Heller Reale de France

Well, this is going to be fun.  I don't often get to spend much time in this Forum talking about a kit that I really like.

I agree completely with those who think this kit is one of Heller's best offerings.  I'd go so far as to include it on any list of "ten best" plastic sailing ship kits. Probably one of the "five best," as a matter of fact.  

I started one quite a few years ago, and unfortunately lost it in a change of residence.  Some time later I found another one for a bargain price and bought it; it's in the attic awaiting my attention.  (It's been there for about twenty years.  Unfortunately my stash is like that.)

I do have two reservations that, though they aren't particularly serious, have always discouraged me from tackling the kit for a second time.  The first concerns the oars.  They're proportioned correctly (or nearly so), but Heller chickened out a little bit regarding the handles.  The oar looms themselves are far too big for a rower to get his hands around; that's authentic.  Each of the real oars has a handle, which looks a little like a low picket fence, nailed to its top (rather like a wood jackstay on a sailing ship's yard).  The kit represents the handles as heavy ridges on top of the oars.  Shaving off the ridge and replacing it with a scale handle wouldn't be particularly difficult - once.  The inevitable problem with models of galleys, though, is that every operation involving the oars has to be repeated so many times.  Shaving off all those ridges and making all those handles...well, that's one reason my kit is in the attic. 

A couple of compromises have occurred to me.  One - I discovered that the spacing between the vertical "spacers" on the handles is about the same as the spacing between the rungs of a ladder on HO scale.  The model railroad aftermarket firms sell plastic and metal "ladder stock" that could be chopped up and turned into oar handles.  Two - careful painting could make the Heller handles look a lot better.  One could paint the molded-in ridges black, then add the shapes of the handles in the form of fine lines of natural wood color.  I suspect that would look pretty convincing.

My other reservation - and I certainly can't blame Heller for this one - concerns the flags.  Especially those enormous red banners sprinkled with fleurs de lis.  Heller, as I recall, printed them quite beautifully on heavy, glossy paper that's supposed to be folded over double.  The result would be a mighty thick and clumsy flag.  I don't have a good solution to that problem.  I've thought about using my printer to copy the kit flags onto lighter-weight paper, but I don't think the printer could do a good job with those gold fleurs de lis.  And the problem of reproducing the designs on both sides of the flag would still be there.  I suppose the ideal solution would be to paint them on some sort of fabric - but those fleurs de lis number in the hundreds.  Again - this is why mine is still in the attic.

A good many years ago (long before the Heller kit was released) the British magazine Model Shipwright ran a series of articles about building a Reale on that same scale, 1/75, by a fine modeler named Peter Heriz-Smith.  He did a beautiful job on it, and it wound up in the Science Museum in London.  Mr. Heriz-Smith dealt with the problem of the flags by painting them on some sort of very thin fabric.  The flags in question are supposed to be bright red, with gold fleurs de lis scattered all over them.  Unfortunately the red paint (or dye) he used didn't react well to the museum's lighting system.  By the time I saw the model (just a few years after he built it), the flags were a nauseous, blotchy, pale pink.  There's a lesson to be learned there - and yet another excuse for mine to stay in the attic. 

When I was working on the first one (the one that got lost in the move), my father (a retired professor of architecture) and I spend quite a bit of time studying the superb moldings - and talking about what to do with the model when it was finished.  Dad had what I still think was an excellent idea for displaying a ship model with such an unusual shape:  hang it from the dining room ceiling, over a sideboard.  (So much for the problem of the oar handles.  They'd be virtually invisible from floor level.)  If mine ever does come down from the attic, I'll see how my dear, understanding wife reacts to that idea.  (There would remain the problem of dust removal, but maybe we could handle that.)

Regarding the instructions - my guess is that they'll be in French with a separate English translation of the text.  Heller's English "translations" do indeed have a rotten reputation.  (I know about those of the Soleil Royal and H.M.S. Victory.  They're downright scandalous; the person responsible for them clearly neither understood French nor had attempted to build the models.)  In this particular case, though, I suspect the problem won't be as serious.  The Reale has lots of parts, but many, many of them are duplicates (the aformentioned oars, for instance); the actual assembly of it can probably be done with the help of the pictures.  Heller's traditional mutilation of the English nautical idiom won't be relevant to this kit; no other kind of ship is built quite like a galley of this sort, and the terms for many of its components don't have English equivalents.  I never trust Heller rigging instructions; I've seen too much evidence that the kit designers just plain didn't understand rigging.  I strongly suggest that anybody tackling this kit get hold of a copy of a wonderful old book called The Ship, by Bjorn Landstrom.  It contains several beautiful, detailed drawings of a Reale, one of them in color, that will answer most questions.  The book has been out of print for a long time, but used copies can be found for reasonable prices on the web.  (My copy was a Christmas present from my father when I was in the seventh grade.  That must have been in 1963.  It's just about fallen apart now, but nobody could pay me enough to make me part with it.)

The more I think about it, the more I think I need to make a trip to the attic and bring that big beautiful box down with me.

Anyway, the kit has the potential to produce an absolutely spectacular model.  Good luck.

Indeed. On Landstrom p.140-141 there is a full side view of the La Reale, with a graphic scale under it. The upper scale, in red, appears to be meters as there are 52 gradations over the length at waterline, which roughly equals the stated length of 170 feet. The lower scale, in black, equals 2 gradations per 3 meters, or 150 cm each. I do not have any idea what that unit is, except for 1/100 of a nautical mile.

I apologize that I can't include the illustration- I'll scan it tomorrow as it has a wonderful amount of detail. 

I'm working on the oar handle challenge. According to the drawing on p.138 there appear to be 6 sections over 9 feet or so, plus a handle on the end for a seventh oarsman.

That's about a 1 1/2" total at 1/75, or 1/4" each section. Sounds like O gauge ladders would do the job. Landstrom draws rounded ends, but what is a mother to do...

As for the banners, I would scan them for safekeeping, then sand them down from the back. Yep, that's what I said. If the paper is thick, it'll take at least 1/2 of the thickness away before one gets into trouble.

Allez Le Roi!

Would it be possible to scan the banners, and then to print them out onto clear decal paper? Then you could wrap the around, say, a piece of thin metal foil, which you could bend to shape as desired. I used this method on this Tamiya 1/72 Perkasa-class PT boat:

though I did have to get a friendly decal printer to print them for me. My printer's nowhere near good enough for this sort of work.

Cheers,

Chris.

The problem with those banners is that the fleurs de lis are printed with some sort of ink that's actually gold in color.  A good, professional print shop has access to such ink, but it's expensive and only works on certain kinds of paper.  There's just no way a scanner or home printer will reproduce gold.

I like the idea of sanding down the back of the kit-supplied paper.  That might work pretty well.

Thanks for the information, Prof. Tilley.  I found a lot of copies of the Landstrom book online at amazon.  In fact there were many used copies available.  An ad for Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern for $7.50 from the Tacoma Goodwill caught my eye so I ordered that one also.  It doesn't have anything to do with the Heller kit but nice price and I like to support Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.  Since they are here in WA state, I should have these in hand days before the kit arrives. 

The modellmarine.de site features a few Heller sailing ships with photos of the parts and instructions.  I tried to do the google translate but it fouls up the display on my monitor.  Anyway, I clicked on Bausatzvorstellungen/Frankreich/historische Segler then Reale de France and saw a pic of some of the oars but they don't show enough detail.  I'll use the book and helpful advice from members of the forum.  I wonder if there are plans available?  Might cost more than the kit though. 

I highly recommend the Landstrom book - and all the others he wrote.  The man was a rare combination:  a fine, knowledgable historian, an archaeologist, and a first-rate artist.  His book on Egyptian ships, published more than thirty years ago, is still, as I understand it, generally regarded as the standard work on the subject.

I fear I can't be as enthusiastic about Milton Roth's Ship Modeling From Stem To Stern.  I've ruffled some feathers with my comments about that book in other web forums; I hope the following doesn't ruffle any more, but I really feel obliged to warn newcomers about this book.  In 1988, right after the book was published, I wrote a review of it for the Nautical Research Journal.  Quite a few years later the subject came up on another web forum, Drydock Models.  Rather than try to rephrase anything, I'll quote what I wrote on that forum at that time: 

"I read the comments on Dr. Roth's book the first time I visited the Forum. I've hesitated to post a reply because (a) I figured it would be bad form for a newcomer to do such a thing, and (b) I take no pleasure in making negative comments. So far I've concentrated on enjoying the site (and there's a great deal here to enjoy), and occasionally adding some comments on small points where I thought I might be able to help. I am now, however, going to take a deep breath and say some unpleasant things. My reason is that I think it's extremely important to steer newcomers toward good books - and away from bad ones.

"Rather than try to rephrase my observations on this book, I'm going to take the liberty of copying a review of it that I wrote for the Nautical Research Journal shortly after the book was published, in 1988. It's in Vol. 33, p. 215. Here goes.


"With the untimely death of Dr. Milton Roth ship modeling lost one of its most enthusiastic promoters. A retired podiatrist, Dr. Roth came to the hobby late in life but made a noticeable impact on it. He was a well-known, jovial fixture at NRG conferences, and his articles appeared regularly in several commercial magazines. His mail-order supply house, 'The Dromedary,' earned a fine reputation for fast and friendly service. Dr. Roth also acquired his share of critics, who wondered (and sometimes asked none too subtly) how thoroughly he really understood his subjects. This book probably will give his admirers and detractors alike about what they expected.

"In style and content it is a highly individual work. Irrespective of the title, the text deals almost exclusively with sailing ships; powered vessels are mentioned only in passing. The weight given to various topics seems to reflect the author's own interests. We get two paragraphs on the 'lift' method of hull construction and sixteen on techniques for removing CA adhesive from various parts of the human anatomy. Much of the commentary on the problems of product distribution will be of limited interest to most readers. On the other hand, Dr. Roth deserves applause for his forthrightness in describing the defects of imported 'plank-on-bulkhead' kits.

"Those who knew Dr. Roth will find his personality stamped on every page. Other readers will, on numerous occasions, scratch their heads as they attempt to figure out what the author was trying to say. (A representative sentence: 'It will be for you to decide what you have learned as distinct from what you have not already known.'  [Think about that one a minute.]) The best parts of the book are the good-humored introductions to the subject's most basic elements. There are some peculiar errors of fact (no reliable evidence suggests that Samuel Pepys ever built a ship model, and the reference to the death of an English king in 1712 is bewildering), but most of the historical information is general enough to be innocuous. The lists of sources for tools and kits will come in handy, and the bibliographical notes, though they have a few holes in them, are reasonably thorough and up to date.

"The weakest chapter is the one entitled 'Size and Scale.' Herein, I fear, the reader will get lost in a jumble of outright misinformation ('1/4 inch = 1 foot' and 'quarter scale' do not mean the same thing), and murky syntax ('the popular scale, 1/4 inch = 1 foot, which we have established as also being equal to four feet of the size in the original object, is expressed in units'). 'To find the decimal equivalent,' we are advised at one point, 'divide 12 by the scale you wish to model.' Six lines later we read: 'To find the decimal equivalent, divide the scale by 12.' At this point I'm not sure what the author intended the term 'decimal equivalent' to mean, but one of those statements has to be wrong. An understanding of scale is basic to any form of scale modeling. Burying it under three pages of verbal and arithmetical confusion does no service for anybody - least of all the novice for whom, presumably, the book was intended.

"The text runs into trouble whenever it gets involved with mathematics. The author apparently wasn't at ease with the concept of percentage; he tended to write '.22 percent' when he meant '22 percent.' The chapter on 'Proportions for Rigging' ends with a table entitled 'Standing Rigging of the 74-gun Ship of the Line, Washington, 1815 (based on tables of USN 1826).' There follows a list of rigging lines, accompanied by a list of numbers. What do the numbers mean? Well, the explanation at the bottom reads: 'Ratio/Proportion of spar Diameter Circumference (In Inches).' Good luck, intrepid beginner.

"Many of the book's problems undoubtedly stem from the sad circumstances under which it was finished. If the author had lived to give the proofs a thorough reading he undoubtedly would have made some major changes. (I don't think he really meant to say, for instance, that 'there is no difference between a scalpel and a saw in their respective cutting abilities as long as they are sharp.') Part of the blame for the book's overall sloppiness must also rest on the shoulders of the publisher. Virtually every page contains grammatical and/or typographical errors. The manuscript needed, and apparently never got, the attentions of a competent editor.

"The book includes about 250 illustrations, the majority of them reprinted from other published sources. The drawings range in quality from the superb (George Campbell's perspective view of H.M.S. Victory's foretop) to the awful. In several cases they do not quite serve their intended purposes. A reprinted drawing captioned 'Buttock Lines in the Sheer Plan' also shows the station lines and waterlines - and provides no hint as to which are which. The captions generally acknowledge the sources properly, though the names of several artists and repositories are garbled. Two old prints are credited to 'The National Maritime Museum, Washington, D.C.' No such institution exists.

"There also are numerous photographs - but, surprisingly, none of Dr. Roth's own models. The quality of reproduction generally is high, the thirteen color plates being excellent. But at least one photo is printed in reverse, and another is upside down.

"The last chapter offers advice to the modeler who wants to turn professional. A rather emotional passage lays out a formula to determine the price of a kit-built model. Much of this discourse is predicated on the emphatic assertions that $3.65 x 50 hours = $175 and 100 x $80 = $800. Should the reader laugh or cry?

"Milt Roth was a first-rate gentleman, and I wish I could recommend his book. His many friends probably will value it as a poignant memorial to a likable, outgoing, and ebullient character. But it is not a sound introduction to ship modeling."

John A. Tilley
East Carolina University

"I expressed some brief reservations about the Roth book a while back in another section of the Forum, and another participant asked, quite reasonably, what beginner-level ship modeling books I would recommend. I'll repeat here that I like Wolfram zu Mondfeld's Historic Ship Models, Ben Lankford's How To Build First-Rate Ship Models From Kits, the various works of Harold "Dynamite" Payson, and (though it's out of print) the anthology Scale Model Sailing Ships, edited by John Bowen. There's a shortage of good books in this category - largely because veteran expert ship modelers tend to write things that show off their expertise, rather than assist the beginner. But I have to suggest that Ship Modeling From Stem to Stern is a book to avoid.

"Comments and disagreements will, of course, be welcome. That, as I understand it, is what this Forum is about."

Several members of the Drydock Models forum jumped to Dr. Roth's defense - and got rather emotional about it.  On the other hand, when the subject came up still later at Modelshipworld.com, it seemed quite a few people agreed with me:  http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=941&highlight=milton+roth .

My suggestion to anybody who's interested:  read all those comments and form your own opinions.  The pictures in the book probably are, in themselves, worth the $7.00 jamnett paid - especially if the money goes to a worthy cause.  Frankly I wouldn't spend more than that on the thing.

Regarding plans - the Landstrom book will be a big help.  (In addition to the big color outboard profile/sail plan, there's an exquisite, pen-and-ink perspective drawing of the bow, including the guns.)  If you find you need more, the Amis du Musee de la Marine (Friends of the French National Maritime Museum) publishes a series of plans of French ships, including a Reale.  I've only seen a few of the plans in this series; frankly I've had mixed reactions to them.  The ones I saw were on relatively small scales, with several drawings on one sheet of paper.  They certainly seemed to be accurate, but the amount of detail was...well, so-so.  They're sold in the U.S. by Taubmann's Plan Service:  http://www.taubmansonline.com/ .  The price is sky-high.

Several Forum participants have commented in the past that Taubman's prices for the Musee de la Marine plans are far higher than what various European dealers charge.  Off the top of my head I can't recall any other distributors for them; maybe some other member can help.

Hope that helps a little.  Good luck.

jamnett wrote:

Thanks for the information, Prof. Tilley.  I found a lot of copies of the Landstrom book online at amazon.  In fact there were many used copies available.

For your consideration, here is the Heller kit I build some years ago.  Not up to Prof. Tilley's standards for sure but a fun build none the less.  I also designed and built the display case.  It resides in my sunroom.  The Corel kit (I know, Professer, not worth the time or money ) is sitting in my stash for its turn on the bench.

I would advise caution when laying out and installing the oar seats/frames.  They change just a little from frame to frame and are easy to get out of order.  Also, hand painting all the detailing takes considerable time and patience but it is well worth the effort.  Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

Rick

Gentleman, thank you for your kind words.

Firecaptain, the cabinet is made from fibrecore birch, stained with a mix of golden oak and cherry stains, and finished with 4 coats of Tung oil.  The tri-cornered uprights have butterflied grain so they appear to be cut from a single piece.  The upper case comes apart by simply lifting off the top frame (carefully) and sliding the corner posts up off the side glass.  There are no fasteners at all other than dowels at each end.  The upper base can then be removed (again, only dowels) to gain access to the lower case which has a top inside and is lighted.  The lower glass then slides up and can be removed.

jtilley, I have seen your comments about sails many times and I agree that, if not done right, they can ruin an otherwise fine model.  I thought the La Reale would look rather bare without the sails but had a bit of a problem trying to make something reasonable from cloth.  In the end I used the vacuformed kit sails with a bit of trimming and some careful re-forming with a hairdryer.  The weathering was done with wood stain.  The tell-tales do not lie flat but are extended at random to give a sense of the wind filling the sails.  At least that's the story I like to tell . .