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

[EJ_L]

At long last the upper balcony is complete! Little touch up paint to do but the overall construction is done. Now to drop down a level start the middle balcony and quarter galleys. 

[Hubac's Historian]

Well done!

[popeye the sailor]

you've done a great job with the balcony.......all three together are going to really look nice   

[EJ_L]

Thanks everyone! I've been hard at work at my job....but also the ship and have a good start on the middle tier balcony. Hoping to have the bulkheads completed in the next day or two and ready for the ornamentation's to start. This tier will have more intricate carvings that I will have to make but, I am feeling more confident that I can get them done. Picture updates soon!

[EJ_L]

As good fortune would have it I managed to get in a very productive build session tonight and the middle balcony is now built. Time to start adding the decorations! This is going to take some trial and I’m sure many errors. I have a plan, we shall see how it turns out.... 

 

Till then enjoy the pictures! 

[EJ_L]

First carving set has been made. Very time consuming and frustrating when little pieces break off but I got one done! The process is actually simple in design. Draw it out on the blank and then I coated the blank in super thin ca glue to help keep the wood bonded together but still easy to sand off. Then I cut out the rough shapes using drill bits and a #11 blade. Once the rough cutting is done I used the #11 blade and the micro files to finish shaping and smoothing. Finally paint and install. 

 

Still have the touch ups to do and and some other small details that need to be made for the oval centers and of course all the other sections which I’m starting the next piece of when I get done with this update. 

 

As always, thanks for looking in and enjoy the pictures! 

[BLACK VIKING]

Well done my friend the stern is really looking the part, wonderful job 👍

Martyn

[Steve 12345]

Looking great ej been a while from I signed in always keen to see your excellent progress 

[EJ_L]

A little more progress. Both sides are now matching and I’m now cutting out the center. The real challenge is going to be figuring out how to get Le Soleil Royal in that center oval. The oval is only 8.5mm wide and 4mm tall. Not sure how to make that work just yet... 

[Baker]

great progress E.J.
I am sure that you will find the right solution for this challenge.

[popeye the sailor]

looking very nice EJ.....gotta be nerve racking though  

[EJ_L]

It is indeed nerve racking! Honestly, the worst part isn't so much that something breaks, that is just about inevitable. The worst part is when a tiny piece breaks and falls to the floor and gets lost in the carpet. That means I either have to grab the flashlight, get down on the floor and comb the carpet until it turns up all the while hoping that it didn't take a crazy bounce and get to far away from the common search areas or get lost in dog fur or I have to start over which is never fun.

 

The lettering at this small of a scale is still eluding me a the moment. I'm thinking I am going to have to do some sort of printed decal or if I can find a pen with a fine enough point I may be able to just write it in myself. Going to do a lot pf practice though on some scrap to see how it turns out.

[Baker]

Backer's idea,

 

Can you not make the oval piece with the name separate?

This may work easier

[yancovitch]

hahaha....yea....absolutely amazing how a tiny piece can fall to the floor right in front of you and disappears....it's actually kinda scary .....i always figured it was the alien kids practicing abduction, cause they weren't allowed to do humans......anyways, if i don't immediately find it, i use a small manual hokey carpet sweeper, and go over the whole area, and most of the time it works....i empty it out each time, so it's easier to find in the dust etc.....

[EJ_L]

I have a similar vacuum that I use to find small pieces also. When we moved from the old house I used it on the floor in the old shipyard and found a lot of tiny parts that had been lost over the years. Especially eyebolts. I bet I lose easily a couple dozen on every model.

 

I am considering making a separate oval piece with the lettering done on it. In fact, that is how I plan on doing the test pieces. My thinking is if I do a test piece that I love, I can simply insert it into the complete carving rather than try again and risk screwing it up. We shall see... 

 

 

[EJ_L]

More decorations are in place! Been a productive weekend! 

[popeye the sailor]

sweet!....especially the one in the middle!   

[md1400cs]

EJ,

 

Just catching up. Looking sweet indeed. Really like your gold gilded work excellent -well those bits that are not devoured by the carpet. I would bet

that every member here has fallen prey to this kind of thievery - carpet members that is - PS: yup like me.  

 

Cheers,

[EJ_L]

Another section of decorations have been added. Now to make the other side look the same and then I have to create a lot of fluer-de-lis. 

 

As always, thanks for stopping in, the nice comments and likes! 

[EJ_L]

Wow! I knew the upper balcony was sagging but when I look at the picture on my computer screen compared to my phone when I uploaded it, that is indeed bad! I knew I was going to have to adjust it as I could see something happened to push it down on the aft side. I think when I made the side panels I may have cut them at the wrong angle which has forced the aft end downward and become more noticeable now with the middle balcony in place. Should be a relatively easy fix to trim back the sides which will hopefully allow the aft end to raise back up.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how you can stare at something for days on end and miss things until you look at them in a picture!

[popeye the sailor]

cameras can be our own worst enemies!      looks very good though.......your quite the artist!

[Hubac's Historian]

Frustrating, for sure, but the fix will be well worth it.  Middle balcony really came out nicely, EJ.  I’m still puzzling as to how to write the Ship’s name in such a small space.  This may be an application for photo-etching.

[EJ_L]

Not much to update on the ship from this weekend. Weather was very nice for most of it and so I spent a lot of it out with the Admiral and the rest in the wood shop finishing a project and getting ready to start a new one. I did start on fixing the upper balcony last night though. I got one side trimmed out and should have the other side done tonight. Then I can re-position it, touch up and return to decorations. 

 

Here is what I worked on this weekend. Last fall I started to restore our porch bench as both the wood and metal were in rough shape. I disassemble it last fall, stripped and sanded down the wood then after confirming the wood was still sound, I applied a new stain coat and sealer. The metal I took to my dad's auto shop and sand blasted them bare, sprayed primer and then painted with an exterior paint coat. I ran all the connecting hardware through a wire wheel to remove the rust and painted them as well. Finally after months of it sitting in pieces on one of the benches in the shop, I got it reassembled this weekend and returned to our porch where it belongs. Now I have some bookcases I need to build for the Admiral and I may be able to work in my display case for La Couronne sometime soon.  

[yancovitch]

hmmmm...curious as to how you will design that display case....i have to make one for my confed......will only have glass on three sides to save weight, but i'm not sure how to make the framework yet......

[kpnuts]

Oh my what a build, that is some skill I must say, skills I could only ever dream of. Outstandingly good I will be watching the rest of this.

[EJ_L]

Vic, I'm planning on a curio cabinet design to display La Couronne in. The Admiral is needing a place for her collectibles also so I figure I can do both in one unit to save space. I'll post pictures of it when I get it going.

 

kpnuts, Thanks for the kind words and great to have you along on this build. Always nice to have builders of the same ship together to help each other learn and grow.

[Elijah]

Looking great E.J! Your carvings are fantastic, as is that bench.

[EJ_L]

Middle balcony is coming along with the bulk of the decorations now in place. Got some more details to add and also support columns between the two balconies. Glad those carvings are done as I am ready to move on to the next painstaking set. 

 

 

[md1400cs]

EJ,

 

As you add more carvings the fine work that you are doing is really "taking off" super nice work. 

Carving is on my list of things to learn - one of these days. Great that you took the plunge!

[popeye the sailor]

I see you fixed the upper balcony....looks much better.   when you add the support columns,  it should stop the sagging from returning.   looks great!