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

[aurelien wolff]

Nice work! I started working on my SR gun cariage for the 3rd battery this afternoon. I like what you did on the beakhead and figurehead (mine will be gold, tho it'll e the mermaid of the original SR with its sun/globe and crown (using parts of the OG figurehead while other are made out of milliput).

[Bill97]

Not much to report in recent days. Have been pretty busy with grandson’s sporting events that keep me out of the “ship yard” 😊! But I have to admit I absolutely love watching them play.  Basketball, indoor soccer, and archery shoots are the current involvements. There is also a sport that is fairly new to me but I am assuming has been around a while. Have you heard of Esports?  If not, it is a recognized sport where high schools and universities have teams that compete with others in video games!  State, regional, and national championships are crowned. The field of play is the internet instead of the court or field. It is amazing the skill and intensity involved in these competitions. As grandparents we are able to log into the internet sight to watch the matches. Two of my grandsons are on the team for their high school and their team was crowned the state champion a few weeks ago!  The oldest of the two, a senior, has signed to play for a university next year with a scholarship, just as a football player might. Never heard of such a thing until they got involved. 
 

In the ship yard when time permits I continue to work on my prototype for the hatch enhancements, and other upper bulwark details. Nothing really much to photograph. 
 

I have to leave the ship yard behind for a bit. I am flying out to California the first of the week for several days. As always when I am away from my SR I will enjoy what I am doing but will be anxious to get back to it. 

[Hubac's Historian]

Yes, Bill - the Knicks even have a professional E-team and the five guys that play the season schedule are all paid a living wage.  As someone who has always preferred to physically compete in games, this is all pretty mind-blowing.  

[Bill97]

Same here Marc! Since I was a teenager and things like Nintendo were available to play I have been familiar with electronic games.  In later years I was aware of people playing video games with other online gamers. But to now know it is a recognized sport and you can earn an income doing it is, as you said, mind blowing!

[Bill97]

Before heading out of town I finished my first satisfactory hatch enhancement.  Glued it to the end of a piece of wood and pressed a series of molds. I will cast a few of these and see how my effort pays off. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Bill, interesting stuff - how brittle or tough is the epoxy casting? Sometimes you can get fantastically detailed resin prints but they won't bear being used, and I sometimes think I should try making molds for casting instead.

[Bill97]

Kevin the epoxy is not brittle at all. The product I have produces a casting the consistency a gummy, maybe a little firmer. It picks up all the details of the mold and very easy to trim away excess. However I would not think it would be conducive to sanding or a file. 

[Bill97]

First attempt is not terrible but does need refinement!  Will continue to hone it in or decide to just skip this added enhancement! 😀

[Ian_Grant]

Looks very nice to me!

[Bill97]

Ok I think I now have the upper enhancement I am going to use!  The blue color on the UB is just Vallejo blue surface primer that will be under my blue paint later. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Bill97

[Hubac's Historian]

Looks like a go, Bill!

[Bill97]

Thanks Marc. Appreciate your nudging me to finally get it right, or at least acceptable!  They will ultimately be gilded with gold leaf once I cast a bunch of them. 

[Veszett Roka]

Look gorgeous Bill. At this scale it is totally good, don't hesitatae to use or not.

[Bill97]

While I have been away from the “ship yard” I have been thinking about my future painting of the upper bulwarks. I know the color scheme I am going to use. I would really like to be able to airbrush the red I am going to use on the inside and the blue on the outside because I get a much better looking coverage than I do with a brush. I know if I want to airbrush I will need to do some tricky masking.  I also have to guard against the blue going through and getting on the red inside and vice versa. I will be painting the rails, circular openings, and lines gold. I will also be applying gold leaf to the decorations. I know I will need to use a very tiny brush for some of the work. This is going to be fun working out the logistics of this painting.

[Bill97]

Back from California and in the shipyard again. Painted the inside of the upper bulwarks red and set them aside to thoroughly dry. I will then begin the task of preparing the front side to be painted blue. I have a bit of tedious work around the balusters with getting a sharp blue on the sides and front, and red on the back. In the meantime I have begun making a bazillion eyebolts for rigging the cannons that will show. I want to put the eyebolts into the side of the upper bulwarks before I eventually glue the bulwarks in place. Doing this now should make the task of drilling and gluing a bit easier. From what I can make out in the photos I see, an authentic rigging of the cannons requires 4 eyebolts in the upper bulwarks at each hatch or opening. Two on each side. I will be making many more that will be later attached to the cannons and n the deck behind the cannons to complete the cannon rigging. 

[Bill97]

Have the upper bulwarks painted red on the inside and my blue on the outside. They are dry fitted in the picture. Now to begin the process of painting the lines and the gun hatches gold, and applying gold leaf to all the enhancements and ornamentation. I am having an inner debate on when to do all the gold leaf. Do I want to do it while I have the UBs off the ship and laying flat on my table? Same time I paint all the gold?  Or do I want to paint the gold, install the UBs, and then do all the gold leaf?  I know the gold leaf application would be easier with the UB’s off the ship. However I also know they will get an abundance of handling and clamping when attaching them to the ship. Handling and/or clamping that could damage the gold leaf. If I lay the ship on its side after the UBs are attached to do the gold leaf I will have to be concerned about all the cannons protruding that could break off and be lost forever inside the ship, and deal with the hull wanting to rock while I am trying to apply the leaf. It will take me a while to get all the gold painted so I have time for the internal debate. 

[Ian_Grant]

Bill, your models keep getting better!

 

Cheers,

Ian

[Bill97]

Blackened a whole bunch of my brass eyebolts and getting ready to install them along the UBs at the hatches and openings where visible cannons will be. I immediately notice at the lower deck where there is the knee shaped supports for the walkway above, these supports are flush with one side of the hatch. I assume the eyebolts go into the bulkhead on the other side of the support?  There is only one where this will be tricky. 

[popeye2sea]

I put the eyebolts right in to the knee. 

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[Bill97]

Thanks Henry. That’s an idea

[Bill97]

Installed the eyebolts to rig the visible cannons on the port side UB. I counted 14 cannons that will be visible. Installed 4 eyebolts for each. At the front I did not think the eyebolts would have been installed in the rail for strength reasons so I placed them in a straight horizontal line. Per Henry’s recommendation, where the eyebolt came in contact with the support knee I put the eyebolt straight into the knee. Will need to go back and touch up the shinny CA glue spots once thoroughly dry. 

[Bill97]

Henry after getting your recommendation about the knee I decided to go back and move the eyebolts I already installed on the port side next to the knees and put them all uniformly in the knee on the side of the hatch. Now both sides match and all eyebolts are in the knees. Had to putty the previous holes. Will sand and touch up those spots. Turned them over and just looking at all the gold painting and gold leaf in my future! 😳 Will be a slow gradual labor of love. Henry you may notice the little purple blobs at the top of a couple of the pictures. That is the Easy Mold you recommended. I am casting the hatch enhancements 8 at a time. 

[Bill97]

Well unfortunately I have been struck with the Covid virus. I guess I picked it up on my trip out west even though I wore a mask on the planes. Fortunately I have not been real sick from it. About two rough days and then steady improvement since. As a result I am quarantined to the house for bit. What better time to work in the “ship yard”!

I got the starboard UB painted and the enhancements I molded for the hatches glued on. I am going to gold leaf these enhancements along with all the other ornamentation on the UB. I put a coat of gold paint on all the items that will be gold leafed as well. That way if any little specs are small pieces of leaf chip off it won’t be noticeable with the gold paint underneath. As I may have mentioned before I intend to display my SR from the port side. This painting of the starboard UB will rarely be seen by anyone unless I move the display case the ship will eventually go in. My goal in how I position the ship in the case is to accentuate the stern when people first see it. The same idea I had for the Victory. With this being my plan, the painting and adding the enhancements on the starboard side allows me a little practice and fine tuning of my methods before I start the port UB which will be in full view for all to see any blemishes. 

[VitusBering]

Amazing work. I am green with envy. There is no way I could possibly do anything close to this fabulous job. Really, really well done.

 

Oh, and I hope you recover completely, quickly, and as comfortably as possible.

Edited February 14, 2023 by VitusBering

[Veszett Roka]

Get well soon Bill. Kentucky Straight wh... eer.. vitamine, once morning and another on evening, before going to bed. Thats the cure. 😉

[Baker]

nice work Bill, and get well soon.

[Bill97]

Thanks guys for your comments!  Very much appreciated. 

[Bill97]

Today I applied gold leaf to the freize and hatch enhancements on the starboard upper bulwark. I then dry fitted it in place while I work on the port side upper bulwark. 

[Bill97]

They are going to look great displayed together some day!

[Ian_Grant]

She looks great Bill!  I really like your colour scheme.