Mike Y

Pavel has kindly sent me some extra photos of this kit development. I'm told this will be released close to the end of May, give or take.
 
 

Well, I'm happy to report that I can take off my prescription glasses when I work on small details - one of the benefits of aging 🙂
@JacquesCousteau: Each regular frame consists of two parts, each 2.5 mm thick (frame M has three parts). 

And this is the current state of the work from January to July 2024: 86 grams (I apologize for the picture quality - a summer evening on the roof)..






An update will follow, sometime...
Cheers,
Gregor

Summer 2022: La Belle now weighs 71 grams. I worked on the stern decoration (with simplifications) and the starboard side. Not everything is exactly according to Boudriot - I was also inspired by alternative reconstructions (Grieco, Delacroix) and the contemporary La Volage. Here are a few impressions:







 

Two months later, I can record an additional two grams: La Belle now weighs 66 of them (the kitchen scales are obviously not a precision instrument).

December 2021: The beauty now weighs a proud 64 grams on the kitchen scales!

September 2021

Templates are helping to avoid manual destruction (I guess this sounds strange, but I think you know what I mean):

At this stage the little one weighs just 51 grams. 
Making the bow timbers was tricky.

This is the first time I have seen the hull complete:





 

Relief in the home office (but it was cool and windy on the roof)...




 
 

Stern constuction...




 

How do I assemble the parts? It's no surprise that they basically fit together.

It is, however, to my enormous relief, sawing out is no longer necessary and the risk of breakage is very much reduced (the frames are just under 2.5 mm thick at this scale). 
I did not build them from individual parts. Based on initial experience, however, this would not be a problem. The whole project is based on the motto "Yes, does it work at all?", an exploration of the possibilities offered by such (for me) new techniques.

Of course, this is not a Lego set, there is still a lot of sanding to do (outside if possible), mostly by hand. The milling machine prepares well:

One starboard and one port half of such parts can be produced and glued together. Reworking is nevertheless necessary.

But it is precisely the "rabbet challenge" that offers opportunities - either by milling out (stern) or by assembling in individual parts (bow).

Not everything went smoothly, I always had to check whether I had understood the plan correctly. Paper templates helped with this.

How do I get to the parts?
The publication from the Ancre publishing house shows its age. The plans were neatly drawn by hand, with minor errors. The paper print, although clean, is not completely free of distortions. 
 
I had all the necessary plans (1:36) scanned and put them together on a virtual table in a file. I used auxiliary lines, rotation and scaling to bring the views into (visual) conformity. The last point is important: Illustrator is a graphics software and not intended for construction. Nevertheless, the drawn parts can be checked in different contexts.
Basically, the idea is to apply certain basic dimensions consistently, even if a detailed drawing deviates slightly.
 
Each plan and the drawn parts are located on their own levels, some are shown here.

I drew the slipway very early on, because it defines the shape of the frame on its waterline. This means that a shape drawn on the plan is "fitted in". Perhaps you can see this in the following picture: blurring results from the thickness of the lines, but also from distortion and the fact that the drawing has to be mirrored - where is the exact center line? The superimposed auxiliary lines are used, for example, to align the frame with the keel and the slipway.

When milled, it looks something like this:
My own kit!

I’m writing this build log four years after beginning this project. “La Belle” is very popular with modellers. My version is being built in 1:64 scale; it’s hull is 30 cm long and 7 cm wide and still not finished.
But it was a source of pleasure and sorrow – I learned a lot about ship construction and modelling. Actually, may main problem is that early mistakes tend to accumulate. It’s like poison in the food chain…
But there are ways around that. Over time, she’s really grown into my own interpretation of a ship of which we have only parts of the hull as a base for a scientific reconstruction.
 
The following is in fact a free translation of my build log on a german-language forum. I invite you to go there for a visit. You have to log in to see the images, it’s free, and easy with modern browsers and translation tools (as I do here, with all apologies for my mistakes).
 
But how do I get components that can be produced at the touch of a button? 3D drawing doesn't work for me - wrong genes and wrong educational background. Building on previous experience with lasercutting, I decided to draw these parts in 2D. I used the graphics program Adobe Illustrator, which can export the files required for the cutter (dxf) (technically, the result is terrible data, but the cutter obviously doesn't care).
 
Jean Boudriot's reconstruction is based on archaeological finds and contemporary archive sources. It is now outdated in parts; the port lids are a clearly visible example of this. The masting and rigging are also interpreted differently today, based on finds that were not yet available to Boudriot. And the decoration is fictitious and seems somewhat generous to me - but after all, a historically important wreck must also represent something...
 
The really exciting thing about this ship is that, firstly, it contained reused components that were dated back to the 16th century. And secondly, it was originally intended to be transported to the New World "as a kit", as the markings on the frames show. This did not happen; it was assembled and fitted out in Rochefort.

It all started with the opportunity to have parts milled by a friendly hobbyist.
Which, of course, immediately got me dreaming: would I end up with a frame model that could be built in a city apartment? In a room that was converted into a mandatory home office in March 2020?
The "La Belle", a simply constructed ship with a moving story of a tragically failed expedition, seemed ideally suited for those purposes.

hello, guys! long time no write from me regarding this beautiful ship. it seems like I've started this build in another life long long time ago. good news is, I think I'm ready to either continue with Pandora or start another build entirely. reason for being hesitant about Pandora is Nate's fine start with the ship. not that it affects me in any way but me joining in might lead to topic saturation. so instead I was thinking about building one ship that's closely tied to Pandora. the ship in question is of course the HMS Bounty. I'm still debating with my inner voices about it, so if you if you wanna join in the conversation feel free to drop some suggestions. personally, I'd like to finish what I've already started but I'm open to suggestions.
 
now, onto something different. when I started modeling Pandora way back when, Greg suggested that I build a shipyard as a backdrop. back then it was too much for me to handle. I didn't know anything about shipbuilding, didn't have resources and didn't know that much about worldbuilding in Unreal Engine. now, on the other hand, working in gaming industry gave me some experience needed to tackle such task. since I've been thinking about Greg's suggestion for quite some time now, I've decided to make myself a nice scene to put a ship in and create renders of work in progress. beats the hell out of simple, boring, gray studio background I've used so far.
 
so, without further ado, I present you my representation of what I think is 18th century shipyard. it was inspired by Woolwich Shipyard Diorama the most, but a lot of other photos, dioramas and scale models were used as an inspiration. 
 














 
so, I got myself some timber stockpile, some tools and equipment, the kiln is merrily steaming future frame timbers... I just have to start. again, feel free to chime in: Pandora or Bounty? I'll continue in this thread with Pandora or open a new one for Bounty if needed.
 
just a short disclaimer. the scene is not completely done yet, it'll evolve as I build the ship. there'll be more cut timber, sawdust, mess and whatnot as I go. also worth mentioning, I could easily spend quite a few more months on the scene, adding various details, small and big, doing more research and adding historically accurate details, but the main star of the show is still a ship that's going to sit in that slipway, so I'll be diverting more energy into shipbuilding than into shipyardbuilding. that said, please do share some feedback and suggestions on what could be better or what is completely wrong and what particularly sticks out as bad. there will most certainly be some downtimes in ship building, as it happened before with HMS Pegasus, in which time I can work on the shipyard. it's just that the ship takes the top spot on priority list.
 
cheers!!

making progress in hold area... 
 
 

 
 
and some more screenshots from Unreal Engine 4.... starts to feel like walking through the ship ... ;-))

cheers!
Denis
 
 
 

ok, aft kant frames done! as you can see from images, half-breadth framing plan isn't really aligned with profile plan. I've cut straight lines looking from top, which doesn't look good when viewed on profile plan. that's how I figured I'll need to do the drafting back then. I just hope I did it right. quick cross-checking the deck plans with finished hull shell showed that I managed to get it pretty close. I hope it'll all be well once I get to building the decks…
 

 
 
and, this is the point where I am at right now. next I'll do hawse piece and fore cant frames. I hope you'll find this build interesting as well as the other ones. I know this isn't the real deal, and I guess many of you have already noticed tons of errors. since this is my learning build feel free to point each and every one of them should you wish so. the more I learn now the better the next one will be. thanks and stay tuned for more...

after I finished drafting plans I just connected all of the new station lines to get the outer hull shell.
 
I couldn't find any info on the exact thickness and tapering of the frames toward the top, but I did read through some data about dimensions of 24-gun ship. the data there also wasn't exact so in the end I settled with 11", 10" and 9" thickness at futtocks going from keel upwards. pretty unprecise, I know, but again, this is 3D build where I can more easily adjust dimensions than with real wood. I just hope the margin of error won't accumulate that much later on.
 
the shell is done, it looks OK placed on the keel. I guess I can start cutting the frames.
 

hi all!
my name is Denis and I'm a 3D modeler from Croatia. I stumbled upon this forum while searching for some plans of a 17th/18th century sail ship, for that has been on my to-do list for quite some time now. it is little to say I was floored to see such craftsmanship on display in various build logs. some works border on magic and witchcraft, and I've seen a lot of those in CG community. seeing it be done for real I was stunned! what made the strongest impact are POF scratch builds. after I saw that, there was no way in hell to go back to initial idea of modeling a simple hull shell, sticking a wood texture onto it, putting some rods to act as masts and calling it done. no, now I have to do something alike. 
 
after searching for some good scanned plans I found HMS Pandora ones to be good enough for a first try (yeah, I hope there'll be more ships after this one. if I don't burn out in process, that is). and yes, I'm aware that there are a few more Pandora 3D builds, something I found out while searching for some pictures and references. my initial idea was to start with a 74 gun ship (really impressive piece of work). but thankfully I came to my senses soon enough and decided to start with something smaller for starters. "smaller" being used very loosely as Pandora also has tons of details, only less cannons to rig... :-D and those other Pandora 3D builds are going to be used as a good references until I get my bearings in shipbuilding, as this is a whole new world for me. 
 
I've already spent more than a month looking through various topics and posts every day collecting informations, getting to know terms and techniques. as if that wasn't enough I also had to learn how to draft plans, something I never thought I'll need while doing 3d modeling. and I haven't even started doing modeling at that point yet... :-)) I've never been so invested in a single model before, even before actual modeling. as a kid I had built several airplane scale models and enjoyed it very much. sadly, I don't have space, tools nor funds to start this shipbuilding endeavor for real. but I do have kids who would trip over it, I'm sure :-)). so the next best thing for me is doing modeling on a computer…
 
my tool of choice when modeling is concerned is Blender 3D, free open source software that is really powerful and more than capable contending with big guys like 3DS Max, Maya, Cinema 4D and such… I hope I didn't bother you much with this long intro, in the next few posts I'm going to show what I've done so far. considering this is a 3D model, and my first build, I guess there'll be a lot of errors due to inexperience and I'll be probably cutting some corners here and there due to nature of the medium, but I'll try to be as precise as possible. fingers crossed I follow this through the end… let's get started!

Shown on the model....
 




 

ok, this took a while, mainly because I deleted windows from my computer and installed Linux. not without issues, but I'm up and running again and have finished aft cant frames...
 

The boat Tally Ho.
 
I got interested in this cutter from a YouTube series by Leo.
https://www.youtube.com/@SampsonBoatCo/videos
Followed the build all the way through. Leo is a Boat builder and sailor. (His words)
 
Started on this boat in August 2024 by ordering a set of plans from the Albert Strange Trust https://albertstrange.org/
 
I decided that the model should be :-  1000mm at the waterline and 1173 from Stem to Sternpost and a 287 Beam.
I used Fusion360 (Home hobby version) to bring the 2D plans into 3D which took me till December.
My son purchased a Laser cutter for me as a Christmas present. 22 watts and a cutting bed area of 410X400.
Then it took me 2 months to learn how to use it and to set it up in my shed with a Ventilation extraction system.
The software I used was Shaper Origin Addon in Fusion. to export the .svg file to Inkscape. And then into LaserGRBL for the cutting interface to the Laser cutter.
 
The Stem Sternpost Deadwoods are 16.6 timber. They were marked by laser engraving a line onto the timbers and band sawing the parts out. They were finished to size using a Proxton mini mill to square and split the laser line.
The Bow and stern sections were assembled and checked and glued.
 
The Keel was made up by using a bread and butter construction method. The layers were cut on the laser using 4.2mm pine from my local DIY store. I had 4 dowel pin holes along the length of the keel to ensure the straight and true alignment.
Dry assembled and checked for length shape and alignment. All good so on with the gluing.
The frames were laser cut using 6mm laser ply. This was my first real cutting with the laser.
 
The Bow Stern and keel were glued and pined together. Wow this is going to be a BIG model.
 
I also designed a Jig to build the boat on fusion to help with the alignment.
 
Building this boat inverted as it best for me. The keel and Stem and Stern post were added to the Jig then the frames were placed in place on the jig. Everything looked spot on so i glued them together.
Small bits if off cuts were added between the frames to maintain the correct frame spacing.
 
Now we are up to date with the build as it is now.


Next week.
Going to fill between the frames with 40mm insulation foam boards. This will provide me with something to fare the frames and to lay fibreglass onto.
Not done any fibre glassing before so ANY advice would be helpful.
Regards AntonyUK.

Thanks all for the warm welcome back. Yes Greg the whale will be getting a touch up when I have the nerve to stain it on the model... And no Grant I don't think the rat survived the harsh conditions the model was stowed on for at least a year off-site. It was in an open storage facility suffering the seasons. I'm very surprised that there only some very minor cracks in the planking.

The scuppers were drilled from two sides (don't tell not all the way through because they did not line up very well in all places.

The hawse holes are lined with holy. I soaked a thin sheet of holy in water, rolled it up when it was soft and then let it dry in my food curing oven. This gave a nice curve to the planks.   I tinted the seams with pencel lead to make them stand out a little more.


Deck planking added

 
Breast hooks and bucklers installed


 
Remco
 
 
 
 
 
 

Greetings Group,
 
Back in 2017 shortly after finishing Confederacy, I attempted my first Ancre scratch build, La Renommee.  I have always been in love with this Frigate and her unique lines.  I, however did not possess the skills yet to do her justice, nor a mastery of my recently purchased tools (chisels, Byrnes Machines, Sanders, and my first mill).  Raising small children and establishing a new business also provided problematic to achieving my goal of building this ship.
 
I worked on a few other projects including Le Gros Ventre in 1/36 scale which did increase my skills with the scroll saw, sharpening and working with chisels and scrapers, the Proxxon MF70, reading plans, building a build site and milling wood.  However after a 2 year break and revisiting my progress I noticed, being new to creating frames, they were too large and would require a heck of a lot of sanding to get to spec.  Also the Proxxon MF70 while not a bad tool, is not nearly as accurate as my recently acquired TAIG mill.  I really wanted to give all the keel parts another go with this tool.  The question became do I re do Le Gros Ventre, or work on one of the other Mongraphs I own in both 1/36 and 1/48 scale (Egyptienne, Renommee Amarante, Requin to name a few)
 
A friend has shared the frame drawings of La Renommee 1/48 fully laid out (in the Monograph Boudriot only drafts half frames) and easy to print on my home computer.  These are a god send vs running to the local UPS store to make copies over and over again (my experience with Le Gros Ventres frames).  After running some tests I found I do like the smaller scale of 1/48 (at least so far) as it gives me the option to rig later. So Ive sharpened all the tools, cleaned up the workshop and La Renommee was started again two weeks ago.
 
So far I have completed 14 frames that are very accurate with only about .5mm of fat.  As you can see the notches on the frames are a bit complicated.  I can not image this build without having a good mill.  I have some black hornbeam on the way from Hobbymill in Europe to use instead of ebony for the black parts and plenty of Pear I've collected over the years.  I will need to learn metal work in the not too distant future and carving in the really distant future, however I am confident with some good coaching I'll get there.
 
 
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry for the long silence; other things going on!
 
To catch up. First, Der Boss, thank you for your kind comments. Slow and careful keeps me moving along!
 
Trevor, thanks for the reference to Roberts. I haven't seen that, but I do have the facsimile book and set of plates for Steel's Naval Architecture. I have used that to help with several questions of drafting, but could find nothing on the curved surface between the upper deck and quarter deck windows on the quarter galleries.
 
And Gary, good to hear from you! We old timers go back a long way on our 74s!
 
And druxey, thank you for your list of tools and materials you used. I did a little test fret-sawing boxwood, and if I find myself going down the route of fret sawing, I have determined that wood is too crude for the very thin cross grain pieces (see below). I can see plastic would be a much better material, no grain to deal with.

And once I saw that plastic might be the right material, I mocked up the curved surface in basswood to see just how sharp the compound curves would be. This would be to test whether glue would be enough to hold flat plastic against the curved surface.
 
And the surface turned out to be less curved than I thought. The front edge sweeps back at a good angle, but at any line drawn between the upper and lower moldings, the surface curve is gentle.
 
So for now, I will explore having these laser cut. I first need to reinstall everything with the final windows (coming from Chuck, thanks so much!), and then carve the final curved surface to measure and expand for a true elevation of the fretwork.
 
Mark