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

Thank you guys for the kind words of support. One thing I have not done is simply to erase my phone's internet history. As I say, though, I experienced the same problem on my wife's phone.

Let me try that, first. I'll play around with it for a little while longer, and if I still can't resolve the issue, then I think what Jimsky is proposing is the way to go.
 
So, clearing my phone's browser history did not solve the problem.

In the menu bar of SOS, the last option is to "Install the app". I thought this would be to install the SOS app to my home screen, but instead it brings me to the XenForo community.

I thought, then, that if I entered my SOS credentials, it would open the SOS site from the XenForo site, but that didn't happen. It didn't even recognize my email address.

What is the purpose of this XenForo page? What am I missing, here?
 
Hubac’s Historian said:
What is the purpose of this XenForo page? What am I missing, here?
Click to expand...
XenForo is a forum software package for the internet that allows users to create and respond to threads of discussion. It was developed by Kier Darby and Mike Sullivan, former lead developers of vBulletin, and first released in October 2010. XenForo is written in PHP and is built with modularity, scalability, and efficiency in mind.
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
There's an SoS app? I've just been using Google Chrome...
Click to expand...
There are no SOS app neither for Apple or Android OS. :(
 
So, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to do this earlier, but I did an email reset of my password, so that I have phone access to my account again.

That still doesn’t explain why the site failed to recognize my correct password, in the first place, but it is an easy enough fix.
 
After quite a loooong time, I have finally completed the channel and backstay deadeye chains. I still have a little black touch-up to do, but most of that is looking pretty ship-shape. I’m quite relieved to be past that.

My sweet spot on this build has been modifying and manipulating the posture of the large figure carvings. I wanted to get back to doing a little of the work that excites me, and the figures of The Americas and Africa are the final pieces of the ornamental program that I have yet to complete.

I have no choice, but to carve Africa from scratch, as Berain’s drawn figure is in such a radically different posture than the kit’s pose. I’ve roughed-out a blank in cherry, which is quite hard, but will hold fine detail in a small scale. Depending upon the quality of the finished carving, and whether or not I find it necessary to graft the plastic head onto the wooden body, I may simply apply Danish Oil to the carving as a call-out to the modification work that was done to the model.

On the port side, though, for quite a while I’ve been mulling over the potential for adapting The Americas figure. After all, the kit sculpture is far superior to whatever I could muster from scratch.

The main problem is that the stock figure is far too tall to fit within my reduced stern height. As a refresher: at the start of the project, I cut the top sheer-step away (1/4”), but replaced it by half with a low, long sheer cap-railing (1/8” +), and I lowered the side lantern boxes (1/4”), so that their tops were flush with the sheer-railing. This nets out to about 3/8” overall height reduction of the stern. That was how I could ensure that the field backdrop for the tafferal carving of Apollo more closely mirrored that of the Berain drawing. This was my main priority.

The consequence of that choice, if I wanted to recycle the figure carvings, was that I would have to modify them in a way that brought them closer to scale.

When I made the quarter gallery drawing, I drew Africa without regard for the position of the quarter pieces (the bust carvings that support the side lantern boxes). As for those busts, I merely reduced their length from the bottom. I should, perhaps, have decapitated them to shorten their necks, but I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to see how the figure carvings would relate to them.

Here is the fit before modification. She’s practically making out with the quarter piece:

IMG_6656.jpeg

My plan was to make a series of narrow-kerf cuts across the outside leg, the lower torso, upper torso and neck.

IMG_6659.jpeg

The neck cut followed the re-assembly after the first three cuts because I needed something more substantial to hold onto, while making the neck cut.

This worked far better than expected.

IMG_6663.jpeg
IMG_6664.jpeg

You can see what amounts to an overall reduction in height of 3/16”. This may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference.

Post-cut fit:

IMG_6666.jpeg

Although her crown comes up and slightly obscures the face of the quarter bust, at least her face is now below that of the bust.

IMG_6665.jpeg

I didn’t like how the inboard foot is just dangling in the air. A quick check of Berain indicates that the in-board foot should be swept out-board so that the pierced lattice of the archway is visible.

IMG_4839.jpeg

Considering how much time and effort went into making those archways, I would very much prefer that the lattice work remain visible.

With that in mind, I decided to section off the inboard leg, through the groin.

IMG_6667.jpeg

By positioning the leg the way I want it, I can get a sense of the angles at play, and the void that needs to be filled.

IMG_6668.jpeg

With 1/16” styrene fillers glued to each mating surface, I could then begin the process of fettling the joint, until I get that foot to rest where I want it to.

IMG_6669.jpeg
IMG_6671.jpeg
IMG_6672.jpeg

The resulting re-join is highly imperfect seeming, but all of that extra plastic will be carved away and detail added back to provide the visual continuity that is so lacking, at the moment.

After fairing:

IMG_6679.jpeg
IMG_6678.jpeg

Now, I can fair her seating position along her under-carriage.

There are only three tenuous connection points: the outboard ankle, her seat, and the inboard shoulder with the quarter piece. I decided to add a few steel pins - one to the ankle and one to her seat.

I also want to pin through the inboard shoulder, into the quarter piece. The pin locations drilled:

IMG_6690.jpeg

The one for her seat was really tedious to drill because the quarter piece and lantern box prevented me from using a pin vise. I had to trap the top of the micro bit with the fore-fingernail of my off-hand, apply pressure, and turn the bit with my other thumb and fore-finger. This was a real test of patience, and I managed to not break away the archway.

For the shoulder pin, I’m using .035 styrene rod:

IMG_6689.jpeg

You can see how I had to flatten the fore face of the shoulder and bicep, so that the figure would nestle-into the quarter piece.

And, so, the un-modified figure before (I have an extra):

IMG_6693.jpeg

And After:

IMG_6691.jpeg

This figure now is in proportion with Europe and Asia, above, and matches the height of my Africa figure (not pictured).

I will paint the figure and glue her ankle, seat, and shoulder. The shoulder pin has to be inserted after the figure is in-place, which is why I chose styrene for that pin; I can easily trim it, fair it, fill with putty and re-paint after installation.

Thankfully, I realized that the angle of the arm needs to be modified a little, in order to wrap around the quarter piece. I will position the arm after the carving is secured, to ensure exact placement. You can’t, after all, maneuver the two steel pins into place, with the arm on because you need a little wiggle room to get around and up against the quarter piece.

The figure will be grey-washed white like Europe and Asia, and I will probably do Citadel green wash for her skirt, with highlights of bright gold.

I will soon get back to the rigging of the main deck guns. Thank you all for your likes, comments and continued interest.

Best regards,

Marc
 
Hubac’s Historian said:
After quite a loooong time, I have finally completed the channel and backstay deadeye chains. I still have a little black touch-up to do, but most of that is looking pretty ship-shape. I’m quite relieved to be past that.

My sweet spot on this build has been modifying and manipulating the posture of the large figure carvings. I wanted to get back to doing a little of the work that excites me, and the figures of The Americas and Africa are the final pieces of the ornamental program that I have yet to complete.

I have no choice, but to carve Africa from scratch, as Berain’s drawn figure is in such a radically different posture than the kit’s pose. I’ve roughed-out a blank in cherry, which is quite hard, but will hold fine detail in a small scale. Depending upon the quality of the finished carving, and whether or not I find it necessary to graft the plastic head onto the wooden body, I may simply apply Danish Oil to the carving as a call-out to the modification work that was done to the model.

On the port side, though, for quite a while I’ve been mulling over the potential for adapting The Americas figure. After all, the kit sculpture is far superior to whatever I could muster from scratch.

The main problem is that the stock figure is far too tall to fit within my reduced stern height. As a refresher: at the start of the project, I cut the top sheer-step away (1/4”), but replaced it by half with a low, long sheer cap-railing (1/8” +), and I lowered the side lantern boxes (1/4”), so that their tops were flush with the sheer-railing. This nets out to about 3/8” overall height reduction of the stern. That was how I could ensure that the field backdrop for the tafferal carving of Apollo more closely mirrored that of the Berain drawing. This was my main priority.

The consequence of that choice, if I wanted to recycle the figure carvings, was that I would have to modify them in a way that brought them closer to scale.

When I made the quarter gallery drawing, I drew Africa without regard for the position of the quarter pieces (the bust carvings that support the side lantern boxes). As for those busts, I merely reduced their length from the bottom. I should, perhaps, have decapitated them to shorten their necks, but I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to see how the figure carvings would relate to them.

Here is the fit before modification. She’s practically making out with the quarter piece:

View attachment 467859

My plan was to make a series of narrow-kerf cuts across the outside leg, the lower torso, upper torso and neck.

View attachment 467858

The neck cut followed the re-assembly after the first three cuts because I needed something more substantial to hold onto, while making the neck cut.

This worked far better than expected.

View attachment 467857
View attachment 467856

You can see what amounts to an overall reduction in height of 3/16”. This may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference.

Post-cut fit:

View attachment 467854

Although her crown comes up and slightly obscures the face of the quarter bust, at least her face is now below that of the bust.

View attachment 467855

I didn’t like how the inboard foot is just dangling in the air. A quick check of Berain indicates that the in-board foot should be swept out-board so that the pierced lattice of the archway is visible.

View attachment 467860

Considering how much time and effort went into making those archways, I would very much prefer that the lattice work remain visible.

With that in mind, I decided to section off the inboard leg, through the groin.

View attachment 467853

By positioning the leg the way I want it, I can get a sense of the angles at play, and the void that needs to be filled.

View attachment 467852

With 1/16” styrene fillers glued to each mating surface, I could then begin the process of fettling the joint, until I get that foot to rest where I want it to.

View attachment 467851
View attachment 467850
View attachment 467849

The resulting re-join is highly imperfect seeming, but all of that extra plastic will be carved away and detail added back to provide the visual continuity that is so lacking, at the moment.

After fairing:

View attachment 467847
View attachment 467848

Now, I can fair her seating position along her under-carriage.

There are only three tenuous connection points: the outboard ankle, her seat, and the inboard shoulder with the quarter piece. I decided to add a few steel pins - one to the ankle and one to her seat.

I also want to pin through the inboard shoulder, into the quarter piece. The pin locations drilled:

View attachment 467845

The one for her seat was really tedious to drill because the quarter piece and lantern box prevented me from using a pin vise. I had to trap the top of the micro bit with the fore-fingernail of my off-hand, apply pressure, and turn the bit with my other thumb and fore-finger. This was a real test of patience, and I managed to not break away the archway.

For the shoulder pin, I’m using .035 styrene rod:

View attachment 467846

You can see how I had to flatten the fore face of the shoulder and bicep, so that the figure would nestle-into the quarter piece.

And, so, the un-modified figure before (I have an extra):

View attachment 467843

And After:

View attachment 467844

This figure now is in proportion with Europe and Asia, above, and matches the height of my Africa figure (not pictured).

I will paint the figure and glue her ankle, seat, and shoulder. The shoulder pin has to be inserted after the figure is in-place, which is why I chose styrene for that pin; I can easily trim it, fair it, fill with putty and re-paint after installation.

Thankfully, I realized that the angle of the arm needs to be modified a little, in order to wrap around the quarter piece. I will position the arm after the carving is secured, to ensure exact placement. You can’t, after all, maneuver the two steel pins into place, with the arm on because you need a little wiggle room to get around and up against the quarter piece.

The figure will be grey-washed white like Europe and Asia, and I will probably do Citadel green wash for her skirt, with highlights of bright gold.

I will soon get back to the rigging of the main deck guns. Thank you all for your likes, comments and continued interest.

Best regards,

Marc
Click to expand...
Incredibly detailed scratch work, HH! What a marvelous ship. Glad to see you making progress again.
 
Fantastic work, Mark! If I needed another reason to travel to the USA, it would be to see your model with my own eyes. About the figures: have you ever considered casting the finished figures? The casts, which are not completely hardened, can be molded in such a way that they fit very closely to their positions. I have had very good experiences with this.

Schmidt
 
Thank you Duarte and Schmidt.

While I haven’t thought to try that casting technique, I can see how that would work well - helping one to avoid the pitfalls of heat-bending, where there is virtually no margin for error.

The difficulty I was presented with was the need for these figures to either grow in stature (the Four Seasons), or shrink (the Four Continents).
 
Touch-ups on this figure still need to happen, but she’s securely pinned and cemented in-place.

Given that this figure represents The Americas, I thought her garb should be gold accented greens and earth tones. She’s wearing a palm frond skirt and crown.

Weirdly, while the brown enamel wash that I use is still perfectly fine, the grey wash pigment seems to have cured in the jar, despite there being a generous amount of solvent present. I mixed this for a long time, and it looked good after wiping off the excess. However, long after it had dried, the surface film appears to be reactive with my finger oils, creating an ugly, dirty/crusty appearance. Fortunately, this wiped off pretty easily with a Q-tip.

After touchups of the white, I’ll have to experiment with the Tamiya grey and solvent that I have in my stash.

IMG_6708.jpeg
IMG_6705.jpeg
IMG_6704.jpeg
IMG_6710.jpeg

And with the arm in-place:

IMG_6719.jpeg

On the whole, I’m very happy with how this all turned out. I consider this surgery a success!

Thank you all for looking-in.
 
Thank you, Nigel! And, many thanks to all for their likes and looking-in. Honestly, I’m mostly happy that with these figures in-place, my mistake with the angle of their seats will not be so evident. Re-making those arches correctly would have been really challenging.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top