BLACK VIKING

A little more done on the planking, very slowly making my way down the side of the hull . Two more rows then starting planking from the bottom up still haven't had to put in any droppers yet. 
 
Martyn

Your planking looks superb and I love the different colours of the two woods brilliant job .
Martyn
 
 

Thanks for the response EJ I must admit I love the colour of the wood so I won't be painting mine with white stuff and as for the gold on the carvings that is a brilliant idea with the yellow ochre and gold. Trouble is we will never know what colour she was as she is under a car park in Cherbourg so probably not a lot left 
 
Martyn

I was thinking the same EJ . I was not to convinced on what blue to use? And also was her hull painted with white stuff or just left natural wood 
Martyn 

Thanks Marc and welcome! Be sure to let us know when your build starts as I know I would like to follow along and I'm sure others will want to also.

Hi EJ,
 
You are doing an amazing work on your Soleil Royal, it is very inspiring
I am following your built with great interest as I will start the Soleil Royal very soon (the kit is under my bed ).
 
If you are looking for the real blue colour used on Louis XIV ships, there is a rare document showing the Soleil Royal bow
 

 
I hope this document will help you for your built.
 
All the best,
 
Marc
 
 

Thank you Don and Tom for the nice words and to all who are following along and hit the like button.
 
Tom, to answer the question simply, no I am not planning on using the cast port decorations on the upper row. I originally did have the ports oversized to accept them as you are right in that they need to be opened up more on the top in order to fit. I'm not overly fond of the way they look however as the details seem blurred and not as crisp as I would like. Plus I don't like how the sills and stops are also gilded on the cast pieces. My thinking right now with those is that my own skills can make something on par with those but I'm hoping I might be able to turn out something better still. I may regret that decision later but that is the plan as of today.
 
Truthfully, making my own carvings and/or molds for decorations has always been a goal of mine. I've always used the kit's cast pieces and while there really is nothing wrong with doing that and they make a great looking model, it is more of a personal point of pride to be able to say that I made all the decorations. I know full well that I am a beginner with carving at best so they may not come out that good or I may be making decorations for this ship for the next 40 years but I want to try. In the end I may find out that I just need to use what is in the kit and that will be good enough. Time will tell so stay tuned!
 
On to today's update, starboard planking has caught up to port side planking. Now I have to do some more work on the stem post and knees before continuing with the hull planking. I've started to fit the curved edge pieces in place and will soon start on the sides. At this time I will go ahead and take the veneer all the way down to the keel so the stem will be complete. Once done with that work I will mark off the next run which will take me down below the lower gun deck to the first of the wider wales.
 

Thank you very much for looking in and the comments EJ and Michael 
A bit more done on the SR . I have lined the gunports on the middle deck the instructions say just to paint them which I did but didn't like the finish so decided to go down the lining route and I think it looks a lot better.
I will post more pictures when I get further down the hull as watching planking is like watching paint dry lol 
 
Cheers for following, Martyn 

Thanks for the comments EJ and the likes.
It,s nice to start the second planking on the SR . I have finished planking the stern and bow forecastle and have started planking the hull sides. 
I have not followed the instructions and have placed the planks following the line of the gunports as hopefully I will not end up with to many droppers and steelers but we shall see.
Martyn 

Hi everyone - the lower shroud ratlines are now re-done. I am now happy with them & will continue upwards as soon as I get my eyes un-crossed.
 

 

 
Mark

Ulises,
 
Of course - your Vasa - back in 014 - was the first that I saw after I joined MSW that had sails . It was at that time, way beyond me then to think about sails. Then continued to learn and improve -especially following great build logs that explained how bits were achieved.
Lot's of inspirations are created for me (and other members of course) by following other build logs - fun indeed. 
Thanks for your kind compliment.
 
PS: your "under the table" list is really impressive. 
 
Cheers,

Hi.
 A update.. and the finish.
A few photos of the finished Ship.
The hardest part for me was the rigging as my hands are not very nimble.
The painting was OK and we did this without struggling.
 I enjoyed building the Black Queen.
 

 

 

 

 
Well thanks for all the very supportive messages and the likes
The base board is cherry with a huge knot in. Not usable by Antony my carer.
But I like the pattern.
 
Alex.

Installed last sail🍻  now im getting the bowlines done and itll be down to some of the finishing touches ie. Cannon covers, anchors and a few other goodies.  Its been a treat working on the model, and having completed the rigging for the most part, a pattern emerges and its far less intimidating than when i started.  I actually quite enjoy the rigging, other than ratlines lol.

Patrick,
 
Thanks - but as I noted this technique was taken from Frank's great Corel Wasa. Working out quite well.
Had it not been for Frank's and Karl's(Billings Vasa) adding sails to their builds, I would have passed on these extra details.
I just did not have the skills to understand how to do these correctly. They were/ are my teachers. I'm only copying.
In fact still I'm spending half my time with their build logs as I continue with my just started sails. Great references indeed.
Your sails also came out super nice - really does add an extra dimension to these builds
 
PS: I have also learned that adding sails is really complicated and takes a lot of extra time. Glad, however that I'm taking the leap.
 
I also still need to follow through on my New Year's 017 wish -- FINISH this build by 12/31/017 ha ha - 
 
Cheers,

Hi Mates,
 
Finally started installing sails. First effort at this. Lot's of learning going on for me. Also working from three sets of plans is a bit confusing.
PS: I'm now so impressed by builders who breeze right through installing sails (:-)
 
Regards,

 

Hello Everyone.
 
Once again thanks to everyone for your likes and kind encouraging comments on my log so far, it's good to know that members are enjoying my efforts.
 
I am now moving into my 5th month of the build and it now feels like part of my everyday life, I look forward to each days building and can't imagine being without it.
 
Today's progress report tells of the completion of the waist gangway, ladders, waist bitts, belfry and I think they're called breast rails.
 
Still encountering the effects of the low sides, the gangway is about 4mm too low, it isn't really noticeable unless you can imagine the height of the gun crew, they would have constant headaches banging their heads, the only solution that I can think of is that the next pressgang should round up all the dwarfs that it can, I think about 40 should do the trick.
 
The bitts and ladders were pretty standard fare. The belfry was built from the kits cast parts. I put a plinth under the belfry, it wasn't called for but it just looked more complete with one.
 
The rails are a feature of the foredeck so I was very disappointed that Euromodel did not show it on any of the planes or refer to it other than to show a plan view from above which only really showed the top rail. If it hadn't been for members previous builds I wouldn't have known what it even looked like or how to go about building it. It was made up of 31  pieces ( uprights, crosspieces and braces ) cut from supplied strip material, I had to guess the sizes to cut those pieces by looking at members photos of it, it wasn't really very difficult and looks okay now that it's done, I'm now getting use to making things for this model as I go along, it just seems to be a normal feature of the kit and is not causing me any insurmountable problems, YET.
 
I'm still using the compact for the pictures and I think it's ok. It does have some advantages over my SLR, first it works, the depth of field is much greater, it has a macro feature and given its size I can get it right down onto the deck, anyway you can see the results for yourselves.
 
 
Ken
 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

I think your method of rigging the guns looks very effective. You are correct, if I was not looking specifically I would not have realised that there were no blocks. Much better than using the huge out of scale blocks supplied in some kits.
 
I have also noted you method of making rope coils.
 
Good work,
Glenn
 

@Sjors: thx. How was your Saturday in Luik? Was the car big enough to get it all back to Bleiswijk?
@Edwin: thx
 
And now my weekly update:
 As you can see, I finished planking the decks. Quit satisfied how it looks now with all the decks done.
Just started planking the upper side of the hull...
 

Your planking looks superb and I love the different colours of the two woods brilliant job .
Martyn
 
 

Had a busy weekend but also got in some good hours in the shipyard and manged to finish up the second set of planking on the port side and start on the second set on the starboard. Moving along nicely. 

All I can say is what a brilliant solution to the rigging problem Ken and I will definitely be pinching the idea for the ropes, well done mate 
 
Martyn

In her new home.  I built the case and renovated the room to fit this beast.  This has been a very satisfying journey and i would like to thank my dad "blighty" for introducing me to this great hobby.  Im hooked
 
I know the Surprise was a big leap for a first build, but with the resources available, and equal parts patience, luck and determination, it wasnt so bad.  Having done a fully rigged build, i am much more knowledgeable and understanding of how the early steps influence the later ones. 
 
Next on the table are the Real by Dusek, and the Wright flyer by Model airways.  Thanks for joining me on the journey folks.

Hello Everybody.
 
Pete, Yes that's interesting research, it's good to know what one's making and as you said, in life there are always unexpected surprises.
 
A small update, I've re-made the capstan, for the third time!  Each time I look at the build I feel some things could be improved on from my original attempt but I'm getting better. Also the entrance ports and steps.
 
I've done the front, rails, catheads, bitts etc but need to sort some pictures for that before I post them.
 
Ken
 
 

Hello Everyone,  
 
Again thanks for your likes and kind comments.
 
I'm having a bit of a problem with my camera at the moment, the lens won't talk to the camera. I keep getting message Error 001 no info from lens, clean contacts, but that doesn't help. Anyway I'm having to use my compact for now, the pictures seem to be coming out ok but it's quite limited.
 
I've completed the 12 canons on the main deck. I've painted, mounted and rigged them.
 
Those of you who've been following my log from early on will know of the problem I have with my hands, handling the small blocks needed for full rigging was going to cause me a great deal of frustration, 72 of them needed!  I decided to rig the canons as best as I could without using blocks, a few different methods were tried and the one that you see was the most effective, I think that unless you are actually looking for the blocks you wouldn't know that they weren't there. There will be the overhead walkway and the boat in the waist to distract the eye so I'm happy with my compromise.
 
The method that I adopted for making the rope coils was with double sided sticky tape. I run out a length of tape sticky side up, leaving the backing on and held it down in place with masking tape. It was quite easy to start and make up the coil using tweezers, this tape is very sticky and when the backing is removed is invisible. I cut the coil out, removed the backing and then pressed into place. In the end I was making a coil in about a minute and it's so sticky you can't get the cord off it when coiled.  
 
 
Ken
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

A little update - I was unhappy with the ratlines - line is a little too large & many of the knots did not look so good - especially near the top of the shrouds where they are very close together,so off they came. I am re-doing them with smaller line - about .018 inch. The clove hitches are now much tighter & neater looking as you can see in the picture. Gotta love re-do`s.
 

 
Mark