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

[EJ_L]

May have to put that color up for consideration as well! I can easily get a lot of grabber blue from my dad's Mustang shop. I'm hoping to have some test strips painted in the next few weeks, (admiral is now out of school and so my build times will be a little tighter again till her new job starts). That may not always be a bad thing though.....

 

I am hoping to make it to the hobby store today or tomorrow and look to see what I can readily find. May have to order in some colors if they do not carry what I need. Then I have to find where I put the airbrush when I moved. I know where my compressor is at but I guess I have not yet unpacked the box the actual nozzle is in. How that happened I will never know... I hate moving...

 

The planking has gotten a little further since the last picture. I might have that row done this weekend. You can be sure that I will upload a picture when it is done!

[BLACK VIKING]

Your planking looks superb and I love the different colours of the two woods brilliant job .

Martyn

 

 

[EJ_L]

Had a busy weekend but also got in some good hours in the shipyard and manged to finish up the second set of planking on the port side and start on the second set on the starboard. Moving along nicely. 

[donrobinson]

Looking good EJ

[testazyk]

Hi EJ--I've been giving a lot of thought to the colour scheme too.  I've settled on the darkest navy I can find and painting as little as I can.  I don't like the powder blue they have in a lot of the pictures I've seen.

 

One think I was wondering about looking at your pictures.  It looks like you've lined the gun ports on the upper deck and made them the same size and shape as the lower ports.  Are you going to use the brass gun port frames they provide in the kit?  I found I had to slightly round the top of the opening to get them to fit neatly.

 

Great job on the planking!

 

Tom

[EJ_L]

Thank you Don and Tom for the nice words and to all who are following along and hit the like button.

 

Tom, to answer the question simply, no I am not planning on using the cast port decorations on the upper row. I originally did have the ports oversized to accept them as you are right in that they need to be opened up more on the top in order to fit. I'm not overly fond of the way they look however as the details seem blurred and not as crisp as I would like. Plus I don't like how the sills and stops are also gilded on the cast pieces. My thinking right now with those is that my own skills can make something on par with those but I'm hoping I might be able to turn out something better still. I may regret that decision later but that is the plan as of today.

 

Truthfully, making my own carvings and/or molds for decorations has always been a goal of mine. I've always used the kit's cast pieces and while there really is nothing wrong with doing that and they make a great looking model, it is more of a personal point of pride to be able to say that I made all the decorations. I know full well that I am a beginner with carving at best so they may not come out that good or I may be making decorations for this ship for the next 40 years but I want to try. In the end I may find out that I just need to use what is in the kit and that will be good enough. Time will tell so stay tuned!

 

On to today's update, starboard planking has caught up to port side planking. Now I have to do some more work on the stem post and knees before continuing with the hull planking. I've started to fit the curved edge pieces in place and will soon start on the sides. At this time I will go ahead and take the veneer all the way down to the keel so the stem will be complete. Once done with that work I will mark off the next run which will take me down below the lower gun deck to the first of the wider wales.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

I feel similarly daunted by creating the ornaments from scratch.  What has given me some re-assurance, though, was watching a series of videos by Doris (the spectacularly talented card modeler) on her Royal Caroline build-log.  I would never suggest it's easy, but these are definitely attainable skills for modeling polymerized clay.  Because she takes you from start to finish on a relatively complex figure, one gets a strong sense for how she evolves the work from a roughly proportioned shape to one with shape and definition, using only about four simple tools.

[EJ_L]

I agree with you on Doris' talent and incredible Royal Caroline build. Every time I look at it I am in awe of the work she put into it. I have seen some of her videos on her sculptures and will be watching them even more as the time to start gets closer or I need a break from planking...   I know I keep saying "carving" but I have seen some great work in clay that may be the medium I use especially on the decorations that require a lot of repetition. Plenty of options out there to choose from so we shall see what I decide upon. More than likely S.R. will have an assortment of materials by the time she is done. 

[testazyk]

Hi EJ--Carving would be a fantastic addition to your build.  It's an idea I've considered and I've even taking a carving class, but like rocket science, it's a talent I don't possess so I'm sticking with the castings!

[popeye the sailor]

perhaps gold leaf can be figured into your carving...may be a good alternative to painting    nice job with the second planking EJ !

[EJ_L]

I was thinking something like that for the gilded pieces. Might look better than just gold paint. More things to test out and see!

[marcjp]

Hi EJ,

 

You are doing an amazing work on your Soleil Royal, it is very inspiring

I am following your built with great interest as I will start the Soleil Royal very soon (the kit is under my bed ).

 

If you are looking for the real blue colour used on Louis XIV ships, there is a rare document showing the Soleil Royal bow

 

 

I hope this document will help you for your built.

 

All the best,

 

Marc

 

 

[EJ_L]

Thanks Marc and welcome! Be sure to let us know when your build starts as I know I would like to follow along and I'm sure others will want to also.

[EJ_L]

Small Update, stem and knees have been covered on one side. Now to rotate her around and repeat. Few more hours marked down, few more boards cut up and a lot more sanding dust over everything and S.R. has a little more color. Starting to really respect the size of this ship when I can sit here for hours and feel like I've laid a mile of planks only to see that I have gone a few inches across her hull. Fortunately I enjoy it and will be back tomorrow to go some more! 

[popeye the sailor]

yup!   she's a big elephant    little bites at a time........but then again,  there's a lot to be said about the halfway point.   anything past that,  and you'll be gaining ground     look'in good  

[EJ_L]

Another small "bite" has been taken out of this elephant. (Thanks Popeye for that analogy. Rather fitting in this build) rest of the stem and knees are covered and I've started the next band of planks. These will cover the space around the lower gun deck ports down to the first of the larger wales. Piece by piece she is growing more by the day! 

[CDW]

Popeye's analogy is an saying I used to hear my old boss, a US Army Major General, say all the time when we had big, complicated tasks to take on - "just eat this elephant one bite at a time." 

[BLACK VIKING]

From one elephant builder to another stunning job my friend the stem looks brilliant definitely will be doing that on mine 

 

Martyn

[ca.shipwright]

E J

Great job on the planking. It looks like the wood that was supplied is of superior quality. This makes for a beautiful hull in the natural state. Can't wait to see how your SR turns out.

 

Regards

[EJ_L]

Thanks Michael for the compliment! The wood however was not from the kit. The walnut and Mahogany I am using for the second planking came from Crown Timberyard as I wanted the same wood that I used on La Couronne. I really liked the quality and finish it made on her and hope to do the same or even better on this one.

 

That being said, the wood that was in the kit was not the worst that I have seen and I will be using a lot of it for various other areas and items on the build. Plus the kit wanted me to plank the entire hull in walnut and while I like walnut, I prefer it for accents and not the main planking.  

[EJ_L]

Made a big push today and got the new band over halfway down the hull. 

[Sjors]

Morning EJ,

It gives the hull "body" this way 😃

I am at the same level, only with single planking then.

I'm busy with the last rubbing strikes.....

 

Sjors

 

 

[EJ_L]

Got the current band wrapped around the bow. Now I get to start back over on the other side. 

Edited August 13, 2017 by EJ_L

[yancovitch]

gotta keep an eye on this one too, good shew.........was it expensive to order the wood?....gosh...never  heard of crown timberyard....

[EJ_L]

Vic, they are one of our sponsors on the front page. I've ordered from them a few times now and their quality is excellent. I don't really know how they compare price wise to others and shipping overseas will raise the price but I believe he is reasonable. I typically buy large amounts so it's always expensive when I order! 

 

I have started to expirament with some paint. Right now I'm down to these two. The blue on the right is Ultramarine Blue and the blue on the left is French Blue. These are both straight out of the bottle so I can lighten or darken if I want or need to. Personally I am thinking of sticking with the ultramarine as I feel it will make the best background for the decorations to "pop" off of. 

 

In other news, I have finished the latest band of planking so now both sides are even again. Starting on the next band down which is a short one to the lowest wale. This is allowing me to move a bit faster so hopefully this band won't take as long. 

[CédricL]

Good morning EJ_L,

 

Your planking looks nice, but I don't understand why the second wale is not in place ?

"Courage" !

 

[kpnuts]

Wow looking very good, I like the ultra marine too, I think that would be a good choice.

[BLACK VIKING]

Wow love the Ultramarine blue that really pops 

 

Martyn 

[EJ_L]

Cedric,

It will be soon! I did not have it on yet when I took these pictures. As of typing this I have one side in place and should have the other done by tonight if my day goes as planned. I've been working wale to wale and even though there is only 1 strake between these two wales I left it off to be a separate step just to give myself an "easy" step in the middle of this beast.

[Hubac's Historian]

My vote, EJ, is for the ultra-marine.  'Will definitely pop more, and after staring at my first SR (French Blue) for the past 20+ years, I've grown tired of it.