Thanks guys for all of your kind remarks and encouragement.
I have a question. How should I install the two cannon on the upper deck (see pictures)? Should they be strapped to the deck, or should I install tackle like the others and if so how and where do I attach the tackle?
Looking at the top deck cannons you might think that they are rather small, but in fact the SL is said to have 6 and 4 pounders on the top decks. Check this reference. My computed scale for this ship indicated a cannon barrel length of 1 11/64 inches, which is what I used.
French First Rate ship of the line 'Le Soleil Royal' (1669). Dates of service, name changes, previous and next incarnations, dimensions, armament, commanders, officers and crewmen, actions, battles, sources
Paul pay attention at this link to the number of guns on the decks.Doesn't match what's on the model.Moreover, this data is taken from Wikipedia.Which is not always true.
Almost everything that is on Vaisseau le Soleil Royal par Louis Hubac is shown in the book "Les vaisseaux du Roi Soleil"
By Jean-Claude Lemineur
Publisher: Ancre
ISBN: 2906381225
So from this book follows other information. Bronze artillery: 110 guns
Thirty 36-pounder guns of the first battery and two additional running gun ports
Thirty 18-pounder guns of the second battery
Thirty 12-pounder guns of the third battery
Ten 8-pounder guns on the quarterdeck
Six 8-pounder guns on the forecastle
Four 4-pounder guns on the poop
I really like the colour of your cannons. They appear blueish/grey on the pictures which tie in perfectly with the blue bulwarks. The top deck looks GOOD!
Heinrich - thanks for the kind comments. The cannons are airbrushed with Vallejo black grey RLM66. The deck is teak that comes with the kit which has been finished with Minwax Golden Oak after it was scraped with a razor blade. The deck edges were treated with pencil lead, and the deck pegs are replicated using a small mechanical drafting pencil.
A few more pictures...
I noticed that the dummy cannons don't stick out as much because the receptacles for them are more recessed. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave this as is or try and find a solution. I have also painted the gun tackle with diluted Tamiya desert yellow (XF-59) which looks much better than the original white.