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

[Hubac's Historian]

I just did a little photo manipulation to get a better sense of her on her waterline:

I do think you can go to about mid-lower wale with the white stuff, in the waist.  This all looks very good to my eyes!

Edited December 26, 2024 by Hubac's Historian

[Hubac's Historian]

Okay, so one detail did just catch my attention.  Are you still planning to wrap the exterior planking past the beakhead bulkhead, in a descending arc toward the stem?

[Hubac's Historian]

If so, I have a suggestion for doing this with strip styrene and temporary backing formers that will make this fairly easy and produce a nice, perfectly fair result.  I wish I had thought of this, back in the time that I was modifying the hull.

[EricWiberg]

Marc, I am planning on having those exterior bulkheads sweep forward... I wish I knew the proper name, but I am very interested in your idea!

[EricWiberg]

And just a side note as I finish the nails in the wales... well, a drift rail.

 

I sourced some tiny brass nails.... from top to bottom, the round head diameter is 0.020", 0.027", and 0.47".

 

It wasn't too bad to use the middle nails for the wales... but I decided to try the tiny nails on top for the top drift rail, always thinking of scale (the bottom drift rail will have listons d'ors, so need to apply nails). Thank God I only have about 40 nails/bolts to apply as these little buggers are hard to handle - I am happy if I only lose 30% to the universe! Will it make a difference?  Thanks to Marc (Hubac's Historian), I try and make my first thought "is it to scale?". And the best I can say is.. "I know that they are there!"

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Tomorrow, I’ll do a quick napkin sketch to show you what I have in-mind.

[Hubac's Historian]

One other thought to keep-in-mind is to leave space along the channel wale for the channels, themselves.  Since your listons d’or are copper wire, it will be much easier to determine the channel locations, in advance, and fit the listons in-between.

[Hubac's Historian]

My idea is really pretty simple:

I’d begin by sanding the interior surface of the hull smooth, beneath where the short beakhead deck will be.  Heller has moulded raised ridges in here that serve  no functional or aesthetic purpose.

 

Then, I’d take a few lengths of .100 square styrene rod - at least three, and maybe four - and I’d glue them to this now-smooth surface with styrene cement.  These are your formers.

 

Let that set-up strong.  Now, you can plank around these in two layers of .032 styrene strip.  you’ll want to make sure that their is a really good mating connection between the first styrene strip and the upper main wale; bevel the bottom strip edge, accordingly.  Be sure to use two different widths of strip so that the seams overlap each other.  Also be sure to edge glue the strips to each other.

 

You can induce a curve to styrene strip simply by pulling it between the spine of a knife and a hard surface.  Repeated passes introduces incrementally more curve.  This will reduce or eliminate the need for clamping beyond finger pressure for 20-30 seconds, until the bond sets.

 

IMPORTANT:  you will also be gluing the first-layer planks to the formers.

 

Once all of that is set, you can establish the descending arc of the new planking, and trace that profile onto the outsides.  I like to use a 1/2” coarse sanding drum in my Dremel to blast away waste.  The #2 setting will cut without excessive melting, if you just pull away every few seconds.

 

Get close to your line, but give yourself a little room for hand-fairing.  Lastly, use that drum sanding attachment to blast away the formers on the back.

 

With a little fore-thought, one can make it so that the second plank layer matches the width of the scribed planking on the hull.  I would just sand a micro-bevel onto the plank edges so that those lines show.  Or you could simply scribe-in the lines afterwards.

[Hubac's Historian]

The other thought I have is that, at this stage of modification that you have established, one could build SR 1671 (of course), but you could also do representations of the Royal Louis of 1668, or the Dauphin Royal of 1668.  You could probably also do the Dauphin Royal of 1680, if you eliminate tue poop royal deck and reduce the overall height of the stern a little.

[EricWiberg]

Marc, I like your idea and want to make sure I understand this! Here is a very crude paper template I made, basically following what I see on the ST. Phillippe monograph... I am assuming the top wales would continue to wrap on this cheeking piece? Neither of the drift rails would continue as they are too high,.

 

I used a few dots of super glue to attach some 2mm thick rods as drawn in your sketch by attaching them to the inside of the hull, and I am holding a piece of plank to show how they would wrap the outside of the formers. However, I can't wrap my head around how I plank on the inside of the formers? Also, wouldn't the formers, as they are glued onto the inside of the hull, interfere with the fitting of the bowsprit deck?

 

P.S I think I will stay the course for SR 1671. It's possible I could eventually fit the masts but NOT rig it yet, but start again on a hull for either Royal Louis 1668 or Dauphin Royal 1668. I think I could proceed a lot faster on a second hull, using what I learned from this hull. Also, I am thinking 3D printing technology continues to jump ahead by leaps and bounds, and just maybe, the complicated sculptures on Royal Louis will be a lot more feasible to make in 1-2-3 years??

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

At gym with my son, so will respond in detail a little later.  You are misunderstanding my intent a little bit.

[Hubac's Historian]

Okay, so the former battens are only temporary.  They are merely there to lend shape to the planking continuation.  Once that has set, though, the formers are ground away with the Dremel drum sanding attachment.

 

The reason you glue the plank to the formers is to ensure that you get a nice, fair bend around the formers.

 

I realize your card profile pattern is approximate, but keep in-mind that this should be a nice fair curve, like what Marc Yeu did here:

The run of your pattern looks a little stiff.  Ultimately, this curve mirrors the sweeping curve of the top-most headrail.

 

And, yes, the wales should continue forward into the plank extension.  This is easy to patch-in, after the rest has been established.

 

Now, as for the DR and the RL, I mention that more for the sake of visitors to your log who might be inspired to take the kit in another direction.  What you have established so far, is the correct wale, plank and top sheer for the epoch.  The timber railings are correct and the arrangement of the batteries is far more correct for the time.  With this as a basis, one could scratch build the stern, quarters and bow for any of those ships, and you would end up with a pretty solid facsimile of what those ships actually looked like.

 

That the dimensional parameters of the hull don’t exactly match the particular dimensions of those individual ships hardly matters for an impressionistic model.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWiberg]

Marc, I get it all now! Thank you

[EricWiberg]

Well, the extension of the front bulwark that partially wraps the bowsprit deck has gone very well. Like many aspects of this build so far, what appears to be daunting turned out to be fairly straightforward... and Marc's suggestion certainly made this a lot easier!

 

First, I used the St Phillippe monograph to see where the extension tapers down to the bowsprit deck.

 

Then I added the (temporary) vertical forming pieces as Marc suggested

 

The front bulwark is 2.3mm wide at the base and tapers to 1.60mm as it rises. So I first "planked" with some 0.4mm sheet, and then added additional planks of varying width and thickness.

 

I finished the outside with 4mm wide planks which almost exactly match the plank widths on the Heller kit. Once the starboard side is done, I will attach the hull halves together (temporarily) so I can work on my beakhead... and that will allow me to see what the sweep of my head rails will be, as the tapering downward curve of the bulwark extension will match the sweeping curve of the head rail. 

 

The only "scary" part will be wasting away the vertical formers and gently shaping the bulwark extension.

Edited December 29, 2024 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

Fait accompli!

[Hubac's Historian]

When I’m trying to take accurate inside measurements, as when you are trying to determine what the new bottom and top spans of your beakhead bulkhead need to be, I like to use two lengths of styrene scrap plank that are each shorter than the shortest span.  I taper the ends to a blunt “point”.  Then I hold the strips between my fingers, one over the other, and slide them outward until my “points” make contact with the hull interior.  I have a sharp (wicked sharp!) pencil, at the ready, to mark the overlap line of the styrene strips.  I can then transfer that span to a good steel ruler (with up to 1/64” increments) for a reliably accurate measurement.

[EricWiberg]

A lot to unpack here, so hopefully pictures are worth a thousand words. These three drawings have the look that I am trying to emulate for SR 1671... that longer, lower beak that looks "Dutchy", per Marc LaGuardia.

 

 

In order to achieve this, I laid down some graph paper and played around with the kit parts. By playing around with the bowsprit posItion, that seemed to be the easiest path forward to get the "Dutchy" look. The red and yellow and green marker colors are different bowsprit positions/angles.

 

Next, I duplicated the existing Heller kit appearance with its 32 degree bowsprit angle. Again, the existing kit parts were used as it was easier to see against the graph paper. Again, this is the standard appearance.

 

Next, I sawed off 6mm of the black bowsprit support located at the very tip of the bow. This obviously lowers the bowsprit by 6mm and makes the bowsprit almost touch the figurehead. If I had left the blue cheek piece in, it would clearly clash with the bowsprit.

 

 

Finally, the picture below shows how lowering the bowsprit allows me to "lengthen" or "push forward" the entire head. The bowsprit angle here is 35 degrees, compared to 32 degrees for the kit. I am not sure yet as to what my exact bowsprit angle will be, but in the next day or so I will be able to determine the curve of the head rail (which will also allow me to trim the bulwark extensions that wrap onto the bowsprit deck. 

 

 

I am not sure that I will have quite enough room to have the entire bowsprit plunge through the bowsprit deck, as opposed to primarily going through the beakhead bulkhead as in the kit. The black oval on the bowsprit deck indicates a potential hole for the bowsprit to go through. It may have to cheat every so slightly through the beakhead bulkhead,

 

Finally, I have a friend who has a lathe and is a very good woodworker. I saw on Dfolgado's SR build log (Ships of Scale) that he thought the Heller kit masts were often incorrect. I did check the bowsprit against the St Phillipe monograph dimensions and it does suggest the kit bowsprit is too long and thin(?). It will be interesting to see how the lathe turned bowsprit turns out.

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

You may have to re-locate the gammoning blocks on the sprit-mast so that they align vertically with the gammoning slots on the cutwater.

[EricWiberg]

Before I can proceed with further work on a more "Dutchy" appearing bow, I need to get my new figurehead done so I can make precise measurements. This is what GuyM said about the figurehead of the first Soleil Royal circa 1668 in his treatise EL SOLEIL ROYAL and the royal ships of Louis XIV... "the figurehead, which consisted of a mermaid with an outstretched arm holding a globe, or sun, crowned, and a sceptre in the other hand folded against her body". 

 

I was focused on trying to find something 1:100 scale that I could use as a mermaid... and I finally realized that the figurehead is much bigger than a person. A quick calculation showed that I needed 1:30 scale. Lo and behold, I quickly found a packet of 15 people in 1:30 scale. Here is the future mermaid alongside my figurehead from my unfinished 1977 SR.

 

 

I got out the saw and did some surgery on both. I will be a lot easier than I thought to reposition the arms to hold a scepter and a globe... but I did pack the inside of the figurehead with ApoxieSculpt to fill the large hollow.

 

 

Alas, I will let the ApoxieSculpt dry until tomorrow before I glue her on and reattach her arms. I also sanded/scraped away all of the kits details on the figurehead so that I could add my own. This photo gives you an idea of what she will look like - about the same height as the kit figurehead down to a millimeter. Tomorrow I will also be able to pretty her up, starting with Tamiya putty. Guy notes that she was "scantily dressed", with sea shells on her chest and draped with necklaces. Obviously, it will be easier if I go sans shells, and almost all of the ship figurehead drawings and photos that I can find have a bare-chested mermaid. I have time to decide which way to go.

[Hubac's Historian]

I like your approach with this figure, Eric.   Personally, I would spend some time engraving some “movement,” or striation into her hair.  The kit figures are a good guide for this.

[EricWiberg]

Thank you, Marc.. I will do that.

 

I know on your build log, I can find the part where you mention what carving tools you use. I have no "carving" tools yet.... I am guessing for hair, I would need a tool that I can pull, instead of push? I will go to a local crafts store tomorrow!

[Hubac's Historian]

Okay, I will elaborate more tomorrow, but you really need far less than you might think, and could probably pull this off with a standard EXACTO #11 blade.  

[Hubac's Historian]

Your instinct is right, though, IMO.  Pulling works better than pushing, in order to control direction of cut.