La Couronne Corel/scratch 1:100 First build [COMPLETED BUILD]

Are the anchor shafts for those mounted at the channel actually lashed to the lower deadeye irons?
I've only seen these lashed to bollards or cleats on the bulwark, not to the channel so I'm curious for more detail.
Wolfram zu Mondfeld states that purpose-made anchor stowages were used from the first half of the 19th century onwards. This is a 17th century ship. The Corel instructions also show seizings of the anchor shank to the lower deadeye irons. The Corel instructions, as well as Vincenzo Lusci shown below, show the anchors lashed in this manner. There may be other methods used for ships of this time period. After all, this is my FIRST ship model and it's a continuous learning project.
:)

Capture.JPG;)
 
More like miles. See log.
This model has taken over two years, so don't hurry or you will not get things as clean or neat as you want and you'll skip details that make the model awesome. You need patience, and have to love making the little things as good as you can using every research book and forum you can possibly read before taking that next step.
 
Hello everyone. I gave in a little when it came to patience, and had to see what the ship is going to look like with sails on the yards. I bought a set of cloth sails for La Couronne for $65.00 at the beginning of construction, and took my chances as far as the fit an dimensions, and they are a little off, but not too bad. So, I hung them on the yards and took some pictures. These sails will NOT be used except as the START of developing patterns for scratch built sails. It can already be seen that they are not wide enough, being short about 1 cm athwartship. You don't want to ruin a nice ship by hanging mass produced rags on it. The fore topsail isn't even symmetrical port to starboard! The scratch built sails will be made using Olha Batchvarov's video as a guide. I especially like the trick where she uses CA glue to prevent the edges from fraying before sewing on the bolt-rope on. She and her ships are awesome, and she shows every step in making good cloth sails that look as real as cloth can get, which at this scale is admittedly not as great as micro thin spider silk, but hey... just like Camelot, it's only a model. *SHHHH!*

20200717_210554.jpg

20200717_210620.jpg

20200717_210639.jpg

20200717_210739.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hello everyone. I gave in a little when it came to patience, and had to see what the ship is going to look like with sails on the yards. I bought a set of cloth sails for La Couronne for $65.00 at the beginning of construction, and took my chances as far as the fit an dimensions, and they are a little off, but not too bad. So, I hung them on the yards and took some pictures. These sails will NOT be used except as the START of developing patterns for scratch built sails. It can already be seen that they are not wide enough, being short about 1 cm athwartship. You don't want to ruin a nice ship by hanging mass produced rags on it. The fore topsail isn't even symmetrical port to starboard! The scratch built sails will be made using Olha Batcharov's video as a guide. I especially like the trick where she uses CA glue to prevent the edges from fraying before sewing on the bolt-rope on. She and her ships are awesome, and she shows every step in making good cloth sails that look as real as cloth can get, which at this scale is admittedly not as great as micro thin spider silk, but hey... just like Camelot, it's only a model. *SHHHH!*

View attachment 165280

View attachment 165281

View attachment 165282

View attachment 165283
Are you going to make them billow with the wind or hang straight?
 
Are you going to make them billow with the wind or hang straight?
I will billow them a bit, but not too much because unless you use stretchy cloth to begin with like Ohla does, you don't get much belly. I think the hardest thing is to simulate a fully billowed sail without relying on thin wires for sheets and wire reinforcement of the sails' bolt-ropes, and sheets, martinets, and other lines just don't hang properly on a model no matter what you do. I'll billow them as much as I can. We'll see how they turn out.
 
Hello everyone!

Like my father before me, I sailed merchant ships as an Engineering Officer, and have always loved square riggers. After eight years living aboard ship, seawater still flows in my veins twenty-five years later. I built several plastic ones as a boy, and now am returning to the hobby decades later, this time with experience in medieval weapon and armour smithing, carpentry, machining and other trade skills. A decision had to be made as to which era of sailing ship to choose.

The 17th century royal great ships peaked my interest because of their embellishment and style, set apart from the advanced, refined warships of the Lord Admiral Nelson's time. So, the first ship, what I consider my training vessel, is La Couronne c. 1636. It's an ambitious ship for a novice such as myself. EJ's La Couronne build on the Nautical Research Guild was an inspiration, and his build log serves me well as a guide, since plans alone are not sufficient for a first time project. I also purchased Deagostini's Sovereign of the Seas, all packages, and am saving that for building closer to retirement in 10-13 years. The challenge of the small scale of 1:100 of La Couronne is rather high, trying to include the level of detail I desire, plus the addition of either full or battle sails. Silkspan is the material that is planned to used for the sails. I hope I don't tear them to ribbons in the process! A ship isn't complete without sails, no matter that they block some of the view of the deck equipment.

La Couronne so far is about 50% done, with the additions of: properly scaled 18 pound, 9 pound, and 6 pound bronze cannons, use of Falkonet small 2mm blocks instead of the monster blocks supplied with the kit, cannon carriages of walnut instead of dummy barrels, internal circuit board with flickering candle effect LED lights for upper gun deck, stern and side galleries and turrets, and of course, stern lanterns. Below is a link to 264 photos (and growing) of the progress of the build, every step of the way, all numbered to allow one to see the progress in order.

I would treasure your comments and suggestions on how to steer this build in the direction of perfection, or questions as how features of this model were chosen and performed. All of you who have posted your own builds have unwittingly educated me in this build every step of the way.

Best wishes!

Kurt Suleski
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS (Latin for Darius the Engineer)

La Couronne Build Photos

264-Test-Fit-Towers.jpg

[/QUOT
beautiful work which brought you to a most impressive result. Well doneThumbsup:)
 
I will billow them a bit, but not too much because unless you use stretchy cloth to begin with like Ohla does, you don't get much belly. I think the hardest thing is to simulate a fully billowed sail without relying on thin wires for sheets and wire reinforcement of the sails' bolt-ropes, and sheets, martinets, and other lines just don't hang properly on a model no matter what you do. I'll billow them as much as I can. We'll see how they turn out.
I totally get it. I’m looking forward to seeing how you do it. I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos on it. One guy used sticks to form a frame and used a mixture of white glue and water and put a small weight on it. Another used a hairdryer. I’m not sure how that one works.
 
I totally get it. I’m looking forward to seeing how you do it. I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos on it. One guy used sticks to form a frame and used a mixture of white glue and water and put a small weight on it. Another used a hairdryer. I’m not sure how that one works.
I'm leaning toward the "wet sail with a bag of rice" method. I don't think a fan would offer enough force to stretch most fabrics, only curve them a bit.
 
Hello everyone!

Like my father before me, I sailed merchant ships as an Engineering Officer, and have always loved square riggers. After eight years living aboard ship, seawater still flows in my veins twenty-five years later. I built several plastic ones as a boy, and now am returning to the hobby decades later, this time with experience in medieval weapon and armour smithing, carpentry, machining and other trade skills. A decision had to be made as to which era of sailing ship to choose.

The 17th century royal great ships peaked my interest because of their embellishment and style, set apart from the advanced, refined warships of the Lord Admiral Nelson's time. So, the first ship, what I consider my training vessel, is La Couronne c. 1636. It's an ambitious ship for a novice such as myself. EJ's La Couronne build on the Nautical Research Guild was an inspiration, and his build log serves me well as a guide, since plans alone are not sufficient for a first time project. I also purchased Deagostini's Sovereign of the Seas, all packages, and am saving that for building closer to retirement in 10-13 years. The challenge of the small scale of 1:100 of La Couronne is rather high, trying to include the level of detail I desire, plus the addition of either full or battle sails. Silkspan is the material that is planned to used for the sails. I hope I don't tear them to ribbons in the process! A ship isn't complete without sails, no matter that they block some of the view of the deck equipment.

La Couronne so far is about 50% done, with the additions of: properly scaled 18 pound, 9 pound, and 6 pound bronze cannons, use of Falkonet small 2mm blocks instead of the monster blocks supplied with the kit, cannon carriages of walnut instead of dummy barrels, internal circuit board with flickering candle effect LED lights for upper gun deck, stern and side galleries and turrets, and of course, stern lanterns. Below is a link to 264 photos (and growing) of the progress of the build, every step of the way, all numbered to allow one to see the progress in order.

I would treasure your comments and suggestions on how to steer this build in the direction of perfection, or questions as how features of this model were chosen and performed. All of you who have posted your own builds have unwittingly educated me in this build every step of the way.

Best wishes!

Kurt Suleski
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS (Latin for Darius the Engineer)

La Couronne Build Photos

264-Test-Fit-Towers.jpg
I don’t know how you managed to rig your guns at 1:100 scale. I’m not sure I’d have room for anything else on the deck for my Constitution.
 
I don’t know how you managed to rig your guns at 1:100 scale. I’m not sure I’d have room for anything else on the deck for my Constitution.
Hello Victator,

Take a look at my photos in my IMGBB page here: La Couronne Photos
There are currently 1,008 photos showing the entire build starting from when I opened the box. If you arrange them in date order, you can skip to the photos that show how the cannon carriages and their gun and train tackles were prepared before the carriages were installed. Instead of fake cannon barrels on the lower gun deck, I made scratch made carriages and used pieces of balsa to create the lower gun deck sections between the bulkheads. I hate the look of fake barrels, and wanted to see the carriages, so I made them. All the 6 and 9 pound cannon barrels were replaced with properly sized barrels, except the big 18 pounders on the lower gun deck which came with the kit. Having all the guns the same size was not authentic, so three different sizes corresponding to the proper gun sizes were used. If you have ANY questions at all about the build, please ask them here on this thread and I will answer them promptly and completely. This is my first wooden ship model. I made the Revell plastic kit of USS Constitution 4 decades ago, and am no returning to the hobby with extreme enthusiasm, as this build of La Couronne shows. If you are building the Connie, I would highly recommend you take the time to rig all the details of the guns. Talking the extra effort to super-detail your model will take it from an ordinary to an extravagant appearance when you are done. The key is patience (and buying tiny 2mm blocks from Falconet in Russia for the tackles, also buy tiny part# 83505 etched brass eyelets from Caldercraft). By the way, I still have a hardcover book of the captain's logs from the USS Constitution with a piece of wood from the ship itself on the cover which my mother gave me when I was very young and building that model. La Couronne is over two years in the making, at a steady pace of construction. I figure it will take about year to make the sails and complete the rigging before she goes under plexiglas.

mit herzlichen Gruβ,

Kurt

101 Two Gun Tackle Sets Test Fit.jpg

108 Install Cannon Barrel.jpg


220 Begin Installing Cannon in Forecastle.jpg

222 Installing Cannon.jpg

228 Guns Complete.jpg

229 Forecastle Guns Complete.jpg



Temporary sails fitted (hand made sails to be made):
20200717_210739.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hello Victator,

Take a look at my photos in my IMGBB page here: La Couronne Photos
There are currently 1,008 photos showing the entire build starting from when I opened the box. If you arrange them in date order, you can skip to the photos that show how the cannon carriages and their gun and train tackles were prepared before the carriages were installed. Instead of fake cannon barrels on the lower gun deck, I made scratch made carriages and used pieces of balsa to create the lower gun deck sections between the bulkheads. I hate the look of fake barrels, and wanted to see the carriages, so I made them. All the 6 and 9 pound cannon barrels were replaced with properly sized barrels, except the big 18 pounders on the lower gun deck which came with the kit. Having all the guns the same size was not authentic, so three different sizes corresponding to the proper gun sizes were used. If you have ANY questions at all about the build, please ask them here on this thread and I will answer them promptly and completely. This is my first wooden ship model. I made the Revel plastic kit of USS Constitution 4 decades ago, and am no returning to the hobby with extreme enthusiasm, as this build of La Couronne shows. If you are building the Connie, I would highly recommend you take the time to rig all the details of the guns. Talking the extra effort to super-detail your model will take it from an ordinary to an extravagant appearance when you are done. The key is patience. By the way, I still have a hardcover book of the captain's logs from the USS Constitution with a piece of wood from the ship itself on the cover which my mother gave me when I was very young and building that model. La Couronne is over two years in the making, at a steady pace of construction. I figure it will take about year to make the sails and complete the rigging before she goes under plexiglas.

mit herzlichen Gruβ,

Kurt

View attachment 171354

View attachment 171355

View attachment 171356



Temporary sails fitted (hand made sails to be made):
View attachment 171353
Now the sails are bent and there is life in the vessel. Quite a showpiece with a lot of time producing it. PT-2
 
Hello Victator,

Take a look at my photos in my IMGBB page here: La Couronne Photos
There are currently 1,008 photos showing the entire build starting from when I opened the box. If you arrange them in date order, you can skip to the photos that show how the cannon carriages and their gun and train tackles were prepared before the carriages were installed. Instead of fake cannon barrels on the lower gun deck, I made scratch made carriages and used pieces of balsa to create the lower gun deck sections between the bulkheads. I hate the look of fake barrels, and wanted to see the carriages, so I made them. All the 6 and 9 pound cannon barrels were replaced with properly sized barrels, except the big 18 pounders on the lower gun deck which came with the kit. Having all the guns the same size was not authentic, so three different sizes corresponding to the proper gun sizes were used. If you have ANY questions at all about the build, please ask them here on this thread and I will answer them promptly and completely. This is my first wooden ship model. I made the Revell plastic kit of USS Constitution 4 decades ago, and am no returning to the hobby with extreme enthusiasm, as this build of La Couronne shows. If you are building the Connie, I would highly recommend you take the time to rig all the details of the guns. Talking the extra effort to super-detail your model will take it from an ordinary to an extravagant appearance when you are done. The key is patience (and buying tiny 2mm blocks from Falconet in Russia for the tackles, also buy tiny part# 83505 etched brass eyelets from Caldercraft). By the way, I still have a hardcover book of the captain's logs from the USS Constitution with a piece of wood from the ship itself on the cover which my mother gave me when I was very young and building that model. La Couronne is over two years in the making, at a steady pace of construction. I figure it will take about year to make the sails and complete the rigging before she goes under plexiglas.

mit herzlichen Gruβ,

Kurt

View attachment 171361

View attachment 171362


View attachment 171354

View attachment 171363

View attachment 171355

View attachment 171356



Temporary sails fitted (hand made sails to be made):
View attachment 171353
Toll, aber zu spät für mich. I’m almost at the end of my build, all I have left is rigging, sails, and some highlights. Now that I have my sea legs, I plan on starting the Soleil Royal. I’ll spend much more time on it. Es wird für meine Tochter sein. Wow! Auto fill works in German too.
 
Toll, aber zu spät für mich. I’m almost at the end of my build, all I have left is rigging, sails, and some highlights. Now that I have my sea legs, I plan on starting the Soleil Royal. I’ll spend much more time on it. Es wird für meine Tochter sein. Wow! Auto fill works in German too.
Soleil Royal will give you lots of cannon rigging practice! Did you post a build log for USS Constitution?
 
Back
Top