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.

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.

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 !

Thank you for this warm welcome !!

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

Yes it was exactly the purpose. And yes, it will be an opened gallery, exactly as you describe it.

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.

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.

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.

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