Le Soleil Royal by EJ_L - FINISHED - Sergal - Scale 1:77 - 1669 Version

[EJ_L]

I managed to get more accomplished with unpacking at the new house today and so I decided that I needed a reward. Therefore, I have started my build of Le Soleil Royal. This will probably be a slow build as I am still working on La Couronne and she still gets priority but, as I plan on making a lot of changes to the kit, things will work out well.

 

So to get started, here are the pictures of the contents of the kit. The parts all appear to be usable. The wood is of good quality and the laser cut parts are very clean. The metal fittings look usable as well though as with most, they could be improved. The instruction book is about what is expected in a kit. Plenty of information to build the ship but further research and knowing how to gather additional information from the drawings will be needed.

 

Something nice that was included is a very large, clear and full color picture of the completed model. This helps to make some of the details a little easier to see. 

 

Here are the pictures!

[donrobinson]

That is a great looking kit, I'll gladly pull up a stump and watch

[EJ_L]

Actually started building tonight also. Glued the false keel together and removed the bulkheads from the sheets and dry fitted them to the keel. I will hold off on actually gluing them together for a while as I want to test fit the decks and see what changes I need to make for some of the things I want to do. The main change that I know will require some extensive rework will be in the cabins. I would like to detail the cabins out and I have some LEDs to simulate lantern light to illuminate the cabins so those details can be seen.

 

As a curiosity I wanted to compare the scales of la Couronne (1:100) to Soleil Royal (1:77). This is not a comparison of the actual ships to each other as the scales are different but mostly to see how much larger of a model I am building compared to the last. I still have no idea where they will eventually find berth at but as I still have plenty of time to figure that out and build a display for them.

 

So please, pull up a chair and enjoy the very long journey I am starting out on.

[EJ_L]

Welcome Don! Glad to have you along on another build.

[WackoWolf]

I got my chair all set, so let the show begin.

[md1400cs]

Hey EJ,

 

That kit looks really awesome indeed. This one has always been on my "wish I could do list". The metal gildings also look to be very well cast as well. Lazer  cut is also a nice treat.

 

Good luck - I will also watch from Dry Dock gallery.

 

PS: As with ALL kits you will "loose" those blocks - right? ha ha

 

Cheers,

[EJ_L]

Oh yes, those blocks will be replaced with some of Chuck's fine blocks or if I'm feeling up to the challenge I may make my own as I will soon have my wood shop back up and running. Though that does remind me that I need to order some for La Couronne...

[Kelp]

Hi EJ,

This should be a fun model to build! Im looking forward to watching your progress on this site.

 

Don

[Pierretessier]

Nice reward

Looks like it will be quite a big ship once she is done.

[S.Coleman]

She'll be heavy with all the decorations on her. Best of luck. I hope they have plenty of strips for planking.

[EJ_L]

Zoltan, Don, Pierre, Scott, welcome!

 

She will indeed be a big one. 44 inches long, and about 31 inches tall. There are a considerable number of decorations on her. Out of curiosity I weighed the fittings and they came out to about 4 pounds. That may not sound like a lot but on a model that is a lot of weight. As for the wood count, I did get a lot of it but will it be enough?... we will see! It is a double planked hull and while I don't think they allow for a lot of mistakes, I do think that there will be enough wood to properly cover her. Filler blocks are the one thing that I did not get enough of. Fortunately I have plenty of scrap out in the wood shop to make some with so that is one of my first priorities once the shop is back up and running.

[EJ_L]

A few more hours and I have managed to dry fit all the frames and decks to check fit. While the thin upper decks are warped a little and will of course have to be shaped to fit the curve of the deck, the two false decks and the bulkheads all line up almost perfectly and will go together well. The only parts that have been glued so far are the two small filler blocks on either side of the bow. I will be adding more fillers here just as soon as I unpack my wood blocks.   The other parts that have been glued are the stern post and the aft bulkhead. This bulkhead was in three pieces and had to be glued in place in order for it to stay up.

 

The forecastle and quarter decks are still lacking a lot of their supports. There are quite a few frame extensions that have to be installed in order to get them into their final position. Also the poop deck will be higher up than what it is now by about another inch.

 

As I have now done about all the dry fitting that I can really do and I'm happy with how everything is lining up, I will now take her back apart and start gluing the bulkheads to the false keel. Wood glue for strength and clamps to keep them all straight and I will be off and running. Till then, here are some pictures. I have also included some with measurements shown for height and length of the hull as is. Completed she will be larger on both dimensions.

[WackoWolf]

Thank you, glad your happy with the way things are, not much to have to get straighten out with is always nice. Will be waiting for more updates when you have them.

[donrobinson]

Looks like she is fitting together pretty good. I am not sure what kits Sergal makes but is this your first one of theirs?

[EJ_L]

This is my first kit from Sergal. I tend to bounce around on manufacturers. Ive done a Constructo, Model Shipways, Corel and now Sergal. As long as they are a reputable company and the kit appears to be of good quality and contains the detail level I am looking for, I'm good to go. So far I am impressed with the kit. While I know none of them are perfect, nor do I really care as I always plan on changing things anyway, so far Sergal seems to have put together a nice packaged kit. The instructions like most are not made for beginers but this whole kit is not meant for beginers and so that shouldn't matter. I may change my opinion as the build progresses but right now I would have to say they did well and I would recommend their products.

[EJ_L]

Spent some hours today gluing together the frames and the two false decks. Everything squared up nicely which was an improvement over the last build which had it's false keel twisted. Attached the canon barrel supports on the false decks and started to fair the hull. Still searching for the box of filler blocks that is now lost somewhere in the cluster of boxes and things that is currently my wood shop. Hopefully they will surface this week and if not then I will just run out and get some more. I definitely need something at the bow as that is a rather large empty space that I need to make a fairly sharp curve on.

 

I'm also going to have to mock up the stern galleys so I can start to plan for the lights I want to put in them as well as the interior designs. Lots of planing and testing ahead on this build.

 

I will be making a better cradle for her soon too. The one I normally use for this stage of the build is too small for Soleil Royal and so something different is needed. I have some good ideas just really needing access to my tools.

[Robin Lous]

oh...you sneaked in another build...sweet!

 

Robin

[EJ_L]

Yep! Had to verify that I was going crazy by doing not just one crazy big project but two!

[donrobinson]

That's alright E.J. being crazy has some good benefits too no one will drink your drink, eat off your plate..........and speaking of drink I don't see that beautiful cabinet in this shipyard yet  

[EJ_L]

Ah yes the good spirits cabinet. Well as I now have a dedicated shipyard I no longer have to share space in the living room with the bar. Therefore it is now in the dining room where it belongs and I can make a drink to take with me to the shipyard. This also gives me a good reason to get up and walk around every so often so I can refuel...

[WackoWolf]

God bless you, I love it. But its best that I don't drink but I do have the license for what I like so hats off to both of us.

[Hubac's Historian]

Looking good, so far, EJ!  I'm in for your build.

[EJ_L]

Welcome aboard Marc, good to have you here also.

 

Update on the build, found my filler bocks today while setting up the wood shop. Going to finish up the main mast rigging on La Couronne then I will switch back to SR for a time and get them shaped and installed. Should have some new pictures in the next few days.

[EJ_L]

Welcome Gary! I agree that overall the kit is of excellent quality and to build it straight from the box would make an outstanding model, something that cannot be said about all kits. The blocks provided in kits are typically like the instructions, usable but could be a lot better. Rigging thread often only comes in maybe 3 sizes. That is fine and again usable but as you said, there are more that 3 sizes used on ships. Many more in fact. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference and skills. 99% of the people who would view the completed model would not know, or even care about historical inaccuracies. So how do you as a modeler feel and to what degree do you want to take your model? If I built this ship straight from the box, I would be proud of it. I would have an outstanding model that all my friends and family would ooo and ahh over. However, while I am no means anywhere near a master at this hobby, my mind tells me that I want and can do better than what is before me. 

 

So that being said, more time, more money and more head scratching is before me as I take this excellent model and attempt to make it better, whether that is historically better or just my own imaginings remains to be seen.

 

Gary, by the way I took a look at the pictures of your SR and you did make an wonderful model. Very impressive and I am sure I will be looking at your pictures for guidance at times.

Edited December 11, 2016 by EJ_L

[EJ_L]

Today has been a busy day working on SR though you can't really tell. I did get the filler blocks installed at the bow but mostly I have been test fitting the stern cabin windows and trying to figure out the framing back there. There is not a lot of detail concerning the sub framing and so I am going to have to make a bunch up to achieve what all I want to put in back there. I am also identifying what parts of the lower false decks will be seen through hatches, grating etc. so I can make sure they are planked. This is where a fully framed ship has an advantage as the framing used is what should be there and you don't have to worry about modifying bulkheads to get the look you want. Of course there is the challenge of actually framing a ship so....... 

 

Anyway, here are some pictures. As I said, not much to really look at different but there is progress! By the way, the frame for the cabin windows is not glued in yet. The supports are but the frame won't be for some time yet.

[WackoWolf]

Your getting there E.J. You know just like the rest of us that the research sometimes takes longer than the build.

[popeye the sailor]

hull is looking real good E.j.  

[EJ_L]

So I have found these pictures of the various cabin layouts on SR. I am hoping that someone may know where a clearer scan of these plans may be at as the writing is blurred to where I cannot read what it is saying. I am going to post this in a couple of places and hopefully someone will be able to help. This isn't something that is critical to construction but is more for knowledge. Thanks!

[EJ_L]

Well, I did it. I pulled the stern apart and cut away all the filler on the aft bulkhead so that it would more closely resemble actual framing. I realized to do the cabins the way I want to there was no way it could remain as designed. In fact, a lot of the aft portion of the ship may be getting redesigned as the decks and the cabin windows are not lining up properly. I am still trying to determine if the error is just in the supplied layout for the windows or if it is in the structure itself. I hope it turns out to be in the window layout as I am scrapping that one anyway to make my own. The reason for this is that the supplied layout is for a 5 window configuration and I am going to go with the 6 window configuration as seen in the below picture. While I do not know for certain which is correct, I like the look of the 6 window and the balcony layouts as well as the quarter galleys make the most sense to me this way. After viewing a lot of pictures of models built both ways as well as the various prints of her stern, I think I have settled on this.  

 

Ok, now to figure out how to build it.... Good thing there are a couple of holiday weekends ahead of me!

[donrobinson]

You have my curiosity going now, looking forward to more