Soleil Royal by EricWiberg - Heller - 1/100 - PLASTIC - started 45 years ago

[EricWiberg]

Ahhh, this summer weather and outdoor activities - too many to count! - are minimizing the time that I spend in the basement working on SR. Winter will be here soon enough....

 

A brief post, as I am wrapping up work on Trophy Of War #11... one more TOW to go.

 

 

 

 

[EricWiberg]

And there is TOW #12.. designed to fit into this small space..

 

 

Here is a broadside view, with the TOW's in no particularorder. Toward the stern, where the wales sweep up, I will use a 0.5mm thick backing plate (that matches the wale thickness) to sit the TOWs directly on the wale...

 

[Hubac's Historian]

I can see the appeal of having the trophies stay in-line with the run of the ports, but I am thinking that these ornaments would not cross the wales on the aft two ports.

 

On the DR of 1680, as the wales are cut by the ports, albeit not to the same degree, the ornaments remain on the planking between wales:

 

[EricWiberg]

Marc, that picture is very helpful! 

[EricWiberg]

Work is very slow, as college soccer season is in full swing... and there aren't many boating days left, so you have to enjoy them while you can!

 

The last decorations I really have to make are the dolphin hance pieces. I have two drops in the railing at the aft of the ship, so I need four dolphins. I created two dolphin hance pieces over a year ago, but I created those free-form and I think that I can do a lot better.

 

One of the key things that I have learned, especially by watching what Marc LaGuardia does, is to have a template. Months ago, I finally drew a template when I was designing the new head for SR 1671, and it made the process much easier. So I have been using templates whenever possible since then.

 

I found a dolphin in a fountain at Versailles that I really liked, and I created a drawing (using the exact dimensions of the railing).

 

 

 

I cut out a very rough template to check the fit, and was satisfied.

 

 

Now the thing that I need most is patience, as I really have to let the ApoxieSculpt dry overnight, else all is ruined. You can see my original hance piece from last year (bottom of the picture), and the scale will be much better. The half-piece at top has been built up with two thin layers of ApoxieScuplt on the 0.5mm thick Evergreen template. I am trying to add some subtle details, like lines and fish scales... if they don't dry overnight - they are lost!

 

 

The tweezers is holding onto a tiny 1mm thick disc glued to the body stock. This will allow me to offset the tail from the main plane of the body, like the foundtain dolphin at Versailles. It will realistically take me another 3-4 days of work to finish this first one - 15 minutes of work, then 16 hours of drying! However, once I have the process down, I will just build the other three hance pieces together, step by step. 

 

 

Note below the original template, which is one piece. I quickly found that it worked much better if I seperated the body from the tail, then added the tail at the end.

 

 

Edited August 28 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

That’s a nice creative solution to enhancing the 3-D appearance of the dolphins.

[EricWiberg]

I am pleased how the prototype dolphin hance piece is coming along... I was able to attach the offset tail. Of course, working on the hance piece is a lot like an NFL game; 5 minutes of action in 60 minutes of time.

 

 

 

At least I was able to start the assembly line process. Honestly, I am putting in 5-10 minutes of time on each hance piece, and then drying for at least 8 hours - depending on the thickness of the ApoxieSculpt coat.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Wow - these are a tremendous improvement over earlier efforts, Eric!  I like how you did the scale detailing.

[EricWiberg]

And...just about ready to finish the facial features. The two dolphin hance pieces on the rails are roughly laid in now, as I need to finish off the railings and the curve where their bellies will sit. I tried painting a fine wash of ApoxieSculpt on the tails... but I may just leave them as is.

 

Then.... cleaning up 60 dolphins that will bracket the upper gun deck ports...

 

 

[EricWiberg]

Of course... I wasn't satisfied with my initial dolphin hance pieces.. so I started over! After studying the dolphin in the fountain at Versailles, I made some adjustments and I am much more satisfied now. The top dolphin is Version 1.2... the dolphin below is Version 1.1.

 

 

 

I wanted a bigger tail section, and more detail in the edging of the back and the tail fin... in addition, the head became smaller. Finally, I wanted the tail to protrude out in the horizontal plane toward the eye before sweeping back, and to tip the tail fin at an angle to give it a more dynamic look. I couldn't find a material that would allow me to have these complex curves in the tail.. and them I remembered.... copper wire!

 

 

Here are all of the basic components cut out and ready to assemble. The triangles (big and small) are 3mm wide and fit into the mouth of the dolphin. I also then added small pieces of 1.0mm half round Evergreen to the body section. The body is carved from 0.75mm thick Evergreen sheet and the triangles and half round pieces allow me to build up with ApoxieSculpt.

 

 

You can just make out the half-round pieces on the body as I slowly layer up with ApoxieSculpt.

 

 

It's actually very easy to build up the bodies of the dolphin pieces; the only drawback is the drying time of the ApoxieSculpt as I slowly build up the layers. When the bodies are entirely filled out, I will do some light sanding/finishing, then add the detail to the faces... and I have an idea on how to add much better looking fish scales to the bodies... we shall see!

 

 

Edited September 12 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

Bravo, Eric!  I really admire your willingness to keep revising and developing different processes to arrive at your desired results.  Your method of applying the triangles to the mouth, as a means of guiding the buildup, is really an excellent idea.  And, of course, the copper wire really does give the dolphin body a dynamic sense of 3D movement.

 

I predict that your build following will really jump, once you begin assembling all of this work that you are so meticulously modifying and scratch-building.

 

Patience and determination have carried you this far, and ultimately they are going to produce an entirely unique interpretation of the Heller kit.  You have corrected a number of things like the wale sheer, gun placement and head structure that I did not previously think could be corrected.

 

Hat’s off, my friend!

[EricWiberg]

Marc, thank you for the kind words! Thank goodness for prior build logs, especially yours, because I have gained so many ideas and inspiration from them.

 

I am excited to be on the verge of starting to put this together... the only bad news is that the tariffs have delivered a haymaker to transoceanic shipments from Kris in Poland (as well as many other people/businesses). However, we appear to have figured out a workaround that should expedite things greatly.

[EricWiberg]

I think I have figured out a way to apply scales to the dolphin hance pieces.

 

The first step was to roll out some ApoxieSculpt into a very thin sheet. I rolled it on a small piece of ceramic tile, and then put the tile in the freezer. Every hour or so, I took the tile out and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes, then back into the freezer. I eventually found a point where the ApoxieSculpt was not tacky, and yet was still malleable (putting ApoxieSculpt in the freezer stops the hardening process). Then I cut a small sheet... this small rectangle has some texture on it that I was experimenting with. Also, I should note that prior to this, I made a thin "mud" of ApoxieSculpt and applied it to the hance pieces... the "mud" was thin enough that it self-leveled and the surface of the hance pieces became smooth.

 

 

Next, I dabbed some cyanoacrylate on the dolphin body, and then applied the small sheet of ApoxieSculpt. I then used my thumb to level the edges and cover the entire half of the body... no scales on the head.

 

 

 

 

Next was several passes with the knurled handle of an X-Acto blade to make scales. I lightly rolled the piece several times. The piece can't get into tight areas where the tail curves, but I am not going to sweat that. I am not looking for perfect scales. I did try with multiple individual tools to press or carve in rounded scales one at a time, but I didn't have the skill (and patience), so I knew that I needed something to take away the guesswork. 

 

 

Now all four hance pieces have one side of the body textured. They need to dry completely overnight, and then back to the other side. Ultimately, I just wanted a fine, consistent texture, and as Marc LaGuardia has observed on his build log, that fine texture on his dolphin tails will pick up a wash!

 

Edited September 18 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

The effect is very good - stylized, but in a good way.

[EricWiberg]

I received a package today from Poland that I had lost all hope of ever getting! After being so pleased with the 100 cannon that Skutznik sent me in May,  I ordered some additional parts from Skutznik in July. The tiny package apparently left Poland July 25, and then... it simply vanished. The USPS website could not find the package anywhere. Seven weeks later - today! - it showed up in my mailbox. These are the final hull decoration pieces that I needed so I could start painting the hull!

 

 

 

I just laid the circular gun port wreathes and square gun port decor on my beakhead bulkhead - obviously I have some fine tuning work to do, but this saves me a lot of work.

 

 

Finally, my long awaited gun tackle arrived, i.e. a steel rod through the hull, with a washer and wedge on the outside. It might take an electron microscope to see the wedge, but I love the scale size compared to what I had been atempting. I ordered 500 of thse little buggers, as I strongly suspect that I am going to lose some as they are so tiny.

 

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

YUM - those port wreaths look awesome!  And the washer/wedges look incredible.

[EricWiberg]

OK, I am satisfied with my first dolphin hance piece... well, actually Version 3.0. This fountain at Versailles is what I was aiming for, and now I have some cleanup work, as well as the assembly of the other three hance pieces.

 

EDIT: Stock photo removed by moderator.

 

I do need to trim the tail down a bit, where the tail turns from the body and extends to the viewer... that is just a little light sanding of the ApoxieSculpt. I know.. dolphins don't have scales or gills, but the French dolphins often seem to be very stylized. So I decided I wanted to mimic the "gill plates" extending behind the eyes, and have them stan away from the body a bit - so that needed a 0.13mm thick Evergreen sheet. I also wanted the "lips" of the dolphin statue.

 

Note to self... as I look at the magnified pictures, I am going to redo the eyes... I might actually drop a #9 shotgun pellet in the socket.

 

 

 

Overall, I am satisfied and the next three will look even better, especially when I fix the eyes/eye brows. Ohhh - and that too thick tail! I still see too many flaws, but I remind myself that no one is going to be looking at these with a microscope; they will be at least a foot away.

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

As they say - don’t allow the “perfect” to be the enemy of the really very good.  

[EricWiberg]

And the dolphin hance pieces are 95% completed... I am carefully configuring the railing to the contour of each dolphin. I have an idea for a subtle cradle that the dolphin will nestle into, simply using several thin half-round Evergreen strips. The dolphin is not tight fitted in.

 

 

I still have a little bit of finishing work to do.. very subtle things like the eye is too round, as in the lower right dolphin.

 

 

I wasnlt satisfied with making eyes from ApoxieSculpt... the eyes were just tiny little balls that I couldn't get right. I rummaged in my shotgun reloading supplies and pulled out some #9 pellets, which happen to be 0.08" diameter. Still too big and round, but I popped each pellet into a vise and then sawed a cut into each pellet. I then split each pellet in half... lead is soft.

 

I didn't like the round eyes... what to do? I sliced with am Xacto knife and made a different eye shape that - hopefully - looks a little meaner with an ApoxieSculpt brow. Marc LaGaurdia has observed that statue work like these almost bordered on the grotesque side, exaggerated like gargoyles. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:59 AM by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

Brows on the two dolphins above the penny look just right to my eye.

Edited Tuesday at 02:33 PM by Hubac's Historian