Heller Le Sirene

gene I hope I'm as good as you at your age my friend , just beautiful .

Thanks Steve, How is yours coming? I really like the Heller kits. They have deck grooves, clean castings , fit well & if all of them let you put the decks in after you glue the hull that's great. I do like the hull better without the grooves runing above & below the wales. They mask so much better. They even opened the windows so you don't have to do that hard painting of individual panes.

    They do not have the nice choice of kits that Airfix had & has. Airfix does make a beautiful ship model. You really ought to try to find the Airfix St Louis as it turns out beautiful. As I said I am finishing the ratlines now & sails in a few days, & bill gave me a Royal Sovereign. That will be next. I love to build the hulls, thats why I built this Sirene.

good for you having a go at the ratlines . I have been away on holidays , just about finished the rigging on the cannons , it's the first time I have tried this , they are so damn tiny , it's taken me age's . I"ll try to get a bit done over the weekend , as I've been away my garden is in dire need .{it's 36 degrees here , that's 97 degree's in your talk ]

Hi Steve, I did a ton of real ratlines when I built wooden ships, but no more. I have really learned to use the pre made ratlines & for these small ships I think they look great.

   I think I sewed all my ratlines & I think they really looked better because the knot looks out of scale.

Looks great!  I really like that line of the Heller kits.  Nice scale, workable size and reasonable prices.

Steve, how do you build such beautiful ship models when you have your seasons & your temperatire so backward, or are we backward? I have looked at your latest Glory a lot & you get better with every picture. It is a beauty. . 

  I have been working on the Sirene & got most of the shroud/ ratlines done. Heller really works out great. Much easier & better than Airfix on that score. In fact i am going to try to rig the Airfix like the Heller does. I have finally learned how to use the rigging tool & it works beautiful, It works great for us age challenged old people. 

    Rigging the tool is easy, but I did do a few things that helped. I used Loctite super glue that is brushable. It does work great , but you have to learn how. I stopped trying on my Prince model & was sorry after. I hand rigged with no ratlines. 

 I am doing the shrouds & now my Kleenex furled sails & they look good.  It has been fun trying different things till they work.

thank's gene , but I've got a long way to go to match kirill's rigging , davidk's colouring or rwiderrich's boatbuilding skills , I wish I could see some of tanker-builder's stuff . your own boat's are truly beautiful gene , there is a multitude of talent on this forum

looking forward to seeing your shroud's and ratlines my friend.

That's a beautiful ship, and very impressive work.

Hi Steve, I hope I haven't kidde you too much about your backward part of the world. It is still interesting to me when I hear about your seasons. Steve, I have really meant everything about howw good you are & better with each ship. I thought your Riverboat was super & your Glory is your best yet. 

   I'm going the other way with my building & I will be 86 this month, so I am happy as can be with still being able to do it.

 I will post some picture of the Sirene shrouds in a few days. I have been thrilled with them & am even happy with my Kleenex furled sails. I tried everything for furled sails, tissue paper, flying model covering, fine cloth & nothing works as good as Kleenex . I put 2 coats of hair spray on each side, then draw the shape of sail I want on it & cut it out. I add an extra wad of kleenex, any kind, in the center to puff it out more. Then I roll it up, tightening the 2 ends & glue it with white glue onto the painted spar. I have also painted the sail. after it is on the spar & tied about 6 or 8 times I work the sail with my finger nails to crease it. That is where the kleenex is great, you get a lot of fold marks.

This is my St Louis with my first kleenex sails. Then Dullcot e the whole thing. I am better now.

Wow - really amazing work!!! Very clean and your detailing is great. Are both of these models plastic kits? Some of the parts look like metal. 

Thanks Robert, They are all plastic, pretty much out of the box. Is It you that is building the 1/96 Constitution? It really looks great.

Very nice looking ship model. As we have found over the years Heller used the same hulls and decks for different models .In this case The Royal Louis hull and decks were used. change a couple of thing and you have a new model.

Rod

Rod, I really like the Heller ship kits. I have been building all Airfix & they do turn out nice, but Heller has some really great features. I did my first successful shrouds with the rigging tool & they turned out great. Rigging a Heller shroud is way easier & turns out better than Airfix.

    I have been model building for over 75 years & haven't built a plastic ship model since the late 1950;s & early 1960's. I have built a bunch this year since I started with the Nina, Pinta & santa Maria. I really do enjoy them & have hopes of finishing each one. Unlike wood kits that take so long. My Mamoli Constitution took me about a 1000 hours.

 Oh, I forgot to add the  Heller Royal Louis is my next ship that I am starting. Warship Guy traded it to me. I really like it.

Yes Gene, that is my Constitution build that you have commented on and again, thanks for any feedback you have to offer. I saw that you purchased Zvezda's Black Swan kit! I looked at that and the Connie but, for my 1st attempt at rigging, I choose the lesser priced kit in case I botch it. I look forward to seeing your build on that one! 

Robert, after seeing your work, you sure aren't going to botch anything. It is really great work on your Constitution. The Black Swan is one of the best plastic kits I have ever built. It is well worth the money. I think I got it for $112 shipped.Everything fit perfectly. I even used the cast shrouds as they were the first really good ones I have seen. Also I am too old and crazy to tie ratlines. I am just in it for the fun now, no prize winners anymore.  

would love to see your black swan gene , I did the black pearl , and your right it is a really good kit

  Steve, I will find some pictures of my Black Swan. I did it out of the box pretty much. It is a beautifully cast kit. One of the very best. I just hope the Russians can't build their planes that good.

   I just got my Heller sirene to where I can take some pictures of the first shrouds that I have done with their rigging tool. They worked great for me, but then I have passed my ratline years.

I love the French Mermaid. I might have to do a little touch up on her. I know she is too big, but I wasn't going to throw her away.

These are my Kleenex furled sails. They work better than anything I found.

I just took these 2 of my finished St Loius, I haven't done the running rigging on the Sirene. I have to drop off the Sirene because rigging drives me crazier than i am. And also Bill will be after me if I don't get on the Royal Louis.  I just got caught up in making the rigging tool work & I like it. I will never hand rig shrouds & ratlines again.

I'm looking forward to seeing , your royal louis  your doing a lot better on the rigging tool than me . I couldn't get it to work properly .just found a pic of my black pearl .

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Steve - 'Tis a glorious build, mate! Is that wiring for lights coming off the stern?

Here is my Black Swan, I got colors & help from DavidK. He is really a super builder. That is the way you are going too Steve. You get better with every build.

  I remember seeing an article you did on your Black Pearl. That is relly neat, what you did to get the movie look. We never watched that series of Depp's movies until I built the ship & then we watched them &really enjoyed them . Depp is really talented. Your tank is really great too. What is the mud on the wheels done with? That is a good weathering job you did. You are a many talented guy

Gene - WoW! Great looking job on your Black Swan! Love it! 

 Robert, thank you, you will love this build as the parts are so well done. Every time I look at your Conny it is a suprise. You are really doing some nice detail on it.