Le Soleil Royal by jack.aubrey - FINISHED - De Agostini - Scale 1:70

[jack.aubrey]

My last message was added in this forum/topic on April 30th, 2013. It is more/less a week I don't post anything and the reason is that I returned at home (I usually live near Milan) after five months spent away, in Tuscany. 

 

April 13th, 2012

 

I take this opportunity to show some new images of the hull, after the treatment with oil for wood. Note that a kind of disappointment comes from the fact that the colour of the beechwood (Wales) and the chestnut (2nd planking), after the coats of oil, is very similar, and this was not what I expected !! I'm seriously thinking to paint the wales in black (or another dark colour) . . also if I foresee some difficult problems with this unplanned painting.
 
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Thursday April 19th, 2012
 
During these days I have mounted the rudder to the sternpost. It may seem a simple task but it is not exactly true. To finish this work I spent a complete afternoon . .
 
Another work done was the planking of the ship boats. Each boat has now three layers of planks. I have also fixed the boat's keel. The next step is to detach the boats from their building base to allow working inside the hull.
 
Friday April 20th, 2012
 
I selected first the long boat to work on the internal side of the hull. First of all I refined the external planking with sandpaper and then I detached the boat from the building basement.
Here below two images of the external sides with the planking completed. 
 
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Here, on the other hand, you can see the internal side of the boat. Now I have to start the task to empty the inside to obtain a clear shell made up by the three layers of veneer.
 
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Edited August 31, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday April 21st, 2012

I spent these days emptying the inside of the boat, more in detail only the visible area, not the complete shell. This tasks may seem complex but in the reality it was quite simple, thanks also to the soft wood used for the boat skeleton.
 
To remove the wood I used the Proxxon minidrill with the tool shown here below : 
 
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and the following for the final cleanup :
 
Mole.jpg

 
Then I fixed the false frames, obtained from strips of mahogany veneer, and the bottom, from chestnut veneer. The result can be seen in the next images. 
 
Cheers, Jack.Aubrey
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday April 26th, 2012

 

I continue to post images of the work done for the ship boats . . here I introduce you the large boat with more details applied that some time ago. I don't think it is worth to comment the images. 
 
There are still many details to finish. such as the rudder, oars, etc. and after some painting in selected areas. Then some reels of rope, a couple of buckets or casks and the boat should be considered complete.
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Monday April 30th, 2012

 

Hare some really "visible" news about one of the ship boat . . these news required some time to be achieved mainly due to the long time intervals waiting for the paint to dry. I added the rudder, the tiller and also some false pintles and gudgeons.
I have then mounted the oarlocks and now I'm trying to build the oars . . I'm using for them some components taken directly from the kitchen . . Cheers, Jack.
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thuesday May 3rd, 2012

 
Here are the new elements I prepared in these last days: the oars for the first boat and a kind of boarding ladder that is positioned in number of two in the front side of the forecastle. Regarding this last element the instructions where for me unsatisfactory so I decided to use a different method.
 
Boarding ladders: here below are shown the instructions suppplied. As i said this method, given the small size of these elements, makes things very difficult to achieve the goal to have all of them equal and correcly positioned. I used an alternate way that I show here.
 
---
Full Size: http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/12/86/14/83/090-re10.jpg
 
First of all I made a special strip of wood made by the union of two different strips (4 x 1 and 2 x 2) glued together. Later I prepared a small table of veneer (mahogany), then I cut 10 steps (obtained previously) and I fixed them on the veneer all at the same distance. The day after, by using the table saw I cut a couple of ladders of the right width (8mm) and the boarding ladders were ready to be fixed in the proper place . . another way to use the table saw and another experience: I surely will use the same method when I will have to build the "true" boarding ladders on the two sides of the ship. 
 
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Oars: the raw materials are toothpicks, some strips of beechywood (0,5mm depth) properly shaped and paper. The oars are painted with the same colours of its boat. The total number of these oars should be 10 but I didn't build all of them: I made only four . . too much work . .  
 
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Cheers, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

 
I photographed the rudder pintles and gudgeons I scratch build long time ago. A big job that I mentioned a few posts ago. The rudder is not stained plywood but true solid mahogany.
 
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See you next time, Jack.Aubrey.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday May 10, 2012

 

Tired of chasing the construction of the boats, I took a couple of "sabbatical" days and I enjoyed it to mount some superstructures in the bow and stern area. I had already prepared them long time ago. . in short, a slight deviation from the usual routine of last recent times.
 
Attached are some pictures of the superstructures under discussion. Unfortunately, the red color is not very "photogenic", as I have explained a bit of posts back.
 
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Kind regards, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

 

Two photographs to show the "big" boat practically finished. Probably when I'll have finished the little, too, I'll build a couple of buckets that I will place on the bottom.
 
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I promised not to publish images of the "small" boat, until it was over, as in fact it would be a duplication of the construction process almost like the "great" boat, but I remembered that I missed an important step regarding the emptying process of the internal side of the hull, when the same was being detached from the building slip.
 
So I go further now to fill the gap showing the "small" with the third planking terminated with the interior emptied and ready for next steps.
 
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Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[Kevin]

those boats are very nice looking 

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, May 20, 2012

 

This is the "small" ship boat, largely completed. It is not really 100% finished because some small details (rudder, oars, coils of rope and dry) are missing, but the more, that is the hull as a whole, is finished. I must admit this boat came better than the "big" one and I think the best method would be to build a prototype, to make the necessary experience and then, enforced with this knowledge, build the final models. Obviously the time of their completion lengthens but the result improves.  
 
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Kind regards, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, May 24, 2012 - Starting the installation of the guns

 

Now the time has come that I can no longer postpone the installation of the twelve guns on the upper gun deck. For this occasion, because there are no jobs that make dust or mess, I temporarily transferred the site at my house so that I can use all the useful moments to complete this activity that I remember often being long and tedious.
 
This morning I started with the positioning of the various pieces that will be placed on the upper deck: I drilled holes for fixing "pazienze" and "cavigliere" around the mainmast, I similarly prepared the holes for the joints for the structure to support the ship boats, and finally the holes to "nail down" the carriages of the guns, when it's time to fix them permanently.
 
And now this deck, as of now empty, is "magically" filling up. .
 
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From a very early consideration there are three aspects to keep in mind:
 
1) in the images are visible five guns per side, the sixth is almost hidden under the half-deck above. This trolley and its cannon can not be fixed by a metal pin as it is not possible to bore the necessary hole. In addition, the fitting of the same is virtually impossible, unless contortions and acrobatics think out of my reach (and patience). If we consider that when you apply the gangways these two guns will be almost invisible, I think I will just paste them on the deck using the glue which I think is the most suitable for this type of bonding: two-component epoxy glue. It take long time to dry, but on the other hand are as strong as, and perhaps more of Attack and less sensitive to sharp blows that cause the release of Attack.
 
2) Similarly, the pair of cannons on the right are partially covered by the forecastle, but here the work is easier: first can be fixed with the pin and also the fitting is possible, at least for the exposed side. 
 
3) The structure for the housing of ship boats, positioned as instructed by De Agostini, is a place that hinders the operations of the second pair of cannons on the right. And so I'm gaining seriously consider the idea of moving it to about 10/12 mm to the left. The problem is that I have no idea from the instructions in my possession, if the area would go to be  occupied partially, that is marked in the black box below, you will have to accommodate other superstructures. The plans Sergal would seem an area free, apart from the ladders to access the decks. .
 
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Cheers, Jack.Aubrey

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, May 26, 2012

 

Today I returned to work with the guns. I'm at a stage of the assembly of the guns that I define "intermediate", there is still a lot of work to do but the more critical activities and requiring precision can be considered concluded.
 
In practice, all trucks have been fixed to the deck below by means of a brass pin that runs through the base of the truck and slips into a hole in the deck. The whole thing is secured with four drops of Attack Gel under each wheel and also the pin is glued to both the truck and the deck. . the pin head can be seen in the images in high resolution.
 
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Sincerely, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, May 28, 2012

 

New progresses with the guns assembly on the deck . .
 
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See you next message . . Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

Jack,

 

This is really nice.

 

I wonder how many ships and kits do you build in parallel? I know you are building the The Twelve Apostles, Le Soleil Royal, you had a cross section at one time and who knows what else..... I suppose these weekly kits allow you to pursue multiple projects at the same time, as they provide only a small amount of work to be done, each week.

 

This Soleil Royal is going to be stunning once finished.

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Hi Yves,

 

I line of priciple, I run two shipyards concurrently. This is possible because I normally receive by post services a set of four issues of the partwork each month. The working tasks for the content of these four issues, in many circumstances can be done in a single week, and this fact makes possible to run cocurrently at least to models.

 

Anyway, when I insert a message in this topic (but the same happens for the 12 Apostles and Santìsima Trinidad) I use to put as first line the date to which the message log belongs.

 

In particular, regarding my Soleil Royal, I started its building some years ago (refer to first messages in this topic) and now I'm describing matters that happened more/less one year ago. So what you see now is not the current status of this build, but something in the past.

 

I'm working to translate my Italian blog for Soleil Royal to reach today but I have a lot of things to translate and write. The same is happening for the topic regarding Santìsima Trinidad too.

 

Hope now the situation appears more clear: at the moment I'm working for 12 Apostles and Soleil Royal, while Santisìma Trinidad is over.

Regards, Jack.Aubrey.  

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

 

Yet another small step forward. .

 
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In my opinion the curls of rope made in this way, although technically sound, are still lower in fact of realism as to how I made on the Santisima Trinidad's cross section . . only problem that it took an incredible amount of time, while this method was faster . .
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, May 29, 2012, afternoon. . finished.

 

During the early afternoon, taken by a fit for modeling, I threw in the assembly of gun barrels. Operation seemingly simple and fast if it were not for the preparation of the recoil rope: the two ends of the rope are linked to an eyebolt, at an equal distance for all the guns since they are all positioned not ready for firing, the eyebolts are then inserted in a pre-drilled hole in the internal side of the handrail (?) and secured with a drop of cyano.
 
The gun barrels are also glued to the gun trucks with a couple of drops of Attack Gel.
 
I am considering whether to apply a strip of carborundum black sandpaper over the two pins on the side of the gun barrels, where they are cradled in the truck, but I don't know if it's worth or not. This because these details will most probably remain invisible when I'll mount above the gangways (?). But the fact of knowing that they are there. . . even if you do not see them, it must probably mean something to a modeller.
 
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Finally, to be able to say 100% finished, I have to apply a coat of black paint in the thickness of the gunports of these twelve guns, an operation that normally would have to be done right before, but I forgot it !!
 
At this point I'm very happy because this was a job that was blocking other works on the hull, and that took me a long period of  time to complete.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[SkerryAmp]

Terrific work Jack!!

[ScottRC]

WOW!  your build gives a true meaning to Ship Shape.

[Kevin]

Very nice - looks great in the photo's

[jack.aubrey]

I resume this log idle for a while . . 

 

 

Friday, June 1st, 2012 - Gangways

 

 

This afternoon I installed the two gangways that were ready for a while and I could not fit in place before the installation of the guns on the upper deck.
 
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I obviously had to perform a minimal adaptation and then I proceeded to glue these two pieces exactly on top of the guns that I just finished to setup. To fix these two new objects I used vinyl glue, being careful to avoid any "accidentally touch" to the guns below.
 
A few days ago I wrote that fixing the gun barrels to their truck "is a matter of seconds" by using the cyan-acrylate glue.
 
Never such a sentence was more wrong !!. . while I didn't touch at all the guns with anything, to fix the gangways I had to plant three "practically invisible brass nails" per side and this revealed the main "weak point" of the cyan-acrylate glue: the 15/20 hammering (with a very light hammer) that I had to give it to plant the brass nail were enough to detach almost all of the barrels of the guns from their carriages . .
 
Nothing irrecoverable, luckily. I can repeat this bonding in each case, may be with additional difficulties vs the past but I think this experience should be highlighted to make clear to those who 100% believe in this glue that it is not always the best solution, even if using the gel form. Now, thanks to this experience, when the right time comes I will use the two-component epoxy glue: it is much longer to dry than the cyan-acrylate but the seal and especially the resistance to impacts, at least to fix the gun barrels, should be totally different and much more better.
 
My mind goes to the installation of all the metal sculptures on the stern. . Cyan-acrylate or two-component epoxy? And after years what happens? I have experience of models I made many years ago that every time I wipe them, I have to bond some pieces of metal that comes off: pieces bonded with the cyan-Acrylate . . 
 
Comments?
 
All the best, by Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, June 3, 2012 - Gangways

 

As I wrote earlier I installed the gangways above the guns; they were ready some time ago. I set them in place with a particularly sophisticated bonding so that we can safely say that they are proof of "catastrophic events".
 
The guns you see in these images are placed as if they were fixed, in the reality they are only positioned due to the well-known incident, I put them in place for photographic needs only.
 
I'm considering putting some columns below the gangways, I'll see what to do later, probably after having repaired again the barrels of the guns.
 
I connected the two "mini" wales of the forecastle and stern area so that now they seem as one single piece. . 
 
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Finally, I apologize for the mess in this picture, but I shot the photos in the lab and unfortunately there is a bit of mess on the working  table. . .
 
See you next time, Jack.Aubrey

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

 

These days I applied myself to build all the stairways and ladders available on the Soleil Royal. I experienced also a variation in the construction of the ladders that allowed me to build them, let's say, in "mass production". In addition I designed and implemented a totally personal way to build the four "low" ladders connecting the gangways to forecastle and quarterdeck. I really like this solution, more realistic. At the moment I do not have pictures, but you'll see them in due time.

 

Now I am left with essentially three jobs before embarking on a major new enterprise: re-glue guns, fix some new elements around the mainmast, paste all the stairways and ladders that I painted for the occasion in blue.

 

After this point, more or less a matter of few hours, I will devote myself to the building of the poop.

 

It's a while I think what to do at this point and I came to conclusion that it is better for me to concentrate in the building of infrastructures and galleries of the poop, maybe finishing it completely, but surely coming to a point at least which I will no longer need to heavily manipulate the hull to perform the work. The objective is to leave the finish of the gunwale at that point, when you can work without tipping too the hull thus avoiding possible breakage.

 

Today I have collected all the material for the components of the poop and I studied very carefully all the instructions for its construction. I must become confident with the whole process, because I have in mind a set of possible variations that intrigue me very much. Finally, to take help from other modelers, I downloaded all the images of the poop of the modelers who have already built it . . a small advantage to stay a little back and let others go ahead to open the track . . images that will be very useful to keep in mind the point of arrival!

 

See you soon, Jack.

Edited June 27, 2013 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

It is all in the strategy, Jack.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, June 11, 2012

 

In these past days I focused myself on the study, the material collection and the initial operations planning for the tasks related to the building of the complex poop of this ship, more in detail I studied how to prepare and mount the three galleries.
 
The material provided by De Agostini for these tasks is quite dissimilar in quality: some pieces are of good quality, while others are less if not worse. . it is a constant problem in these partworks: often between an issue and the next the quality of a similar piece is totally different. In this case there are only two possibilities: 1) to request De Agostini to re-ship the whole issue (losing roughly three weeks) or 2) rebuilding the wrong/bad piece with a better material. In my case, however, the quality is not as important because all the "bad" pieces will later be hidden.
 
Once mounted the floor of the lower and middle galleries I had to adapt them to the shape of the hull so that they fit perfectly in their final position . . evaluate it, change eventually a bit and try again. . until the piece is OK.
 
Then I proceeded to plank the top of the floor with strips similar to those used for the decks, I remember that decks on this model are in beechwood. 
 
To fix the floor I used the vinyl glue but, for safety, I also put in place four pins of metal.
 
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This gallery should be aligned with the fourth wale (from the bottom) and, thanks to the inexistent drawings and to the instructions where you were not told to take a particular care, I discovered that, to maintain the ideal sheer of the wale, the floor appears to be in a higher position of a few millimeters than it should be. . . The picture below shows this gap. Obviously at this point the remaining two galleries will also be located higher with possible implications not currently quantifiable. However I was expecting similar situations. In due time I will see how to manage the problem. 
 
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Finally, a personal interpretation of the positioning of the ladder to access the "higher" deck (I do not know how to call it exactly): in that position, I thought to locate a door. But now I can't put in front of the door a staircase. . (again, some drawings of the model would certainly have helped).
So I thought to correct the error by moving the ladder back and here explained the need of this small platform added now and protruding.
 
I imagine the reactions of the "purists", in this case being them totally right, but these  situations are recurrent with these partworks . . linked with other amenities such as instructions sometimes lacking of clarity and the chronic absence of drawings.
 
About drawings: if I can imagine and understand why drawings are not published for these kind of kits, from another point of view it would be enough some sketches, of proper size, showing particulars or even prospective views similar to the one in the Soleil Royal model plans from Panart (Mantua) and more precisely the table No. 4. Such views cannot be used as plans themselves, then would meet the needs of the publisher, but they would be incredibly useful to the modelers . . 
 
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After these amazing discussion on materials and plans, I greet you and wish you a good day. Jack.Aubrey

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, 18 June, 2012 - Poop

 

Just a week ago I glued to the poop the floor of the lower gallery and its four vertical supports that serve as point of attachment for other elements.
 
During this week I worked on the model almost every day but for short periods only. The reason of this method is due to new pieces to be fixed on this gallery that needed to be appropriately adapted; but especially because of the long waiting times, once fixed a piece, to dry and "hold" the glue. Everything before managing the next piece. So I spent one day to fix a piece, another for the other side, etc. . I took the opportunity to fill the waiting time with sessions in the pool and gym.
 
However, yesterday I managed to finish this lower gallery to a point that allows me to proceed shortly with the gallery immediately above.
 
Because, as I may have mentioned earlier, I'm not going to color these pieces of blue paint but I want integrate them in the scheme of dark wood / light wood / wood stained, the result you see here below is completely different from that obtained by others: no filler, no painted plywood in view, but coverage of these pieces with the same chestnut / mahogany veneer used for the hull (photo 01 and 02), as well as the floor of the gallery was planked with beechwood (photo 03).
 
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Finally, the gallery windows. For the time being I smoothed and finished them with sandpaper and small files and I applied three light coats of white acrylic paint, as a primer for a future gold paint.
I thought to apply in the back of these panels a sheet of acetate (the one that you usually use for transparencies, thickness approximately 0.15 mm.) to simulate the glass and framing the rear perimeter with small strips of 0.5 mm.
In this way, once pasted the panel, the acetate sheet is not in contact with the bottom and should give a more realistic glass effect. The problem is that, making some bonding tests of an acetate sheet on a piece of wood, I discovered that the cyan-acrylate practically does not paste at all . . I need an idea.
 
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See you soon, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, 23 June, 2012 - Poop

 

In recent days, the hot weather has "slightly affected" my productivity; however, between yesterday and today I was able to progress a little bit. Thanks to a very good suggestion of a friend, I decided the best way to simulate the gallery windows, so I began to implement the idea.
 
After having attached the first row of windows, I was able to apply the floor of the second gallery, and, above it, the second row of windows. I started to paint these panels in gold color but after two strokes I realized that I didn't like at all the effect achieved: too artificial and unlikely, so I decided to use a light yellow acrylic paint . . 
 
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Finally, I proceeded to plank with mahogany veneer the bottom of the overhang, in line with the wood used in the area of the two wales that are at the same level.
 
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See you next time, cheers, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - Poop

 

Again, these days the weather was very hot . . anyway, I was able to continue without too much troubles with this complex poop. Given the type of work to be achieved, my job was characterized by relatively short sessions, followed by periods of waiting time.
 
In the pictures here below you can see the progresses made: they aren't "striking" but they fully satisfy me.
 
In the idle time between the different sessions I started to collect and catalog all the materials of all the issues till now distributed by De Agostini. This was necessary to retrieve in a more efficient way the available materials in the next future. 
 
After a few days of this habit, now all the metal decorations, gun barrels, blocks, deadeyes, chains etc. are now well stored and easily retrievable.
 
I have now to decide a strategy of how to manage/treat the golden decorations. I cannot leave them as they are: too unrealistic. The instructions suggest to treat them with "judea bitumen" (is it the right term ?). I never used it but I don't like the effect achievable.
 
I have to think about this problem in search of a good idea, but in line of principle my way would be to treat them with a primer, then a coat of "Terra di Siena Bruciata" with a final "dry brushing" with gold and copper paint. I'm also considering to buy an airbrush, not only to treat these decorations but with in mind future uses and implementations.
 
See you next time, Jack.Aubrey.  
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

Jack,

 

Nice work on that stern. It is not obvious from the pictures, but I suppose you painted the backdrops in black, behind the windows. Did you use a transparent film to simulate the glass of the windows? Sometimes, it can provide some reflections that help make it more realistic.

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Jack,

Nice work on that stern. It is not obvious from the pictures, but I suppose you painted the backdrops in black, behind the windows. Did you use a transparent film to simulate the glass of the windows? Sometimes, it can provide some reflections that help make it more realistic.

Yves

 

Hi Yves,

I added to the back surface of each windows row a small frame on three sides. I left unchanged only the upper side. Once the row was glued to the stern, I inserted in the upper gap the transparent film plus a piece of black cardboard. The upper side is then covered by the next floor and so on. In this way I have simulated the glasses plus a black interior. The result is very good, although every solutions surely knows another better . . If you have suggestions, I will appreciate them, although I'll cannot use on this ship: remember that I'm describing facts happened about one year ago . .

Regards, Jack.Aubrey