Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build

[Waldemar]

 

Okay, thank you very much, I just wanted you to see it as it appears in the source iconography. And of course, you decide for yourself what to do with it. Incidentally, to be honest, I have serious issues with some aspects of Lemineur's reconstructions, and I'm not the only one. Boudriot's work is much more convincing, so to speak.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Agreed - I am hearing from a number of friends who are interpreting the SP drawings, in particular, and there appear to be a number of inconsistencies.

 

As for the capstan, I’m not sure whether I will remake it.  Probably not, but if it gets under my skin, I will have to revisit that possibility.

[Hubac's Historian]

What are the other main issues you see with Lemineur’s reconstructions?

[Waldemar]

 

Admittedly, structural aspects are rather secondary to me, so they are not my main focus, but criticism of various solutions adopted in these reconstructions can be found on the website http://www.gerard-delacroix.fr/.

 

However, I have serious reservations about the design concepts used in the 17th-century reconstructions. But this is a broader topic, requiring a whole thread with explanations and examples...

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Well, as I well know - you have gone to great depths to reconstruct line drawings into more plausible outcomes.  Your insight on a wide array of vessels is invaluable.

 

I’ll take a look at the Delacroix forum, though.  Thanks for the reference!

[Waldemar]

 

Ah, line drawings are just a derivative; it's all about naval architecture and its evolution, the image of which is completely distorted today.

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 05:32 AM by Waldemar

[AnobiumPunctatum]

@Waldemar

I couldn't give any input to such a discussion, but really interested to read such a thread and read about your opinions. I followed a lot of your drawing works and like it very much.

[Waldemar]

 

1 hour ago, AnobiumPunctatum said:

@Waldemar

I couldn't give any input to such a discussion, but really interested to read such a thread and read about your opinions. I followed a lot of your drawing works and like it very much.

 

Thank you. Quite recently, I even started a thread on this very issue on a French-language forum, but before I got to the details and the heart of the matter, circumstances led me to decide to continue on one of the English-language forums. The continuation was supposed to be immediate, but somehow Mary Rose 1511 and Dudley got in the way . But that's even better, because it all ties together, so chronologically it's more advantageous. Either way, it needs to be revisited, and now I plan to do so after Dudley.

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

One last thought on Waldemar’s observation - a closer look at the L’Ambiteaux capstan does show a staggered 2-level series of sockets for the capstan bars, while Lemineur’s SP is a single level of sockets.  Really, I have no idea whether that represents an evolutionary timeline from 1680 to 1693, or whether it is merely a designer’s assumption that has the privilege of plausible deniability for the lack of primary source information.

 

As I have one more radiant fleur emblem at my disposal - I could grind off the existing emblem; fill every other socket on the existing level; add an upper level of alternating sockets; and re-cap with a new top and emblem.  That is a possibility that - so long as I don’t botch the emblem extraction, wouldn’t take too long to do.  What do you think guys?  Is it worth it?  I will weigh your responses, carefully.

 

Currently, I have begun designing the f’ocsle breast-rail and belfry.  I’m playing around with another ornamental extraction.  This time it is the garland-ensconced royal monogram that would be a fitting central panel beneath the belfry:

This whole process begins by fitting a card template (always soda boxes) to the exact camber of the f’ocsle deck beam.  Once my sanding stick brings the template to rest, I like to harden the card edge with CA, because this template is now a drawing tool for transferring that camber up the breast-rail.

 

The central belfry will rise up above the breast caprail by almost the same height as the breast-rail.

[72Nova]

Very nice work as always Marc, keep chipping away at it!

Michael D.

[druxey]

Qui savez, Marc? As master shipwright - it's your decision.

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you, Gentlemen.  I’m going to go ahead and modify the capstan.  Over the course of this build, you guys have made a number of really good suggestions.  I don’t always follow-through on them, but here is an instance where I can bring a detail more in-line with historic reality, without having to scrap the truly labor-intensive aspect of the part.  I value all of your input, and Waldemar is quite right to point this out.

 

I am also happy to report that I have  arrived at my f’ocsle breast-rail design.  My idea with the breast-rail will be to adapt an exterior detail - in this case, the bow trailboard - and bring it in-board.  For a reminder of the particular framing of the trailboard:

The trailboard is, itself, an adaptation of the original design.  Where the “X’s” are, there should be shells in the top and bottom negative spaces.  At the time that I made this part, that was just too small and fiddly for me to make a good job of, so I chose to leave those spaces open.

 

For this breast-rail, though, I could show alternating shells and fleurs within the same lattice framework:

The beauty of this process is that I only have to draw one of each panel.  The spacing remains the same for all six openings, so I merely have to make a mirror photocopy for the starboard side.  It will be fleur/shell/fleur, which picks up on the alternating design of the bulwark frieze.

 

French belfries tend to be rather plain, in comparison with their English counterpoints.  There’s enough ornamental work going on below, so I decided to pick-up the reverse cyma curves of the tafferal for the belfry’s coronation.

 

When I get to the quarter deck rail, I will again draw inspiration from an exterior detail.  In this instance, I will adapt the framing and monogramed cartouches of the middle balcony rail:

At the poop breast rail, I will adapt the quarter deck level of the gallery, with it’s series of X’s:

The Arms of France will also appear at this level.

 

The breast rail of the poop-royal deck will adapt the simple sheer rail “linked circles” of L’ambiteaux:

(photo courtesy of Marc Yeu)

Edited 3 hours ago by Hubac's Historian

[scrubbyj427]

Stunning work Marc! A masterful job.