Robert Taylor

SOLEIL ROYAL 1669 update...

Hull construction work has now finished.
Stern is finished along with all architectural features including the lanterns and some added ones. Boats and cradle are finished as well as the channels and rigging eyepins for the start of the rigging.
I am pretty pleased they way she has turned out, considering I didn't really have a vision of how it would go.

Next up will be working the wood to make the masts and yards so it will stand up to the rigging tension.

On 4/7/2024 at 3:47 PM, Late to Soleil said:

Beautiful work! I do have a question, though. Did you position the bowsprit halyard guide as per some instructions, or were you self-guided? I can find no solid instructions as to the positioning

of the guide. and will glue really hold under the tension of the rigging?

  Ed K.

Hi Ed 

Yes I positioned the Bowsprit as per instructions which are pretty much self explanatory in the plans.  

The thing is with Heller's instructions and plans they are a bit all over the place so sometimes you need to look further in the plans for something that should be nearer the beginning if that makes sense.

Failing that having built sailing ships for a long time I can work things out before hand if the plans are poor.

Regards

Robert 👍🏼 

SOLEIL ROYAL - 1/100 Heller update... 

Forecastle deck, Waist balconies, quarter decks, poop deck, Officer's quarters and Captain's cabin all finished.

Now starting on the Stern balconies and boats.

Main deck now finished, Cannons rigged, deck detail added regards to Cannon balls/carriage, barrels/kegs spare wood for yards etc.. stairwell rigged and eyepins added to gratings. 6 running rigging lines attached as per instructions 2 of which get rigged to the Main sail as far as I can make out, will obviously have to double check the poor rigging plans just to be sure.
The Hull architectural sides are all permanently fixed.
Slowly coming together

SOLEIL ROYAL 1669 The most intricate Painting process, its great to get back on her after the festive period 👍🤺⚓

2 hours ago, Baker said:

Nice work 

Thank you very much 👍 

Lower Deck detail finished on the SR even though this deck won't be visible.

26x24pdrs & 6x18pdrs rigged.
32x Cannon ball carriages(stained in Walnut) with 160 Cannon balls, 4x14mm Barrels & 8x10mm barrels.

Next stage fitting the 2nd deck.

Well after several months of major house refurbishments it's bk to Heller's SOLEIL ROYAL. 

The lower deck and 2 sides of the Hull are now joined, I have rigged up the lower deck Cannons using 2 sizes of thread, using 1mm & 0.5mm Amati beige thread, albeit not fully as the angle curvature of the plastic Hull made this impossible, obviously with wood you have a lot more leeway regards space as your building the Hull.
I have also rigged up the 4 Capstans on the lower deck using 1.30mm Caldercraft thread, and I am now in the process of rigging the ropes for the Gunport Hatches using 0.5mm Amati beige thread, the Hatches obviously will be added much later into the build.
I am tempted to add more detail to this deck but not sure if I should as this deck will be hidden completely from view. Cannon balls, Cannon loading utensils, belaying pins, Rope hanks and Barrels/kegs spring to mind for detail addition.

Not the best of Lower Stern fittings on the Soleil Royal having to fill with putty then obviously will be painted once dried.
Just glueing together the bow structures before painting begins.
Have added some deck detail regards to barrels will be adding cannon shot as well once they arrive as I Don't have enough in stock to do the whole bottom deck.
Was thinking about a couple of belaying pins with rope hanks but will need to get them at a scale that doesn't look out of place.

The bow segments have now been painted and wash applied to both the wood effect and the Gold architecture rails(black wash).This was done slightly differently from the Hull to get the same shade of wood effect. This was because the 2 Hull halves were moulded in black so only needed Humbrol matt 94 brown yellow applied thinly and drybrushed then the Humbrol Dark brown was applied. The bottom of the stern and bow sections were moulded in a light blue colour, while the Rudder sections were moulded in white, so to get the same shade effect I dry brushed Revell matt 8 black firstly òn the base of these sections, then obviously once dry, again drybrushed Humbrol matt 94 brown yellow, before applying the Humbrol Dark brown wash again to get the weathered effect.
Next will be to size up cartridges to hold the cannon balls which arrived yesterday.
As well as building the Ship stand within the kit as I will be nearing adding the bow sections and Rudder as well as the 2nd deck.

Small steps but slowly coming together 👍🤺⚓

11 hours ago, Jeff T said:

Very detailed painting — looks great!  Do you plan to do any lighting or interior work for the stern?  (Quite a few windows to see inside.)

Hi Jeff

Tbh I haven't really thought about it atm. I am not really  a lighting guy, just my view but I think lighting takes away the representation of a model ship, its purpose and development and turns it into just an ornament imho.

Interior work could be a possibility again I haven't really  though too much about as yet as their is no construction work  going on atm as my house is getting  a refurbishment. 

The scale is good to work with but it will need some long term thought.

SOLEIL ROYAL : Heller 1/100 (side project cont'd) 
Small update

Stern Gallery painted just to add a slight wash and of course any touch ups I've maybe missed. I have painted the 7 Hexagonal type panels blue instead of Gold as I intend to add decorative work to these and  I will be adding some more decorative pieces to the SR at a later date. 
This has taken most of the week out with work, a highly detailed piece but very attractive. It's only when you are painting these parts you appreciate the work that has went into designing moulds  through the process of Engineering, I take my hat off to Heller for producing a Superb Historical work of Art, it must have cost a fortune to produce this at the time.  

Yes these kits have been  around a long time, I just wish more on this scale and magnitude would be produced. 

Next up will be the wash then the painting of the side Hull architecture/Gun ports/railings or the Architectural Bow fittings.

Such a wonderful Hobby for all of us to enjoy 
👍🍻🍻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

On 7/23/2023 at 10:15 PM, popeye2sea said:

This is one heck of a side project!  I really like the wood decks.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

Thank you very much for your kind words Henry. 👍🤺⚓

SOLEIL ROYAL : Heller 1/100 (side project cont'd) 
Small update

Side Galleries painted just to add a weathered wash. It's took the best part of 3 days to finish this to the best of my abilities. There will probably be still the odd bit here and there that maybe touch up, as with detailed painting like this you always notice something later on.

Apologies  for the photo the blue in the photo looks lighter than it actually is, it's actually more of a mid blue (Humbrol matt 25) to be exact.

Next up will be the wash then the painting of either the stern or the side Hull architecture/Gun ports/railings.

SOLEIL ROYAL : Heller 1/100 (side project cont'd) 

After completing the 112 guns started painting one of the side Galleries which I have opened up. 
This is by far the most intricate model painting I have done. Very rewarding and very happy so far 😀🌞. The gold will have to wait as the inconvenience of work beckons 🙄

13 hours ago, Jeff T said:

Looks like a great start — I like your wood planked decks!

Thank you very much Jeff, I've actually just ordered  some more goodies this morning in the shape of Brass decorative pieces so I will see where I go with these also, if they don't fit well with the overall kit then they will be used elsewhere on one of my wood kits or something...

SOLEIL ROYAL  - HELLER 1/100 (side project) 

At the moment I am refurbishing part of the house including my humble workroom. So atm I haven't technically been doing any major construction work regards to my kit.
This is a big project but A SIDE ONE for me as when my workroom and other refurbish are bk to normal I will be starting a main project in wood.
I actually started this a few weeks ago but didn't want to start a build log for obvious reasons, plus the fact even now I still don't have a true picture of where I will go with this, other than the fact I will be to a certain extent heavily improvising on her, which I have started.
I wanted to have wooden decks throughout so I meaured the sizes of the planking on the decks, calculated how much I needed and bought in 80 x1metre lengths 3mm x 0.5mm lime wood.
The planking has gone really well and I have now finished it all, I also stained this with a Dark oak stainer.
The Hulls I was unsure about but went with the kit instructions using Humbrol brown yellow and a lot of drybrushing, this came out darker than expected but realising this was because the mouldings of my kit Hulls are solid black(I used the same brown yellow on my complete Royal Louis but since that mould was in white hence the colour originally close to what it should be).
That said I was quite pleased with the darker finish and it gave it more of a weathered look. I thought the bottom of the Hull needed to be slightly darker though so I used a Humbrol Dark brown wash over the brown yellow and it really came up to what I wanted.
I have also drilled holes in the hull sides for the addition of pulleys for the Gunport Hatches.

Atm I am now just building and painting the guns. I've finished the 24lb(x24) and have just started the 18lbers. I was originally thinking to replace them all after sales but found it well nigh impossible to get the correct type of gun and in 4 different correct sizes, so I've had to stay with the kit supplied ones.
I have also bought in relevant wooden Deadeyes(triangular), cloth flags and rigging thread.
Looking a bit further forward I want to replace all the masts and yards with wood other than that I don't know exactly where I will go with her, other than keep painting and weathering parts, I may well add other things like metal anchors and Rudder chain etc...

Apologies for the long intro and in hindsight I probably should have posted earlier, but this will be a long drawn out build a bit like this post lol...

On to the photos.....

13 hours ago, Bill97 said:

Thank you so much Robert. Everything you added will be extremely helpful. You may become my new best friend! 😊. Which Soleil Royal kit are you looking at?

I have the Heller one Bill.

6 hours ago, Bill97 said:

Thanks Robert. I have ordered the OcCre Endeavor and it is on the way. I did not need it yet but ModelExpo had a fantastic sale on it so I had to grab it. The box will set on the shelf tempting me. Will read through your build frequently now with eyes toward the day I will start it. Please feel free to send me any thoughts and recommendations in advance that I will file for further reference.  Thanks again Robert

 

Bill

Hi Bill 

Here is the Link for the Occre warranty Spare parts form. If you have or you accidentally break any parts or they or you lose parts no matter how big or many fill in the form in your language and kit ref no which is on the instructions along with the part ref and how many you need and Occre will replace and send them to you free of any charge 👍🤺⚓.

https://warranty.occre.com/form.php

On 5/22/2023 at 3:34 AM, Bill97 said:

Robert she is beautiful indeed. I am reading through your build with very keen interest. Like you I have only built plastic models to this point, with the Heller HMS Victory and LeSoleil Royal being the most complicated and time consuming (see builds here on MSW).  I am researching attempting my first wooden model and the OcCre Endeavor is the one I keep coming back to. I really like it and want to attempt building it. As someone who had not built a wood model before, what did you think of it?  I have many years of woodworking experience and hope that experience serves me well. Is pretty much everything you did straight from the instructions?  In comment #25 you did list a number of things it sounds like changed.  What was your thought process for making these changes?  Also did feel a need to purchase after market items for he kit or was everything you needed/wanted included? I am surprised at how quickly you finished it!  My Victory took a little over 18 months and I have no idea when I will finish my Soleil Royal. I would have expected the Endeavor to take a couple years maybe. If and when I do purchase my Endeavor I hope you will consider it a compliment if I were to ask you for advice. 

Sorry for the late reply Bill, for some reasons I don't get notifications of all replies on MSW.

Thank you very much for your kind words. Wow that's a lot of questions lol so I will try and break down my answers to each one in order.

First of all like you I hadn't built any wooden models but also have years of working with wood experience just not on this scale. Like you I scoured a lot of models and also kept coming bk to the OCCRE'S Endeavour. I didn't  want a ship build with very little detail, but also didn't want to bite off more than I could chew with a 3 decker and loads of gun ports, these were the 2 main reasons plus like you I really liked the ship and its history.

Prett much most things are done straight from the kit, which I must say is top notch in the way of wood quality. Some of the parts I did change like the blocks (which were plastic in mine which I think was a slightly older kit but contacted Occre who replaced these with wood blocks and deadeyes free of any charge which is another reason as their customer service is absolutely brilliant) rigging thread, etc.. I also replaced the brass wire for the deadeyes with Mantua chain plates which were much more realistic and easy to use, the brass wire is not the best very hard to manipulate especially when making small articles.

I also re measured and made my own sails as the ones with the kit, while good quality lacked the correct detail size and we're slightly too big imho. 

Along with other improvisations my thought process was even though the kit is highly detailed I thought I could add more and make it more custom made while keeping things as close to historical accuracy as possible. 

I did have too purchase aftermarket items such as better quality rigging thread, sail cloth and cloth flags, belaying pins and more blocks and deadeyes ( both walnut). 

I hope this helps your understanding Bill and that I haven't missed anything out. 

BTW I have just started my Soleil Royal  as a side project as my work room needs refurbished so it's mainly all painting atm, however as I say SR will be a side project as I intend to start another wooden kit when everything is done. 

All the best 

Robert 👍 🤺 ⚓ 

On 5/30/2023 at 10:08 AM, O.B.one said:

Ill be using @Robert Taylor build log as a reference, hoping he doesn't mind me peeking at his pictures. This build log has the best pictures anywhere on the net, thanks Robert.

No problem O.B.one glad my build can help you in some way or another. 

Your build looks to be very small will be very interesting to follow and see how it turns out. 

Happy modelling my friend.

On 4/15/2023 at 6:47 AM, aliluke said:

Fantastic work. The sails are extraordinary along with all the added ropework that they entail. A credit to the ship, the kit and to you!

 

Cheers

A

Thank you very much for your kind words I am by no means an expert, just enjoying a hobby while learning and pushing my skill boundaries or at least trying to.

8 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Nice work, Robert. Congratulations!

Thank you very much 👍 🤺⚓

OcCre  1/54 Endeavour  FINISHED! 

After 13 months work on my Endeavour(my first wooden kit), she is finally finished. It's been a great kit & build. I have improvised in a few things like my 17 Hand sewn sails, 550 Reefpoints/gaskets, 55 rope hanks, 50 belaying pins, 40 chainplates , Rigging instructions conforming with the AOS ENDEAVOUR book etc... now after 1100 clove hitches, 164 Deadeyes, 250+ Rigging Blocks, 12 Heart blocks & god knows how many miles of thread, she is now ready to set sail. 

Wishing Everyone all the best in this great hobby of ours, and keep building those works of art. 
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed building her. 

Slainte Mhath Everyone 
👍🍻🍻🤺🤺🤺⚓⚓⚓

Well due to Health issues and work commitments, Christmas and life in general I haven't been near my Endeavour in 2 months.
I have only just got bk to her last week, so this is a short update on what I've managed to do so far.
I have chosen to disregard the kit sails and hand sew my own as I felt some of the kit ones were too large and lacked enough stitching detail. So here is my First Hand sewn sail finished for my Occre Endeavour
This is the Main Topsail with its 120 reef points attached. I have also inserted 0.8mm modelling wire in the sides so as to Billow the sail when it is rigged thus no need for a water/glue paste mix to hold the shape.
Next sail up for Hand sewing will be the Fore Topsail which will also have approximately 120 reef points attached.

Happy modelling everyone and a very apologetic and belated Merry Xmas and New year.

Occre Endeavour 1/54 
WIP update 

Its been  6 weeks or so since my last post, on and off with health issues which seem never ending atm, but I can now say that 90% of the rigging is finished with the exception of rigging sails and bowlines, threat of the sail rigging is in place as you can see from clothes pegs tied to these to keep them separated. 
Shrouds, ratlines, backstays, rope ladders, lifts etc etc... have all been finished. I have also added the 3rd backstay for the Fore and Main masts that weren't in the kit plans but are in the AOS Endeavour book.

The Next stage I have 3 options as follows..... 

1, Make and hand sew my own sails as some of the ones in the kit I feel are out of scale(too large) and lack correct amount of stitching detail. 
2, Use the Sails supplied with the kit.
3, Do not use any sails and tie up the rigging  that is installed for the sails to finished her off.

Happy modelling everyone staysafe and take care.
Slainte Mhath! 
👍🤺⚓🍻

On 10/22/2022 at 12:03 PM, jamuck said:

Very good work.

 

I intend starting on this model soon.

 

Can I ask did you paint the 'wood' of hull, masts etc or leave as the moulded colour.

 

James

Hi James 

I painted the wood of the Hull on my Golden Hind I used Revell's Matt 85 Brown which actually comes out a lovely Golden brown colour.

Hope this helps James 

All the best 

Robert.