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

[popeye2sea]

The first time I rigged the gammoning was only temporary. Nothing was seized or tied off.  In fact, in the pictures you can see the extra-long tail of the gammoning hanging and trailing off the picture.  The final installation of the gammoning with the long blocks took place after the filler was fitted in the cheeks.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[Bill97]

Henry every time I read through a portion of your blog I stumble on a new thing or idea that impresses me!  Kind of like a kid looking through a toy store catalog 😊.  Back in 2018 you have a post showing how you made thimbles using a slice of a tiny brass tube. That is fascinating and I really like it. What made you decide to go that route over a wood thimble?  It also appears you left it brass instead of blackening it. Something I also like. What was your thought there. Really like the idea of using them for the stirrups. 
 

Bill

[popeye2sea]

I thought that the brass thimble would be easier to make at this size than a wood one.  And, more consistently from thimble to thimble.

The one you see in the picture was sort of the proof of concept piece.  I intend to continue to make them with thinner wall brass tubing and blacken them for their final appearance.

 

Regards,

Henry

Edited December 26, 2022 by popeye2sea

[Bill97]

Something new for me to experiment with! 😊

[Bill97]

Henry this is just a curiosity about your building process. When you are making something new like this thimble do you make them as you need them or just make a bunch at one time? I know you make your eyebolts and other similar hardware in bunches, as I do. But these thimbles appear to be time consuming and delicate. I guess there is really know way in advance to know how many you will need for your rigging. 

[popeye2sea]

Most stuff that I make are made in batches.  In the case of the stirrups I can make a direct count of how many are needed: 6 for the lower yards, 4 for each topsail yard, and 2 for each topgallant.  I also include extra for exigencies like accounting for the dreaded carpet that eats all fallen parts.  Especially for items that require blackening because it is easier and more economical to blacken in batches. More than likely, it is never enough so I will usually end up making another batch. I can see myself using these thimbles in other applications as I go along in the rigging process, i.e. for the yard truss pendants and larger blocks stropped with hooks.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Bill97]

Thanks Henry. I am glad to have all this advance knowledge of techniques to practice and master way in advance of needing it. While building my Victory I pretty much learned on the fly as I came to an idea or task. 

[Bill97]

Henry during this hopefully brief period that I am spending way less time with my Soleil Royal because of another project (see my build), I still read a lot of other build logs in the morning with my coffee and fireplace. Your entire log from around the Spring of 2015 pertaining to your rigging of the ship is fascinating, and I read through it often. Such beautiful work that I intend to refer often when I get to that portion of my build. I am especially looking at your section on rigging the visible cannons. I will soon be working on that task. I have several screen shots saved of your rigged cannons that I can zoom in on to see the detail closely. I have made a “million” tiny blackened eyebolts so I have plenty for the trucks. I already have four eyebolts glued in at each hatch (two each side). For my study purposes in hind sight now is there any advice or recommendations you would make for rigging my cannons? 
Again let me say all of your rigging section is incredible and I look forward to trying to come close to what you have done. 

[popeye2sea]

Bill,

I went crazy making my own carriage bolts by hand.  Extra points for craziness awarded for peening each carriage bolt head by hand with a miniature ball peen hammer on a jewelers anvil.

You certainly do not need to do all that. Could probably achieve the same effect with a blob of plastic or even glue, painted black.

 

I got smarter (lazier) making the cap squares for holding the trunnions down out of black paper (not installed yet).

 

Use the smallest blocks and rigging rope you can find for the gun tackles. My blocks are 2mm from Syren.

 

I know it is kind of too late, but, it is much easier to seize the breeching rope through the ring bolt and then just insert the ring bolt into the bulkhead to install the cannon.

Alternatively, at this point you can make small rings and seize the breeching to them. When you go to install the cannons you can just spread the ring a bit to fit through the eyebolt you have already installed in the bulkhead.

 

It all takes a bit of finesse and a lot of patience.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Bill97]

Thanks Henry. Will see how it goes when I get  there 😊.

[Bill97]

Henry I see on one of your early comments where you reference a mast coat. Did you make them?  If so, how?  I like the nice touch. 

[popeye2sea]

Bill,

They are made in two pieces. A round ring shaped to fit the mast cut from flat styrene sheet stock, and another ring bent to fit the mast from quarter round styrene stock on top.

I actually placed them on the mast in a position to help hold the deck down against the upward pull of all the rigging. There are additional stanchions placed amidships below the deck that help make the deck more rigid against downward flex also.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[Bill97]

Thanks Henry. So you are skilled enough to cut a perfect circle of styrene and either before or after you cut it out you drilled a hole in the center the exact diameter of the mast at the point it passes through the deck? I believe I will experiment with a few tries to see if I can master a nice looking coat before I decide for sure. Will certainly wait to glue in the lower mast sections until I decide. 
 

Thanks again. Really appreciate it. 
 

Bill

[popeye2sea]

I used a compass to scribe circles at the inside and outside diameter of the boot. Then I drilled out the center, and filed it to the inside line. After that I cut out the piece close to the outside line and again filed it to the scribed line. The quarter round moulding covers any imperfections in the inside diameter against the mast.  The hardest part is bending the quarter round moulding to shape around the mast.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[Bill97]

Fantastic Henry. I will give it a try. 

[popeye2sea]

Hard to believe, but once again it has been ages since I last did anything with this build.  Last time I actively worked on this was 2018. Six years gone.

 

That has not stopped me from thinking ahead and planning the next steps. though.  Part of what I have been planning has been an upgrade to my little shipyard/workspace.

Let me tell you a story.

 

Upgrading the Shipyard

Several years ago, I knocked together a workspace to use for ship modeling as well as home office use.  It consisted of two 2-drawer filing cabinets and a six-foot wood work surface laid over the top. It sufficed for many years, but it had several short-comings. There was a certain lack of stability, no way to level the surface, cable management was a problem, and various pieces of equipment and electronics ended up on the floor of the knee hole or on the floor behind the workstation.  In addition, the computer monitor, printer, and other items took up valuable work area in an already very small workspace. The cheap edge banding I had applied to the original work top had also begun to peel off. I also did not like the way the keyboard tray was mounted. When pushed all the way in the front edge protruded further from the front of the top allowing stuff to fall down from the worktop directly into the keyboard.

A few months ago, a part of my Dremel tool broke. Instead of buying the replacement part I decided to splurge for an upgrade. I purchased a Foredom Tx flexible shaft motor and handpiece.  I took the opportunity, while my Soliel Royal model was entered into this year’s model show, to do the work to upgrade the shipyard.

 

Step one was to connect the two file cabinets into a proper rigid desk base.  This was accomplished by fastening a piece of quarter inch plywood as a back and fitting a shelf between the cabinets to hold all the electronic equipment that used to be on the floor.  Adjustable levelling feet were added to each filing cabinet.  The ¾ inch shelf rests on a cleat attached to the back board and a bracket on each cabinet. The back board was pierced with 2-inch holes for cable management. Notice in the pictures the jury-rigged clamps. There was a slight bow in the plywood backboard which caused the front of the cabinets to splay out wider in the front. I had to draw them back in to fit the shelf properly and I did not have a clamp that was long enough.

Step two dealt with the work surface. The old edge banding was stripped off and a 1 x 3 poplar board was applied to the back edge to act as a back stop preventing stuff from rolling off the back edge of the table into the mysterious parts black hole that seems to form in every modeler’s workspace. The top was also pierced with 2-inch cable management holes and new better quality edge banding was applied to the front and sides.  I had been using a 12 x 12 sample granite tile as a sort of heat shield when I did my soldering.  When not in use the tile lived under the desk.  I decided this upgrade would include insetting the tile into the surface of the work top so that it would be flush with the top.  A cavity was routed into the desktop to take the 3/8 inch tile. I also cut a 2-inch hole up from underneath the desk into this cavity to be able to push the stone up from the bottom for removal when required.  It all seemed to be working out perfectly until the stone cracked while trying to fit it the first time.  So, another trip to the tile store where an identical sized marble tile was found to replace it.  Both tiles only cost some smiles and friendly conversation. You know…schmoozing.

 

Step three consisted of constructing a new printer stand/table to free up valuable worktop real estate. The table is made from poplar. I bought three 6-foot boards; 1 x 3, 1 x 4, and 1 x 10. and a length of 2 x 2 poplar for the legs. The 1 x 10 was rough cut into three parts and edge jointed and glued up for the top. The 1 x 4 was used to make the aprons and the 1 x 3 went into the stretchers for the legs. Construction of the printer table took 2 days: one for the cutting, assembly and rough sanding, and the second for finish sanding, stain, and polyurethane top coats. This is nowhere near fine furniture grade stuff.

 

The final act was assembly.  Wooden cleats were fastened under the desktop to position and hold the desktop in place on the file cabinets. Plastic cable management grommets were placed into their holes. A power strip was mounted on to the base back board. The Ethernet hub was mounted on the left file cabinet and a USB hub was mounted on the right file cabinet. The network storage drive and the speaker system were placed on the under-desk shelf.  A new swing arm wall monitor mount was mounted above the left side of the desk.  The stand for the Foredom drill is mounted to the top of the desk.  This stand also includes as an add on feature a light kit that turns on by swinging the light down from vertical to horizontal.  The printer was moved to its new home on the printer stand to complete the project.

 

And there you have it.  I just brought the build back home today from the model show and I am feeling inspired to continue along on this build.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Bill97]

Very inviting work space Henry. No doubt it will open your mind to many creative adventures.