HMS Sovereign of the Seas - Bashing DeAgostini Beyond Believable Boundaries
- Thread starter DARIVS ARCHITECTVS
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That's actually a very nice 'Bess, with great architecture and excellent wood to metal fit. If you bought it on the cheap, because of the solder issues, you got it for a bargain! Was this a kit that someone made?
There's used to be a company in Indiana called Narrangasett Arms that went out of business in the 1990's. They made black powder firearms here in the USA at a level of quality higher than rack grade Italian made Pedersoli guns but just short of custom built ones. The Bess I found is one of those, but had improper solder joints instead brazed ones. The inlay was good, and the lock was of excellent quality. You can't find reproduction muskets at this level of quality without going custom built, as I learned after doing some research. I got lucky finding and deciding to buy this one as my first flintlock. The dealer at the gun show may or may not have been aware of the damage, but the barrel to stock fit was quite loose and apparent to me. He was asking $1500 USD for it! Hugely high price. As I was about to walk away, he offered $750 USD and I accepted. Literally 4 seconds after I payed for it, I slipped the bayonet on and the bayonet lug sheared off! Uh Oh! Not a good sign. That's what you get for using plumber's lead solder. The same fellow who used weak solder, and BADLY fused at that, also attached the barrel lugs. I fixed all that in the shop. It should be 100% now. It could have ended up being a turd, but it turned out to be a good bargain in the end.
There is a shorter version of the Brown Bess called the sea pattern which was used on ships. The pattern I have is the long land pattern of 1740, used primarily in the French and Indian War in Canada and where I live in Minnesota, so that makes it local, and some were later used in the American Revolutionary War. Most American rebels used the 1766 Charleville's provided by France, but captured Brown Bess's were also prized.
That double headed lock serpentine on the marine cannon lock above has a unique back-up flint in case the first chips out. Rather remarkable innovation.
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It seems likely that guy who sold you the gun knew about the solder issue. Nevertheless, that really is a bargain, though - especially if you have the skills required to properly braise the lugs in place. I haven’t gone flintlock shooting in many years. I bought a beautiful Bucks county rifle 16 years ago, but I have yet to shoot it. I was never comfortable with the idea of keeping black powder in a city apartment. I wish there were a nearby range that sold powder by the flask.
Yeah, gun dealers are the same as used car salesmen. He even said it was unfired, which proved untrue due to the powder residue I found under the lock. You have to be careful purchasing. I live 4 miles away from Track of the Wolf, a well known black powder firearms supplier, and picked up a pound of ffg powder and 50 musket balls last week, but the price of powder is very high. One pound costs $29 USD.
I know Track of the Wolf well. I bought my rifle from them and was super-impressed with the care of packing and that the rifle looked even better in-person than it did on-line - great company! It has been interesting to me that, throughout the pandemic, their flinter inventory has been pretty anemic. I check every so often, just in case an Eric Kettenburg gun somehow surfaces.
Their store is actually very small, with 80% if it storage for parts for orders. They have quality parts and stocks, but when you buy in person, they don't have much time for you because they are busy in the back.
I'm not yet sure how the shape of the stern galleries will go quite yet, so at the risk of stopping all the fun talk with ship business, I went to work on the wales. Taking inspiration from Nigel's model, and cutting strips of cherry wood to the sizes provided by Frank48's information, I set about devising a way to method to make the wales and attach them to the hull.
I found some old leather dye that had totally dried up, so I put some xylene into it and made it liquid again and used it to stain the strips for the lowest wale, because it's what I had.
The wood strip was sanded smooth, soaked in water, and bent at the bow end with a form and hot iron. It had to not only band around the hull, but had to be bent upward as well as it was formed around the bow. Since the sharpest curve is at the bow, that's where you want to start attaching the wale the hull. Once the glue is set there, then you can bend the rest of the strip around the hull easily, gluing and anchoring it in a couple more spots near the bow too cement it in the correct location. The wale should appear level as is approached the stem, and not sweep upward and form a peak. To do that, it has to be curved against the long axis of the cross section. Below you can see the end of the strip ends in a spline joint, and will be continues aft with a second strip of wood.
Holes are drilled in pairs approximately every 8-9mm, about where each of the frames would be.
Wire is pushed about 5mm into the holes using pliers with an interference fit. Glue is not needed.
The wire is cut as close to the wale as possible with a wire cutter.
After filing the protruding end of the wire until the barbs are removed, the wire ends are tapped in flush with a light hammer.
The shiny brass is made dark with a permanent marker. You could use brass blacking acid, but this was faster with no risk of leaving acid behind. Even if the mark rubs off, the brass will darken over time from oxidation and blend in.
Simulated scarf joints are made using a chisel shaped knife and a light hammer. They are quick and compared with making actual scarf joints, and they look the same when the wood grain is obscured by painting or black staining.
I got about 1/4 of of the way on the first wale on the starboard side before I ran out of time today. Below you can see more wires needing to be filed and tapped flush. The two red lines below the wale show where the next wale will go. A red marker was run along the pinstripe tape before it was removed.
I found some old leather dye that had totally dried up, so I put some xylene into it and made it liquid again and used it to stain the strips for the lowest wale, because it's what I had.
The wood strip was sanded smooth, soaked in water, and bent at the bow end with a form and hot iron. It had to not only band around the hull, but had to be bent upward as well as it was formed around the bow. Since the sharpest curve is at the bow, that's where you want to start attaching the wale the hull. Once the glue is set there, then you can bend the rest of the strip around the hull easily, gluing and anchoring it in a couple more spots near the bow too cement it in the correct location. The wale should appear level as is approached the stem, and not sweep upward and form a peak. To do that, it has to be curved against the long axis of the cross section. Below you can see the end of the strip ends in a spline joint, and will be continues aft with a second strip of wood.
Holes are drilled in pairs approximately every 8-9mm, about where each of the frames would be.
Wire is pushed about 5mm into the holes using pliers with an interference fit. Glue is not needed.
The wire is cut as close to the wale as possible with a wire cutter.
After filing the protruding end of the wire until the barbs are removed, the wire ends are tapped in flush with a light hammer.
The shiny brass is made dark with a permanent marker. You could use brass blacking acid, but this was faster with no risk of leaving acid behind. Even if the mark rubs off, the brass will darken over time from oxidation and blend in.
Simulated scarf joints are made using a chisel shaped knife and a light hammer. They are quick and compared with making actual scarf joints, and they look the same when the wood grain is obscured by painting or black staining.
I got about 1/4 of of the way on the first wale on the starboard side before I ran out of time today. Below you can see more wires needing to be filed and tapped flush. The two red lines below the wale show where the next wale will go. A red marker was run along the pinstripe tape before it was removed.
Very nice Kurt. Love the tiny brass pins.
Awesome! Super clean work, Kurt.
Looks good Kurt 
One tip I discovered by chance the other day that I haven't had the chance to try but will be using on Soleil Royal;
If you want the next wale to be perfectly parallel to this one, say 10mm gap between.Cut a strip of 10mm wide Styrene sheet say 150mm long and cut saw cuts every 10 -15 mm along the strip three quarters of the way down's it kind of resembles a comb.You can the use this as a spacer and it will bend to follow the sheer of the wale below perfectly
Kind Regards
Nigel
One tip I discovered by chance the other day that I haven't had the chance to try but will be using on Soleil Royal;
If you want the next wale to be perfectly parallel to this one, say 10mm gap between.Cut a strip of 10mm wide Styrene sheet say 150mm long and cut saw cuts every 10 -15 mm along the strip three quarters of the way down's it kind of resembles a comb.You can the use this as a spacer and it will bend to follow the sheer of the wale below perfectly
Kind Regards
Nigel
I used to have a .58 caliber flintlock, Kurt. And I thought IT was a beast. 120 grains of black powder would send the 750 grain mini scooting down the range. It wasn’t that accurate, but it packed a whallop. My cousin Bubba told me to sit beside him while he shot it to see if I could see the ball as it went to the target. That’s when I learned never to stand next to the flash pan when someone is shooting. I was picking specks of gunpowder out of my left cheek for a week.
The pseudo scarf joints probably look more realistic than making actual ones. It’s hard to make the real ones fit tightly at that scale.
Ditto- I have learnt how to do scarf joints now.
Genius! Thanks Nigel!Looks good Kurt
One tip I discovered by chance the other day that I haven't had the chance to try but will be using on Soleil Royal;
If you want the next wale to be perfectly parallel to this one, say 10mm gap between.Cut a strip of 10mm wide Styrene sheet say 150mm long and cut saw cuts every 10 -15 mm along the strip three quarters of the way down's it kind of resembles a comb.You can the use this as a spacer and it will bend to follow the sheer of the wale below perfectly
Kind Regards
Nigel
The downside is that there is no contrast between the wood grain on either side of the scarf joint. So if you just oil the wood, the simulated scarf joint is apparent to the close observer. On this scale, not so much.
Great technique Kurt, I have found the chisel tip Exacto to be an indispensable tool in my work.