Lowestoffe 1761 by Robert Jones - 1/48 scale

[Robert Jones]

I started building this 32 gun frigate in about 1996 after being inspired by Charles De Clinton, totally scratch built from Welsh and Swiss pear, I have tried my best to build it as they would of in the day joint for joint each, frame made up of several parts, stepped scarph's on the the keel, Mr De Clinton asked to see the keel when it was completed but told me not to glue it, well I took it to him in pieces, he asked me to assemble it and to my horror he picked it up by the stem end, it held together as one, to receive praise from him was something that encouraged me a great deal. It is still not finished I only work on it when in the right frame of mind, the Coronavirus has given me plenty of time to continue, I have just completed making the stern gallery window frames from boxwood, took about an hour to make each frame,  7 in all with 6 panes in each. Will try to post some pictures in the near future    

[bruce d]

Welcome! That sounds like a 'once in a lifetime' moment when you saw him grip the stem, clearly he had liked what he saw and had confidence.

Looking forward to seeing your project.

[mtaylor]

Welcome to MSW.  Should be a good build to watch.

[Roger Marsh]

Robert, I built a 'Lowestoffe' – that is to say, she is not yet finished and rigged. I built the hull from copies of Slade's original drafts from the NMM (as probably you did too), plank-on-frame to scale strake size, and then took a GRP (fiberglass) mould of that – i.e. it was built as a plug. From that mould a number of 1:48 hulls were produced. They show the planking strake lines, the upper hull, between wale and lower strake, was then overplanked with boxwood. With the rest of the hull painted (white bottom, black strake and Prussian blue topsides) it really looks like an original planked hull, but with the advantage of being able to produce more of them from the mould. The model was intended to be sailed under R/C, if I ever get that far! Good luck with yours.