My new Christmas present from my missus

Ah, very sneaky, the old "I need to check the sprues" trick! I'll have to remember that one!

Hi all it arrived today, and knowing Heller I managed to get my missus to let me check the sprues don't want the disappointment of the La Reale build with missing sprues. 
there are in excess of 35 sprues to this kit, it is mahoosive and no mistake. anyway here are some pics

I am building one of the big Hellers, the Soleil Royal, and although it is taking me years, I feel so lucky getting that kit before a big jump in the prices of those kits.  If you approach it as a multi-year project it is not so bad.  Just do not try to rush it, or work on it continually.  Work on it for a couple weeks, take a break, build one or two other models, then go back to the big Heller.

I also have one of those big wooden SOL kits from Europe on my in-progress shelves.  I expect the Heller to result in a better looking ship, and with less work in the long run.

Very well said gmorrison .

Women...

Yes thats it after all, what makes her happy to give to you.

The Victory, while handsome, is kind of a big war machine looking thing.

I will be giving it 100% enthusiasm, oh I know it's so terribly wrong but I still think it's a beautiful ship (even if it didn't exist as Heller portray it) as I said I am just going to build it as a French ship of the line I think David's build of this kit is nothing short of a work of art, and if mine turns out half as well I will be happy (of course as a typical not a specific ship of the line I could build it out of the box and no one could say it was wrong, ok maybe a bit to much gold for a standard ship of the line but hey, I think Hellers portrail of it is beautiful and as you said before your problem with it was they were calling it a specific kit, and you wouldn't mind if they just called it a French 17th century ship of the line, so no problem) I could have bought the Heller victory for the same price and my missus would have paid for it just the same, I told her that the victory was historically a lot more accurate and was a much better kit, which would she pick and she said the other one "its so pretty" job done fate sealed, tbh that is exactly the one I wanted her to pick.

You had me up through "Heller 1/100 model an...".

Oh boy, the Victory!!!

I can't imagine taking on any project of such magnitude, whatever it's relative merits, with out anything other than 100% enthusiasm. If thats your feeling, then truly "Godspeed and good winds".

Otherwise my advice, since you've asked, is to trade it for something else.

I have found, at least with my wife, that it helps to be specific as to what model I want. My stash is big enough that I can't just say, "I'd like a battleship", as the odds are that it will end up being something I already have or decided long ago that I wasn't interested in that particular ship. So for this Christmas, I am asking for the 1/350 Hikawa Maru hospital ship with the 3 Hasegawa detail sets. It will be nice to get away from gray and guns for a while, and do something in white with red crosses. In the meantime, I am closing out some projects on my workbench so I can devote 100% effort on her when she arrives.