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

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

At the sides of each gun port, short strips of linden wood are glued to the inside surface of the planks above and below the line of ports.


The lower gun deck was planked with short lengths of linden wood and more filler was added to a low spot on the bow. The hull on the lower section of the stern appears bumpy but that's only the effect of the thin filler letting the bumpy wood surface show through. It's actually glass smooth.


Beginning planking the upper gun deck.


Holes are cut and filed square for the gun ports on the counter of the stern.


Another forgotten step. There is no deck for the lower gun deck stern chasers to rest on! Time to get clever. Two small sections of deck were created from plywood, and sized by gluing a stick to them, lowering them into the stern from the top and trimming them as required until they fit with a slight interference fit. Glue was applied to the edges and the deck plates were maneuvered using the sticks until they were at the correct level and height.


There! The deck pieces were glued below the deck sections holding the last guns of the lower gun deck. After breaking off that stick for the deck piece on the starboard side, the stern chaser guns can be placed for a test fit. Crisis averted!


The position of the gun barrel relative to the port looks okay.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The deck pieces for the upper deck were test fit. Looks good so far.


I printed some doors and windows for the rear bulkhead of the upper gun deck on printer paper and glue it on for some extra detail.


The bulwarks and gun ports were painted red, being careful not to spill any paint on the deck. Planking is complete up to the top of the upper gun deck now.


Time to make gratings. The Corel gratings are very nice. The pieces fit tightly and precisely to one another.


2mm square walnut is used to trim and connect the deck gratings per the kit instructions. The quality of the wood and the cut surfaces in this kit are excellent.


The grating set is completed. As Dave at the Ship's Lumberyard noted, the corner joints should be stepped, lap joints, not diagonal, which would leak water.


Gratings installed.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The capstan provided by Corel was the wrong style. It was for a 19th century ship, not a 17th century one. So, I made one from scratch. That arms are a bit thick, but at least it is correct.


Capstan was glued to the deck. It's missing the pawls, however.


I bought a simple boat kit because the solid hulled boat provided by Corel was far too simplified. It's not nearly as good as the boat kits offered from Master Korabin, but it worked. The Korabin kits are simply the best and are made from pearwood. Ribs are soaked in warm water for 10 minutes, bent over the jig, and heat applied with a electric hot iron to steam them until they remain curved.


A jig is assembled, and ribs are bent over temporary bulkheads to form the skeleton of the hull as they are attached to the gunwale and the keel.


Thin, white basswood planks are provided, but pearwood is much better.


Aft view. Planks are soaked in water, test fit, trimmed, bent to the hull, and secured using CA glue


After planking, the boat is carefully cut free from the jig with a razor knife. Careful application of CA glue while planking will prevent the boat from being stuck hard to the jig. The outer surface of the hull is lightly sanded until smooth.


More parts are added to the boat, including the breasthook, stern thwart, rudder and tiller.


More strips of wood are added as ribs. The gunwale is attached.




The gunwale was painted blue as builder's choice of color. Floorboards were custom cut and glued to the bottom of the boat. Oarlocks were made by inserting small segment of wire made from office staples, then painted brown, and strips of wood were cut, stained brown, and glued into the boat to make the thwarts. The hull was stained brown. This boat was mu first one, and it turned out well for a first try.

 

[shota70]

you are doing wonderful work and results are very beautiful, well done

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The beakshead was attached. It will later be covered with mahogany strips.


The royal portal was cut into the port side.


The first of many gun tackles was made using 1mm eyelets, 2mm blocks from Falkonet, and black and tan thread.


Here is the carriage it will go on.


Coils of rope are made with a simple jig that has double faced tape on a square of plywood. I hold the bottom stick in a small bench vice to use the jig. Line is stuck to the tape, guided into position using the tip of a razor knife. Then a thick layer of PVA glue is painted onto the coil. The coil is pried free of the tape once dry.


A couple gun tackles, their deck coils, and a cannon carriage are ready.


The end of the tackle with the single block has its eyelet glued into a hole in the carriage on each side, and a train tackle was also fitted to this carriage. Train tackles really shouldn't be used on this ship, since they were developed later. Instead, the gun tackles can be unhooked from the bulwark and hooked into some place behind the carriage of the cannon needs to be drawn rearward. The long ends of the tackles will be glued to the deck, with the coils placed over the ends of the lines such that they look like they are part of the line.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Gun carriages ready for installation.


Here is how the breeching lines were made. Eyelets were made from brass wire, then blackened. The length of the breeching is such that once in place, the cannon could be moved rearward far enough to permit the muzzle to be inside the bulwark and accessible for loading. For this carriage, 76mm of 0.40mm diameter line was used for each breeching line.


Instead of making siezes, each end of the of the line were simply passed through an eyelet, folded over, and glued with CA glue. Simple, but it worked at this scale.


The eyelet shanks are trimmed to a length equal or less than the thickness of the bulwark. Breeching lines complete.


Holes were drilled in the bulwark to accept the shanks of the eyelets for the gun tackles and breeching lines. But then I decided that the bulwarks needed to be covered in natural wood, so after planking the bulwarks, the holes were re-drilled through the new planks.


Time to install the first gun carriage. First, the breech lines are attached to the bulwarks using CA glue on the eyelet shanks.


The gun is hung over the gunwale while the carriage is maneuvered into place and the gun tackle eyelets are glued into their holes in the bulwark. The gun tackle line tension is adjusted to take up slack using a tweezers. The eyelet of at the end of the train tackle is attached to the deck. The ends of the lines for the tackles were glued to the deck at the place where the end of the line for each coils is, making it look like the line is part of the coil. Later I simulated trunnion caps for the gun by painting the top of the trunnion and an area fore and aft of the trunnion on the top of the carriage cheek.

 

[PT-2]

The beakshead was attached. It will later be covered with mahogany strips.
View attachment 267243

The royal portal was cut into the port side.
View attachment 267244

The first of many gun tackles was made using 1mm eyelets, 2mm blocks from Falkonet, and black and tan thread.
View attachment 267245

Here is the carriage it will go on.
View attachment 267246

Coils of rope are made with a simple jig that has double faced tape on a square of plywood. I hold the bottom stick in a small bench vice to use the jig. Line is stuck to the tape, guided into position using the tip of a razor knife. Then a thick layer of PVA glue is painted onto the coil. The coil is pried free of the tape once dry.
View attachment 267247

A couple gun tackles, their deck coils, and a cannon carriage are ready.
View attachment 267248

The end of the tackle with the single block has its eyelet glued into a hole in the carriage on each side, and a train tackle was also fitted to this carriage. Train tackles really shouldn't be used on this ship, since they were developed later. Instead, the gun tackles can be unhooked from the bulwark and hooked into some place behind the carriage of the cannon needs to be drawn rearward. The long ends of the tackles will be glued to the deck, with the coils placed over the ends of the lines such that they look like they are part of the line.
View attachment 267249

Great log to follow your progress and challenges with the small tight curved planks for the ships boat which you overcame. The cannon rigging as such a small size and number to complete takes a lot of patient work. The model is coming along well and interesting to see. Rich (PT_2)

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The other 9 pound cannon barrels in the waist are rigged with breeching lines, then hung out their portals to get them out of the way.


The guns carriages are then glued to the deck, then rigged as before. Now you are starting to see the ships armaments come to life


The gun barrels are place on their carriages, and a door was fabricated from two wood strips, shaped, painted with hinges and door rings, and glued into the royal portal.


Only the carriages which were visible from outside were rigged with tackles. On the lower gun dec, you can see the carriages in the ports awaiting installation of their gun barrels later in the build.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

At this stage, it was time to plan for the electronics and lighting. Yellow 3V LED's and their wires were glue to the bottom of the upper deck. The A/C transformer will power an Uno Arduino electronics card from a beginner's electronics kit purchased for $16.00 on Amazon. A personal computer was used to download a script program into the Arduino card's chip which will randomly vary the voltage for six separate circuits. The positive leads for the circuits are the orange and blue wires below. The common ground is the black wire. The circuit operate LED's for the following places in the ship: three for the three stern lanterns, one for the upper gun deck shown below, two for the port and starboard side gallery turrets, and two for the two bow turrets where crossbowmen are reputed to be stationed on this ship.


Two nano 3V LED's for the large lantern and one nano 3V LED for each of the smaller stern lanterns were installed as the lanterns were assembled. These lanterns are from the Mantua La Couronne model and were provided as kits with many pieces, allowing lights to be installed. The Corel ones are beautiful and gold plated, instead of raw brass, but they came already assembled and with red plastic for the glass instead of clear, so those lanterns were substituted for these. If anyone wants the Corel lantern set, let me know.


A place for hiding the Arduino card was determinied to be inside the stern structure. Two screws will mount it to the rear bulkhead frame.


The DC power cord was routed from the keep, through two bulkheads and to the Arduino card. Drilling the holes to fish the wire through was quite a challenge. A 1cm hole had to be drilled through the hull from the stern and through several bulkheads, then the hole in the stern was patched up with wood. A difficult problem in bashing to say the least. The trick was to get the wiring through blind cavities with minimal damage to the model. A stiff piece of galvanized 18 gauge steel wire was fished through the holes, then used to draw the a piece of line which in turn was tied and taped to the electrical plug. The line was then used to draw the plug through the ship.


Here is where the end of the wire ended up, right where it could reach the electronics card. A bit of black wire is used to hold onto the end of the plug so it doesn't fall back into the depths of the model.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The quarter deck (referred to earlier as the upper deck) was test fit onto the model.


This is the view of the previously rigged guns in the waist.


The single layer of planking above the cannons was painted brown to blend in with the layered bulwark planking beneath it.


The wiring for the upper gun deck lighting can be seen starting from the rear port side of the quarterdeck, and splitting to each of the locations where the bow turrets will be mounted. The clamps hang on these wires to prevent them from accidentally being pulled back inside the ship.


The quarterdeck is now glued into place onto the deck beams.


The circuit for the lower gun deck lights is tested. The green power light emanating from the electronics board will be painted over with black paint later.

 

[shota70]

The quarter deck (referred to earlier as the upper deck) was test fit onto the model.
View attachment 267309

This is the view of the previously rigged guns in the waist.
View attachment 267310

The single layer of planking above the cannons was painted brown to blend in with the layered bulwark planking beneath it.
View attachment 267311

The wiring for the upper gun deck lighting can be seen starting from the rear port side of the quarterdeck, and splitting to each of the locations where the bow turrets will be mounted. The clamps hang on these wires to prevent them from accidentally being pulled back inside the ship.
View attachment 267312

The quarterdeck is now glued into place onto the deck beams.
View attachment 267313

The circuit for the lower gun deck lights is tested. The green power light emanating from the electronics board will be painted over with black paint later.
View attachment 267314

great progress and very Nice results

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Another view of the lighting.


Corel provides solid hexagonal and conical pieces of wood and cast fiber board window decorations for making the turrets. These had to be replaced with hollow structures to accommodate the lighting and improve the look of the model. Rectangles of mahogany wood were cut, the edges beveled 60 degrees using the yellow sanding block, then glued together at the edges with CA glue, using the solid pieces provided as an internal mold, holding the shape of the towers until the glue dried. Glue was used sparingly so the tower shells would not stick to the solid pieces. When the hollow towers were slipped off the solid pieces, a bead of glue was applied on the seams from the inside and allowed to dry, creating fillets of PVA glue that reinforced the towers and may them sturdy.


Using a round tipped or bullet shaped diamond burr on a Dremel tool, the windows were made starting with a plunge cut to create the hole, then eating away until the sides of the window were approached. Needle files were used to finish the edges and bottom two corners of each window.


Tape was used to mark the facet of the tower that faced inward toward the hull, and as a label. A finished tower shell can be seen on the right. Clear plastic taken from various store bought item packaging was used to make the window glass. I borrowed this technique from Doris Obručová. A razor knife is used to etch lines in the plastic. Then acrylic black paint is used to fill the lines, using a damp cloth to wipe off excess paint from the window glass. Tall rectangles of the window glass are then cut, one for each facet of the tower that has openings, and glued to the inside surface of the tower.


The result is this, tower with leaded glass windows. The edges of the windows were painted with black paint for more detail, and a recess in each tower cap was prepared for accepting an LED later.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Work was started on some of the stern decorations. Corel provides a wreath and a figure of the virgin Mary with child for the central decoration of the stern. This is more of a Spanish style decoration than a royal French one. No one knows what the actual appearance the stern was, so I decided to decorate the stern after the ship's name, La Couronne (The Crown). I found a brass stamping French coat of arms on the Etsy website, and painted it with proper French blue. I also obtained a crown, and much later in the build, two brass angels. Salvaging the wreath from the kit, reshaping it and attaching it to the coat of arms, and placing the crown above it, I had my theme. The taffrail decoration from the kit would also be used.


Some of the cast fiberboard door decorations and the cast brass door decoration would be used, so these were painted for later installation. Some blackened brass rings were added for more detail.


More planking was added the upper sides.


More hull planks added.


The profile of the forepeak planking was determined using the kit drawings, and a pattern made. THe wood was trimmed to match it.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The frame ends were cut flush with the deck at the waist of the ship, since their job of providing support while planking the hull was complete.






After adding more planking on the sides of the stern, the frame ends which do not support decks higher up are cut flush with the deck.


All hull planking supports are removed including a pair in the forecastle.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

A chain pump was made from scratch as an extra detail. I learned later that there should usually be two of them, one forward of the main mast, and another aft of the main mast. I had to guess where this one should go.


It was placed aft of the main mast on the upper gun deck.


Planking of the quarterdeck has begun.


Continued planking.


Continued planking.


Still planking...


Planking complete!

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Mahogany veneer was used to trim the edges of the waist opening.


4mm wide Walnut strips were used to form the railing base around the waist opening. Note that areas where there is no walnut is where the ladders go.


The Dremel tool was used to thin the forward bulkhead of the forecastle in preparation for cutting the upper chase gun ports.


A recess was carefully cut for the beakhead bulkhead door.


Door installed.


The inside surface of the beakhead bulkhead was painted brown. The four upper fore chase guns are installed after circular the gun ports were cut.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Walnut columns were added for detail.






Wreath decoration and a crown were attached to the beakhead bulkhead.


Strips of maple were used to plank the bulwarks




Breaching lines from thread were added to the upper fore chase guns. They seemed a bit naked without them.


Another test of the lights to admire the work thus far.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Completed the hull planking. The blue tape keeps the loose gun barrels from flopping around.


Frames on the bridge and poop decks were cut flush the deck.


The transom is completed on the poop deck.


A ladder is constructed from strips of wood and painted brown.


The ladder is fit for length, and installed on the lower forecastle deck. The opening is detailed with trim and railings made from kit provided walnut railing columns and strips. This is an added detail which was necessary for crew to access this deck. Placing ladders at the waist as is often done on other models of this vessel would obstruct the moment of a pair of guns on the upper gun deck.


Strips of wood are installed for the waterways where the deck meets the bulwark.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Forecastle gun ports were cut in the side planking. To get them in the correct position, a cannon was place on the deck. The wet paint was put on the muzzle and the cannon moved forward until the muzzle contacted the bulwark. The spot of paint marked the center of the hole you need to cut for the gun port.


Planking, doors, and decorations were added to the front bulkheads of the bridge and poop decks.


Looking good so far.


Gun ports for the 9 pound guns for the quarterdeck were marked using the painted end of a cannon.


The holes are then cut.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

A hull stand was crafted which will hold the hull upside down to allow better access for the final planking.


Felt pads ensure that the ship will rest comfortably.




Holes were bored in the transom and LED's were installed from the interior side. These illuminate brass windows that were from the Mantua model of La Couronne.


Light test


The stern chase gun barrels are all installed by gluing them to their carriages. The first planks of the final planking were glued to the hull. These sapelle planks cover the counter and transom. Krylon Satin Finish was sprayed onto the planking as a final finish. It leaves a dull shine and brings out the color of the wood very well.


Planking of the beak has begun using mahogany strips.


Stern lights test.