Le Soleil Royal by popeye2sea - Heller - PLASTIC - 1:100

[lambsbk]

From one Smith to another: Henry these look really good. I love those ring bolts.

[texxn5]

Hello Henry, hope you are doing well. Just to let you know, we met up with Dave (lambsk) and Fran today for lunch. We both have very fond memories of meeting you, and our tour.

[popeye2sea]

Good to see all of you together.  I hope I can get the chance to meet you again sometime.

[usedtosail]

Nice work on those metal bits, Henry. I am sure it will be worth all the effort once you have those guns rigged.

[popeye2sea]

Gun Carriages.   Before.....and after.   Ready to be rigged.  Not sure if I want to make trunnion covers.

 

 

[popeye2sea]

The upper sides have been fitted to the hull.  Still have to set and bend over some eyebolts for the chains to fasten to.  The bent over ends will fall into the gap at the bottom of the upper sides.  Then I will fill in the gap with contour putty.

 

 

My thanks to HistoryGuySteve for the suggestion on fixing the dullcote dissapointment.  Your solution worked well.

 

Edited October 1, 2013 by popeye2sea

[popeye2sea]

The quarter galleries have been fitted to the hull with their inset decorative motifs affixed to the inside.

 

 

[lambsbk]

Henry I simulated the trunion covers with some Vinyl auto pinstripe cut to size. It actually looked pretty good at 1/96 scale but only gives an approximation. Your build is looking very good.

[popeye the sailor]

wow Henery!   you've done some nice work here..........especially the gold work!   I'm kind of a gold nut too.......but if it all goes dull uniformally,  I don't complain.   I just hate it when it shows the handling marks     I never tried the dullcoat on it......though I have used it before on wood builds.........I like the way it looks.   very nice work ! 

[lambsbk]

I agree. The gilded gold and blue is beautifully painted. Congratulations Henry. It is coming together very nicely.

[dafi]

Very nice work Henry :-)

 

If you did not do all the carriages yet: It also is a further improvement, if you change the position of the wheels and axles a bit. The front one more to the front, the aft one more aft. Also the trunnions of the barrels could be moved to a correct more backwards position.

 

Is the big ring in the middle for the breeching rope as this one runs through the middle of the carriage??

 

All the best, Daniel

 

Edit: this is what I meant with the repositioning

 

Edited October 2, 2013 by dafi

[popeye2sea]

Very nice work Henry :-)

 

If you did not do all the carriages yet: It also is a further improvement, if you change the position of the wheels and axles a bit. The front one more to the front, the aft one more aft. Also the trunnions of the barrels could be moved to a correct more backwards position.

 

Is the big ring in the middle for the breeching rope as this one runs through the middle of the carriage??

 

 

Daniel,  yes the carriages are all made.  I can still move the trunnions back a bit on the barrels.  The eyebolt on the sides is for the gun tackle (it looks big in the picture).  I have a hole drilled into the carriages for the breeching.

[popeye2sea]

The stern on this kit does not go together very well.  The alignments are off and very difficult.  Once the quarter galleries and the lower stern balcony are affixed and lined up as well as possible there are still large gaps at the top of the transom and around the edges of the quarter galleries.

Contour putty filled the gaps.

 

[popeye2sea]

So...I was filling and painting the transom last night and the ship decided to slide down the ways on it's own and fell to the floor.      (insert appropriate language here)   The stem and figurehead broke off and the bowsprit was loosened, but intact.  After re-entering the yards for repairs the stem and figurehead were repaired with no ill effects.  I found, however, that the bowsprit had sheared off its step and would not re-seat.  The beakhead bulkhead had to be removed to provide access to the step and a new one was fashioned to hold the foot of the bowsprit.

 

I am happy to report that after a few hours of repair work everything is back to shipshape.

[usedtosail]

Henry, I am glad that you are back to shipshape. I know the feeling as you watch your model fall. The other night I was holding the hull to line up some masking tape and the next thing I know it is bouncing off the work bench. No damage except to my heart, luckily.

[popeye the sailor]

I know the feeling....my Gothenborg recieved some bow stem damage in a fall.   glad to hear you were able to get her back together

[popeye2sea]

Interesting development last night..... I noticed that one of the cannons of the second battery had been knocked loose in the fall.  It is now rattling around inside the ship - inaccessible.  The only way to remount the gun is through the gun port.  I had a few spare cannon assembled and painted from when I was working on that deck, but obviously it would not fit through the port.  I dismounted the gun and took off the wheels.  That gave me the clearance through the port.  Then I made up the height difference by making a platform out of sheet styrene, inserted through the port and glued to the deck.  Next came the gun carriage through the port and glued to the platform.  Finally the gun was remounted through the port.

 

The whole procedure reminded me of playing the game 'Operation' when I was a kid.

 

Thanks for looking in on the build.

[popeye the sailor]

that's cheating...........no buzzer! :D

[lambsbk]

And you still have a loose cannon! Nice save!

[popeye2sea]

Although it is a hazard to the crew there is nothing I can do about that loose cannon.  And I am not about to go jiggling the model upside down on the hope that it falls out through a ladder well.   But now people can actually call me a loose cannon

Edited October 4, 2013 by popeye2sea

[popeye2sea]

As I mentioned before, the stern of this kit is a series of difficult fitting jobs.  The stern balconies were fitted in the order of lowest to highest.  The balconies were aligned as well as possible using the side profiles as a guide so that they match up to the quarter galleries.  Then the brackets were added to the undersides.  Any filling that was necessary was then done followed by touch up painting.  The carved pillars were added last followed by more touch up paint.  I had to add some height to the carved pillars between the second and top balcony by using some strip styrene shaped to form a continuation of their pedestals.  The large figures on the sides have no real attachment points so finding out where they actually come in contact with the various surfaces to prepare them for glue was interesting.  Those contact points are rather small, hopefully they will adhere well enough.  There remains to be added two reclining figures on the taffrail and the stern lanterns in order to complete the stern.  I have to wait until the poop deck is in before I can finish.

 

Overall, I am quite pleased with the result.

 

 

Thanks for looking

Regards,

[md1400cs]

Henry,

 

I happened onto your build as I was looking at the latest full views. So decided to look into your log. Whoa, with all that beautiful detail painting, you have set at a very high bar. Beautiful work, quite impressive.

 

Regards,

 

MIchael

[popeye the sailor]

I've seen this one done in wood....and it's quite nice with all the brass.  but......this I feel is a bit harder to do.......all of the ornamentation is painted.   you've done a superb job with it.......all of the minor aspects shine.  very nice detail.....well done!

[lambsbk]

It's a work of art Henry. well done.

[usedtosail]

Henry, that stern is outstanding.

[popeye2sea]

In between rigging 2mm blocks for all the cannon I decided to take breaks by doing some other small tasks.

 

For some strange reason the masts have a molded gap just above the hounds.  Nothing goes in here and it looks out of place with the trestle trees in place so I filled in with strip styrene. 

 

 

I changed the angle of the groove for the toprope to a better lead for the top block under the mast cap.

 

 

I added coamings to the companionways on the gun deck and quarter deck.

 

 

I added bolsters to the trestle trees.

 

 

Next up is adding eyebolts to the main and fore halliard knight heads. Of course I found out these were needed after the knights were installed in the decks and there is no room to get a drill bit in to make the holes.  But, I'm sure I'll figure out a way.

Once I finish the cannons and the various parts on the decks I will run into the next big hurdle...deadeyes.  The ones supplied with the kit are horrible.  They are completely flat and the plastic strops are out of scale.  I have been searching online for sources of deadeyes and most are disappointing and not the correct sizes.  It seems that I am going to need 5 sizes of deadeyes from 5.5mm down to 2mm.  I may try to make my own.

 

I'm bringing the build in on Tuesday for showing at the next Constitution Model Shipwright Guild meeting for critique and advise.   The guild members, like the members here, always have great advise.

 

Thanks for watching.

[dafi]

Nice and worthy additions :-)

 

The groove on the masthead was meant for the Heller shrouds.

 

XXXDAn

[popeye the sailor]

the shrouds aren't plastic are they?   the Heller kits that I've built in the past,  utilizes a jig to make the shrouds from thread.   if you plan to do your shrouds in the traditional method,  then you did well to fill in the slots........they can wrap around the mast,  rather than fit into the slot.  it will look much better as well 

[popeye2sea]

Popeye, (I get the strange feeling that I am talking to myself here.   Perhaps your me long lost pappy?  )

   The shrouds are not plastic.  I will be setting them up in the correct manner in pairs with eyes around the masthead.  That is why I added the bolsters, also.

[Anja]

Hello Henry,

 

Happy birthday. I hope you have a wonderful day.

 

Anja