Le Soleil Royal by Bill97 - FINISHED - Heller - 1/100

[Bill97]

Have my completed Le Soleil Royal in the diorama displayed in its brand new custom made display case!  I decided to route dados in the underside of the cabinet top to accommodate LED strip lights that are plug in instead of battery. The LEDs are adjustable by the use of a remote. I think the lights create a since of sparkle on the “water”.

[Hubac's Historian]

Just awesome, Bill.  A beautiful display!

[Bill97]

Thanks Marc. I guess it is because of Covid and all the shields companies have up for employees, but plexiglass cost is getting outrageous!  I use it in my cases because tempered glass the sizes I need is cost prohibitive. Not sure if plexiglass is going to catch up 😳.  

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Bill, I've just taken delivery on my SR kit - very tempting to just dive in! A quick question - did you find the new instructions particularly useful? The old printed version looks pretty good so far as I can see. And what would be your top tips if you were starting the kit all over again? Is there anything you regret doing, or wish you had done?

[Bill97]

Congratulations Kevin on your SR. I did like the new color instructions that came with my kit. I have not seen the older version to compare. Those are some great questions I will have to give some thought to. My top tip Kevin probably would be to decide right off your color scheme. As you know you can find many builds on MSW. Scroll through the index carefully. There are a few different title groups. Some spell it La and some Le. Others title groups are just Soleil Royal. But anyway back to color scheme. You will see variations. Of course the spectacular colorful route Marc is taking!  I think his is the build you can lose your mind if you try to duplicate what he has, and is, doing 😀!  Others, like mine, are less colorful and the statuary is all gold. Mine is gold leaf. Also decide a white or wood color hull. Other tip would be to carefully review Marc’s build and pick out some things he has done you might want to attempt to employ in your build. With your 3D printing skills you should be able to print a number of his embellishment. I attempted most of mine, which were not many, as molds and resin casts. Of course replace the plastic masts and yard sections with wood dials where you can. Use your printed blocks instead of those included with the kit. Kevin I will keep thinking about this and add more thoughts as I remember them. Especially things I wish I had done or regret doing. 

Edited July 12 by Bill97

[Hubac's Historian]

I will add to this that I wish I had done what John Ott did on his brilliant and on-going build, which was to continue the hull planking past the beakhead bulkhead in a descending arc.  This is true to actual practice, and the turret toilets don’t appear until significantly later in the early 18th C.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

That sounds like good advice. Contrary to appearances the bit I enjoy learning the most is the painting so I’ll be inclined to follow Marc’s lead to some extent, but I also really like the white hull so maybe that too; even though I hate painting white in acrylics!

 

I think this is one for me to study, read and chat a lot before starting, so I’ll create a build log and copy across this conversation as I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about. Oh, and it goes without saying that I’ll be going back through each of yours logs in detail.

[Bill97]

When I considered trying to duplicate Marc’s painting skills to mine I realized it was very much similar to that of Leonardo Da Vinci and his not so famous brother Larry Da Vinci 😉

Edited July 13 by Bill97

[Hubac's Historian]

Thank you, Bill - that is very nice of you to say!