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

[EricWiberg]

That information helps me immensely!

[Hubac's Historian]

Anytime!

[EricWiberg]

As mentioned previously, I have sanded off all strakes, decorations, whatever from the bulwarks (completely revising the bulwarks was a planned outcome of my decision to add new wales that would show much more sheer at the stern). That left me with the standard Heller gun ports, windows, and exposed timberheads. In pursuit of an SR 1671, heavily relying on Royal Duc drawings, some things had to happen: 1) the main deck gun ports had to lose the arch on top, 2) the four circular gun ports on the quarterdeck had to become five square gun ports, 3) create some new windows for the quarterdeck and poop deck, and 4) cover up the exposed timberheads to make a "solid" wall.

 

 

All items done, and I decided I wanted a little more height on the sides of the bulwark as they descend from left to right. This also helped with the repositioning of the poop royal deck. The gun ports and windows aren't finished yet, but they are getting close, and my laser leveler is very helpful with maintaining plumb.

 

One big item that I also had to resolve was the poop royal deck. In order to add a second gun to the poop deck, I shortened the poop royal deck by 11mm (after already removing the top sheer step at the poop royal deck as well). I didn't feel like redoing the poop royal deck entrance bulkhead, so I did several things with the royal poop deck and the poop deck that lowered the poop royal deck vertical height by several mm (thinning the deck supports in the hull by almost a mm each, etc.)... and yet kept the same stock bulkhead entrnce.

 

Now it is just a matter of finishing the starboard rear bulwark (I have already started work on the port rear bulwark). I scribed planks on the exterior, but will glue styrene strips on the interior walls to see how that looks compared to scribed planks. Of course, I will add new shorter exposed timberheads on the rails with a caprail. Then on to the forward bulwarks. As GuyM has done, I will affix the bulwarks to the hull quite a bit earlier in the process than normal, but that will make attaching the top wales and the listons d'or much easier. 

 

 

Edited June 30 by EricWiberg

[Hubac's Historian]

I think it was a good idea to pad up your sheer steps.  I also think planking the inner bulwarks is a good idea, as your sanding away of detail appears to have made your bulwarks quite thin.  The inner planking would provide an easy way to create the port lid rebates for those main and quarter deck square ports that are housed.

Edited June 30 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWiberg]

In between working on the bulwarks, I have settled on what I will do for the gun carriage tackle bolts that pierce the hull. I am making (not blackened yet) washers from copper 28 gauge wire, and making the bolts from 0.020" (0.5mm) Evergreen rod. I actually had 0.015" metal wire, but I like the idea of having poly rod going into the hull and hopefully developing a welded plastic/plastic (better?) bond. I 

 

I found some ridiculously thin 0.005" plastic "wire".... if I could make a tiny hole at the end of the poly rod, I would insert the 0.005" wire to duplicate the wedge that was inserted... but I might be working on that for the next 5 years without success!

.. 

[EricWiberg]

Well, I would say that I have reached the point of no return... but that happened back in April when I decided to grind off the wales! Again, I can't thank Marc (MSW "Soleil Royal by Hubac's Historian - Heller - An Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build") and Guy (SOS "Soleil Royal 1671 modified Heller kit") enough for sharing their experience and advice with me as I go down the path of Soleil Royal 1671, and the primary resource being the VDV sketches of Royal Duc.

 

Besides all of the other modifactions that had to be done to approximate the Royal Duc drawings, it became apparent that all of the exposed timberheads had to be removed (as in the waist) or walled up, in order to make "solid walls" that are a result of the very high bulwarks and that pronounced sheer, especially at the stern, at that period in time. One result is that in the VDV sketches, the guns on the fore deck/quarter deck/poop deck poke through solid walls, as opposed to poking through railings.

 

 

 

So at all levels of the bulwarks (and the waist), the only exposed timber heads will be very short (I will target 2.5mm in actual height, about half of the Heller kit height) and be covered with a cap rail throughout. The rear/front bulwarks have been scraped free of any decorations/mouldings, and have been scribed with planks. The rear bulwark, especially, will afford me a lot of space to "redecorate"... which likely will just be a mass of fluer de lis (as seen on Royal Louis).

 

The following two photos show the inner planking. Before I glue in the bulwarks, I have a checklist of all of the things that would be better to do now, than after the the bulwarks are installed (as per GuyM, I am going to affix the bulwarks much earlier in the process so I can finish the upper wales and adorn them with listons d' or). I think I see the starboard bulwarks being attached in 3 weeks!

 

 

 

Edited July 17 by EricWiberg
spelling

[Hubac's Historian]

Tremendous progress, Eric!  It’s fun to see the outline of it all coming into focus.

[Bill Morrison]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:06 AM, Ian_Grant said:

One of the improvements you can make is to scrape off Heller's waterline marking and paint the "white stuff" much higher up, reaching or even partially overlapping the main wale. You've probably read about that....

I've done so with mine. It looks much more proportionate.  You are doing some fascinating things with your SR!  I can't wait for even more!

 

Bill

[Bill Morrison]

34 minutes ago, Bill Morrison said:

I've done so with mine. It looks much more proportionate.  You are doing some fascinating things with your SR!  I can't wait for even more!

 

Bill

 

34 minutes ago, Bill Morrison said:

I've done so with mine. It looks much more proportionate.  You are doing some fascinating things with your SR!  I can't wait for even more!

 

Bill

I do recommend that you get a copy of Mondfeld's  Historic Ship Models.  One of the issues with this kit focuses on the mathematics of calculating the correct dimensions of the masts.

 

Bill

[Chapman]

Hi Eric!

From what I have read, this is supposed to be a Soleil Royal in the 1670s based on van de Velde's drawings of the Reine. That is not an easy task.

I am sure you will be happy with yourself once the work is finished.

 

One thing that caught my eye about your model.
Perhaps it will help if I point out Hubac's Dutch construction of the upper gundeck inner and outer bulwark construction of the Reine and perhaps Soleil Royal in her early years. Hubac´s Bulwark construction looks  here very similar to the one found on the Zeven Provincien.

Please compare van de Velde's drawings of the Zeven Provincien 1665 with the various from the Reine. And the Reconstrction from Otto Bloms Zeven Provincien 1665.
 

[Chapman]

[EricWiberg]

Chapman, thank you for this knowledge! Since we obviously have no primary drawings/plans of Soleil Royal as she may have appeared in 1670ish, I am always looking for any puzzle pieces of information that when added together, render a picture of what she may really have looked like, especially given that building practices in 1670 changed dramatically in only 2 decades. The smaller port holes for thrusting hand-held weapons are very interesting, but can we say with certainty they appeared on French ships of that 1660-70 time period?

[Chapman]

Quote

The smaller port holes for thrusting hand-held weapons are very interesting, but can we say with certainty they appeared on French ships of that 1660-70 time period?

See the second Van de Velde Reine drawing in the post above.

Or here as a full view.

They are also visible on some other Velde drawings of French-built ships from the period, but not present on all drawings, such as the stern view of the Reine, or some other ships.

Not all drawings of a ship always show all the details. But I am sure that the round openings for the hand weapons were present in the 1670s on the Reine and "presumably" also on the Soleil Royal.

[EricWiberg]

Ahh, I do see what you are referring to. So the holes are only on the waist - the lowest part - of.the bulwarks, as presumably that would be the easiest area to board in a melee action?

[Hubac's Historian]

They also appear in several other VdV portraits from 1672.

 

L’Orgieullieux:

Le Terrible (Hubac-built):

La Royal Therese:

[EricWiberg]

Chapman and Marc... thank you! I never would have caught this small detail. If I have this right, the small port holes will be accessed by people standing on the main gun deck, meaning the holes are just below the gangway decking.

 

Another detail that Marc has pointed out... the light railings that the "battle cloth" is draped over (my anology is that this is like the padding that you see on the islands of Japanese aircraft carriers like Akagi... or HMS Victory hammocks). It appears that the battle cloth was not simply draped over the cap rail, but rather, there was an additional light railing over the that the battle cloth was draped on, such as you can see on Michael Saunier's build on the poop royal deck. Marc has a very detailed grisaille drawing of a Dutch ship that clearly shows a battle cloth railing on every deck (foredeck, quarter deck, poop, poop royal) EXCEPT at the waist. So I am still at a stage where I can incorporate both features... but I have to do some planning first!

 

Unfurling the battle cloth..

 

 

 

 

[EricWiberg]

The starboard "fighting port holes" (no idea of the proper nautical terminology) at the waist have been added. I don't know if it would be appropriate, as per the Zeven Provincien 1665 drawings that Chapman has in post #131, to have some kind of ring around the holes inside and out? I looked at additional Zeven Provincien drawings (and pictures of a model)... very interesting and informative. The Zeven Provincien had no gangway decks at the waist; is it possible that Soleil Royal #1 also lacked gangways, and simply had a wooden wall at the waist? That would be an interesting take, but unless there is compelling evidence... I am adding the kit gangways.

 

Also... I would love to move the ladder aft one gun port, but it would just interfere with the wooden strip between the wales (name?) that will serve as the anchor point for the eye bolts at the bottom of the main mast shroud lines. Unless I cut off the decorative tab that I added (but I also have a scarf joint at the top middle wale at that spot). Guess I will just leave the ladder steps as is.

 

[EricWiberg]

Took a deep breath, and with some trepidation, decided to tackle some timber heads/cap rails. The Heller kit timber heads are 3.0mm x 1.5mm, and about 5,5mm high. I wanted short and fat, so I went with 3.2mm x 2.0mm, and only 2.5mm.

 

The first step was to install timber heads that were well high at 6.0mm... the laser leveler and naked eye were very helpful in addressing the slight bit of rising sheer (wait until the afte section). I basically followed the spacing of the kit timber heads.

 

 

Next, I gradually filed/sanded the timberheads down to 2.5mm in height.

 

 

Finally, a quick test fit of the cap rail without glue. The cap rail was a 2mm x 2mm strip, with 2,5mm x 0.25mm strips glued on the side to make a "U shaped" cap rail that fits on top of the timber heads.

 

 

Just below the horzontal cap rail is another rail, this one rounded... this consists of a 1.5mm half round glued onto a 2.0mm wide strip. a twin to this will be glued onto the outside face of the cap rail.  The next step is to do the "frame and panel effect" that Hubac's Historian done to the outside face of the timber heads. If this continues to work well, I will then proceed to the waist cap rail....  

[Hubac's Historian]

It’s a lot of work.  Just continue to take your time, and it will all come out beautifully.  Looks awesome, so far!

Edited July 30 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWiberg]

Thank you, Marc. I am thinking about hances and the light rails that battle clothes were draped over. I think both can be done with the bulwarks glued onto the hull 

  

[EricWiberg]

Well, that wasn't too painful. The framing/paneling on the timberheads is done and the cap rail glued on... just some cleanup is left.

 

Now onto the waist and the rear bulwarks..

 

[Ian_Grant]

4 hours ago, EricWiberg said:

Well, that wasn't too painful. The framing/paneling on the timberheads is done and the cap rail glued on... just some cleanup is left.

 

Now onto the waist and the rear bulwarks..

It depends on one's definition of "painful". 😉  Well done!

[Hubac's Historian]

I love it, Eric - looks really clean!

[EricWiberg]

Basically finished with the cap rails on the starboard side... still need to do a bit of paneling/framing. However, I have reached the point where I had to finally deal with the hance pieces and decorative mouldings at each sheer step down.  The poop/quarterdeck sheer step drops 5mm... at the waist, the step is 9mm (and I will not have gangway decking at the waist). You may note I plugged all of the "holes at the waist" that apparently allowed pikes to be thrust through in case of boarding actions... I have new holes started on the inside that will be between the timberheads of the cap rails, as opposed to going through the timbers on occasion. (I didn't think of that when I first bored them out).

 

 

My intent is to try and emulate the Berian/Very drawing, but only at the 5mm steps at the poop and quarterdecks. The larger 9mm drop at the waist won't have the fish/dolphin, but will just be a wooden moulding, much in the general shape of an "L". 

 

 

Cutting/fitting the hance pieces was fairly straightforward (I went into Word and quickly cobbled together some pieces that I shrunk down and used as templates). The rounded mouldings that lead into the hance pieces ar 1.5mm half-round on 2mm wide strip. I am going to adhere 1mm half round on the hance pieces to continue the flow of the mouldings. I do plan to cut away the bulwark to the upper right of the hance piece to clear room for the decorative moulding and the dolphin.

 

 

I have been thinking about how to make the decorative moulding and dolphin for weeks. I did try some styrene carving, but I thought the results were horrible (I am no Hubac's Historian!). So... I tried Apoxie Sculpt... and this was my first 5 minute attempt last night with no regards to scale. The moulding obviusly has to nestle into the curved portion of the hance piece, and then the dolphin will be on top.

 

 

Hmmm... I might be able to get some plausible mouldings/dolphins made from Apoxie Sculpt. I made a jig after glueing a template into a board and using drill bits as my "wrap around" points for the mouldings. I also had a second attempt at a dolphin. I am thinking that I may be at this for days (weeks?!) as I try and develop some sculpting skills. The mouldings should be straightfoward with a jig - the only question is do I try and "carve" more details into them. And - I am hoping - every time I try and sculpt a dolphin, it will turn out a bit better every time!

 

 

Again, I will only have dolphins at the poop/quarter deck sheer steps... and hopefully over the next several days/weeks, my sculptng skills will continue to improve!!!

 

Edited August 7 by EricWiberg

[EricWiberg]

In the last two days, I have created six fish carvings in the name of practice (for the edge of railings at the sheer steps) from Apoxie Sculpt clay... all in an effort to nudge my clay sculpting skills from "nonexistent" to... I am not sure where I will end up. Hopefully "passable"!

 

The bottom fish is where I finally got a general shape and appearance that I like. Now to copy this and make a total of four fish. In terms of time, it takes me 30-45 minutes to create a fish. I bought some additional micro tools which should help me make better fine details.

 

One thing I have learned is that the Apoxie Sculpt solvent is great at keeping the clay fresh and pliable. But you can see in the photo that, at this scale, a single drop covers the entire carving and sctually starts to smooth out, even dissolve, some of the finer details, like scales and fins. So I have to be very judicious in applying the solvent. I would love to see the clay sculpting tutorial videos on the MSW build by Doris of the Royal Caroline... but those videos are not viewable now?!

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Your dolphins are definitely trending in the right direction, Eric.  That last one is really very good.  While I had some carving skills going into my project, I had no small-scale carving experience.  Whatever your medium, it just takes a little while to figure out what you are doing.  These, I think, are simply the growing pains of this sort of project.  Your efforts are quickly bearing fruit!

Edited August 9 by Hubac's Historian

[EricWiberg]

Thank you, Marc! I had thought those were dolphins.... but then I saw a drawing that looked like it had scales... i.e. fish! So I am back to calling them dolphins

[kirill4]

Good day,

Dear Eric,

May be there is sence to make them in 2 or 3 passes?

Like first to make whole body as a base...when curved, than to add some small fine details As tails, head ,fins etc....? Like to apply  a layer by layer?

Than, When one " dolphins" will be ready complitely, than to use it as the sample  to make patern to duplicate all the rest,as much as you need in epoxy or other suitable stuff ?

All the best!

Kirill

[EricWiberg]

Krill, thank you for your observations!

 

I have been trying different techniques. The working time is 1-3 hours, so there is plenty of time with the Apoxie Sculpt. I think if I were doing figures with appendages like arms/legs, breaking up the build into 2 or 3 steps would work well. But the dolphin is basically one "shape" with no appendages.

 

I watched some additional YouTube videos and got a few more little tools that really help. In general, once I get the general shape rolled out, the little details can be added in 5-10 minutes. Using the right tool  and wetting it very lightly with the solvent makes life much easier for me. Right now, I can make a dolphin in 20 minutes or so. I actually tried making the dolphin body first, then added the tail later; however, that joint wasn't as strong as if the dolphin had been rolled out of one piece.

 

I did find that they are too fragile to make molds that I can cast into resin! The subtle fins and thin tail simply break off in the unmolding step, so I am content to make the individual dolphins that I need from Apoxie Sculpt, and not worry about casting them in resin (as was my original plan).

 

I am intrigued enough by the Apoxie Sculpt that I think I will find additional uses for it on this build. 

 

 

Edited August 13 by EricWiberg

[EricWiberg]

Perhaps these picture may help. I start with a 25mm long piece, with "paddles" at each end (big paddle will be the head, small paddle the tail).

 

 

The tail is looped and I press down slightly with a silcone tipped tool, so now I have my basic figure.

 

 

Finally, I use different tools to try and add details. The result is the dolphin at the bottom. I have been trying to make subtle variations to see what I like best. I am no Doris, and I could keep working on this for weeks/months/years before I start to get truly happy with the results. However, I have had friends and family look at these creations from a foot or more away, and they think they are great. So, I am setting a time limit.. by the end of this week, I I will start applying the dolphins to the sheer steps! I made them in slightly different sizes, amd I am inclined to go with the smaller ones.