L'Ambitieux Altaya/Planeta d'Agostini - A very long build.

Joined
Jan 13, 2018
Messages
345
Points
278

Location
Lisboa, Portugal
This model was released in France more than five years ago and was recently released here in Portugal. In France it followed the kit of the Soleil Royal also by Altaya, but the Soleil was never released here as far as I know, the Ambitieux is the first experiment of Altaya here in Portugal.

It is being released in weekly issues consisting of kit parts plus a publication with detailed instructions and some articles about ships and navies. As this week the issue was number 44, this is going to be a very loooooooooong build.

The Ambitieux by Altaya is not the ship covered by Jean Boudriot's monography although it looks like Altaya based loosely his model on it. It represents a XVII century ship with the rich decorations of the time.

According to the french modellers its scale is something between 1/64 and 1/72. Altaya refers 1/59 but this seems to be wrong. The french modellers based their calculation on the size of the cannons!!! ;) The indicated lenght is 97cm and the hull is a bit longer than NS del Pilar, making it (by my standards) a huge model.

For what I could see in a French forum, this is a very beautiful model and even beats the Soleil Royal.

Here are two pictures that I stole from the forum Modelisme Naval Bois, made by mr. papykapi.

82978

82979

A lovely model without any doubt.

Altaya got a lot a bad critics with their Soleil Royal, bad design, bad wood and bad decorations. It seems that this model is very different and much better, they took a lot of care with it, and the moulds are not ancient moulds adapted, they are new ones made specifically for the Ambitieux.

It seems that the model was designed by Occre, if it is so, what a difference for better from the NS del Pilar. Two separate worlds. I hope it is what it promises. So far, no complains.

It is an expensive model. 140 issues at €7,99 gives something near the €1200. Even comparing with the more complex chinese kits this is a very expensive kit. But being only €32 a month, who cares?:cool:

Is it worth the price? Well, I don´t know yet, but I can say that it has very good wood, very goog metal decorations and until now, compared with my other models, it is worth every euro. Let's hope it goes on this way.

The fit of the parts is perfect and it almost goes without glue. Considering that it is designed to fit A4 measures of the issues, it turns out a very solid hull.

I am still on the hull structure, no hurries, it is going to take almost 2 years to get the complete model, so now and then to change from my other builds I give it some attention and a little advance.

What you get for your money:

8300283020



Some pictures of the building

8299082993829948299582998829998300083003830048300583006



Metal pieces (note the details on the cannons)



830178301883019830218302283023


And it is all for now. I don't promise very frequent updates, but I'll post as I go along.

Regards

JL
 
Hello again.

The deliveries go on a weekly basis without any problem. So far we are at number 64 nearing half of the promised number (140).

It is not easy to build a kit this way since you are never sure of what is to follow and despite having detailed photo instructions you never know if some future step is going to condition what you are doing at the moment.

So it is difficult to think ahead and antecipate alterations or problems. Being so I have just kept collecting the bags and not embark on any important step, since I may regret it later.

The lack of a plan or general drawing does not help also. You never know what is going to appear. Example: I only was sure it was a double planking ship when they started applying the secong planking and that was some 10 issues ago.

My feelings about this kit are mixed. For one part it seems well engineered, the fit is very good and it is suited for someone with less experience. The decorations are very good, in a yellow metal (not brass) with excelent detail (so far). On the other side the wood is mostly ply (good ply, but ply anyway). The rudder ios unpainted ply, and so is the stem. I know that the ship is supposed to be painted but even so the wood could be better.



DSC09846.JPG
---some fittings---





DSC09848.JPG

---delivery n. 64 - keel in ply and cannon---





Just a thought, if it is intended to be painted, what is the use of the second planking in sapelli?

Also, the process of applying the planking seems very strange I have never seen a planking applied that way nor I have the intention of following the suggested method.

It is an expensive kit although you can argue that being payed weekly is seems less expensive, the case is that at the end it cots around 1120€, for that price you can buy yourself a very good kit (a good chinese kit for example) with post and customs included.

I don't regret buying it, in the end and with some changes I suppose it can turn into a very pretty model. Maybe not the most accurate thing, but pretty..

All this considered, I decided that I could start the deck planking without risking any nasty surprise latter.

The wood they supply is of good quality but very pale, they advise you to paint it but I don't like painted wood to simulate wood, at least I can't do it, maybe there is some kind of paint that simulates wood but I have no knowledge of any paint able to do that. For me painted wood looks like painted wood and nothing else.


DSC09847.JPG

DSC09851.JPG





Being so and as I bought some wood from modellbau-holz.jimdo, namely pear and sapelli so I decided to use pear for the planking. Pear is a wondeful wood to work with, so far is the best wood I know and easy to apply. The pear planks varied a little in thickness, but a little scrapping did the trick and I ended with a planking that pleases me.




DSC05799.JPG

---using a razor blade to get an uniform interval between the planks---




DSC05798.JPG


DSC05801.JPG


DSC05803.JPG


DSC05805.JPG



DSC05806.JPG



DSC05809.JPG

---scrapping the pear since there was some difference in the thickness of some planks---


DSC05810.JPG

---marking the treenails---




Then I used my method of pva plus black ink to get the caulking. This process is becoming easier and easier as I am getting some practise on it. Being a large surface it took a lot of scrapping, but I think I got a fine final result.


DSC05812.JPG


DSC05813.JPG


DSC05815.JPG


DSC05816.JPG



DSC05821.JPG


DSC05823.JPG





Then I filled the bow with balsa since it has helped me a lot in Nuestra Señora del Pilar and it is the bettrer way to get a decent planking at the bow (and stern).






DSC09849.JPG


DSC09850.JPG



Well, it is all for now, I promise that I will not take so long between updates in the future.





Regards

JL
 
What I am amazed with is the mfg has made the deck planking from pear. You order any milled pear! The stuff is beautiful to work with.
Rick


Yes, I bought some pear here: https://modellbau-holz.jimdo.com/startseite/zum-shop/holzleisten/

They sell it in 0,6x5mm strips ideal for planking (they sell it in a lot of measures).

And you are right, it is a wonder to work with.

As for "my" (a lot of people may use the same method) caulking and treenailing, you have a better explanation here


Regards

JL
 
This model was released in France more than five years ago and was recently released here in Portugal. In France it followed the kit of the Soleil Royal also by Altaya, but the Soleil was never released here as far as I know, the Ambitieux is the first experiment of Altaya here in Portugal.

It is being released in weekly issues consisting of kit parts plus a publication with detailed instructions and some articles about ships and navies. As this week the issue was number 44, this is going to be a very loooooooooong build.

The Ambitieux by Altaya is not the ship covered by Jean Boudriot's monography although it looks like Altaya based loosely his model on it. It represents a XVII century ship with the rich decorations of the time.

According to the french modellers its scale is something between 1/64 and 1/72. Altaya refers 1/59 but this seems to be wrong. The french modellers based their calculation on the size of the cannons!!! ;) The indicated lenght is 97cm and the hull is a bit longer than NS del Pilar, making it (by my standards) a huge model.

For what I could see in a French forum, this is a very beautiful model and even beats the Soleil Royal.

Here are two pictures that I stole from the forum Modelisme Naval Bois, made by mr. papykapi.

View attachment 82978

View attachment 82979

A lovely model without any doubt.

Altaya got a lot a bad critics with their Soleil Royal, bad design, bad wood and bad decorations. It seems that this model is very different and much better, they took a lot of care with it, and the moulds are not ancient moulds adapted, they are new ones made specifically for the Ambitieux.

It seems that the model was designed by Occre, if it is so, what a difference for better from the NS del Pilar. Two separate worlds. I hope it is what it promises. So far, no complains.

It is an expensive model. 140 issues at €7,99 gives something near the €1200. Even comparing with the more complex chinese kits this is a very expensive kit. But being only €32 a month, who cares?:cool:

Is it worth the price? Well, I don´t know yet, but I can say that it has very good wood, very goog metal decorations and until now, compared with my other models, it is worth every euro. Let's hope it goes on this way.

The fit of the parts is perfect and it almost goes without glue. Considering that it is designed to fit A4 measures of the issues, it turns out a very solid hull.

I am still on the hull structure, no hurries, it is going to take almost 2 years to get the complete model, so now and then to change from my other builds I give it some attention and a little advance.

What you get for your money:

View attachment 83002View attachment 83020



Some pictures of the building

View attachment 82990View attachment 82993View attachment 82994View attachment 82995View attachment 82998View attachment 82999View attachment 83000View attachment 83003View attachment 83004View attachment 83005View attachment 83006



Metal pieces (note the details on the cannons)



View attachment 83017View attachment 83018View attachment 83019View attachment 83021View attachment 83022View attachment 83023


And it is all for now. I don't promise very frequent updates, but I'll post as I go along.

Regards

JL
Hallo JL, alias @Dicas ,
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Enjoy your special day
Birthday-Cake
BTW: Are you still working on this beautiful kit ?
 
Hallo JL, alias @Dicas ,
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Enjoy your special day
Birthday-Cake
BTW: Are you still working on this beautiful kit ?
 
Hello @Uwek

Thank you very much for your wishes.

All my projects are stopped for a while, I had an anxiety crisis almost an year ago, that prevented me to have the spirit to work. I am better now and preparing for starting building again very soon, I hope.

Ambitieux is a dear project and it is to be finshed, health allows.

All the best

JL
 
This model was released in France more than five years ago and was recently released here in Portugal. In France it followed the kit of the Soleil Royal also by Altaya, but the Soleil was never released here as far as I know, the Ambitieux is the first experiment of Altaya here in Portugal.

It is being released in weekly issues consisting of kit parts plus a publication with detailed instructions and some articles about ships and navies. As this week the issue was number 44, this is going to be a very loooooooooong build.

The Ambitieux by Altaya is not the ship covered by Jean Boudriot's monography although it looks like Altaya based loosely his model on it. It represents a XVII century ship with the rich decorations of the time.

According to the french modellers its scale is something between 1/64 and 1/72. Altaya refers 1/59 but this seems to be wrong. The french modellers based their calculation on the size of the cannons!!! ;) The indicated lenght is 97cm and the hull is a bit longer than NS del Pilar, making it (by my standards) a huge model.

For what I could see in a French forum, this is a very beautiful model and even beats the Soleil Royal.

Here are two pictures that I stole from the forum Modelisme Naval Bois, made by mr. papykapi.

A lovely model without any doubt.

Altaya got a lot a bad critics with their Soleil Royal, bad design, bad wood and bad decorations. It seems that this model is very different and much better, they took a lot of care with it, and the moulds are not ancient moulds adapted, they are new ones made specifically for the Ambitieux.

It seems that the model was designed by Occre, if it is so, what a difference for better from the NS del Pilar. Two separate worlds. I hope it is what it promises. So far, no complains.

It is an expensive model. 140 issues at €7,99 gives something near the €1200. Even comparing with the more complex chinese kits this is a very expensive kit. But being only €32 a month, who cares?:cool:

Is it worth the price? Well, I don´t know yet, but I can say that it has very good wood, very goog metal decorations and until now, compared with my other models, it is worth every euro. Let's hope it goes on this way.

The fit of the parts is perfect and it almost goes without glue. Considering that it is designed to fit A4 measures of the issues, it turns out a very solid hull.

I am still on the hull structure, no hurries, it is going to take almost 2 years to get the complete model, so now and then to change from my other builds I give it some attention and a little advance.

What you get for your money:

ome pictures of the building

Metal pieces (note the details on the cannons)
nd it is all for now. I don't promise very frequent updates, but I'll post as I go along.

Regards

JL
Hallo @Dicas
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
 
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