Soleil Royal - ZHL 1/90 Scale by Paulb [COMPLETED BUILD]

[Heinrich]

The cannon ball racks look absolutely great as does the rest of your build, Paul. You are doing a fine job of the French lady.

 

[paulb]

Waist guns are finished. Now on to the top deck guns.

 

[paulb]

The first top deck cannon is finished (almost).

 

[paulb]

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?

 

[Mr.Deep]

Put it like everyone else. To the gun port. They are round on the sides

 

[paulb]

Mr.Deep - thanks I was thinking I would do just that.

 

[paulb]

The 16 upper deck cannons are now finished. I'm just waiting for 2mm single and double blocks from Syren.

 

[paulb]

The first upper deck cannon is installed. I still need to add the block and tackle.

 

[ken s]

The first upper deck cannon is installed. I still need to add the block and tackle.
View attachment 178724View attachment 178725View attachment 178726

Surely, Mister Deep will have to give his seal of approval!!

 

[paulb]

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)

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

threedecks.org

 

[Mr.Deep]

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.

 

[Mr.Deep]

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

 

[Mr.Deep]

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

 

[paulb]

Mr.Deep - thanks for the info. That helps.

 

[paulb]

The top deck cannons are in and rigged.

 

[Heinrich]

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!

 

[paulb]

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.

 

[paulb]

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.

 

[Dematosdg]

Is looking better and better every days... nice !!

Will you do the rigging or leave it as Admiralty-style?

As it is already looks fantastic.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[paulb]

It will be fully rigged with sails.