La Couronne Corel/scratch 1:100 First build [COMPLETED BUILD]

Finished planking the forepeak in mahogany
197 Forepeak Planked.jpg

Completed the wales on the starboard side with walnut planking between them.
198 Glue and Pin Walnut Wales and Planks.jpg

199 Walnut Wales and Planks 1.jpg

Completed the wales and walnut planking on the port side.
200 Walnut Wales and Planks 2.jpg

201 Walnut Wales and Planks 3.jpg

202 Walnut Wales and Planks 4.jpg

Cut seams in the wales with a razor knife. Wales are straighter if you install them as one long piece and make the seams this way.
203 Cut Plank Wale Seams.jpg

More walnut planking on the upper hull and forecastle.
204 Walnut Planking.jpg

Maple planking was added to the hull on both gun decks.
205 Maple Hull Planking for Gun Decks.jpg

206 Maple Hull Planking for Gun Decks.jpg

I was watching Rush Limbaugh while I worked. God rest his soul.
207 Listening to Rush While Working.jpg
 
Planked the keel with mahogany strips.
208 Plank the Keel.jpg

Started planking beginning with the garboard strake.
209 Begin Planking Stbd Side.jpg

210 Begin Planking Stbd Side.jpg

The red tape is the place where the planking progressed toward both rom the top and the bottom of the hull.
211 Continue Planking.jpg

Planking continues.
212 More Planking.jpg

Planking was finished and sanded smooth.
213 Port Side Planking Ready for Final Sanding.jpg

The hull was coated with Krylon Satin Finish. At first it appeared too glossy as seen below. If you had any flat spots or hard bends in the curvature of the hull, this the point where you would notice it the most.
214 Spray Laquer Test Area Looks Plastic Like.jpg

Rubbing the hull very lightly with a green Scotchbrite abrasive pad. The finish is now a beautiful natural tone.
215 Removed Excess Spray Lacquer Using Denatured Alcohol.jpg

Hull planking is complete!
216 Hull Finish Complete.jpg
 
Walnut trim was added to the gunwales.
217 Added Some Walnut Trim on Gunwales.jpg

218 Stern.jpg

219 Looks Good So Far 1.jpg

Installing guns on the forecastle deck. The nearby frames were covered with mahogany strips.
220 Begin Installing Cannon in Forecastle.jpg

221 Carriage Assembly.jpg

222 Installing Cannon.jpg

Making more gun tackles.
223 Rig More Gun Train Tackles.jpg

Gun in position.
224 Install Two Dummy Gun Barrels on Bridge Deck.jpg

Starboard side carriage rigging completed.
225 Install Forecastle Guns.jpg

Rigging the port side guns on the forecastle deck.
226 Install Forecastle Guns.jpg

Added decorative wreaths to the gun portals.
227 Install Forecastle Gun Decorations.jpg

228 Guns Complete.jpg

229 Forecastle Guns Complete.jpg

Looks good overall. All the rigged guns are complete.
230 Looks Good so Far 2.jpg
 
Trim made from bending birch wood was added to the foredeck. Wreath decorations were added to the upper fore chase gun ports.
231 Add Trim to Foredeck.jpg

Gun port lids were made for the lower fore chase gun ports
232 Make Four Bow Chaser Port Covers.jpg

Hinges were prepared. Fine Amati 7mm pins were used with the hinges. The knuckles of the hinges were curled using the Leatherman pocket tool .
233 Create and Blacken Brass Hinges.jpg

Gun port lids with haulback lanyards were installed. The line was glued in the holes in the bulkhead, passed through the lid, then curled into the top of the gun port where it is glued to the inside surface of the beakhead bulkhead.
234 Install Port Covers.jpg

235 Port Covers Completed.jpg

The forecastle top deck is installed and a grating with trim is glued to the deck.
236 Create Forecastle Grate.jpg

Trim was added to the aft edge of the deck and more figure decorations were bought from Corel and added to the columns.
237 Install Pillars and Trim.jpg

The top forecastle deck was planked and walnut trim glued along the outer edges of the forecastle.
238 Add Trim and Deck Planks.jpg

Forecastle is complete.
239 Forecastle Deck Complete.jpg

Along the gunwale of the waste, a line of musket ports topped with walnut trim was made.
240 Install Musket Ports and Trim.jpg

Progress so far.
241 Looks Good so Far 3.jpg

242 Looks Good so Far 4.jpg
 
Trim made from bending birch wood was added to the foredeck. Wreath decorations were added to the upper fore chase gun ports.
View attachment 267455

Gun port lids were made for the lower fore chase gun ports
View attachment 267456

Hinges were prepared. Fine Amati 7mm pins were used with the hinges. The knuckles of the hinges were curled using the Leatherman pocket tool .
View attachment 267457

Gun port lids with haulback lanyards were installed. The line was glued in the holes in the bulkhead, passed through the lid, then curled into the top of the gun port where it is glued to the inside surface of the beakhead bulkhead.
View attachment 267458

View attachment 267459

The forecastle top deck is installed and a grating with trim is glued to the deck.
View attachment 267460

Trim was added to the aft edge of the deck and more figure decorations were bought from Corel and added to the columns.
View attachment 267461

The top forecastle deck was planked and walnut trim glued along the outer edges of the forecastle.
View attachment 267462

Forecastle is complete.
View attachment 267463

Along the gunwale of the waste, a line of musket ports topped with walnut trim was made.
View attachment 267464

Progress so far.
View attachment 267465

View attachment 267475
Dear friend
you are achieving great progress, she looks wonderful
 
Ladders were made from kit supplied parts. Mahogany was used as trim on the ladder rails to hide the ugly seams from the steps.
243 Assemble Ladders.jpg

A ladder was installed in the forecastle.
244 Install Ladder in Forecastle.jpg

Other ladders were installed on the decks. The poop deck was test fit. Corel did not cut the aft notches in the sides of the poop deck piece. A second set of notches were cut.
245 Install Ladders and Trim.jpg

Solid blocks of wood were provided for the lower side galleries. Lines are drawn to help guide the shaping of these parts in according with the drawings. Parts were shaped roughly using a belt sander, then sanded to final shape with a sanding block.
246 Shape Gallery Bottom Parts.jpg

247 Gallery Lower Parts Shaped.jpg

The lower gallery parts are planked with mahogany strips.
248 Overlay Sapelle Onto Gallery Parts.jpg

249 Overlay Done.jpg

The edges of the flat plywood parts were stained.
250 Stain Plywood Parts.jpg

The final piece is glued on and the starboard lower gallery was coated with Krylon Satin Finish. Work on port side assembly was begun.
251 Stbd Gallery Base Complete.jpg

Brass decorative strip was bought separately and used to add detail.
252 Add Brass Detail.jpg

More mahogany was used to cover the inboard surfaces of the lower galleries.
253 Layer Sapelle to Inboard Surfaces.jpg
 
The beakhead supports were fabricated from bending beech wood and attached to the forepeak.
254 Start Building Beakshead.jpg

The figurehead provided by Corel is historically incorrect and belongs on the smaller French man of war Royal Louis. Luckily, I found the Mantua figurehead for sale separately on eBay, and it is the correct one. It depicts Heracles wrestling a dragon in the garden of Hesperides where he was trying to obtain apples for his 11th labor. I suspect that the strange copyright laws in Italy would not allow Corel to use identical features as their rival model company, Mantua, and that certain elements had to be changed to allow both companies to sell even the same ship model. This has a negative impact on historical accuracy of model kits.
255 Hercules & Hydra Figurehead.jpg

The beakhead deck grating was made using the instruction drawings.
256 Begin Beakshead Grates.jpg

257 Beakshead Grates.jpg

Beakhead deck supports were custom made from walnut. Getting the end at the correct angles to attach to the deck and lower forepeak supports was a complicated affair and lost of test fits had to be made.
258 Beakshead Supports.jpg

259 Beakshead.jpg

260 Beakshead.jpg

Decorations to the stern were begun.
261 Cut Wale for Stern Gallery & Start Decorations.jpg

262 Stern Decorations.jpg

The lower galleries were decorated with brass wire decoration bought separately on the Etsy website. A dome shape leftover from the stern lantern parts was also used to cover the place where the wires come together.
263 Wire Details on Galleries.jpg

The starboard lower gallery is glued to the hull and held with a rubber band until dry.
264 Attach Side Gallery to Hull.jpg

The port lower gallery is also attached.
265 Glue for Side Galleries Drying.jpg
 
La Couronne so far is about 50% done, with the additions of: properly scaled 18 pound, 9 pound, and 6 pound bronze cannons, use of Falkonet small 2mm blocks instead of the monster blocks supplied with the kit, cannon carriages of walnut instead of dummy barrels, internal circuit board with flickering candle effect LED lights for upper gun deck, stern and side galleries and turrets, and of course, stern lanterns. Below is a link to 264 photos (and growing) of the progress of the build, every step of the way, all numbered to allow one to see the progress in order.

I would treasure your comments and suggestions on how to steer this build in the direction of perfection, or questions as how features of this model were chosen and performed. All of you who have posted your own builds have unwittingly educated me in this build every step of the way.

Best wishes!

Kurt Suleski
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS (Latin for Darius the Engineer)

La Couronne Build Photos

264-Test-Fit-Towers.jpg
 
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I certainly will, gentlemen! I managed to upload all pictures of the build into three albums on this site.
Question: Where to put the ships bell. I think it should be at the center of the rail above the bridge deck, but Mantua's model has it at the center of the rail at the rear of the foc'sle. Opinions?
 
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Hi Darius,

As far as I have seen on English ships the bell is placed on the aft end of the fore castle deck.
On French ships its mostly on the aft side of the half deck. As la couronne being a french vessel I wpuld put it there.
Thanks Maarten!

Gentlemen, here is today's progress:
Install gun port lids on all stern guns and started fitting the rear towers on the stern gallery. Of course I had to test the internal lights again because they are cool.

265 Make Eight Stern Port Covers .jpg266 Upper Four Port Covers Ready.jpg267 Install Upper Stern Port Covers.jpg268 Prepare to Install Lower Stern Port Covers.jpg269 Install Lower Four Stern Port Covers.jpg270 Fashion Bulkheads Joining Rear Towers.jpg271 Test Fit Rear Towers - Internal Lights On.jpg272 Rear Towers Look Good So Far - Lights On.jpg
 
Progress 8 April 2019. Install glass in windows of stern gallery forward towers. Glass is made from clear plastic taken from purchased tool packaging and scribed with a razor knife and straight edge. Scribe lines are darkened with black acrylic paint, with excess removed with moistened toilet paper. Windows are set in place with small application of CA glue at the corners. Added 0.5mm thick x2mm wide sapelle wood strips as trim for the bow turrets. Penciled in outlines of the windows to prepare cutting them our with a bullet shaped coarse diamond bit in a Dremel tool, just like the previous towers. Wood towers are made from 1mm thick mohagany sheet. Yellow LED's will illuminate the towers and turrets

275 Trim on Bow Towers.jpg

276 Draw Windows on Bow Towers.jpg

274 Glass in Stern Gallery Fwd Towers.jpg
 
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I am very happy, that you decided to show us your built here in a building log - Very good work until now - many thanks for sharing with us
 
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