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Nek0

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  1. Nek0
    Thank you for your appreciation of my work. I try to do my best. The pear wood is from "Arkowood", a shop based in Germany. The first order I received was great, but the second was a lot darker and "red", I don't know why... For the carvings, I use european boxwood. It has incomparable fine grain, is very hard and dulls the blades very quickly, but you can sculpt even the smallest details with it. Blakeny, as a good beginner I first bought a set of mini chisels, but but quickly realised that they were much too big for what I had to do. So I grinded some sewing needles, as shown below. Gaetan, I had never carved anything, but I always did some drawings. I suppose it really helped me with the proportions and the "artistic" sens. I think I have a quite good 3D vision too, all I have to do is to learn the job of a sculptor properly, and learn the style of the XVIIe century. My point is, you may never know exactly what the Soleil Royal looked like, the architectural point, while not "false", may not be historically perfectly accurate. So the only real (historical) interest in building this ship is to do great carvings that respect the Berain drawings and the style of this time. This is my goal. So I began using rotary tools (as for the sitting sailor), but I quickly felt I was more comfortable with chisels, that really have neat cuts and add more nerve to the work. Also the edges are more clean with chisels (because the figures are so small) and the renderring with light is better, in my humble opinion of course. And last but not least, with chisels I can carve the way a ornamentalist sculptor would do with the same steps and same moves. The better example is my second and third attempt to sculpt a figure: a mini admiral Tourville. The first mini Tourville was made entirely with rotary tools, while the second was made with chisels. I think the surface condition of the wood, the edges and the cuts are more neat on the second version. So, Yancovitch, I really thank you for your proposal but I think I will stuck to the chisels. Of course, I talk as if I were greatly experienced in carving which is not the case, I only try to exprim my little experience as good as I can in a language that I don't master very well, so I hope my answer seems not rude and my point of view is well understood. Anyway I take all the advices you would like to give me, and while I may accept or reject them in a first place, I always take them into consideration and may accept an advice I first rejected a few days, weeks, or even years later. I never forget an advice ! Thank you !
  2. Nek0
    Next to Cherbourg, at Tatihou, there is a museum that displys the artefacts of the wrecks of the battle of La Hougue. But the big section of planking of the SR you're talking about is not there, and no further indication about iron bolts and wooden treenails. Here is a link with a bunch of pictures of what is displayed in this museum. http://5500.forumactif.org/t2499-musee-tatihou
  3. Nek0
    "Lively works" or "oeuvres vives" in french, is the portion of the hull immersed in water. "Dead works" or "oeuvres mortes", is the portion of the hull above the sea.
  4. Nek0
    Concerning the XVIIe century, and the Soleil Royal (or La Reyne), we should apply only iron bolts and no wooden treenails. Jean Boudriot probably made a mistake showing wooden treenails for the hull of his Ambitieux. Here is a short text by Gérard Delacroix: Il y a en ce moment dans le forum plusieurs discussions relatives au nombre de clous ou de gournables par membre, clous et gournables destinés au maintien du bordage des coques.Il y a surtout un malentendu quant à la signification du mot "membre" ou à son interprétation qui est, semble-t-il, la clé du problème.Dans le V74, Jean Boudriot, s'appuyant sur les textes existants, indique 2 clous par membre ce qui n'est pas faux mais qui porte à confusion car, en cherchant bien, quelle valeur faut-il attribuer à "membre" ? La solution est donnée par Blaise Ollivier qui précise qu'un membre peut être un couple mais aussi et surtout un des éléments d'un couple et à partir de là, on comprend mieux pourquoi certains textes parlent de 2 clous par membre et d'autres de 4 clous par membre (les 4 clous pouvant être remplacés par 2 clous et 2 gournables). JB s'est peut-être fait piéger car après le V74, il est passé à 4 clous dans les monos suivantes.Pour ce qui est du nombre, pour ma part et suivant les textes et devis que j'ai pu consulter, je dirais 4 clous par couple dans les œuvres mortes. Pour les œuvres vives, au XVIIIe siècle, 2 clous et 2 gournables par couple, pour le XIXe 4 gournables toujours par couple bien sûr. Pour le XVIIe, vu les membrures discontinues, on applique 2 clous par membre (donc varangue, genou ou allonges) et sans gournables.Tout ceci pour la marine d'état. Pour le commerce, il n'est pas certain que l'on trouve les mêmes dispositions car les constructions sont moins imposantes et les pratiques des chantiers civils sont différentes. Idem pour la Compagnie des Indes Below is the google translate: There are currently several discussions in the forum concerning the number of nails or gournables per member, nails and gournables intended for the maintenance of the shelling of the hulls. Above all, there is a misunderstanding as to the meaning of the word "member" or its interpretation which is, it seems to be, the key to the problem. In V74, Jean Boudriot, relying on the existing texts, indicates 2 nails per member, which is not false but confusing because, looking well, what value should be attributed to "member"? The solution is given by Blaise Ollivier who specifies that a member can be a couple but also and especially one of the elements of a couple and from there, one understands better why certain texts speak of 2 nails per member and others 4 nails per member (the 4 nails can be replaced by 2 nails and 2 gournables). JB may have been trapped because after the V74, it passed to 4 nails in the following monos. As for the number, for my part and according to the texts and quotes that I have been able to consult, I would say 4 nails per couple in the dead works. For the lively works, in the eighteenth century, 2 nails and 2 gournables per couple, for the XIXth 4 always gournables per pair of course. For the seventeenth century, in view of the discontinuous frames, 2 nails per limb (ie varangue, knee or elongate) are applied and without gournables. All this for the state navy. For trade, it is not certain that one finds the same dispositions because the constructions are less imposing and the practices of the civil yards are different. The same goes for the Compagnie des Indes Note: "couple" = bulkhead, "member"= half, or piece of a bulkhead, "gournable"= wooden treenails, "nails"= iron bolts. I hope it is clear, it's not easy to speak english with such a specific vocabulary.
  5. Nek0
    The real challenge was making the first piece for the ship: the bow ornament. I made some mini carving tools by grinding sewing needles, and I'm rather happy with the result. At least I think it looks quite like the original drawing.
  6. Nek0
    Then, we arrive to the "carving problem".... I never sculpted anything, so I had to practice before I try to do the ship's ornaments. First, I made a sitting sailor for a friend. It is now displayed in his 74 gunship model. Oh, and I forgot to say, this Soleil Royal is 1/72 scale, so is this sitting sailor.
  7. Nek0
    Next, some rear section planking: at last some pear wood !!! And the building of the bow. The waterline is marked with an x acto knife, so the ink won't dribble when applied.
  8. Nek0
    Thanks !! Gaetan, the goal is to build the full ship with all the carving, the rigging and sails, in "branle bas de combat" state. (what is the english word for this ?) I know it may take a while, since I'm not retired and I have many more activities, but I will stuck to the project and would rather go slow than rush some aspects of the building. I had to learn everything from scratch: "how is built a period ship", "what is a piece of wood and how to work with it", "what is ornament carving" etc, so it took me a lot of time because I was learning. Now I can go a little faster. Marc, indeed, I spent a lot (a looooooot !) of time on the plans because I wanted the building to be as easy as possible and I tried to anticipate any problem I should met during the build. (of course I didn't manage, but at least I made plans that were easy to follow)
  9. Nek0
    I just discover your work, it's stunning ! Very impressive ! 1/24 for a 74 gunship is huge !
  10. Nek0
    Hello Marc, you were right, you placed the anchor lining in the right place, and the hunting gunport is well placed too. I find the engraving is just fine. Concerning the thicker sweep, it has not to be "attached" because it is the same piece of wood than underneath. One planking is of double thickness in the "sweep" area and is trimmed to match the standard plankings anywhere else. Be careful, between the first pair of wales the thickness of the planking matches the thickness of the wales until the bow.
  11. Nek0
    Here I am again ! Patrice, content de te retrouver ici également !! Vas tu ouvrir un sujet sur ta superbe Renommée ? (Patrice, nice to meet you here too ! Will you open a thread on your beautiful Renommée ?) Hi Marc ! You're absolutely right, I did several landmarks on the bulkheads. One cm landmarks to be sure each bulkhead positionned correctly on the keel. And landmarks for the wales, gunports, waterline, and decks to be sure the building would be faithful to the plans. Once the balsa filling done, I just had to join the landmarks to make the correct positionning of these elements appear. It was very helpful particularly for the gunports, to make them form a nice and sweet curve for each deck. I made a one mm thick ramin planking (crate wood !) because the balsa is a very soft and flabby wood, and I feared in these areas below the waterline, very curved, the joint between the balsa and the plywood would eventually make facets because of the hardness difference. The ramin made a homogeneous base, regular and hard enough. At last, I did not totally trust myself in the drawing of the water lines, and the one mm thickness of ramin would be a security layer that I could sand down more or less to have a real neat and smooth surface. The two pieces of the bulkheads, it's to make the rabbet, a stop for the planking. It would not have been possible with only one piece because of the keel. The cutting is done, not on a waterline, but on an "one cm" landmark, only for convenience purpose. The plywood/balsa structure was quite fragile, but not as much as I would have thought. And indeed with the pear planking it became very strong. Thank you very much for your interest !!
  12. Nek0
    Hi all, and thank you for your kind words. Dan, I went to your Queen Anne's revenge thread and I'm really impressed, it's beautiful work !! Alex, Tanneron model is false in many ways. You may know that the Soleil Royal was built in 1669, when Tanneron model were built in 1839, so Tanneron never saw the real ship. The most important may be the stern with it's huge and very high rear castle. The ships at this time were not that high, and more wide. For an example here is a comparison between my first drawing based on the Tanneron, and the one based on the Berain. The differences are obvious, not only because of the decoration but from an architectural point of view. You can see that the Tanneron has five windows when the Berain has six for one deck. Then, there is a big fault on the first deck, where two last gunports are too low. It's a fault based on the Admiral Paris work that are subject to caution. There are some other minor faults, as the shape of the third deck gunports, (also based on the Admiral Paris's plans) and other little things. Nonetheless it is a masterpiece of carving, beautifully executed. In the museum, it is displayed in the "ship ornaments" section and not in the "XVIIe century vessels" section. I have no time to write the following, I come back this evening.
  13. Nek0
    Thanks ! In fact I can read english and barely speak it but I sometimes fear beeing "rude" because of poor expression. Ulises Victoria, your Royal Louis is gorgeous, congrats !!
  14. Nek0
    Hi E.J. ! Good work so far, the hull planking is no piece of cake but you did it quite well !! The next steps will be more fun. I will keep an eye on your work !
  15. Nek0
    Same here with this Ludolf Bakhuizen painting of the battle of Barfleur (1693) the two outer figures are very close to the balcony. But I would not trust these paintings from an architectural point of view. Look for an example at the height between the first and the second deck, and the number of gunports on the quarter deck. I will stuck to the drawings of Berain. And yes, I was talking about the third deck that has an opened gallery with it's two windows.
  16. Nek0
    The first part of the building consist of a plywood frame and a balsa wood filling. This is why I renamed the ship "Le Royal Balsa"... The pictures speak fot itselves.
  17. Nek0
    Hello, so here we are, this is my attempt to build this famous ship ! I always loved period ships, as far as I can remember, but it was a real shock when I got the Heller model kit at christmas when I was 14. The box itself was huge and very impressive, and the model was gorgeous. I still have this model in my workshop, I keep it as a relic ! Then I discovered the Tanneron model, the one which is displayed at the Paris naval museum, and as many I was fascinated by the beautiful carvings. In 2008 the desire to build model ships went back and my interest for the "SR" was still there so I bought the Sergal model kit, but I was quite disappointed with the quality of the materials and I realized if I wanted something more accurate I would have to do it myself... So I began drawing the plans and building a first model based on the Tanneron, until I found it was false, and nothing like a 17th century ship should look like... So I restarted from scratch... For this new project, I relied only on the period drawings of the stern and the bow, and all the dimensions and mesurements that Michel Saunier had patiently collected and eventually shared with me. I thank him for that ! It took me two years of research and work to complete the drawings of the plans, because I had to learn everything on the subject. Early 2014 I finally could start the real work but early 2015 I had to stop because of a newborn baby, and too much work keeping me out of my workshop... I finally could go back to the workshop these last past weeks, here is what I've done so far. At first, some of the drawings, that apparently have already made their way on the internet. I use the Gimp as a software. I did the plans according to the dimensions of the ship, and then adapted the decorations to the result. The drawings of the stern and bow are "artist views", and in no way can be used for architectural purposes. So the drawings had to be modified and distorded, element by element, to fit the plans. But it was not the hard part of the work, the worse was getting the waterlines correct... It took me countless hours !
  18. Nek0
    Thank you for this warm welcome !!
  19. Nek0
    Hello all, I think before I start my topic on this forum I should introduce myself. I'm 39, married, and a father of a marvelous little kid of two and a half years. I'm a medic, and besides that I'm also a martial arts instructor (japanese MMA), a biker and a guitarist. And of course I try to be a modeler, but I will not finish my model until a few more years... I currently build "Le Soleil Royal", and I hope my work will be of some interest for you. Thank you for welcoming me here, and please be indulgent with my poor mastering of the english language. Best regards, Marc
  20. Nek0
    Yes it was exactly the purpose. And yes, it will be an opened gallery, exactly as you describe it.
  21. Nek0
    Ok thank you !! I will post pictures of the Royal Balsa here !! I was just writing a PM to you to show the changes I did, let's show it on this thread. From a long time I wanted to re-align the gunports of the quarterdeck, it's done. The decorations have moved slightly. I listened to your advice and retouched a little bit the line above the gunports: lowered and a bit more arched. Consequently the space for the gunports and the decorations in this area is narrowed and it's better: less empty spaces. At last the above sheer cap railing is untouched, but I may give it a little bit more curve when building the model. Below are a picture before and another after the mods.
  22. Nek0
    Ok you're right, these are good steps. Scribe the hunting port instead of cutting it is a good idea. The Royal Balsa has awoken and goes on, since I have less work than the two previous years. The plans have been slightly re-drawn concerning the quarter galleries, I worked on the guns, did a good mixture of colors to match the red of the inside plankings and the gunports, added the final gunports and windows openings, and the planking goes on on the left side. I will show pictures on the French forums (and maybe on this one if you think it's of some interest for you guys ??) when some more work is done.
  23. Nek0
    Hello Marc, I follow your build and I like what I see so far. Great job with the nails on the wales. Concerning the hauser insert piece you did a great job, but you could have filled the gap making the oversized planking (oversized in this area to make the planking as thick as the wales so the anchors don't hook when pulled up). 15 gun ports will do. "comme ci, comme ça" as you said but it's a point of detail, it's not critical. Concerning the hunting port on such big vessels as the Soleil Royal or La Reyne, it's highly doubtable that they ever hunt anything and in fact this gun port was never used.
  24. Nek0
    Hello Marc, I discovered your work a few days ago and I'm happy there is another crazy fellow who gets interested in the Soleil Royal ! I'm Neko, from France, and my first name is... Marc ! At first, let me congratulate you for the hard work and dedication you put in this project, and I quite know what I'm talking about. I totally agree with you, the process of making something by your own brain and hands is almost as exciting as the result. Obviously, you're not discouraged by the huge amount of work that awaits you, and that's a good point. First of all, if you want to turn the Heller kit, wich represents the Tanneron version, into a Berain version, it will not be that simple. The question is: do you want your model to be as close as possible to a Berain version, and historically accurate as much as possible, or would you accept a mixed version, knowing that the Tanneron model is historically wrong on many aspects ? Your drawings are already quite good, but if you're involved in the first solution, I may suggest you a few modifications. Before the settlement of july 4 1670, a first rate three deck ship of the line should look like this: (image n°1) This is what you can observe in the side view of the Berain drawing. The Soleil Royal should have 110 guns. The first deck has 16 gunports, (the first one "hunting gunport" is unarmed), the 2d and 3rd decks have 15 armed gunports. The forecastle and rear castle have 16 guns, the poop deck has 4 guns. Only the Soleil Royal and the Royal Louis have an armed poop deck. The gunports of the third deck absolutely have their lateral sides vertical, due to the frame of the ship. The bellow and the top sides are parrallel to the decks. BUT, according to the period drawings, on both side views (bow and stern) these gunports are round. Maybe you could find a way to make them round, it may even be simplier than correcting the square ones. Concerning the rear castle, maybe you should delete the first gunport on your drawing, and add two at the stern ? Then you would have a total of five guns on each side, plus the three on each side of the forecastle = 16 guns and you're correct. The gunports of the poop deck should have the same shape, square, or octogonal. I allowed myself to make a few other minor suggestions on your original drawing. (image n°2) I know that is a lot of work, and one could quickly get discouraged, but the Soleil Royal deserves it. Given that you want to modify the whole stern and the water line (huge work...) why not mod also the bulkwark to make an even more accurate version ? I wish you good luck, I will keep an eye on your build and will try to provide some help if I can. Note that I can understand English, and I can barely try to write it without using google translate... But I'm not fluent and I do mistakes... Also, if some sentences seem rude, I'm sorry it is not my intent. Just some difficulties with a language I'm not completely comfortable with. Anyway, I just wanted to make a few suggestions and share the knowledge I have acquired on this ship, and I support your efforts whenever you follow them or not. Best regards, Marc

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