Saturday January 15th, 2011
 
Until now I finished the complete levelling of the planks and, after, i decided to close the gun ports still open with a square piece of ply (supplied with the kit). Task quite easy to achieve, with only one main aspect to take care: these "closures" will be drilled in future with a small bore to receive the half barrells of the guns. It is very much important to fix them very well, with a very strong glueing, because if they will detach when the hull is complete, it will be nearly impossible to substitute them. For this reason, when these pieces were fixed and the glue was dry, I started on each gun port something similar to a stress test to be sure they do not detach at all.
 
Here below some images, the task is still in progress. 
 
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Tuesday January 18th, 2011 - Again . . gun ports
 
I found some time to complete closing the remaining gun ports, with the exclusion of the 5-6 of them that must still be opened on the upper gun deck, in the middle of the hull were there are the strips of walnut. I plan to open them as soon as the completion of the first planking for the whole hull.
 
In these tasks I'm following the kit instructions, but from now I will start to follow less them and more my instinct to continue planking. I have also in mind a completely different way to finish the model . . this is still an embryonic cloud in my mind and it is too early to explain or to take a decision, but I'm thinking about its feasibility . . 
 
I made a test of painting the internal of some gun ports with a matt, black enamel to confirm my assumption: I choose the black colour instead of, for example, the red because I want to obtain an effect of deep or empty . . and to get this I had the confirmation that matt black is the best solution. 
 
To paint these ports I had to mask the sides of each port with masking tape . . something to do staying comfortable while listening and watching the television . . so I will complete this task at home, not in my workshop, during the evening and I will complete all of them in the same way.
 
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I have closed the missing plank at prow . . I didn't forget it.
 
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I close with this message the long story of the gun ports . .
 
I have removed the masking I applied before painting the interior of the gun ports and finally I can write: end of a long chapter 
 
I'm happy of the result achieved, good deep and empty lookup. This is not easy to show with photos but the real things sound good. It must also be considered that, with the half barrells and the gun port linds in place this area will be enough crowded to become plausible.
 
Here below five photos of the model at this important milestone . . (at least for me)
 
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And now another game is being started . . continue planking, until the end, from the waterline downwards.
 
I will start soon, although the instructions at this point of time suggest some minimal tasks (mounting anchors, stairs and casks) that in my mind can wait.
Now my first objective is to complete the first planking, all the rest can be posponed to the right moment.
 
Kind regards, Jack.Aubrey.

Inside this message I inserted four other images that show more in detail what I've done in these days.
 
Images n° 01 and 02 show how all the new strips, added downwards, were tapered. The strips are 25 cm. long and, before starting the planking task I prepared a scale with Excel to calculate exactly how to taper these strips. For the prow area, the bulkheads involved are n° 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 plus the stem. Tapering was made starting between third and fourth bulkhead, towards the bow, +/- 18 cm. long. Tapering has reduced the height of the strip at its smaller side to 2,5mm. For tapering I used an iron ruler and a cutter with a new blade. Strips are quite soft and it is possible to cut them without problems. After cutting, with a sanding block I finished the tapering in the right shape. With a calibre I check and eventually modify the shape according with the calculated measures, as the picture here below shows. 
 
image no more available due to the closure of DeAgostiniPassion forum.
 
The strips so prepared were soaked in warm water for 20/30 minutes and this was, for this kind of wood, always enough to permit curving the strips wihout problems. Glue used was the vinyl and somewere some brass nails, some of them hammered totally, some of them only partially and often removed when the glue was dry. Strips are glued together with the strips of the previous plank: this is important but I think it is not certainly a news.
 
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In this second image you can see how i made the joint on the same plank: first it was done in a staggered way, for a certain plank it was done between the third and the fourth, in the next between the fourth and the fifth. I have also done the joint not over the bulkhead but in the area between two of them. I used same masking tape to keep the strips together until glue exsiccation and I also used a small clamp to force the same curve of the previous plank.
 
02 P1070177.jpg

 
Here it is possible to see the poop area. Also in this area tapering is required but the amount of it is smaller than for the bow. Here, over the last bulkhead, its height is +/- 4 mm. Here the strips are not soaked because there are no big curves to follow. In the middle of the hull there is no need for tapering. 
 
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Here below an image with the hull capsized and where it is possible to view how the planks have a natural bending and shape. Somewhere I had to change a bulkhead by adding some thin wood spacers. By looking at the high resolution image n° 4 it is possible to see at least one of them.
 
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To conclude this long message, my work is well proceeding, without big problems; . . the only setback is the time needed to perform this tasks and, as you can see in the last image, the remaining area still to be planked is wide . . 

 
Cheers, Jack.

Saturday April 9th, 2011 - Shipyard reopened
 
I restarted the shipyard and I decided to install planks from the keel upwards. Now there are eight planks on each side, while in the bow area there are a piece of the nineth. I will continue until the end of this process although I don't know how much time I'll need. To finish may be necessary at least ten planks per side.
 
I've taken some images outside. I hope they should be better quality than inside, in particular way the high resolution copies. Here five images, three outside with the hull capsized and two in my laboratory, the hull kept by a keel clamper and the images taken using the flash. 
 
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I had to taper considerably in the bow area but the result sounds good. Regards, Jack.Aubrey

April 26th, 2011 - first planking finished
 
Yesterday I finished to apply the first planking of my Soleil Royal: it was a long lasting  task, made of several relatively short sessions because of the strips supplied. The wood was good but the problem came fron the maximum length of them. As I wrote some messages ago, their length was 24 cm. and to complete a full plank I had to use four strips. And obviously the time consuming matter were the joints. So I took more than 15 days to finish.
 
But now this work is over and today I spent half hour to remove some brass nails I had to hammer completely somewhere. Where possible I used to hammer them partially, in a way it was easy to remove them but this wasn't possible everywhere. To remove the nails I used a modified mini-screwdriver I prepared some months ago, while working on another model.
 
Here below five images taken today. I did nothing regarding sanding and levelling the hull below the waterline, this will be another step but I think that the proposed images can show better where are the points that will need to be leveled and refined. See the high resolution images for better viewing these points. After sanding they will become invisible and for this reason it's important to show them now.
 
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See you soon, Jack.Aubrey

Sunday July 10th, 2011 - Some reflections about second planking
(advice: keep in mind the date inside the message, other you may misunderstand.)
 
Some months ago, more precisely in April, I finished the first planking of my Soleil Royal. After that date I stopped any activity for it because I decided to finish another model. So, my Soleil Royal is now over a shelf, waiting to be resumed. 
 
In the meantime De Agostini provided every week new materials and instructions and this week I received the 77th issue of this collection. During these past months, while I was working on the other model, De Agostini started to provide strips for the second planking. These strips measure 5 x 0.5mm and are 25cm long. They are the same mahogany strips De Agostini distributed in two previous collections: Santisìma Trinidad and USS Constitution. 
 
They are absolutely good for second planking but I get bored of them . . I developed in these years of shipmodeling a kind of dislike for mahogany (or sapelli, a kind of mahogany but less expensive) and also for walnut. Why: they are too dark, I prefer light/medium colour woods such as beechwood, oak, chestnut and tanganica (I don't know the english name, may it be the same ?). 
Having this propensity I took the following decision for MY Soleil Royal: instead of using the supplied mahogany strips I will produce them by myself using chestnut veneer. I found it some days ago in a wood store. This veneer is sold in linear meters, wide 20cm and thick 0,5mm. On one of the two sides there is a very thin layer of a kind of paper or fabric. Its presence maintains the veneer integer and makes easier to manipulate and cut it, while doesn't interfere with the glue. If you give a look to the following images, particularly the high resolution images, you can better understand how it is. 
 
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The idea is to use strips of this veneer, of a given length that simulates, in scale, a plank of 7-8 meters and apply them following a pattern similar to the one used for the decks. I have also built a jig to cut these strips all the same.
 
Here below two other images of the veneer, chestnut in the foreground and oak in the background. Images 01 and 02 show the chestnut veneer. I purchased four linear meters, I think will be enough . . 
 
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To conclude this message, I don't know when the shipyard will be reopend, I'm still working on the other model, but, surely, the second planking will be the subject of the future activities on my Soleil Royal. Kind regards, Jack.

Thanks Paul for your comment . . the first planking is just an initial step of a long journey that still continues in 2014 . . hope this year will be the right one to complete this model . . I started more than four years ago.

Wednesday September 14th, 2011 - Poop
 
After +/- two months I resumed my Soleil Royal and now I want to show the work done in the poop area and at the transom. I used the mahogany strips supplied with the kit for the upper part of the poop and the "home made" chestnut strips for the transom. Mainly the reason of this behaviour was to understand the differences between the two kinds of veneer and definitely decide if my idea to use the chestnut was good or not. The mahogany strips proved to be very different in colour between them, while this did not happened for the chestnut. The way to work with them is practically the same but the differences in colour of mahogany are too evident. I made this knowing that the upper part of the poop will be 90% covered by decorations and should also be painted in blue. But this experience was enough for me to decide for the chestnut.
 
Coming back to the chestnut veneer, I was able to obtain the strips very easily and, thanks the the paper/fabric layer on one side, the cutting is greatly facilitated and precise: you can use cutter or scissors and you have a great flexibility to obtain strips of the needed height.
 
The next four images do not need comments. Before planking I coloured with black paint inside the four gun ports here located.
 
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September 15th, 2011 - Wales
 
This morning I went to a couple of hobby model shops looking for "long" strips of walnut (or similar) of 3 x 4mm to be used for the wales instead of the strips supplied with the kit, 2 x 4mm, that are only 25cm long. 
The additional millimeter I'm looking for (3 vs 2) can be explained by the fact that I want to install the wales directly over the first planking, and the chestnut strips of the second planking will reduce this by half a millimeter. By this way the wales will bend out of +/- 2,5mm.
 
Unfortunately I did not find was I was looking for, so this afternoon I decided to do them by myself using my circular (or table) saw from PROXXON and a table of beechwood I had in my stock of wood. The maximum length of these "home made" wales is +/- 80cm. 
 
The cutting of these wales was a very interesting experience. I had the opportunity to practice with the circular saw for several hours, learning many new tricks and methods and also changing the blades, a kind of operation I never did before.
 
And also the result was for me fantastic: probably may be the luck of the beginner but I obtained simply perfect wales . . . Very satisfatory experience ! 
 
I had some wasted wood, and especially I had a lot of sawdust. Instead of discarding the sawdust, I collected it for future use and, with the wasted wood, I made other strips of various sizes that probably will become useful for the future. Then I needed to clean my workshop with a vacuum cleaner. . three hurrah for the inventor of the vacuum cleaner . . cheeers, Jack.Aubrey.

Sunday November 20th, 2011 - current status
 
After a long period of absence due to health problems, I am back now to show something new. To be honest there are few new things, in september I started with renewed passion working on this model but then I had to face with my health. It is only today that I was able to take photos but what you can see here is the status by the end of september.
The health problems are now gone and I think optimistically to restart as soon as I will recover better.
 
Compared with the status of my previous message (19/9/2011) I added two new wales per side and I planked with mahogany veneer the area without gunports within the wales. Surely you can better understand looking at the images.
 
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The differences in colour within the same woods are done by the oil I applied to see the difference before and after.
 
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The headnails in the new wales are not yet removed and may appear out of scale if you look them at the high resolution images. but they will sound better after being smoothed.
 
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I also started to install the area where the gunports are with the chestnut veneer, but at this point my work was interrupted . . the few work done is shown here below. 
 
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