La Créole 1827 by archjofo - Scale 1/48 - French corvette

[archjofo]

Standing rigging of the royal masts
Before I lash the boats, I would like to finish off the standing rigging as a whole.
To complete the standing rigging of the royal masts (shrouds, stays), a few more detailed clarifications and preparations were required.
As can be seen in the image section of the upper rigging of the original model, the royal masts are very filigree components. In the model, the royal masts are between a maximum of 2 to 3 mm thick.
In the picture I have the stays marked in yellow and the royal shrouds in red.


Source: Monograph by J. Boudriot, detail of the original model

Since neither the plan nor the description of the monograph contain any specific information on how the edition of the royal stays and shrouds should look in detail, I tried to find relevant information in relevant sources (literature, internet). Unfortunately, I was unable to get much information on this. Somehow the stays and shrouds have to be given a fixed position. Therefore, I orientated myself on the book by KLAUS SCHRAGE - RUNDHÖLZER, RUNDHÖLZER, RUNDHÖLZER, RUNDHÖLZER UND SEGEL page 92, Fig. 255. There you can see cleats on the royal masts. Accordingly, I tried to make these cleats as suitable as possible.
In the first step, the fastening of the cleats (model size 2.8 mm / 1.2 mm) had to be clarified. For this I needed tiny bolts, which I made from brass wire ø 0.25 mm using the method of a Russian model maker.


Furthermore, the ropes for the royal shrouds (mizzen mast ø 0.25 mm or fore mast and main mast ø 0.35 mm) and the stays (ø 0.25 mm or ø 0.40 mm) were made with the rope making machine manufactured.
There was also the question of how to manage the lifts for the royal yards. There was only one royal shroud per side. In this respect, the thimbles for the royal lifts could not be integrated. So I made a mast collar with two thimbles (ø1.2 mm).
A serving of these thin ropes was not given in the original either. The stays are placed with one eye on the cleats. The stays were brought down using thimbles and fixed with lanyard lashings. I still have to clarify these fastening details.


The location of the cleats on the royal masts was above the sheaves for the royal halliard, as can be seen in the following picture (mizzen royal mast).


Sequel follows …

 

[archjofo]

Continuation: Mizzen topgallant and mizzen roayl shrouds
The shrouds on the royal mast on my corvette have a model scale of 0.25 mm. The following picture shows a prepared shroud with integrated thimble (ø 0.9 mm) and the counterpart for the lanyard lashing, which is attached to the end of the crosstree of the topgallant mast.


In this context I show again the thimbles I used on this model, which are made of blacked brass. The smallest thimble has a diameter of around 0.9 mm.


The mast trucks that were stupidly glued in place by me when building the topgallant masts are of course extremely cumbersome when laying the shrouds and stays. It is very problematic when attaching the stay collars with the integrated thimbles. So I tried to carefully remove these mast trucks again. This worked quite well for the fore and main mast. With the mizzen mast, on the other hand, it did not work with the best will in the world without causing damage. As an alternative, I therefore tried to install the collar for the lifts of the mizzen royal yard directly on the model, which ultimately succeeded with the help of a corresponding device.


I tried the first variant with a rope ø 0.35 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 1.2 mm. The dominance of this collar on the royal mast top bothered me and seemed immeasurable to me. So I started another attempt with a rope ø 0.25 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 0.9 mm, which now suits me much better.


So the next picture shows the completed standing good of the mizzen mast, starting with the crosstrees.


Which means I can then move on to the main mast to attach the royal stage and shrouds there too. I have already prepared the royal shrouds for the main and foremast with other corresponding rigging components as shown in the last picture.


Up soon …

 

[dockattner]

Johann (if I may address you as a friend), sometimes I pretend you and I are engaged in the same hobby. Then I look at your work and I realize that, no, you are working on something entirely different. The detail you provide at scale is astonishing. It is more than your willingness to give each piece the proper attention and necessary time investment - you skillfully produce something that is undeniably real. Huzzah!

 

[Steef66]

Johan how long do you build ships like that? I love your accurate work and someday I hope that I can say "almost....." I started my first build in juni 2019, and now at my 3th build I try to get it accurate. But looking to yours, I agree with Paul, another level. It looks that you sheat and that you have a secret shrinking machine.

 

[archjofo]

Johann (if I may address you as a friend), sometimes I pretend you and I are engaged in the same hobby. Then I look at your work and I realize that, no, you are working on something entirely different. The detail you provide at scale is astonishing. It is more than your willingness to give each piece the proper attention and necessary time investment - you skillfully produce something that is undeniably real. Huzzah!

Hello Paul,
of course you can address me like that. We enjoy and passionate about the same hobby.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your interest in my model.
I see every single component as a separate model and am happy when I manage to bring it as close as possible to the original. For me, the journey is the goal.

 

[archjofo]

Johan how long do you build ships like that? I love your accurate work and someday I hope that I can say "almost....." I started my first build in juni 2019, and now at my 3th build I try to get it accurate. But looking to yours, I agree with Paul, another level. It looks that you sheat and that you have a secret shrinking machine.

Hello Stephan,
I would also like to thank you in advance for your interest in my model.
As Paul explained earlier, for me the journey is the goal. That's why I take my time. In addition to family and work, there was of course little time for it. That's why I've been building this model for more than 10 years.
Only recently have I received my pension, so I have more time for my hobby. I hope it won't take that long in the future ...

 

[Uwek]

I tried the first variant with a rope ø 0.35 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 1.2 mm. The dominance of this collar on the royal mast top bothered me and seemed immeasurable to me. So I started another attempt with a rope ø 0.25 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 0.9 mm, which now suits me much better.

If you think, it can not be better - you show us that it is still possible to make it better
The first one were already very good, but now ......
amazing, what you are doing in this scale, in this size
Sometimes it is good to see your hand or fingers in the photo, so we realize how small these parts are
Just: WOW

 

[archjofo]

@Uwek
Hi Uwe,
thanks for the nice comment.

Continuation: Standing rigging of the royal masts
Meanwhile I am already installing the royal shrouds of the foremast. To keep the distances of the thimbles more or less equal, I use a correspondingly curved piece of wire for the installation.

See you soon ...

 

[archjofo]

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and many happy moments surrounded by your loved ones!

 

[Tobias]

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and many happy moments surrounded by your loved ones!
View attachment 277732

Merry Christmas to you too, Johann

 

[archjofo]

@Tobias
Thank you for the wishes for Christmas.

Main mast top with weather vane and war pennant (flamme de guerre)
It's hard to believe, but there are still a few details to be clarified on the masthead of my French corvette.
Thus, in addition to completing the standing rigging, I also deal with the final clarification of these details, which I always find a pleasant distraction in between. Sooner or later it has to be done anyway.

Source: Monograph by J. Boudriot, detail of the original model

By providing a picture of the mast top of the L'Inflexible from 1835 (model in the Musée National de la Marine-Rochefort) by Daniel @dafi, I am able to complete the corresponding detail.
What I previously thought to be the remains of a flag or a pennant based on an old black-and-white photo of the Paris model clearly turned out to be a windsock that was attached to the end of the weather vane by means of a small crossbar. The weather vanes of La Créole and L'Inflexible are basically designed similarly and the lightning conductors are also present in both. In this respect, I can confidently attach this windsock to the weather vane of La Créole and regard it as historically correct and documented, even if it is neither drawn in the monograph nor currently available on the original Paris model.


In this context I also try to clarify how the war pennant or home pennant could have looked in detail. Of particular interest are the length, the lay rope, integration into the flag line, pennant wood, etc. The flag line of the war pennant drove through one of the two discs in the flag button.


For the production of the windsock and the war pennant, I thought of silk fabric, which in my opinion comes closest to the desired scale in terms of its fine structure.
Let's see what the first attempts bring to light.
More about this soon ...

 

[archjofo]

Hello,
thanks to all for the interest in my report.
I think it is okay with the silk fabric so far.





In a German forum we are discussing the issue that the windsock should be open at the top, because of the flow technique.

 

[dockattner]

Amazing. Simply amazing.

 

[GAStan]

Modern windsocks are open at the end. They are made in such a way that one can tell the windspeed by the angle of the sock.

I don't know how they were made historically.

I agree with Doc, wonderful craftsmanship!

 

[Tobias]

Hello Johann, once again a great detail and well presented.

As for the opening at the end of the windsock, it's a good question. I'm not sure, but if it weren't for the fact that it is closed, the resistance is too great and therefore the correct wind speed cannot be determined. Is just a theory.

 

[archjofo]

@dockattner
@Tobias
@GAStan
Hello,
thank you for the interesting comments.

Continuation: Main masthead with weather vane and war pennant (flamme de guerre)
To take into account the discussion about the flow technique of a windsock, I now made the windsocks with a small opening at the top for the three masts. I dyed the silk a little darker.


The next picture shows the weather vane (girouette) with windsock (Manche de vent) on the foremast.




And here again in a modified form, the arrangement of the weather vane with windsock on the main mast.


Now I will start the first attempts for the war pennant.
To be continued ...

 

[archjofo]

Commissioning or war pennant (flamme de guerre)
After I was able to clarify (details here LINK) how big the commissioning pennant of the French corvette was, the thought came about which material it should be made of. In order to transfer the lightness of the original pennants to scale, only fine silk fabric came into question for me, which I had to dye accordingly.


As in the original, I put the pennant together from three parts (tricolor). The pennant edges were carefully coated with white glue according to the template. After the glue had dried, the pennant parts could be cut out with a scalpel and glued together.


The silk used is a very filigree fabric and slightly shimmering through, which was also intended. Therefore a mishap happened when cutting the pennant. So the end of the pennant has become a little crooked. Nevertheless, I wanted to see how the long pennant looked on the model and then temporarily hoisted it for a picture on the main mast and am so far satisfied with the result.


Ultimately, I now know how to make the pennant and can get to the final and exact production. I'll use the same method to make the flags.
Up soon …

 

[Uwek]

Du machst mich fertig - Echt!
When I see your accurate small details in the metal works - I am only wondering how this quality is possible.
last photo in post #111 - comparing with the 1 cent coin (which is already very small)
=> you are my "master"

 

[archjofo]

@Uwek

Hello Uwe,
thank you for your great interest in my work and for the kind words.



Continuation: War pennant (flamme de guerre)
I continued with the making of the flags and the long pennant for the La Créole.


The following picture thus shows the finished flags and the flamme de guerre with indication of the original sizes.


In the next two pictures, the war pennant can be seen again on the model, especially the detail on the flag button with the flag line sheared through and the pennant wood.







I provisionally sheared the flag line of the large flag at the gaff through the iron single block at the nock.For the detail to attach the flag line to the eye of the boltrope, I used a toggle as in the original.

Source: Wictionary





However, the final assembly of the flags and the long pennant will be done just before the model is completed, as this fine silk fabric is not very durable.
So until then, off it goes into the "evidence room" with the other "suspects" until the final installation.


To be continued ...

PS: Macro shots are merciless ...

 

[Tobias]

Hello Johann, it is a feast for the eyes to follow your protocol and it is very helpful and instructive.
Great job on the flags.