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Hello, Model Ship World! My name is Marc and I hail from NYC. While I am new to the site, I am not a novice to the hobby. Owing to the early growth of my two children, and the development of my career in woodworking, it has been some time since I built a ship model. About sixteen years, in fact! Most of my hobby time, in the evenings, has been devoted to a series of woodworking and furniture projects, which fall under the umbrella of something I refer to as the Heirloom Furniture Project - a legacy project for my kids to inherit sometime far down the road, I hope! Despite my interest in that, and my role as an active and involved Dad, I never stopped reading and acquiring books about my particular interest in ships and ship modeling: the 17th C. ship-of-the-line, and particularly French naval architecture of that period. My recent discovery of Pinterest has really accelerated my understanding of the unique design differences in the stern architecture of the French first and second rates. For anyone who's curious, my Pinterest page titled French Vaisseaus can be found under my member name Tafferal. The imagery I have been able to compile, there, has made it possible for me to begin designing a build that I have long been grappling with. Here's the link: https://www.pinterest.com/tafferal/french-vaisseaus/ This will not be a fully-framed scratch build, but rather an extensive modification of Heller's Soleil Royal. I plan to test out my "Theory of the Ship," in plastic, so that I might re-create the ship, in wood, with all the scratch-built bells and whistles, when I eventually retire. This will be my second build of the Heller kit. The first was begun at the age of eight; very cautiously, I proceeded to the main deck level where I stopped the build, understandably, until I had developed enough skill to competently complete the upper works. As a teenager, I completed everything up to the masting and rigging. After college, I finally finished the model and had a very nice case made to house it. I have been transporting it from apartment to apartment for the past twenty years. It is, in my opinion, a very carefully fit and assembled model (no injection marks, gaps or flash lines) that is impeccably painted. It is not, however, a realistic depiction of the ship, or of a sailing ship, in general. That notwithstanding, I, like many others before me have become completely captivated by the conjectural splendor of what the actual vessel must have been like. The short-comings of the Heller kit have been thoroughly documented on a number of forums. I'm assuming that most who come to read this thread are already well acquainted with the inherent omissions and short-comings of the plastic kit. Unlike so many others, though, I believe that there lies within the kit, great potential to build an accurate scale model of a French first-rate ship from the 1660s. Now, it bears mentioning that I have read the forum moderator's post on overly ambitious build threads, and I can certainly appreciate and agree with the thinking, there. This is going to be an ambitious build! I expect it to go on for quite a number of years. This is not, however, a passing fancy. I am a devotee of incremental progress: whatever little can be accomplished, most evenings of the week, gradually adds up to a thing taking shape. My main obstacle, until now, had been the difficulty in fully visualizing what I believe the original intent of Jean Berain's well known drafts of the SR's stern and quarter galleries to be. I will expound on my theory of the ship in a moment, however, I'd like to say a word or two about why this project has legs for me. The kit I am using for this build is one of the early pressings from the 70's, by Heller. It, initially, belonged to my next door neighbor who was a kind of mentor to me when I was young. Mark Hansen was an outstanding modeler of all kinds of military craft, but he especially loved the sailing ships. He gave me a pretty solid foundation on what was and was not appropriate to incorporate on a sailing ship model. It was his SR that I first spied on the top shelf of his hobby room. I was instantly captivated, and from that point forward perennially obsessed with this single vessel, in a way that I still don't fully comprehend. Mark helped me build my first SR. He intended to tackle the kit in his retirement, but he never made it. Cancer took him in his late 50s. I have never known a person to be more generous with his time, and his memory remains dear. I'm dedicating this build to him, as it is quite possible I would never have found fulfillment in the trades, if not for his influence. MY THEORY OF THE SHIP Soleil Royal's keel was laid down at Brest shipyards in 1666, as part of Minister to the Navy, Colbert's, aggressive reconstruction and restructuring of Louis XIV's navy. She was launched in 1668, and completed a year later in 1669. Her length on deck is listed as 164.5 antiquated French pieds, with a breadth of 44.5 FP. Using a conversion factor of 1.066, this translates to 175 modern, English feet by 47' 5" in breadth, at the main beam. She displaced 2,400 tons, and her draft measured 23.5 FP, or 25 EF. As a side note, I must mention that I am in the process of establishing a point person at the Musee de la Marine, so that I might ask specific questions about my source material. So far, I have not received any reply to my inquiries. For the moment, though, I'm assuming that these L.O.D. dimensions I am giving are, indeed, the L.O.D., and not some other specific measurement. This will, for the sake of scholarship and my future build in wood, be clarified. However, for the purpose of this build, it doesn't really matter; the kit hull halves are what they are, and in fact, the kit L.O.D. pretty exactly corresponds with 175 EF. In the end, though, the requirements of this particular build will necessitate a certain degree of fudgery to create the impression I am after. There will be small additions and subtractions - all to be explained in the next few posts. Her designer and builder was Laurent Hubac, and her initial armament is listed as 120 guns. As a shipwright, Monsieur Hubac was noted for building warships that were considerably wider than those of his contemporaries. This owed to his belief that the added width improved the handling characteristics of these large ships. Soleil Royal was, indeed, said to he a good sailing ship. One year earlier, another ship by M. Hubac was launched at Brest, and initially christened Le Royal Duc. With the establishment of the French rating system, in 1671, the ship was re-named La Reyne. Her listed dimensions are as follows: L.O.D., 155 FP, by 42 FP on the main beam. Using the above metric, this translates to a L.O.D. of 165' 3" in English feet and a maximum beam of a hair under 44' 9". She displaced 2,000 tons and her draft is listed as 22' 10" FP, or 24' 4" EF. Her initial armament was listed as 104 guns. The two ships are of a similar size, displacement and rating. However, unlike SR, there exist two highly detailed Van De Velde portraits of La Reyne, showing her from the starboard stern quarter, as well as, the port bow, broadside. It is immediately apparent that the design of La Reyne's stern and quarter galleries is markedly different from SR. Also, as is to be expected, the arrangement of her gunports is significantly different from what is known about SR, and the arrangement of her guns. The value of these Van De Velde portraits, for me, has to do with the wealth of hull detail that is apparent (and glaringly omitted in the Heller, and vis-a-vis, the incomplete Tanneron model upon which it is directly based), as well as the ship's sheer line and presence on the water. In pen and wash, one can see a significantly more stout vessel, in La Reyne, with a notably lower sheer line, as compared to Tanneron's interpretation of Berain's designs for SR. As a side note, there is a Belgian on another site who has outlined his build plans for converting Heller's SR into La Reyne of 1671. What he is proposing is absolutely attainable, as the VDV drawings are remarkably clear, especially when combined with another period drawing of La Reyne's stern that shows the ornament for what it is - if not, remotely, to scale. Like me, this gentleman sees the potential in Heller's kit for a sound scale model, although his build will necessitate re-configuring the armament. As am I, he is still in the research stage, but I will be following his build and posting links, as appropriate. I want to say, from the outset, that the question of SR's armament - whether 120 guns upon launching, or 104 at the time of her demise - is not one that I plan to resolve with this build. I will be using the moulded kit hull halves and upper bulwarks. I will be making extensive modifications to those parts, and completely scratch-building the entire stern and beakhead bulkhead. Heller's kit, like Tanneron's model, is pierced for 110 guns. I suppose I could omit the two lower bow chase ports, but that would only bring me down to 108. Leaving them out would be a largely arbitrary decision without any clear basis in fact. In the end, my ship will carry 110 guns. There are just certain constraints of working with the pre-established port locations of the plastic hull that I am not willing to overcome. This is the first and most glaring. I am recycling what I can of the kit because the essential lines of the hull and tumblehome are fairly representative of period practice, and of course, it is an enormous time saver to avoid the complete scratch-building of a hull. Ultimately, what I am aiming to achieve, is what I believe to be the correct interpretation of Berain's stern and quarter galleries, as well as the decorative frieze of the upper bulwarks. In the course of the build, I will also add correct period detail - correctly scaled - to the hull, head, decks and guns, while completely re-masting and rigging the ship, according to the guidance of Lees and Anderson. A few gunports, give or take, will not detract from the impression of a ship that sits slightly lower in the water, on a notably broader beam, with noticeably lower sheer; in other words, a ship that won't capsize from the recoil of her own broadside. My ship model will bear a resemblance to the Heller kit, but I hope to far exceed it in ornamental magnificence and correct period detail. What I'm going for is essentially this: This is a work from a twentieth century artist, I believe from the 1950's, who must have been similarly infatuated with SR. I believe that he correctly depicts the configuration of SR's stern. Although, I must say that even if it were the case that she were almost completely painted blue above the lower, main wales - I will not be depicting her, as such. More on that later. In future posts, I will outline what exactly my theory of the ship entails, as well as, my supporting documentary evidence. I will then discuss exactly what I intend to do with the Heller kit, in order to bring all of this about, and then I will share with you the drawings that I have been working on, that will serve as the basis of my modification plan. I've been corresponding with Dan Pariser quite a bit lately, and he has prevailed upon me that I would be much better served digitizing my hand-drawn images so that I could more easily develop them in Corel Draw, for example. He is right, and I will. After not hearing from me for such a long time, I have to credit Dan for being so generous with his knowledge and resources. He and Mark Hansen are two of a kind! So, I must first create a scale "field" - as opposed to a line and body plan (not necessary because I'm not framing) - upon which I can layer all of the new detail. There will be some learning there, naturally, but I will share what I've arrived at, so far, in future posts. Thank you all for taking an interest in this thread and I look forward to hearing whatever you might have to say on the subject. I have also read the moderator's post on forum etiquette, when commenting on a thread or post; I am not nearly as brittle as the plastic I will be working with, so please don't labor too much in your replies. Just tell me what's on your mind. All the best, Marc

20th February 2020 I started this build almost exactly 7 years ago (February 2013) but parked it after perhaps 2 or 3 months for a variety of reasons. Every once in a while I’d half-heartedly take another look but, with no end of other calls on my time – a house renovation, a large garden, a family – it was always easier to justify further procrastination. I finally got going again this January 2020 and am enjoying it immensely this time. One of the reasons I parked it, to be honest, was demoralisation - I hadn’t really appreciated what building a 1:100 Victory would entail and there are some very tedious, repetitive tasks from the outset. I think I was probably expecting it to be something like building planes as a child just with more and different parts. Also, the poor Heller instructions had me scouring the web straight away and landing on Pete Coleman’s site, which was both a blessing and a bane. For those who didn’t ever see it, it was like this site, full of examples of truly extraordinary skill and craftsmanship. The trouble was, having seen what I should do, I couldn’t possibly just whack this together straight out of the box, as intended, and that meant hours and hours on small modifications lay ahead. However, it was always parked, not abandoned! I should say from the outset that this is my first go at high quality model-making. Other than helping my progeny with the odd bit of model-based homework I haven’t touched a model kit in perhaps 45 years. I chose the Victory for sentimental reasons, inspired by the books of Patrick O'Brian, not realising that this is probably the Everest of plastic sailing ship models. In fact the intention was that this would be the only kit I’d ever build, it was a project for one wet and miserable winter rather than a hobby. Who knows, that may change by the time I’ve finished the Victory (assuming I ever do). So, the object of this build log is two-fold; it’s partly to share my learning with anyone else in the same position, novice’s taking on this huge challenge; and partly to seek advice, as I go along, from the many experienced, expert modellers on this forum. It may help if I say what I’m aiming for. I’m not too bothered about true historical or nautical accuracy, just want a really nice looking ship at the end of the day. I’m unlikely to spend much if any time adding features below decks that can’t be seen, but I am making the ‘usual’ modifications like hull thickening, the admirals’ entry and altered side steps. It almost goes without saying that I’m constantly looking at the fantastic work of Dafi, Foxy, Bishophobbies and a few others, though I’m expecting my results to be more modest. That's enough of the intro - in a moment I'll start adding build content.

OK my MSW friends. I am going to need a kick to get me started on my Heller 1/100 HMS Victory. I know it is going to be a long and enjoyable process so I have to eventually get started. I got the kit a good while ago but have only removed the plastic wrapper and peeked inside. Meanwhile I continue working on a previous build but see the box containing that beauty setting there in my peripheral vision. I have spent countless hours reading the build log of other Victory builders. That may be part of my reason for delay. Each time I have my mind set on how I want to proceed once I start I see an idea or technique someone has used and think “Wow that is what I want to do!” So I guess my concern is doing something a certain way then later seeing a better way and being disappointed. My initial internal debate is the process used to paint the hull, especially the stern? I think by far the design of the stern and the paint scheme is so distinctive on the Victory. You see it you know it is the Victory! So beautiful! If you are now building, or did in the past, what was your method to apply the black and yellow ochre.

From Le Superbe to Le Praetorian – A Heller Seventy-four, after Boudriot This is a summarised record of my attempt to modify a small scale plastic kit by reference to the works of Jean Boudriot. Very few of the original kit fittings were used in the build. This was to be a first attempt at fully detailing a model of this scale, adding sails and displaying in a waterline setting. Early progress Lower deck detail. Upperdeck showing Galley and Pastry oven. One unfortunate fellow is spending time in the bilboes, for swearing on a Sunday. Restyling the Foc’sle rail. Modified waist railings using brass strip.

My first attempt at a build log, and only my second sailing ship model, so I hope what I write makes some sense. I've always been a fan of Heller ship kits (I have a collection of their modern French navy ships), so when a friend challenged me to build a sailing ship, one of their's was an obvious choice. That was Le Glorieux, a 74 gun ship in 1/150 scale, which took a couple of years and a lot of new knowledge to complete, using the Boudriot books. Le Soleil Royal seemed the next obvious choice, given my enthusiasm for things French from that era, and J Lemineur's book on the St Philippe a very useful source of information. I soon became aware from looking on the web that this kit is problematic, to say the least, but also that people have made some really beautiful models out of it with some work and imagination, so I decided to make a start and the pictures below show where I am now. I am including some interior detail visible through the stern windows and I am moving to a colour scheme more like that of the St Philippe, so more red ochre and vermilion than French blue. I have just fitted a wooden deck from HisModel which looks a good deal better than the plastic imitation which I sanded off. I have been really inspired by Mark's build log (Hubac's Historian) to make some attempt to improve the kit, but lacking his skills in carving (and his patience!) I will be adapting more of the kit parts than scratch building. As of now, I'm painting the figurehead, so will post again when that is fitted.

Having completed my first model ship (Airfix's HMS Victory) in 2013 I was eager to build a second, 74 gun ship as they were the mainstay of the Royal Navy. However it soon became apparent that none are available in the form of a plastic kit. But, after a bit of digging around i discovered that Heller do two versions of the French 74 gun ship, quite a few of which were captured in battle and re-commissioned into the Royal Navy. This meant i could build a British 74, but i would have to do quite a bit of kit bashing. Now all i had to do was decide what ship to base my model on. THE SHIP Launched at Rochefort on 29 April 1794 Lion was a 74-gun, third rate ship of the line -a member of the Téméraire class designed for the French Navy by Jacques-Noël Sané. In May 1795 the ship was renamed Formidable. Captained by Charles Alexandre Linois Formidable sailed as part of the fleet commanded by Admiral Villaret Joyeuse that fought against the British at the Battle of Groix on 3 June 1795. During the battle Formidable came under the sustained fire of two British ships. Her hull, masts, sails and rigging were badly cut up and a fire soon broke out on her poop. When her mizen mast fell over the side Linois finally hauled down his colours. Over 320 of his crew of 700 had either been killed or wounded in the action. Linois had lost an eye and all his lieutenants had been injured. The ship was taken to Portsmouth where Linois was exchanged. The Royal Navy already had a 90 gun second rate named Formidable and as it was mistakenly believed that the ship had been captured off Belle Ile, rather than the Ile de Groix, she was renamed Belleisle. In August 1798 Belleisle began fitting out at Portsmouth. Her hull was strengthened and much of her internal layout was altered to suit British tastes. The refit took fourteen months and cost £35842.0.0d (roughly two million pounds in todays money) In February 1803 she sailed for the Mediterranean, joining a fleet that would soon fall under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson. Captained by William Hargood, (her longest serving captain) she was the second ship in the British lee column at Trafalgar, sailing into battle astern of Collingwood’s flag-ship Royal Sovereign. She soon lost all her masts, her bowsprit, her anchors, even her figurehead in her bruising encounter with Fougueux and eight other ships of the combined fleet. The only place left to raise her ensign was at the end of a pike which she managed to keep flying until the ships following behind her in the British line finally came to her rescue. By the end of the battle thirty-three of her people had been killed and a further ninety-four injured. The next day the battered British ships and their French and Spanish prizes were hit by a terrifying storm which did not let go for four whole days. Sails were shredded, fragile masts brought crashing down. When the storm hit Belleisle was under the tow of the frigate Naiad. The tow had broken and as desperate attempts were made to reconnect the line in the heaving swells the two ships crashed into one another, staving in Naiad’s stern. Moments later Naiad’s topsail ripped apart in the howling wind and had to be hacked free; then she lost one of her staysails. By the time Naiad’s sails had been sorted out Belleisle had disappeared from view in the heaving seas and driving rain. Left to fend for themselves Hargood now attempted to take his ship around Cape Trafalgar and into the Straits of Gibraltar under a hastily lashed together jury rig. Around midnight Hargood summoned his officers and told them the ship was about to be wrecked and that they should prepare for the worst. Belleisle’s people, cold and exhausted, waited through the night for the end, but thankfully it never came. By the next morning, using the smallest scrap of sail, they had managed to turn the ship away from the dangerous shore. Naiad returned and as the wind eased was finally able to get a line across to Belleisle and tow her into Gibraltar. Belleisle returned to Portsmouth for a refit which took four months and cost £16384.0.0d. In September 1806 she took part in the capture and destruction of a crippled French 74, Impetueux. After almost four years in command Hargood left the ship a year later. Belleisle was present at the capture of Martinique in January 1809 and later that year she took part in expeditions to the Scheldt and Walcheren. She was finally laid up in ordinary in September 1809. In July 1814 she began a large repair at Portsmouth but a month later the decision was taken to have her broken up instead. THE KIT Copyright Heller The donor kit for this conversion will be Heller’s Le Superbe (80895), a Téméraire class 74 launched in 1784 but wrecked in a storm eleven years later. Here are some sprue shots. These white sprues are the fixtures and fittings for Superbe. Heller's other 74, Glorieux, has a different set of sprues The sprues on the right are for the long guns and carriages. There are five of each provided in the kit The kit also comes with three sheets of vacuformed sails, a chain for the rudder and a rigging machine. No rigging thread though (any provided with the kit would probably have needed replacing anyway.) The instructions are all in French but a page of translations is provided. Parts are both numbered and given a description i.e. 77 bowsprit cap THE BUILD I started things off by sanding down the hull and decks which all have a quite pronounced wood grain effect. I then attached the parts containing the hawse holes to the hull, filling and sanding the gap. As you can see the copper plates continue up to the lower wale rather than finishing at the waterline. This will need to be sorted out. Another area requiring attention are the rather poorly moulded gratings. These need tackling anyway as British and French 74's had different deck layouts.

PART 1 It has been a long time since I worked on any of my boats, and it will be a while before I can continue on them, but I needed to do something, so I picked out my Heller Siganot kit for a quick build. This is a model of a ~42’ French two masted gaff rigged fishing schooner in 1/60th scale. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the kit contents. It includes the paint, but I don’t know how old the kit is, quite by the box wear, so I may use my Vallejo Paints. I may have to make new decals, also, the ones provided in the kit are black, and will not stand out well on a black hull. The box art also shows a slightly different pain scheme, with the white trim, not a color provided in the kit. First was gluing the hull halves. The fit was quite good. I’m using Faller glue. Next I built the boat’s tender. As a general note, yes I’m getting a bit too much glue on the joints. My hands shake a bit, and sometimes this affects my glue application. I need to get some liquid glue, in addition to the thicker Faller type. Next I assembled the stand. The pedestals had ejector marks on one side, so I put a piece of 400 grit sandpaper flat on the bench, and sanded that side in a circular and back and forth motion. A figure 8 motion is better, but these parts are small and difficult to hold. There is a supplied name plate, but I’m going to wait until the boat is mostly done to attach it, as the keel sits at an angle, so the pedestal openings are not the same height, and I’m not to the point of setting the hull on the stand, to see which “direction” makes the hull level, nor which side of the boat turns out looking better. Now I found a problem. Heller’s instructions, have you set the tender inside the stern, for display. This would prevent sailing the boat, in real life, and is also not really true to life. If the boat was moored the tender would be used to get to shore. If docked, they might pull in in, I’m not sure. In any case, if sailing the tender would be at best towed behind, or perhaps left at the mooring. I'm still debating displaying the sails as set or stowed. Not a real problem, except, they have a untextured mounting boss on the deck, for positioning the boat for display! It would not look good, if I decide to build her with the sails set. Above is a picture of the boss, with it partially whittled away. Using a curved #22 blade, I carefully carved it off, even with the deck surface. I used a large razor saw blade to cut in the planning grooves. I then dragged the saw lengthwise over the area and the surrounding deck to blend it in with the molded in texture. After some cleanup, it blends in well. The hatch has already been attached. Today when I went in, I had a small shock. There is a small hollow cube that attaches to the deck, near the foremast. I think it is the air pipe for the live well. Last night I glued the two halves together and left them clamped in a clothespin, to setup. This morning the clothespin was sitting where I left it on the bench, but there was no part in it! It has apparently gone to that great part heaven in the sky! I looked, but my shop is a horrible mess, from moving stuff, while I renovate it, and it has fallen in some crack, and disappeared! At least it will not be hard to make another one. The last part today was installing the deck and a forward bulkhead. Hopefully that won’t disappear too!

Late summer 1805, the sun is burning inexorably from above, the wind is completely asleep, the sea is smooth as glass. The dispatches have already been exchanged. The master of the small cutter has just returned to his tiny vessel. Behind it there is towering the enormously massiv silhouette of the huge black and ocher striped three decker. Through the open gunports the lashed up guns can be seen. Also the officers' cabins ports are wide opened by the order of the Captain's to ensure an optimal ventilation of the hot and steamy lower decks. Clatter of activity on some guns being ran out cuts through the silence. The rumble of the heavy guns rolling over the decks and the trampling of countless bare feet and the short shouted commands supported by a multitude of hand signs originate from the ordered gundrill for new gun crews and their officers. In competition between the three decks they are fighting for the fastest rate of firing. The rest of the ships crew is occupied with cleaning and mending duties. The holystone are scratching on the decks. Above all the sails hang slack in their yards. No breath of wind moves them. They are nestled heavily over stays and fighting tops. The captain took advantage of the hot calm to put up all the canvas possible for airing. One of the studdingsails is taken in, the spar tied up with its inner end against the shrouds, in order to mend something on its fittings. Sitting on a swing seat pendent from the fore top, a crew member just is finishing painting over with ocher the originally black coloured mast loops. On the poop Captain Hardy monitors the young cadets´ training in navigation, supported by Lord Nelson, who uses the opportunity to entertain the cadets with stories of his actions and the ideas of his tactical concepts. But in the back of everybodys mind there is just one question - When will there be wind again ...

Starting my New Build of 2021.... The "ROYAL LOUIS" 1/200 - Heller. The Drawing of the Hull, the distribution of the artillery and rigging were drawn from a description of the ship's lines by Comte d'ESTAING dated 25 September 1772. The building plans were prepared by the famous Naval architect MR, OLLIVIER. The ROYAL LOUIS was a first rate ship, it was armed with 120 cannons, including 32 x 36 calibre guns each weighing nearly 5 Tonnes. In 1779-1780, ROYAL LOUIS was a lead ship of the Blue-White Squadron, which was part of the so-called "Comte d'ESTAING" America Squadron. Prep work done to Hulls inside and out to make the paintwork more applicable. Cannon carriages started, 4 different sizes, 40 done only another 80 to go, then on to the Cannons themselves. This will be the most time consuming painting within the kit itself, even more so than the stern gallery architecture. 648 parts plus alterations, Big job ahead, quite probably replacing the masts with wooden ones as well. Happy modelling everyone Staysafe and take care 🤺🤺🤺⚓⚓⚓

I have started the build of a Heller Le Solei Royal, my level of expertise in building models is of an advanced beginner (LOL). I know I am unable to turn out some build at the level of some of the very well done ships I have seen in this blog, but I will do my best and build the ship as good as I can. Attached are some photos of the hull, I am still in the process of double checking the hull in an attempt to find and correct any errors, and also to fix any paint details, once I am done with this process I will start installing the masts. I intent to do my own shrouds and rat line (I may not have an option about this because the kit does not comes with preformed shrouds ) I am also thinking of doing my own paper sails. Attached are some photos of the progress, also a photo of a sail I made as a training exercise to see how it came out. Joe

I had a build log on the now apparently defunct "HMS Victory Modeller's Knowledge Repository..." by Pete Coleman, but all this is gone now. I thought I'd just show a handful of progress shots, and the completed project. I never could have built her like she came out without that web site; it's a shame about it. For any readers contemplating a build, know that there are now available seven sheets of brass etch to enhance the kit. Everything from accurate shroud chains to nice stanchions to trigger locks for the cannon. They are superlative, although I only ordered two as this was my first model in decades and I had never seen brass etch to that point in time. You can find the brass etch here: http://www.dafinismus.de/plates_en#anker2 Never served thread before. After reading about serving machines I made one out of my old meccano. Here are the first served shrouds around the foremast head. The deadeye strops are brass etch. I later changed the jeer block lashings to natural colour, just to make them jump. I bought this kit in the early 80's. The decals crumbled to bits when I wet them, so I ordered adhesive vinyl lettering for the figurehead. I painted the false panels blue instead of black because I liked the look with all the other blue trim. The brass etch binnacle, with (barely visible) lantern and compasses. Home-made post and rails at the poop deck ladders. Syren 2mm blocks on the cannon tackle. Larger brass rod belaying pins so my big clumsy hands could tie off to them. Notice the brass etch boarding pikes on the mainmast. Hammock netting from HobbyLobby, on brass etch stanchions. Added brass handrails down the main companionway ladder. First look at masts plunked in dry assembled. Looking like a ship! Lower shrouds complete. Psychedelic mizzen ratline guide from cereal box. Why not the blank side, you ask? I have no idea now. Home-made topsail yard parral. Nearly there! Decided to rig bowlines too, hitched to yards. Stream anchor lashed to port sheet anchor. Also made anchor buoys, lashed to foremast shrouds. Copied Blue Ensign's idea to make little Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy figures. Faces aren't very good but ok to naked eye. Had a cast acrylic case made for her, atop a cherry cabinet I made for the purpose. Sat three of the boats on the shelf to allow viewer to see down to the upper deck through the skid beams, but really you cannot see even the cannon rigging on quarterdeck. At least my eyes cannot. Print hung above is Geoff Hunt's "England Expects", depicting "Victory" among the British fleet approaching the combined fleet on the morning of Trafalgar.

Just recently started this kit after finally finishing Heller 1/100 Victory. What a change from 18th century rig and cannons. Long narrow all iron hull with midship bridge. Five iron masts. The decks are crammed with machinery such as manual brace & halyard winches and several capstans.. Kit Summary: Hull halves were crammed across the kit box diagonal; I think they must have wanted to use the same box size as the Passat kit. The stem and lowermost rudder mount were bent because the diagonal really is slightly too small. Kit includes thermoplastic sails. Kit does not include blocks, or any representation of turnbuckles for shrouds and backstays. Aside from sprues holding the 5 decks (foc'sle deck, fwd well deck, bridge deck, aft well deck, poop deck) and some hatch covers, there are only six parts sprues four of which are identical - a very tiny pile compared to the ~21 unique sprues for Victory. The instructions are good for assembly, with many fine diagrams showing what goes where, but rigging details are sparse. The good news is that Heller did not scatter the rigging instructions all through the assembly drawings but instead devote several drawings at the end to rigging: stays; shrouds and backstays; lifts and braces; buntlines and halyards. The bad news is that belaying points are in Heller's patented microprint. Also the proper connection of Jarvis brace winches is not shown i.e. leading blocks. At this point I must mention that Heller's engravers depicted the steel hull plates nicely, but they mysteriously disappear below the waterline. It bothered me enough that I bought Evergreen 0.005" sheet and cut it into plates which I glued on individually, in a double layer every 2nd row to simulate the riveting overlaps. It looked like hell at first, but after some caulking (acrylic painter's caulk squeezed out of the tube via a very small hole drilled in the cap end to provide a very small bead) and painting it actually turned out pretty well. I have joined the hull halves and painted the black/white/red colour scheme. I have painted and washed and varnished the decks and I am busy painting various bits of deck machinery and steel bulkheads. I need to attach it to a stand before gluing in the decks, though. One question for anyone who may have built this kit: there is a little auxiliary bridge on the after storm gangway with a second binnacle. Around two sides of this bridge there are rows of something similar to plant pots (?!) outside the railings. They are hollowed out. They do not appear to be for something to glue into as far as I can see in the instructions. Anyone know what they might be? The only thing I can think of is, possibly, fire buckets? I will try to figure out how to attach some pictures later; it's late now.

I have just discovered the excellent and highly informative construction report from safemaster about the "Real" from Heller. Since I am currently working on the same model but have quite a different display intent, it might be interesting for some if I post a construction report here. I built the model about ten years ago, and since then I have actually managed to save the extremely fragile ship undamaged through several moves. In the meantime, however, I've seen myself a little fed up with it, and while researching the Internet, I had an idea for a far-reaching modification. Here are some pictures of the model as I built it ten years ago. It can be clearly seen that I have chosen much paler colors than safemaster. Otherwise, in my opinion, the similarities between our models predominate. I'll go into that later. Schmidt

I started this about 3 months ago after finishing my Victory of 1765, while not up to par with some of the wooden builds I've seen it looks okay Here's a current picture and the link to my album. Michael D https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOpM2553-s03IIGshB6OXM5n6_PwUd4yhtXbhuc

Some background: I started this build a year and two months ago. I did some modeling when I was a kid, but discovered other joys of life when I reached puberty :-) In the meantime I settled down and decided to take it up again (I'm 30 years old). I decided to go for a challenge and went for the Heller Victory. I wanted to try all the new and exciting tools & techniques I did not have the money for when I was a kid. I started out using acrylics by brush, but invested in a good compressor and airbrush a couple of months ago. Too bad I did not have this at the start of my build! The finish is so much nicer! The goal is not to make a true to life representation of the actual ship, but a nice looking model in warm colours with lot's of detail that looks good under glass in the living room. Enough background, here are the pictures: You can clearly see half of the hull bee lines haven't received the sepia wash yet I use to give it more depth and a warmer tone. I also need to rework the figurehead a little bit. The white crown is a bit to big and the white horse needs some TLC as well. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the look of the ship! I used some styrene sheet to make the gun port thicker. I like that look even though it's out of scale. After a lot of trial and error, I finally settled on a style of gun carriage lashing. I used 2mm single blocks and Morope rigging chords. The most difficult part was making the two holes in the top blocks. I ruined quite a lot of blocks just to get these guns finished :-) Will need to order lot's more! I was not completely happy with my decks. The colour was a bit to pale, it missed some 'life', and some parts were damaged a bit. So, in a moment of temporary insanity, I went out and got a second Heller Victory kit. Maybe a bit drastic, but now I have spare parts for everything and this allows me to experiment a bit more. I tore out the old deck. This meant I also had to take out the four guns I tackled already, unfortunately. I redid the decks using the same technique, but this time I added two coats of MIG brown filter. This added a nice weathered wood tone. I'm very happy with the result, but judge for yourselves (the foto does not do it justice, though): The stanchions were made using 2mm eyelets and 0.1mm Morope rigging chord.

I decided to do a quick build of a 1/600 Queen Mary 2. I'm going to try to build all the 1/600 ocean liners available before I move back to the larger scales.

Hello friends of the unusual today II start a short cut: SR2SP ! We all knoe HsH's enormous rebuild of the SR out of the box towards her real apearance. - and this remembered me on my mistake 40 years ago when I at adding the last flag torn my SR from the desk down on the floor accidentaly. I also read in Cederic L. rebuild to Le Rheyne and both together motivated me to plan a rebuild of SR as Sankt Philippe - short cut in here : SP- I'm still awaiting my Ancre monographie. It might be possible:

I'm new to MSW and ship building. I have done a lot of modeling over the years. And I have found out that ship building is the 'meat and potatoes', if you will, of modeling. I have lost a lot of my earlier photos of the cannon being built and the hull construction. I followed pete coleman example and others to get ideas for details. Books are needed to build these ship models if you want to even try to be accurate. I'll be submitting a lot of my photos. Many of which will be rather boring but I want to preserve them somewhere other than Facebook. All comments and tips are welcome!

Hello friends in the as unsolvable closed thread about TERRIBLE - here the link to all that are interested: we figured out very important content about the close relative of SOLEIL ROYAL 1668 - the ROYALBDUC later rebaptisted to REYNE/REINE. The renaming may also been gone aside withba more sorber decoration. This realtionship was announced by Marc with the followingbsimple few and important words: "As a side note: La Reyne is the closest known corollary to Soleil Royal. Same yard, same designer, built a year apart, and only slightly shorter in length and breadth. The sheer presence of SR would have been very similar to this vessel. Perhaps, she was a little bit taller at the stern in 1670, if she carried a poop royal deck." In stead of a repetition of the development of the knowledge let us jump into the important points we do have as evidence and knowledge: Sometimes you can trust in Wikipedia more https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Royal_Duc_(1668) than in a 26 year old book of Jean Boudriot who's discriptions show a 76 gun ship. On page 319 we do finde some information we do not got presented unter the First Sunking's Navy at the very beginning. So the key documents of ROYAL DUC are the following tetralogy: and as scaled(!!!) drawing of the transom. The pure amount of details in these 380 year old drawings is incredible : The galliin is very Dutch innstyle with its V-shaped structure and the figure head shows a horse riding man with a (kind of duke's crown or) contemporary stylish turban. There are a four circle round gunports for the VIII pounder guns of the backdeck. When we do walk along the hull aft we pass the cathead coming to the fenders and stairs This pictures of four tiers of gunnery's muzzels gives an impressive picture of the pure force brought to the battle line by ROYAL DUC in her two beattes she fought. She took part in the two beattes of Schoonveld on the 7. and 13. VI. 1671 (N.S.) and as LE REYNE thevship took part in the a beatte of Texel on 21. VIII. 1673. Under both names she acted as flagship of Vice-Admiral Jean d'Estrées. Turning to the quater gallery there arebstraight structured of an (fake?) window enclosed single tier with lozenge lead structure. The very first window is/can be used as a gunport. (In the middle of the Anglo-Dutch-War this may have been a secret information... were the vdVs spys in their second profession?) The deck above the nicely shaped and figured roof isn't integrated in a kind of bigger artwork and so the officer's accomodation only got a pair of luxuriously framed windows. The coat is usualy ermine (stoat/short tailed weasel) in heraldic symbolism looking like this: Allways black on a white background - not to be confused with a fleur-de-lis! When we look at this vdV ink paintung we do recognize easily that foreward looking gunport in front of every battery deck below&beside the gallion. The wide gap between the piercings through the hull is very interesting. These for now I do hope on a cooperation with Cederic due to support e ach other. ROYAL DUC had hat the following armament : LD 16 × XXXVI ryl. frc. pound 14 × XXVIII rfp MD 30 × XVIII rfp UD 26 × VIII rfp F'c'st'l&QD: 18×VI rfp ,Here both views added to each other. ROYAL DUC's scilpturing program was more elaborated than the one after her rebaptism. So I have to look for differences like a hawk to figure out what ship is infont of me on the paper.

Hello folks, as I am still in the reconvalescence hospital I have to reorder my mind and brain after a little stroke. Due to this I decided to add some fast test project in here, due to the fact, that I'll have no possibility to build - I just can draw (analogue on paper). So I bought the book about the recennt exhibition in the Deutsches Technikmuseum (as the German version was not avaible at Amazon) and picked out LE TERRIBLE as a fascinating project. to try my restskills of drawing. The LE TERRIBLE has 14 of the 36pfder gunports and was furnished with 100 - 104 guns. The heller kit is perfect for both - as both have got a 14-gun port 36pounder large gun deck - at the LE TERRIBLE 1670 some more rework onto the hull will have to happen. The half of the other eight ship are present with three drawings - here the little list as we find in where wonderfully enlarged drawings of mostly (T_ransom/G_allion/S_idegallery) and just the very basic facts: POMPEUX 1706/08 (T) AMBITIEUX 1691 (T/G/S) BRILLANT 1690 (T/G/S) PRUDENT 1697 (T/G) TERRIBLE 1692 (G/S) FROUDOYANT 1723 (T/G/S) SOLEIL ROYAL 1669 (T) SAINT LOUIS 1693 (T/G/S) So here we have the side gallery of LE TERRIBLE and the gallion From some distance these both look quite normal but in detail they offer their horrifying character: The anchor bars collumn adding a cerberus, a bizzare monster and snakes converting to leafs. Our beloved Triton is eaten by a horrifyingseamonster thats tails eands in a blind monsters head The figurehead is a monstourous face in a clawended "horror-pancake" guarded by two furies - sa you can see fromout the coin it is a hughe enlagement of these drawings. The LE ROYAL THERESE seems to be a misidentification as the ink seems to picture the 1670 (68-70gun) LE TERRIBLE as Marc @Hubac's Historian told me. So by aid of this I want to reconstruate the transoms courronament. What do we know anout this transom without having the drawing prospect? We will have got to have five tiers - the Upper Dech (UD) is the one under the coronnement with a balcony. I think to add some awning/sunblind (as used to from SAINT PHILIPPE - but as the ship was build at Brest at the Atlantic ocean this feature is questionable, as SP was stationed in the mediteranias sea - so it might be superluous... or authentic baroquelike luxurious?). Then there comes a secomd balcony with collumns (number?) on the Middle deck (MD) followed by the last row of windows on the Lower Deck (LD). Under this there are the two or four gunports aft. Courronament UP (balcony with awning) MD (balcony with columns) LD (windows only) lower transom with gunports (2 or 4) and stern Let's start with the couronnament: Certainly the couronnament will be framed at the sides by the "eaten triton" coming from the side gallery and needs two podestals for the sidelaterns and one for the main laterne - in the middle. So over the courennament there will be a bow up to the stand of the big laterne and on this stand a floral/monstourous mixture mirrowlike on both sides leading up to the foot of the laterne. The 1670th drawing looks like a "structure" surrounded by halbers, pikes, trompets, flags, standarts and other long weapons used contemporary. So my first idea is to sourrounding this copied and horzentalisized face and medusian detail (copied ealiely from the sidegallery) only into a ring of the weapons, flafgs, &ct. Or I do take the figure head and "roll it out" so the monstourouse face is guarded by two furies (in a ring of waepons, flags, &ct.)? I also think about taking the fury in the center of the installation on the couronnament and surround it by these dragonheaded snakes ( these leaving the eye craves of the monster) so the ugly bat wings can overshadow the area of the encouonnament and under this a lot of destroyed war goods can build da layer. It is quite freedesigned - is it thought to modern and not contemporary enough? What do our specialists do say? ( Thanks for our intrest, ( being patient with my shipproject hopping) and I promisse to post more due to the fact that the coloured copy of the side galery is neary ready.) I am happy about any ideas as my brain suffers more than my rest of the body so ceativity has gone into lost - also remembering thinks. So any idea is welcome to me. If you are interested in the exhibition itself it is in the museum till September 2019 - https://sdtb.de/museum-of-technology/exhibitions/architectura-navalis/

Greetings to everyone! This kit needs no introductions, as it is an old Heller, with many issues. In fact I have made, and/or attempted to kitbash this kit many times in the past. So basically the simple plan is this: repeat all the methods I used on the bomb ketch, with the experience and skill I got from that kit to the Royal Louis. The main issue this kit has, which had to be addressed is the horrendous wood grain that covers the entire side of the ship. It is off scale, and actually shouldn't exist at all. Plus the over the top wales that had to be trimmed down as well. With these out of the way, some modifications are needed on the bow, like re positioning the holes of the anchor lines to a more conventional place, better staircases, knees to hold the upperdecks up etc. Trying to match the model in the Musee de la Marine perfectly is not my intend, chiefly because I don't like its color scheme. Here you can see the first difficult step: The entire ship has been sanded down, and every surface smoothed down. The wales were reduced as well. When planks need to show up, I'll draw them with pencil just like in the Bomb ketch.

I am currently searching for these kits. Heller no longer makes the Sinagot or 𝑻𝒉𝒆 Cotre Kurun. I can find them in the US, but the postage is more than the cost of the kits. Seems a bit excessive for a cardboard box and plastic bits. I am in France. Any info would be much appreciated.

Started the Heller HMS Victory !/100 https://youtu.be/uRLGxpwzd0M

I just purchased the Heller, come to find out all the instructions are in French! Any way someone could either send me the instructions in English or share with me how to get them? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Going to repost all the pictures onto this thread as I go along. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hi All, Yesterday arrived this nice kit and I thought let make a build log from my progress. I havent seen this kit here on the forum yet so maybe it fun for other to see how much I'll struggle to get this job done. And maybe others will give me some ideas and recommendations. It is my 3rd kit that im going to build and seems pretty difficult. And most probably its going to be more difficult when I will start with the rigging as far as I can see I will have to make some modifications to get that job done. I think I will order a dremel or such thing to drill some holes where needed, but thats for later. In the next couple of days I will start with some primer on the decks and hull and start painting the canons (there are 74). I will try (as I im trying to do with my Revell Bounty kit as well) to make the ship look like its used. The kit the Heller develloped is the Le Glorieux at the time it was still from the French. This ship has been in a war in the Caribean during the time that the French and Spanish tried to conquerer Jamaica. But the English won and took the Le Glorieux in the fleet (so far about the hostory of this ship) He some pictures of the kit: The box The hull The sails, I'm not sure if I will use these. I like to make real sails but this kit is from plastic and I dont know if the masts can handle the weight of real sails. I printed some drawings in A1 format for a nice reference Well I hope everybody will enjoy following this log. I will try to show the first progress soon. Grtz Ray