Review Le Cerf - Dusek - 1:72nd Scale French Cutter

[brunnels]

Howdy all.  Here is my review of the "Le Cerf" Kit from Dusek.  I believe this kit has been around for 10 or more years, but I surprisingly found very little about it online.  No build logs, no reviews, only a 10 year old video from Dusek showing what's in the box.  Due to the lack of content I figured I could show what came in the kit.

 

 

The contents were all nicely packed, no loose bits rolling around in the box, nothing looks broken. 

The kit comes with a printed instructions manual in English with nice drawn images of each step, the instruction booklet is around 30 pages. Also included are 5 different sets of plan sheets.  In my opinion the instructions look pretty good, an experienced kit builder should have no issue following along, but a brand new builder may struggle as the descriptions are pretty brief.  The plan sheets are very nice with lots of detail.










Getting into the fittings.


The only cast metal parts of the kit are the anchors, and the stern decoration.  The anchors actually look pretty nice, the stern decoration could look ok with some cleanup, but personally I will probably replace that piece with a 3d printed one.


The guns are cast resin, but Dusek also sells the same kit with some brass turned cannons.  Personally I don't think the resin ones will look that bad once painted up, but I think some nice detailed 3d printed French cannons will be a nice upgrade when I build the kit. 


The blocks will probably end up in the garbage can, but they are comparable with all the other crappy blocks most manufacturers use.

 

The rope in this kit actually surprised me.  It's not Syren, or Ropes of Scale quality, but it's much better quality compared to what I have seen the majority of kit manufacturers use.  


Lastly in the fittings box was a large piece of sail cloth.  I've never made sails before, but this looks to be plenty enough cloth for a couple of these kits. 


Next up is a stack of laser cut wood.  


First the small boards

There is only 1 small sheet of laser cut metal.

 

Here are the bigger boards.  

This kit has clinker planking which is all laser cut.  

Laser etched decking, this looks like pear veneer, but I could be wrong.

The strip and dowels that comes with the kit are a mix of Walnut and Lime.  All looks to be of good quality and nicely cut.


And that is what's in the box of the Dusek Le Cerf kit.

 

My thoughts.  I think this looks like a really nice kit that is currently flying under the radar.  Its a beautiful French cutter, it has Clinker planking which is very unique for an out of the box kit, and Ancre has a Le Cerf monograph that would make a great companion piece to anyone wanting to take the kit up a notch.  I would love to see some build logs of this kit, I think it provides an good out of the box kit, but it also has the ability to be kit bashed a little into a really nice model.
 

[Ronald-V]

Good review! Are you going to build this one yourself?

[brunnels]

1 hour ago, Ronald-V said:

Good review! Are you going to build this one yourself?

Yes eventually, I got a couple other kits in line first.

[Swinging the lead]

Yes excellent review. I’ve looked at this kit several times. I always thought that you had to carve the stern decoration. 

[catopower]

Nice review, brunnels!

 

I've considered this kit many times. I actually like that it's 1/72 scale, as I have many other projects in that scale as well. 

 

I think the main thing holding me back has always been that I have the Ancre monograph and I always thought I'd scratch build the ship, so I never followed up on buying the kit. But, I still like this one a lot, as it has an American history connection.