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soleil royal heller

yancovitch said:
just thought i'd post a minimal build log to show what the heller soleil looks like with a more feasible hull....managed to build a wooden hull from plans provided by neko in model ship world....and painfully matched the plastic forms to the wooden hull......

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Splendid
Congrats
 
i thank you, and although i didn't go for an immaculate build, i'm basically very happy with the results...i filled in the space on the stem with a casting from the stern railing...squished the mold in a vise, and filled with resin...still had to trim some....maybe i'll bite the bullet and try to carve some see through decoration one day :).and added a tiny extension on the hand rails and moldings where they attach to the hull, so the front of the side galleries don't look so rigid and straight...
i cut out the lowest extension of the stern gallery and raised it so it would be mostly above the waterline, .......and cut the masts down a bit, although i did so much removing and adding, i don't really know if i made any improvement :), as i don't have the original to compare with...tried to copy the proportions from a different model plan.......so that's it for now until i get into some more nitty gritty......cheers,..........vic

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One word-Fabulous!! Yancovitch, out of the dozens of examples I have seen of this Heller kit, yours, is by far the best & most precisely decorated one yet! I have been contemplating building it for the past 3 yrs., but lack of display space nixed that idea. Can you tell me what you did to get the hull color this particular shade? This looks more realistic than most I have seen, & the guns & ports are a work of art! Bravo, you are truly a master ship-builder! rick1011
 
gee, i didn't expect to get that much of a reaction as there are much better painters out there...am grateful...thanks.....oh...the hull is made out of pearwood with black walnut wales which i ordered from joseph at......http://modelerssawmill.com/....the bottom hull i just used basswood which someone locally had...very limited access to anything where i live :) ....so it's not painted.....i just used the kit guns, as inaccurate as they are, as i was mainly concerned about getting a proper looking hull...the rest, not as important, aside from the mast size....
believe me the inside is a bit of a mess, as i had to really cut off the wheels of the gun carriages, even some of the carriages themselves to get it all to fit...so if anyone decides to build a wooden hull, compliments of neko at msw, (the decks, by hismodel in the czech republic).........check first how to fit the heller guns and carriages on the drawing ..that was my main mistake...assumptions assumptions.....i know i didn't expect everything to fit right, but i ended up with a reasonable effort....
everything is plastic except the wooden hull below the decorated blue panels.......cheers, vc
 
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took a break to make a case.....will be black, with cherry red velvet background and floor....side glass panels will be black siliconed in, and the front glass panel will slide in from the left side and will be removeable...waiting for lush curtains to confirm they have the sample i sent them......i have some strip led lites on order which will be installed on top and down the sides.....i found that it's important to get the 2700k color...not the 3000k......both are considered warm light, but the latter is awful...there's no warmth and the wood looks grey....everything looks greyish....
trivia, but thought i'd share.....

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Great modeling! Fantastic! I also love the case design…better than the traditional square. Can you imagine being hit with a broadside from this ship? Thanks for posting your work.
 
very kind daniels...thank you,,,and yes, especially if all the cannons went off at exactly the same time.....but then everyone on both ships would be deaf, which would end the war, aside from the possibility that the s.r. would be on it's side or even fall apart....sorry, i;m in a flippant mood.....i'm still so happy i did the new hull....i can enjoy looking at it now........ ................
 
the case should look like this when it's done....now i'll have two ships to rig......lighting with the strip led's is tricky....i have them down the sides too, and in this case, on the bottom....but on the soleil royal, i left off the bottom ones, cause it just accented the white hull....i'll have to sacrifice a bit of shade under the channels on the s.r.................but whatever, i generally, like the mood created......i'll hold off getting the front glass on both until all is complete......cheers............vc

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yancovitch said:
the case should look like this when it's done....now i'll have two ships to rig......lighting with the strip led's is tricky....i have them down the sides too, and in this case, on the bottom....but on the soleil royal, i left off the bottom ones, cause it just accented the white hull....i'll have to sacrifice a bit of shade under the channels on the s.r.................but whatever, i generally, like the mood created......i'll hold off getting the front glass on both until all is complete......cheers............vc

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Wow.. that color contrast looks great!
 
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