The Ship Model Forum

The lower connections of each level are in the kit, I just drilled them out and made them stronger. The upper ones are simply 1mm evergreen strip.

Over the past week I have mainly been playing with water.
I cut out some watercolor paper and glued it to the base. Unlike some others here on this board I chose to not seal the watercolor paper with glue at first but I put basic (department store) blue acrylic paint on it in two layers. The paper would start deforming and forming blisters as a result and by selectively glueing some of the paper back to the base I could get the wave pattern I want to see here. Once everything was thoroughly dry (48hrs) I added a top layer of acrylic gel and screwed Victorieuse on its base. Next step: boats and fittings.

Its been a busy month but not at the workbench. I did manage to get myself in trouble though.
When I had place the masts and started measuring out the rigging I found out that the foremast ratlines, the anchors and the forward secondary guns would interfere with each other. After looking through my pictures I found that the guns were some 5mm too far forward and that the anchors would fit into a large cutout rather than be secured to the bulwarks. Lots of cutting and rebuilding gave me this. While I was staring at pictures I also found that Victorieuse had a smaller bridge when she was just commissioned. And I decided to rebuild the main guns again to an open, not shielded, configuration. And that is where I am now. The photo etch is now at the paint shop getting primed and made a picture with her half sister Bayard which will be in a late configuration with cut down masts if I ever finish her.