Nov 16, 2019

Heller 1/600 La Couronne WIP


Got this old kit for a bargain price. It will be part of the navy of the imaginary Duchy of Armagnac, slightly outdated for the 18th century, but they could be using old equipment.

There were many troubles with it that seem way too obvious for a modeler today. Lots of flash, flimsy and bendy masts, and the middle of the deck section having a large gaping hole along the sides. All of this of course means that some scratch-building and kit-bashing is required.


First I made it into a waterline model, by drawing in the waterline, drilling a bunch of holes and then separating the lower hull. Then I glued in a thick piece of balsa to keep the lower part of the hull together. After this had set I laid a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and dragged the entire thing over it. 

After this was done, I plugged the gaps and holes with filler, balsa wood, and then sanded it down. I cut the long prow extension and figurehead, this is not something a Protestant navy would need, and takes away some of that galeon look, making it more an early ship of the line. Then I washed the entire hull with warm soapy water because I forgot to do this while it was on the sprue.

Let me say that the masts and sails are useless, so I'm going to use organic materials. The masts that are already added to the ship are from toothpicks, and the flagpole is a large paper clip piece. All of them fit the holes in the deck well enough. The sails would be made from textile, and the injection molded sails should be a good template for those.

I drilled a small hole into the bottom balsa piece within the hull, and friction fit and glued a toothpick to the hole. This is my usual method so that I can grab onto this while painting away.  
The small stand that accepts the other end of the toothpick is another one of my inventions, it keeps the painted object upright while it's drying or something else needs to be done. 
The balsa is quite soft, at least softer than bamboo, so the hole for the toothpick had already got worn out at one point - you can fix this by squeezing a larger piece of balsa soaked in PVA into the hole, wait until the glue dries, cut away the excess and drill a new hole; this can be repeated ad infinitum, or until the original stand wears off.

Now it's priming time - the first two layers are a white primer and brown wash to keep recesses a bit darker.

4 comments:

  1. I made one of these about 20 years ago - a fine vessel - and didn't have the problems this review mentions. Unfortunately, it fell victim to one of the major earthquakes this town experienced in 1810-11, and has yet properly to be repaired.

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    1. I have no trouble with the look of the model - it is a fine looking one, with good detail. The rest I think could be down to it being a used mould of the same ship 20 years on, and my maximalism regarding such subjects. I don't like those thick injection-moulded plastic sails, they look way off for a ship that is most of the time stationary. Plus I'd like to experiment with embroidered canvas sails.
      I regret hearing that yours was damaged in such a way.

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    2. While I think of it - I made mine into a waterline model by hacking out the bottom. In some ways, for war games purposes, I think I'd prefer to see the vessels under topsails only - at least the courses brailed up. Speaking of which, the topsails of 'La Couronne' are HUGE!

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    3. It was less of a hassle removing the bottom than I originally thought. The cheap pin vice I've got makes life a lot easier. You might be right about the sails, I think I will not represent the ship at full sail. This is also done a lot easier with canvas than plastic. Cheers!

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