Heller 80899 - SOLEIL ROYAL 1:100

Heavily armed, richly decorated, and named for the Sun King himself, she combined the firepower of a first-rate ship of the line with the ornamentation of a royal palace. Her stern rose above the water in a mass of galleries, windows, sculptures, scrollwork, and gilded figures.

Heller’s enormous 1:100 scale Soleil Royal captures that spectacle in approximately 2,300 parts.

This is one of the most elaborate plastic sailing ship kits ever produced—and quite possibly one of the most elaborate plastic kits of any subject.

The Flagship of the Sun King

The first Soleil Royal was built at Brest beginning in 1669 under the direction of master shipwright Laurent Hubac. With a displacement of approximately 2,000 tons and an intended armament of 104 guns, she became one of the most powerful ships in the French Royal Navy.

She served as the flagship of Admiral Anne Hilarion de Tourville and led the French fleet to victory at the Battle of Béveziers—known in English as the Battle of Beachy Head—in 1690.

Two years later, she fought at the Battle of Barfleur. Badly damaged and unable to reach the safety of Saint-Malo, Soleil Royal took refuge at Cherbourg, where she was attacked and burned by enemy fireships.

Her career was comparatively brief. Her reputation was not.

Part Warship. Part Palace.

Most large sailing ships impress through their rigging and artillery.

Soleil Royal adds architecture.

Her towering stern is covered with balconies, windows, carved figures, coats of arms, trophies, floral work, and symbols associated with Louis XIV. More ornament continues along the quarter galleries, bow, rails, and upper hull.

The sculptures are traditionally attributed to the circle of French court sculptor Antoine Coysevox, and their purpose went well beyond decoration. This was royal imagery, intended to present the power and splendor of France to anyone looking across the water.

Subtlety was apparently not part of the specification.

Heller reproduces this extraordinary decorative scheme with deeply molded relief and hundreds of individual components. With careful painting, dry-brushing, washes, and selective highlighting, the stern alone can become a remarkable display piece.

Then there is the rest of the ship.

Approximately 2,300 Parts

At 1:100 scale, Soleil Royal builds into a full-hull model approximately:

30.3 inches long

29.7 inches high

2,300 parts

The generous scale allows the model to carry an unusual amount of visible detail across the hull, decks, armament, fittings, and rig.

The kit includes:

Multi-part full hull with molded plank and structural detail

Elaborate stern galleries and quarter galleries

Extensive sculptural decoration

Multi-deck gun batteries

Detailed cannon and gun carriages

Individual gunport lids

Deck planking and internal bulwark detail

Capstans, gratings, hatches, ladders, and rails

Anchors and deck fittings

Ship’s boats

Figurehead and decorated bow structure

Three complete masts

Fighting tops, yards, and spars

Vacuum-formed sails

Standing and running rigging material

Rigging jig for producing shrouds and ratlines

Full-hull display stand

There is enough repetition to reward an organized builder and enough variety to keep the project interesting.

There is also enough gold paint involved to make a lesser king nervous.

The Decoration Is the Main Event

The most distinctive part of this kit is not its size or even its 2,300 parts.

It is the opportunity it gives the modeler to paint.

The dark wooden hull, blue architectural panels, red gunport interiors, and extensive gold ornamentation create a striking contrast. The deeply molded carvings respond especially well to careful layering: a dark base, controlled metallic color, a thin wash, and highlights across the raised detail.

The stern provides the greatest concentration of decoration, but the same treatment continues along the side galleries, upper rails, bow, and figurehead.

This is not a model that needs heavy weathering to look convincing. A restrained finish can emphasize the formal, ceremonial quality of the ship. Builders who prefer a vessel with more years at sea can introduce faded paint, darkened timber, staining around the gunports, and subtle variation across the gilded surfaces.

Both approaches work.

The moldings provide plenty to work with.

A Fully Armed Three-Decker

Beneath the decoration was a serious warship.

Soleil Royal was designed to carry 104 guns across multiple decks, and the model recreates the long, heavily armed broadsides of a seventeenth-century first-rate. Rows of gunports dominate the hull, while the exposed decks include cannon on individual carriages.

The gunport lids, artillery, carriages, and deck fittings account for a considerable portion of the parts count. Built carefully and painted with variation in the wood, ironwork, and barrel finishes, they create the sense of an operating warship beneath all the royal display.

The contrast is part of the ship’s appeal.

From a distance, she looks like a palace.

Closer inspection reveals that the palace is carrying an alarming number of cannon.

Full Masts, Rigging, and Sails

The completed model carries a full three-masted rig with bowsprit, fighting tops, yards, spars, shrouds, stays, and extensive running rigging.

Heller supplies two thicknesses of rigging thread as well as a dedicated rigging jig designed to help form the shrouds and ratlines. Vacuum-formed sails are included for builders who want to display the ship under canvas.

There are several effective ways to approach the finished model:

Install the complete sail plan for maximum height and visual drama.

Use selected sails to preserve more visibility into the decks.

Show some sails furled.

Omit the sails and concentrate attention on the standing and running rigging.

A fully sailed Soleil Royal is spectacular. A bare-polled version makes it easier to appreciate the masts, yards, rigging, artillery, and decorated upper works.

There is no universally correct choice—only the question of which part of this remarkably busy ship you would prefer people to see first.

An Important Note About Historical Reconstruction

No complete set of original plans for Soleil Royal is known to survive.

Historians and modelers have studied contemporary drawings, descriptions, related French warships, and later museum reconstructions, but there is still disagreement about the ship’s precise appearance and rig.

Heller does not conceal this. The company describes its model as an interpretation assembled from the historical research available to its designers.

The result should therefore be understood as a grand reconstruction of Soleil Royal—not a claim that every rail, carving, and line can be documented with certainty.

For most builders, this is part of the fascination. The kit provides an extraordinary foundation straight from the box, while experienced ship modelers can refine the rigging, alter details, or add aftermarket components according to their preferred references.

What Is Included

Heller kit 80899 includes:

Approximately 2,300 injection-molded plastic parts

Vacuum-formed sails

Two thicknesses of rigging thread

Rigging jig for shrouds and ratlines

Illustrated assembly instructions

Rigging plans

Display stand

Paint and cement are not included with kit 80899.

Because of the amount of decoration and the variety of materials represented, builders will benefit from a broader paint selection than the basic color callouts alone. Fine brushes, masking materials, washes, metallic paints, tweezers, clamps, and a good magnifying lamp will all earn their place on the workbench.

A Word About the Build

This is an advanced kit intended for experienced modelers.

The large hull requires careful alignment. The artillery and gunports involve extensive repeated assembly. The decoration demands patient brushwork. The masts and yards must be kept straight, and the rigging becomes a substantial project of its own.

The instructions and supplied rigging plans provide the basis for construction, but builders attempting a fully researched rig will benefit from additional references on seventeenth-century French warships.

This is not a weekend build.

It may not be a season build.

But that is precisely the attraction. Soleil Royal offers hundreds of hours of construction, painting, detailing, and rigging, followed by a finished model that few plastic ship kits can match for sheer visual presence.

HMS Victory looks purposeful.

Soleil Royal looks as though the Louvre has learned to fire a broadside.

Kit Specifications

Manufacturer: Heller

Product number: 80899

Subject: Soleil Royal

Nation: France

Scale: 1:100

Material: Injection-molded plastic

Number of parts: Approximately 2,300

Finished length: Approximately 30.3 in. / 770 mm

Finished height: Approximately 29.7 in. / 755 mm

Sails: Vacuum-formed sails included

Rigging: Two thicknesses of thread included

Rigging aid: Shroud and ratline jig included

Display type: Full-hull static model

Paint and cement: Not included

Skill level: Advanced