Licorne 1755 by mtaylor - 3/16" scale - French Frigate - from Hahn plans - Version 2.0 - TERMINATED

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the likes and comments.

 

Just a brief update....  I'm currently on version 4 or 5 (I lost count.. )  I tweek and then assemble some bits, decide if it's not good enough, not right, or I'm just not satisfied with it.   Sooo... tomorrow, I'll be re-cutting the final (I hope) keel, stern section, and foremost bulkhead/ribs.  I think i"m getting there.   Hindsight says it's good to start small, less scrap with things go awry.

Edited May 22, 2018 by mtaylor

[Erebus and Terror]

Ooooh. I'm pulling up a chair for this. I'll be needing nine boats for my Terror build, so I hope to learn lots from you! Great start so far. I see the Death Star is still "fully operational"! 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Erebus and Terror

[lmagna]

Hi Mark

With four of five restarts I'm not certain that hitting the 'like' button is a good thing or not.

 

No way to tell for certain without pictures of course, but I suspect your do overs are probably better than my finished parts!. Can't wait to see the results of what is finally "Good enough." 

[Piet]

Keep it up Mark, the wood is patient   Lovely work overall.

 

Cheers,

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the likes, the comments, and just checking up...

 

I'm there... the keel is now where I want it to be. The two main mods are the bow and the stern areas.  I've also reworked the formers for the ribs.   The red circles show the areas that were the problem children and how they ended up.   I eased the arc of the bow, made it a bit wider for the planking.  The stern was the most radical change with the angle, and the (not sure of the word) bit where it now curves up into the sternpost.   I'm putting it together so hopefully later this week, it'll be finished externally.  I'm still deciding how much detailing of the interior such as seats, rudder stowage, oars, etc.  Almost all of this was stowed in the hold when not in use, but I'm thinking "visual interest".

 

[druxey]

"The bit that curves up" is the deadwood. I'm interested to see how this all turns out!

[mtaylor]

Deadwood.... Duh!!!!   Somedays the words just don't seem to be there. 

 

I've got my fingers crossed.  I think the technique will work if the initial tests that I've done are valid.

[lmagna]

Hi Mark

 

So is this a modified MS keel or did you make a new one to your own design on the Death Star? I somehow think it is the latter as it looks much nicer somehow than the MS kits I have.

[mtaylor]

Hi Lou,

Yes, this is one of the MS plans but not parts.   Their wood os basswood and I'm using boxwood.  I took their plans and modified them for the size, bow, stern, keel, and the molds for the frames (including the stern).

 

So, here's where I am... the 4 frames are mounted to the four jigs.  They are prebent such that there's no springback.  I found out in testing that they actually need to be overbent a bit or things get "interesting" when you cut the boat free of the jig.  As for the jig, the area circled in red is where the ship gets cut loose.  It should lift right off as I've made sure there's no overflow on to the jig from the keel/frame joining point.  The area circled in blue will be broken out (it's being held in with a small drop of glue).  If Im not happy with the fit once planked, I'll take the whole thing out and use dummy frames.  Speaking of which... once the hull is cut loose, there will be 3 "dummy" frames added between the base frames.  I do still have to fair the stern piece after I plank the exterior before doing the frames.  

 

Back up plan for those curious... I have a plug style mold that I carved that I'll finish work on and use it more like others have done.  For some reason, I think this might be simpler and I won't have to carve out two plugs for the other boats, just scale this one up and tweek it as needed.  Depending on point of view, I'm either getting more efficient or lazier as I get older.  I'm going to wander off a bit and let the glue cure out.  Maybe fiddle with something else on the model...

 

[alde]

I think the weak link with those Model Shipways boat kits is the material. The wood is just too brittle and thick to work with using the tight bends on these little boat frames. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with boxwood. Some well built boats can be a nice focal point for a great ship model.

[mtaylor]

Al,

The wood was old to begin with as I think I've had these two kits floating around the shop for maybe 10 years.  And basswood is a bear to bend.   The boxwood is sliced thin, about 1/32" thick and will get steamed and preshaped.  I'm going to try to minimize all the spring back I can.

[alde]

8 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Al,

The wood was old to begin with as I think I've had these two kits floating around the shop for maybe 10 years.  And basswood is a bear to bend.   The boxwood is sliced thin, about 1/32" thick and will get steamed and preshaped.  I'm going to try to minimize all the spring back I can.

I have a couple in my workbench drawer for a while too. I tried to build one a while back but ended up throwing the whole thing in the scrap box. I just couldn't get any of the wood to bend no matter what I did. Next time I'll follow your lead and use boxwood.

[mtaylor]

I hope you won't be too hasty, Al.   This is still an "experiment in work".  It does seem promising as I'm beginning the planking.

[alde]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

I hope you won't be too hasty, Al.   This is still an "experiment in work".  It does seem promising as I'm beginning the planking.

Not me. I tend to be pretty patient when it comes to modeling. Once I get ready to build a boat I'll work at it until I can build a decent boat no matter how long it takes. I'll also try different methods until I find one that works for me. I think you work the same way from what I have seen of your model.

[src]

Enjoying watching this come together Mark. That is a seriously tiny boat!

 

Sam

[popeye the sailor]

ship's boat is coming along quite nicely Mark    sometimes when I need an aggressive bend,  I will go with the grain.  I get the added flex.  it can make whatever it is I'm making fragile...I just take a bit more care with the handling  

[lmagna]

Hi Mark

I can't find anywhere in your log what size boats you need for the Licorne but have you looked at the boats Master Korabel offers in 1/72 scale? One is 75 X 30 mm, (3 X 1 3/16") and the other 95 X 28 mm, (3 3/4 X 1 1/8"). I know that they would not be scratch but if they are the size you need?...........

I have the 95 mm boat with my Phoenix kit and it is a super detailed model in it's own right.

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the likes, the comments, and your patience.   Things are moving rather slowly as household duties are getting in the way.   Still working on this boat as there's multiple bends per strake but getting there as I can.

 

 

Lou,

I saw that post by Master Korabel.   Interesting.   Unfortunately, they're 1:48 and I'm at 1:64 so while the length might work, I'm thinking the stripwood and fittings will be oversized.  My sizes are roughly....  4", 5", and 6".

[lmagna]

Mark

The boat that they are designing will be 1:48th. The boats they have now are 1/72, MUCH closer to your 1/64. I am not sure if the boat for the Avos is available yet but the other two are definitely available. Unfortunately only the 95 X 28 mm boat fits in the range of your needs. The 5 and 6" boats are getting up there in size.

 

Oh well back to the building board! It does look like you are doing pretty good even without their help. 

[mtaylor]

Thanks for the "likes" and the comments.

 

Had to do a "back 10 and punt" on this boat.  Still getting some oil canning and I'm not happy.   Re-thinking things.   I'll either add more ribs or go off in a different direction.  It didn't look bad, just didn't look right to my eye.  So, while thinking, I started looking over other bits and pieces and realized the DeathStar cuts just didn't look right also. <sigh>.   Dove into the problem...  Needed to re-calibrate things bigtime.  When I replaced parts some time ago after the pump failure took out the tube and power supply, I replaced them with "upgraded" parts.  Naturally, being Chinese, instructions were sparse so did some digging.    Power supply needed some adjustment and then my cut sheets (speed and power) needed to be rerun.  Also alignment was off due to moving the beast when working on it and cleaning the room.   I'm going to have to redo all my cut specs for each species and wood thickness.  Not hard work, just time consuming.

 

The several hours work, theresults are below.   The upper is "before" and the lower is "after".   Big difference to these tired old eyes.  BTW, those are are 3" (about 75mm) wide.  

 

I'm headed back to the ship's boats this week after more household duties have been performed.  I like the look of the Master Korbel boats and what's available so I ordered the largest one in 1/72.  Part of the learning curve.

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by mtaylor

[alde]

The Death Star does some nice work on transfering the decorations to the wood. 

[lmagna]

Good to see the results at last of your fine tuning the Death Star down from planet destroyer to artist. Quite an accomplishment. We will have to start calling you Lord Vader! May the force be with you!

[Piet]

Nice work on the "carving" Mark.  I like your idea on the boat jig.  I also really don't like ti make couple of plugs for my VOC shop boats and will most likely do it the old fashioned way, plank in frame.

 

Cheers,

[BANYAN]

You seem to be mastering that 'death star' Mark; nice result.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[EJ_L]

That is an incredible amount of detail in such a small area. You are mastering that Death Star!

[Chasseur]

Looking good Mark! Unbelievable how technology has revolutionized the modeling industry.

Jeff

[Dowmer]

Looking good Mark.  Following along on this great build. I have a lot of catching up to do.

The small boats are coming along nicely.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Dowmer

[mtaylor]

Thanks for following along.   It's an adventure to say the least with some wrong turns along the way.

 

I'm in the process of cleaning up the carvings that I laser cut.  They just look too flat so I'm etching out char and attempting to make them as bas relief.  Should be interesting to say the least and look better.  Along with that, wrestling with the boat issues things look promising.  I won't clutter up the log with any more false starts. When I get one I'm happy with, I'll post the build photos.

 

On 6/17/2018 at 4:27 PM, lmagna said:

Good to see the results at last of your fine tuning the Death Star down from planet destroyer to artist. Quite an accomplishment. We will have to start calling you Lord Vader! May the force be with you!

Oh dear.... "Lord".. i"m just mere shipyard lad. 

 

 

On 6/18/2018 at 10:14 AM, EJ_L said:

That is an incredible amount of detail in such a small area. You are mastering that Death Star!

I was surprised also at the result once I sorted it out.   The real test is just starting... to get rid of the black and make it look like a carving.

 

On 6/19/2018 at 6:30 AM, Chasseur said:

Looking good Mark! Unbelievable how technology has revolutionized the modeling industry.

Jeff

Indeed.  Not just laser cutters, but CNC milling, and 3D printing.  There's some stuff in the works for 3D "hobby" printing that boogles the mind such as metal that looks like it was done on a milling machine.  Even the plastic ones are getting there.

 

On 6/19/2018 at 6:47 AM, Dowmer said:

Looking good Mark.  Following along on this great build. I have a lot of catching up to do.

The small boats are coming along nicely.

Welcome aboard, Dowmer. 

Edited June 20, 2018 by mtaylor

[src]

Lord Mark,

Getting caught up here. The Death Star sure makes a nice layout for carving. Cant wait to see the finished product.

Sam

[alde]

Mark, ANCRE has a book called “French Frigates” The frigates in the French Navy 1650-1850 (available in English).

 

l have not seen the book so don’t know if it would be of any help to you. Maybe ANCRE could help point you in the right direction for you carving details anyway.