Le Coureur 1776 1:48 (CAF) by Salty

[BradNSW]

That extra furniture looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Salty]

Brad, the chest and wardrobe look pretty straight forward, but the framing around the panels was the thinnest wood veneer. You only had to breathe and it would break. If you look closely at the right hand side of the chest you can see I had to make a repair…

Now on to the stern. The deck for the area behind the cargo hold went in OK in the end. The kit has plywood templates which you fit and trim to size. The framing and planking are then made based on this and hopefully everything slips neatly into place. I had to do small amount of trimming on the sides, particularly aft, to get the deck to the right height as there are two walls port and starboard which finish level with the deck beams.





The are octagonal openings for the bilge pumps. There’s little room for error as there are deck frames and carlings on either side of each pump, but again I seem to have judged things OK and everything will fit.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[dockattner]

Nice precise modeling, Salty. This is a great looking model done really well by others. Yours's will be another excellent outcome.

 

[Salty]

Paul, yes, I agree there’s a numbers of fine examples of Le Coureur. I think she’s very much worth considering as a prospective model for others despite the fact that the “group” part of the group build might have finished.

I have finished the area immediately behind the cargo hold with two partitions with sliding hatches.



I’m not sure what would have been kept in this area. It’s pretty small and there’s not much headroom to speak of. I think it’s main purpose would have been to access to the bilge as underneath the deck in the cargo hold might have been filled with rock ballast.

I think the sliding hatches would have been quite big and perhaps spare ropes could have been store in the compartments behind them.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Salty]

The next compartment is storage for the charges for the cannons. To keep the gunpowder dry, the compartment is lined with lead (provided with the kit) which goes under the deck and up the ceiling planking. This follows the pictures on the CAF website (although it’s not clear in the instructions). It probably worked in practice, although lining the bulkheads as well would have provided better protection.

There is also a tiny lamp in the bulkhead as the area is buried in the bottom of the ship.







The deck of the aft cabin will completely cover this compartment, but at least I’ll be able to say it’s there.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Salty]

Thanks to everyone who has been following my progress. I thought I might be hidden away in this corner of SOS, but apparently I was wrong.

This is the deck for cabin in the stern.





The larger hatch goes to the gunpowder room and the other to the area underneath the cabin proper. I have chosen to use one (rather than two specified in the instructions) eye and ring fittings on each hatch as I prefer a simpler look.

The plans have drawing of the deck and there was also a plywood template which really helped construction because there’s a lot to get right. The edges sit flush on the ceiling planking, the deck frames need to get through the gunpowder room bulkhead and the deck itself needs to be at the right height above the keel.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Salty]

For something a little different, I have been working on some barrels for the cargo hold.





I used a kit from CAF and am pleased with the results, but there was a surprising amount of work and patience required to get them just right. There were enough staves for a second layer, but I was pretty happy with the first layer and I didn’t think it would really add anything. The photo etched hoops are a nice touch. They are slightly conical like real hoops so they sit flat against the staves.

Kind regards

Salty