Heller 1/200 Royal Louis

Modeling Subjects Ships
21

Good morning! Have another update, assembly has been started!


Hull assembly is done, but I ran into some trouble with gaps. Not sure if it’s my issue or Heller’s, but they’re certainly there!

I put some putty in the gaps to help close them up!

So gaps taken care of, they were later filed down and painted over, look convincing enough now!

So all the decks and little pieces have been finished! One thing that I noticed is that the instructions direct you to cement the forward deck before placing the lower deck guns? Makes no sense, it is nearly impossible to add the guns after placing the upper deck.

I also decided to cement the gun doors in place, for some stupid reason. The instructions called for it at this point, I was wary because I knew I’d be knocking them all off during the rest of the build. But noooo, I thought Oh, well Heller likely knows better than me, better listen to them. Well that was a mistake haha, I’ve knocked almost all of those gun doors off at this point, so those will be re-cemented when the build is almost over. I chose to leave the rudder off for the time being for the same reason.

So after that I started assembling the masts, which went easily enough. Although I will note the very top part of the mizzenmast did not fit into the cap piece (I’m sorry, I know no terminology at all, it’s the upper dark brown part that attaches the two parts of the masts together) and had to be shaved down significantly to fit.
Boats were also glued together.

NOW I ran into the big problem. I was dry fitting the masts and while the mainmast and mizzenmast fit just fine, the holes in the top and bottom decks for the foremast do not align. I was trying to figure out if that is my mistake or if it’s just the way the model is; I think it might just be the model, because the other two masts line up perfectly.
Sooooo I came to the decision that I’d have to remove the upper fore deck. Uuuuugh!

I scratched out the area where the hole for the mast should actually be, significantly farther back than the molded one.

Once removed, I lined up the deck in the proper position and fitted the mast into the top and bottom decks. Aaaaah so crooked! So I thought I’d move the top deck up and see if aligning the holes in the bottom and top decks would work (at this point I’m still trying to avoid making a new hole)

Nope, that doesn’t work! Then nothing else in the forecastle fits at all. So it looks like I’ll be making a new hole.

Okay, there it is, all finished! I’ve dry fitted it and it seems to work just fine, so hopefully it’ll remain that way when I rebuild the whole thing.

I’d be curious to hear if anyone else who built this model ran into these issues. Hopefully this will help someone else out if they decide to build a royal louis!
After re-assembling the forecastle I’ll likely get started on the rigging! I’ll be consulting the resources Steve posted constantly, they’re going to be an incredible help!

22

Hey everybody, I’ve run into a question I have for you guys!

I’ve started on rigging the shrouds, and I’m uncertain of the thickness I should be using. I was wondering what you guys thought, if the white thread looks better or if the green thread does (all will be black later).

I’m thinking the green might be a liiiiiittle too thick, but I’m worried the white may be too thin! I’d really appreciate your input; thanks so much!

23

I’ve found that thinner is usually better. It is getting harder these days to find thin thread (employee at Michaels said sewing getting to be less common hobby). Usually one can find thread sizes for lower shrouds okay, but stuff for lighter rigging is tougher.

I find so many finished models that have too thick rigging, I find that ones with thinner rigging look better. Also, it looks like you plan to paint rigging.

One can make black lines look thinner by painting them with a dark gray rather than pure black. With long, thin lines, the contrast strongly affects our perception of size. Medium gray would look thinnest, pure white and pure black would look largest.

24

I agree, the white is closer. But, it’s hard to tell because the ship is such a small scale.

25

I agree with both don and G , the smaller thread would look better , this is a pic of my la glorieux , it’s a slightly larger model than your’s 1/150 , I think I used .45mm for themain rigging and .20mm for the ratlines .

and dk

DK grey look’s more realistic than black , as don said .

26

I must say, pretty impressive for a first time. Love the oil wash and dry brush used. You have done a lot in a short period of time, keep up the good work.

27

Hi Cathy,

Great work on this kit. I have built it and as you have found out, it requires a lot of pre-filling, cutting, sanding, and fitting again of the rear galleries and much of the deck furnishings.

Those masts and spars bend real easy. I chose to use the ratline jig on this kit because its was a tit for tat trying to get the shrouds taunt without the masts bending. Then when it came time to set the standing rigging, it was a mess, so I used the jig and tied up my pre-made ratlines after the standing rigging was done and the masts secured. I also built the Pheonix and had the same problem. Also, as mentioned, use small diameter thread. I used a lot of coat thread on this kit because it was not so flexible.

I have a few more of these Heller kits in the stash and swore that in the future, the masts and spars will be made from wood.

Again, great work!!!

Scott

28

Seems like plenty of people have offered suggestions for your shroud thickness, and I would tend to agree, though if I could add two extra notes:

-For the lower shrouds, either of those line sizes seem fine to me.

-For the upper shrouds, I think you might consider going with something even thinner than either. Once you get up there, the thickness of shrouds will become obviously oversized, and also the tension it will take to keep thicker line tight could cause issues with upper mast bending…just my 0.02

Anyway, it’s impressive you’ve made so much progress in such a short time! My Cutty Sark is still sitting on the shelf, waiting for braces lol

Great work so far. Sorry you’ve had to deal with things like misalignment of parts and other examples of Heller’s headscratchers…I’d like to see what you can do with a nice old Imai sailing ship kit…they’re among the best quality in terms of part fit and molding.

Dave

29

Sigh, the words “Heller” and “well-fitting parts” never seem to be i nthe same sentence (or paragraph, fo r that matter).

Now, Heller’s rigging instructions are notorius (search here for user=JTilley for some sharp-edged comments). Apparently Heller’s person in charge of creating rigging instructions learned everything they know on the topic from studying wooden ships of the sorts found in in Spanish tourist traps.

I am remiss in not saying ealier to not fully assemble Heller masts, but to make them in sub assemblies (e.g. lower mast; top mast; topgallant) as that makes the rigging much easier. This alos aloows you to get brass wire in them, too. Telle est la vie modélisation.

One of the fiddely details that may make you life easier with the shrouds is to lay them a bit closer to prototype. One the ship, as you face the deadeys, the first shroud goes up from the foreward most deadeye, up and around the mast and back down to the next deadeye aft. Where the shroud passes around the mast, it’s bound together with a lashing that is very close to the bottom of the top platform.

Then the opposite side shroud is laid over that in a stack. Note that this makes for a neater “pile” of lines all jammed in there between where the top mast “doubles” the lower mast.


Now, don’t try for all that detail–that’s a 1/96 scale ship.

In a perfect world, it can be easier to make the shroud up off the kit, then form the eye, then pass that over the mast (befoe th top mast is assembled) one after the other, then bring the lines to the deadeyes one by one.

Malheureusement, l’mond n’est pas parfait.

Keep up the good work, you are doing just fine. You will be ables to use these skills to tackle other projects.

PS, in full disclosure, my first ship ket was a Cutty Sark and it had the horrible Revell vinyl-coated thread ratlines. Having no other instruction, I trapped the bottom “thread” in the plastic deadeye assemblies, and since this was before CA glue, I had to find a way to tie all the little ends of the threads around the top of the mast. Threads covered in vinyl resist knotting, even more so with a jillion knots right next to them. That kit got left behind in a move, and was not sore missed. Sigh.

30

Thank you, I’ll be going for the thinner white thread! And thanks for the info on the painting, I hadn’t thought of that and will definitely be doing it!

31

Thank you! And your glorieux looks beautiful! Also, I was curious if you would be able to direct me how to access the thread you linked about the french rigging. I’ve tried to sign up to for the site a couple times and they haven’t sent me an activation code so I can’t get onto the site!

32

Thank you! But as much as I’d love to take the compliment, this isn’t my first ship haha. I’ve done maybe five or six prior to this one, just haven’t posted them. I did a couple when I was maybe 10 too, but I don’t count those ones; they were exactly the disaster you’d expect from a 10 year old trying to have any kind of patience haha!

33

Thank you! And yes, certainly! Unfortunately all the shrouds are done at this point, oh well, I know better for next time now haha! But for sure the masts are pretty flimsy. I tried to correct as much as I could with the shrouds, but viewing the ship from the front the masts don’t line up perfectly by any means!

34

Thanks for the tips! Unfortunately all the shrounds are done already, but I think I’ll be mixing your suggestion and Don’s suggestion- painting the upper shrouds a different color to give the illusion that they’re thinner.

ANd thanks! Don’t feel too bad though, I’m out of school for the summer so I have quite a bit of time to get things done. Come the end of august it’s going to be quite a different story!

Yes, I’ve seen someone doing the Carrak on here and it looks like a nice kit! I’m definitely interested in getting my hands on one!

35

Hahha yes, I’ve certainly learned that! And yeah, I’ve been looking for resources on french rigging. Steve poste a link that seems extremely helpful, but unfortnately I haven’t been able to sign up for the site to view the posts! Seems like an issue with the site, I keep asking them to re-send my activation code and it never gets sent. Do you happen to know of any resources that might be of use? I have a couple of books on rigging/ships, but they’re both focused on the english, not the french.

And aaaah, I see what you mean! And yep, oh well, it’ll just make the next one that much better!

And hahaa it happens to everyone! My first couple are absolute disasters! I still have them somewhere, I think a revell victory and a bounty; they’re really more a pile of broken parts than a ship at this point lol.

36

It took about a week for me to get activated . I know they have been hacked a few times . I really can’t help other than hope they hurry up for you .

37

Your Royal Louis is looking great, Cathy! I have that kit in my stash and am watching your build with interest. Great job so far!

38

Your weathering looks fantastic!

39

Cathy,

You are doing a wonderful job on this model. I am impressed that you undertook the detailing on the lower hull. However, there is one problem with the upper hull that most seem to miss. Although the wood grain is pronounced, there are no planks. We used to have a member here named Dr. John Tilley who used to say that the hull looks as if it had been carved out of a very large log.

That said, I love your paint job and your overall progress. Planks are easily etched into the plastic.

I mean no criticism of your work but rather with the kit design.

Bill Morrison

40

Wow, well, I’m really sorry for the abrupt and prolonged disappearance. I have some very good excuses though!

Right after my last post (nearly a year ago already, omg) I actually got appendicitis and had to have my appendix removed! It was very quick, one day I woke up not feeling well, I gradually felt worse and worse throughout the day until I was taken to the hospital at 11 PM, by 6 AM they figured out what was wrong with me, and then at like 7:30 AM, just about 24 hours after I woke up with my stomach bothering me, I was coming out of surgery minus one appendix!

After the surgery I couldn’t really do anything except lay on the couch haha, sitting up or bending down wasn’t something I could do for any real amount of time so the royal louis was just sitting, waiting.

Then I started up my final semester of undergrad, 3 days after the surgery (missed the first few days of classes-emergency surgery is like the best excuse in the book!), didn’t have a lot of time for poor louis.

Then I finished undergrad in December, but started graduate school in January-STILL no time!

Then in March we moved, so Louis got packed up and put in a cabinet until I figured out what to do with all these boats in our new place.

Then, you know, corona happened, school went online, job is gone, but my free time was spent setting up the new house, doing some artwork for the walls, all that.

Then at the end of May we got a kitten! So there’s no way I could get back to Louis with this playful little guy to attend to!

Now he’s a bit older and I’m willing to trust him a little around all the small and delicate pieces. I am planning to start on the Louis again! I’m also ordering some more kits so I have something to work on while I take forever to do the rigging on it.

Hopefully this will last for a while, although I have no idea what is going to happen. In September my college should be starting up again, and I think I will be doing an internship at an area high school, in person. I don’t know how this will go or how long it will last. I’m in Connecticut, we have a pretty low infection rate, but I cannot imagine that starting up school is going to go well. So we’ll see what happens there, but I might get tied up for a little bit.

Anyway, here’s some pictures of where I last left off with ol’ louis, back in the old apartment. I had actually meant to post these pictures here right after I took them, but, you know, everything I talked about above [:P] I’ve actually started some of the ratlines too, but haven’t made enormous progress yet.

Oh, and here’s the kitten!

nine weeks old

that’s him at 9 weeks

and here he is at around 4 months a couple weeks ago :slight_smile:

thanks for looking guys, and sorry for the absence and 500 page explanation. I should be back soon with more progress!!