L'Orenoque Mamoli 1:100 scale

[The Gavel]

In the end, I got the first planking done. After sanding thoroughly and I mean thoroughly . . . .



Here's the bow and stern after clean-up. And man were those little stubs of plywood a pain to sand flush . Also, I left the bulkhead extensions aboard until I finished the second planking.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Nicely done! I was wondering how you would navigate between the "Scylla and Charybdis" of fabricating a typical Mamoli hull!

 

[JerryTodd]

I think this thing is about done. I need to stare at it for a while and see. I added the guy for scale and for the muzzle up at the level of his face, so I scaled the carriage down to the trunnion height of the 8 inch shell gun.


I rotated the carriage to set it on it's skids, so it should match the deck-camber better.

.

 

[GIG1810]

Hey Jerry,

very well done. The planking looks very good. Keep up the good work.

Best regards

Günther

 

[Martin By Eye]

I think this thing is about done. I need to stare at it for a while and see. I added the guy for scale and for the muzzle up at the level of his face, so I scaled the carriage down to the trunnion height of the 8 inch shell gun.
View attachment 530867

I rotated the carriage to set it on it's skids, so it should match the deck-camber better.
View attachment 530868
.

Nice work. Looks pretty massive, but a lot more "French" than the Dahlgrens, and better balanced than i had thought. But...i reckon Chuck will still be pulling his hair out (!) over bulwark stretching !

 

[Martin By Eye]

In the end, I got the first planking done. After sanding thoroughly and I mean thoroughly . . . .

View attachment 530862View attachment 530861View attachment 530860View attachment 530859

Here's the bow and stern after clean-up. And man were those little stubs of plywood a pain to sand flush . Also, I left the bulkhead extensions aboard until I finished the second planking.

View attachment 530864View attachment 530863

Well you've been busy ! I always did think her stern castle looked a bit odd, i will be interested to see what you do with it. I've been first planking one of my projects as well, prefer to do so outside in summer so i don't have sawdust all over the house (and avoid marital sea battles! )

 

[Martin By Eye]

i have a question for you...how are the wheelhouses supported in the mamoli world ? I had decided on two crossbeams, fore and aft of the paddlewheels, and straight across the ship just below deck level for L'Aigle, but i can see no such structure for the moment ? Are there strengthening blocks built in behind the hull structure at these points ? Never having seen the Mamoli plans,I must admit that i am curious !

 

[The Gavel]

Nicely done! I was wondering how you would navigate between the "Scylla and Charybdis" of fabricating a typical Mamoli hull!

Pete! Thank you! I haven't built a lot of ships, but I think this was one of the most difficult because of the shape of the stern. Tell you what, though . . . that hull is super rigid and heavy! She's a big boned girl!

Good news, IMHO, the first planking came out really well, I was able to sand things down and avoid any filler. The second planking was actually dreamy! More on that below.

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck

 

[The Gavel]

I think this thing is about done. I need to stare at it for a while and see. I added the guy for scale and for the muzzle up at the level of his face, so I scaled the carriage down to the trunnion height of the 8 inch shell gun.
View attachment 530867

I rotated the carriage to set it on it's skids, so it should match the deck-camber better.
View attachment 530868
.

Jerry! Superlative! I love the result you achieved with the rotation of the carriage. I thought the Paixhans cannon-obusier of 80 No. 1 was a good sized gun and now I know for sure, thanks to you!

Blessings.
Chuck

 

[The Gavel]

Hey Jerry,

very well done. The planking looks very good. Keep up the good work.

Best regards

Günther

Gunther!

I agree with you. Jerry is the real deal. You should check out his Constellation log if you haven't already. Glad you like the planking. I was pleased with the result as far as getting her covered in wood and establishing a good surface for the second planking. As you can see, there are some odd looking "planks". But, all's well that ends well and no one but my shipmates and my admiral will ever know how ugly the first planking was

Blessings.
Chuck

 

[The Gavel]

Nice work. Looks pretty massive, but a lot more "French" than the Dahlgrens, and better balanced than i had thought. But...i reckon Chuck will still be pulling his hair out (!) over bulwark stretching !

Martin!

Yes! Jerry is the man! As to my hair, I shaved it all off 35 years ago so that I wouldn't be able to pull it out anymore And, having the Dahlgren let me see that my bulwark stretching plan would work - I figured the Paixhans gun would be smaller to some degree. So having increased the bulwarks from 3 to 5 feet (3/16s" higher) I'm confident that the guns will be pretty much square in their ports.

Well you've been busy ! I always did think her stern castle looked a bit odd, i will be interested to see what you do with it. I've been first planking one of my projects as well, prefer to do so outside in summer so i don't have sawdust all over the house (and avoid marital sea battles! )

Like a beaver my friend! I was puzzled myself when I started raising the bulwarks. At first I though about raising the poop and the foredecks flush with the tops of the new bulwarks. Then, IMHO, brilliantly, I decided that I didn't need to raise those decks - they now have a knee height bulwark and I have retained the lines aft as shown in the original plans and amazingly in the kit plans

I love your idea of working outside. I live in the middle of a forest in a mosquito producing climate and a heat index 10-15 degrees higher than the thermometer because of the humidity. Happily, the Shangri-la Shipyard is on the lower level and has a door I can close Keeps me and the admiral happy.

i have a question for you...how are the wheelhouses supported in the mamoli world ? I had decided on two crossbeams, fore and aft of the paddlewheels, and straight across the ship just below deck level for L'Aigle, but i can see no such structure for the moment ? Are there strengthening blocks built in behind the hull structure at these points ? Never having seen the Mamoli plans,I must admit that i am curious !

Martin, I'm going to have to get back to you on this one. Since I decided not to build the fantasy ship represented by the kit I haven't been thinking about how the kit handles this issue. I promise to return to this later today!

Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck

 

[JerryTodd]

Stop the presses!
I was directed to more data that's significant here.

The above carriage appears in Aide-Mémoire d'Artillerie Navale Imprimé aka: Lafay as plate 10

It doesn't have a hole trough the carriage for the breeching, but instead had the sort of oar-lock fitting like American carriages have.
It says it's for canon-obusier of 22 rather than a canon obusier of 80; the 80 refers to a shot-weight of 80 pounds, but it had a bore diameter of 22cm, so I don't think it's referring to a 22 pound shot-weight; ie: same gun. I can, and will, adjust my carriage to match this drawing, but...

A little further along is plate 17.


This is a lower-slung carriage and will probably fit the L'Orenoque model better.

 

[The Gavel]

Stop the presses!
I was directed to more data that's significant here.

The above carriage appears in Aide-Mémoire d'Artillerie Navale Imprimé aka: Lafay as plate 10
View attachment 531013
It doesn't have a hole trough the carriage for the breeching, but instead had the sort of oar-lock fitting like American carriages have.
It says it's for canon-obusier of 22 rather than a canon obusier of 80; the 80 refers to a shot-weight of 80 pounds, but it had a bore diameter of 22cm, so I don't think it's referring to a 22 pound shot-weight; ie: same gun. I can, and will, adjust my carriage to match this drawing, but...

A little further along is plate 17.
View attachment 531027

This is a lower-slung carriage and will probably fit the L'Orenoque model better.

JERRY!!!!!

You are superlatively superlative! I am so blessed to have you as a shipmate. I looked as hard as I could on the web and couldn't find anything like this! Well done, sir!

I completely agree with you that the lower slung carriage will suit L'Orenoque much better!

Thank you!!!

Blessings.
Chuck

 

[JerryTodd]

Note the height of the tube next to the sailor, now that's much more like it should be
WIP image

 

[Martin By Eye]

Note the height of the tube next to the sailor, now that's much more like it should be
WIP image
View attachment 531042

this actually looks very similar to the carriage used on the model of L'Aigle, rather than the plan version.(as photo above).

 

[Peter Voogt]

In the end, I got the first planking done. After sanding thoroughly and I mean thoroughly . . . .

View attachment 530862View attachment 530861View attachment 530860View attachment 530859

Here's the bow and stern after clean-up. And man were those little stubs of plywood a pain to sand flush . Also, I left the bulkhead extensions aboard until I finished the second planking.

View attachment 530864View attachment 530863

A nice and solid basis for the second layer, Chuck.
Regards, Peter

 

[The Gavel]

Note the height of the tube next to the sailor, now that's much more like it should be
WIP image
View attachment 531042

Jerry! I agree. Much better proportions. Thank you for all of your work on this!

Blessings.
Chuck

 

[The Gavel]

A nice and solid basis for the second layer, Chuck.
Regards, Peter

Peter! Thank you!

Blessings.
Chuck

 

[The Gavel]

What ho, shipmates!

Here's the second planking and the bulwark heightening along with some deck planking. I know how some of you feel about painting your models
Personally I believe in paint where appropriate . I raise the issue because my 2nd planking is done to allow me to use the wood as a color at the level of the lower deck guns. For that reason, the planks are to scale for that region of the hull and above. Below that point, I decided that I could save some effort (takes time to cut the 1/8 x 3 inch planks, dress the edges and glue them on) because the lower part of the hull is meant to be painted black and will be coppered below the waterline.

Another thing. I like the way the variations in the wood look when oiled so the variations in color and grain are there on purpose. This applies to the "color band" to give the lower gun deck the Nelson checker, the inside of the bulwarks and the deck

In this pic look at the bow below the waterline I did the starboard side first to experiment with how the planks would run. Because L'Orenoque will be in the same room with Harriet Lane, and because Harriet Lane is displayed port side out - the port side is the money-maker. Not that anyone but you and my Admiral will know because this heresy will be covered in copper.




Here's the money-maker



And I was able to make the stern look more or less like the illustration in the plans





And now the bit with the pliers . . .

 

[The Gavel]

Here is the bulwark raising process . . .

The bulwarks are 1/8" thick. Red arrow - I used CA to attach 1/16 square stock to the existing bulwark. Blue arrow, I used Titebond to glue the 1/8" wide by 1/32" in thick outboard planks to the 1/16 square stock. This gave me a lip to Titebond in 1/16 x 1/8 stock on top of the 1/16 square and against the outboard planks.



Then I finished the sandwich with planks inboard.





Now. Knowing you, you looked at the last picture and said: "Wonder why he didn't nib or joggle?"



I thought about it!!! My reference, zu Mondfelt, said joggling was "very seldom on French ships." This is a French ship. So there