Heller vintage Le Saint Louis 837. First build after 28 years and my first ship.

I think having a firm finish date for a large sailing ship model is not well advised.  I am working on a Heller Soleil Royal that I started working on about thirty years ago.  Into rigging now, and do just a little at a time.  It will be finished when it is finished- whenever that will be.

Is the Wasa the Airfix kit?  reason I ask is because the Heller kits are quite challenging to build. The fit between hull haves and the decks are usually off, the instructions are just pictures that represent a ship of some sort, and the masts are spars are very thin and takes some experience to get the rigging taunt and looking correct.   The Wasa is a nice, easier kit to assemble, and would be a more enjoyable model to build as a starter.

As for finishing in half a year, no problem, I say that on every model I start, I just never get specific in what year I going to finish it in.  When I started my current project in 2007, I said to myself I could build it in 8 months, and I have about 6 months into it.

Heller Victory. Year seven, upper gun deck completed.

Brushwork is pretty usual. I don't know abt Revell, but Humbrol paints are great for brush work. Need decent brushes of course.

Sure, prepaint as much as you can.

G ;

   That's why I have always loved Humbrol . I do a lot of brushwork . T.B.

Hello ;

   I don't know what all the bad press is about Heller , concerning fit and finish . I bought the same kits as just about everyone else .You have to be more careful , Yes .But finished , they look great !

Simmie - welcome to the Forum!  And may I compliment you on your skills at the English language!

I had the good fortune to spend a couple of weeks in Holland some years ago. (I'd love to go back.) The maritime museums in Amsterdam and Rotterdam certainly are among the best in the world.

My big gripe with Heller has always had to do with historical accuracy. I've always thought the people who designed those kits were superb artisans who knew little to nothing about sailing ships. A lot of those models (not all of them) look like nothing that ever floated.

On the other hand, Heller (like most other model companies) got better as it got older. Some of its early sailing ships were garbage, but the later ones are much better. The last Heller sailing ship was, I believe, the 1/100 HMS Victory, which many modelers (including me) regard as one of the finest plastic model kits ever released.

I don't think I've ever seen the Saint Louis (which most definitely was a real ship, by the way - built in Holland for the French navy), but I think it was one of the later kits. I can't offer any specific comments on it, but I'll offer one generalized one: beware of Heller rigging instructions. When it comes time to start the rigging of your model, do a little research. The folks in this Forum can offer some good suggestions about English-language books, and I imagine there are some fine ones in Dutch as well. Again, I haven't seen the diagrams in that particular kit. But in virtually every Heller kit I've seen, rigging the model accurately would actually be easier than following the instructions.

Good luck. It's a great hobby.

Tankerbuilder, I am almost ready to fit the hull and decks together, I have been putting them together just to see if they fit, and therebare some inconcistancies and minor seems, not that bad and easy to fix I guess. I agree with the kit and details looking great.

Jtilley, thanks for the compliment. You should, and for sure visit the Batavia warf, you can visit the Batavia, and see the progress of the admiral ship the Zeven Provincien (Seven Provinces), as well as it's huge scale model being build. And visiting in August or September, you can be part of the biggest Sail Amsterdam ever, a must see for ship lovers ;)

I have looked on the internet for the Saint Louis and found little to nothing. Some reports of battles in French mentioning the Saint Louis. There are no accurate images but like you mentioned, it is a Dutch style ship. Well early 17th century style, pretty simular to the Batavia and to my other kit, the Swedish Wasa, wich was also built and designed by a Dutchman.

And for the suggestions, please, in English is no problem, I only have the French instructions right now, not that my French is bad but anything else would be great considering all the technical words being used in rigging. I thank you if you can! ;) My plan is to rig it as true as possible, I will also make my own sails, I think I can use the rigging drawings from the Batavia website, but more help is always welcome! Like you said Heller isn't that bad, the details are very nice, how accurate, I have no idea but it seems legit enough to me.

Thanks for your kind words!

Shucks, I enjoyed the comment about tossing the rigging plans in the trash.

Mark: I've inherited some nice engravings of Dutch ships from the 1600's. I'll post photos and maybe you can tell me what you see. In one of them, the courses have been lowered to the deck on their yards.

I think your kit has those awful looms designed to make up the shroud and ratline assemblies.

If it does:

Toss them in the trash!

Just the shrouds are nicer than those. Its also possible to do a good job tying them in place on the model.

Great, I would love to see them! Very interesting!

I am sorry people, I can post but appearantly my replies need to be moderated so it can take a day before they appear. Don't know how to change that.

Back on topic, yes Morrison,  I was already thinking about your option, tying them in place on the model to be sure I am making them in the right proportions. Thanks for the usefull tip, don't knpw yet how to post a photo, but they're in the trash :)

Memory serves- Heller had a run of six or seven ships that had mix and match top and bottom hull sections(?)

I believe so G  .There were at least five I remember- T.B.

Heller had quite a few kits like that. It sticks in my mind that the Saint Louis was NOT one of them - but I could be mistaken about that.

Finally an update, after a broken relationship and broken hand, some nerdy time at Ypres and a good summer full of mountainbiking and racing, yes you are right, six months to build a ship?;)

Last week I crashed on a MTB single track and my knee thought this was a good way to get me back.working on my ship, alltogether with all my bruises and broken bones. My gf on a break always wonders, I am such a nerd, especially for history and details. So yeah I am back building this French, Dutch ship, and enjoying it.

What I have done is painting most of the hull and some parts. I washed them allready, but not done with that yet. I will put the dots on the I afterwards. The stern really concearned me, a sticker and a blank piece of plastic... such a shame, even for a 1:200 model. I found a guy making a stern piece in wood like the sticker, I also found the Airfix stern and I liked it. I simplefied it for 1:200, Dremel I love you.