Ah you got it twice, recover well from the second one. On the delphin at the end of each railing, you choosed to installl them because they were there post radoub and on the proposal showing the bouteille?
source: https://afcan.org/tribune_libre/soleil-royal.html
I noticed heller opened the bouteilles "galleries" on their most recent boxart (but didn't on the model)
For many reasons that I explain in detail, throughout this log, I believe the Pierre Vary drawing above - which is really just a colorized rendition of the original Berain drawing - represents the new refit decor of the ship in 1688/89.
Most of the scholars dispute the authenticity of this drawing because they fail to see any thematic consistency between the ornament of Berain’s undisputed stern drawing, and the ornamental style of the quarters. I argue, to the contrary, that there is correlation from top to bottom of the quarters.
It is true that there are exaggerations of draftsmanship and unnecessary complications of form in this drawing, however, one can not discount the discretion of the carpenters and sculptors in interpreting this drawing into an as-built reality.
Yes, to answer your question. I made those dolphins as trompe l’oeil ornaments that bracket these false windows on the main-deck level. Everything above this walkable gallery rail is a shallow trompe l’oeil amortisement; designed to look like a fully rounded and closed bottle, while remaining purely ornamental.
I expanded the frieze because it was simply too complex to confine to such a small area in 1/96, and I found that the prior location of the moulded drift-rails (which I sanded off) provided me the layout cues to make the frieze into a sort of wall-paper:
What Heller modeled for the frieze is really just a simplification of Berain’s design: alternating shells and fleurs, and these rope-twist sculptures that delineate the paneling. It is not bad, considering the hand-made process for prototyping a large plastic kit in the 70’s.
The primary purpose of making this model - apart from the fact that I had the kit laying around the past 20 years - was to demonstrate in three dimensions that the stern and quarter decors can and were, in-fact designed to co-exist together. I don’t expect that I have won any converts from the academic community, but that is okay. I build to express the grandeur and artistry of what may have been, and to try and place the ship within a particular context of her career, just as Guy is doing with his model.
I make no claims to authoritative authenticity - merely that this is all a product of reason and educated guesswork, in the absence of concrete sources.
Straight from the box, the Heller stern and quarters are nice, but I can no longer see them as anything but a hybrid between the early constructions of the 1670’s and later constructions of the 1690’s.
The orthodoxy surrounding the color scheme is also just boring to me, at this stage, and as I argue with this model - I think it likely that a capital ship like SR would have been quite vividly painted as a means of accentuating her fabulous decor. This, in a way, would have been a form of compensation for the reduction in gold leaf that would certainly have applied to SR at the time of her rebuild; the costs of which, despite a thorough survey of the work to be done beforehand, quickly soared as the extent of rot in her timbers was revealed.
As France moves into construction phases throughout the 18th C, yes, a more uniform color coding would be applied to their fleet, so that by Napoleonic times all ships look the same. In the age of excess, though, a vessel honoring the most self-aggrandizing monarch of all time would reflect those excesses in ways great and small.
That is my informed opinion, anyway. There are so many things one can credibly do with this kit. One builder in Belgium is converting it into SR’s near sister La Reyne. A builder in Germany is making her into the St. Philippe of 1693.
I think it would be highly possible to do a Royal Louis of 1668:
There are always compromises to be made with this sort of project, as certain aspects of the kit architecture are too difficult to reasonably alter, but the basic hull form is really pretty good, and the sheerline is excellent for an early representation.
So, what do you think you might do with your model Aurelien?
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, not a big deal; I added some plastic underneath the knee, so that I could fair the top surface flush with the headrail profile:
