Soleil Royal, DeAgostini kit by AiDi

Joined
Jun 15, 2021
Messages
14
Points
58

Location
Warsaw
Hi everyone in my first building log! :) At the moment I'm working on DeAgostini Soleil Royal kit and OcCres Golden Hind - I guess I will start another thread on that one in the future.

I started my work at the end of 2019. I had an idea to do the interiors, but unfortunately the design flaws demotivated me for quite a while. Then Covid pandemic came in, I had a lot of work as a teacher, time flew by and hey - it's 2021! In the meantime I read a lot about modeling, looked through some of the building logs here and on other forums gathering inspiration.
Regarding the design flaws - the aft bulkheads are definitely too low! On this scale, a man is about 2.3 cm tall, and a stern bulkhead is 1.8 cm. I don't believe the officers had to stoop so much. So my plan is to lower quarter deck a little bit and raise the other one (I don't know how is it called, the one before poopdeck) to reach at least these 2.3 cm spacing.

Let's go with the pictures:

1. LEDs - I put them under the gratings, and there will be some at the stern gallery. I'm not using red/orange candle-like lights, but warm white. I'm not that much interested in lights looking realistic - I just want my model to be lit up. Warm white is a good for highlighting color of the surroundings and it's still a little yellowish so it does not look too weird.
The beakhead bulkhead has two openings (the upper ones) which in many models are used as gunports. In the DeAgostini model these were supposed to be windows, so I decided to stick with that. I drilled a hole in the frame behind this bulkhead so that the light could come out through these windows. I will make the windows of plexiglass, I just have to find a way to matt it because I don't want this interior to be fully seen.

20211118_152425.jpg20211118_152341.png.7b893592237645db4b7a120c4d15dc92.png2.png.7f90581138f0365dde2074253e1fae47.png

2. I didn't like the gratings provided with the kit so I replaced them and built them differently. I used Amati ones, and added walnut spacings.

20211115_105025.jpg20211115_105215.jpg20211118_115933.jpg


3. I will add gratings also on forecastle deck and put a capstan between them.

3.png

4. Bulkhead under the forecastle finished. It was suposed to be an open space, but I decided to try and make one. I took a terrible path and will never ever do it that way again. I used card as a base because, well, I have a lot of cards and modeling paper so WHY NOT? Now I know why It does not look as good as I wanted it to, but I learned a lot. I will add doors but after the work on hull planking is finished.

IMG_20211125_095418_017.jpg


5. Meet Zdzisław Alien I made this guy so that I could keep track of sizes of things. I know that holes in the gratings are too big, but I decided to stick with that becouse of LEDs underneath. He is named after my friends grandpa, who passed away few weeks ago.

5.png
 
Thank you Uwek :) My next step is to sort out how to (re)build the stern so that I can put the interiors of the galleries. I have an idea but working without plans is a little bit difficult.
 
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My next step is to sort out how to (re)build the stern so that I can put the interiors of the galleries.

So I guess I know in which direction I want to go with that :) But I didn't do much during this week :rolleyes: I filled the bow with balsa, started planking the hull so I can see where gunports are located and I cut stern frames:
img,gcsi,8DF7A8E6BFE55D0B496519475A2D913BE3074FC8,mpid,9,maxwidth,1920,maxheight,855.jpgIMG_20211201_203301_989.jpgimg,gcsi,8DF7A8E6BFE55D0B496519475A2D913BE3074FC8,mpid,7,maxwidth,1920,maxheight,855.jpg
 
...anybody ever think about running speakers?..... Hmmm.....that would be good for a chuckle.
 
I didn't do much during last 2-3 weeks. My mental health is not necessarily in good condition, I'm waiting impatiently for Christmas to get a little free time for myself and do more on the ship.
I was working a little on the beakhead bulkhead. I made windows (need to be sanded and stained with blue wood stain) and those fancy doors which turned out uneven - arc on one of them is lower, so I guess I need to do one more door...

img,gcsi,8202DB73B8939A96295EC670E1E5D2B0DE1E15C3,mpid,8,maxwidth,1920,maxheight,855.jpgimg,gcsi,8202DB73B8939A96295EC670E1E5D2B0DE1E15C3,mpid,7,maxwidth,1920,maxheight,855.jpg
 
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Hi everyone in my first building log! :) At the moment I'm working on DeAgostini Soleil Royal kit and OcCres Golden Hind - I guess I will start another thread on that one in the future.

I started my work at the end of 2019. I had an idea to do the interiors, but unfortunately the design flaws demotivated me for quite a while. Then Covid pandemic came in, I had a lot of work as a teacher, time flew by and hey - it's 2021! In the meantime I read a lot about modeling, looked through some of the building logs here and on other forums gathering inspiration.
Regarding the design flaws - the aft bulkheads are definitely too low! On this scale, a man is about 2.3 cm tall, and a stern bulkhead is 1.8 cm. I don't believe the officers had to stoop so much. So my plan is to lower quarter deck a little bit and raise the other one (I don't know how is it called, the one before poopdeck) to reach at least these 2.3 cm spacing.

Let's go with the pictures:

1. LEDs - I put them under the gratings, and there will be some at the stern gallery. I'm not using red/orange candle-like lights, but warm white. I'm not that much interested in lights looking realistic - I just want my model to be lit up. Warm white is a good for highlighting color of the surroundings and it's still a little yellowish so it does not look too weird.
The beakhead bulkhead has two openings (the upper ones) which in many models are used as gunports. In the DeAgostini model these were supposed to be windows, so I decided to stick with that. I drilled a hole in the frame behind this bulkhead so that the light could come out through these windows. I will make the windows of plexiglass, I just have to find a way to matt it because I don't want this interior to be fully seen.

View attachment 271365View attachment 271367View attachment 271381

2. I didn't like the gratings provided with the kit so I replaced them and built them differently. I used Amati ones, and added walnut spacings.

View attachment 271369View attachment 271371View attachment 271372


3. I will add gratings also on forecastle deck and put a capstan between them.

View attachment 271373

4. Bulkhead under the forecastle finished. It was suposed to be an open space, but I decided to try and make one. I took a terrible path and will never ever do it that way again. I used card as a base because, well, I have a lot of cards and modeling paper so WHY NOT? Now I know why It does not look as good as I wanted it to, but I learned a lot. I will add doors but after the work on hull planking is finished.

View attachment 271375


5. Meet Zdzisław Alien I made this guy so that I could keep track of sizes of things. I know that holes in the gratings are too big, but I decided to stick with that becouse of LEDs underneath. He is named after my friends grandpa, who passed away few weeks ago.

View attachment 271374
Hallo @AiDi
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
How is your work on the Soleil Royal going? Any progress?
 
Thank you @Uwek! Actually there is some progress :D

310777023_852875949206233_4441978636858511291_n.jpg
I've finished the first layer of planking and the second one on the bottom of the hull. I'm sorry I didn't post anything but this year I'm trying to kick depression out of my life and that drains a lot of energy out of me. I'm working slowly, but what's most important - I decided in which way I want to go with this project. When I started I was not that much interested in historical accuracy, but that changed. Not that I want it to be the most accurate model ever, but I want to enhance what I already did and if I'm doing something that most probably was not on the real ship - I want to be aware of it. I did a lot of research, read dozens of threads on different forums (long live google translator!), got my hand on a lot of books, etc.
And with all the information I got, I decided to cut out the windows I did on the beakhead bulkhead and cut out both bulkheads I did on the main deck.

As for some other works I've done:
310939022_3048584805445647_6451012373472738544_n.jpg

One of the three parquetries that will be inside the galleries. I decided to do more interiors than I planned, so I cut out a big hole:

311162573_613054900516016_3108697859771363068_n.jpg

and currently I'm working on how to arrange it :)
 
Hello Aidi.
Very good progress.
Sorry to learn about your mental problem. I hope you can find the strength to kick it out of your system. I was falsely diagnosed with bone cancer and went through a troubled time in my life. When I got the good news I was able to look at day-to-day reality with other, more appreciative eyes. I can relativize better and relieve stress more easily. Nothing has changed around me, just an other view on what is important - most things are not and are not worth endangering your health. I hope this helps.
 
I hope you can find the strength to kick it out of your system.

Thank you Herman, I appreciate that. And I'm happy that your diagnosis was false. We should always be open-minded and learn from what life gives us.

I'm slowly working on Soleil, but there is nothing interesting to show yet. Also, I got HMS Prince from Mamoli for my birthday, so I'm thinking that one through, and studying Philip Reeds books, he's great at building small scale models.
 
Are you going for a initial or post radoub soleil royal? I hope your mental health get better, you're doing a good work on the hull, I wonder is the spacing error that visible if the interior isn't visible.
 
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