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

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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.

Special note: Thanks to our administrator Donnie for help in construction this build log. The log originally started half way through construction, and the beginning steps were added over a year after the ship was finished. The posts for those steps were inserted at the beginning of the log, starting with the one below, in order to present the build steps in chronological order. Some of the dates for the posts may not be correct as a result, but now the build log is complete!

3/21/18 - The build begins
001 La Couronne by Corel.jpg

Right out of the box, it was apparent that the number of guns needed to be increased to 72, but this meant a complete rearrangement of the gun ports. Another builder of this model also added more gun ports, and his drawing of where he moved them was used as guidance for where I placed the gun ports as shown below. Since I had no idea how the frames of a 17th century ship would be spaced, I left the original kit's frame locations as is and placed guns around them.
002 Revised Cannon Positions.jpg

The beginning of the build started like most kit builds. The upper gun deck was left flat, and it was decided that the lower gun deck would be installed and contain full cannon carriages instead of those silly half-barrels that Paul likes so much. :D
003 Bulkheads and deck.jpg

Per the instructions, 4mm x 0.5mm tanganyika strips were cut for deck planks and glued to the false deck. I was especially careful doing this because it was my first time. However, staining all four edges of each plank with a Sharpie pen turned out to create lines between planks that were too dark and thick to represent a deck on this scale of 1:100. In the next build, only one long side of each plank was thus stained, creating a more realistic appearance.
004 Cutting planks.JPG

The deck is partially planked using a 5 plank shift pattern. Note the keel vise I made from ash wood in my shop. It will come in very handy later when you need to lean the masts toward you or tip the bow or stern up or down, since it is adjustable. The made the many hours of ratline tying much easier on my arms.
005 Glue down deck planks.jpg
 
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Planking continues. This deck was left flat. Higher decks would be altered to have proper camber.
006 Deck planks.jpg

Not too bad for as first timer. I didn't know about scraping the deck with a razor blade to make it smooth, and only lightly sanded it. So, the deck plank edges can be felt by touch. However, all the seams are tight and the planks are straight.
007 Scale of deck planks.jpg

More planking.
008 More deck planks done.jpg

Time to figure out how to make a lower gun deck. Pieces of balsa were lightly stained and glued between the frames and sticks were applied to the frames underneath each deck piece to add some support. Balsa was used only because I had it on hand and it was quick and dirty. You won't see the deck anyway since it won't be illuminated because of the presence of the center bulkhead. Here is the first piece being test fitted.
009 Proposed lower deck inserts for cannons.jpg

All the deck pieces are test fitted into place.
010 Upper Deck complete.jpg
 
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Deck planking is completed, working around the frames.
011 Upper deck planks.jpg

Supports are installed as the lower deck piece were glued in place, taking care to place them precisely the same distance beneath the lowest slots which were precut by Corel on the edges of the frames.
012 Lower Deck.jpg

Deck piece supports.
013 Lower Deck Supports.jpg

The upper frames were stained with golden oak stain.
014 Stain Lower Deck & Bulkheads.jpg

The deck beams, were cut with camber on the top surface per the instructions and test fitted.
015 Test fit Upper Deck Beams.jpg

To add some color, the frames where painted red by the builder's choice.
016 Painted Framed Red .jpg
 
You have invested that money and time well resulting in the beautiful model that will be treasured beyond your expenses. Don't feel adrift as I have been going on the same tack of never ending purchases across a broad spectrum of everything available. . . addictive it seems. Rich (PT-2)
Being a rookie, I have not yet got into the ordering extra for my ship. However if I convert the cost per hour relative to enjoyment this has to be one of my better spends todate.
 
Tell me the truth, Kurt. Can you really see the difference between the half guns and the whole guns with carriages by looking from the outside? Show us a picture, please, of the finished product. Up close and 3 feet away. ;)
 
Tell me the truth, Kurt. Can you really see the difference between the half guns and the whole guns with carriages by looking from the outside? Show us a picture, please, of the finished product. Up close and 3 feet away. ;)
For most people, using full carriages on the lower decks is not worth the effort. It comes down to personal preference, but when Paul does it, I just call it laziness. ROTF (With his dentist-hands, he can work microscopically if he chooses and it's just fun to mess with him.) When I look at the model, it's not from across the room. I get my face right up in there and look at the detail, often banging my head against the plexiglas. And yes, from three feet away, I can see the reflection of light off the flat black wood behind a dummy barrel. It ruins the realism for me, though others usually don't notice. Oh, and I'm near sighted. :D It helps with rigging.
 
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Now for the fun part, making tiny cannons! Below is one of the Corel supplies cannons. They throw them in every kit regardless of time period or size. However, they are pretty nice. But now that I've dispensed with the half barrels, I bought some smaller barrels to use as 9 pounders on the upper gun deck, and these barrels will be used for the 18 pounders on the lower gun deck.
017 First Cannon Made.jpg

New gun carriages need to be made. Since I was not familiar at the time with the assembled gun carriages available from other vendors like Dave at Ship's Lumberyard, the task was to make copies of the carriages in the same one piece style as the ones Corel provided. Taking a stick of walnut wood, a light milling machine (a 1964 Linley jig borer) was used to create a channel.
018 Mill Carriages for 9# & 18# Cannon Stock.JPG

A piece of wood was similarly prepared for the smaller 6 pound saker guns used for the fore and stern chase guns.
019 Mill 6# Cannon Carriage Stock.JPG

On an old Delta 890 band saw, a stick of pine with a piece of walnut scrap glued to the side of it for a stop was used as a fence. It was simply clamped to the saw table. The wood channels were first cut to the length of their respective carriages. The depth of cut for each of the steps was carefully set by the fence, and each step was cut into the batch of carriage pieces. The band saw cut remarkably smooth and did not tear the wood. A Corel made carriage is at the bottom, being used as a model for setting the step sizes.
020 Cut 6# Oak Carriages.JPG

I made a plastic disk with a tighter slot for the blade so my saw doesn't eat parts or mangle them into bits. You can see how some of the cuts are progressing, each one with a different set up of the fence and stop.
021 Continue Cutting Oak 6# Carriages.JPG

Here is a pile of the 6 pound saker carriages next to the new 18 pound carriages. The curved channel in the center of the bottom of each carriage was hand sanded using the edge of my bench grinder. Low tech, but with steady hands, precise enough.
022 Cannon Carriages.JPG

The bottom carriage is Corel stock. Mine came out okay.
023 File Smooth Walnut 9# & 18# Carriages.JPG

I took a 3mm wood dowel and made it black with a Sharpie pen. After spinning a 3mm dowel at 90 degrees to the blade on the band saw, using the stop on the fence to stop short of cutting all the way through the dowel, I discovered I could make simulations of the axel ends for the smallest carriage's wheels without using real shafts. The dowel was tuned by hand against the cutting edge of the saw blade. The nibs of wood that were not cut off the discs and looked just like the ends of the axles, once separated from the dowel with a razor knife. The wheels are just glued to the sides of the carriages. Nice shortcut that yielded extra detail. You can see a the bottom of a Corel carriage with axel shafts next to a hand made carriage with wheels simply glued on.
024 Kit Supplied and Scratch 18# Carriages.jpg
 
The edges of the bulkhead frames were sanded rather easily using a small "mouse" vibrating sander with course, 60 grit paper on it. It removed wood fast in a controlled manner. A strip of linden wood from the kit is used to check the angle of the frame edges by bending it across the frames along the hull. Before sanding, the four frames nearest the bow were painted black on the edges. As the sander removed wood there, the black at the trailing edge of the frame indicated how much more wood was needed to be removed. Over sanding would change the shape of the hull and create flat spots in the hull curves.
025 fair bulkheads with sander.jpg

The block of wood in the lower bow to which the plank ends will be fastened was also shaped to the three dimensional curve of the hull using the vibrating sander. The area close to the keel board was filed by hand.
026 Fair in bow blocks.jpg

The upper deck, quarterdeck, bridge deck, poop and forecastle decks were test fit after being pre-curved. Curving the decks was accomplished by soaking them for 20 minutes in warm water, then pressing them to the side of a small plastic bucket and holding them there overnight by wrapping the bucket with 1/4" rope. The next morning when they were dry, the curve remained in the plywood pieces. The instructions do not call for curving the decks, with some like the forecastle deck being flat, so this is a change made for better accuracy.
027 Trim & Fit Decks 1.jpg

You can see the sheer curve of the decks as well as the camber.
028 Trim & Fit Decks 2.jpg

Another view. I like how the shape is developing.
029 Decks Pre-cambered While Wet.jpg
 
The method I chose to modify the transom was the unnecessarily difficult, but I was concerned about preserving the subtle complex curves of the provided pre-cut stern block. So instead of piecing the stern and transom together with strips of thin wood and plywood, the block was laboriously hollowed out and the gun ports separated by small blocks of wood. You can see one of the tin 6 pound sakers used to help gauge the size of the gun ports.
030 Plan Escape Gun Ports.jpg

The pre-cut pieces of wood that form the counter below the transom were glued onto the transom block.
031 Stern Block Cannon Deck 1.jpg

View of the transom block from the inside.
032 Stern Block Cannon Deck 2.jpg

Transon assembly glued to the stern bulkhead frame.
033 Attach Transom.jpg
 
Because the deck does not extend to the forward bulkhead, a piece of plywood was used to extend the deck and thus provide a place for the fore chaser guns to be placed. Scrap wood pieces were used underneath to provide more support.
034 Add Focsle Gun Deck.jpg

When bashing a kit, you occasionally run into a necessary step which would have been much easier earlier in build. The front bulkhead was too thick, such that the fore chase gun barrels would barely protrude from the front. A chisel shaped razor knife was used to chew away enough wood to thin the bulkhead. It isn't pretty, since access was very limited, but it works.
035 Test Fit 6# Cannon.jpg

Now the gun protrudes the proper distance from the bulkhead. The sill and edges of the portals were painted red.
036 Test Fit Cannon some more.jpg

Corel provided portal lids, but they did not have the rebated edges, so thin plywood veneer was cut into squares and was glued to all of them to add detail.
037 6# Chase & Escape Gun Port Covers.jpg

Like the front end of the upper gun deck, the rear end did not reach the end of the hull. A piece of veneer plywood was on hand and used to extend the deck. Strips of wood were glued to this extension to provide the shape of the camber.
038 Extend Main Deck Rearward.jpg

It's not very strong, but it doesn't have to be. It's purpose is t o serve as a place to mount the rearmost cannon carriages.
039 Deck Extension Test Fit.jpg

Strips of tanganyika wood stained on the edges with a Sharpie pen were glued to the beakhead deck.
040 Bow Decking.jpg

Strips of walnut were likewise blackened on their edges and glued to the forecastle forward bulkhead.
041a Forecastle Planking.jpg
 
Small blocks will be used to simulate the traversing blocks and quoins.
042 9# Cannon Assembly.jpg

The first hull plank is attached using glue and 7mm thin pins from Amati. The plank is run under the lower gun deck gun ports. One of the most clever features about some Corel kits is those small slots cut into the frames. Those cuts mark the upper and lower edges of the gun ports for both the gun ports. The save you a lot of measuring off the drawings and reduce the possibility of errors. They also reduce trimming of the planks since the strakes of wood run right along the upper and lower edge of the line of ports. Quite clever really.
043 First Hull Plank Under Lwr Gun Ports.jpg

The four lower bow chasers are assembled. They are quite tiny.
044 Assemble four 6# Cannons.jpg

The bow chasers are glued in position.
045 Install Lower Fwd 6# Cannons.jpg

046 View of Lower Chaser Cannons.jpg

The look good from the front.
047 View of Lower Chaser Cannons.jpg
 
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Now for the fun part, making tiny cannons! Below is one of the Corel supplies cannons. They throw them in every kit regardless of time period or size. However, they are pretty nice. But now that I've dispensed with the half barrels, I bought some smaller barrels to use as 9 pounders on the upper gun deck, and these barrels will be used for the 18 pounders on the lower gun deck.
View attachment 267139

New gun carriages need to be made. Since I was not familiar at the time with the assembled gun carriages available from other vendors like Dave at Ship's Lumberyard, the task was to make copies of the carriages in the same one piece style as the ones Corel provided. Taking a stick of walnut wood, a light milling machine (a 1964 Linley jig borer) was used to create a channel.
View attachment 267140

A piece of wood was similarly prepared for the smaller 6 pound saker guns used for the fore and stern chase guns.
View attachment 267141

On an old Delta 890 band saw, a stick of pine with a piece of walnut scrap glued to the side of it for a stop was used as a fence. It was simply clamped to the saw table. The wood channels were first cut to the length of their respective carriages. The depth of cut for each of the steps was carefully set by the fence, and each step was cut into the batch of carriage pieces. The band saw cut remarkably smooth and did not tear the wood. A Corel made carriage is at the bottom, being used as a model for setting the step sizes.
View attachment 267142

I made a plastic disk with a tighter slot for the blade so my saw doesn't eat parts or mangle them into bits. You can see how some of the cuts are progressing, each one with a different set up of the fence and stop.
View attachment 267143

Here is a pile of the 6 pound saker carriages next to the new 18 pound carriages. The curved channel in the center of the bottom of each carriage was hand sanded using the edge of my bench grinder. Low tech, but with steady hands, precise enough.
View attachment 267144

The bottom carriage is Corel stock. Mine came out okay.
View attachment 267145

I took a 3mm wood dowel and made it black with a Sharpie pen. After spinning a 3mm dowel at 90 degrees to the blade on the band saw, using the stop on the fence to stop short of cutting all the way through the dowel, I discovered I could make simulations of the axel ends for the smallest carriage's wheels without using real shafts. The dowel was tuned by hand against the cutting edge of the saw blade. The nibs of wood that were not cut off the discs and looked just like the ends of the axles, once separated from the dowel with a razor knife. The wheels are just glued to the sides of the carriages. Nice shortcut that yielded extra detail. You can see a the bottom of a Corel carriage with axel shafts next to a hand made carriage with wheels simply glued on.
View attachment 267146
Great mass production and tool use. The results are in the viewing. Rich (PT-2)
 
A second set of planks is run below the upper gun deck's line of gun ports. Linden wood can bend and twist to form all the curves you need it too, especially after being soaked in water.
048 First Hull Planks.jpg

Planks that have to bend in sharp curves are soaked in water, then formed using and electric plank bending iron and a concave form to press the strip into. The hot iron heats the moisture in the wood on contact, forming steam that evenly heats the lignum in the cells of the wood and the strip act like plastic, holding its shape after cooling. Clamps hold the parts in alignment edge-to-edge for that part of the bow which curves down to meet the stem.
049 Bow Planks.jpg

A portal was cut out for the dispatch portal. I placed a cannon here, but really it should be empty. It's that single portal you see which is not far above the waterline, below the lowest gun deck and close to the stern. This portal is sometimes a big smaller than a gun port, and is used for deliveries of small goods, dispatches (letters and correspondences) and is usually shown on a model as closed. A section of deck had to be installed here to accommodate the gun carriage.
050 Lowest Cannon Port.jpg

Planking continues.
051 Adding Hull Planks.jpg

More planks added.
052 Adding Hull Planks.jpg

More planking...
053 Adding Hull Planks.jpg

The planks appear a bit lumpy but will sand out smooth later. The pins holding them in place while the glue dries are sunk into the wood enough that they don't protrude. You can optionally pull these pins after the glue dries. Sanding will remove the heads off any pins that stick out too far.
054 Adding Hull Planks.jpg
 
These next pictures show the progression of planking the hull. The garboard strake was laid along the keel, and the gap between the planks higher up on the hull and those at the bottom was slowly closed.
055 Garboard Strakes.jpg

Note how the gap between the groups of planks is narrowing quickly at the bow.
056 Hull Planking 1.jpg

057 Hull Planking 2.jpg

058 Hull Planking 3.jpg

The gap has closed at the bow, and you can see some of the planks come to a point, with no drop planks being used instead. A beginner's mistake. Luckily, since this is only the first layer of planking, it doesn't matter much as far as hull strength goes. On a real ship, "dagger planks" are weak spots where leaks develop and are to be avoided using proper planking patterns and techniques.
059 Hull Planking 4.jpg

Instead of pins, I tried using office clips to hold the planks while the glue dries. It works, but pins work better.
060 Hull Planking 5.jpg

Always plank with pairs of wood strips, port and starboard. It keeps the hull from warping, and also makes the ship symmetrical.
061 Hull Planking 6.jpg

With the last plank covered, planking will continue up the sides of the hull.
062 Hull Planking 7.jpg
 
Hull planks trimmed and sanded at the end of the transom.
063 Hull Planking 8.jpg

Low spots are filled in with wood filler.
064 Hull Planking 9.jpg

065 Hull Planking 10.jpg

Filling low spots it critical in getting a smooth hull. If planks make hard bend over any of the frames, the hull could appear faceted when finished. To prevent that, filler is applied on either side of the shallow "fold" at the frame, and then sanded. The process of adding filler, sanding, and examining for flat areas or hard folds may have to be repeated three or four times before you are satisfied that the hull is smooth. Care at this stage is what makes a nice hull. Use your fingers to feel for flats or hard bends. Your hands are actually more sensitive that your eyes. Shadows you can see are often not created by fold, but appear in areas where the translucence of the filler allows the wood texture to peek through. It throughs your eyes off, making you think there are flat spots where there are none.
066 Fill in Low Spots.jpg

First sanding after filler.
067 First Sanding of Filler.jpg

Stained a bunch of cannon carriages.
068 Stain and Paint 18# Cannon Carriages.jpg

Installing cannon carriages on the lower cannon deck.
069 Install Lower Deck Cannon Carriages.jpg

After final sanding of the lower hull.
070 Final Sanding of Lower Hull.jpg
 
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