Le Superbe by colpatben - Mantua Model - 1:75

[colpatben]

Hi one and all.

 

This post was originally written on 26^th December 2020. For a build thread on another forum, but I have decided to move it all to here.

 

First a back story:

 

I bought this particular kit after exhibiting at the first London Model Engineering Exhibition held at The Alexandra Palace in 1996, yes almost 25 years ago!

 

 

At that time I was building and showing RC boats and racing Tamiya1/10 off road cars whilst assisting at the Chesham Model Shop in Buckinghamshire, who were the UK importer of Wedico boat and truck kits. They had a stand at the Model Engineers Exhibition and I was able to attend every day so had lots of time to browse around.

 

One divorce and five homes later I think that I should at least start it and hopefully see it through to completion.

 

This kit is fairly straightforward plank on frame construction with just a few fiddly bits.

 

The most obvious change in this kit since I bought it is that now wooden parts in kits are laser cut whereas this kit has all the frames and other ply parts either partway machine cut with a router or just printed on solid wood that will need to be cut out with a fretsaw.

 

 

The next post will be the build start.

 

Colin.

[ccoyle]

Interesting. The printed parts I've seen before, but partially routed is something new -- to me at least.

[chris watton]

Yeah, I have never seen that before. I bought my Le Superb in 1992 from Model Dockyard, and this was laser cut, one of the first, I think, and very nice (for the time) and excellent manual.

[colpatben]

22 hours ago, chris watton said:

Yeah, I have never seen that before. I bought my Le Superb in 1992 from Model Dockyard, and this was laser cut, one of the first, I think, and very nice (for the time) and excellent manual.

Chris.

 

Well that's interesting. So I had either been sold old stock or possibly my memory ain't what it used to be an I bought it much earlier than I thought!

If I was of a mind I should contact Mantua to try to find out when they started to use laser cut parts on this model, but life's too short .  😊 

 

Colin.

[colpatben]

Hi all

 

This post was origionally written on 30th Dec 2020 for a build thread on another forum.

 

Lockdown Christmas so cut and assembled rib and main deck frames.

 

 

 

 

 

Colin.

[colpatben]

Hi all.

 

Actual date this post was prepared 11^th January 2021, for a build thread on another forum.

 

 

The first ‘Real Deck’ to be fitted is what the instructions call the Under Deck but I would call the Well Deck!

 

 

Anyhow it has to be sprung to get it under the frames to get it into place.

 

 

Part and fully planked.

 

 

 

 

Colin.

[colpatben]

Me again.

 

Actual date this post was prepared 14^th January 2020.

 

Following on from planking the Under Deck, the main deck is on.

 

 

And a view of the stern gallery supports.

 

 

 

Colin

[colpatben]

Hi all.

 

Actual date this post was prepared 14^th January 2020.

 

Helm Position between cabin walls aft of the mizzen and below the aft deck.

 

 

 

 

 

I did tidy up the overspill of CA around the window frame on the starboard cabin wall!

 

 

Aft deck fitted completely covering the helm.

 

And test fitted lower part of all masts.

 

 

 

Colin

[Nirvana]

Routed Frames? That was new to me as well.

However, you did a great job cutting them out and gotten this far.

Btw Colin,  Warm 

[stupot]

On 1/28/2021 at 6:22 PM, chris watton said:

Yeah, I have never seen that before. I bought my Le Superb in 1992 from Model Dockyard, and this was laser cut, one of the first, I think, and very nice (for the time) and excellent manual.

Sorry, Chris, I can't agree on the manual being excellent. I bought my kit pre-owned in 2020 (laser cut), & have found many mistakes on the drawings, for instance French 74s had the jib off-set to starboard of the bowsprit, Mantua have it to port. I discarded the side galleries & stern & scratch built it all. The rigging drawing is terrible, with the yards drawn at 90* to the masts, making it almost impossible to follow. The preventer stays have been omitted. I've resorted to using Petterson's book & the plans from OcCre's Montanes, supplemented by J Boudriot's vol 3 Le Vasseau de 74 Canons.

[chris watton]

I stand 100% at what I commented on, for the time, the manual was very good. I was really talking about the construction aspect, and the well laid out construction stages. Note I commented on the  'Manual' and NOT 'plans'. At that time, the general quality of both the kit and manual were much better than most.

 

For any modeller worth their salt, rigging plans from this era of kits should be treated with utmost caution. At this time (very early 1990's), it was a given (at least to me) to do your own research for the details, and masts and rig especially - this was half the fun of modelling.

[Gregory]

There’s a new meme going around; “If Chris thinks the instructions are good, they must be good.”..😁

[chris watton]

23 minutes ago, Gregory said:

There’s a new meme going around; “If Chris thinks the instructions are good, they must be good.”..😁

We are talking 33 years ago! Le Superb was my 3rd ever wood ship kit (Billings Will Everard being the first, followed by Billings Bounty and then Le Superb). I remember building it just fine using the manual, in an age before the internet. I learned from building the Bounty that using other sources for rigging was a given, and I did that with every kit I built (wasn't many, though, after Le Superb it was Sovereign of the Seas and after that, started in the industry)

[glbarlow]

It looks like a very old kit, the wheel especially.  
 

Amazing how far ship model design has advanced either Chris and Chuck at the forefront. 

Edited April 22 by glbarlow

[stupot]

I agree the instructions are v.good, but as I said the plans leave much to be desired. I left my build alone for several months, before finding Jean Boudriot's vols 1,2,3 of 'The French 74 Gun Ship' (French version), then carried on the build to his 'spec'. A lot of scratch building, discarding the worse kit parts. I completed her at the end of October (2024). I'm now building Jokita's HMS Victory.

 The last two pics are (obviously) Victory.