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

[Bill97]

Sure Ferrus I am always interested in reading about new techniques.  Still deciding which way I am going to go. 

[Bill97]

Kind of a fun trick I am using that makes spacing deadeye a little easier. For my topgallant shrouds on the fore and main mast I am using ordinary office staples. I just click my stapler a bunch of times and I have perfectly uniform length spacers. The bend at the ends of the staple fit right into the holes in the deadeyes. A pair in each one to keep the holes lined up properly, a touch of glue on the knot at the top, and I am good to go. After the glue drys I will remove the staples and add some additional wrapping above the deadeye. The two pictures show the before and after. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Bill97

[Veszett Roka]

This is a brilliant idea Bill! I will reuse it on my forthcoming Bounty

[Bill97]

I use them on the topgallant shrouds. On my 1/100 scale Soleil Royal the staples are too small for the deadeye spacing at lower levels. The staples hold the larger deadeyes to close together. So it really depends on the scale of your ship and where the spacing looks the best. Would be great if various size staples were available. 😊

Edited September 28, 2023 by Bill97

[Bill97]

Modified (shortened) topgallant masts installed. Followed up with topgallant shrouds and ratlines. I think I have tied the last ratline! Wow there is a bunch of knots. It does make all the difference. I like them. Jury may still be out on effect of shortening the topgallant masts and reducing the size of the cross tree/trestle tree.  I cut off a healthy 1/8” all the way around them. For reference I used 3.5mm deadeyes. 

[Bill97]

Several stays and backstays put in today. I enjoy how the stays start filling in the whole visual of the ship. There is one Hellerism I ran into that required some study. The second down main topgallant stay is numbered line 1008. The Table of Rigging says line 1008 goes from the main topgallant mast (308) to a block on the foremast cross tree (f6) then to part (274).  Part 274 is the mainmast lower cross tree. The instructions should say part 273 which is the foremast lower cross tree. Will obviously need to trim line ends once I know they are ready to tie permanently. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Bill97

[Bill97]

Gentlemen I have read through the instructions several times putting little check marks by STANDING rigging lines that are shown. Looking at the instructions and my other ships I am of the conclusion I have completed the standing rigging. I am going to turn all of my yards from wooden dials. Once I have them made, which should take some time, I will switch to tan thread and begin the running rigging. I still need to add a handful of blocks here and there on the standing rigging but other than that I am not sure. Looking at my photos do you see any standing rigging lines I have missed?  

[popeye2sea]

Looks like you've got all the stays. Great job so far.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Ferrus Manus]

It definitely looks like the standing rigging is done. Good job! Now you have an insane amount of blocks to strop. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Bill97]

Thanks Henry and Ferrus. Yeah Ferrus that is in the same category as the several thousand ratline knots I tied. You except it as a part of the journey. No doubt Pointillism artist like Seurat and Van Gogh spent many hours making countless little dots of color that when combined together on his canvas resulted in a beautiful masterpiece. Or so I keep telling my self. 😊

Edited October 1, 2023 by Bill97

[Bill97]

Yards for the spritsail and the foremast turned. You guys said the topgallant yard is to long so I need to determine the correct length and turn it b

[Bill97]

I am reading through Anderson’s book Chap IV.  Yards and Stunsail Booms. He discusses measuring all the yards in reference to the main yard. He further says the main yard should be a fraction of the main mast length. Is the mainmast length the measure from the deck surface or deep into the ship to the keel?

[Ian_Grant]

All the way to the keel, Bill.

[Hubac's Historian]

The problem with applying this to the Heller kit is that the depth in hold, at the main mast position is too shallow, so the main mast as-moulded is not to scale.

 

My personal inclination - using the SP monograph as my guide - would be to make the t’gallant yards proportional to the topmast yards.  For the mainmast, the t’gallant is .455 of the topmast yard.

 

For the foremast, the ratio is negligibly different at .451 of the topmast.

 

Relative to the monograph, I suppose I should also mention that the fore topsail yard is .672 of the fore course yard.  At the main, the ratio of topsail to main course yard is also .672.

 

The relative proportions of Hellers main and topmast yards are likely different from those of the SP.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Hubac's Historian

[Bill97]

So I would be correct working with about 15 inches for length of main mast?

[Bill97]

Marc I sent the last comment with photo before you sent your comment. So do I understand you to say just make my topgallant yards proportional to the topmast yard on each mast? And just use the length of the other Heller yards to make the other two for each mast?

[Hubac's Historian]

What I’m saying is that the SP monograph spar dimensions probably don’t match any of the Heller spar dimensions.  I’m making all of my yards from scratch, so I will just use these proportional ratios from the main and fore course, on up.

 

However, Hellers spar dimensions may be significantly larger overall.  If you are only making those t’gallant yards from scratch, then mock them up with those ratios, relative to the kit topmast yards.  See if they look too small.

[Bill97]

Ok Marc I think I got it. I am also turning my own yards instead of using the Heller plastic yards. In the photo I show the foreyard and the topmast yard all ready turned for the foremast. I made them to match the size of the Heller yards. The topmast yard is 7 3/4”. So according to what you have said the topgallant yard should be .451 of 7 3/4” or roughly

3 3/8”?

 

Further my fore course yard is 12.125”. So if I go by what you said above my fore topmast yard should be .672 of 12.125” or roughly 8 1/4”?  The one I made is too short at 7 3/4”. So if I remake it at 8 1/4” my topgallant yard will be about 3 3/4”?

Edited October 2, 2023 by Bill97

[Bill97]

Oh I forgot. Thank you math professor

Dr Marc! 

[Hubac's Historian]

1 hour ago, Bill97 said:

Ok Marc I think I got it. I am also turning my own yards instead of using the Heller plastic yards. In the photo I show the foreyard and the topmast yard all ready turned for the foremast. I made them to match the size of the Heller yards. The topmast yard is 7 3/4”. So according to what you have said the topgallant yard should be .451 of 7 3/4” or roughly

3 3/8”?

 

Further my fore course yard is 12.125”. So if I go by what you said above my fore topmast yard should be .672 of 12.125” or roughly 8 1/4”?  The one I made is too short at 7 3/4”. So if I remake it at 8 1/4” my topgallant yard will be about 3 3/4”?

Bill, I’m a little confused - are you only referring to the yards you have made for the foremast, or does your second paragraph mean to reference the main course yard (12.125”), and its accompanying topmast and t’gallant yards?

Edited October 3, 2023 by Hubac's Historian

[Bill97]

No Marc you’re correct in the first sentence. I am only talking about the yards I have made, and may have to remake for the foremast. All the figures I have quoted are referring to only the foremast and what the length of the yards for the foremast will be. Once I get this math formula right I will then apply it to the main mast yards later. 
 

The Heller plastic bottom yard for the foremast (I think you are referring to that as the course yard?) is 12.125” long. So from that length as the baseline I am using your formula to determine the length of the fore topmast yard and the fore topgallant yard. I only mentioned that I now think I made my fore topmast yard to short and have to redo it. 
 

Fore course yard: 12.125”

Fore Topmast yard: 12.125” x .672 = 8.25”

Fore Topgallant yard: 8 1/4” x .451 = 3.75”
 

I hope this makes since. I apologize for my being confusing. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bill97

[Hubac's Historian]

I understand now, thank you.  So, out of curiosity, how do those revised topmast and t’gallant yard lengths compare with the stock yard dimensions?

[Bill97]

The stock yard dimensions are:

 

Fore course yard:  12.125”. Same length as used for the yard I made. 
 

Fore topmast yard: 8”.  I need to make mine 8.25”

 

Fore topgallant yard:  4.75”.  Definitely too long. I need to make mine 3.75”

[Bill97]

Spritsail yards and yards for the foremast turned to the lengths in the comment above. Electric drill, sand paper, and calipers does an  excellent job. A little touch of paint on each set helps me not get them mixed up. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bill97

[Bill97]

My calculations for the mainmast yards:

Stock yard (course) 13.125”

Topmast yard: 13.125”x .672 = 8.82” (8 7/8”)

Topgallant yard: 8.82” x .455 = 4.01” (4”)

 

I will turn my yards for the main mast to

13 1/4”, 8 7/8”, and 4”

 

Does this seem correct?

[Bill97]

All right my math major friends. Based n Marc’s assistance in establishing a baseline length for the fore yards, and Anderson’s yard length summary on page 54, these are the measurements for the yards I will be marking. At your leisure please review and give me either a passing grade or a failing grade in this class! 😊

Once I turn them I can always make them shorter but not longer. 
 

Then I get into the whole realm of adding cleats to the ends and center of the yards. Heller obviously did not. 

[Bill97]

All the yards turned out of wood dials!  Fingers crossed my length calculations are correct. 

[Bill97]

Henry I continue to have your build bookmarked for quick reference. I find your rigging skill’s fascinating. Now that I have made all my yards I am researching the cleats. As you probably know Heller does not provide them. Either the one for the center of the yard nor the ends of the yard arm. Anderson is not definitive on when they came into use but it seems the SR construction was in the time frame. So like you I intend to add them to the appropriate yards. Here is where I again referred to your build. It appears in your photo that you added the cleat after painting and rigging the yard instead of before. Am I correct?  Which yards did you add the cleats too. Looking a little further into your build, I think your parrals are beautiful. Did you need to add an eyebolt at the deck and form a two block tackle to except the falls from the parrals?

[Bill97]

A little small wood working today adding cleats to the center of my fore yard, fore topsail yard, main yard, and main topsail yard. Still have not decided if I am going to add a center cleat to the spritsail. Anderson is noncommittal about the spritsail having a cleat. Simply lists certain ships that had one and ships that didn’t. Will add tiny triangular cleats to all the yardarms. 

[popeye2sea]

10 hours ago, Bill97 said:

Henry I continue to have your build bookmarked for quick reference. I find your rigging skill’s fascinating. Now that I have made all my yards I am researching the cleats. As you probably know Heller does not provide them. Either the one for the center of the yard nor the ends of the yard arm. Anderson is not definitive on when they came into use but it seems the SR construction was in the time frame. So like you I intend to add them to the appropriate yards. Here is where I again referred to your build. It appears in your photo that you added the cleat after painting and rigging the yard instead of before. Am I correct?  Which yards did you add the cleats too. Looking a little further into your build, I think your parrals are beautiful. Did you need to add an eyebolt at the deck and form a two block tackle to except the falls from the parrals?

The cleats are added to the yard prior to rigging. The straps inside of the cleats are selvagees (a continuous loop of rope) that is passed around the yard within the cleat before one end is inserted through the other to form the strap that takes the halliard tye. The quarter blocks for the topsail sheets are stropped with two eyes that pass around the fore and aft sides of the yard to be joined by a rose lashing atop the yard.

 

When I get to that point I will add cleats as well to the upper yards.  I believe that they are open or horn cleats as opposed to the closed cleat for the courses.

 

Yes, there will have to be determined an appropriate belaying point for the truss pendant tackle.  On my rigging plan there are two eyebolts either side of the fore mast, labelled a1 and a2 that do not appear to be used that I will repurpose for the lower block hooks. On the main there are two eyebolts designated for studdingsail halliards, that I am not using, so I will repurpose them for truss tackles. 

 

BTW, I am still not certain that the parrel falls for the upper yards came all the way to the deck.  I have read references that they terminate in the tops.  

 

Regards,

 

Henry

 

P.S. I am impressed by advances you have made in correct terminology usage in the short time since this build log started.