Building a Ship of the Line

[Franco Clarke]

Having tried my hand at numerous frigates and smaller ships, I decided it was high time to begin work on something a touch larger. To this end, here is the first steps of the construction of a ship of the line. I started at the bottom, quickly mocking up the design up to the bottom of the first gun deck and the start of the tumblehome, figuring out where the hull would step in and out to create a pleasing ship shape. 

Here's some overviews of the lower hull at this point, got a large expanse of deck space for lots of big guns, just a ship of the line should.

Having learnt from taking models to shows in the past, I wanted this to be modular, which allows a closer look at the bow section.

At the stern there's a rudder post and the beginnings of the ports for the four chasers.

The next step was to map out where the gun ports would go. I wanted to avoid having ports on the joints between the sections, so planning this out was a helpful step to reduce rebuilds later on. I also positioned the mast stumps too for the same reason.

The net result of this was that it is actually 1 gunport too short for the plan, and the grating would need to move. This will require a lengthening of 6 studs, which will be the next step. I'm planning to periodically post updates as the ship grows, with an aim to launch her before the end of the year.

[NOD]

This is a very interesting construction project. It's good that there is already a sailor on the gun deck to get a better impression of the dimensions. I really like the ship's bow, the most difficult part so far. I enjoy following the periodically post updates.

If possible, I would like to see a photo of the underside of the ship. I am very interested in how the ship's hull, which runs upwards and outwards, was attached and stabilized.