Crisp work, all around, Kurt. Those middle deck chase guns look like the devil to rig, but you did an amazing job, there! I really love how she's coming along.
HMS Sovereign of the Seas - Bashing DeAgostini Beyond Believable Boundaries
- Thread starter DARIVS ARCHITECTVS
- Start date
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Thanks HH!
Work has started on rigging the culverin drakes on the port side of the middle gun deck. The breaching line eye bolts were glued into the holes in the bulwark, and gun tackles fitted to the eyebolts on the carriages and bulwark. A few more gun tackles need to be fitted and rope coils made and place over the ends of the gun tackle runners. Lighter and longer gun barrels were bought from a Chinese vendor, and for these demi-culverins, you can see the difference between the demi culverin drakes of the lower gun deck and these guns. Trying to fit different length and size barrels to represent the various caliber guns on the Sovereign has been a challenge in comparing vendor products and deciding which ones look the best. Gun barrels are fairly expensive, as were the converted carriages, but I believe it was worth the research when the end result can be visibly seen.
Those cannons look spot on Kurt.Trying to find long slim barrels aftermarket is a nightmare as most stick to the same proportions.
Kind Regards
Nigel
Kind Regards
Nigel
I agree that they are a challenge to find, Nigel. I wish I could afford to have them custom made. Maybe I’ll get a metal lathe when I’m rich and famous. Castings might be better for ornamentation.
Cleverly done. That will create a nice talking point and will make your SoS stand out once more among the crowd.
I’m hoping the best for you, Kurt. I had some built with completed carriages under a deck on my SR. I tried to be careful, but three or four broke off the carriages and is was extremely difficult to put them back in. And I had access at the end of the deck because it wasn’t completely covered. I’m sure you’ll be more careful than I, though, Kurt.
I never solved the problem of how to install the guns AFTER finishing the outside of the model.
To be honest, I've snapped off four barrels already, and have a system of applying new glue on the end of a stick of wood, and using another stick to apply pressure to the top of the barrels as a lever, with the fulcrum being the top edge of the gun port. Gluing the carriage wheels of a snapped off gun carriage back down on the deck is a real pain using a piece of bent wire to apply CA to the trucks blindly. The breaching lines and gun tackles save the barrel or entire carriage from falling inside the ship with that rattling sound that tells you how badly you just screwed up.
Good luck getting a loose part out of the innards of your model. You literally have to pick up the model, hold it at various angles, and shake it violently until the part tinkles out one of the gun ports or a deck hatch, and it could take a long time or never to retrieve the part. I speak from experience... too much of it. If the part makes its way through the hatch to the orlop deck, the only easy way to get it out is drilling a large hold in the bottom of the hull at patching it afterward. I've gotten pretty good at getting myself out of jams like this.
Ask me about the shroud I sliced on La Couronne without having spare replacement line of the proper size... not an easy splice AFTER the ratlines are installed! You guys are always amazed at the boldness of the destruction operations, removing supports to make room for internal restructuring. You don't do that without first having the confidence performing recovery operations to fix massive screwups. They happen.
This is why models like this truly ARE a challenge.
When I tried to glue one gun back onto the carriage, the glue got stuck on the recoil line and I accidentally broke the carriage when I tried to separate the gun from the line. So I dismantled the carriage and reassembled it, putting it back in with some long forceps. Sometimes when fixing things I break others on this big ship.
When something breaks or is cut, the potential to make it worse SKYROCKETS. It's at this point when you REALLY need to work slowly and carefully to recover.
I never solved the problem of how to install the guns AFTER finishing the outside of the model.
To be honest, I've snapped off four barrels already, and have a system of applying new glue on the end of a stick of wood, and using another stick to apply pressure to the top of the barrels as a lever, with the fulcrum being the top edge of the gun port. Gluing the carriage wheels of a snapped off gun carriage back down on the deck is a real pain using a piece of bent wire to apply CA to the trucks blindly. The breaching lines and gun tackles save the barrel or entire carriage from falling inside the ship with that rattling sound that tells you how badly you just screwed up.
Good luck getting a loose part out of the innards of your model. You literally have to pick up the model, hold it at various angles, and shake it violently until the part tinkles out one of the gun ports or a deck hatch, and it could take a long time or never to retrieve the part. I speak from experience... too much of it. If the part makes its way through the hatch to the orlop deck, the only easy way to get it out is drilling a large hold in the bottom of the hull at patching it afterward. I've gotten pretty good at getting myself out of jams like this.
Ask me about the shroud I sliced on La Couronne without having spare replacement line of the proper size... not an easy splice AFTER the ratlines are installed! You guys are always amazed at the boldness of the destruction operations, removing supports to make room for internal restructuring. You don't do that without first having the confidence performing recovery operations to fix massive screwups. They happen.
This is why models like this truly ARE a challenge.
Your post really rang true with me Kurt.It is over 35 years I have been playing with wooden ships.The reason I know how to chop and change things and what are the "red flags" to look out for is that at some point I have made EVERY mistake known to man!! That was easily done pre internet in a country that was once the pinnacle of the world in building model ships but now deems it something of dark art.
Kind Regards
Nigel
It really does feel, sometimes/someways, that we are moving into the Dark Ages, part Deux.
Today was a long day working on installing culverin drakes on the starboard side of the middle gun deck. I miscounted and needed two more guns, so two more carriages were assembled, painted, and prepared for installation. All twenty-eight guns except two are now fully rigged with gun tackles and breech lines.
Kurt, good afternoon. But how now to sheathe the hull if the guns are already installed. They will interfere and glue the rails and grind them later.
Kurt, this build gives testimony to the idea that the reward is in the construction as much as in the final display. To think all of these wonderful details will be visible only through a gun port...
Like i did with the last ship, I turn the hull upside down and place it on a stand to plank the bottom, and plank the sides using planks and wale sections cut to length and work around the gun ports. The only problem is being care not to break off any more cannon barrels through clumsiness.
The internals can be viewed through those gun ports which do not contain guns, and through the main cargo hatches, which I will leave open so you can get a borescope inside. I'm wondering how to furnish the gallery interiors. Doris Obručová did a marvelous job making the interior rooms visible through the gallery windows. her ship was large, so making a detailed interior on my will be a greater challenge.
Coils were added on the deck for the starboard gun tackles. The starboard culverin drakes are complete now.
I am with Saha (@Alexander74), it is much more difficult to put the final planks while the guns protruded and will be even more difficult to shape. But...I am confident, you know, you do it right.
