Soleil Royal by yancovitch

[Ian_Grant]

Vic, she looks great! Totally believable underwater hull, vastly superior to Heller's.

[Hubac's Historian]

What impresses me most is the work you did at the bow.  Somehow, you appear to have re-cycled the middle gallery railing into your trailboard to brilliant effect.  It looks like it grew there.  You also managed a very nice sweep to the transverse supporting timbers of the headrails.  My supposition, here, is that Nek0's lines lowered the knee of the head, allowing a little more clearance beneath the headrails.  Did you also move the turreted head seats a little further in-board?  As you are well aware, these are all of the difficult problems I've been trying to suss-through myself.

 

I also really like your decking; the shift pattern and nailing look very realistic with appropriately spaced beams.  It really is incredible to me that you started this whole thing just a couple of months ago, and it has all come together so beautifully.

[yancovitch]

oooeee....i'm a dunce regarding terminology, and i had to think about it 😁       the decks are from the czech republic..i couldn't have done them that well......they are very nice...got them for the constitution too, which i'm also working on...just the rigging left.....but i took a break from it to do the royal....

   ha, regarding the railing...i made two molds of it, then trimmed them down and placed them between two boards, and squished them in a vice so they would be narrower......then i cast in five minute epoxy....i tried the resin, but it took 24 hours to cure, and it was full of bubbles...i forgot to put a torch on them to remove the bubbles...i may experiment more.....always innovating....

   the front bulkhead of the forecastle, whatever it's called, i widened 1/8th inch on either side....covered up the two indentations for the heads, and recut them on the outside...and moved the turrets out-board....

   also reinforced the hawse holes...

by the way...heller gun carriages wouldn't fit ..too high...i had to cut them down...a lot, even without the wheels...there was always a trade off, but it still looks plausible....

thanks for your support marc, and thanks ian.......cheers.....

Edited August 3, 2022 by yancovitch

[yancovitch]

   i cut out the lowest extension of the stern gallery and raised it so it would be mostly above the waterline.......and added a tiny extension on the hand rails and moldings where they attach to the hull, so the front of the side galleries don't look so rigid and straight...

    and cut the masts down a bit, although i did so much removing and adding, i don't really know if i made any improvement, as i don't have the original to compare with...tried to copy the proportions from a different model plan.......so that's it for now until i get into some more nitty gritty......cheers,..........vic

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by yancovitch

[Ian_Grant]

Vic, she looks fantastic! The stern statues you lowered look even more "in place" in this side view. She looks very lofty even with your shortened topmasts; I think I will do the same if/when I get to mine. You even have me wondering whether to try making a wood underwater hull for mine, although I would just leave the topsides, lacking your talent.

[yancovitch]

really, thanks ian......it took a lot of brain wacking to get things to match.....i didn't think that building a, what i feel, proper hull, would matter to most, but to me, it was life or death 😄....just found an old photo....40ish years ago?? i don't know when the ship came out, but this is as far as i got, and i actually felt ill looking at it, so i gave it away or threw it out 🤢😄...neko's hull was a lifesaver...i now look at the ship on the shelf, and feel actual joy🙂....

  gee...i hope i don't make some of those who built it, self conscious about their models.....but it's probably not a priority for most...i think i'm only an emotional builder, attracted to balance of lines and form etc, aside from respect for the humongous brilliance of those who created, built, and sailed in them.....😲 and i totally respect  those here who do so much painstaking research, with the talent and experience to try to do something ''correctly'', expressing a wide variety of priorities....

  so now, maybe i've created more anxiety regarding the decision you must make 😵, but i'm sure happy with mine 🙃...sorry about all the smileys....respect for those who created them 🙂...cheers...vc

[Baker]

Very nice work 👍

I built my SR when I was 22, 36 years ago. I had plans to give her a redo.

But... but... but..

Maybe when i'm retired 😉

 

[yancovitch]

ahh....very nice!....it looks very  fine...what do you mean redo??....what would you do different?...

Edited August 17, 2022 by yancovitch

[Baker]

Make a wooden model and use the fittings 

and figures of this model.

But... but...but... 😉.I can't bring myself to demolish the model for this purpose.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Baker

[yancovitch]

absolutely!! 😄

[Ian_Grant]

Baker, she's a great-looking build, especially for a 22 year old kid!

[Hubac's Historian]

So, on your first attempt 40 years ago, you also cut away the lower hull?  Whomever you gifted that model to is a lucky friend!  Is it still in their possession?

[Bill Morrison]

Yankovitch,

 

I am most impressed with your exquisite and innovative work on the SR!  I do recommend looking at Mondfeld' s book Historic Ship Models at mast and spar dimensions, as well as adding any missing deck furniture. The book may or may not give you further ideas.

 

Bill Morrison

[yancovitch]

gee, i don't know...i, kind of, sort of, in a way, live in this world like i'm ready to leave at any time😄...i retain so little upstairs....i don't even remember what i did yesterday....over 50 years, i must have built maybe 30 models and hardly even remember building them.....once i even traded 4 or 5 models for a grand piano, which i took with me when i moved from vancouver to pentiction bc, where the thing fell apart within one year 🙂...gotta have a sense of humor about things....

     yep, i'm a strange fellow...guess there must be quite a few lucky people, as i usually ended up giving most of them away.....the only ones i remember selling were the 13' r/c victory, royal william, and wappen von hamburg...the royal william was even on tv and the newspapers.. and ''shipright'' had it in it's last issue......gads...sorry for the long speach...i get carried away......

   oh bill...yes i used to have that book, but i'm just not that serious about research and tech issues....if it looks close, i'm ok.............oh blasphamy!!.. i guess it's just not who i am...and i'm in an old folks apt. now, and am building in my little bedroom, and i'm just using mainly the plastic stuff in the kit.....the hull was-is my sole reason for building it....the rest, not as important.....but i thank you.......

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by yancovitch

[yancovitch]

took a break to make a case.....will be black, with cherry red velvet background and floor....side glass panels will be black siliconed in, and the front glass panel will slide in from the left side and will be removeable...waiting for lush curtains to confirm they have the sample i sent them......i have some strip led lites on order which will be installed on top and down the sides.....i found that it's important to get the 2700k color...not the 3000k......both are considered warm light, but the latter is awful...there's no warmth and the wood looks grey....everything looks greyish....

    trivia, but thought i'd share.....

[Ian_Grant]

Vic, you "took a break to make a case"........ since YESTERDAY!? 😲    ...you put me to shame....

[yancovitch]

yea..built in my little bedroom...with only a cordless skill saw and a jigsaw attachment for my dremel.....gee..i put myself to shame 😄 .......luckily nobody outside my apt. hears anything when i close my bedroom door....

Edited August 22, 2022 by yancovitch

[Nek0]

Your work is very impressive Vic', and what a quick build !! I should learn from you ! 😄

[yancovitch]

 yea neko........you could learn what not to do 😁....but obviously, you've been through all that lifetimes ago.....but yea.....how to take shortcuts, and build something fast...that i admit i'm good at....i do the innovation dance, the offspring of laziness and impatience....one two three ...one two three....at 180 on the metronome...but somehow, i end up getting something reasonable looking.....

   am so glad you gave me the opportunity to resolve something that has irked me deep deep in the back of my mind, for so many years.....a super laxative...oh what a relief it is 😄

  oh....i call you neko, and hubac...marc...so i don't get confused, another thing which i'm good at.....

   also as people have noticed... i'm in an xxx category regarding exposing my faults....hmmm...maybe that's called pride of humility or something🙂....but if it helps anyone, that's fine.....cheers forever.......vc

   

Edited August 23, 2022 by yancovitch

[Nek0]

Neko fits me well  I'm currently working on L'Ambitieux, which is a recreative project, and I try to go fast. I see that my mindset has changed the last few years because now I manage to be quite quick on this one ! It's exactly what you said, being able to build at 180 on the metronome (in sixteenth notes) but ending up with a good looking result. It's my new goal ! 

(for the Soleil Royal I'm afraid I will continue to be as slow and obsessive than before but at least I can work agin regularly !) 

 

[yancovitch]

is that ambitious ship a scratch build too?

[Nek0]

No, it's made from the Altaya/DeAgostini kit which is very good. I will open a thread to show what I'm doing with it.  

[yancovitch]

ordered these belaying pins from a site in saskatoon of all places...don't think i'm supposed to mention the name 🙂

 

 

they're a little larger than the original.....

Edited September 8, 2022 by yancovitch

[Hubac's Historian]

I don’t know why, but the most recent update I can see is from September 7th.  This, even from a direct link from the email alerting me to new content.  Weird.

[yancovitch]

 i did something quite audacious or crazy or insane......i had some thin brown stain where the filler became sediment and dropped to the bottom of the jar....i used the thin stain on top to give some texture to the decorations although the sculpting wasn't that deep....but it looked better.....now......i felt the flat blue was too flat and sickly or anemic, so i ended  up applying the stain to all the blue background too.....and it gave it more depth and contrast because it made the blue darker and gave it a tiny bit of sheen which may get less over time.......it could have been a disaster, but i think it actually looks better 😁  

Edited November 28, 2022 by yancovitch

[Hubac's Historian]

I agree - I love the sense of depth and shading!  It’s good to be a little impulsive, sometimes.

[kirill4]

Agree,

Good findings!

some kind of "stain" makes nice" harmonized " effect when applied ... first I saw it was mentioned in one of Ab Hoving's book, in part where he told about model paintings,he told about colored artistic varnish, applyed all over model as final touch...

  I used for this purpose very thin deluted in thiner coal-tar varnish... it makes also some brawnish patina effect, very good looks on gold painted areas...

[yancovitch]

thanks...was a bit scary, but i'm happy with the results....here's some better shots.....

[72Nova]

A brilliant idea on this hybrid so to speak of build and the masts look great also with the shorter  topmasts , the Heller ones are a tad too long.

 

Michael D.

[yancovitch]

very kind michael, thanks....vc