Le Soleil Royal stern model by Janos [COMPLETED BUILD]

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Well, after a few weeks I had enough of the rigging of Sovereign of the Seas and I put her temporarily on ice. I will come back and finish her sometimes in the near future. So here is the opportunity to start the next project, which I have planned for a long time. This is a complete scratch build of the Le Soleil Royal (LSR) stern model. Having not too much information the first step is to make the plans and this is what I am doing now. I had the kit plans of LSR earlier (thanks, Zoli) and also a beautiful set of museum photographs (thanks, Gary, #garym) and a few dimensions (thanks, John) so I started designing, combining the museum photos and the kit plans. It turned out very quickly, that this is impossible (I have quite a recent identical experiment with the Sovereign and with Royal Caroline somewhat earlier). So I dropped the kit plans and decided to use the Museum photos only - and, by coincident, I found a drawing on the net which refers to the same pictures. I made a downscaled (about 1:160) Jelutong half-model of the stern, from which the lines are taken with a contour gage. These lines are then magnified to the scale of 1:60, which the Museum photos seem to match completely. So the stern model's scale is going to be 1:60. I plan to build the stern-model open from the front, showing some inside structure and furnishing. (French modelers use this technic often). It is virtually a POF build, similar to the Hahn-method, and the frames are going to be fully planked from inside and outside too. The frames (8 of them) are going to be made of Costelo Boxwood, the carvings from European Boxwood. Every other material will be decided on the run. I am going to use Hornbeam, River Birch, and different other materials, all purchased from the Lumberyard. A few pictures, hopefully, self-explanatory, follow.
Janos

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Fabulous!!I have been looking forward to this one since you mentioned it to me a while ago Janos:)Heller's kit is a virtual copy of the museum model bar the fact they chose to close the side galleries.I have built the Sergal model and have the Heller kit.Putting the two side by side,the differences are huge,not only in detail,but proportions.I feel you are going the right route following the museum design,there are too many differences to blend the museum model and Sergal's design together.

Kind Regards

Nigel
 
After some serious paperwork ))):- I made that upside-down-half Hahn-like jig and started working on the rib. As said before, false keel and frames are going to be made of Costelo Boxwood, frames from 2 overlapping layers, as with the Hahn-method. Unfortunately halfway done my FET's toothed belt gave up, so I had to order it in. It came after 3 days and that was the time as I realized that the saw side sprocket (spindle?) has also to be replaced. So I am waiting for it now. These are the time as I realize how dependent I am to a certain tool and I just can't do anything without it. As I prepared No. 7 and No. 8 frames before I could work on them a little bit but now I have to wait (ie. to go back to the St Michael figurehead) until Monday when the spindle is expected. 'Mytoolstore' in Brisbane (my Proxxon supplier) is awesome!
In the meantime Sovereign is in sad isolation )):-
Janos

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The model is going to be a decent size Janos,even at 1/60.My drivebelt went a couple of months ago.I was surprised dealers didn't stock them,but then again it had lasted 7 years of my abuseROTFI got one off Ebay using the standard reference code printed on the belt.
What had happened to the spindle?

Kind Regards

Nigel
 
Yes, it's gonna be big! Bigger than the same section of SOS, of course because of the difference in the scales, otherwise the two ships similar in size.
I ordered everything from the Proxxon supplier. I found out of the state of the belt as it was quite loose and I could hear and feel the belt occasionally slipping. Unfortunately the inside of the saw is not really visible because of the lack of directional light. So I thought it was only the belt, but after installing the new one it turned out that there was virtually no tooth on the spindle... So there went the second order yesterday and I expect it to be delivered on Monday.
The motor side sprocket had to be replaced after about 3 years and I received a steel one instead of the original plastic. So it is still running...
János
 
Slow progress in the meantime, but still going ahead... I am working on the inside planking and the outside one follows in steps. Also, the tafferel is in the works, at the moment still as a separate piece. I had problems with the hull shape and had to make changes, hopefully, the end result will be acceptable.
Inside planking is River Birch, outside is Pear, Decks Silver Maple, frames and deck furniture is Costello. Dogwood is used for the tafferel and Peroba Rosa for the door-window-frames.
Janos

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Looking very good and impressive progress
One question related to the jig, this type with threaded rods I used also in the past, but is this one for the big height not a little bit sensitive for torsion? Especially because of the height and the relative small more or less square base......
What is your experience with this?
BTW: Would like to see more often some post of this interesting project.....
 
Thanks, Brian and Uwe,
Uwe: they are M6 threaded rods and their length between the bords is about 400 mm. The bords are securely thightened between double washers and nuts and this helps them becoming stiff. I did not find any difficulty with the rigidness of this jig. I would not say it is absolutely rigid but far rigid enough for this purpose.
Regards
János
 
A collection of photos about the progress of the last few weeks. The hull has been taken out of the jig to be able to assemble the rudder and then put back into it again to continue with the build. I am experimenting (as always) with a number of new things, first of all with the gun barrels having been turned off Boxwood and then treated with brass powder. Turned out a bit worse than I thought but it will remain like this for LSR. Next time I will go back to brass turned barrels.
Janos

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The current state is... as usual, one step ahead and 2 steps back. I removed the dogwood strips from the tafferel and started shaping it like that one on the photos (million holes). I did this because I realized that the same pattern is there on some of the carvings and I could not use the Dogwood method there. Also, the window and door frames on the tafferel had been 'treated' with additional Peroba Rosa strips. As the rear loading openings (cannon ports?) required I started producing some nails as discussed on another thread a few days ago. The result is much better than using even the smallest commercially available nails although they still need some matt acrylic after the blackening was partially removed because of the hammering-in. The pictures also show the re-ground scalpel blade which I used to make these nails, and, as shown, The nails had been made from 0.6 mm brass wire this time and the heads turned out to be about 0.9 mm in diameter.
Janos

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The Dogwood removed and the Costello base had been drilled a million times.

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The aft starts to look like a ship.

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And the inside again

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This is how the nails are done on a melamine board. The side edge of a scalpel is ground, both sides are chamfered by about 45 deg, making sure that the edge remains flat ie. must not become sharp.

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The nails are always done in pairs, ie. the grove is done in the middle of the wire, the length of which is double the nail length. After a few more roll the nails will separate and we can establish a search party to find them on the floor.

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The shank is 0.6 mm.

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The head becomes about 0.9 mm in dia.

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A bit blurry but it shows a few nails after blackening.
 
The current state is... as usual, one step ahead and 2 steps back. I removed the dogwood strips from the tafferel and started shaping it like that one on the photos (million holes). I did this because I realized that the same pattern is there on some of the carvings and I could not use the Dogwood method there. Also, the window and door frames on the tafferel had been 'treated' with additional Peroba Rosa strips. As the rear loading openings (cannon ports?) required I started producing some nails as discussed on another thread a few days ago. The result is much better than using even the smallest commercially available nails although they still need some matt acrylic after the blackening was partially removed because of the hammering-in. The pictures also show the re-ground scalpel blade which I used to make these nails, and, as shown, The nails had been made from 0.6 mm brass wire this time and the heads turned out to be about 0.9 mm in diameter.
Janos

View attachment 174612

The Dogwood removed and the Costello base had been drilled a million times.

View attachment 174613

The aft starts to look like a ship.

View attachment 174614

And the inside again

View attachment 174615

This is how the nails are done on a melamine board. The side edge of a scalpel is ground, both sides are chamfered by about 45 deg, making sure that the edge remains flat ie. must not become sharp.

View attachment 174616

The nails are always done in pairs, ie. the grove is done in the middle of the wire, the length of which is double the nail length. After a few more roll the nails will separate and we can establish a search party to find them on the floor.

View attachment 174617

The shank is 0.6 mm.

View attachment 174618

The head becomes about 0.9 mm in dia.

View attachment 174619

A bit blurry but it shows a few nails after blackening.
'SEARCH PARTY".... classic.
 
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