HMS Sovereign of the Seas - Bashing DeAgostini Beyond Believable Boundaries

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The upper deck gun ports were filed to their final shape. Before adding frames within them, the bulwarks needed to be built up with linden wood and a final layer of mahogany. A few more strips of linden wood were added to each side. The linden was extended all the way up the foc'sle bulwark. More mahogany strips need to be cut on the band saw next.





The photos are for me to take not of where the bridge and poop decks are supposed to go later, just before I right out the remains of these frames to make room to work.




Those two frame remnants are now gone. Now more linden wood can be added to reinforce the sides of the stern castle.


Progress so far

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The linden wood strips were complete on the bulwarks all the way up to the top of the stern castle and the bulwarks were sanded.

 

[GrantTyler]

, now this takes patience. The middle deck stern chase guns were installed and rigged, and it was very slow and careful tweezer work hooking the gun tackles, especially on the carriages in the corners. I had to rediscover the order to rig everything since it was a while since guns in corners were rigged.

The corner guns are installed first, then the ones nearer the centerline.

First, the gun tackles are loosened up to about 2" and hooked onto the eyebolts on the bulwarks. A tad of CA is applied to the hooks/eyebolts so they don't come unhooked.

Then, the carriage is moved into place and the shanks of the breech line eyebolts are glued into holes into the bulwark.

A stick of wood is inserted in the muzzle of the gun to act as a handle to help maneuver it. The stick is used to lift the carriage off the deck with the rear deck being high in the air, exposing the bottoms of the trucks. CA glue was applied with a long stick to the bottom of each truck and the carriage is lowered and glued to the deck. The position of the carriage is checked and adjusted before the glue takes hold.

The rear end of the gun tackles are hooked onto the carriage eyebolts and some CA glue is applied to the hook/eyebolt once the blocks are rotating to the correct angle. This is the hardest step because of lack view and access.

Tweezers are used to take the slack out of the gun tackles, and the bitter ends are glued to the deck behind the carriages to hold them down.

Once the tackle lines have dried, a chisel razor knife is used to trim the excess line of the gun tackle line.

Coils of line are wrapped around a rubber coated handle of one of the diamond files which was first wetted with Weldbond PVA, which is more pasty and thicker than Elmer's Glue, and dried clear.

Once ALMOST dry, the coils are slipped off the file handle and place in a vice and squeezed into a flatter shape, because line coiled on a deck doesn't naturally stack up edge to edge in a cylinder shape.

After 4 minutes in the vice, the glue has fully set. The ends of the coil are trimmed to length, on leaving a slight tail and the other flush with the coil. For each carriage , you need a left hand coil and a right hand coil.

The coils are then glued to the deck, just over the end of the gun tackle line that this glued to the deck. This creates the illusion that the coils are extensions of the gun tackle line. This is a preferable method over trying to coil uncooperative thread of the gun tackle into a neat coil and gluing it to the deck. Ask me how I know this.

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Hello Kurt- I finally know how to rig and fit cannons- a bit too late for my Victory but some seriously useful tips. The stick in the cannon to lift them while applying CA- would have saved my deck a tad ....and the rope coil “illusion”....thanks. Cheers Grant

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Hello Kurt- I finally know how to rig and fit cannons- a bit too late for my Victory but some seriously useful tips. The stick in the cannon to lift them while applying CA- would have saved my deck a tad ....and the rope coil “illusion”....thanks. Cheers Grant

It certainly helps to know a few shortcuts. Most of them are self-discovered. You have to be more clever than the model.

 

[Vfordyce]

It certainly helps to know a few shortcuts. Most of them are self-discovered. You have to be more clever than the model.

Smart alec

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

MORE DESTRUCTION! Those stern castle supports are in my way, so they have to go. Grabbing a handy wrench, two more frame members and two horizontal support members were removed with a sickening *crunch*. No hull planks were harmed in this operation. More linden wood strips were layered on the inside surface of the stern castle bulwarks, followed by a layer of thin mahogany planks. More mahogany strips need to be layered to the bulwarks yet.

 

[Uwek]

Looking at your photos with the four guns at the stern of the ship
I am wondering, how they would handle these guns during action - more or less impossible due to the fact, that there was no "working space" between them.
On the other hand, these guns made only one shot, when a victim vessel was passing by the stern of the Sovereign. The stern was every time the most vulnerable part of these ships

 

[NMBROOK]

This really brings back so many memories Kurt

Kind Regards

Nigel

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

This really brings back so many memories Kurt

Kind Regards

Nigel

Yeah, it's looking more and more like your model.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Looking at your photos with the four guns at the stern of the ship
I am wondering, how they would handle these guns during action - more or less impossible due to the fact, that there was no "working space" between them.
On the other hand, these guns made only one shot, when a victim vessel was passing by the stern of the Sovereign. The stern was every time the most vulnerable part of these ships

This model is proportioned on the Lely painting of Peter Pett, which may not be a perfect representation of the ship, hence the gun placement is not the best. The real problem is that there is no room for having guns at the stern and broadside corners at the same time if you combine the Lely painting with Payne's engraving. Something is wrong somewhere, but the sources don't offer clues as to where.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Planking of the inside surfaces of the hull with mahogany is complete. Large portions of the stern castle sides will be removed when designing the galleries, but for now all the interior planking is in place. Upper deck gun port frames may be next.

 

[dockattner]

That's looking very solid at this point Kurt. True?

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The upper gun deck gun port frames were done using a different method that the other decks. Segments of red painted wood prepared almost a year ago while testing my air brush were cut into segments of two sizes with a razor chopping block, longer ones for the top and bottom of each gun port and shorter ones for the sides of the gun ports. The tops and bottoms were glued into place, which required some filing of the gun ports to get them all to precisely the same size. Then the sides were glued in. The size of the side pieces was precise and provided a press fit. Each one had glue applied, and was pressed into place with the jaws of the pliers. The inside edges of the frame parts is flush with the bulwark on the inside, but they all protruded slightly on the outside. A portable belt sander was used to sand the frames flush with the hull, then the frames were painted, albeit rather sloppily, but they work. All of the gun port frames looked very consistent and clean. I have to be careful or I'll forget to cut out the boarding portal on the port side.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

That's looking very solid at this point Kurt. True?

Yeah, the hull weighs a lot and the sides are very stiff and firm. If you press on the gunwales, there is a little flex, but the important thing is that the shape is now stable and much less prone to warping. I check the symmetry of the upper hull often throughout the build, especially early on when you just have the bare framework without planking. I've seen in other builds how a twisted hull can really destroy the appearance of a detailed and fully rigged model.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

, just so I don't forget to make the boarding portal, I cut the hole out with the oscillating saw, a chisel shaped razor knife, and filed it to shape. I rebated the outer edge to make room for the door, and took the DeAgostini metal casting decoration for the door and assembled the three parts into the gate. The casting twice as thick as it needs to be, so later I will use a belt sander to make it thinner before painting it and applying it to the hull. The portal was painted red with the deck brown.

 

[Steef66]

That will be a nasty job to do the outside planking and the guns already in place on the lower decks. And al the dust that comes in. How to avoid that?

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

That will be a nasty job to do the outside planking and the guns already in place on the lower decks. And al the dust that comes in. How to avoid that?

I have to be VERY VERY careful not to break the guns. The final layer of planking requires very little sanding. The rigging of the cannons had to come first because the interior construction of the hull had to come first. If the exterior were planked first, it would suffer lots of dings and scrapes as the build progresses, but more importantly, the entire stern structure needs to be planned and designed both the outside and inside simultaneously, and the gallery structure has be in place before doing the final external planking. The sheer lines that guide than planking have to be established relative to the stern galleries using Payne's engraving as a reference. At least, that was the plan. Dust is removed every often with a portable battery powered vacuum having a brush and it kept under control.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Brand new tool arrived today! I purchased a "Mini Electric Belt Sander Multi DIY Polishing Grinder Machine 795/895 Motor" off eBay and am surprised at the quality for only $53.00 USD. It's very small and you should clamp it to a table or it slides around. The sander runs in two directions and has eight speed settings on the power transformer. It was perfect for sanding the boarding portal casting thinner. Now the portal doesn't look like it was designed by a cartoon writer. All the castings DeAgostini provided in the kit are very thick and look cheap as a result. Sanding and Dremel work can reshape the few historically accurate pieces to make them presentable. The portal is decent enough to use on the model now that it's the proper dimensions.

This tool is going to be real handy curving the edges of planks and other detail jobs. It throws dust all over the place, so have a portable vacuum handy.


The kit part doesn't look too bad. I think I'll use it. A tiny coat of arms needs to be placed on the keystone of the arch to complete it. It will also be painted gold and washed with thinned black paint to bring out the line details.


The back of the portal was sanded to fit the curvature of the hull

 

[dockattner]

I also found I needed to sand down some of my castings. Beware how hot things get - it sneaks up on you!

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

I also found I needed to sand down some of my castings. Beware how hot things get - it sneaks up on you!

Oh yeah! I hold the parts with pliers or wear leather gloves!