Check out the drawings here. Particularly the ones attached to post #8. The first one there will give you accurate cross sections all along the ship. The cross sections are spaced 1 foot apart. The drawing is slightly distorted, but could easily be corrected with about an hour’s work in Photoshop or GIMP.
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3401-sovereign-od-seas-help-with/
Thanks, Gumboots. That will definitely come in handy.
A very ambitious project you’re taking on there. It looks like you’re off to a good start.
You have a bit on a kink in the lines here:
The width of the sternpost should match the width of the keel here.
The beakhead (which is what they called it) was made out of separate bits added on to the hull. It’s not all one moulded shape.
Check this to get an idea of the construction:
Thanks for the pointers…
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That kink will be dealt with when I get down to smaller details. The line you see is actually the edge of an open railing that I have to detail. I’ll probably just replace it and the other railings with separate meshes.
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I have that sort of fixed now. I left out the actual sternpost at that point in the model, since it extends out as a separate piece where the planking comes together. My keel is way to narrow as well.
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Understood already. I went with a single mesh more out of convenience than anything else. That picture you posted is a big help! Now I have a very good image of that area to go by. Do you have any more?
Well that was just the 6th pic that turned up when I searched for “Sovereign of the Seas plans”. I’m lazy too, y’know. 
Anyway, turns out it came from this page: http://i-am-modelist.com/2012/01/09/sovereign-of-the-seas-1637/
The good bit is the “You can view full report” at the bottom of that page. That links to a 63 page build thread for that model. The thread contains insane amounts of detail, with lots of pix. The thread is all in Czech, but you can run stuff through Google anyway if you need a rough translation. Go for it.
Edit: This post has some good detail for the beakhead - http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=43575&start=285#p994427
Thanks again! I wasn’t being lazy… it’s just that the pic you posted had exceptional close-up detail, compared to most that I can find.
http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=43575
what was the distance for the main cross section frame on that boat
seem to be several feet !
thanks
happy cl
From bow to stern? It was 127 ft.
I didn’t measure the width… just eyed it. This isn’t anything more than for practice at modelling, so I’m not that concerned with precision,. The side view is the only part that is accurate to the blueprint I posted.
Different drawings and images of models that I’ve looked at all have slight differences in how the hull is shaped.
I don’t know what to do about the ship rigging (not Blender rigging), since I’m already over-taxing my computer resources at level 4 subsurf (1,889,500 verts).
You have the bow chopped off in that picture. Take a look at the series of pix attached to this post to see how the bow was constructed.
Edit: Missing one canon port on the lowest level too.
in general you don’t work at more then sub level 2
otherwise you gone slow down bl in viewport a lot
if you need more verts then add it to the base mesh.
happy bl
Gumboots - The design of my bow is still bothering me, so I hide it for now. :no: I have some good images of how it should look, and I can’t decide how to deal with it. I didn’t see that one cannon port you pointed out, at the start of the bow. I also noticed I missed a few that point over the decks. I’ll put them in tonight.
I’ve saved copies of all the pics you linked me to. Thanks!
RickyBlender - I’ve been working between levels 0 - 3, depending on what I’m doing. I just put it on 4 to test how far I’m pushing it with computer resources and poly count.
This is my first time using subsurf,. and I can’t seem to get well-defined edges for detailed areas unless I set the level to 3 or 4 (or 0). I’ve been using the Crease function for most of that, which allows me to reduce the level to 2 or 3.
is there a better way to get sharp edges than using Crease? I don’t see many people using it. I see them using Bevel ,but that adds more verts.
For sharp edges, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBkwodrQq_4 Nice work so far, you inspired me to make a wooden sailship myself
Thanks for the link. It will help me.
I’m glad that others are being inspired to model ships. I was inspired by @philosopher, who is doing the same. I’m not competitive, but I think we can learn from each other this way. Make sure you post your WIP in this forum so I’ll see it!