Sovereign of the Seas - Sergal 1:78 (with hopefully many added details)

That said, after-market offerings are a good source for period and country correct examples. Of course, at a significantly added cost, and possibly impossible to source in the correct scales.
It has been over a year, but I had been getting cannon barrels for 3D printed for less than $1 each, including freight in the US in 1:64 scale. They could be a bit more for larger scales. I just email the 3D drawings of whatever pattern I need to the printer I use and he usually sends them out within a week or two. PM me if you would like me to email you a set of Browne pattern 3D drawings.
Allan
 
Allen,
Thanks very nice of you. Indeed, a nice idea, but given that when it comes to that skill set, I’m a Neanderthal.
I’ve logged into builders who are well into using 3D printing – indeed the future (present) of this hobby.



On this topic – this modeler is arguably the best in the world at this skill – as well as his amazing skill set.

This video is his “short version” of this build. His full-length video has just shy of two million views on YouTube. His full longer version goes much into how he programs the 3D printer.
If you are interested – at LEAST – view towards the end – Beyond brilliant work. His use of 3D printer is a perfect example of what can be accomplished with such a device

PS: His full version video is

Making Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri Diorama (Studio Blueocean)​


Cheers,

shot version linked just below;


 
Thanks very nice of you. Indeed, a nice idea, but given that when it comes to that skill set, I’m a Neanderthal.
I’ve logged into builders who are well into using 3D printing – indeed the future (present) of this hobby.
I think I miscommunicated..... If you need a few drawings I can email them to you along with the email address of the printer fellow I use in the US. I do not have the slightest idea on how to print my own so pay the few bucks to someone else with excellent results to date.
Allan
 
Allan,

No
, the error was mine – my synapses did not properly connect (not so unusual lately or so my Admiral shares with me) :D

Now understood - better with active reading (;-)) I do appreciate the offer.

That said- I will be, after three “similar” builds (Vasa, Santisima de Trinidad cross section, and now the Sovereign) leaving that century in order hopefully learn something new in the 8th Century….

Next project will be a Viking ship. Two are already under the table, but I will further wait for Pavel Nikitin’s redesigned new kit to become available. It looks to be the best Viking example available.

My hopeful Intentions are to build it as historically accurate as possible, including many dis- attached deck planks in order to view inside hull framing details. Many images are already in my Viking folder.

Below FYI a few images (Gokstad found in a burial mound) Cleats, properly squared and scaled will be a conundrum (Uwe from one of his logs has given me an idea about that)

So indeed, 3D cannons, given your solution would have been a great idea. Again, thanks for your kind offer for the images.

Regards


Gokstad5 copy.jpg19273763402_6371bcf1f9_b copy.jpghull inside copy.jpg
 
Hi,

Starting to work on chainplates. Decided to use kit provided bits, and adding some extra details. Including planking as I had done for the main ship decks.
For the foremast plates I checked one of my books and noticed that the plates had a curvature that followed the hull lines
Added that small alteration as well. Should look better IMO.

1.jpeg2.jpeg3.jpeg4.jpeg5.jpeg
 
Hi,

Starting to work on chainplates. Decided to use kit provided bits, and adding some extra details. Including planking as I had done for the main ship decks.
For the foremast plates I checked one of my books and noticed that the plates had a curvature that followed the hull lines
Added that small alteration as well. Should look better IMO.

View attachment 452042View attachment 452043View attachment 452044View attachment 452045View attachment 452046
Good afternoon John. Always very impressive. So much "clutter" on the deck- fantastic. Cheers Grant
 
Very neat work! A minor point and probably of no interest to some, but thought some would find it interesting. The channels did not have slots on English ships for the deadeye hardware until 1771. Prior to that there were holes near the edge of the channels through which the deadeye iron strop passed.
 
Just a comment on your channels, Oldflyer. You don't need to plank them the same way as with the deck. They were made of pieces of wood graftedf together in various patterns, one of which is shoown below on an 18th century example. Most often in models, the channels are just made from one piece of wood with a capping strip for simplicity. Just thought you'd want to know this detail for your next model. I know that's what the kit instructions told you. Don't believe them since they are riddled with errors. Cheers!

Historic Ship Models - Wolfram zu Mondfeld:
1718206269838.png

Attached below is some more useful info.
 

Attachments

  • Czech Discussion - Sovereign of the Seas 1637.pdf
    3.3 MB · Views: 5
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Allan – thanks for that historical information good to know – Now, I also notice in the image from above how irons were inserted in just simple holes and in single planks of wood.

Kurt Thanks as well - your info is always so well researched. Ironically enough I had initially thought of scratch building the channels.

Then saw the kit provided bits and just planked over them – without even looking at historical sources. I should have at least followed something similar to
the image that you provided. Hmmm – given that this build is basically already full of errors, one more, in the aggregate, will just become overlooked. Haha…Redface

In retrospect it would have been so much easier to just form the six channels out of single pieces. I'll leave this as is, but will add a decorative liner in front - still
thinking that through....

PS: I do have the Czech forum – excellent info….
PS2: Kurt your SotS has been MIA :(

1.jpeg2.jpeg3.jpeg
 
Allan – thanks for that historical information good to know – Now, I also notice in the image from above how irons were inserted in just simple holes and in single planks of wood.

Kurt Thanks as well - your info is always so well researched. Ironically enough I had initially thought of scratch building the channels.

Then saw the kit provided bits and just planked over them – without even looking at historical sources. I should have at least followed something similar to
the image that you provided. Hmmm – given that this build is basically already full of errors, one more, in the aggregate, will just become overlooked. Haha…Redface

In retrospect it would have been so much easier to just form the six channels out of single pieces. I'll leave this as is, but will add a decorative liner in front - still
thinking that through....

PS: I do have the Czech forum – excellent info….
PS2: Kurt your SotS has been MIA :(

View attachment 453130View attachment 453131View attachment 453132
I'm busy with work, so my SotS build is on hold. Need more time to decide what method to make the decorations with.
 
Allan – thanks for that historical information good to know – Now, I also notice in the image from above how irons were inserted in just simple holes and in single planks of wood.

Kurt Thanks as well - your info is always so well researched. Ironically enough I had initially thought of scratch building the channels.

Then saw the kit provided bits and just planked over them – without even looking at historical sources. I should have at least followed something similar to
the image that you provided. Hmmm – given that this build is basically already full of errors, one more, in the aggregate, will just become overlooked. Haha…Redface

In retrospect it would have been so much easier to just form the six channels out of single pieces. I'll leave this as is, but will add a decorative liner in front - still
thinking that through....

PS: I do have the Czech forum – excellent info….
PS2: Kurt your SotS has been MIA :(

View attachment 453130View attachment 453131View attachment 453132
Do you have this article on SotS rigging? It's reliable information, particularly with the use of shroud cleats instead of belaying pin racks.

1718243394946.png
 

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  • Rigging_Techniques HMS SotS.pdf
    7.7 MB · Views: 5
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Kurt,

Again thanks - Great resource indeed!!

For model builders this ship has so many disparate “right ways” of being historically accurate that laboring through all of the various opinionated options ends up becoming a potentially tedious effort including rigging correctly without pin racks...

Hat’s off to you in this regard.
Your SotS is a really remarkable achievement. Your research for this one is exemplary. And as you’ve often also said, the even out-of-the-box Sergal kit, is still quite a looker given all of its metal bits.

The awesome scratch-built examples are for my skill set on another planet. Doris’ is still my all-time favorite example of this ship!!

I am almost 100% sure that this current build will remain a hull only example. Though I may attach and rigg all lower masts including bowsprit -TBD - I've already spent way too many years on this one. This Sunday will mark its fifth year as a Father's Day gift. YIKES.:rolleyes:

Cheers,
 
Hi Kurt,
I have pretty much zero knowledge about SoS so hope to learn something here. What was the purpose of the cannons pointing at the waist area? The second picture below of the 1832 model at RMG does not show guns like this but the painting by Van de Velde which would be contemporary to the era of the ship itself appears to have ports in the QD rail so I assume they were there in the 17th century.
Thanks
Allan
Sovereign of the Seas gun question.PNG
Sovereign of the Seas model at RMG.jpg
Sovereign of the seas VdV.jpg
 
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Thanks Allan and Oldflyer.

The 1832 model has several omissions besides the rigging, including the boarding guns and you noticed. You will notice that there are different flaws in each of the 19th century models of the Sovereign, with possible exception of the Culver's model located in the Annapolis Maritime Museum. Most of them concern the stern castle shape and decorations.

There were many gun on the fore and stern castles pointed at the waist. At first it may not seem to make sense, until you learn the style of ship-to-ship fighting that was prevalent in the 1630's. Back then, the purpose of the main battery of guns was not to destroy the hulls of enemy ships, but to destroy rigging and crew. Hull damage was possible, but of secondary concern to the English. The popular tactic was still boarding ships, hopefully after they were pounded hard enough to make them unable to sail or maneuver. That's why the fore and stern castles in the Sovereign were still raised high like galleons before them. Enemy boarders were most likely to board at the waist, the more accessible portion of the ship. If the enemy takes the waist, the light boarding guns would turn them to ground hamburger as a last resort to hold the ship.

So far the most informed and best source for information of the features of the Sovereign is James Sephton's book:

Sovereign of the Seas: The Seventeenth-Century Warship

Anyone building the Sovereign should read this book, and it has lots of information surrounding the ship as well as its construction, since the author sent over 40 years researching this vessel specifically. That means you get almost all the bits of info filtered for historical accuracy in one place, much of it unobtainable from other sources, including the web. I would trust James Sephton's opinion on questionable features over most others, and always above those of John McKay, whose design interpretation is riddled with mistaken assumptions and outright incorrect details owing to ignoring trusted primary and secondary sources (including Peter Pett himself!), and wrongly applying ship construction treatises such as Anthony Deane's c.1670, written many decades later than Peter Pett's Sovereign of 1635.

I am eager to share what information I have collected with anyone who is attempting to build this most fantastic of vessels.

As a consummate ship model basher, bordering on scratch builder, I have had to face many decisions on the features of the Sovereign, many of them still the focus of much controversy. My build log contains explanations of some of them. If other builders are curious about any of them, all they have to do is ask. I also have accumulated a lot of pictures and bits of info about these features, some of them from questions on this forum. One of the things I regret in my build was not correcting the DeAgostini hull to increase the height of between the lower and middle gun decks, to match that of the Payne engraving/print. I had to adjust the wales because of that to keep their locations accurate, but the distance from the lower gun deck ports and the wale just above them was visible reduced near midships. The overall proportion of the hull is off a tiny bit as a result. (After all, it's only my second ship model...) Compare the model photo below to the Payne engraving:

1718333120482.png

1718333320991.png
 
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