Kit review 1:48 La Renommée section - CAF Model

[James H]

1:48 La Renommée section - CAF Model
Available for $79.00 from CAF Model

 

This one was quite a surprise when it came with the Postie on Monday. Not a full kit, but this time a small deck section in 1:48. The kit comes in a narrow, slender box with a product label on the lid. It's also another of those kits that when you take everything out, it's not very easy to get it all back in again...especially when you remove the stapes that are used to clip the many fittings bags together. Although in 1:48, the finished project is still quite small too, measuring 140mm x 100mm on the base, and less than 100mm tall, with figure stood aloft. The kit itself depicts a single gun section of La Renommée, complete with full gun crew and someone I can only presume is an officer. I'm sure those with better knowledge of French naval ranks.

 

 

There isn't too much strip wood in this kit with the majority of the timber here being the moulded wooden edges to the plinth you will make. You will need a mitre tool for this too. Two short lengths of brass wire are also included. 

 

 

The timber sheets are quite small too with parts laser-cut in both pear and ply. The pear of course, is for making the exposed frames that you'll see on the open ends of the section as well as the regular hidden frames, the cannon carriage, and the ply for the core of the base. You will also see a part (3a) than is used as a template/gauge to ensure that the internal frames and angles of the bulwarks are set correctly. Note also the deck planks (pale strips) that you may well be able to use 'as is', with the laser cutting simulating the deck caulking.

 

A big feature of this kit are the numerous gun crew figures that you will need to clean up and paint. These are provided as 3D-printed parts and you will need to carefully and cleanly remove the support structures from the printing process. These need to be cut back to just before the figure and then carefully trimmed/sanded flush to the part. With 3D-prints, never snap those supports off at the part as it can leave a small divot in the part. All figure types are individually packaged and numbered for reference. 

 

 

There are a LOT of small packs of fittings which include all the hardware for the gun, eyelets, stanchions etc. and again, these are all individually bagged and the part depicted on the seal, plus the part quantity. Some parts are cast onto brass blocks and you will need a small jeweller's saw or similar, to release the parts, and some fine files to clean them up. Also included is rigging cord in various sizes for the gun, rigging blocks, etc. The cannon is either cast in brass or bronze. I'm not too sure, but the detail definition is very good indeed and supplies quite a bit of weight to finished model. One thing of note here is the tiny lantern. CAF say this can be lit with an LED, but you will need to source those parts yourself. 

 

Instructions 
These are a simple affair, spreading out over 6 pages, in full colour with parts annotation being clear and overall, the whole model looks simple to build up. Also included at the rear of the instructions are two pages showing the part sheets and corresponding part numbers. 

 

 

CAD and finished model images

 

 

Conclusion

This has to be a nice little 'between projects' project! It's very simple to build, the materials are very nice, albeit some char will need to be removed from part faces in some areas, and there's plenty of parts to keep you occupied. One thing I'd like to have seen is the inclusion of a 'grain of rice' LED and some wire and battery clip for illuminating the model as shown, or even a requirements list and illustration as to how the prototype was tackled. That' not even a gripe though...more just me thinking it would've been a nice touch. This is quite an inexpensive model for what you get, when you look at all those 3D-print figures etc. I don't really see too many new kits like this these days, so this should perhaps be something to consider if you fancy a small diversion.

 

My sincere thanks to CAF Model for sending this kit over for review on MSW.

 

 

 

 

[OllieS]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:15 PM, James H said:

 

 

..... One thing I'd like to have seen is the inclusion of a 'grain of rice' LED and some wire and battery clip for illuminating the model as shown, or even a requirements list and illustration as to how the prototype was tackled. That' not even a gripe though...more just me thinking it would've been a nice touch....

 

 

 

 

CAF have 'induction coil LED lamp bead' on their site for $2 each and a 'wire transmission luminous system' , which is a larger induction coil, for $47. This is a great idea and generally useful for modelling -no wires! I haven't seen these mentioned anywhere else. Anyone with skills in electronics could make their own version quite easily I would think.

[scrubbyj427]

Very cool little kit! It looks like a very well designed project. Thanks for sharing!

[No Idea]

What a fantastic kit it really shows the details of the small area of a ship that it covers.  This is the sort of kit that I would happily build as the results are great.  A top tip for any UK builders though - If you have a Games Workshop near you just drop the figures into them with a few quid and ask them to paint them for you.  What they can do is amazing and far better than any of my feeble attempts.