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

[Hubac's Historian]

You are quite welcome, Vic.  The inspiration runs both ways, my friend!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

16 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

OH 😐🙁.  Oh, well, I guess I’ll have to re-do that one.  Silly mistake

 

Easily done, isn’t it, I glued the catheads on wronghanded last week.

Bill, the ink I’ve mostly used is Windsor & Newton Peat Brown, but that was because I particularly wanted a reddish hue to mimic varnished teak. I also have a pot of W&N nut brown which is similar, I suspect, to walnut. The only reason I bought W&N is because that’s what’s in my local art store 300 yards away, and I like to support local shops wherever possible instead of adding to Jeff’s obscene levels of wealth. (Why would anyone want so much money - as my gran used to say, there are no pockets in a shroud).

 

And I’m in a similar place to many of you when it comes to doing jobs around the house. I find myself looking at all my machinery - the planer/thicknesses, the saws, bench drill, biscuit joiner etc etc and thinking, shall I sell them now, am I really going to do the remaining jobs if I retire next year. You lose the enthusiasm once there’s more pain than gain 🤕

[Hubac's Historian]

Don’t sell the machines.  Our projects help maintain a sense of purpose, in our lives, which can still be quite long after retirement.  I have seen a number of guys (tradesmen) retire in the past decade, and really struggle to fill their days with anything meaningful or inspiring.

[Bill97]

I have been retired since Oct 2010. Marc I recently gave my lathe away to an up and coming young family wood worker. So far I have kept my table saw, router table, biscuit joiner, drills, and a number of other manual and electric hand tools. Back in the day I had quite the little woodworking shop where I supplemented my regular employment income by building custom furniture for clients. Had to pay for 3 kids in college. Most vacations from work were used up working at home in the garage shop. Now that that is behind my wife and me and no longer a critical need for additional income I now just make furniture pieces for myself or special occasion gifts. Still that is now limited to small pieces that don’t require such an elaborate shop. So far I have been able to fill the 12 years since I retired with just enjoying myself with things I like to do like travel and building model ships. 

[FriedClams]

Catching up on your log is always a pleasure, and your research is wonderful and such an interesting read.  Thank you Marc, for sharing this with us.  Hope your relocation is going smoothly.

 

Gary

[Bill Morrison]

On 9/8/2022 at 5:49 AM, Hubac's Historian said:

Don’t sell the machines.  Our projects help maintain a sense of purpose, in our lives, which can still be quite long after retirement.  I have seen a number of guys (tradesmen) retire in the past decade, and really struggle to fill their days with anything meaningful or inspiring.

I retired from teaching three years ago.  I have filled my time building more than a few models, including HMS Victory and CSS Alabama. I have also made progress on my SR.

 

Bill

 

[Hubac's Historian]

The past month has been quite a ride; painting, packing, moving, start of school for kids, COVID for my wife, sick kids, unpacking, and an un-provoked subway assault (I got lucky, ‘am fine, but I had a really sore jaw for a week, case pending) - after all of that, I kind of lost my mojo for the project.  The ship has just been sitting, locked up in its travel box, and waiting while we configure this new place.

 

Last night, I took the ship out to retrieve the starboard headrail.  Very slowly, I did manage to remake that horse carving, so today, I flushed-up all of the edges and finished that aspect of the project:

Weeks ago, when I was trying to tuck this headrail in, behind the figurehead, I was a little overzealous and removed too much material at the wrong angle.  I added back a little plastic, here, to make a good joint:

What has lit a little fire in me is the awareness that the 40th Annual Joint Clubs Meeting isn’t that far away.  My home club, The ShipCraft Guild of New York, is hosting and we are in the planning stages with the hope of putting on a really good show, in this anniversary year.

 

And, so, I have set goals for the project before the show.  I would like to have the entire head structure assembled and painted with all accompanying ornament.  I would also like to have the third balcony tier, in-place.  If I really get moving again, perhaps it is possible that I will have at least the outline of the tafferal in-place.

 

As I would like to construct cambered head-gratings, it is fortuitous timing that Chuck Passaro happens to be designing that structure for his Winchelsea group build right now.  His sequencing of assembly has helped me to clarify my own modified approach to building this structure, and I will soon get started on making that happen.

 

On a tangentially related note: I am always on the look-out for 17th Century drawings and I recently discovered very clear images of the sets for this Swedish ship, The Kronan:

There are so many interesting things about this set.  One can see that this is a Swedish ship because the Royal coat of arms with three crowns (as opposed to fleurs) is centered on the upper balcony rail.

 

Each drawing is inscribed in Swedish and translates to:

 

“Drawing of the ship Kronan written by Francis Sheldon 1660s”

 

Now, it is true that Francis Sheldon was contracted by Sweden to construct this huge three-decker for their expanding navy, in the late 1660’s.  The Baltic remains of the ship still bear witness to the heavy English influence of Sheldon upon her architecture.

 

This ornamental set, however, has absolutely nothing in-common with English design or ornamental practice.  In fact, apart from the coat of arms, everything about these drawings is distinctly French and very specifically the hand of Jean Berain.

 

Consider the following sets for Le Fleuron and Le Terrible:

And so, it is curious that these drawings would be marked as the hand of Sheldon, when at least one near contemporary portrait of the Battle of Oland, paints a very different picture of the Kronan, at the moment of her loss in 1676:

 

It makes more sense that the Kronan would have had a round-tuck stern, and that her side galleries may have been more similar, in structure, to the Sovereign of the Seas.

 

My guess is that, perhaps, the Swedish crown had plans to build a second Kronan in the 1690s, and had contracted Berain to produce an ornamental proposal.  As far as I can find, though, the original Sheldon Kronan of 1672 is the only Swedish ship to carry the name in the 17th C.

 

Anyway, it is all interesting to look at, and to consider that Berain may have been reviving the twist-tail tritons of Puget’s style, later in the century.

[druxey]

An interesting post - in more ways than one. It seems that you've had many vicissitudes and am glad you are past them now. Hopefully the family stays healthy now! Glad you are back to the model: it can be a healing activity.

[Hubac's Historian]

Me too, D.

[Nek0]

Wow, I hope everything is alright for you and your family now ! 

Very impressive and interesting work, as usual.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you, Marc!  My jaw has made a full recovery and suspect posters are now posted in the subways, which is good.  I don’t really expect anything to come of it, but one never knows.

 

I’ve begun patterning the headrail supports structures and the cambered head grating.  This will be a fun and interesting component of the build.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

That sounds unpleasant and probably a bit scary. I loathe cities, there always seems to be a fizz of danger about them and even though we are only 40 minutes from London I only go there maybe once a year. Anyway, good to see you getting back into the groove, I always enjoy looking at what you're up to. I'm no historian but, for what it's worth, until I read the narrative I assumed the drawings were of french ships since that's what they look like. Case proven, methinks.

 

Otherwise, you're probably right, I should hang onto my machines. And my telescopes, despite the lousy eyesight for astronomy and no longer liking being awake at 3am on a freezing night. Maybe I'll get cataracts, have them done and suddenly see a whole new Saturn or Jupiter 🙂. 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you, Kevin.  Despite this incident, I still love loving in a big city.  I grew up in the suburbs, and that was great until it wasn’t anymore.  Still a nice place to visit, though.  As for astronomy, it seems as though astrophysicists are making quantum optical strides all the time.  I’d hold onto those telescopes, too, but then I’m loath to throw anything away!

 

So, I’ve spent the past few nights mapping and templating card patterns for these headrail support structures.  Anyone who has been following this build can attest to my love for lamination, and these parts will be no exception;  each station is made up of three layers of .030 styrene card stock.

 

The method will become clearer in subsequent postings, but the primary challenge - once again - is coping with a similar trapezoidal asymmetry in the bow, as in the stern; the starboard side of the beakhead bulkhead projects further forward than port.  Co-incidentally, it is also the starboard side, at the stern, that projects further aft.  How the starboard side ended up so considerably longer than port, when the mid-ships ladders were my alignment point of reference - I will never understand.

 

Anyway, as any good field carpenter must do, this will be about making the installation appear correct and seamless.

 

A few pictures:

With a centerline drawn on the cardboard, as a visual check against the center of the stem, I found the distance to each headrail, working one side of patterns at a time.  I also marked the bottom of the lowest headrail, and just above the midpoint of the middle headrail on each pattern.  This enabled me to map the scalloped pattern on the undersides of these supporting timbers (as well as the cambered uppers) so that they ultimately extend out beneath the underside of the lowest headrail.

As I first drew the interior scanting of these structures, they were much too heavy and there was no reasonable transition from rising timber to vertical timber.  I wish I had taken pictures to show the difference, but I did not.  I consulted JCL’s St. Philippe monograph and was rewarded with a much better impression of what these structures should look like.  It bears mentioning that these structures are still oversize, so that I can fair to final form after lamination.

 

Keen eyes will observe that one side rises higher (about a 1/16”) than the other.  This is one result of the asymmetry that I am referring to.  It can’t be fixed; only mitigated.  Fortunately, from any viewing angle on the finished model, the combination of gratings camber and consistent alignment with the middle rail on both sides will mask this deficiency.  Proof of concept may prove me wrong, but I’m pretty confident that if I weren’t pointing this all out - it would not be obvious to even trained eyes.

 

For the time being, though, I am pleased that my patterns are glued and ready for wasting:

In other works, these fair maidens are rounding into form:

They’ll have to see a podiatrist, but then - don’t we all?

 

As always, I appreciate the support of everyone who comes to visit this page.  Thank you all very much!  More to follow.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Hubac's Historian

[druxey]

Head timbers are a pain at the best of times, but you seem to be well on the way to conquer them, Marc.

[yancovitch]

being an imitation modeler, for me it's easy...take a piece of wood, cut a rough form, place it on the bow, cut here cut there, place it...cut and place again and again until......ok that feels right....😁.....

[Hubac's Historian]

Often the best approach, Vic.  The eye is more sure than the hand - every time 

[GrandpaPhil]

Glad you’re okay!

 

Soleil Royale is looking awesome!

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you very much, GranpaPhil!

[Nek0]

Can't wait to see the bow fulfilled !

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Ha!  You may have to wait a bit longer as these headrail supports are proving more difficult to fit than I anticipated.  The starboard side is fitted, but it required significant padding out with extra styrene to make good connections; this, despite making what I thought were really good patterns.

 

Anyway, it will all come together in the end.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Hubac's Historian

[Hubac's Historian]

Hello!

 

The difficulty I’ve been having with these headrail supports has to do with my fidelity to the idea that some portion of the support should fit beneath the lowest headrail.

 

I started by first adjusting the adjoining angles on the starboard side.  I found that I had to add plastic shims, here and there:

This all worked out well enough on the starboard side, but I was not having nearly enough of a supporting ledge, when I shifted over to the port side.

 

More-over, when I positioned both headrails at the same time, I realized I was going to have to add significant plastic the the lower coved profile, in order to create a port-side ledge.  Rather than continue to add plastic, I decided to let the matter rest for a few days.  I am glad I did.

 

In the days that followed, my second bout with COVID (pretty mild) has afforded me the time to really think this through.  I remembered that I had already set the position of the headrails so that the forward medallion was below the sprit mast.  That was the whole impetus for re-designing the headrails, in the first place.

 

Further, I had set the cathead supports to meet neatly beneath the cathead timbers.  Despite all that forethought and pre-work, I had only visually placed the starboard cathead, before fitting the supports, on the assumption that my glue blocking would locate them properly.

 

Wellllll, that was not a safe assumption to make.  My forward medallions were actually encroaching above the spritmast, and when I put the cathead timbers in place, I could no longer fit the supports beneath them.

 

Once I could see the proper positioning of all of the affected elements, I knew what I must do:

The way forward would be to lop off these supporting ears (middle support)

Note: The vertical web you see on the split supports, closest to the hawsers, are only temporary for the sake of strength while I make and fit these parts.  Once I did that, the support pieces nestled against both sides easily:

I can simulate that under-connection, a bit later, with an applied scroll-head.

 

From there, I focused on what sort of decorative embellishments I would add to the exposed face of these supports.  I settled on a raised lip moulding:

I am playing with the idea of applied fleur ornaments at the base of each support.  These will extend out beyond the sides of each support, which may or may not be pleasing.  So far, though, they are coming along nicely:

The other tricky bit is that these cambered transverse supports for the head gratings have buttressing knees, running aft.

 

I had applied a glue ledge for the grating slats, and at the ends I have applied these blocks that I will fit to the headrails, and then file to shape.  What I have drawn upon them is only a rough approximation.  Again, these details are always easier to dial-in with the files:

Steadily, now, the bow is rounding into form.  Thank you all for your likes, your comments and for looking-in.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Hubac's Historian

[Bill Morrison]

Marc,

 

As usual, BEAUTIFUL work!

Bill

[shipmodel]

Marc - 

 

Glad you came through covid (again) so well.

 

Nice work.

I think you have solved some of the trickier fitting problems around the headrails.

Looking forward to seeing her in person.

 

Stay well

 

Dan

[No Idea]

The attention to detail is mind-blowing and the production of parts is so precise.  Keep the updates coming mate 😎

[druxey]

Certainly it's a Herculean task at that scale, Marc. Looking very promising.

 

Sorry to read that you had a second round with covid. Hopefully you will be healthy from here on.

[72Nova]

superb craftsmanship as always Marc!👍👍.

 

Michael D.

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you all for your well-wishes and for your kind comments.  Although, I have generally felt pretty ok, throughout (congestion, mostly), today was my first day where I tested negative.  It was nice to have a little time to rest, but my compulsive nature has me bouncing off the walls, at this point.

 

So, after much fiddling/fettling, I finally have the forward and mid supports dialed-in where I want them:

But, for the fact that I underestimated the angle of the buttressing knees on the forward support:

Okay, not a big deal; I added some plastic underneath the knee, so that I could fair the top surface flush with the headrail profile:

 

After fairing, and adding the support ledge for the grate slats:

I think the fleurs shaped up nicely, especially considering how small they actually are:

I had to add some plastic to the foot of the split supports, in order to raise them up about a 1/16”, but that is not a big deal either.  This is the beauty of a plastic build; you can make these mistakes and still salvage the part.

 

The next tricky bit of business is to fashion the forward terminus for the head grating, which fairs into the upper head knee.

 

More to follow..

[yancovitch]

ooooh...that's pretty scary....a nice halloween gift.....in my wildest dreams, could i have the patience or talent, for such intricate work.........

[Bill Morrison]

Marc,

Stunning work!  I am also stunned that you have had Covid twice.  Bad things can happen to good people.

Bill

[Hubac's Historian]

Actually, Bill, I’m amazed it hasn’t happened sooner.  March of 2020 was the first time.  But, school-age children and the coughing sneezing, sometimes sleezing, populace of NYC offer endless opportunities for contamination.  Fortunately, I’ve always been in pretty good shape, and the infections never got into my chest.