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

[EricWiberg]

Interesting drawing.. and great advice on sealing the edges of the template with CA... that really helps!

Edited January 17 by EricWiberg

[EricWiberg]

The starboard forward bulwark extension (cheek?) is almost done... ready for a bit of needle file work then planking on the inside. I am surpised at hoiw subtle it is, but it has to be this way to follow the edge of the top head rail. The first step, of course, was settling on a head design, and then I was able to create a head rail design (note that the middle and bottom head rails will NOT join the top head rail in a rosette at the forwqrd bulwark/cathead area... they will be feyed into the hull).

 

Then it was a relatively simple matter of wasting away with the Dremel....

 

 

 

 

Now it is just a clean up and making sure the plank lines are clean, etc. Again, I envisaged the cheeks as being much larger in appearance, but given the immutable lines of the hull and the head rail curve that they must follow, the actual cheek is small (to me eyes). However, this matches up with what I see on the St. Phillipe monograph and some drawings.

 

 

Marc LaGuardia had suggested having vertical framing pieces glued to the inside of the hull to attach the outer planks to... and then waste them away and plank over them on the inside. This was my only concern going in, but it turns out the cheek extension is actually very sturdy, even without the vertical framing pieces.

 

 

Edited January 18 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

For fairing, in this instance, sandpaper around a dowel is your best friend, IMO.

[EricWiberg]

The starboard cheek is almost done. I tapered/planed the top wale thickness down as they wrap the cheek as I see on the St Phillipe monograph (I assume they tapered in thickness to easier bend around the round bow?).

 

 

I finished off the top of the cheek with a plank and scribed the planls inside/out.

 

 

Next step is to continue wasting away the port cheek so that I scribe the planks and apply a plank on top (cap).

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Nicely done!

[EricWiberg]

The forward bulwark cheeks are essentially done. I will study other models/drawings to see if there is any trim or anything else to finish off the cheeks, but the plank scribing is done inside/out.

 

 

The bowsprit deck has been trimmed to fit the new cheeks, and I laid the beakhead bulwark on for a sense of what it will look like; of course, I am going to fabricate a completely new beakhead bulwark that fits inside the forward bulwarks (as opposed to overlapping the front edges of the beakhead bulwarks). I have to figure out how they would have the downward sweep of the cheeks meet the bowsprit deck.

 

 

Big picture, I think I will construct the head and head rails now as far as I can go, just to ensure precise fit after the hulls are painted and glued. A year ago, I got a replacement wooden deck kit for SR... I really do like the detail and figured it would save me plenty of time that would be spent painting the original deck. But first... I have to figure out exactly where the bowsprit would go through the bowsprit deck in order to maintain my 37 degree bowsprit steeve that I need for the overall head design.

 

In fact, I am now thinking that I may also construct the new beakhead bulkhead in advance, as well as the overall head and head rails. It's funny, as every decision like this seems like "one step forward, two steps back" in regards to painting the hull. However, as Marc LaGuardia has observed, "a large project is just a lot of smaller projects!..".

 

So it seems logical to me the more of these subassemblies that I get done now - and I can verify precise fit and appearance - the easier my life will be down the road in a few months.

 

 

 

Edited January 23 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

Not to toot my own horn, Eric, but I could not have done it better myself.

 

I see your problem with the beakhead deck, which is two-fold:  the cheeks terminate below the deck, and with a shortened stem - the sprit-mast entry into this deck is now a little awkward.

 

Since you are going to construct a new beakhead bulkhead, anyway, my personal approach would be the following:

 

I would cut a rebate for the forward edge of the beakhead deck (between the port and starboard terminations of the cheeks) into the black plastic of the kit pressing.  It looks to me as though you can do this without also cutting into the white styrene of your replacement wales, so that this “cheat” will effectively remain hidden.  You’ll have to create new glue ledges for the after-portion of the beakhead deck, but that is an easy enough matter with some styrene strip.

[EricWiberg]

Ahh, that makes a lot of sense.... the rebate will allow the bowsprit deck to drop 1-2mm and be hidden by the edge of the wale... which is just what I am seeing on some models!

[EricWiberg]

As per Marc's suggestion, I cut two rebates in the ledge that supports the forward edge of the bowsprit deck. FYI... you may notice one of the three additional white locking pins that I added to the stem, as I felt that with all of my add-on work, the stem connection needed to be more robust.

 

And the bowsprit deck now snuggles in (the fit is actually very tight - in this picture, the deck is just sitting there with no downward pressure).

 

i have a friend making a wooden bowsprit mast for me on a lathe; he actually made a precise jig that will allow him to taper the mast to my target diameters (based on the St Phillipe monograph). If this works, all of my masts will eventually be made of wood.

 

In the meantime,  on to creating the beakhead bulkhead and the overall head structure.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Yup, perfect!

 

I was re-reading through your log yesterday, just marveling at the three re-starts of this project.  I was thinking about how relatively easily you managed to disassemble your teenage efforts, without much damage.

 

That may be, in part, because you didn’t flatten the mating surfaces of the keel and stem.  Lucky for your re-build, but less good for your current project.

 

I always sand these surfaces flat so that I get a good mating, welded bond.  The coarsened surface from the paper grit melts readily.

 

If you double-stick some 150 grit to a hard, flat block (I use my steel ruler), with a few glancing swipes you might be surprised at how un-flat these joints really are.

Edited January 24 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWiberg]

That is a good reminder! I have NOT sanded those surfaces yet, but I will do that.

[EricWiberg]

The beakhead bulkhead. I made a number of measurements, and have cut several cardboard templates this morning. 

 

I am in no rush these next few days. It makes sense to simply look at the cardboard templates off and on for several days and and think "what could go wrong here..."?

 

I am leaning towards using 1mm thick sheet for the bulkhead... 2mm seems way to thick and harder too work with. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:08 PM by EricWiberg