ZHL Le Soleil Royal

[Gilbertm]

Hello Jay
I'll be following your log
I have started my Soleil Royal about 1 month ago and do enjoy building her.
I have created a log for this (here)
Keep in mind that the instruction booklet from ZHL is fairly limited.
Looking forward to your progress

 

[ken s]

I have same kit, getting ready to start soon. Over the years (kits I've built) I've had to Spanish, Italian and now Chinese

 

[Jay]

You did a great job on the last one. I was impressed with the speed with which you finished it.

Thanks Vic. Didn’t quite hit my deadline but Boomers don’t care about deadlines.

 

[Jay]

Hello Jay
I'll be following your log
I have started my Soleil Royal about 1 month ago and do enjoy building her.
I have created a log for this (here)
Keep in mind that the instruction booklet from ZHL is fairly limited.
Looking forward to your progress

Yes, I have been watching your build with interest. Very impressive.

 

[Jay]

I have same kit, getting ready to start soon. Over the years (kits I've built) I've had to Spanish, Italian and now Chinese

Looking forward to you starting it. The more folks I can glean info from the better. More fun too.

 

[Jay]

Looking forward to your build.

Thanks Maarten, the Royal Caroline had been one of the kits I had been considering. Maybe after this one.

 

[Maarten]

Thanks Maarten, the Royal Caroline had been one of the kits I had been considering. Maybe after this one.

I can certainly recommend it.

 

[Jay]

Starting to put the bulkheads on. I just eyeballed them when I did the Black Pearl so I am being more diligent and using a machinist square to make sure they are properly lined up.

 

[Jay]

According to the instructions I am supposed to attach the front and back part of the keel together and use part number 24 as a reinforcement where they join together. I decided to install the first four bulwarks first and make sure they were square. If you go by the instructions to me you might be asking for trouble as you could have part 24 too far to the left or right or lower then where the bottom of the bulwark is.

 

[Gilbertm]

Hi Jay
Looks good indeed
I have to say that I did not have any issue with fitting part 24 between the bulkheads
One thing I experienced though: the slide part of the bulkhead was quite narrow and hard to fit nicely into the keel. Not sure if you had the same issue.

 

[Jay]

Hi Jay
Looks good indeed
I have to say that I did not have any issue with fitting part 24 between the bulkheads
One thing I experienced though: the slide part of the bulkhead was quite narrow and hard to fit nicely into the keel. Not sure if you had the same issue.

Actually I did find the bulkheads hard to fit on the longer keel number 15. On the putting together of the two keels I just wanted folks to be aware that tolerances may be tight and to dry fit and pencil place or install so they wouldn’t have problems later.

 

[Jay]

I dry fitted the bulkheads to make sure they were square and penciled in their positions then glued and made sure that they were square again using clamps to keep them in place.
If you look at my instruction sheet at the back of the keel there is a part number 6 that goes on top of the back part of the keel. I can’t tell you how many minutes I was looking for that part or why they had two parts with number 6 on the instructions. I got quite the laugh when I realized the part I was looking for was number 16 and the 1 was on the line. Maybe the numbers are a different color on the CD.
Looks like they wanted me to install bulkhead 12 and parts 22 and 23 on top of the bulkheads but I thought it would be easier to install the bottom decks before doing those.
If I can impart any thing just make sure you have something to either weigh down or clamp the decks so that they will lay flat.
I know there are several builds of the Soleil Royal so all of this might be redundant to you so bear with me.

 

[Vfordyce]

Always something new, Jay. This may be the only build a noob like me might see.

 

[Jay]

Always something new, Jay. This may be the only build a noob like me might see.

You might be right Vic, I just don’t want to be a yawner. On the bright side though doing the wood work is my favorite part of the build.

 

[Vfordyce]

 

[Jay]

View attachment 201650

Good one Vic.

 

[Jay]

Got the lower decks on, wanted to make sure that they were all level. Don’t know if that will be a factor later on or not but guess it won’t hurt. Also drew the center lines on the upper decks while I was waiting for the glue to dry.

 

[Gilbertm]

Hi Jay
Good progress

 

[Jay]

Hi Jay
Good progress

Thanks Gilbert.

 

[Jay]

I dry fitted the main decks, every thing looks good but when I permanently install them they will definitely need to be weighed down. Viewing the instructions and I use that term loosely you might get the idea that you would install the rear bulkhead number 12 and the rear upper deck supports before you do the main decks. My advice is don’t do it. Just seems easier to do the main decks first and then do the rear bulkhead and supports.
Viewing the deck planking plan I think I will do some of the planking on the main deck before it is installed.
I also put together the rear bulkhead and will install it after I install the main decks.