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Gregor

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Lucerne, Switzerland
  • Interests
    Diving, Maritime archeology

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  1. I might even beat Glenn to the order-button, depending on our respective time zones 🙂 I literally began to stroke the spines of my books (I nowadays own a set of five bound books with all novels in it) - but I digress... There were figures of Aubry an Maturin mentioned in an earlier post by Chris. I began to visualize them, sitting at the stern, playing music together. This would be a wonderful touch, as it symbolizes the heart of their friendship. Now I bet all of you have this silent movie in your head, the long, endless voyages in the south sea - impossible to unthink 🙂 . Cheers, Gregor
  2. How I would love to build Surprise, maybe with a little cut-out to show the orlop – not for the gore, but because it’s an important place in the books (think writing journals undisturbed by ship’s noises, Padeen’s discovery of opium that has an enormous impact of part of the whole story…). The only ship that’s higher on my wishlist would be HMS Beagle, with captain FitzRoy and a young Darwin discussing on deck... Gregor (I know Darwins voyages are post-napoleonic - but the ship was ordered in 1817 and basically from this period. The later additions (rig, deck, metal fittings) it would produce an interesting variant for a Vanguard kit.
  3. Yesterday night I found your post about your method of drawing and laser cutting frames by mere chance. I was fascinated, because I have some experience in drawing with Adobe Illustrator, but not with working in 3D. Until now, I used Illustrator for tracing the lines of frames in plans that I bought, just to make bulkheads and keels. Now I traced all the frames of "La Belle 1684" in plans of Jean Boudriot (published by Ancre) - this time, instead of laser cutting, I had the opportunity to cut them out using a CNC milling machine for a small hull model in 1/64 (as you know, you can easily export a drawing from Illustrator in dxf format, but this file has then to be worked on before feeding it to the machine). Tracing by hand has its limits (even with the clever support using bezier curves), the problems begin with the plan itself (distortions, errors), followed of course by limits of my own. Creating a correct hull in 3D helps making sure that all the parts fit in. It seems that Shade3D and Illustrator are capable of working hand in hand. As always - the better the source, the better the outcome. By tweaking and sanding, my frames seem tho fit, but not with the precision one could wish for. That's why I will read your manual with utmost care (and try it out with my newly arrived copy of Ancre's "La Volage"). A admire your generosity, and thank you with all my heart. Yours, Gregor
  4. In the last few months my home office has taken up more space. During this time, I pursued another small project: A gunboat from 1801, a Swedish-Russian design (A.F. Chapman), a kit from Master Korabel in 1/72nd scale. But finally, I will begin the rigging of La Topaze. Some details were still missing: The rings for the belaying pins around the masts (they measure 6 mm in dameter), and the railing supports. Now I’m out of excuses. My old serving machine was dusted and is ready… Cheers Gregor
  5. Hi Jeff In 1:48 the hull's length should be 54 cm, in 1:36 then 72 cm (according to Ancre's website: https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/30-monographie-de-la-belle-barque-1680.html#/langue-anglais). I very much hope, Tom, there will be a kit in 1:48. It would be a unique opportunity to build a fully framed model of a small ship in a relatively small scale. I'm hoping and looking very much forward to this kit. Cheers, Gregor
  6. Thanks for this review - I'm eagerly waiting for the reappearance of the La Belle kit, as I just bought Ancre's monography from another modeler. I had to give up space for Homeoffice, so HMS Enterprize is simply too big for me. What I really admire here is the clever kit-design, excellent for people like me with more romantic dreams than useful modeling skills. I wish Tom total success with his enterprise, may there be soon an agreement! Gregor
  7. Finally, a small update: Both pairs of carronades are installed. Each is about 20 mm long. Here on the deck of La Mutine... ... and on the deck of La Topaze. Have a nice weekend, Gregor
  8. Thanks, Tony, you are very kind. And no, the base is simply black MDF, and two pieces of blackened brass rods - it's not in naval style of dark wood and shiny metal, but I like the simplicity. And next? My two schooners are finally getting armed and should be rigged someday... (and there is the lure of a Swedish gun boat, still in its box from Master Korabel - a gift to myself and a souvenir of last summer's travels there). Gregor
  9. Here is the finished boat, with a few more details. I really can recommend Gérard Delacroix's plans, and I hope to motivate a few of you to buy them and build your own. Cheers, Gregor.
  10. The gun barrel, the reason for the strange scale (1:62) is exactly 50 mm long (a little less than 2''). Its carriage fits into the slides. A (real) lead cover was hammered and formed over an (inexistent) flint lock for protection.; an idea I took from Johann's phantastic build of La créole ( For the side tackles I used Chucks 3 mm blocks. To be continued and finished soon...
  11. These gun boats were huge! They were 13 meters long (42 feet). A standard ship's cutter of 6 meters looks quite small in comparison. I was very lucky this summer, when I visited the city of Karlskrona, in Sweden. There is an excellent Museum, with a collection of small boats in a dedicated shed (difficult to take pictures inside...). There I found a sloop, built in 1833, of roughly the same size as my chaloupe! This was really impressive. To be continued soon...
  12. The interior: Floor boards were separated by paper strips while glue dries. The interior was then varnished with Danish oil. To be continued soon...
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