The 74 Gun Ship Pratical Treatise of Naval Art 1780

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So I have went all out and ordered this collection along with the 31 plansets.

I happened to come across an eglish version of a couple of the books from somewhere long ago that I found in my books. I amd looking at volume 2 and though there is ao much detail info in it I can be assured I will be happy enough to have spent the money for the collection. However book 2 is more about the internal stuff and the various gidgets and gadgets for the cooks bosuns midshipmen etc.

So I will have to search my stuff see if I have any more of the books as for sure volume 2 is useless for the external framing of the ship, I can only hope that and timber dimensions are in a different volume.

I figure why not start a thread on this so anyone that has the set can help with what volume may have what to actually build the ship and so those thinking of getting the collection can ask questions

Joe
 
Well after searching hundreds of my books I did find vol 1 and 3 though not the greatest I have the originals coming and this will let me at least familiarize myself with the books.

only 1/4 way through vol 1 which explains all the lofting of the frames the woods how they shaped them set up the ship yard I feel 1 million times better that I actually am getting my moneys worth and that it has easily met my expectations. I am sure there will be things that I wished they would have covered or covered better but I 100% recommend people interested in french ships getting this collection you wont be disappointed.

Those that have followed me over the last year ish that I have been into ships have heard me bitch and moan incessantly about how these so called books and plans dont tell the novice crap that they made for the experts who probably only get them just to collect them. This collection is opposite, Jean wrote these books so even a novice can understand it. too bad he didn't do an equivalent for English ships. though there are some that give info they don't dummy it down like Jean has done here.
 
Here is a screenshot of the start of Chapter 2 where they are setting up the yard and laying down the first parts of the ship.

As you can see it is very easy to read plus for all the terminology he uses he has a side bar with definitions and notes of each definition

74 Gun -01.png
 
since this was an interesting chapter did a few screenshots showing the initial lay down of the hull. the book states that all the floor timbers were laid out first and set in place and the futtocks etc were added later.

74 Gun -02.png
 
I think this is really cool all these images and would make for a really cool diorama for someone not really wanting to do a full ship right away, but would use something like this for practice to get the shapes of the Stem and Stern Down before moving onto a full ship.

Besides like I said it would really look cool
 
I found this section on the frames very interesting and was written so well that it is easy to understand the parts of the frames and why they are set as they are etc.

when he is talking slice he means a double frame front half of the frame and the rear half of the frame. thus together they form a frame but seperate the french called them slices


74 Gun -08.png
 
Where did you get the books, and what is the name of the ator. Don

It is the book set of Jean Boudriot "The 74-gun Ship" in 4 volumes + the drawing set in scale 1:48 which was published later on (see attached pdf)
you can order it from ancre :

https://ancre.fr/en/basic-books/9-v...a-collection.html#/tome-the_set_4_vol_english

This books were the first basic publications, on which usually the monographies from Boudriot, Berti, Lemieur, Delacroix etc. refer to.....

Very informative, but they refer to the french Navy builts
 

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I just wished I had his Plan set now to look at as I peruse these books. we just had a Blizzard last night 14" snow in about 12 hrs, and I would be working on maybe Making some of the furniture or even a frame or two for something to do.

I was told by the Wife that if I am spending that kind of money I need to Focus on building the ship.

I do have the Le Flouron plans and monographie and when people talk about his 74 gun books they always seem to build the Le Flouron even though it is a 64 gun I think that it is classified as a 74 gun.

I was up until 630 am reading the 3 volumes that I have digitally and I dont normally read them I use them for reference.
That right there tells you they are good and also addicting reading for someone like me to read through them. I also for the most part read about 80% of book 1 and 60% of book 2 and spent an hour just going through the masting book.

I didn't really see much talking about the depth of some of the relief cuts like in the keel etc, however in one of the paragraphs it did mention 1" groove for the rear floor slice. So I will look through the Scantlings today (which were a little shy of what I am used to on English ships) and see if I can find more. I also assume that the thicknesses of the frames etc are there as he referenced the scantlings for that info. Also my digital books may be missing some pages from the originals it didn't look like they were.
 
well only found a few of the Le Flouron drawings not even close to the full set but that is ok everyone does the Le Flouron so I prefer to do the generic 74 that goes with the collection and since I don't happen to have a copy of them will wait til they get here
 
so I sorta wished I wasnt blacklisted from MSW only for the fact I would love to get in contact with Gaetan Bordeleau abt his 74 gun and pick his brains. he has built it 4 times in different scales and presentations. his work is amazing.

I have been spending way too much time worrying about drawing up stuff to build because i didnt like the available stuff for ships and felt there were some really lacking plans out there. Now with Jeans 74 gun books and timbering book which is considered book 5 of the series basically, I am going to quote Gaetan here on why I am going to build this 74 gun without all the cad work first.

"Before to begin the construction with wood, I want to have all the necessary information I need for the complete build.

-I do not want to have to do extensive research

-I do not want to draw plans

-I do not want to begin in 5 years

Jean Boudriot offers me everything I need. All the required information is available in 5 books, not 4 but yes 5. I am a lazy person for this time, I will not draw the frames; JC Lemineur dit and I will use it.

So, I have all what I need to begin :

-all the paper I need (the fifth book is in the mail)

-all the tools I bought tools for the last 30 years

-all the wood I need, at least for the frames."

I think he said it all exactly as I want to say it lol

where he did his at 1:24 scale I will be going 1:48th scale. I will However do a 3D cad version of the ship but not draw it all up type then build it. I will draw up the parts and area I will be building at the time. so as I build it I will be drawing it at the same time. Not to have plans to build from before I start, but because the ship is so complicated with all the french joinery and design that I want to use 3D rather than Expensive wood to figure it out and understand how to build the part I am building on if that makes sense. then when complete I will have the first and only fully interactional 3D model of a French 74 gun which will be able to help others that build them.
Gaetan also does similar but with wood. he takes cheap wood and makes a part so he can see how it is opposed to go and fit etc then will do it in the good stuff when he has a difficult thing to make. Though after 4 of them by now he is an expert and prob doesn't need to do it as much.

So I would like to do all the barrels and buckets and little doo dads of the hold while waiting. If anyone has a scanned page of all the buckets hogsheads tons etc at 1:48 scale
 
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