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

[EJ_L]

Welcome Heinrich! I will add that book to my wish list as well. I’m planning on buying several and expanding my library greatly in 2019. 

 

I’ve added the rest of the bitts. Building knight heads now. There are still a few that are shown on the plan sheets that I am trying to figure out what their purpose is. Rigging is such a tangled mess sometimes! 😜

 

Took a break from direct work on the ship today to clean up a mini lathe I got from the admiral’s grandfather a while back. It doubles as a milling machine though with limited motion till I get a new x,y,z table. For my current needs, the large portion works great and now I can start turning the hundreds of spindles that I will need for the railings. 

 

The plans show, and I already installed square spindles on the waist rails but, after looking at them over the last few days, the square look appears to plain to me for this ship. Therefore I will make more decorative ones instead. Lots of turning ahead but, I think it will be worth the effort. 

 

[EJ_L]

Spindle making in progress. This is number 10 out of a lot more. Picking up the pace though and they are turning faster the more that I do. 

[zappto]

Beautifull work on the spindless. The are incredible small! Neat work! 

[EJ_L]

Well, turning those spindles took some time but, it was worth it in my opinion.

 

 

As the last day of the year comes to an end, I thought some overall pictures of the ship would be nice. Over 2 years and 1,448 hours logged in. I'm thinking that 2019 may be the year she is completed. Still have a lot more to do some refresh your popcorn and drink and get comfortable. I'm looking forward to another fun year of model building with you all. Happy New Year my friends!!

 

 

 

[EJ_L]

Port side and quarterdeck railings have gone up. Still have a lot more to go! 

[testazyk]

Really looking good and you're way ahead of me.  What technique did you use when you carved the bitts?  Did you use a template to keep them uniform?

 

Tom

[EJ_L]

Tom, no templates just measuring and filing to shape. Here is how I make them. 

Cut a piece of stock to length. Measure out where the cross beam will go and where the groove at the top will be. 

Use the saw to score a line for the top groove. 

Using a triangular file, I deepen the scored line then I switch to a triangular micro file for additional clean up and shaping. 

Once the groove is complete, I then start filing down the four top sides. 

Clean up and sand as needed. 

Drill two holes for the top and bottom of the sheave. 

Connect and smooth out the opening for the sheave hole. 

Next take a dowel and score a line around it for the pulley. 

Use a triangular file to deepen and widen the groove. 

Finish the pulley by using a round micro file to finish shaping and smoothing the pulley. 

Cut the pulley off the stock dowel and file the ends down smooth and to fit within the sheave hole. 

Finally insert into the sheave hole and the post is ready for finishing. I typically wait till I have several items ready before applying the sealer. 

If the post is to be crossed for use in a bitt, the groove for the cross piece would now be cut and filed smooth. This particular post is for the forecastle head rail and assembly will be different so i have only marked where the rail will intersect and not cut it out. 

[Heinrich der Seefahrer]

On 12/29/2018 at 2:46 AM, EJ_L said:

Welcome Heinrich! I will add that book to my wish list as well. I’m planning on buying several and expanding my library greatly in 2019. (...)

 

 

Thanks EJ, you are welcome. 

 

You did such a big invest in detailing,are you going to change the gratings?

Gratings are not what the kit supplier try to learn us: a pair of similar nut cutted planks sticked into eachother...

Here the grating ecxample by www.svb.de - you can order these there.

Remember the early French gratings aren't rectangular at the end they were cut at 45°. Very intersting andiffrend from the RNstyle is that the deck's beam isn't incorporated in the gartings. They are compared to the British silytyle „hills“ or “overcurved“. 

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Heinrich der Seefahrer

[Heinrich der Seefahrer]

Here these three examples from SAINT PHILIPPE at Rochefort, to show the difference to you o.o.b. parts.

[testazyk]

Thanks! Just what I was looking for and some good ideas too!

[EJ_L]

Heinrich, thank you for that information. I knew that my gratings were not correct after looking at some other builds from people with far more knowledge than I. I do not know though if I will change the design on these or not. It will be a lot of work and some expense I was not planning on as I will need to buy some better wood than what I currently have on hand. Fortunately, I am at a point in the build where nothing major is impacted by the changes so now would be the time to make them. I will give it some thought.

 

Many of these little problems are reasons why I am moving more and more towards scratch building. While there is nothing wrong with kits, I find myself frustrated when I see things that I know are wrong and want to change either too late in the build or the kit structure becomes vastly prohibiting on making those changes. With the kits, I rely too much on the given information and not enough on my own research until often times it is too late. With scratch building, one has to plan out the entire build to ensure everything is correct and are not misled or restricted by the limits of the kit.

 

This is one of the reasons I have been working so much on SR lately and not as much time on Royal Louis. There are changes to that kit I ma wanting make, as well as correcting many errors I have made in this one. That has greatly slowed down forward progress as I continue to plan and change plans as issues arise.

 

Ah the joys and challenges of model ship building!

Edited January 7, 2019 by EJ_L

[EJ_L]

More railings in place. One more to go on the forecastle then time to rig the last of the cannons. 

[popeye the sailor]

very nice EJ     scratch building is good to have under your belt........for the reasons you mention,  as well for the kits that don't seem to fit together very good.    also good for kits where your having to make a lot of the fittings....I have one of those kits      I learned this with my first model......not that I didn't know better,  I just felt that there should be more to it.   it will be very useful to you   

[EJ_L]

Last of the forecastle rails are in place along with the ship’s bell. Time to rig the remaining cannons. 

[BLACK VIKING]

She is looking absolutely stunning m8 lovely work 

Martyn

[popeye the sailor]

looks really nice   

[Old Collingwood]

I can only back up what others have said - beautiful work.

 

OC.

[EJ_L]

Thank you all for the nice comments and likes as well as following along. 

 

So I meant to post these pictures earlier but, it slipped my mind till now. Here are a few pics of how I make the rope coils. 

 

Place a a piece of tape sticky side up. Hold the rope down to the tape and begin to wind the rope around the tweezer. 

While coiling, press the rope down onto the tape so that the tape holds it in place. Sometimes the rope will keep coming off the tape. If this happens, use some glue to secure what has been cooled before moving on. 

Once the coil is complete, place a tiny amount of CA glue on the face to hold the rope together. 

Remove from the tape and flip over. There should be two exposed rope ends. One will be at the end of the coil and the other should be at the center with a short length over the top of the coil. 

If everything looks okay, set it in place, lining up the end of the coil with the cut off end of the rigging line. 

Thats it! 

 

Follow up tip: Pictured is a counter clockwise coil. Simply reverse the direction you wrap the rope to make a clockwise coil for the opposite side. 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

I love the rope idea - what a great idea using sticky tape.

 

OC.

[Hubac's Historian]

Your sheer cap and deck rails really came out well, EJ.

 

I’m feeling you on the gap between building a kit and wanting to improve it.  What you have accomplished, though, is truly remarkable.  This build is one of a kind and perfectly illustrative of your developing talents.  

[yancovitch]

ya...that's good ej.....the problem i had was too much glue soaking into the rope, discoloring it and making it look tacky and plasticy....i guess the trick is to use the medium ca, and only sparingly ....i tended to use the thin stuff, which wasn't too smart

[EJ_L]

Thank you all! This has truly been a great learning experience in not only the construction of these ships but, also in the history, design and practices of the French ship building compared to other countries. And then there is learning how to represent that in model form. This truly is a great hobby! 

 

Yes, I use an extra thick CA glue that I love. It beads up nicely out of the bottle which makes it easy to apply directly from the bottle or on a pin head. It does not bleed though as much as the thin stuff will nor does it run everywhere. Although, I still manage to glue pieces to my fingers far more often than I would like.   I do keep the thin CA on hand as well as it work great when I need to cover something in adhesive. I used it a lot when carving if the wood is brittle. I could cover the piece in the thin CA which soaks into the wood and then carve and sand through it while it helps to hold the wood together.

[testazyk]

Hi EJ--I agree with you about the rewards of ship modelling and learning about ship history and design.  Which raises an interesting (at least to me) question about the Soleil Royal.  I've been wondering why they had that wall with the small doors on the upper deck under the focsle deck.  It effectively limits movement on the upper deck.   All other ships I've seen have the entire upper deck (and all gun decks) unobstructed (except for pillars, capstans, etc.) and I always thought that was so the crew could move to any guns during battle.   I haven't looked very hard but haven't been able to find any explanation and wondered if anyone might know.

[EJ_L]

The bulkhead under the forecastle was much like those towards the stern for the officers quarters. They provided compartmentalized space for private rooms or storage or to get out of the weather. I cannot say for certain if this feature was on SR but, I have seen it on many similar ships and figured it may well have been there. 

 

With any bulkhead on a gun deck, they could easily be removed by the carpenter and his mates when the decks were cleared for action. As you said, the sailors would need to have clear space for easy movement during a fight so the cabin bulkheads were designed to be held in place with pins that could be removed when needed. 

 

 

[md1400cs]

On 1/11/2019 at 7:33 PM, EJ_L said:

Thank you all for the nice comments and likes as well as following along. 

 

So I meant to post these pictures earlier but, it slipped my mind till now. Here are a few pics of how I make the rope coils. 

 

Place a a piece of tape sticky side up. Hold the rope down to the tape and begin to wind the rope around the tweezer. 

While coiling, press the rope down onto the tape so that the tape holds it in place. Sometimes the rope will keep coming off the tape. If this happens, use some glue to secure what has been cooled before moving on. 

Once the coil is complete, place a tiny amount of CA glue on the face to hold the rope together. 

Remove from the tape and flip over. There should be two exposed rope ends. One will be at the end of the coil and the other should be at the center with a short length over the top of the coil. 

If everything looks okay, set it in place, lining up the end of the coil with the cut off end of the rigging line. 

Thats it! 

 

Follow up tip: Pictured is a counter clockwise coil. Simply reverse the direction you wrap the rope to make a clockwise coil for the opposite side. 

 

 

Interesting idea very clever thinking on your part indeed

Edited January 13, 2019 by md1400cs

[EJ_L]

Michael, the clever thinking was not my own but, learned from you back on the Vasa. I have learned a lot from you on your builds as well as from others on here and need to be more conscience of making sure the credit goes where it is deserved.  

[EJ_L]

Another weekend has come and gone and with it some more work is completed. Finished rigging the guns and I also built the bracing for the taffrail and ensign.

 

I’ve started the work on the channels and should have some pictures of that work later in the week. 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by EJ_L

[paulsutcliffe]

Union Jack on a French ship ? Not sure how that would go down 😀

[EJ_L]

Haha!! I can't believe I typed that! When I posted this I had been talking to my wife about different flags as she had come into the office while I was looking at historical flags from different countries. Union jack must have just been on my mind! I will edit that to simply say ensign. Thanks for the heads up! 🙄 🤣

Edited January 14, 2019 by EJ_L

[md1400cs]

EJ_

Just catching up - have been away for a month + (a new employment situation got in the way) Back to a routine now - so will have more time in the evenings to stay current as well -- As usual your work is getting so amazing indeed. This build will become iconic in your collection. Your planned  addition of sails will really make it beyond superb. 

 

PS: Thanks for your note regarding the rope coils very kind of you. We certainly learn and become better builders by emulating techniques from each other. My skills have only been helped by also discovering from others, including you as well.

 

Cheers,