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

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, June 30, 2012

 

Since it's approaching the day of my 63rd birthday, I decided to reward myself with a gift useful for any kind of modeling.
 
A couple of years ago I purchased an air compressor. It is shown in the picture presented here below.
 
It's a air compressor made in China that had a cost for me of € 80. It has a tank capacity of 24 liters and a good supply of accessories: to blow air (which I often use to wipe my models), to pump the tires, to paint, to spray oil, etc.. While I didn't made an excessive usage, it has often proved useful in various circumstances.
 
To use it for ship modeling, however, there is something missing, another important add-on, although new for me to discover and learn.
 
01 P1070156.jpg

 
A good airbrush!
 
So this morning, with my dear friend Orestes, I went to buy an airbrush. It is a "cloned" airbrush of a famous brand. I paid a more than acceptable price: € 48.
 
02 P1080291.jpg

 
Gravity tank, possibility to regulate the amount of paint in output, possibility to adjust the air pressure in output. This latter aspect is interesting in that, while having the same feature on the air compressor, with this feature on the brush you get a greater flexibility and simplicity of use.
 
03 P1080294.jpg

 
Finally, I also got a pipe to connect the airbrush to the compressor. Another € 7 for the pipe and € 4 for a couple of adapters to connect to the compressor, which is equipped with a fast connector, very practical in use. All these items are visible in the photo presented below.
 
04 P1080295.jpg

 
All that remains to do now is some testing with the new equipment. It should become useful in the near future. . for Soleil I think to the treatment of golden metal decorations. 
 
Greetings, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, July 1st, 2012

 

A day lost in search of an smart method to build the front side of the two upper "bottiglie". I beg your pardon but I don't think in english they are called "bottles", and unfortunately  I don't know their right english terminology
 
P1080287.jpg

 
How someone can build it with the material supplied (two pieces of plywood) I just don't know (see steps E, F and G of the card n° 105 following the two links here below):
 
http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/12/86/14/83/105-fr10.jpg
http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/12/86/14/83/105-re10.jpg
 

After an afternoon of tests and thoughts I finally found a way that seems to work, although it is a rather complex solution. During the next session I think to build these two final items. Regarding photos, at the moment there is nothing interesting to show you.
Regards, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Friday, July 6, 2012 - More on stern

 

This week I had not much time to devote to ship modeling, but even if at a slow pace I did  something.
 
I finished, after some testing, the installation of the missing elements to complete the upper "bottiglie". The missing pieces were built from scratch, starting from a sweet wooden block that I had to shape with great patience to fit in position.
 
Time consuming work and with the constant risk of breaking the piece with a wrong movement. I originally planned to plank the "bottiglie" with strips of stained blue but I realized that it was not possible to be completely succesful. For this reason I painted them in blue. Now I have to refine the whole and apply the additional coats of paint. The blue color in the images is not as it appears in the reality: the usage of the flash for shooting photos is responsible of this change . . anyway I don't like too much but . .
 
Finally I covered the remaining mahogany transom with stained blue wood, to complement the color scheme of the sides.
 
As anticipated, nothing striking for a week's work. . however, the wheels are always in motion, and this is the important thing. Of course the heat of these days does not help, indeed. . . for good luck yesterday I washed the car. Usually, the effect is that immediately starts to rain. . let's hope. Update: this system seems to work ALWAYS, in fact some hours later it was raining a lot . .
 
Cheers, Jack.
 
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Extra image...
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - again the stern

 

These are the last pictures of the work done these days, before closing the yard for a couple of weeks for summer holidays. I built the upper gallery, integrating it with the color scheme of that particular area of the hull.
 
I would say that there is not much to add since there are no real problems running this kind of work, only a lot of patience. .
 
01 P1080302.jpg

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04 P1080305.jpg

05 P1080306.jpg

 
See you soon, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Saturday, July 28, 2012 - Decorations

 

Due to an early return from a short vacation near Pisa, I found myself in these days making tests for the treatment of the stern decorations of the ship.
 
I obviously choose those elements that must be applied before proceeding to complete the remaining galleries. In practice the main figure on the transom (fig. 01) and the "columns" to be applied at the sides of the stern windows (fig 02-03).
 
01 P1080308R.jpg

02 P1080309R.jpg

03 P1080310R.jpg

 
What you see above is the result, for the time being to be considered 95% definitive . . I will decide in the coming days.
 
For the moment, no aero-pen usage, only a simple brush. The procedure is briefly the following:
1) cleaning the pieces with brushing and subsequent degreasing with nitro;
2) two coats of primer (polyurethane water);
3) a coat of "dark brown" paint (always polyurethane water);
4) gilding with golden paint, always polyurethane applied using the "dry brush" technique.
 
I'm considering also a moderate usage (always using the dry brush technique) of a copper-colored paint.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Sunday, August 5, 2012 - Stern

 

Here are some pictures of the stern as at yesterday afternoon. The images were taken today before starting further work.
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Monday August 6, 2013

 

In the meantime I tested and finished the browning of all the gun half-barrels: there is the type I call "big", which should, I think, be mounted on the lower and intermediate decks and the "small" or "medium" type for the upper deck. The browning was done in four "steps", due to the number of guns, and the resulting colour slightly differs between each step. I think it's due to a progressive weakening of the burnishing liquid that I used more than once. Some have a blue tone that I like more than the classic gun metal tone . .
 
01 P1080316.jpg

02 P1080317.jpg

 
See you soon, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, August 9, 2012

 

In the meantime I progressed a bit with this complex poop and here I put some pictures of the stern with the galleries practically finished. Obviously the decorations are not yet included .. this will be the main job of the next .. weeks!
 
These photos were strongly affected by the use of the digital camera "flash", so the colors are a bit dissimilar from reality. . Jack.Aubrey.
 
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Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Friday, August 10, 2012 - embellishments

 

Today I spent most of the day to do tests for garnishing. The method described in the written instructions was not suitable so I tried alternatives. So I turned to think of other solutions and, after many trials that did not satisfy me, see photo number 02, I found "my" garnishments in the picture number 01.
 
Method of construction:
- Material used: copper wire diameter mm. 0.5, the color creates a diversion to gold decorations;
- Inserted the two ends of the wire in the minidrill spindle I held it stretched with a nail;
- I turned on the minidrill until the clutch permitted, then I turned off removing the piece;
- Unbelievable, the obtained garnish is always perfectly right;
- I cut the ends of the garnish;
- I glued two hanks each other with cyan gel, this bonding is only temporarily, until the piece is placed in its final position, where (I have already tried it on a piece) it is definitely fixed with epoxy glue.
 
I look forward tomorrow to verify that the bonding with the epoxy has the seal that I expect and if "OK", I'll proceed with the rest of the bonding, all pieces should be all ready.
 
PS: the image here below are not photographs but scans, I forgot the camera. .
 
01 Guarnitura-1.jpg

02 Guarnitura-2.jpg

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

 

These days I used, for the first time after 40 years, the airbrush I purchased a few weeks ago. Main objective was to apply a couple of coats of primer and a coat of paint in dark brown on the metal decorations. Even with all my inability to master the medium, after a little practice I was able to achieve the result that I had in mind. The day after I then ventured to golden them. What shown below is the final result. This is only a small part of the decorations to work on. I'll work on a little at a time, with patience in three or four steps.
 
01 P1080334.jpg

 
I propose here below two images of the famous garnishments, explained in my last message, mounted on the top of the galleries. I like very much. I changed a bit the copper colour with some gold applied with dry brush to maintanin an identical aspect with the other decorations.
 
02 P1080336.jpg

03 P1080337.jpg

 
Cheers, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[vulcanbomber]

Some lovely detail work there, she's coming on very nicely.

[md1400cs]

Jack,

 

Always a pleasure to look in at your updates. Beautiful progress.

 

Regards,

 

Michael

[jack.aubrey]

. . . . Thanks to vulcanbomber and md1400cs for their comments, I've greatly appreciated . . . . . 

 

 

Friday, August 17, 2012

 

 

Another group of decorations for my Soleil ready for goldening. In the image these decorations are shown after the application (with the airbrush) of dark brown color, namely an intermediate stage of processing. Yesterday afternoon I finished them, more/less a couple of hours of work . .
 
01 P1080340.jpg

 
In the meantime I continued with the application of the decorations at the stern.
 
Compared to the first experience I did a little variation to the bonding process which is proving to be crucial to speed up this kind of work: having realized that it is not necessary to use over the entire surface to be bonded the epoxy glue, very long to dry, I left a couple of very small areas clear, where I placed a drop of cyan-acrilate in gel.
 
This "trick" makes the cyan able to fix almost instantly the piece in place and then you can wait quietly the drying of the epoxy without bothering to stop by one means the piece in place . . and of course I can continue in the meantime with something else. .
 
02 P1080341.jpg

03 P1080342.jpg

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - Stern galleries

 

Finally today I have finished with the stern galleries and the goldening of all the decorations, apart the figurehead and two other human statues. I think I achieved a result that exceeds my expectations:
 
- The epoxy glue is very good for this type of bonding. . by the way I also glued with the same glue the guns under the decks, guns that detached after few hammer blows when they were stuck with the cyan; now I can do everything;
 
- But, more importantly, I think I've got a very good quality even though at the cost of a lot of time and patience;
 
- Negative point is that I spent a lot of time to finish in a precise way (and perfect for me) the wood of the galleries and then, with all these decorations, I realize that even if I finished less precisely would have been fine anyway: we see so little of the background veneer stained. . 
 
Let's start with a total of three images of the stern
 
  . . from behind:
 
01 P1080343.jpg

 
. . from the right:
 
02 P1080344.jpg

 
. . from left:
 
03 P1080345.jpg

 
. . Finally an image closer:
 
04 P1080346.jpg

 
As I think I've already written, I used a two components epoxy glue that, after this very positive experience, I would totally recommend for this type of application.
 
Once dry it is very strong and, in contrast to the errors I've done at the beginning, you do not need a lot of it to assure a strong bond.
 
To overcome the long setting time and drying I soon learned the trick to put in a couple of points a drop of cyan in gel form. This glue, taking hold almost immediately, holds the piece in place, thus leaving the possibility to epoxy to dry. It's a trick that speeds up a lot of the work.
 
. . continues. . Best regards, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[JPett]

Ahoy Jack

 

WOW

 

You have set a new standard. This build goes beyond words

 

Congratz

[jack.aubrey]

. . continuation. .

 

I continue here with the publication of additional images of the stern galleries from a closer viewpoint. In the first one you may notice that I have yet to find a way to close the bottom "bottle" (I've not yet found a proper english term) on the front side, "closing" that I intend to do as soon as possible.
 
01 P1080350.jpg

 
Here, however, you might notice a couple of caryatids that connects the lower to the middle gallery above. At the time of bonding two other caryatids are missing. They will be installed in place shortly. The two missing caryatids are visible in the picture number 04 at the top.
 
02 P1080351.jpg

03 P1080352.jpg

 
In the next two images are shown all the last decorations, that remained to be gilded, in their last stage of processing. Now they have to be separated from the double-sided tape, smooth on the back side to remove the residuals of the tape glue and other filth in order to prepare a good support for bonding. Then it will be the turn of the "bottles" decorations . . 
 
04 P1080354.jpg

05 P1080355.jpg

 
It remains to "gild" three statues, rather large: the figurehead and two human figures that are to be applied in the stern area. Having regard to the size I want to think not only to a process of browning but also to apply some color. To this end, I will try to find some photos on the internet "enlightening" of these details. Until now without great success but . .
 
See you soon, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

August 25, 2012. . continuation. .

 

Some new details added on the decks: the pinrails of the mainmast. In the rush to fix these pieces I forgot to drill the pinrails before installation. Now I'll have to do it "freehand" on the pieces already fixed and will be more difficult to achieve the same spacing and alignment I would achieve before . .
 
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Here are shown the WCs installed at prow . .

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Finally an overview of the guns after I finally glued the barrels to the carriages, using epoxy glue. Initially these barrels were fixed with the cyan and had fallen off completely after few time. The seal of the epoxy is incredibly stronger than the cyan for this type of bonding.
To keep in mind for the future for when I will have to fix the remaining gun carriages to the decks. . with this glue it will no longer be necessary to use pins as reinforcements. 
 
04 P1080353.jpg

 
See you soon, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

A set of more focused photos of some details. . the first still on decorations

 

01 Senzatitolo-1-1.jpg

 
02 Senzatitolo-2-1.jpg

03 Senzatitolo-3-1.jpg

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, September 3, 2012

 

In the few hours that I devoted to the model in these last days I continued to apply some of the decorations that were ready for installation and, above all, I have finished the "missing wood pieces" of the lower "bottle". I also decided to change its color, applying the stained blue strips, as you can see from the first and second picture when compared to the previous already posted some time ago.
 
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The remaining images show the other decorations applied to the gunports of the upper deck and bow. Nothing to add apart I used the epoxy glue to fix them.
 
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Kind regards, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[SkerryAmp]

Jack, that is outstanding work!  Beautiful colors and you can tell you spent some time on that and it was well worth the results!

 

-Adam

[jack.aubrey]

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

 

The last evolution of the stern.
 
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Then yesterday I took the hull and I fixed rigidly on the work table upside down to start thinking seriously about the decorations that are under the lower gallery and those to be placed on the two lower smaller bottles.
 
I must now say that the decorations of the lower bottles do not fit very well on their surface and, by a careful examination and after various positioning tests, this is a quite big problem . . I'm still far from a clear idea of how to proceed . . I'm considering to rebuild totally them with mouldings like FIMO or Milliput . . 
 
Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[WackoWolf]

Excellent work. Keep the pictures coming.

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - Display Case

 

I temporarily abandoned the stern and his goddamn decorations and I got into the building of the display case basement. A kind of digression to the routine of the stern. .
 
In the picture 01 you can see the first part of the case, the pedestal, just finished, even if they miss the obvious finish (stain, velvet or cork on the surface of contact with the hull, etc.). This piece will be later mounted on the basis of the case, not yet ready.
 
01 P1080380R_zpsfb8ce24c.jpg

 
The next two images show this piece without the hull above, visible in all its details. If you look at the images in high resolution you will notice how the two supports, with a thickness of 1 cm. have been shaped with a camber to follow the lines of the hull in the area where it will rest. The material used is beechwood.
 
02 P1080377R_zps694ae4ec.jpg

03 P1080379R_zps5aa91f5e.jpg

 
To take the shape of the hull in the area where this would be resting on the pedestal I used a tool that is called "form tracer", illustrated below.
 
04 P1080373R_zps71fd0ceb.jpg

 
And before to work on the final beechwood table I made the prototype with an more ordinary poplar plywood 5 mm thick, much easier to work.
 
05 P1080374_zps4e0561c5.jpg

 
That's all for today, Jack.Aubrey

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[yvesvidal]

Perfection...Perfection Jack. Great work.

 

Yves

[jack.aubrey]

Monday, October 1, 2012 - Display Case

 

In these days since my last post I continued the work on the display case. For the base I bought at the nearest woodstore the three elements that characterize it, namely:
 
1) - a beech table (thickness 18mm) cut with dimensions of 99 x 27 cm; the customized cutting service was provided by the woodstore staff;
 
2) - strips of wood (unidentified), length 240 cm, 3 cm x 0.5; it will be used for the outer frame of the base;
 
3) - 5 knobs of lathed wood for the "legs" of the base.
 
The pictures 01 and 02 show the upper part of the base, with the outer frame applied. As can be observed the frame delimits the perimeter of the base and, being higher than 1.2 cm. will serve to hold the plexiglass of the transparent element of the case.
 
The wood was then treated with a coat of wood filler. Once the paint dried I sanded everything with very fine steel wool and then I applied a couple of coats of wood oil, the same I usually use for the model. Between one coat and the other I had to wait a couple of days to allow the oil to deeply penetrate and dry.  
 
01 P1080388.jpg

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In the next two images (03 and 04) I show the bottom of the base, which is also treated with a coat of wood filler. Here are visible the five knobs that have the function of "legs". I decided it was necessary a fifth knob placed in the centre to avoid a possible failure in the central area of the base under the weight of the parts above. Unfortunately for this knob I had to use a different color because the light ones were finished, but it is well hidden under the base and should not be visible.
 
03 P1080383.jpg

04 P1080385.jpg

 
Finally, the last image, even if these details are also visible in the first two (but in high resolution) where you see the threaded cylinders where I will fix the pedestal shown in the previous message. Anchor points are in number of four.
 
05 P1080390.jpg

 
That's all for now, even though I have more pictures to show, but in the next episode. .
 
Cheers, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[jack.aubrey]

Perfection...Perfection Jack. Great work.

Yves

 

Thank you, Yves, for your comment . . Jack., 

[jprince]

I just found this thread. I have to say I am really impressed with your work. I am new to shipbuilding. I was given a Mantua model of Le Soleil Royal in 1:77 scale. It was immediately obvious that it was far beyond my skills so I bought an easier model to start with. However looking at your build log really inspires me to continue working on the easier models until I can finally build something like you have done. Really well done!

[jack.aubrey]

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 - Display case . . continuation

 

The presentation of my work for the building of the display case base for my Soleil Royal continues here. In this new post I want to focus on a particular detail: the name of the model.
 
Usually a model is presented with somewhere a label that specifies the name and more. For my Soleil I used my computer and I tried a bit of presentations and I decided to adopt the label here below presented.
 
01 P1080382.jpg

 
Having made my choice I passed to the practical realization and I designed the oval on an ordinary tablet of plywood, with a jig saw I proceeded to cut them and finishing with sandpaper and three coats of white acrylic paint as a primer.
 
A little trick that I have thought to work faster with acrylics: to have the paint drying in a couple of minutes, in order to avoid waiting for the complete "natural" drying, I use to heat the painted piece with the hair dryer . In this way I was able to apply three coats in less than 15 minutes against at least 6-8 hours of the normal procedure. In the picture 02 the resulting pieces, suitably sanded and ready for final processing.
 
02 P1080381.jpg

 
I left the final processing to my wife who loves painting with acrylics with the so called "country" style. And here below the result of her work.
 
03 P1080393.jpg

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The pedestal in the center of the base is only positioned because I have to finish the screws and washers that will be used to secure it to the base. But this is a trivial detail. Until next time, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey

[md1400cs]

Jack,

 

Great updates from before. Thanks for loading all of this beautiful build. As everyone is saying you have set a marvelously high standard. Congrats.

 

Regards

 

Michael

[jack.aubrey]

Thursday, October 4, 2012

 

To complete the images of the above messages, here is the display case base with the model in place . .
 
Regarding possible display variants I decided to build a third boat, in place of the two proposed by the kit manufacturer, more precisely, I would like to build a longboat.
 
Then I decided to put only one of these three boats, perhaps the smallest, over the structure (this structure is a bit strange indeed, I've never seen a similar one on other models) that should host it amidships.
 
I'm going to show the other two boats not aboard but on the base of the case in a suitable position. This would allow a better overview of the details in place in the central area of the deck, certainly less crowded and to increase the visibility of these boats, presented separately. I spent a lot of time to build these boats and I would like to better appreciate them.
 
I did some simulations and the idea likes me very much . .
 
01 P1080394.jpg

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Greetings, Jack.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by jack.aubrey