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

[Kevin-the-lubber]

As ever, amazing hand skills Marc, you are definitely king of the plastic carvers! You’re right about life getting in the way, sometimes there’s just to much else to do.

[Bill97]

Incredible job as always Marc. The way you consistently dive into the authenticity of the model over what the kit represents is truly impressive!

[No Idea]

Marc your attention to the historical details of your ship are mind blowing for me.  Very impressive work indeed!

[druxey]

Nice to see some progress, however incremental, Marc. When my daughter was young, no model-making occurred for ten years. You are doing much better than that.

[Hubac's Historian]

8 hours ago, John Ott said:

Wow. Good job on correcting the masts. Boudroit says specifically in his section on masts and fittings that there were no fish, except—"The use of fish was known, but used as pieces of timber intended to correct the least weakness in resistance of a mast that could have been cracked but not broken." (Book's not-terribly-great English translation.)

So—live and learn. In my case, I learned too late. I didn't get Boudroit's book until after my lower masts were already installed, and so I'm going to live with them, fish and all.

 

So long, and thanks for all the fish.*   

 

(*dated reference.)

HitchHiker’s Guide?

[Hubac's Historian]

1 hour ago, Bill97 said:

Incredible job as always Marc. The way you consistently dive into the authenticity of the model over what the kit represents is truly impressive!

Well, Bill, other modelers have been educating me along the way, and sometimes their suggestions are too compelling to ignore.

[Ian_Grant]

9 hours ago, John Ott said:

 

So long, and thanks for all the fish.*   

 

(*dated reference.)

We get it!   LOL,  was a great series.

[John Ott]

Yeah, Hitchhiker's, Marc. I suppose that dates me somewhat.

I spent the day installing mainmast tackles and mulling over the problem you highlighted. I finally hit on a good rationalization: my Soleil has fish because the model represents the ship as it appeared some time after the Battle of Malaga instead of before, as I previously intended. The masts had battle damage repaired, but remained weakened, hence the fish. Actually, having repaired battle damage justifies a whole host of deviations from the Boudroit norm, so I can use the same excuse next time I get into trouble.

[Hubac's Historian]

We are all somewhat dated, John.  Model ship making is a dated-man’s activity.

[FriedClams]

 

 

On 12/1/2023 at 1:42 PM, Hubac's Historian said:

 Who was it that said “life is just one G’damn thing after another!”?

 

I think it was Elbert Hubbard, but no matter who it was, it seems to ring true for most of us.  Good to see an update, Marc.  Enjoy the rest of the holiday season.

 

Gary 

[Hubac's Historian]

That rings familiar, Gary - I think you’re right on Elbert.  I appreciate your looking in, and happy Holidays to you as well.

Edited February 2 by Hubac's Historian

[GrandpaPhil]

The Hitch-Hiker’s series was great!

 

Your Soleil Royale is absolutely amazing!

[md1400cs]

Marc,

 

As always such a pleasure dropping by ---

 

PS: Yes, that Modelships.de site has amazing models - I've known about it and spent lots of time looking through some of those

builds for several years now. AND the double click closeup images are so helpful for learning about how to add details to a build.

 

Cheers,

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you, Michael!  Agreed - the clarity of those images is pretty astounding!

[Hubac's Historian]

I’ve become somewhat stymied in my chain-making experiments, lately, as one of the tips of my Xuron PE snips snapped off, while cutting soft annealed wire (28 gauge).  Maybe I’m using the wrong tool here, but should the tip really snap off after such relatively light use?  Is there a better tool in the Xuron range for 1:96 chain making?

 

Anyhow, that’s all on hold until I buy better/more appropriate tools.  In the meantime, I just wanted to make some progress doing anything, so I finished detail painting the main deck gun carriages.

I appreciate all reasonable advice to correct the implausible/impossible carriage trunnion mounts.  After much hemming and hawing, during my phase of no progress, I have decided to let this one go in the interest of keeping things moving onward and upward.  I am satisfied enough that I spread the trucks, and I will re-position the barrel trunnions themselves, so that the cascabels don’t overhang the back of the carriage to an unreasonable degree.  Good enough for this go-around the May-Pole.

I have blacked-out the truck axles and the glue blocks underneath all visible carriages.

 

One other incorrect detail of my model that I would like to better understand the “why for,” is the rake of the channels.  I have chosen to back-sweep the forward and aft edges of my channels:

This just feels intuitively correct to me.  To the contrary, though, all credible monographs show a slight forward-sweep to the fore and aft edges of the channels.  What is the logic behind the design?

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I think you probably just got unlucky, just about any side cutters should easily go through soft 28swg. Maybe you hit a bit with micro particles of slag or something. As I’m sure you know, not all steel / brass / copper is the same. Back in the day, I could sometimes be chasing my tail making long runs of something if we’d got a batch of low quality mild steel, with folds varying by a degree or two. That’s no good if the tolerance is 0.004”, which is pretty much what you’re working to if you measured. Personally, I have a pair of ‘best’ cutters that I am super careful with and only use on plastic, and a couple of well-used ones with the odd nick from cutting wire, as this always seem to damage the blades sooner or later.

[72Nova]

It's good to see you're able to find some time to work on your masterpiece Marc. I've never noticed nor read about channels being raked like that, essentially a parallelogram, so I can't help there, it's such a subtle feature though that doesn't smack you in eye as it's only really noticeable from an overhead shot but I do like how you simulated the joints in the channels 👍

 

Michael D.

[shipmodel]

Hi Marc - 

 

I finally am getting your updates, and love what you are doing.  The gun carriages look fine, and no one the wiser.

As for making chain at 1:96, even the old "scratch built" rules allowed for purchased chain.  (I have extra chain in really small sizes if you need some).

If you are talking about deadeye chainplates, then you are on your own.  You might be able to take larger size chain and squeeze the links into thinner, longer shapes.

 

Best of success.

 

Dan 

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you Michael and Dan!  I will continue to tinker with the chainplates.  Eventually, I will arrive at something acceptable.

[Bill97]

Just amazing Marc!  That is all I can contribute. As I close in on the finish of my SR  I must accept my inferiority to your incredible skills 😊.

Great job my friend. 
 

Bill

[t_corret]

Have you looked at Dafi's 1/100 Heller Victory build? He has photos-etched chains that he sells. It may work for your build. Wonderful to see what you are working on.

[Hubac's Historian]

I have considered Daniel’s chains, T_C.  Unfortunately, I don’t think their length will cover the span that I need to reach the middle band of wales.  It’s okay, though, making my own is a worthwhile learning experience.

 

So far, I’ve made the 5MM, fore and main deadeye strops.  I just completed the 3.5MM backstay deadeye strops.

Below are the rough strops before filing away excess solder.  Above are the cleaned-up strops.  I have adopted a method described by R.C. Anderson, where the join overlaps and is concealed beneath the channels.  I’m reasonably satisfied with these.  Now that I have a new pair of nippers, I will get busy making the other links, although I still need to make 4MM deadeye strops for the mizzen chains.

 

I wanted to do something more familiar and fun, so I’ve started re-locating the trunnions for the main deck battery.  To the left is the stock trunnion location, and you can see that the cascabel overhangs the carriage end to an excessive degree.  To the right, I’ve shifted the barrel forward to where it should be:

This process begins by shaving away the existing trunnions, and making a simple marking gauge to locate the new trunnion position:

I use an awl to make a starting depression for the drill, otherwise the bit will just skate across the rounded surface.  First, I chuck the bit in a pin vise to get a better bite on both locations.  Then, I can chuck the bit in the Dremmel and drill though one side at a time:

A short length of .035 styrene rod is fed through the barrel, and a spot of liquid plastic cement, on the underside of each join, secures it.  On my marking gauge, I inscribed a line indicating the projection of the trunnions from the barrel side.  A pencil mark on the overlong trunnions gives me a reference to nip to.  I clean the ends with a file, and voila:

Corrected trunnions!

 

Ultimately, I will add either paper or foil cap squares to the visible, detailed guns.

 

Thanks for stopping by and looking in at This Old Project!

Edited February 2 by Hubac's Historian

[Kevin-the-lubber]

The cannons look much better with the trunnions moved. Though the barrels look very long for the girth and carriages. Are they true to history, Hellers best guess or recycled moulds from another kit? The original trunnion positions are very odd.

 

By coincidence, I’ve been plodding away on the Victory’s cannons and carriages for what feels like several decades now, though in reality it’s just since Christmas. As you infer, it’s strangely relaxing and absorbing, isn’t it. No major head scratching, just rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

As far as I can see, Heller based their guns on the famous Croisic gun.  Heller did a fairly remarkable job of copying all of the decorative emblems and motifs, and proportionally they look pretty close to me.

 

The Croisic gun is a middle battery 24-pounder from SR’s original 1670 middle battery armament.  It was recovered from Cherbourg and eventually became part of the second battery armament of SR4, 1748, which was ultimately scuttled.  The gun was subsequently recovered from that wreck, mid 20th C.

 

My main deck guns are actually the kit’s middle battery guns - the 24 pounders.  I bumped all of the gun calibers up a deck, in order to give a more appropriate sense of visual weight to the artillery.

For more reading on the Croisic gun and detailed images of its decoration, see here:

 

https://fortifications-neuf-brisach.blogspot.com/2021/01/lexceptionnel-canon-de-24-du-soleil.html?m=1

 

 

[Javelin]

Seems the Dutch had very similar guns. This one also had the stepped (Z) carriage sides.

Unfortunately displayed on an elevated stand. Could only read "Cornelis" at the back, which I assumed was a manufacturer? 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Beautiful guns. Now I can see the real thing I can understand that unusual cascabel on the model part. Though I actually prefer the 'before' over the 'after'. I think it would be better if the restorers aged the carriages a bit. I remember a friend from years ago, who made replica antique furniture, telling me that when they made a table they would leave a chain on top in the workshop. Every time someone walked past it, they were supposed to give it a good whack with the chain. When 'aged' enough they'd polish it up and make it ready for sale.

 

Roel, two words: selfie-stick 🤪

 

[FriedClams]

Catching up Marc and nice clean work on the trunnion repositioning.  I have several Xuron cutters/snips, and they have held up OK.  Never used PE snips, but all the Xuron tools that I have use bypass blades to cut, like garden pruners or scissors which is great for some jobs, but not so much for others.  I realize that you've already replaced your snips, but for cutting wire no matter how fine, I always use a small pair of precision flush cutters. 

 

Keep up the great work - will be watching for your next update. 

 

Gary 

[Bill97]

Marc I would expect moving the trunnions is, for you, a relaxing endeavor!  With the intensity you are putting in to each and every part of your build I would think a period of “rinse and repeat” would provide a bit of relief. Beautiful job. I may have taken a short cut in that I only moved the trunnions on the cannons that showed 😉. Don’t tell anyone for I fear I will be banned from MSW 😀.

[Hubac's Historian]

You are very right about that Bill.  It is a task that I know how to go about with some efficiency and guaranteed clean results, and that is comforting.  ‘Especially so because I have spent quite a lot of the past five months in a state of observation and contemplation over how, exactly, to tackle the more difficult and unfamiliar aspects of the build.

 

Apart from the deadeye strops, I really wasn’t happy with any of my other link-making for the chains.  Finally, I remembered that Andre Kudin has produced an extremely detailed YouTube log that accompanies his MSW build of Le Fleuron.  Granted, he is working in 1:48, and with a substantially heavier gauge of wire, but his chains have no kinks or tell-tale deficiencies of technique, so I searched through his videos to see exactly what he does.

 

I’ll do a more detailed post on this later, but Andre has absorbed the lessons of the great contemporary Russian masters, and he has quite a lot of original ingenuity that he demonstrates so clearly in his videos.  Suffice it to say, for now, that Andre gave me confidence to pick up with that project again and know that I can achieve similarly excellent results.  His videos really are superb and you can turn-on English captions to understand what he’s saying and appreciate his humor.

 

Although I wish I were more active with the actual building of the model, I console myself with the understanding that this mental incubation period is useful and necessary to become a better modeler that isn’t intimidated by metal work or rigging.

 

We all get where we’re going eventually.

[Hubac's Historian]

Well, the 6th grade CYO basketball season has drawn to a close and our team succeeded beyond my wildest dreams:  we went 13-1, and captured the Manhattan division title.  Our second and final loss came in a division matchup with the Bronx winners.  We played a gritty first half, and kept it close, but made mistakes in the second half.  We were simply overmatched.  Nonetheless, it was a wonderful and extremely rewarding season.  The Knicks, on the other hand, continue to surprise, so my attentions remain somewhat divided.

 

That being said, I am lately looking to focus more on model building.  I’ve completed all of the fore, main and mizzen channel deadeye strops.  Although Andre Kudin’s particular method is definitely more efficient with less clean-up - he solders the lower strop loop at a neatly cut joint - I stuck with the R.C. Anderson overlap method I had been using because the strops were coming out uniformly, nicely shaped, and strong.  I will change my approach for the deadeye strops in the tops.

Next in order to be made are the chain preventer plates.  One of the key differences between what I had first tried, when making the chain preventer plates, and what Andre does is that Andre bends each plate from an individual length of wire, rather than try to economize on material by wrapping a longer length of wire, many turns, around an appropriately sized former.

 

When you do the latter, for one thing - you may succeed in crimping the continuous loop neatly around the former, but it is nigh impossible, after parting the links to get the links off the former without pulling them all out of shape.

 

The other issue with parting the links in this way is that you end up with one neat flush end and a pinched end, which leads to a weaker solder joint.

 

What I am after are uniformly straight chain links, free of odd kinks, and sloppy joints.  To that end I set up a simple bending jig like the one I see in Andre’s videos.  Following is a series of screen captures from his YouTube videos.  This particular video is either #13 or #16, in the series, if I remember correctly:

And following along, I first pre-bend short lengths of wire around a drill mandrel:

I’ve placed a shallow spacer beneath the link area, so that the ends will be slightly raised and easier to crimp with my parallel pliers:

I crimp snug around the upper pin, then use my pliers to pull each end snugly around the lower pin.  I then crimp around the lower pin:

I can then remove the link, and flush-cut each side of the link.  A little tweezer/finger manipulation creates a nicely closed link:

Silver solder paste has proven to be really great as I can control its application with the tip of an Exacto.  A touch to the iron, and I have nicely soldered joints that only require a little cleanup:

Now, Andre puts the soldered loops back over the two-pin jig and uses his round-nose pliers to crimp eyes at each end.  I found, though, that the joints with this 28 gauge wire simply failed when I tried this:

Alternatively, I found that I could place each link end over the lower pin, hold the outer end with a tweezer, and use my round nose plier to crimp around the single pin.  This worked beautifully:

Now, It’s a simple matter of doing that over and again about 60X.

 

It is, of course tedious, but satisfying to achieve the result I am after.

 

More to follow!

 

Best,

 

Marc

Edited March 19 by Hubac's Historian