La Renommee 1744 1:48. (CAF) by Salty

[Paul132]

Paul, I am very much looking forward to you restarting your La Renommee. It’s a super kit and I’m a little surprised there aren’t more examples of her on SoS.

Brad, yes, slowly does it. The instruction manual is like a box of chocolates - sometimes one picture can take a week, while other times it can take just a day.

I have been working on the mast steps and internal braces:

View attachment 605538

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I’ve gone for Brass Black on the eye bolts and rings and quite like the effect!

I’ve also stained the wood with Danish oil. At first I didn’t like it because I thought the finish was too shiny. I think this was because the finish wasn’t smooth enough and I used too much oil. After sanding back with 600 grit sandpaper and reapplying the oil more sparingly, I think it looks better. I might leave the ceiling planking unpainted at this stage as I probably need to keep the inside as light as possible. A penny for your thoughts?

Finally, CAF kits constantly surprise me with their attention to detail. The mortises in the mast steps were cut at a slight angle so that the connecting pieces slope inward at the same angle as the chocks. The wonders of CAD and CNC never cease.

Kind regards

Salty

Beautiful Work!! Section 5 has arrived! I need to finish up the masting and rigging on OcCre Jabeque, and then I'll begin Section 5

 

[Salty]

Brad, I am using Rustins Danish oil, although Watco is also available in Australia. It’s the natural one with no stain, but it definitely brings out the colour of the wood. Thanks for the tip about gluing. The finish is a little tacky initially, but hardens nicely after a while.

Paul, great news. I must confess that I haven’t opened my kit, so thanks for your photos. I think I can see a few packets of cannons which will be a challenge for my fat fingers. Your Jabeque/Xebec is looking very nice as well.

The next few steps involve setting the position for the deck beams. Plywood templates are supplied to help. At this stage, the only the brackets for the lower deck beams are installed as there is still a lot of detail to be fitted underneath.

This is for the lower deck:







Sort of straight forward, at least by ship building standards. The beams are CNC cut, but the ends had to be beveled to fit the curve of the hull. Even with the plywood templates, the instructions say to check with the plan. Thankfully, it all looks right, although there’s very little room between the beams and the foremast.

On the ship, it must have been pretty cramped below, with only about five feet of headroom on the lower deck and even less when passing under a beam of the deck above.

The plan is to cut the frames away from just under the lower deck down to the top of the longitudinal ceiling planking.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Paul132]

Brad, I am using Rustins Danish oil, although Watco is also available in Australia. It’s the natural one with no stain, but it definitely brings out the colour of the wood. Thanks for the tip about gluing. The finish is a little tacky initially, but hardens nicely after a while.

Paul, great news. I must confess that I haven’t opened my kit, so thanks for your photos. I think I can see a few packets of cannons which will be a challenge for my fat fingers. Your Jabeque/Xebec is looking very nice as well.

The next few steps involve setting the position for the deck beams. Plywood templates are supplied to help. At this stage, the only the brackets for the lower deck beams are installed as there is still a lot of detail to be fitted underneath.

This is for the lower deck:

View attachment 606172

View attachment 606173

View attachment 606174

Sort of straight forward, at least by ship building standards. The beams are CNC cut, but the ends had to be beveled to fit the curve of the hull. Even with the plywood templates, the instructions say to check with the plan. Thankfully, it all looks right, although there’s very little room between the beams and the foremast.

On the ship, it must have been pretty cramped below, with only about five feet of headroom on the lower deck and even less when passing under a beam of the deck above.

The plan is to cut the frames away from just under the lower deck down to the top of the longitudinal ceiling planking.

Kind regards

Salty

Looking very nice!!

 

[Salty]

More deck beams, this time in the area immediately behind the foremast.



The beams for the lower deck are getting wider and are now made of two pieces scarfed together. This is what they look like when they come out of the billet:



In some beams, the scarf is not deep enough and the shoulder protrudes. I’ve decided to keep the shoulder the same height and adjust the depth. A little bit fiddly and no one will see it, but at least I know all the scarfs are the same.

Here they are in place with the scarfs fixed with their U shaped brackets:



And here is everything in place:



Even with the templates, it’s been tricky. It’s a tight fit getting the template in place and I had to keep checking it hadn’t slipped. In addition, the tops of the beams aren’t supposed to be parallel to the top of the ceiling planking as distance is greater in the bow and narrows as you go aft. I really struggled with this for a while as it didn’t seem natural, but the plans clearly show it. Despite all this, the beams seem level, although I think the port side is marginally - about 2 millimetres - higher.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Paul132]

More deck beams, this time in the area immediately behind the foremast.

View attachment 606817

The beams for the lower deck are getting wider and are now made of two pieces scarfed together. This is what they look like when they come out of the billet:

View attachment 606818

In some beams, the scarf is not deep enough and the shoulder protrudes. I’ve decided to keep the shoulder the same height and adjust the depth. A little bit fiddly and no one will see it, but at least I know all the scarfs are the same.

Here they are in place with the scarfs fixed with their U shaped brackets:

View attachment 606819

And here is everything in place:

View attachment 606820

Even with the templates, it’s been tricky. It’s a tight fit getting the template in place and I had to keep checking it hadn’t slipped. In addition, the tops of the beams aren’t supposed to be parallel to the top of the ceiling planking as distance is greater in the bow and narrows as you go aft. I really struggled with this for a while as it didn’t seem natural, but the plans clearly show it. Despite all this, the beams seem level, although I think the port side is marginally - about 2 millimetres - higher.

Kind regards

Salty

yes, I remember all the "fun" I had with these as well! but yours look very good!!

 

[GrantTyler]

More deck beams, this time in the area immediately behind the foremast.

View attachment 606817

The beams for the lower deck are getting wider and are now made of two pieces scarfed together. This is what they look like when they come out of the billet:

View attachment 606818

In some beams, the scarf is not deep enough and the shoulder protrudes. I’ve decided to keep the shoulder the same height and adjust the depth. A little bit fiddly and no one will see it, but at least I know all the scarfs are the same.

Here they are in place with the scarfs fixed with their U shaped brackets:

View attachment 606819

And here is everything in place:

View attachment 606820

Even with the templates, it’s been tricky. It’s a tight fit getting the template in place and I had to keep checking it hadn’t slipped. In addition, the tops of the beams aren’t supposed to be parallel to the top of the ceiling planking as distance is greater in the bow and narrows as you go aft. I really struggled with this for a while as it didn’t seem natural, but the plans clearly show it. Despite all this, the beams seem level, although I think the port side is marginally - about 2 millimetres - higher.

Kind regards

Salty

Looking mighty fine Salty. Kudos. Don’t talk to me about deck beams…. . I redid mine a few times before that test spirit bubble finally decided to behave itself. Cheers Grant

 

[GrantTyler]

PS- the rigging of the Jabeque is a fun experience- very different.

 

[Magic Mike]

Salty, the beams for the lower deck are nicely done! Looking great! Magic Mike

 

[Paul132]

PS- the rigging of the Jabeque is a fun experience- very different.

Yep, I have been using your build log as a guide....although Im not the rigger you are

 

[Salty]

Thank you to everyone who has visited my log. It’s nice to know there’s so much interest.

Mike and Grant, thank you. As you can see from the post below, practice makes perfect (well, not quite…)

Some more lower deck beams:







This seemed a bit easier, mostly because I have a bit of a process for fixing the scarfs in the beams. I just use a knife with a skew blade to gradually deepen the scarf and then finish with a scraper.

It might not be obvious, but the beams have a camber on them - about 2 mm higher in the centre - as they would have had on the real ship.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Salty]

Still on beams for the lower deck:





I’m quite pleased with how this is going. It’s all looking nice and level (touch wood). There’s a pile of white maple strips for the decking and it’s going to be quite a task to lay them when the time comes. Before that, however, there is some storage which needs to be built in the bowels of the ship.

Kind regards

Tom

 

[Cathber]

Bonjour, merci pour le compte rendu de votre construction ; c’est très intéressant de suivre votre progression étape par étape. Si j’ai bien compris, vous présenterez votre maquette avec un côté bordé et l’autre avec la coque ouverte. Comment comptez-vous déterminer le plan de découpe des membrures, et comment les ponts seront-ils soutenus si les membrures sont découpées ?

 

[Paul132]

Bonjour, merci pour le compte rendu de votre construction ; c’est très intéressant de suivre votre progression étape par étape. Si j’ai bien compris, vous présenterez votre maquette avec un côté bordé et l’autre avec la coque ouverte. Comment comptez-vous déterminer le plan de découpe des membrures, et comment les ponts seront-ils soutenus si les membrures sont découpées ?

Hello, thank you for the progress report on your build; it is very interesting to follow your progress step by step. If I understand correctly, you plan to display your model with one side planked and the other with the hull left open. How do you intend to determine the cut lines for the frames, and how will the decks be supported if the frames are cut away?

 

[Salty]

Cathber, thanks for your compliments. At this stage, I plan to cut away the frames as shown on this photo on the CAF website:



The top of the cut follows the line of lower deck, while the bottom seems to follow line of the deck below. As you can see, a number of single frames are left intact to support the ship, but I will probably leave two frames in each position just to be safe.

Cathber, merci pour vos compliments. À ce stade, je prévois de couper les cadres comme indiqué sur cette photo sur le site Web de la CAF.

Le haut de la coupe suit la ligne du pont inférieur, tandis que le bas semble suivre la ligne du pont ci-dessous. Comme vous pouvez le voir, un certain nombre de cadres simples sont laissés intacts pour soutenir le navire, mais je laisserai probablement deux cadres dans chaque position juste pour être sûr.

Here is all the lower deck framing finished:







There was a sheet of missing plywood parts for making templates for positioning the beams. Fortunately, I was able to work around the missing parts and didn’t need to bother asking Tom at CAF to send them. I think I have said it before, but I don’t envy the people who pack these kits. It must be the job from hell, counting everything out, wrapping them up and labelling them. It must take days to put together a good size kit.

I’m pleased with the overall result, but my fingers are feeling a bit the worse for wear fixing all the scarfs in the beams and then scraping them to get a nice finish. I’m sure it’s a case of model ship builders’ neurosis spending so much time on something that will be completely covered.

Anyway, the next job is to remove all the beams so I can work on the accommodations in the hold.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[GrantTyler]

I am really enjoying your build Salty. Keep it coming . Cheers Grant

 

[Salty]

Grant, I’m enjoying documenting La Renommee’s construction for you. If anyone wants more explanation/information, I’m happy to oblige of course.

Some work in the hold. Braces in the stern



The framing and decking for the lowest deck which housed the powder magazine and powder bag stores:





The decking was made in one piece, complete with nailing, and then installed on the frames. I think it’s easier to get a nicer result this way, but the drawback is it’s a little difficult to tell the if the planks sit on the frames. I have also opted not to bevel the edges of the deck where it meets the hull as I tried this on Le Coureur but found it too difficult and I don’t think looks much better.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[maltbyguy]

Grant, I’m enjoying documenting La Renommee’s construction for you. If anyone wants more explanation/information, I’m happy to oblige of course.

Some work in the hold. Braces in the stern

View attachment 608946

The framing and decking for the lowest deck which housed the powder magazine and powder bag stores:

View attachment 608947

View attachment 608948

The decking was made in one piece, complete with nailing, and then installed on the frames. I think it’s easier to get a nicer result this way, but the drawback is it’s a little difficult to tell the if the planks sit on the frames. I have also opted not to bevel the edges of the deck where it meets the hull as I tried this on Le Coureur but found it too difficult and I don’t think looks much better.

Kind regards

Salty

It looks perfect to me
I am still on the fence as to buying it. But your log showing the quality of the kit is making me get closer to the investment. £ spent per hours of "pleasure" could make it seems a bargain lol
Andy

 

[Ronald61]

Looked through the whole build and....I'm impressed! Chapeau!! I really like this kind of modeling. Honestly I have to say that the price of a kit like this shockes me but I think it is worth it. Developement and limited total numbers of this kit makes it expensive.

I stay on your log

 

[ben29]

The production process looks so complicated! But I really like this model.

 

[GrantTyler]

Looked through the whole build and....I'm impressed! Chapeau!! I really like this kind of modeling. Honestly I have to say that the price of a kit like this shockes me but I think it is worth it. Developement and limited total numbers of this kit makes it expensive.

I stay on your log

love the profile pic