Admiral Beez
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Everything posted by Admiral Beez
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Thirty 32 pdr cannons puttied and sanded, now drilling out muzzles. Carriages sanded and now primed (thanks to bathroom fan ventilation). Once I have these all done I’ll do the same for the 24 pdr and 18 pdr cannons. A friend (building the same kit) is also vacuum forming me some cannonades, since the French didn’t use them.
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@Ian_Grant I like the wooden dummy. I’ve just finished the first step on the 32 pounder cannons. I noticed that the cannon pins were too narrow to sit well onto the carriage side panels. So I looked at my HMS Belona book, and it’s clear Heller dropped the ball on the design of their gun carriages, as the vertical panels are supposed to be closer together at the front of the gun. But no matter, we’ll do our best with what we have.
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@Ian_Grant Thanks. What’s really helped me getting started was joining the local boat building club, https://metromarine.org/static-division/. These old timers have been a godsend on this project, for example helping me to scribe the waterline for copper removal and providing the styrene strips and loaner hooked scriber for marking the planks, see below. First twenty 32 pdr carriages now together, cannon just placed for fun, will glue the cannons on separately after the carriages are filled, sanded, primed and painted. The club also loaned me tiny drill bits to drill out the gun barrels (I may leave a few with their red tompions in). The injection moulded cannons are terribly finished, with holes above the breaches (visible below) that need to be filled and sanded before priming. Heller was smart to have the 32 pdr cannons as the first step in the instructions, as you can practice on these and make your mistakes because only the barrel is visible. Here’s my work station. The standing desk from IKEA is a great help as you can adjust the height to suit how your back feels and if you’re sitting or standing, and it’s hand crank so no motor to break down. And the magnifier lamp is a must have for my 50 year old eyes. You can see my DragonForce DF65 r/c sailboat to the left, which was my introduction to the model boat club, and their racing division and the national association https://crya.ca/df65/. Of course the ponds will be frozen soon, so that’s one reason I returned to model kits, to stay active in the club and to keep my renewed interest in boat models.
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I’ve figured out a means to align the vertical panels on the carriages for gluing using reverse grip tweezers. There will be putty filling and sanding to do before we prime.
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A friend who’s an expert builder rigged up this jig so we could score the exact waterline, showing the copper we need to sand away. We’re also scribing plank lines between the wales.
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Thanks B.E. That’s interesting as I’d have thought the French would at least want upper gun-deck port lids below the poop deck to provide some weather protection forward of the stern cabins and gallery.
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Hi BE. I notice the Le Superbe kit omits gun port lids on the upper deck. This seems a big error on Heller’s part since I believe Le Superbe (and all ships of the line) had gun door lids on their full length gun decks, as shown on the plans. Did you consider mocking some up? I’m pondering such a move.
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I’m starting my first kit in years, Heller’s 1/150 Le Superbe. I’m using AK and Vallejo acrylics and Tamiya’s spray-on white primer. The first step are the cannons. The cannons and trucks first need sanding to remove flashing, which I can do on the trees. But would it be best to cut the parts off the tree and glue and assemble the cannons before priming and painting? It would be easier to prime and paint the cannons before they’re glued to the carriages, but I’d have to scrape some off to glue them. If I’m going to prime and paint them before assembly I might as well prime and paint when the cannons and carriages are on the tree, since otherwise much of my spray-on primer will be wasted. Thoughts?
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Check out these pics against the plans. Clearly I need to sand down two rows of copper below the lower wale. If I just paint these rows black it’ll be too noticeable. In addition to this I sand down the hull between each gun port and with strips of styrene as a guide I’ll scribe four or five planks from fore to aft. What the heck was Heller thinking when they made the tooling for this kit? Presumably they had access to the same plans from the Musse De La Marine that I’m using here.
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Hi Lucas. I’m about to begin this kit. Did you progress further on yours? I really enjoyed your log.
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This was recommended to me by an expert builder https://www.modelshade.com/paint-conversion-chart/ Mods, if it’s already covered elsewhere please move or delete my post, thank you.
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Painting guide from The Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships. I’ll be using this, plus the model of HMS Vanguard linked above as my guides as I make my paint list.
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I'll also be referring to other builds of Heller's 1/150 Le Superbe here on Model Ship World, including: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/7347-le-superbe-by-algeciras1801-heller-plastic-1150-converted-to-hms-belleisle/ https://modelshipworld.com/topic/5836-le-superbe-by-lukasvdb-plastic-heller-1150-first-ship-of-the-line-ever-built/ https://modelshipworld.com/topic/152-le-superbe-by-blue-ensign-finished-heller-plastic-built-as-le-praetorian-after-boudriot/ And that's as far as I've got to date. Today we head to the hobby shop for Tamiya's spray primer and Vallejo acrylics. Except for the primer this will be a brush only project. A very experienced builder friend has provided paint swatches from his own RN ship-of-the-line builds and Vallejo codes, plus guidance on thinners, washes, brushes, fillers, internal mast reinforcement (a necessity with Heller kits), etc. etc. (it's a long list) plus several plastic parts from his old kits to practice and swatch test painting with; so I have a good starting point after my 18 years off.
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Other resources include a loaner book on HMS Bellona, mostly to assist with rigging and ships boats. I may try to mock up some cannonades as shown in the book.
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Resource materials I will be using include the British plans for HMS Spartiate plus the French marine museum's plans for Superbe, printed to the exact 1/150 scale as my model, see below. Notice how the plans show that the copper comes up too far on the model kit. A more experienced builder than me may try to sand down the excess rows of copper but but this is not something I'm going to try on my first build in years.
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After an 18 year paternity leave I am returning to model ships with Heller's 1/150 scale Le Superbe. I am a British-born Canuck who spent many days in the 1980s at the https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/ waiting for the ferry to my grandparents on the Isle of Wight, and am a fan of all things RN/RCN. I will be completing the kit as HMS Spartiate as I imagine she may have looked at Trafalgar. For colours I plan to use this excellent model of HMS Vanguard, as I like the blue side railings, red on the stern, and the yellow ochre sides (rather than the orange used until recently on HMS Victory). The instructions are in French, but they have an English list at the back. Still, as a good Canadian I have a smattering of French language buried away from my university days that may prove useful. I've chosen HMS Spartiate as my goal as she was one of the approx. twenty French Téméraire-class captured by the British, but one of only two that served with Nelson at Trafalgar. She then went on to serve as British flagship to the South Atlantic squadron well into the 1830s. A good, long history of service, unlike the actual Le Superbe.
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Painting the 1/180 scale HMS Victory
Admiral Beez replied to ronald305's topic in Plastic model kits
True. I’ve today sent an email to Vallejo asking if they can provide paint codes for Airfix’s Victory, http://www.hobbylinc.com/airfix-hms-victory-1765-plastic-model-sailing-ship-kit-1:180-scale-09252 -
Thanks. I’ve decided to hand brush the entire model, after. Tamiya spray prime. Can anyone steer me to a branded paint code guide for RN ships, like HMS Victory or Surprise?
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I’m enjoying the book as an introduction to the subject matter. Indeed, HMS Spartiate is/was French, making Heller’s 1/150 Le Superbe a good match, but the British made changes to her rigging, boat stowage (on spars rather than on deck), paint scheme, etc. This book doesn’t cover this info as well as I’d perhaps like, but it’s a start, and an interesting one.
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Thanks. How would you paint and assemble cannons? You have the carriage, wheels and gun tube, all needing different colours. As shown with someone else’s build here. If you glue all three together before painting one needs to be careful not to have paint colours to go over.
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I’ve just bought this book in preparation of building Heller’s 1/150 Le Superbe as HMS Spartiate. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/551703.The_Ship_of_the_Line
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Nice. I may try that myself. Can you tell me the colours you used? I'm looking to build Heller's Le Superbe as HMS Spartiate and will use Victory's colour scheme. I do not have an air brush (or ventilation booth) so will use traditional brushed paints and rattle cans. My local shop has Tamiya but I can source online most brands. I appreciate any guidance, thanks. What's your thought on air brushes with acrylic, is a booth necessary? I don't want to stink up the house, though I have bathroom ceiling fan beside my worktop. I'm thinking of getting an air brush, but I'm not sure.
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Do you prime on the sprue with touch up at separation points later? This seems easier for painting the tiny parts.
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Painting the 1/180 scale HMS Victory
Admiral Beez replied to ronald305's topic in Plastic model kits
I’m attempting this same paint scheme. Can you tell me what Tamiya paints you used for the rest of the ship?
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