of the deck as this opening is very valuable to hold the model. So, don't follow the instructions....

 

 

Yves

 

[yvesvidal]

I need to ask a question: where do you find the brass stands used to display a model such as this one?

 

The thickness of the keel is 8 mm, so these stands would have to be fairly large to accommodate the keel, on their receiving ends. I am not planning to install any screws or bolts into the keel but just provide two longitudinal stands for the keel and two side stands for stability, under the hull.

 

I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

 

Yves

[Javelin]

Although I don't have stands for my models, I'd look for supports for curtain rails of the rod type? Old brass versions of those. Perhaps modify them a bit. 

[gsdpic]

Excellent and quick progress on this build.   Bluejacket lists some brass pedestals on their web site though it appears to me the top slot is too narrow for your needs.  Perhaps they might be able to suggest something.

 

[yvesvidal]

Thank you Javelin and gsdpic. I have been able to find something on Da-Bay that may fit the bill.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

I finally completed the installation of the bulwarks supports:

 

 

 

 

The next step is a little bit fuzzy for me as I cannot find where it must be installed exactly. The plan is not showing anything and it needs to be addressed very carefully. So, I am going to start fairing the hull and the bulwarks and try to install the wales and some planking. Then I will be back with the gun decks and that will help me.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

I started some planking on the hull, on one side only. This is what the instructions are suggesting:

 

 

This vessel is not really equipped with Wales as found on more traditional builds. It has some kind of belt on the low side of the hull and a thinner planking above. I tried to look at different implementations of the Chebec in various museums and galleries and they all seem to show a very thin belt, painted in  black. The rest of the planking is the famous "Yellow Ocre" found on a lot of ships towards the end of the XVIII century (according to the Monograph).

 

 

 

The shape of that hull is throwing me off, as I am more used to the British vessels of that period. The belt may be a tad too low on my model. We will see how it goes.... Besides section cuts, the plans are not very clear about where exactly that belt plank is supposed to be.

 

Yves

[Kevin]

thats just so lovely to look at

[James H]

Fantastic work!

[yvesvidal]

Before doing the planking, I finally resolved to build the stern. It is not easy at all, and nothing has been designed in the kit to help the novice modeller.

I will present what I have been doing so far. At times, it felt like flying in the clouds without any IFR instrumentation.

 

First the instructions:

 

 

The plans do not bring much details and confirms that the freeze must be flush with the rear keel. Otherwise the rudder will not fit.

 

Because nothing will hold by itself, I had to resort to pinning the parts:

 

 

 

The instructions provide two ways of assembling the stern. I am going with the easier path: 

 

 

 

You can see one of the pins that is used to attach the parts (above). More pins are introduced to hold every single part (below):

 

 

 

Final assembly....

 

 

 

 

Once glued and dry, the assembly is surprisingly robust.

 

Yves

 

[yvesvidal]

Before moving further, I am planking one side of the ship to get a better grasp on how the guns decks are positioned and built.

 

 

 

 

 

With a coat of Model Shipways Yellow Ochre:  

 

 

I still have to sand a little bit the planking...

 

The following picture shows the deck and where the gun decks will be built: 

 

 

That will be for another update.

 

Yves

 

 

Edited February 14 by yvesvidal

[JacquesCousteau]

Looks great! Very nicely done on a challenging build, I love how graceful the hull is and the planking really brings out the elegance of the lines.

[yvesvidal]

Before moving further with the planking, I have decided to take a look at the gun decks and see how these are being built.

There is nothing easy on that model, as we have nothing flat and straight, besides the bottom of the keel.

As always, the instructions are scarce:

 

 

The Chinese ideograms are simply indicating that you can cut the blue parts to the correct length. Thank you. Nothing is really being said about where the red parts are to be sitting against the frames and the plan is of little use as well. So, after digesting plans, Monograph and the above picture, I decided to place them so that the gun deck would be horizontal as much as possible.

 

 

I traced a delineation line on the deck, using the gun deck planking provided in the kit. That line allows me to determine the length of the support bars.

After installing a gun on the support bars, the gun seems to be about horizontal, so it may work.

 

 

 

At this stage, all supports have been installed and the planking seems to fit nicely, more or less.

 

 

The picture above gives a clear understanding how this ship is architectured. With such a convex deck, platforms to hold the guns were absolutely necessary. The picture below shows the upcoming gun deck planking. It is composed of 9 planks and 9 grates which are sitting on the deck supports. There will be a lot of cutting  and fine adjustments to make it look decent.

 

 

In the meantime, I am painting the bulwark in red, as the Monograph seems to indicate. That is done in a much easier way by limiting the height of the hull planking. With this kit, you have to approach the various tasks in a scrambled and mixed way.... Not easy!! Have I said that before?

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

A quick improvement over the kit, that I would recommend dearly: Nail (for real), the gun deck supports. I used again nickel silver nails made with electronic component pins.

 

 

Add at the stern and the bow some re-reinforcements for the end of the gun deck planking:

 

 

 

With these improvements behind us, we can now start the planking, properly speaking. First plank goes against the frames (at least that is the way I am approaching it):

 

 

 

Then installation of the grates and tons of precise cuts.....

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

Moving along with one gun deck, on the Port side. But first, the "Instructions":

 

 

The first thing I did was to glue all the grates on their respective supports:

 

 

 

The grates must be flush with the planking: no stumbling during the action!! Planking can then begin. I start from the stern and go back to the bow, keeping the front of the planking as a reference. This way, I make sure that the curves are correctly matched between the planks. Numbering them is also a great idea:

 

 

Planking will butt against the cabin wall, near the stern. Moving forward....

 

 

About half way done...

 

 

 

Planking around the grates, has been completed:

 

 

 

 

Did you notice? Nothing is flat or straight on that vessel....  Three more planks to install:

 

 

 

 

A little cherry wood strip to finish the edge:

 

 

 

 

A couple of Wipe on Poly coats and it is pretty much finished. The gun deck at the bow of the boat is a little bit high and the gun is not fitting perfectly. I will have to be creative to find a solution. Contrary to British ships with large gun ports, these French vessels have very small gun ports and the adjustment required to match the hull openings with the gun carriages is tricky.

 

 

I am not installing the 4x4 strip preventing the guns from rolling into the sea yet. I want to make some progress on the hull planking and finish painting the bulwark.

 

Yves