"Splice the mainbrace, me hearties!"

[Renown1980]

Hi All,

With a little dabble in modelling many years ago, I have been modelling solidly for about 25 years building plastic kits of various subjects in various scales. On the nautical front, I've built plastic kits of submarines , an MTB and currently scratch building (albeit slowly) a tug and gearing up to scratch build the Japanese steamer 'Fushimi Maru' in 2021...all in plastic.

As my username may imply, I have a naval connection in that I served in the Royal Navy, the last ship (submarine)  being HMS Renown SSBN. Nearing retirement and more time, I am keen to build ships bearing the name Renown and so my journey has led me here.

I have no knowledge of sailing ships, where to find plans & data, what's possible in what scale, etc and I will be calling upon the expertise of MSW to help me. As a heads-up, Wiki states:

• 1651 20-gun fireship, a captured French frigate(?) named Renommee.
• 1747 30-gun fifth rate ship, captured French ship named Renommee.
• 1774 50-gun fourth rate ship.
• 1798 74-gun third rate ship.
• 1857 91-gun second rate ship.

All the best for 2021

Stuart

[ccoyle]

Welcome, Stuart.

 

As far as I know, there is a kit for only one of the Renowns (your list does not include the battlecruiser of 1916 or the 1895 pre-Dreadnought). Euromodel makes a kit of the 1747 Renown, which was originally built and launched in France in 1744 (see kit listing here). The others would have to be scratch-built. All of these are ship-rigged vessels with a lot of guns -- each will be a considerable challenge to build, supposing that you can find the plan resources you would need. My advice would be to start with a simpler model representing a vessel from the same time period, perhaps a cutter, schooner, or brig. There's a pretty fair slate of kits available for such subjects, and one of them would serve as a good introduction to modeling in wood.

 

Cheers!

[Jim Lad]

Hello Stuart, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'.  That's good advice from Chris re trying something a little simpler to get your hand in first.

 

John

[Renown1980]

56 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

a kit for only one of the Renowns

Thanks Chris for the welcome and pointers. I didn't list Battleship Renown and battlecruisers as I already have these kits. The 1744 Renown looks like a very impressive model but its physical size and price is a bit phohibitive but we'll see. I very much like the idea of building waterline, so I think it'll be scratch all the way but the advice is to start off easy so I'll hunt down something close to the subject period, witha couple a guns to get some practice.

Cheers Jon from Oz @Jim Lad

 

Stuart

[mtaylor]

Welcome to MSB, Stuart.  

[barkeater]

That's a pretty cool idea to build all the ships with the same name as the vessel you served on and the ships you list are quite varied in size and time period. I look forward to seeing your progress.

[mtaylor]

The 1747 Renommee (actually 1744) has a monograph available at ANCRE.   https://ancre.fr/en/basic-books/39-modeles-historiques-au-musee-de-la-marine-tome-2.html

 

[Renown1980]

43 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

monograph available at ANCRE.

Thanks for the welcome Mark. Thanks for the book pointer, not a cheap book.

1 hour ago, barkeater said:

pretty cool idea to build all the ships

I thought so too, especially all lined up together in the same scale but I can't see that happening.

 

Stuart

[ikkypaul]

Welcome Stuart, I sense that you are setting out on quite a brave venture, but will succeed with your approach.  

All the best, from Down Under (NZ)

Paul

[Renown1980]

10 hours ago, ikkypaul said:

quite a brave venture, but will succeed

Thanks Paul. It will definitely be an adventure and as to success, we'll have to wait and see

Stuart

[mtaylor]

23 hours ago, Renown1980 said:

Thanks for the welcome Mark. Thanks for the book pointer, not a cheap book.

 

 

True, it's not cheap but it is thorough.  Many times used copies of ANCRE books show at places like Ebay, Amazon, and Abebooks (I think that's the proper spelling) for a less money.  If you go that route, make sure you buy one in English as they offer their books in multiple languages.