La Belle 1684 - Caf Model 1:48 by Gennaro [COMPLETED BUILD]

Hi Gennaro!

Whether door open or closed? It's just a gimmick! Your construction is beautiful and significantly exceeds the intended value of the manufacturer's kit. The kit was designed for the beginner and very simplified. Your results have nothing to do with the beginners model and correspond to the real shipbuilding and are very cleanly executed. A big compliment!

Best regards
Thomas
 
Dematosdg said:
It is looking great. I am always jealous of those who can build and glue something so clean and perfect. All my ships have their share of mistakes and imperfections. I applaud you !!!!!

I have a question.

With your skills and knowing that you have the Proxxon Milling tool, why you didn't mill that window ? (The white section). It is just curiosity because what you have done looks great.

Well done !!!
Daniel
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Thanks Daniel for your kind words. Well, I tried to mill the window. The first approach was to construct window from six parts - four sides and two munions. Profile was milled for overlapped sides, no problem there. Cutting off was a problem, particularly munions - they are only 0.25 mmm in thickness. The second approach, to mill out openings, was not even attempted. The window trim was cut out that way instead of 4 miter parts and that succeeded only after three attempts - cross grain is the problem, even with slight touch it simply snaps. Thanks again!
 
Thomas Marocke said:
Hi Gennaro!

Whether door open or closed? It's just a gimmick! Your construction is beautiful and significantly exceeds the intended value of the manufacturer's kit. The kit was designed for the beginner and very simplified. Your results have nothing to do with the beginners model and correspond to the real shipbuilding and are very cleanly executed. A big compliment!

Best regards
Thomas
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Many thanks Thomas! I just try to improve my skills observing what other people do here on SOS. Always great inspiration and motivation.
 
Gennaro said:
Thanks Daniel for your kind words. Well, I tried to mill the window. The first approach was to construct window from six parts - four sides and two munions. Profile was milled for overlapped sides, no problem there. Cutting off was a problem, particularly munions - they are only 0.25 mmm in thickness. The second approach, to mill out openings, was not even attempted. The window trim was cut out that way instead of 4 miter parts and that succeeded only after three attempts - cross grain is the problem, even with slight touch it simply snaps. Thanks again!
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I understand the issues. I though that milling the 4 square holes wouldn't be a difficult task. I was wrong.

Nevertheless, looks great and I find your job very professional.

Best
Daniel
 
Howdy hoy! Few planks are added to the quarter deck. Then I decided to interpret the stern. Turned out acceptable to me. Recently I started to question finishing options. Even plain wop enhances joints as can be clearly seen in miter joints. How about not applying anything? Thanks for stopping by, all the comments and likes. Much appreciated as always.

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Very good progress, Mon Amie! We usually use a finish to enhance the timber and for its protection. Obviously, as the captain and grand shipwright, you make your own decision. However, I would recommend at least using a varnish coat (or a few) to protect the wood from moisture. My personal choice as you can guess would be Linseed or Flaxseed oils.
 
Gennaro said:
To oil or not to oil? I can see the protection point, but visually I find oiled models too dark. What would happen to a model if there was no varnish of any kind, just natural wood? Many thanks for your kind words.
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It is a good question...Natural oils such as Linseed doesn't darken too much, it brings out the grain instead, bring it to live. Blends of oils such as Danish or Tung oils may darken the timber.

What happened to the wood if you leave the wood as is, without varnish of any kind...depends on your geographical location and climate changes. For example, in New York, we have very high humidity all year round. Wood will react to rapid fluctuations in humidity and temperature. When the humidity goes up the wood will expand and swell. Depending on the level of humidity wood has been known to expand up to two inches or more due to absorbing the moisture in the air. One of the ways to protect the wood is to use a wood sealer and varnish of any kind. Some people like shellac some WOP or oils.
 
Hi Gennaro!

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Linseed oil.

SANY1152.JPGNitro varnish.

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Left linseed oil on construction wood and bottom pear. Right nitro varnish. The varnish seems a little lighter.

I spray thinned nitro primer (with the brush for difficult corners) and after a light intermediate sanding (where possible) finally cover everything with the airbrush with thinned matte nitro paint. This gives an even paint finish.
For intermediate painting of the frames in the hull interior and the captain's cabin, all remaining constructions must always be covered so that additional wood can be glued on later. That's why I made the beams on the cabin removable. First cover everything around the cabin with paper, then paint the inside with the airbrush, glue on the deck beams and plank them, and finally paint everything together again with a very thin coat of airbrush. Cannons and ship's boat are painted separately and can be glued on later or attached with ropes.
Painting is done in the garden when there is no wind and it is getting warmer again. :D

Another thing that occurs to me is that residues are more noticeable under oil than under the paint. Before painting, no matter with what kind of coating, alls thoroughly search for adhesive residues.

Cheers
Thomas
 
Another point not mentioned is cleaning and keeping your model clean. An unfinished surface will be extremely hard to clean and to keep clean. Add a little dust then a nice humid day and you have a stain in your wood that will not be so easy to get rid of. Just for this factor alone I would always apply a finish to any wood surface
 
I have always preferred a satin clear coat finish on models, instead of oils. For two reasons. One - you don’t have to worry about glue adhesion. Two - dust wipes or blows off easily and doesn’t stick.
In addition I don’t think ships should be shiny, so I go with satin, and if I get too much shine I just lightly sand with 1,000 grit.
I like using oil on furniture, which is easy to apply and maintain, verses a delicate model.
But that’s just my personal preference. You have to decide what you like and why. ;)
 
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Bit of an update. Staghorns are installed - I used horns and hearts from the kit, top board was milled in the similar fashion as Thomas did on his model. Caprails are in place too, except for the forcastle. Here's the current state of the model:

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Then I decided to manufacture pumps. For some reason, I have a problem of making a tapered octagon. After going through a foot of boxwood 1/4"x1/4" strip without acceptable results I resorted to MF70. To get a linear taper, small bits of wood were glued to one end. Thickness is determined by taper amount:

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Run it under the milling bit and here is the square taper:

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Now, to get the octagon, rather than adhering to 7-10-7 rule, octagon pattern was drafted in Autocad, printed out and marked. Simple jig was used to rotate piece by 45 degrees.

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Run it under the mill and here are the pump tubes:

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The cheating part: There are 8 tiny wedges around the pump tubes at the deck level - impossible task for me. So the tubes were cut at deck level and octagonal piece of box was sandwiched. Didn't bother to drill the hole at the bottom. Also, "iron" bands are not made of metal - black tape.

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Bit of metal work and here they are on the deck:

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Plans show no framing for pumps (strange?), so I added few planks, opened round holes and simply slid them in. They will be permanently installed at much later stage. Thanks for stopping by, all the likes and comments. Happy modelling!
 
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