Le Coureur 1776 CAF Model by OT1138

ot1138 said:
I used Varathane ebony stain. It results in an excellent, matte black color but I found that it never seems to fully dry as advertised (or perhaps it will in a few weeks). The stain was constantly rubbing off on my fingers and making a mess. A simple solution was to spray each piece with a thin layer of lacquer, which effectively sealed the surface. Note that I did try thin coats (wiping the stain off after a few minutes) but for whatever reason, this stain does not want to evenly penetrate the wood.
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I had the same trouble when stained the wales with Minwax ebony stain. It was never dry...after a month, so I have no choice other than to remove and replace them with black grab (black hornbeam). You may try Indian ink, it penetrates well and dries fast.
 
A bit late for me! But I decided to wipe away the excess after a couple of days and it looks much better than before (and it doesn't smear anymore). Parts of the wood are still a deep brown so I will give it another coat and see if that does it.
 
Very good work my friend - we all will not attain perfection, no doubt.....
Especially if this model is your second built at all - Very good result - I think you are on a very good way
 
ot1138 said:
A study in colors based on Boudriot's suggestions for Le Coureur.

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You made a nice interpretation.
I have only doubts about the painting the planks above the wales in yellow.


from wikipedia:
Periodically the Royal Navy sought a uniform colour scheme; In 1715, an Admiralty order decreed the use of yellow and black, and a uniform colour within. However, this was generally ignored. Again in 1780 the Admiralty then issued a further order allowing Captains to paint in yellow or black.

en.wikipedia.org

Nelson Chequer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Unbenannt.JPG

Nobody knows it exactly, it can be that the british version had the yellow painting, or not -> at the end a question of taste of the modeler.
Based on the experience with the blackaning of the wales, you should check the painting of planks with some test-strips, if the used paints are working well......


BTW: also interesting , which I did not know before:

Nelson favoured yellow, with black bands, he also had the underside of his gunports painted black. This meant that when the ports were closed the hull would appear striped, and when opened (ready for action) the hull would appear chequered. No chequering signaled "intent" over distance, which was necessary when sailing into fortified friendly harbours.

Nelson, apparently, used the same style for all vessels under his command. In his own words "to be distinguished with greater certainty in case of falling in with an enemy" After the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) the colour scheme became popular, and most major vessels in the Royal Navy sported this pattern, though it was not mandatory and some captains changed it. The Nelson Chequer fell into general disuse after 1815, when the yellow hue was superseded by white.
 
ot1138 said:
I'm not aware of any authoritative color scheme for Le Coureur. I took the above from Boudriot:

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Sorry - I was too much linked to the british version of the captured vessel - Yes - you followed the description by Boudriot.
Would be interesting to see how it would look like !!!
 
A milestone was reached...

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The wales are still a bit sticky but much better than before. I applied several coats of Ebony stain, wiping them off after about an hour to cut down on the thickness. Some of the wood resists staining and turns dark brown, but not black. For those spots, I carefully applied a thin layer of stain using a brush and will apply lacquer in a few days as a protective coat.
 
Now about that other side. I was planning on leaving it entirely unplanked from row 5 down. However, there are some ugly spots that I'd like to hide, like the one below.


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And here we see spaces between the planks where I nearly accidentally sanded through.

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The garboard strake would be sufficient to hide the imperfections at the keel. I could follow @Uwek's lead and plank the bow. Still, I don't want to get into another months long planking exercise so I'm not quite sure if I should move forward with this or how far to go if I do.
 
While i think about the port side, I'll continue working on the starboard. First off, the black stain on the wales is still uneven and rubbing off in a few places. I taped the wales off and applied three layers of spray lacquer, followed by a light smoothing with steel wool and a final fourth layer. I stopped there as I didn't want to end up with a glossy sheen.

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I then drilled some of the nail holes out as a test pattern.

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After removing the tape, the ebony color was fixed and reasonably even everywhere. Twenty brass nails were glued into the holes. This is not as bad as it sounds. Just grab a nail with tweezers, dip the end in weldbond and insert. I then press it in with a small wooden rod. It takes less than a minute per hole.

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You may notice above that I inserted three blackened nails under the rightmost column. I believe that black nails on the bare wood may be a little more subtle and not compete with the bright brass ones in the wales (and eventually above).

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Beautiful!

These Micromark nails are more expensive but a big bonus is that there is no need to sand them down... a huge time saver.
 
Very good progress my friend - and also looking good
Related the other side: I would also add some of the planks to hide
 
I attempted to use blackened brass nails below the wales but found this to be difficult. The black surface rubbed off on the wood, leaving behind dirty smears which could not easily be removed. Here you can see the black residue remaining after I removed a column of them:

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So ultimately I ended up using brass nails everywhere.

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Also evident is how different the nailing pattern looks in practice versus theory (ie: Boudriot's plans). Mistakes do happen!
 
Looks really good and the bolt's head is perfectly round. How did you archive them to be perfectly round?
 
Micromark sells these already formed. No cutting or forming necessary. They are expensive though... over $100 for the whole ship (more if you fully plank both sides).
 
ot1138 said:
Micromark sells these already formed. No cutting or forming necessary. They are expensive though... over $100 for the whole ship (more if you fully plank both sides).
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ouch... what size are those, Do you have a link?
 
Those are a LOT longer. They'll either need to be cut down or plan on them penetrating the planks quite deeply.
 
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