Heller Le Glorieux and Le Superbe

I'm building one right now (and doing a pretty horrible job of it, since I'm a beginner, but, hey, it's the process, not the result that matters! :) ) I've got a couple of pics of what I have:

Can make more, if you want. "Glorieux"and "Superbe"are one ship, struts and hull are marked "Glor-Sup", with only one strut with decorations marked "Glorieux". 

For my beginner's opinion, quality of details is very good, although I don't have a lot to compare it with.

Mr. Tilley

I've read that ships like the 'Superbe' were prized by the 'British'....

If they had "Acquired" any what would have been the names?

Jeff 

Those two kits probably are capable of being turned into decent scale models.  I have to say, though, that their flat decks and that ridiculous "wood grain" on their hulls (which makes each ship look like it was hacked from a single log) rule them off the list of kits I want to build during the limited time left to me on the Orb.  Fixing the planking detail (or lack thereof) on the hull would be practical; adding camber to the decks - and all the bulkheads and other parts that they cross - would be a major project.

As I've said more than once in this Forum, I generally have a pretty low opinion of Heller's sailing ship kits.  These two certainly are among the better ones.  I would, however, have to give higher marks to several others, the 1/100 Victory and the 1/75 Reale being rivals for the top spot (and the "Viking ship," the Syrene, and the Soleil Royal close to the bottom).  If I remember correctly, the big Gorch Fock is also an extremely nice kit.  To be fair, there are (or were) quite a few ships in the Heller line that I've never bought or seen up close.  I've heard good things from knowledgeable people about the St. Louis, the Belle Poule, and the Chebec - among others.

I consider Heller's Le Superbe as the biggest contribution of this company into the sailing ship market. It's a decent and accurate rendition of the napoleonic naval beau-idéal, the 74 gun Téméraire class ship-of-the-line. Designed by Jacques Noel Sané in late 1780's, more than a hundred ships of this class were built between 1786-1826 and some members even soldiered in the Crimean War. They were extremely in high esteem in the Royal Navy too, and dozens which were captured in action eventually found their way to the senior service, some became very famous. Heller Superbe has a completely undecorated transom and a French royal coat of arms figurehead, which was supposedly to be the standart bow decoration of all forthcoming warships. In the end very few of them were ever installed. Thus, the merry modeler who has confidence to his detailing skills can sculpt suitable decorations for particular ships and can create a good many of famous warriors from the "Boney's War".

a couple of weeks ago I was in London and I had the chance to visit the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. When I saw the transom and the figurehead of HMS Implacable, ex-Duguay-Trouin from the French imperial navy captured at Trafalgar, hanging on the wall of the museum; my breath was taken away. I later learned the fate of Implacable and deplored deeply her unglorious, unfortunate and unnecessary end.

Thanks for the link to the older post.  JTilley has always been an incredible wealth of information, especially if you're into making truly "scale" models.  JTilley, I'd love a few hours in your library...

I have looked at the Heller kits I have.  The Soleil Royale (at least mine), does have camber in the deck.  Not a lot, but it does have it, as does the Victory.

I'm probably going to pick up one of the kits for a future side-build (I'm still knee deep in Soleil Royale rigging....AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!).  But, regarding the wood-grain issue on the hull, I wonder if it would be possible to somehow create the appearance of planking.  I do like the ships.  Both are very decorative.

Grymm

These two kits are almost identical – only the decoration is different.  I have Le Superbe and, IMHO, it is decent, well detailed kit. Of course, it has some drawbacks, which has been already described by John Tilley in some another thread. Here is the link:

/forums/437885/ShowPost.aspx

I must say that Mr. Tilley’s memory is remarkably good and that his information is 100% correct.