Hubac's Historian

Here is the last of the frieze legend:
 

 
Each of these elements will be scaled down to about a quarter of the size shown here, and placed upon the lattice frieze of the upper bulwarks.  The fleur-de-lis will be scaled, also, for the lower and middle deck gunport lids.  The shell is a great example of something that is almost easier to draw with the tools, as it will have more of the undulating surface of a clam shell, than the hard crease that is drawn here.  I suppose I should change the edge detail of the shell to reflect that.
 
Anyway, that is pretty much it, as far as the stern drawing is concerned.  Next, it's onto the bow, which should not be nearly as involved because it shares most of the same repeating elements as the stern drawing.
 
Then, it's digitization time.
 
Then, it's build time.

Here is the last of the frieze legend:
 

 
Each of these elements will be scaled down to about a quarter of the size shown here, and placed upon the lattice frieze of the upper bulwarks.  The fleur-de-lis will be scaled, also, for the lower and middle deck gunport lids.  The shell is a great example of something that is almost easier to draw with the tools, as it will have more of the undulating surface of a clam shell, than the hard crease that is drawn here.  I suppose I should change the edge detail of the shell to reflect that.
 
Anyway, that is pretty much it, as far as the stern drawing is concerned.  Next, it's onto the bow, which should not be nearly as involved because it shares most of the same repeating elements as the stern drawing.
 
Then, it's digitization time.
 
Then, it's build time.

I'd be curious to see if I could find these plans, myself, Richard. I'll have to check out the Lahoche website.

I'd be curious to see if I could find these plans, myself, Richard. I'll have to check out the Lahoche website.

Hello Richard! Thank you for the reference. Until your post, I knew nothing about who made this model, but I am familiar with it and find it to be one of the more complete models of SR.
 
I particularly like the head rails on this model.
 
Thank you for your encouragement. I expect this to be a long journey, but I am enjoying myself, immensely, so far.

These are the pictures of the Tusset model I was referring to earlier:
 


 
The reduced sheer, the relatively broad beam, the placement of the channels, the vertical timbers in the waist, and the arrangement of the quarter galleries are all things that I envision for my build.  This is what I was referring to, in an earlier post, when I was describing an open walkable tier in the middle quarter galleries.  Although, as I mentioned in that post, I do not believe that the open gallery, on this middle tier, wraps to the stern on SR, as it does for Mr. Tusset's model.
 
I would love to know what is happening with this model and whether Mr. Tusset and Mr. Lemineur are indeed in the process of producing a monograph of it's construction.  Has anyone else out there seen this model before?
 
If you drag your cursor, so that Mr. Tusset's waterline sits on the horizon of your monitor, so to speak, this is very nearly the impression that my modified SR waterline model with make.  This is the presence I am after.

Welcome aboard, one and all. This is a virtual space, so there's plenty of room for popcorn carts, drinks trays, dune-buggies and even llamas ...
 
At this point, commencement is still a couple of weeks away as I need to finish the boats of my USS Constitution prior to starting this build. The “furniture” for these is all that remains to be done.
Before I begin in earnest, some ideas I’d like to share for this build:
For the first time, I will have tree-nails !! I have never done these before but, especially at this scale (1/16), firmly believe they will add life to my launch. This is one of the skills which I feel I will later need, not only when laying Connie’s decking, but perhaps even when doing the bolts inside her bulwarks.
I will have bench thwart knees !! Another of the skills which I must learn is small-scale metal-working. Silver-soldering and realistic blackening of metal is completely new to me.  A read-thru of some of the other Bounty Launch builds has provided a few inspirations … 
Amfibius, I am most definitely in favour of the natural wood look. Assuming I can pull it off as well as you have, then that will be on my agenda.  However, I’m planning on fully-planked.
 
UTS – I sooooo need a line-serving contraption like yours (drool) !!
 
Rat Fink – Your historical approach was immensely informative. I will need to give serious thought to issues such as:  how the masts will be positioned; bow-sprit or no bow-sprit; how to do the breasthook; and stern quarter-knees.
And your tool-chest !! You and your storm-trooper are masters of detail. I salute the pair of you.
Oh, and I’m getting me a laser-level !!! That thing looks awesome.

Hello Marc.Maybe once  I'll build a S.O model myself  I am in possession of plan drawings made by S.T.A.B of Paris Scale 1:88, just like Guido Vallone's model. I don't know if they are right but I could make a model of Vallone's model. Perhaps this drawings can be obtained second hand somewhere as I cannot find them on the website of S.T.A.B anymoreRegards, Richard

Hello Richard! Thank you for the reference. Until your post, I knew nothing about who made this model, but I am familiar with it and find it to be one of the more complete models of SR.
 
I particularly like the head rails on this model.
 
Thank you for your encouragement. I expect this to be a long journey, but I am enjoying myself, immensely, so far.

Okay, Ofencer.  I'm going to give the Musee a few weeks to respond.  They'd be doing me a huge solid if they were able to give insight into any of my questions.  My hope was that Mr. Saunier would be able to help fill in the blanks, or refute/confirm whatever it is that I might learn from the museum.
 
Earlier tonight, I was Google Translating Michel's back and forth on another modeling site, Forumpro.FR.  There are five pages of the log, in which he discusses a bit of what is known about SR's early history and the refit, and the relative tangle of information that surrounds her, which is certainly daunting to anyone who attempts a serious effort at modeling her.  I haven't finished reading it yet, and of course, the translation is not nearly perfect, but good enough to get a strong sense of his thinking.
 
To be quite honest with you, I would like to address Mr. Saunier in French, but I know that my skills in your native tongue are too rudimentary to sound like anything more than "where is the bathroom?"  Do you think he will be open to speaking with me in English?

Okay, Ofencer.  I'm going to give the Musee a few weeks to respond.  They'd be doing me a huge solid if they were able to give insight into any of my questions.  My hope was that Mr. Saunier would be able to help fill in the blanks, or refute/confirm whatever it is that I might learn from the museum.
 
Earlier tonight, I was Google Translating Michel's back and forth on another modeling site, Forumpro.FR.  There are five pages of the log, in which he discusses a bit of what is known about SR's early history and the refit, and the relative tangle of information that surrounds her, which is certainly daunting to anyone who attempts a serious effort at modeling her.  I haven't finished reading it yet, and of course, the translation is not nearly perfect, but good enough to get a strong sense of his thinking.
 
To be quite honest with you, I would like to address Mr. Saunier in French, but I know that my skills in your native tongue are too rudimentary to sound like anything more than "where is the bathroom?"  Do you think he will be open to speaking with me in English?

I would very much like to speak with Mr. Saunier. Before I contact him, though, I would like to hear what the Musee in Paris has to say in response to my inquiry. I'm sure their response will generate additional questions that I could then ask Mr. Saunier about. If I reference you as the link between us, shall I say that "Ofencer" suggested I contact him, or do you have a different screen name on the Modelisme site?

So far, my attempts to inquire through Ancre's website, as to whether this proposed monographie might soon be available for purchase, have gone un-answered. I will try to post these pictures here:
 
At the moment, I am unable to do that. I will see, later, if I can upload them from my Pinterest page, where I have copies of them.
 
The model really is fascinating and confirms a number of things that I am trying to do with this build. It would be incredible to have legitimate scholarship backing a monographie, complete with a sound hull form for this early time in French naval architecture. More later.
 
Thank you, again, for your interest, your likes and thoughts.

Hi Ofencer! Yes, you are absolutely right that there are no absolutes when it comes to modeling the first SR. All we can do is build upon the work that is out there and draw upon the existing 17th C. ship portraits of SR's contemporaries that we know to be reliable. Only then, can we hope to arrive at some semblance of truth, but we'll never know her true appearance completely. That is, not until the Van de Velde grissaille of her emerges from behind someone's aweful paint-by-the numbers picture of whatever - where it has been hiding and long forgotten since the days of Hitler's art pillaging of Europe. I like to imagine that if that drawing exists, it is in a scenario like this where, one day, someone's wife asks their husband "can we please throw away that terrible picture!?" And only then, when the poor belleagured husband takes it from the wall where it has sat, undisturbed for the past 80 some years does he realise that there is something far more interesting on the other side.
 
It's a nice fantasy. I will say, however that I got really excited, earlier this year when I stumbled upon an inage search that included pictures from NAVEXPO 2012. I will try to post these pictures from my phone, but I probably won't succeed.
 
What I found was a large model of a 90-gun ship from the second marine of Louis XIV. The model was complete to the upper bulwarks, with the lower masts stepped. It is the work of a man named Jose Tusset, who it appears, is making this model in collaboration with Mr. Lemineur, who is assembling a monographie of the vessel. Let me post this much.

These are the pictures of the Tusset model I was referring to earlier:
 


 
The reduced sheer, the relatively broad beam, the placement of the channels, the vertical timbers in the waist, and the arrangement of the quarter galleries are all things that I envision for my build.  This is what I was referring to, in an earlier post, when I was describing an open walkable tier in the middle quarter galleries.  Although, as I mentioned in that post, I do not believe that the open gallery, on this middle tier, wraps to the stern on SR, as it does for Mr. Tusset's model.
 
I would love to know what is happening with this model and whether Mr. Tusset and Mr. Lemineur are indeed in the process of producing a monograph of it's construction.  Has anyone else out there seen this model before?
 
If you drag your cursor, so that Mr. Tusset's waterline sits on the horizon of your monitor, so to speak, this is very nearly the impression that my modified SR waterline model with make.  This is the presence I am after.

i never seen this picture before but amarsenal is a belgium forum...
if you ask for michel on modelisme naval bois or  marine et modelisme d'arsenal you can say that i suggest to contact himi'm moderator on the first.

These are the pictures of the Tusset model I was referring to earlier:
 


 
The reduced sheer, the relatively broad beam, the placement of the channels, the vertical timbers in the waist, and the arrangement of the quarter galleries are all things that I envision for my build.  This is what I was referring to, in an earlier post, when I was describing an open walkable tier in the middle quarter galleries.  Although, as I mentioned in that post, I do not believe that the open gallery, on this middle tier, wraps to the stern on SR, as it does for Mr. Tusset's model.
 
I would love to know what is happening with this model and whether Mr. Tusset and Mr. Lemineur are indeed in the process of producing a monograph of it's construction.  Has anyone else out there seen this model before?
 
If you drag your cursor, so that Mr. Tusset's waterline sits on the horizon of your monitor, so to speak, this is very nearly the impression that my modified SR waterline model with make.  This is the presence I am after.

Hi Ofencer! Yes, you are absolutely right that there are no absolutes when it comes to modeling the first SR. All we can do is build upon the work that is out there and draw upon the existing 17th C. ship portraits of SR's contemporaries that we know to be reliable. Only then, can we hope to arrive at some semblance of truth, but we'll never know her true appearance completely. That is, not until the Van de Velde grissaille of her emerges from behind someone's aweful paint-by-the numbers picture of whatever - where it has been hiding and long forgotten since the days of Hitler's art pillaging of Europe. I like to imagine that if that drawing exists, it is in a scenario like this where, one day, someone's wife asks their husband "can we please throw away that terrible picture!?" And only then, when the poor belleagured husband takes it from the wall where it has sat, undisturbed for the past 80 some years does he realise that there is something far more interesting on the other side.
 
It's a nice fantasy. I will say, however that I got really excited, earlier this year when I stumbled upon an inage search that included pictures from NAVEXPO 2012. I will try to post these pictures from my phone, but I probably won't succeed.
 
What I found was a large model of a 90-gun ship from the second marine of Louis XIV. The model was complete to the upper bulwarks, with the lower masts stepped. It is the work of a man named Jose Tusset, who it appears, is making this model in collaboration with Mr. Lemineur, who is assembling a monographie of the vessel. Let me post this much.

I did a little bit of drawing for my "frieze legend" tonight, but I spent most of the evening cozying up with a tumbler(s) of Powers and reading through Druxey's build log for his Greenwich Hospital Barge.  I was relatively sober, at the start, but thoroughly intoxicated with the achievement of his build, by the end.  Also, Powers is named that for a reason!
 
What struck me so much, aside from Druxey's master skill and intuitive feel for the correctness of these boat shaped things, was his graciousness towards all who come to visit his build log.
 
I understand that, at first glance, anything with "Heller's SR" in the title might provoke eye-rolls among some modelers, and I can appreciate why.  That is why I really appreciate all of you who have come to visit my log, and who are taking an interest in what I am doing.  It is often said that no one attains a level of achievement without the help and guidance of others.  Thank you all, for your advice and encouragement!  Your collective talent and achievement are providing me with  ideas and inspiration every day.
 
All the best,
 
Marc

I hear what you're saying about the full scratch-build Druxey. I do.

From my perspective, though, that seems like infinitely more work just to produce a hull form.

Let's assume, for a moment, that it's still a waterline build, but that I'm going to do the least involved hull construction: bread and butter lifts.

I first have to come up with a suitable lines plan because, currently, nothing verifiable exists for French naval architecture, circa 1669. Let's say I adapt the lines for L'Ambiteaux. I still have to configure the guns, which likely means lengthening the hull in the waist. I would, then, have to draft a full set of plans. Finally, it's a whole lot of wasting, shaping and fairing before I can even think about mortising for the ports and planking and setting the main wale.
Lastly, I would have to re-create all of the ornamentation.

What I'm proposing involves a certain amount of hull modification, however - even accounting for the fact that I've never attempted anything like what I've laid forth here - it is still a lot less work because I'm starting with 99% of the hull shell, right away. Ports all located. The largest carvings - good, as is; head rails, figurehead - all perfectly useable.

Also, this is a sort of mock-up for my concept, so that I can do a fully designed scratch-build in wood. When your framing, in wood, is wrong - backtracking is significantly more laborious. If I don't like what's happening in styrene, i can just cut it out and try something different. The process is literally more malleable.

Your sentiment, though, is one that any reasonable person must consider.

Druxey, I am just so awed by what you have accomplished with this build.  There really isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said more succinctly.  But, I'ma go ahead and try...
 
First of all, your presentation of a build-log was really so informative to me, who is new to the site.  You are un-failingly gracious and your log structure, for any given entry, is so perfectly focused on illustrating the particular challenges, solutions, mis-steps, and course-corrections that such a challenging build necessitates.  Your writing, also, is excellent!
 
The choice of subject was such a pure distillation of what attracts most people to wooden boats, in the first place.  Absolutely engrossing.
 
Your execution is really remarkable - even, I'm sure, under the closest scrutiny and the highest resolutions.  Thank you for teaching me so much!

Druxey, I am just so awed by what you have accomplished with this build.  There really isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said more succinctly.  But, I'ma go ahead and try...
 
First of all, your presentation of a build-log was really so informative to me, who is new to the site.  You are un-failingly gracious and your log structure, for any given entry, is so perfectly focused on illustrating the particular challenges, solutions, mis-steps, and course-corrections that such a challenging build necessitates.  Your writing, also, is excellent!
 
The choice of subject was such a pure distillation of what attracts most people to wooden boats, in the first place.  Absolutely engrossing.
 
Your execution is really remarkable - even, I'm sure, under the closest scrutiny and the highest resolutions.  Thank you for teaching me so much!

I did a little bit of drawing for my "frieze legend" tonight, but I spent most of the evening cozying up with a tumbler(s) of Powers and reading through Druxey's build log for his Greenwich Hospital Barge.  I was relatively sober, at the start, but thoroughly intoxicated with the achievement of his build, by the end.  Also, Powers is named that for a reason!
 
What struck me so much, aside from Druxey's master skill and intuitive feel for the correctness of these boat shaped things, was his graciousness towards all who come to visit his build log.
 
I understand that, at first glance, anything with "Heller's SR" in the title might provoke eye-rolls among some modelers, and I can appreciate why.  That is why I really appreciate all of you who have come to visit my log, and who are taking an interest in what I am doing.  It is often said that no one attains a level of achievement without the help and guidance of others.  Thank you all, for your advice and encouragement!  Your collective talent and achievement are providing me with  ideas and inspiration every day.
 
All the best,
 
Marc

Druxey, I am just so awed by what you have accomplished with this build.  There really isn't anything I can say that hasn't already been said more succinctly.  But, I'ma go ahead and try...
 
First of all, your presentation of a build-log was really so informative to me, who is new to the site.  You are un-failingly gracious and your log structure, for any given entry, is so perfectly focused on illustrating the particular challenges, solutions, mis-steps, and course-corrections that such a challenging build necessitates.  Your writing, also, is excellent!
 
The choice of subject was such a pure distillation of what attracts most people to wooden boats, in the first place.  Absolutely engrossing.
 
Your execution is really remarkable - even, I'm sure, under the closest scrutiny and the highest resolutions.  Thank you for teaching me so much!

Hello, Model Ship World!  My name is Marc and I hail from NYC.  While I am new to the site, I am not a novice to the hobby.  Owing to the early growth of my two children, and the development of my career in woodworking, it has been some time since I built a ship model.  About sixteen years, in fact!
 
Most of my hobby time, in the evenings, has been devoted to a series of woodworking and furniture projects, which fall under the umbrella of something I refer to as the Heirloom Furniture Project - a legacy project for my kids to inherit sometime far down the road, I hope!  Despite my interest in that, and my role as an active and involved Dad, I never stopped reading and acquiring books about my particular interest in ships and ship modeling: the 17th C. ship-of-the-line, and particularly French naval architecture of that period.
 
My recent discovery of Pinterest has really accelerated my understanding of the unique design differences in the stern architecture of the French first and second rates.  For anyone who's curious, my Pinterest page titled French Vaisseaus can be found under my member name Tafferal.  The imagery I have been able to compile, there, has made it possible for me to begin designing a build that I have long been grappling with.  Here's the link:
 
https://www.pinterest.com/tafferal/french-vaisseaus/
 
This will not be a fully-framed scratch build, but rather an extensive modification of Heller's Soleil Royal.  I plan to test out my "Theory of the Ship," in plastic, so that I might re-create the ship, in wood, with all the scratch-built bells and whistles, when I eventually retire.  This will be my second build of the Heller kit.
 
The first was begun at the age of eight; very cautiously, I proceeded to the main deck level where I stopped the build, understandably, until I had developed enough skill to competently complete the upper works.  As a teenager, I completed everything up to the masting and rigging.  After college, I finally finished the model and had a very nice case made to house it.  I have been transporting it from apartment to apartment for the past twenty years.
 
It is, in my opinion, a very carefully fit and assembled model (no injection marks, gaps or flash lines) that is impeccably painted.  It is not, however, a realistic depiction of the ship, or of a sailing ship, in general.  That notwithstanding, I, like many others before me have become completely captivated by the conjectural splendor of what the actual vessel must have been like.
 
The short-comings of the Heller kit have been thoroughly documented on a number of forums.  I'm assuming that most who come to read this thread are already well acquainted with the inherent omissions and short-comings of the plastic kit.  Unlike so many others, though, I believe that there lies within the kit, great potential to build an accurate scale model of a French first-rate ship from the 1660s.
 
Now, it bears mentioning that I have read the forum moderator's post on overly ambitious build threads,  and I can certainly appreciate and agree with the thinking, there.  This is going to be an ambitious build!  I expect it to go on for quite a number of years.  This is not, however, a passing fancy.  I am a devotee of incremental progress:  whatever little can be accomplished, most evenings of the week, gradually adds up to a thing taking shape.
 
My main obstacle, until now, had been the difficulty in fully visualizing what I believe the original intent of Jean Berain's well known drafts of the SR's stern and quarter galleries to be.
 


 
I will expound on my theory of the ship in a moment, however, I'd like to say a word or two about why this project has legs for me.
 
The kit I am using for this build is one of the early pressings from the 70's, by Heller.  It, initially, belonged to my next door neighbor who was a kind of mentor to me when I was young.  Mark Hansen was an outstanding modeler of all kinds of military craft, but he especially loved the sailing ships.  He gave me a pretty solid foundation on what was and was not appropriate to incorporate on a sailing ship model.
 
It was his SR that I first spied on the top shelf of his hobby room.  I was instantly captivated, and from that point forward perennially obsessed with this single vessel, in a way that I still don't fully comprehend.  Mark helped me build my first SR.  He intended to tackle the kit in his retirement, but he never made it.  Cancer took him in his late 50s.  I have never known a person to be more generous with his time, and his memory remains dear.  I'm dedicating this build to him, as it is quite possible I would never have found fulfillment in the trades, if not for his influence.
 
MY THEORY OF THE SHIP
 
Soleil Royal's keel was laid down at Brest shipyards in 1666, as part of Minister to the Navy, Colbert's, aggressive reconstruction and restructuring of Louis XIV's navy.  She was launched in 1668, and completed a year later in 1669.  Her length on deck is listed as 164.5 antiquated French pieds, with a breadth of 44.5 FP.  Using a conversion factor of 1.066, this translates to 175 modern, English feet by 47' 5" in breadth, at the main beam.  She displaced 2,400 tons, and her draft measured 23.5 FP, or 25 EF.
 
As a side note, I must mention that I am in the process of establishing a point person at the Musee de la Marine, so that I might ask specific questions about my source material.  So far, I have not received any reply to my inquiries.  For the moment, though, I'm assuming that these L.O.D. dimensions I am giving are, indeed, the L.O.D., and not some other specific measurement.  This will, for the sake of scholarship and my future build in wood, be clarified.  However, for the purpose of this build, it doesn't really matter;  the kit hull halves are what they are, and in fact, the kit L.O.D. pretty exactly corresponds with 175 EF.  In the end, though, the requirements of this particular build will necessitate a certain degree of fudgery to create the impression I am after.  There will be small additions and subtractions - all to be explained in the next few posts.
 
Her designer and builder was Laurent Hubac, and her initial armament is listed as 120 guns.  As a shipwright, Monsieur Hubac was noted for building warships that were considerably wider than those of his contemporaries.  This owed to his belief that the added width improved the handling characteristics of these large ships.  Soleil Royal was, indeed, said to he a good sailing ship. 
 
One year earlier, another ship by M. Hubac was launched at Brest, and initially christened Le Royal Duc.  With the establishment of the French rating system, in 1671, the ship was re-named La Reyne.  Her listed dimensions are as follows:  L.O.D., 155 FP, by 42 FP on the main beam.  Using the above metric, this translates to a L.O.D. of 165' 3" in English feet and a maximum beam of a hair under 44' 9".  She displaced 2,000 tons and her draft is listed as 22' 10" FP, or 24' 4" EF.  Her initial armament was listed as 104 guns.
 
The two ships are of a similar size, displacement and rating.  However, unlike SR, there exist two highly detailed Van De Velde portraits of La Reyne, showing her from the starboard stern quarter, as well as, the port bow, broadside.  It is immediately apparent that the design of La Reyne's stern and quarter galleries is markedly different from SR.  Also, as is to be expected, the arrangement of her gunports is significantly different from what is known about SR, and the arrangement of her guns.
 


 
The value of these Van De Velde portraits, for me, has to do with the wealth of hull detail that is apparent (and glaringly omitted in the Heller, and vis-a-vis, the incomplete Tanneron model upon which it is directly based), as well as the ship's sheer line and presence on the water.  In pen and wash, one can see a significantly more stout vessel, in La Reyne, with a notably lower sheer line, as compared to Tanneron's interpretation of Berain's designs for SR.
 
As a side note, there is a Belgian on another site who has outlined his build plans for converting Heller's SR into La Reyne of 1671.  What he is proposing is absolutely attainable, as the VDV drawings are remarkably clear, especially when combined with another period drawing of La Reyne's stern that shows the ornament for what it is - if not, remotely, to scale.  Like me, this gentleman sees the potential in Heller's kit for a sound scale model, although his build will necessitate re-configuring the armament.  As am I, he is still in the research stage, but I will be following his build and posting links, as appropriate.
 
I want to say, from the outset, that the question of SR's armament - whether 120 guns upon launching, or 104 at the time of her demise - is not one that I plan to resolve with this build.  I will be using the moulded kit hull halves and upper bulwarks.  I will be making extensive modifications to those parts, and completely scratch-building the entire stern and beakhead bulkhead.  Heller's kit, like Tanneron's model, is pierced for 110 guns.  I suppose I could omit the two lower bow chase ports, but that would only bring me down to 108.  Leaving them out would be a largely arbitrary decision without any clear basis in fact.  In the end, my ship will carry 110 guns.
 
There are just certain constraints of working with the pre-established port locations of the plastic hull that I am not willing to overcome.  This is the first and most glaring.  I am recycling what I can of the kit because the essential lines of the hull and tumblehome are fairly representative of period practice, and of course, it is an enormous time saver to avoid the complete scratch-building of a hull.
 
Ultimately, what I am aiming to achieve, is what I believe to be the correct interpretation of Berain's stern and quarter galleries, as well as the decorative frieze of the upper bulwarks.  In the course of the build, I will also add correct period detail - correctly scaled - to the hull, head, decks and guns, while completely re-masting and rigging the ship, according to the guidance of Lees and Anderson.
 
A few gunports, give or take, will not detract from the impression of a ship that sits slightly lower in the water, on a notably broader beam, with noticeably lower sheer;  in other words, a ship that won't capsize from the recoil of her own broadside.  My ship model will bear a resemblance to the Heller kit, but I hope to far exceed it in ornamental magnificence and correct period detail.
 
What I'm going for is essentially this:
 

 
This is a work from a twentieth century artist, I believe from the 1950's, who must have been similarly infatuated with SR.  I believe that he correctly depicts the configuration of SR's stern.  Although, I must say that even if it were the case that she were almost completely painted blue above the lower, main wales - I will not be depicting her, as such.  More on that later.
 
In future posts, I will outline what exactly my theory of the ship entails, as well as, my supporting documentary evidence.  I will then discuss exactly what I intend to do with the Heller kit, in order to bring all of this about, and then I will share with you the drawings that I have been working on, that will serve as the basis of my modification plan.  I've been corresponding with Dan Pariser quite a bit lately, and he has prevailed upon me that I would be much better served digitizing my hand-drawn images so that I could more easily develop them in Corel Draw, for example.  He is right, and I will.  After not hearing from me for such a long time, I have to credit Dan for being so generous with his knowledge and resources.  He and Mark Hansen are two of a kind!
 
So, I must first create a scale "field" - as opposed to a line and body plan (not necessary because I'm not framing) - upon which I can layer all of the new detail.  There will be some learning there, naturally, but I will share what I've arrived at, so far, in future posts.
 
Thank you all for taking an interest in this thread and I look forward to hearing whatever you might have to say on the subject.  I have also read the moderator's post on forum etiquette, when commenting on a thread or post;  I am not nearly as brittle as the plastic I will be working with, so please don't labor too much in your replies.  Just tell me what's on your mind.
 
All the best,
 
Marc