HMS Victory and Le Redoutable at Trafalgar (1/300)

[dafi]

And all 3 navies had a Neptun with them

Neptuno and Neptune fighting Neptune

XXXDAn

[marijn van gils]

Meanwhile, I painted the copper sheeting, following the same techniques I used with Victory: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=167367&start=880#p1019524

The bow.
Contrary to Victory, the top three strakes follow the waterline here.


But not at the stern:


For that one shot hole under the waterline, I had two choices:
1: canon ball punched through the copper quite cleanly, with only some denting in the copper.
2: more �explosive� effect, where the impact of the canon ball and splintering wood has damaged and ripped of some copper plates.

The first option may very well be the more realistic choice. But as it would also be completely invisible on the model (remember, a canon ball in this scale is only 0,4 mm diameter), I went for the second:


The three damaged sheets were cut from cigarette paper and the damaged end crumbled. They were glued to the hull with PVA glue, and the entire sheet soaked with diluted PVA. This makes them strong and stiff, but flexible enough to survive accidental bumps. The cigarette paper is thin enough to visually �melt� into the otherwise smooth surface with some careful painting.

The above is of course heavily enlarged. With plates being 4 mm long, this is the actual size:


And that completes the weathering of Redoutable�s hull!
Well, the outside at least�





Both ships together:

[Walter Sonderman]

Hi, Marijn,

Every now and then I look at your progress and always think you are working on 1/50 ships. Until I realize this is 1/300..... awesome!

Grtz, Walter

[GewoonWouter]

pfoe, I watch in awe Marijn, my jaw hurts from falling on the floor

That copper effect is amazing and I love the choice you made with the cannonball impact splintering the wood with the copper plates fallen off.
This is just...no words.

But I can say this, although I never seen any of your work in the flesh (or maybe I have but it's been ages I visited modelling events) when finished I definitely want to see this one in the flesh. I guess one could look at it all day!

[EJFoeth]

Excellent work! Really looking forward to see the models populated. Any thoughs how you'll do that? Printed people? At 1:300 well worth it.

[wefalck]

Sorry, I didn't get around to dig deeper in my library for visual examples of the effects of shot on coppered 'walls' ... however, your reasoning, that an impacting shot would not just punch a hole, but may fray the surrounding sheet sounds reasonable, particularly when the impact is not exactly vertical to the surface. The waves and floating debris will then further tear on any raised edges.

Indeed, one has to constantly remind oneself how small this really is.

Yesterday, I spent some time in London's Courtauld Gallery, looking inter alia at a Madonna by Quinten Massys:


From: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the ... els-207304

The minute rendering of the embroidery on the madonna's cloak and the parquett made me think of this project ...

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

... The minute rendering of the embroidery on the madonna's cloak and the parquett made me think of this project ...

Quinten Massijs? Which made me think that we should regard Marijn also as one of the 'Flemish primitives'!
https://vlaamseprimitieven.vlaamsekunst ... in-a-name/

[marijn van gils]

Thank you very much everyone!

Haha! I would take that as a huge compliment, because I have a deep respect for the Flemish Primitives! I would count them as one of my (many) influences indeed...

I'm a little bit jealous now Eberhart! Last week, I spent a day in the Louvre museum. But since my wife and children are not so much into this period, we only saw later periods paintings, next to Egyptian, Near East and Persian stuff. So I can't really complain , but I wouldn't mind spending a day with a selection of Flemish Primitives too!

Really looking forward to see the models populated. Any thoughs how you'll do that? Printed people? At 1:300 well worth it.

I am in contact with someone willing and very able to 3D-design them, but in the end he couldn't find the time to do it. Well, no problem, I'll resort to good old-fashioned converting, like Werner De keersmaecker has always done so beautifully.
Probably one day I'll get into 3D-designing, but at the moment I really don't feel like it for this project...

But I can say this, although I never seen any of your work in the flesh (or maybe I have but it's been ages I visited modelling events) when finished I definitely want to see this one in the flesh. I guess one could look at it all day!

Well, I don't know where exactly in Belgium you live, but I will take the work in progress with me to the KMK Scalkeworld show in Geel on sunday May 21: https://kmk-scaleworld.be/scaleworld/
And there will be much more to see (and buy! ) besides just that!

[wefalck]

The French word 'primitif' is a bit of a false friend for us anglo-germanic speakers: 'primitive' means something rather different . I gather 'early' or 'first' would be more appropriate, as these painters are everything else but 'primitive' ...

BTW, how did you get into the Louvre ? There are always huge queues. The last time (quite a few years ago I must admit), they let my mother with her 'rollator' and me jump the queue

[EJFoeth]

Really looking forward to see the models populated. Any thoughs how you'll do that? Printed people? At 1:300 well worth it.

I am in contact with someone willing and very able to 3D-design them, but in the end he couldn't find the time to do it. Well, no problem, I'll resort to good old-fashioned converting, like Werner De keersmaecker has always done so beautifully.
Probably one day I'll get into 3D-designing, but at the moment I really don't feel like it for this project...

I have the same drempelvrees; would be nice to one day build Prince of Wales with a 1000 people on the quarterdeck printed using procedurally generated sailors... I'm not against 3D printing as such---would be hypocritical as I use etched brass which is basically 2D printing---but probably another rabbit hole Werner's work is quite inspirational indeed!

[marijn van gils]

The French word 'primitif' is a bit of a false friend for us anglo-germanic speakers: 'primitive' means something rather different . I gather 'early' or 'first' would be more appropriate, as these painters are everything else but 'primitive' ...

That is very true! The term was rather intended like 'originators of a new tradition in painting', which is almost the opposite as what most people understand when they hear the term. Both in style and technique, they were incredibly innovative in their time, and the technical quality and symbolic content of their paintings is simply amazing to this day.

BTW, how did you get into the Louvre ? There are always huge queues. The last time (quite a few years ago I must admit), they let my mother with her 'rollator' and me jump the queue

We had three children under 12 with us, and they also let us jump the queue. We were very happy and amazed! (and feeling a little bit guilty towards all the other people in the queue... )

I have the same drempelvrees; would be nice to one day build Prince of Wales with a 1000 people on the quarterdeck printed using procedurally generated sailors... I'm not against 3D printing as such---would be hypocritical as I use etched brass which is basically 2D printing---but probably another rabbit hole Werner's work is quite inspirational indeed!

Yep, it is the rabbit hole I'm a little affraid of, spending already enough time behind a computer for work! I already plan on doing my first PE-design for this project (mainly for the shroud chains), so one thing at a time...
But then again, now that I think of it maybe I better skip the etch and 3D-print those chains right away? The result may even be better...

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

...I already plan on doing my first PE-design for this project (mainly for the shroud chains), so one thing at a time...
But then again, now that I think of it maybe I better skip the etch and 3D-print those chains right away? The result may even be better...

Well, if strength is a consideration I would prefer brass instead of resin, so PE is for this particular item the preferred option I think, and it's really flat also. Even more so if you want to etch the rope structure, but maybe that's too small...

[Pieter]

Ion models has announced they are upscaling their 1/700 19th century crew to 1/350. If they do do 1/300 should also be possible.

[GewoonWouter]

But I can say this, although I never seen any of your work in the flesh (or maybe I have but it's been ages I visited modelling events) when finished I definitely want to see this one in the flesh. I guess one could look at it all day!

Well, I don't know where exactly in Belgium you live, but I will take the work in progress with me to the KMK Scalkeworld show in Geel on sunday May 21: https://kmk-scaleworld.be/scaleworld/
And there will be much more to see (and buy! ) besides just that!

Same province so distance wise that's not too far out . I might be tempted, never visited KMK Scaleworld before (just to give an indication: last time I visited a show Moveleo's show was still being held ). Got a little 'fresh of the line' baby at home but I'll manage to to deal with that with my wife

[marijn van gils]

Well, if strength is a consideration I would prefer brass instead of resin, so PE is for this particular item the preferred option I think, and it's really flat also. Even more so if you want to etch the rope structure, but maybe that's too small...

Well, I plan on only doing the chains, not the shrouds. But I want to do each chain in one piece if possible so there is a 3D-aspect to them. But they should be really thin, and strength is a consideration indeed. And I will need to bend the lowest link to follow the contours of the hull. So I'm leaning to PE indeed.

Ion models has announced they are upscaling their 1/700 19th century crew to 1/350. If they do do 1/300 should also be possible.

Let me get back to you on that later...

Same province so distance wise that's not too far out . I might be tempted, never visited KMK Scaleworld before (just to give an indication: last time I visited a show Moveleo's show was still being held ). Got a little 'fresh of the line' baby at home but I'll manage to to deal with that with my wife

Great, I hope to see you there!
Bring some models too!

It's a pity Moveleo doesn't organise their show anymore... I always enjoyed it very much! If I remember correctly, the first contest I ever entered was theirs, in 1998!

[marijn van gils]

Meanwhile, I painted the guns.

Way back, I scratchbuilt a master for each type and had them cast in resin by a friend.
After clean-up and assembly, they looked like this:
The British guns:


And the French:



Together with the rest of the ships, I airbrushed them completely in the ochre colours of the carriages. I hand-painted the other base-colours for the barrels (very dark grey, not black) and trucks with Humbrol enamels.
Shown here are the 6 different types of guns of Victory:



You may have noticed some trucks are not painted in a bare wood colour.
Because the rear trucks of the guns on the lower decks are invisible through the gun ports (I checked! ), I decided not to paint them to save me some time. On a total of about 180 guns, this does make a difference!

Next, I added a pin-wash to the barrels with light oil paint, to bring out their details. Since I used the same dusty mix I used on the rest of the ship (Abt 502 Buff + Flesh), this should visually tie the guns to the rest of the ship too.



After that dried, I drybrushed the barrels with almost black oil paint (black + a little Raw Umber).
This serves to restore the dark colour to the raised detail and larger surfaces, tidying up the barrels.




I forgot to take photo�s after that step , so you see the next step too in the photo�s above: shading of the carriages. I painted dark shadows to them with the same oil colours as the rest of the ships: Raw Umber + a little Black.

And finally, I highlighted the carriages, by painting lighter versions of the base-colours on the top edges.
I only did this to the guns that will be fully visible in the waist of the upper deck or on the quarter deck and forecastle. It would be time waisted on the guns below decks�



This effect is never very visible on photographs, but when seen in the flesh it adds this last bit of extra depth and sparkle that I always like very much.


And a couple of photos with my trusted lucifer.
The two smallest types of guns together: British short 12 pounder and French 8 pounder:


And the French 32 lb and British 64 lb carronades:


The hard part of this exercise was the sheer quantity of guns:


Every minute spent on each gun has to be multiplied by 180, so every minute becomes 3 hours just like that!

[Dan K]

The van gils foundry tour. Highly recommended!

[johndon]

Outstanding work...

[SG1]

! A M A Z I N G !

[wefalck]

Indeed