Heinrich der Seefahrer

Hello friends, the second and less documentation equipped ship of the late 60th (XVIIth century) than the several SOLEIL ROYALs and ROYAL LOUISes is the other "1eme rang extraordinaire" battelship of the sunkings navy - Le DAUPHIN ROYAL build in 1668. Unable to find further more tan numeric data about hull, even some scetch of the figure head or anyother meaningfull view I decided to start a third drawing, construction and building threat. As she will base on a wooden hull the eord WOOD in the title isn't a complete porky-py. I felt in love to her opulent decor and castlelike design as the oval windows in the side gallerys attic. She also has six widowed tiers - an unicum in the naval shipbuilding design. We have one cintemporary pencil and wash drawing and a based on this Nucly colored drawing - I do estimate it from the late 60th tio the early 70th of the XX.century as time of birth. (The kings cote of arms with its thre lyses was missly interpreted as a face at the middel balkony!) I do like the coloured version but do miss the colourfull spots of the ordre chained framed cote of arms and the colourfull St.Michel on blach silk ribbon and Superior Orde de Saint Esprite on its sky blue ribbon band. As you can see the decor reassembled as the used ellemente reappear. My idea to imitate the Molierre silk ribbon band is to mask a matt colour surface and spray a part in silkmatt ("seidenmatt"). Also the cote of arms of the DAUPHIN are not correctly reassembled and the deep showing shadowing disappeared by transferring to the coloured parts. The decks are wrongly s traight flat and so I decided co take the scale as from the enlarged b/w copy to some 1/36 at a good 400mm breadth. This will be brought to the right scale oowhenf 1/36 (or 1/24?) when the drawing work is completed. This project serves to collect ideas anahowd workingbsolutions how to assemble a pile of decor and balkonies for the other projects bound at the Heller-SOLEIL ROYAL hull - also several designs shall be tested in a semi small miniaturisation. Here my copy in ~1/36 for the transparent papers drawings. And reconstruction of the side gallerys. All is a spinn off of the Heller hull based projects RL-1668 and SP-1693. Also here will be a huge ammount of drawing and guessing in tje beginning. The history of the last opulent decorated ship under LeBruns and Pigets building direction before SR-1670 will come to you in the next article as it is nearly 2 o'clock in the morning oof a labourfull Friday. Hope you like this troika.

Sorry @EJ_L but I was stupid and did the wrong preassumption - so I copied the transom separately, and the breadth confirmed to the underpart of kit-transom... and followed the enlargement of 141,3% by uusing the drawings in the book. So I could work cheaply on a usual copymashine for DIN A3 and A4 paper. The older copies of the hull sides were made from the 1/96 sail and rigging plan up to 1/92. But the transoms and sidrgallery drawings are scaled to 1/48 on DIN A2 paper. And so the hull side copys do fit with the heller hull length. So I got two lines of copies the sides of hull and the transom and sidegallerys decoration. I trespassed to copy the hole decks furiture and general plans also to the 141,3% tothe hulls breadth of 164mm as I thought it will bring me to the 1/92 result. But the hull is not the same breadth im plan as at the kit so the misfortune took its run... The problem is I now have to take big plan sheets and reduce them.on the expensive copymachines down to 1/92. _ _ IT happens! So I have to redo it... therefore I started with some very wrong estimations. By this the progress is slowed down dramaticaly. So sometimes I have bad luck with my own thoughts...

There were on the transom three cote of arms and two highest two orders as ornamental additives. The ORDRE DE SAINT ESPRIT ORDRE DE SAINT MICHEL Both gives some colourfull spots in this desert of gold and figures. Here a printing. There are several versions of the both Ordres (and classes rangs) so I'll try to figure out what appearance the 1660th version in the "1eme rang" had had. Here the light blue colour of the background of the cartushe for the Ordre de Saint Esprite and the black morion ribbon band of the Saint Michel. So I'll write some lines to the "International Commission on Orders of Chivalry" to ask for some helpful hand.

@George Kapas the RL-1668 is quite unknown to a lot if beople, and I would like to get a group in here to geather all the Heller-SR builders and rebuilders. RL-1668 is not so well nown but well documented and is fact is a big bathtub full of decissions to be made. So you interpretate this as a curlicure, another sees a floralic twirl in it or I do say "Oh no I think it is a dolphin!" And in that moment you have to carve a pair of them and on top twice as a mirrow immage... full of creativity for your own interpretation... leaving the Heller kit behind you like Huba's Historian does by the incredible SOLEIL ROYAL or Cederic with his ROYAL DUC/REINE... and me with my RL-1667 (and later on the ROYAL DAUPHIN 1668 of what nothing without some Data and this two drawings [the coloured seems to be only a version from the 1970th] of the sepia original is left as I figured out till now!). So please don't hasitate to join the HELLER SR re-/builders chorus - blow the dust from the box and start to join us!

The real size differs more than I thought it could be... Itook the CWL as point of measurement... ...and also tryed out if the drawing of the transom might be a projection... but it doesn't look like this!

Now we do come very fast to the plenty of limitations of the hull, grumpy old guys! 😵 The hull is long enough but the SR was built higher aft. The galion looks fine and does fit. I decided to trust in Mr. Lemineurs drawung and will place everything as it is in the drawing. So if I bring the Tramsom to kits breadth... it is under scale 😬😱😢

Back from the copyshop I managed to get some firstlook copies for a hand full of dollars to play a bit with the hull and getting some further feeling for the kit. Mainproblem will be the decks placing. As far as I know from other builds the placement of this is only possible in two halfs and with the guns installed later on. Here I'll try to use a simplified rigging system (as on the deadeye/rope/deadeye-parts of many shipmodels) to get beside the darkred guncasing, the dark barrel some light- and eyecatcher in the inner hull. Also the grating and stairways, spills and other details have to bevadded - no pomp and circumstance butba good set of details that may come in the line of sught if somebody leses beside the barrel. So I don't disappoint him but also didn't overdose the amount of work invested/wasted into the hull .

@Hubac's Historian Hy Marc, shame over me... I'm also joining this queue towards the ROYAL LOUIS 1667 in here: - and will try yhe DAUPHIN ROYAL 1668 later on. So the SAINT PHILIPPE will get some side projects. Okay three Heller shelles are a big amount of money. But isn't she worth it?

That's really a funny project... Thanks for sharing.

Hy Tony, It is on hold - due to the Heller project. I have to restart the hull.

There are severat parts of the decoration we know very detailed: i These angels symbolism for the Renommeé (as I do know from the Ancre-book about RENOMMEÉ-1744) are placed on the same part of the decor. Neptunus is also on his place the tree ended spear/triend is a challenging feature in 1/90. And the figures around/holding him look quite similar. Thetis with the fillhorn symbolised the land and the wealth of the sea trade in one. The coral crown is proof for this wealthy.she is supportet by a Triton and here way to sit changed from the inkscetck to the built version. The King himself: placed above the two godnesses sits enthroned between two bound pirates/ barbarians. (The only battle RL-1668 fought were against mediteranian/Algerian pirates) and shows the real meaning of the RL-1668 the sea power in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The King looks allways to Thetis as hope for trade and groth. Over the king himselfe only the symbols of his own rennommee or the French glory - from his point of view one and the same thing. Doubling himself and suggesting unpretentiousness in once... a typical baroque way of behavior. Smaller structural elements: The seahorses under the transom look very similar also the girlandes/swags do repeat. So there is very little to change. But we have a great prototype for all over the hull. So these elements we can used from the later drawings also without any doubt and transfered to the as build/as planed vesion. The taller appearance looks more interesting than the breadth bringing kind of build... the Dutch way of building was still in the background... this is an interesting question. The Tritons will be discussed later on in detail. As some other decorelements. Hope you agree with my argumentation based on my own (art)historical knowledge, Eugen Rickenbacher and Bernd Monath. If not please don't hasitate to intercept my wrong ideas. I'm writing here to find new ideas or some correction of my point of view. Without you help I will repeat wrongs of my own thoughts or others.

Ui we are at #8... okay! After this furious steps foreward let us stop for a moment and lets look on our picturial sources: I. Transom view (1681): The mostly detailed drawing is this one after Charles LeBrun - a construction scetch with the note "P.P.F.1681" and on the backside "Pujez",1668 (?). Pencil, pen (black and brown) on paper - 585x440mm. So this drawing was made after the rebuild of 1676/77. So it might give us an idea of the appearance in a lightered design. II. Transon scetch of project decoration: The most oblivious change are the four male figures holding the highest part of the transom with King Louis XIV. (The similaritys and differences will be discussed later on.) III. 45°-side view from starboard This anonymus drawing from 1668 is believed to come from the Toulon workshop showing the side gallerys and transom decoration. But no gun barrels - so it migth be made during the accoutrements in Toulon. It also shows the four male figures strawl about the Upped gundeck and the poopdeck. The side gallery was a single knee fitted balkony not an enclosed unit (as it was at HMS Prince two years later). So here is my evidencia gor my vour favorites. IV. Complete view 45° from starboard This drawing of 1668 is called "Le Grande Monarque/GRANDE MONARQUE dessiné par P.Puget" sounds as an error and I do belief the ship is our RL-1668 - as we have got 14 gunports on the 36pounder deck - MONARQUE only had had 13 ports. So the Grande Monarque is the substitute for the name of the king. And we do get an astonishingly detailed drawing - again with four staning man over two tiers. V. Complete view 45° from portside This picture dated 1668 also by Pierre Puget shows RL-1668 at sea under full sail. Again we get interesting set of details of the figural decoration. The corner of the balcony at the 12pounder deck can be seen easily. The last two drawing do give little detailed information to us about the figurehead - we have to guess a lot. VI. The transom under flag: The larger the flag the more important the ship. Here we see an anonymious drawing - perchance by Commissaire Hayet with simple style and little detailing. But the Quartett of men is also there. Dated around 1677 we can trust in being before 1676 - before the rebuilt and the disappearence of the four heavy figures. The four coloums are clearly to be seen and a strong decorating element. These were the sources of the transom and side gallerys. For the galion we have only an other Hayet(?)-drawing. VII. Frontview after Hayet(?) with no really useable information of the figure head and highly equivocal picturing of the breakhead bulkhead and the side gallery. These were all the picture sources I could figure out. So I do believe in the group of four men over two tiers at the transom before the big 1676/77 rebuild. So I'll follow this decoration feature strongly... Thanks for your patience and intrest.

And there are several differences between the two drawings... so the more figurale one seems to be the launching version. Can you guys help me with these detail work?

Enlargements made... once used not my favourite copyshop. 😕 Anything is clearer now and I can do some progress this evening.

As this drawing dates from 1681 - it is made after the mayor rebuild in 1670 - so there may be some dufferences - but I'll try to go with the 1668 launched version. This obviously differ from each other. P.S.: @Hubac's Historian Dear Marc, instead I of translating the booklet I'm going to give all the information in this articel series in here to public.