I have been making a lot of parts . . . mast columns, mast platform, brackets and frame girders.
Among the material Renaud supplied me with, is a drawing (image 075) of the lower platform on the forward mast. One can see the measurements are there in millimeters. I can convert those to feet and that gives me the exact measurements for this assembly. The size and design of the support brackets on the underside can be extracted from this drawing as well.
The davits (image 072) are a combination of paper and card. The mast sections are paper. The mast house is paper and card. The girders are card. The Passerelle (upper deck) is card. The support brackets between the masts and Passerelle are laminated paper to provide details on both sides.
Construction of the Passerelle and the elements inside pose some challenges. I studied Golden Bear’s construction of Magenta for some ideas. That is the closest thing to Neptune, so it provided some insight. He created a jig around which to build the Paserrelle, its walls and the interior boat storage frames. I admire his method. But I took a different approach. I decided to build the Passerelle, its frame and all the elements inside of it, before installing the walls.
What the French architects call a “Passerelle”, is normally referred to as a shelter deck, on American vessels. Shelter decks are normally single story structures whereas this Passerelle is between two and three stories in height.
As a result of the test fit in the final image, I can see the girders near the midship barbettes will be in the way. So those will need to be modified.
The caption with the historical photo stated “Brest 1893”. But I think that is not correct.
Kind Regards,
Mike
