Soleil Royal 1671 modified Heller kit

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GuyM

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So, on this log I am in the very early process of modifying and building the ship as close as possible to what it would have looked like in the spring of 1671 when the ship was to make its maiden voyage along with 4 others for the king's visit at the new Rochefort shipyard, which he cancelled, but the ships went out anyway....
The document below describes what would have been the history of the Soleil Royal and the other royal ships of that period. As well, I'm trying to reproduce the ship from a plastic Heller 1/100 kit ( 1/95 makes more sense) by modifying all the details of the decorations on the sides, the correction of the number of cannons and some structural compartments on the different decks; I am not an expert at this, so please remember when you comment on the work:)
The basis of the design on the stern and side galeries is from Tanneron's Soleil Royal, so they have been opened up and the interior of the galeries decorated; I have not used a wood kit because the decoration work would have been much too extensive and I do not have the abilities that some who are building ships on this site have. If you have questions on the why there are differences with my build versus others, I sugest you first read the documnt below ( if you can read french of course)
because it will answer a lot of your inquiries. If you do not read French, ask me your questions and I will answer them in accordance with what is written on that document, which also reflects my view of course:)

From the first pic, one can see major decor changes, I still need to scrape off the original decor between the upper portholes, I don't believe there was any of this type since that is a symbol that appears on ships near the end of the century; the refit version of the Soleil Royal had them, but not at that location. it will be replaced with the decors on the images at the end. There can be a lot of flexibility with the side decoration since there is nothing as far as information on the ships of the mid-century except for what seems to be a generalization of the fleur de lys design on the upper part, which was found on the Royal Louis, the Royal Duc ( Reyne) and on the Royal Dauphin. The figurehead is what I found on the net, what used to be a mairmais which I scaled down a bit and reworked the arms....It isn't finished as you can tell:))) The work is still VERY rough, but I wanted to make all the modifications before finishing the surfaces...

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  • Copy of SOLEIL ROYAL.pdf
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So, for some of you who who are trying to get a sense of what the ship's ultimate look would be, here is a modified Heller plan first page pic with the basis for the colors ( it is colored with coloring pencils so the effect isn't that great:))

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Very interesting project - I am happy to see your interpretation and adjustments to the Heller kit
 
Hi; well if you notice there are 5 quarterdeck guns and 2 poopdeck guns on each side instead of the castings 4 and 1; the stern itself won't be touched since it is the best description of it, and yes, there were only 5 rear windows in the original Soleil Royal, not 6 as on the refit version.
There will be the figurehead which is the descripton( mostlly) from the original Le Brun design; then, the front will have a center decor symbol which will be cut off a spare stern face ( the three fleurs de lys in a triangle) along with some modified "purple lacing'' I have as extra and two horizontal moldings that will line up with the sides. Inside the hull I put some wooden pieces to give a thicker look when the port openings are looked at. I am also planning to ad a side decorated molding which will replace the one just above the top gun ports; I'm still looking at clues on what Sr. Dassie meant when he said ''.....ses listons d'or...'' meaning golden moldings on the side. According to the definition of ''liston'' they are moldings, or some sort of protection that run front to back of a hull....Taking the ''molding'' part of the definition, I'm trying to compose some form of decor that would match that description, and the decorated molding I will ad is part of that.
I also may, and here I say ''may'' try up bring the bottom strakes, or bends to try have the ''lisse d'hourdi'' come up above the rear canno line; but I don't want to break the spacing between the strakes too much, it would look too odd....The ship will be a waterline display not by cutting the hull but rather sinking it in a plexiglass which will be watercolored under to keep the reflection of the material......

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As far as the mast color, it is known that the mast base of the three Royal Louis masts was white, as the whole ship was; however, the upper sections were frequently changed because of breakage, and my guess is they didn't bother to paint those; only the platforms on those masts would be black from my point of view......I may be wrong on this......
 
So, if you look carefully, on the Royal Louis there were sculpted moldings above the top gun ports as well as below, which would have been golden....
That being part of Le Brun's and Girardon's decoration, and being mentioned in Dassie's comment for the Soleil Royal, I can guess that at least one, the one above the top gun ports wasa sculpted one....Hereis a close up of the Royal Louis's stern; if you look carefully you will notice those moldings...

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Hello Guy. I am glad you have opened a build page, here, as you are certain to find a receptive and encouraging audience for your project.

As you and I have been discussing your research for some time, I’m afraid I don’t have questions for you. I will say that I think you are correct about the decoratively carved wale strake above the main deck guns.

There is evidence of this on a somewhat crude, but contemporary model of the Royal Louis, from the 17th Century, in the Poggi Museum in Barcelona. Here is a link to the Alamy site where you can find other images of this model:

www.alamy.com

Ship models at the Poggi Museum (Museo Poggi) in the Palazzo Poggi at the University of Bologna Stock Photo - Alamy

Download this stock image: Ship models at the Poggi Museum (Museo Poggi) in the Palazzo Poggi at the University of Bologna. - G358J9 from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.
www.alamy.com www.alamy.com

Interestingly, this model appears to carry the same sort of mermaid figurehead that you are making for your model.

As a general guide for decor of the early First Marine, I don’t think one can do much better than the re-fit Dauphin Royal sketch by Puget:

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I strongly suspect Soleil Royal’s 1670 name badging, at the stern, reflected this style, as opposed to Berain’s more conservative ovals, at the time of the refit.

This refit DR displays what I think is a transitional structure in the evolution of French Quarter galleries; the transition from open terraces to the partially closed boutielle QG of the refit SR.

Interestingly, I have lately acquiesced to the probability that my so-called “Gilded Ghost” portrait is more likely the Royal Louis:

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The key suggestion that this may be so is the galley seen in the distance, off the port bow. The Royal Louis and the galley fleet were the key constituents of the Levant, or Mediterranean, fleet. This isn’t to say that one would never see a galley ship on the Penfeld, at Brest, but it is an interesting detail, nonetheless, and probably not arbitrarily included.

Even if the portrait does represent the RL, I still think it is quite a useful illustration for the stern structure of these very early First-Marine, First-Rates, where the side galleries tended to be open terraces, like this rather extreme example of the original Dauphin Royal:

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I look forward to watching your project take shape!
 
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Hi:) it's been a while:)))) thanks again for those ''fleur de lys'':) Your photos of that ship at the Poggi museum show a ship, but it looks more like a mish-mash of several ship ideas of that period and nothing close to a Royal Louis, even if they called it as such; I wouldn't rely on tips for decoration on that:)))
The second image showing a ship on port side does in fact look like a Royal Louis, mostly the 1676 refit version, but the image being a drawing, it isn't sharp enough to confirm that; it does however have many of the Royal Louis specs and something close to the decoration..
As for the Royal Dauphin possible refit drawing, It is said that it was Puget's drawing, and it may have, but there's no confirmation; if indeed it was from him, it would mean an exercise at a modification of the ship's decoration for her refit during the 1680-1 period, maybe an attempt at a submission for the new decor competition which may have involved a few artists; it wouldn't be the refit during the early 90' because Puget wasn't drawing anymore at that time and passed away in 92'. Or it could simply be another artist's rendition of one of the refit versions of the ship;
The two last drawings are said to be copies of Girardon's drawings of the very first Dauphin Royal ( or Royal Dauphin) and would be what the decor woud have looked like in 1668....Those ''gazebo'' enclosures at the top of the side galleris do look much too heavy as a design:)))

How is your project's progress? the last pics showed the colors........
 
The Royal Louis model is interesting to me primarily because it was made by someone living in the time of the ship, and who likely at least saw the vessel. Given the crude nature of the model, though, it is difficult to read too deeply into the ornamental program depicted. Instead, this is more of an impressionistic model.

As for the ink drawing of the DR, 1680/81, this is definitely characteristic of Puget’s style. I do not think this is a proposal drawing, which often have contradictory details, but rather a drawing of the actual ship, following her refit; there are simply no errant lines or non-sensible features to be found anywhere.

Work on my project continues steadily. I’ve completed up to the main deck level of stern windows and have spent the past week completing the main deck wrapping balcony. I’ll have an update a little later this week, showing all of this, but the project can be found here:

Soleil Royal by Heller - an Extensive Modification and Partial Scratch-Build by Hubac’s Historian

Mullions are brilliant! How did you create the scribe?
shipsofscale.com

You’ve done a nice job with your fleurs - they look great!
 
You did the job of making them, so yes they look great because of you:))))) I only stuck them on:))))
I went to look at your progress, and there's only one thing I would like; it is to have your talent:))))))))))))))
It really is coming along great:) it certainly isn't drab:))
As for the Puget (?) drawing, it is in his type of art, but then, if he did draw a real ship, he wouldn't wouldn't responsible for the more ''squarish'' name plate since he didn't successfully submit any decor proposition after his Soleil Royal work. You must also consider that at the time he was hired to modify the Le Brun stern decor design on the Soleil Royal, not to make a new one; so the name plate may have been from Le Brun and actually stayed on the modified Puget design...The reason it is the same on the Berain one is that Berain also only modified the original Le Brun/puget design of the first one. But then again, it could also well be from the berain design, but for some reason I doubt that avenue somewhat....
One of the reason for his lack of stern work during the late 70's is because he was shunned by arsenal's administration. He actually also had lost interest in working for the arsenals with all the new design restrictions being imposed, and concentrated his work on marble art which he liked much more....
The ohter Dauphin Royal drawings from Girardon show common decor tendencies; the shape and design of the rear balconies the placement of the statues and a similar artwork to the Royal Louis with sea horse at the lower extremes of the bottom gallery, and small scupled personnas around the sides of the bottles as consoles; the Soleil Royal initial artwork being from the same hands, we can understand where Puget modified the whole rear decor, and where some the Le Brun/Girardon's artwork remained.....
 
Thank you very much Guy! Talent isn’t worth much without patience, and that I have in abundance. As for the vivid scheme - it is my contention that by the time of her refit, when the crown would have had much incentive to lower costs, the gilt work would have been drastically reduced to merely the ornaments, themselves. As compensation, and in consideration of a similarly important ship from 60 years earlier, the Vasa, I believe the French yards would have used vivid color and trompe l'oeil to accentuate the ornamental program.
 
Oh it isn't only patience:) I have some good patience for that, but I lack some ability to design:)) I know I could learn part of that through practice, but there's only 24 hours in a day, about a third of which is sleeping:))) It took me quite a bit of that patience to make the document research ''puzzle''reading; but that didn't need sculpting talent:)))))))))))
I'm not sure about your theory on colors though because there are no French examples of that before, or after....The only signifant change beside the blue disappearing until the 1720's with the exception of the Soleil Royal and the Royal Louis of 1692, is the yellow gold being changed to white; but that only occurs at the turn of the 18th century....
 
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