so I finally took some pictures of my next build. it’s the 1/200th Heller Le Royal Louis. my workbench is a little messy right ow. I need to go buy some PVC pipe to make a photo booth to do these things… This kit is the special edition that came with paint and glue. I picked this off of ebay and some of the paint had to be thrown out. the funny thing about this kit is the guns. there was only 96 guns supplied so you have to leave some of the gun ports closed. also there was a little itp on the guns that had to be glued on. about 1.5 to 2mm in size. why this wasn’t just incorperated in to the mold of the gun is strange.
that’s the tricky part. I was going to mix some yellow and browns together for the oak. then pin wash with blacks and browns on the darker brown planking. but as far as the whit i think it’ll be a mix of yellow’s and white’s to give it a slight tint. at least that’s the plan…
man how time flies, at this rate i might be done by christmas, though i doubt it.
Just thought that I would show some of the progress that was made over the last couple of weeks. nothing stellar but it’s getting there. I decided that it was time to test my patients and how well i can work with small parts. i decided to replace the plastic pieces that are supposed to be the dead eyes with actual dead eyes. I bought these from model-expo. they are 2.5mm and made of walnut. i just need to add the last layer of guns to the deck. these ones are pretty small compared to the others. Thanks for looking [;)]
Looking good ( I really like your treatment of the decks!!)! I have one of these in a (very!) delayed state of build, but decided to do a different paint scheme from that suggested (too dull!). I went for a black and light yellow version… I know a lot of people have trashed this model before, but as this is the third time I have built it, I can say I get fonder of it every time!
Love to see that someone else has tackled this kit. Your build is so clean and precise. I have been building on this kit off and on for about 10 years. Rigging in this scale can be challanging because Heller’s plastic for the masts and spars is not the stongest and requires a lot of patience when rigging the shrouds and ratlines because the mast will flex which means a lot of tensioning and adjusting. Still beats trying to use the jig though.
I did wonder why they only included half the complement of guns on one side.
I have pics at my photo account website. Again great build, might inspire me to finish mine.
Thanks searat! I’m hoping that after I weather the hull it will bring out the yellow and darken the brown a little. I’ve been trying to keep wit the paints that came with the kit but i haven’t been that impressed with them on tone and color quality. I don’t see why people would trash this kit. so far the only issue that i’ve had is that i had to file down the two upper deck pannels so they would fit properly. but that’s not enough to discourage me.
yeah i thought that it was funny that they didn’t include enough guns to fill the ship. i also didn’t like the 2 piece barrels. but that’s a pretty small complaint. i’ve been thinking about changing out the plastic masts and replacing them with wood dowls becuase of this. but i’m thinking that I might save that one for my next build (Old Ironsides) I remember seeing you Royal Louis posted not to long ago in reference to making paper sails. it jogged my memory when i went and look at your collection. very impressive [#toast]
just a small update today. there is a set of stairs that are pretty funky on the poop deck. looks like i need to build a railing becuase there is nothing in the kit. just an open hole. have a good weekend everybody!
So here’s another one of those details that Heller could have incorporated into the mold on the hull. but instead i have 48 tiny pieces that need to go above the gun ports. i had to make a small tool out of a tooth pick and some masking tape to pick up the pieces and set them to the hull with out getting glue everywhere.
also when i was starting to prep the railings i found that one of the rails was missing some molded parts. so i sanded the piece smooth to prepare the area for the scratch built parts.
i took a tooth pick and cut it in half. set it next to the pieces that i was copying and drew the lines. (i didn’t have my micrometer for this so i winged it)
I then put the piece in my drill and used it as a lathe for turn the piece and my knife. worked ok.
works on this has been pretty slow. i added some closed gun ports it took me about an hour and a half to add the gammoning a sieze it all together. good times. also the figure head was added. this gold paint is awesome but if it’s handled to much it starts to wear off. that will stop once i get the weathering finished and a coat of clear added. enjoy!
thanks Julian, it’s actually supposed to be brown. i used the paints that came with this kit (humbrol # 98 “chocolate”) to cut down on some of the costs, though it’s not 100% correct.
I have been gone from the forum with a diabetes-related problem, but am returning. I really like your work but am somewhat puzzled by the darkness of the decks. They are certainly beautiful, but wooden decks tend to bleach a greyish color over time and use. I do not mean to imply a criticism, but rather am asking a question.
Well, ordinarily that’s true… But the French were some of filthiest people at sea ever recorded, so having a dark deck is not particularly unrealistic…!
