HMS Sovereign of the Seas - Bashing DeAgostini Beyond Believable Boundaries

Yeah, Paul, the gun ports come out consistently the same size and shape, and laying four panes of wood for each port individually is just too much futzing at this scale. It would have caused problems keeping them square and they would be messy. the box tube technique is better used on larger models, but it worked well on this one.

More pics. I couldn't wait to see what the gun ports look like painted. The final layer of planking will ensure that the red port look sharp and square.

301 Gun Ports Painted.jpg

302 Gun Ports Painted.jpg
 
The final layer of wood for the lower gun deck bulwarks is made of thin mahogany which was cut into 3mm strips using a band saw. The end seams of the planks are simply marked with a ruler and a brown ballpoint pen, after the strips are laid out in a 25mm diagonal offset pattern. When the planks are aligned parallel above each other, the end seams will be staggered 25mm apart. Each strip is glued to the bulwark. This does cover the gun portals, so the mahogany will have to be carefully cut open a final time with a razor knife with a new, sharp blade to avoid splits. After some light hand sanding to remove most of the stains left from the CA glue, some spray varnish was applied. The remaining glue spot disappeared, and the color of the wood came out beautifully.

303 Cut 3mm Wide Mahoganey Strips for Bulwarks.jpg

304 Mark Plank End Seams with Brown Ballpoint Pen.jpg

305 Glue Planking Strips on Bulwarks.jpg

306 Bulwark Sanded and Varnished.jpg

307 Bulwark Sanded and Varnished.jpg
 
dockattner said:
I thought you already lined the bulwarks? Didn't like it? Or were you just packing out depth? The mahogany does look very nice.
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The bamboo was originally planned to add depth. Also, the liners are not supposed to be visible from the inside (like anyone will ever notice). So, a final layer of planking was needed. Also, the interior planking looks better because the planks are not as wide as the bamboo so it is close to scale. Now the bulwarks are ready for the false frames, knees, and eventually the overhead framework which supports the middle gun deck above. All that will be fabricated after the lower gun deck planking and fittings are complete. Besides, doesn't this look better? (Not that anyone will ever see it...)

308 Gun Port Holes Cut Through Mahogany Layer.jpg
 
This looks WAY better! The grain pattern of the mahogany works nicely at this scale. Surely you can come up with a way to allow the viewer to peak inside (other than through a gun port).
 
dockattner said:
This looks WAY better! The grain pattern of the mahogany works nicely at this scale. Surely you can come up with a way to allow the viewer to peak inside (other than through a gun port).
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Actually I can't, not if the ship is to be fully rigged with sails, like La Couronne. A hull cutaway for this model was never intended. Since the interior will be lit, the only access will be that sliver of space above the cannon carriages.
 
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dockattner said:
Seems like a fine time to use dummy guns ROTF .

How about you leave a few cannons pulled back inviting the viewer to peak inside?
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ROTF I suppose I could install a boroscope! Maybe have and LCD screen so you can switch channels and view several angles on several decks...
I was thinking that the view inside would be the reward for those curious enough to peek around the guns.
 
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DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
ROTF I suppose I could install a boroscope! Maybe have and LCD screen so you can switch channels and view several angles on several decks...
I was thinking that the view inside would be the reward for those curious enough to peek around the guns.
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I like the idea of a small camera at the end of the deck, looking lengthways, that could be seen on a display screen on the stand. But that’s a bit elaborate…lol.
Truth is, once in a display case, no one will be able to lean in and see all of the details. But you know they are there! :p
 
Hubac’s Historian said:
I kind of like the idea of Royal Sovereign TV - you could develop a subscription model. Could be profitable. Or, not ;)
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For a small audience, maybe. Profitable? No. Besides, it takes a huge amount of time and effort to produce a build video series. Oh, and this model is not the Royal Sovereign. It will not have the features of the 1651 and 1685 rebuilds. Hence, it is known as HMS Sovereign of the Seas.
 
Some work on preparing parts was done. The caps for the cannon carriage gun barrel trunnions were made from strip brass, cut apart with a sharp Fiskars scissors, and blackened for the guns on the lower gun deck. The sharp crimping edge of the pliers was rounded over a bit so as not to form a "V" shape in the brass strip instead of a semi-circle. They will be assembled onto the carriages along with the quoins which will set the vertical angle of the gun barrels later. Some deck planks were cut at 80mm from 4mm wide tanganyika wood for the lower gun deck planking. The cutter tool had to be extended by gluing a piece of wood and a third clamp to make deck plank chopping faster.

309 Crimping Pliers.jpg

310 Crimp Cannon Carriage Caps.jpg

311 Cut and Blacken the Caps.jpg

312 Cut 80mm Deck Planks for Lower Gun Deck.jpg
 
To make the trenails, I decided that using toothpicks in holes would be too large for deck trenails at 1:84 scale, so am using the traditional pencil lead method to mark them on the deck planks. To make them more consistent than marking them freehand, I made a jig. The diagonal trenails that hold the deck planks at places not at the ends have a jig that slides, allowing you to place them anywhere along the length of a plank consistently from one plank to another, once the sliding part of the jig is clamped or taped in position.

313 Trenail Marking Jig for Deck Planks.jpg

314 Plank End Trenails Marked Using Jig and Mechanical Pencil.jpg
 
Work on the lower gun deck planking and hatch gratings was done today. Any visible structural wood under the hatch openings was painted black. The sloppy grate strips from Model Shipways were a pain to use, but tacking the starting pieces with CA glue allowed a grid to be assembled. The grate strips are so loose that you have to ensure that they are not vertically interlocked at a slight diagonal to ensure the holes are evenly sized. CA glue was applied to each joint after they are fitted together. The edges of the grate assembly are sanded to fit the holes in the deck. Strips of mahogany were glued to the peripheral edges of each grate. The grates fit onto the holes and are held in place by the mahogany trim pieces. Each grate was glued to the deck with PVA glue. The gratings are just a hair higher than the surface of the planking, not quite being flush. Deck planking strips will be custom fit around the hatches next.

315 Laid Some Planks.jpg

Some leftover pieces of grating from La Couronne were used for the first grating. Strips for the Trim are glued to the edges of the grating while it is upside-down.
316 Begin Making Grates.jpg

This grating was painted since the wood was very white.
317 First Grate Done.jpg

318 Second Grate Made.jpg

319 Gluing Grates in Deck.jpg

320 Second Gate in Place.jpg

The trim pieces extend around the capstan.
321 Make Third Grate.jpg

322 Three Grates Installed.jpg
 
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Another update... more planking. The deck was scraped with a razor blade scraper, which made it much smoother, and did not remove the trenail marks. A coat of Krylon Satin spray varnish was added to see how the color will come out. More planks have to be cut from Tanganyika strips, edge stained with brown Sharpie marker, and trenails marked with pencil in order to continue. Oops.. forgot to make the mid-plank trenails!

327 Continue Planking.jpg

328 Progress Viewed from Stern.jpg

329 Planking with One Coat Varnish.jpg
 
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