initial Soleil royal using the heller 1/100 scale kit (post prepared in advance)

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aurélien wolff

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Hello, I don't have the kit (or material to modify it) yet, but since it's confirmed, I'm preparing the thread. My plan is to do my interpretation of the initial SR using the heller kit by modifying it quite a bit. The modification are based on the multiple thread/document I found while doing research on the ship, both in english and in french. They include adding 2 canon on the stern post, windows on the stern facade (3 on each side with a space between as royal louis description from gallica), ornaments like fleurs de lys on the stern, beakhead bulkhead and lid, replacement of the figurehead by another corresponding with description of the time (will be done partly in milliput and bits from the kit sculpture reproduce in resin), enlarging the rear to fit the windows, opening the quarter galleries (keeping the heller one since it's fine for a initial SR too).
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For the colors, I'm planning on doing the hull white as a whole with blue on the stern and forecastle (I intend to have the beakhead bulkhead in white and blue to have continuity with the hull colors, what do you think?). Black will be used for the waterline and the ornaments/sculpture will be a mix of ocre and gold using what Guy M said in his 104 pages document. I'll add touches of red too.
This one will take quite some time, I'm a slow builder but I still intend to ahve a (at least) decent result with this kit. When I'll got it, I'll do Hubac drawing approach (on paper) and use paint to schelatize my modification and colors.

Edit: I forgot to add thanks to everyone who answered my questions in other soleil royal related threads, the answers will help me do mine.
 
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Good:) however you'll be a little tight with your window and center access scheme:)))If only enlarging it to make the rear more upright and less tapered, you'll have room for 6 windows, provided you keep the heller ones..... the extra door, or access won't work on that measure.....
 
Aurelian, I look forward to watching your project take shape. One detail that escapes me is your plan to add two gun ports to the rudder; there are already four chase ports on the lower transom, which is correct for this rate. Are you planning to add two guns at the stern counter level, above the lower chase ports?

As for colors, it will be fascinating to get a sense of what the Royal Louis (as described by Hyatt) may have looked like. I have thought about what I might do, if I were to take this approach to the color scheme. I doubt that a stark white would have been probable, so I would probably be inclined to do a very faint gray wash after a stark white base coat.

Will you sand away the Heller raised grain with coarse paper? I really recommend doing this, as it will make any weather washes and shading you do look more realistic.

Your stern window plan will be three windows to either side of a central door opening, like the Royal Louis?

B39AAC7C-11BB-416F-9EAB-466EF0315CB0.jpeg

If you aren’t planning to cut away the lower hull, how will you create enough space to scale that convincingly? Within the stock stern-plate width, I think you can successfully re-scale for six windows, but I’m not as convinced that you can add a doorway to that as well.
 
I'm talking about the forward gun that both heller and tanneron didn't added on first battery, not rear chasse guns, sorry if I was confusing. By the raised grain, you mean those you made in scratch on your SR hull Hubac? I plan to enlarge the façade to accomodate more windows and they'll be somewhat different from the kit/tanneron one .
Soleil-Royal_mp3h9365.jpg

Guy M, you don't mind if I post a pic of your 104 pages document to illustrate wich color schemes I choosed?
 
aurélien wolff said:
I'm talking about the forward gun that both heller and tanneron didn't added on first battery, not rear chasse guns, sorry if I was confusing. By the raised grain, you mean those you made in scratch on your SR hull Hubac? I plan to enlarge the façade to accomodate more windows and they'll be somewhat different from the kit/tanneron one .
Soleil-Royal_mp3h9365.jpg

Guy M, you don't mind if I post a pic of your 104 pages document to illustrate wich color schemes I choosed?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’m talking about sanding away the raised grain lines that is all over the heller hull. If you don’t sand it away, wash coats collect in the grain lines in an unsatisfying way. 50-grit sand paper, on the other hand, gives you a scratch pattern that more closely approximates grain structure, under the paint.

I’m still confused as to how you will enlarge the stern facade without widening the hull. As Guy mentioned, if you eliminate the aft tumblehome, the stern is likely to appear strange.
 
I think that if you use de bottom hull curve as your base measure, there's enough flexibility in the plastic to vertically srtaighten the hull and create more space for the two top window rows; the bottom one already has small corner panels which if re-trimmed will give you enough space for 6 windows.....But I doubt you will have enough for adding the extra center exit.....
 
aurélien wolff said:
I'll do that.
I think I'll enlarge the stern façade using styrene and reproducing parts of the heller parts in resin, then glue the resin on the original part to enlarge it (not sure how clear I am here)
Click to expand...
So, you will essentially be applying a second skin of styrene and resin to the exterior hull and upper bulwarks, at the stern? I think, at most, you might gain about 1/4” with that approach, but how will you fair the transition into the regular-width Heller hull?
 
I hope I'll be understood because I'd have somewhat of hard time explaining it in french too. I'll cut both side pillars of the heller part, then reproduce the ends in resin, adapt it to the heller part, put the side pillars back. Once I got the kit, I'll do drawings of the facade to explain what I intend to do better.
 
So, you will be widening the back board, the top decoration, the window row area, the balcony hook ups, the second window row, the second balcony hook ups, and the third window row, and the lower balcony hook ups on both sides?
 
Okay, so you are essentially performing additive surgery to widen the kit stern plate. That much makes sense to me, but how the hull sides come out to meet that do not make sense to me - unless you are cutting away the lower hull. To do what I think you are proposing would require adding significant plastic to the exterior of the hull, but then I still don't understand how you are changing your deck dimensions. I am sorry, if I am being dense, here. I am sure this will all become clearer as you proceed.
 
What I don't think is a good idea is to stretch the hull halves apart, after glueing down the centerline of the keel, in order to make the available space above the waterline wider. This simply won't look good, and it will put a lot of strain on a common styrene bond.
 
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