1. Introduction
A few weeks ago I finished a model of a Peruvian fishing boat from the 70's and I rested from the hustle and bustle of this revealing hobby. I took the opportunity to read a couple of books and one of them excited me, it is called “Los barcos se pierden en Tierra (Boats get lost on Earth)” by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, for lovers of the sea and/or ship modeling I highly recommend it. But I was also thinking about which model I would embark on, I opted for a very simple one, the “Reine des Fleurs”, a small fishing boat from the Villerville area - France.
The model was taken from the book “Le Modelisme Naval- Plans, Styles et Techniques” and several passages of text that I include below are from the article about this boat by Francois Renault published in the magazine Chesse Maree No. 13.
“Until the beginning of the 20th century, a very old fishing community was established in Villerville, between Trouville and Honfleur. The boats were called plattes and had a rounded stern. The name assigned “platte” is surprising since they are built on a keel and neither the shape nor the structure of the bottoms give any indication that they have been flat. It is not unusual, in a closed maritime environment like those on these coasts, for a type of ship to retain the name of the one that preceded it, even if it is very different."
“The platte, carry a Flambart rig that is widely used on the coasts of Normandy, this boat, thus wooded and with a round stern, produces a type of boat that can really be defined as Villervilleis. Thus, when in 1866 Admiral Paris drew up the plans for the “Saint-Louis”, a trawling fishing boat called a patte and built in Honfleur in 1854, it was actually a Villerville platte that he described.
“In 1832, the Villerville flotilla consisted of 26 boats of less than 10 tons. At the same time, Trouville equipped 35 decked ships of 18 to 30 tons and 28 ships of less than 10 tons. Without equaling Trouville, the activity of the port of Villerville was real: 58 sailors enrolled in the union and a growing number of Viller-villais became masters.” “The ”Reine des Fleurs”, serial number HO-118 and later HOT-118, was built in 1862 in Honfleur at Cardon's and launched on August 20, 1862. It belonged to Isidore Lamidey and Auguste Guéret de Villerville; She is 10.31 m long, 3.54 m wide with a depth of 1.50 m below deck and has a gross tonnage of 14.4 tons.
2.References:
“Le Modelisme Naval- Plans, Styles et Techniques” – Chasse- Maree et Francois Renault.
“Reine des Fleurs, platte de Villerville” Revista Chesse Maree Nº 13
modelisme-naval-bois.lebonforum.com
denis-59.forumpro.fr
3 Building the model
The main idea of this project is to follow the indicated references, the general lines are available, but there is not much information on deck details or the Flambart rig. It will have to be complemented with some photos from magazine articles and a platte model found on an internet forum (modelisme-naval-bois) so I have to take some small liberties.
From the plans and lines of the hull, the sections for the frames, the shape of the deck and the dimensions of the sails and rigging were obtained. It was drawn in Autocad and with the PDF file obtained, the false keel, frames and main parts were laser cut on a 3 mm plywood sheet. Also using Autocad, the dimensions of other minor elements were taken and redrawn freehand on a workbook.
Once the cut plates are available, the parts are disassembled, sanded and presented; They are glued with white glue, realigned and mounted on a frame. In the closed parts of the bow and stern, pieces of balsa wood are added that are cut to the shape of the hull and so that the strakes can easily sit. Afterwards, the frames will be sanded to shape them and receive the 5mm strakes. I will prepare the strakes for the hull, 2x5 mm cedar strakes were used for the entire hull up to the bow. The wood I used was terrible, it was a very hard or stiff cedar, difficult to cut and bend, and the grain was not straight (1 in 2 broke). I finally finished it and the finish of the 1st lining was ugly... but not so bad that a good sanding would improve it, I did it and putty it twice, the first with a mixture of sawdust, white rubber and putty, the second with an acrylic base, It was sanded again and painted black on the outside and green on the inside.
The roof continues to be made with 4x100 mm veneer slats glued on 1.5 mm plywood, glued on the frame and after being painted in dark green. The sides were taped and a line design was painted in orange, white and green. I prepared the various masts such as the bowsprit, the foresail, the mainmast, dyeing them all with a honey color; also prepared the rudder and its tiller, the cellar entrance, the cabin entrance, the dead eye and their chains (0.25mm twisted wire); the anchor and its winch; all of which were fixed to the deck. The 3mm dead eye were fixed, shrouds of 0.8 mm dark waxed thread were used.
The sails were cut to the measurements obtained from the plan and are made of white paper, with a layer of paint. Three colors were used, white for the jib and foresail gaff and two-tone grey-green for the mainmast sails. The ropes of different caliber, dark 0.8 mm for the shrouds and 0.6 mm for the hoisting of the outriggers, light colored 0.45 mm for the working rigging and 0.30 mm for the halyards. In this last part, photos of the finished Platte are presented.
4. General Characteristics
REINE DES FLEURS
Country: France
Platte type Flambert rig
Function: Fishing boat
Scale 1:40
Total Length 16.09 m (402 mm)
Total height 12.80 m (320 mm)
Length 10.31 m (257 mm)
Beam 3.42 m (86 mm)
Prop 1.80 m (45 mm)
By Jose Ruesta - Lima, Perú
June 2024
Other models made can be found on my blog:
https://Modelismo Naval: Mi colección (modelismonavaljoseruesta.blogspot.com)
A few weeks ago I finished a model of a Peruvian fishing boat from the 70's and I rested from the hustle and bustle of this revealing hobby. I took the opportunity to read a couple of books and one of them excited me, it is called “Los barcos se pierden en Tierra (Boats get lost on Earth)” by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, for lovers of the sea and/or ship modeling I highly recommend it. But I was also thinking about which model I would embark on, I opted for a very simple one, the “Reine des Fleurs”, a small fishing boat from the Villerville area - France.
The model was taken from the book “Le Modelisme Naval- Plans, Styles et Techniques” and several passages of text that I include below are from the article about this boat by Francois Renault published in the magazine Chesse Maree No. 13.
“Until the beginning of the 20th century, a very old fishing community was established in Villerville, between Trouville and Honfleur. The boats were called plattes and had a rounded stern. The name assigned “platte” is surprising since they are built on a keel and neither the shape nor the structure of the bottoms give any indication that they have been flat. It is not unusual, in a closed maritime environment like those on these coasts, for a type of ship to retain the name of the one that preceded it, even if it is very different."
“The platte, carry a Flambart rig that is widely used on the coasts of Normandy, this boat, thus wooded and with a round stern, produces a type of boat that can really be defined as Villervilleis. Thus, when in 1866 Admiral Paris drew up the plans for the “Saint-Louis”, a trawling fishing boat called a patte and built in Honfleur in 1854, it was actually a Villerville platte that he described.
“In 1832, the Villerville flotilla consisted of 26 boats of less than 10 tons. At the same time, Trouville equipped 35 decked ships of 18 to 30 tons and 28 ships of less than 10 tons. Without equaling Trouville, the activity of the port of Villerville was real: 58 sailors enrolled in the union and a growing number of Viller-villais became masters.” “The ”Reine des Fleurs”, serial number HO-118 and later HOT-118, was built in 1862 in Honfleur at Cardon's and launched on August 20, 1862. It belonged to Isidore Lamidey and Auguste Guéret de Villerville; She is 10.31 m long, 3.54 m wide with a depth of 1.50 m below deck and has a gross tonnage of 14.4 tons.
2.References:
“Le Modelisme Naval- Plans, Styles et Techniques” – Chasse- Maree et Francois Renault.
“Reine des Fleurs, platte de Villerville” Revista Chesse Maree Nº 13
PLATE DE VILLERVILLE
PLATTE DE VILLERVILLERéalisation du modèle Le model est réalisé au 1/20 bordées sur membrures d'après les plans du Chasse-M
Platte de Villerville
Réalisation du model Model réalisé au 1/20 bordées sur membrures d'après les plans du Chasse-Marée paru dans la revue mais aussi de le livre de plans Ce batea
3 Building the model
The main idea of this project is to follow the indicated references, the general lines are available, but there is not much information on deck details or the Flambart rig. It will have to be complemented with some photos from magazine articles and a platte model found on an internet forum (modelisme-naval-bois) so I have to take some small liberties.
From the plans and lines of the hull, the sections for the frames, the shape of the deck and the dimensions of the sails and rigging were obtained. It was drawn in Autocad and with the PDF file obtained, the false keel, frames and main parts were laser cut on a 3 mm plywood sheet. Also using Autocad, the dimensions of other minor elements were taken and redrawn freehand on a workbook.
Once the cut plates are available, the parts are disassembled, sanded and presented; They are glued with white glue, realigned and mounted on a frame. In the closed parts of the bow and stern, pieces of balsa wood are added that are cut to the shape of the hull and so that the strakes can easily sit. Afterwards, the frames will be sanded to shape them and receive the 5mm strakes. I will prepare the strakes for the hull, 2x5 mm cedar strakes were used for the entire hull up to the bow. The wood I used was terrible, it was a very hard or stiff cedar, difficult to cut and bend, and the grain was not straight (1 in 2 broke). I finally finished it and the finish of the 1st lining was ugly... but not so bad that a good sanding would improve it, I did it and putty it twice, the first with a mixture of sawdust, white rubber and putty, the second with an acrylic base, It was sanded again and painted black on the outside and green on the inside.
The roof continues to be made with 4x100 mm veneer slats glued on 1.5 mm plywood, glued on the frame and after being painted in dark green. The sides were taped and a line design was painted in orange, white and green. I prepared the various masts such as the bowsprit, the foresail, the mainmast, dyeing them all with a honey color; also prepared the rudder and its tiller, the cellar entrance, the cabin entrance, the dead eye and their chains (0.25mm twisted wire); the anchor and its winch; all of which were fixed to the deck. The 3mm dead eye were fixed, shrouds of 0.8 mm dark waxed thread were used.
The sails were cut to the measurements obtained from the plan and are made of white paper, with a layer of paint. Three colors were used, white for the jib and foresail gaff and two-tone grey-green for the mainmast sails. The ropes of different caliber, dark 0.8 mm for the shrouds and 0.6 mm for the hoisting of the outriggers, light colored 0.45 mm for the working rigging and 0.30 mm for the halyards. In this last part, photos of the finished Platte are presented.
4. General Characteristics
REINE DES FLEURS
Country: France
Platte type Flambert rig
Function: Fishing boat
Scale 1:40
Total Length 16.09 m (402 mm)
Total height 12.80 m (320 mm)
Length 10.31 m (257 mm)
Beam 3.42 m (86 mm)
Prop 1.80 m (45 mm)
By Jose Ruesta - Lima, Perú
June 2024
Other models made can be found on my blog:
https://Modelismo Naval: Mi colección (modelismonavaljoseruesta.blogspot.com)
