Hubac's Historian
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Old Collingwood reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Soleil Royal by EJ_L - Sergal - Scale 1:77 - 1669 Version
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Soleil Royal by EJ_L - Sergal - Scale 1:77 - 1669 Version
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Wow - EJ - your standing rigging really looks amazing, and appropriately scaled. All of that extra time is really paying off! -
Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Le Soleil Royal by EJ_L - Sergal - Scale 1:77 - 1669 Version
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
HMS Bellona 1760 by SJSoane - Scale 1:64 - English 74 gun, as designed
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
HMS Bellona 1760 by SJSoane - Scale 1:64 - English 74 gun, as designed
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Le Fleuron by juzek - 1:27
Hubac's Historian replied to juzek's topic in Build Logs for SCRATCH SHIP MODEL PROJECTS
Okay, so I just caught up through the first page, as well. This model is more impressive than I thought, at first glance. Jusek, you do a great deal of hand-work, without always relying on a mill for your joinery. You have tremendous skill and finesse with the tools! -
Le Fleuron by juzek - 1:27
Hubac's Historian replied to juzek's topic in Build Logs for SCRATCH SHIP MODEL PROJECTS
Well, this looks to be another fantastic Fleuron. I will happily follow along with what is becoming a very fair hull. Fantastic work, so far, Jusek! -
mtaylor reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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mtaylor reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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mtaylor reacted to a post in a topic:
CSS Alabama by Jonathan11 - Revell - 1/96 scale - kit bash 90% historical accuracy
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Old Collingwood reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Old Collingwood reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Old Collingwood reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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You are probably right about that, David. I am going to have to pattern the QG windows, anyway, so it will be better if these lower windows match, as they wrap from stern to quarter. We shall see - I’ll do some preliminary experiments, when the time comes, and I’ll see where to go from there.
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Thank you to everyone for your likes and comments, and thank you MD! Yes, EJ, the process of making and fitting bulkheads seemed okay, theoretically, but I was a little skeptical about how my planking would ultimately resolve into the plank rebate, along the hull sides. In the end, I will have to file the outer hull flush with the new transom planking and re-scribe the joints into the plank ends, but that’s a small price to pay. The next big litmus test for this build will be - as Druxey notes - planking the stern counter, which is a subtle reverse curve. And I will likely be modifying the profile of those false balcony extensions, once again, to match the profile I drew for the quarter galleries. It is that shape I drew, after all, that will be used to pattern the upper bulkhead formers that are spaced between the stern windows. After that, though, I get to see whether I can re-cycle the kit’s stern windows to make up the six-window span. At the moment, I have no fewer than three stern plates to cut from, thanks to Henry and Guy. That will give me enough spare stock to figure out how best to bend the windows to the round-up curvature. As Daffy has done with his Victory, I will also be thinning the window mullions down so that they don’t appear so heavy. Hopefully, if all goes well the new windows will look like this photo-copy cut and paste job: In truth, a part of me would prefer to make the lowest tier from scratch, in order to achieve a closer fidelity to the size and shape of what Berain drew. There is also the consideration that the windows of the QGs will all be made from scratch, and will be slightly different from Heller’s version. I’m not sure that bothers me enough to ignore the time-savings of recycling. The other variance with what was likely the reality of the ship would be the placement of the two stern balcony access doors on the middle and upper balcony. The following survey drawings were made of the ship’s actual interior, in 1688, while the re-build was well underway: Perhaps I can do a little surgical gymnastics to match this, or just bash the doors from scratch, into their proper locations. I just haven’t put any real thought into it yet.
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Johnathan, your Alabama looks amazing, and she’s really rounding into form. You’ve commented frequently that the masting and spars are extremely fragile. Is this particular kit a very old pressing? The plastic kit I’m working on is almost as old as I am - well over 40 years - but I have found the plastic to be as supple as if it were cast yesterday. I have the benefit of knowing where the kit has been, all that time though, and that it was properly stored. Funnily enough, I remember that my neighbor also had an un-built Alabama in his stash, but I think his oldest son took that one, after he died. His wife passed Soleil Royal on to me because she understood my obsession with the ship. Anyway, I have very much enjoyed your willingness to take it to the Nth degree, and the high quality results you are achieving are testament to your sense of craft and respect for historic accuracy. You give us plastic builders a good name! I can’t wait to see your work with the sails.
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
CSS Alabama by Jonathan11 - Revell - 1/96 scale - kit bash 90% historical accuracy
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Bismarck by Channell - Trumpeter 1/200
Hubac's Historian replied to channell's topic in Build Logs for SHIP MODEL KITS
Ya know? - just spectacular! I haven't read this log in detail, yet, but I will. Who doesn't love an awesome Bismarck? The decking is particularly good, but does not outshine any of the other excellent detail work. I will follow along with great interest. -
Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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I kind of like the imagery of your head on a seagull’s body, Vic. Please - just don’t bomb the ship!😂
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Hubac's Historian reacted to a post in a topic:
Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build
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Baby steps. Baaaby steps 😀
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Planking is FUN!!
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Hi EJ - thanks for weighing in! Yes, definitely, the camera exaggerates the degree of shine. I just use my iphone to take pictures, which are decent, but highly dependent upon whatever ambient light I have going.
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Thanks, EJ, and thank you, O.C! To answer your question: if I were actually representing bare wood, then, absolutely, I would flatten the sheen. When I get to them, the upper decks will have a flat finish. On French ships, though, the planking between the wales would have been painted as a means of protecting all of the iron fastenings. Although the distressed color I have arrived at is very wood-like, it is intended to represent “ventre-de-biche,” or belly of the doe. In reality, 17th Century paints would also probably have had a flat finish. When I made my sample work-up, I tried flattening the sheen, which was a little too burnished, after distressing with the oil paint and a chip brush. I didn’t like the result; the dull-coat seemed to rob the surface of all it’s depth and vitality. The matte spray medium that I ended up using is a sort of middle-ground between dead flat and a lustrous burnish. This is a preference that satisfies me, and the pictures don’t quite capture the effect accurately. It looks better, in person. I am still debating whether to flatten the finish of the wales. I may yet do that. What I wonder, though, is whether the “black stuff” would not have had an oily appearance, considering the ingredients that it was made up from. Anyway, a little more research, there, should help clarify that question. Please feel free to weigh-in, anyone, if you have a theory or an answer to that one. All the best, Marc
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Dan, you will be first with a complementary copy - signed first edition! Mike - thank you for the kind words. Personally, though, I would hesitate to place my project in the realm of any of the MSW superstars (Amalio, Mark Tiedens, Druxey, Chuck, Kudin, among many others); their research is much better grounded in historic fact, while much of what I’m doing is merely an educated guess. I certainly appreciate the compliment, though.
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Druxey and EJ - thank you very much! I suppose that if I hadn’t cut away the lower hull, there wouldn’t be as much necessity for custom framing. On the other hand, representing the closed-in, “false” lower stern balcony, as well as the stern round-up kind of necessitated it. In any case, I am having fun playing with the boundaries of what can be done with a plastic kit. I view this model as a great introduction to scratch-building. There have been numerous opportunities to develop new skills. At some point, I do plan to start printing out the build-log. There are specific blocks of research that would help make up the substance of my proposed book. Whenever I do get around to printing it, I’ll make you a copy, as long as you cover the costs for paper and postage. It is gratifying to me that you have found this information to be of use. The Gilded Ghost, on the other hand, would have very little to do with this model that I am making now. It would be a conjectural monograph that attempts to resurrect the early bones of Soleil Royal on the basis of her known dimensions, and what is understood about her better documented contemporaries - particularly Brest-built ships by Laurent Hubac. My operating theory is that early SR looked very similar, structurally, to the Monarque and the Royal Louis, but that the stern allegory would have largely resembled Berain’s designs, while the bulwark friezes would have been more specific to the profusion of heraldic ornament that is seen so clearly on the Monarque and the latter Dauphin Royal drawing. In my mind’s eye, what all of that would actually look like becomes clearer, by the day. Several people have already produced credible hull forms for first-rates, of this period. I would never be able to definitively say that this is what she looked like, but I believe I could make a plausible argument for my case. Anyway, locating that portrait would go a long way towards propelling that project forward. As always, thank you to everyone for your likes, comments and looking in!
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