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Hello from La Rochelle, France

Bienvenue! from Massachusetts, USA. I have the Sherbourne in my stash, and it looks like a great model. I started out building the model expo 3 ship series, and found it an excellent foundation for teaching me the basic techniques and language of model-ship building. They also produce very nice looking models. I now feel ready to attempt a kit like the Sherbourne.
 
Thank you!

So basically nobody was fooled by my set of 'tools' in the first post? The hot glue? No? Maybe I overdid it with the soldering station? Oh well, it was worth a try...
 
MattInFrance said:
Thank you!

So basically nobody was fooled by my set of 'tools' in the first post? The hot glue? No? Maybe I overdid it with the soldering station? Oh well, it was worth a try...
Click to expand...
I think it was the 1 meter hacksaw that gave it away. Maybe good for amputating limbs, but for building the Soleil Royale perhaps not so much!
 
So the tools were just a joke. But I did find out I already had a lot of the *real* tools to build a model ship, fortunately!

But I do have another confession to make. While it is true that I am looking at the Vanguard Models Sherbourne, I already ordered, received, and started building another ship model, the Renard from Artisania Latina. Delivered to my door in France it was half the price of the Sherbourne, and it apparently takes 250 hours to build, compared with the 50-60 for the Sherbourne. That is five times the value, right? So the Renard is 10 times cheaper than the Sherbourne. I am sure that is how that works.

Would it make sense to start a build log for the Renard? I could not find much about this model here on the forums, and there does not seem to be a build log for it already. I am sure I will be able to make many hilarious mistakes on the way, and you can start the bets on at which stage I will give up and just buy the Sherbourne Or even the Dory...

Anyway, here's a photo of my progress so far:20260830_151848.jpg

Everything's glued and straight, which took a good few hours! And I made a little jig to help with all that.
 
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MattInFrance said:
So the tools were just a joke. But I did find out I already had a lot of the *real* tools to build a model ship, fortunately!

But I do have another confession to make. While it is true that I am looking at the Vanguard Models Sherbourne, I already ordered, received, and started building another ship model, the Renard from Artisania Latina. Delivered to my door in France it was half the price of the Sherbourne, and it apparently takes 250 hours to build, compared with the 50-60 for the Sherbourne. That is five times the value, right? So the Renard is 10 times cheaper than the Sherbourne. I am sure that is how that works.

Would it make sense to start a build log for the Renard? I could not find much about this model here on the forums, and there does not seem to be a build log for it already. I am sure I will be able to make many hilarious mistakes on the way, and you can start the bets on at which stage I will give up and just but the Sherbourne Or even the Dory...

Anyway, here's a photo of my progress so far:View attachment 631359

Everything's glued and straight, which took a good few hours! And I made a little jig to help with all that.
Click to expand...
Looking good Matti! I agree with others that you should do a build log of her because there appear to be no logs of Le Renard on our site. So you will be the first (no pressure!).

A good tip as you construct the hull skeleton is to slightly fair the edges of your bulkheads as they approach stem and stern. This will make it easier for your planks to bend as they approach the bow and the stern and to give an even lay so your hull will look smooth. I'd suggest fairing the first 4 bulkheads starting from the stern by lightly sanding their aft-facing edges. Then for the first 3-4 bulkheads leading to the bow, lightly sand the bow-facing edges. You only need to fair the bulkhead edges that the planks will lay on. No need to sand the tops of the bulkheads because the deck needs to lay flat.

You may also want to reference build logs for the Le Hussard from Artesania Latina. It was also a French cutter that served in until 1849 (Le Renard is shown as 1850). The model kit has a similar stern framing, bluff bow, and similar lines to the Renard. It is also scaled at 1/50, just like the Renard, so the build logs of Hussard will show a ship very similar to the Renard. Your Artesania Latina kit looks like it is from their older catalogue...good for you! The kit may actually have printed instructions instead of newer A/L kits, which now have no written instructions, just lousy videos on YouTube. (Can you imaging rigging a tall ship like Esmeralda with 19 sails, 30 blocks and tackles, and 70+ brass rings without a rigging diagram?) After building the A/L kit Esmeralda, I'm not going to build A/L kits again unless they include a rigging plan and at least some construction drawings.

Here is a nice build log of the Hussard by SoS member Omega:

Le Hussard Build Log

I have just completed a build on the Halcon (1:60) an during the build, I have learnt a lot especially from my mistakes. I understand that there never really was a ship called the Halcon based in Boston, so some leaway was allowed in the build. I took some leaway. but having completed this Build...
shipsofscale.com

Good luck and great start!
 
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Thanks for the tips! I don't know how you can see that my kit is from their 'older catalogue'? The Renard is in the current A/L lineup, and the box comes with a CD (or DVD) with instructions. Which I have not bothered with yet, I just downloaded the instructions from the A/L website. Those PDFs are pretty low resolution however, it might be smart to get the ol' DVD reader out of the attic and attached to my PC to see if the stuff on the CDVD is any better quality...
 
MattInFrance said:
Thanks for the tips! I don't know how you can see that my kit is from their 'older catalogue'? The Renard is in the current A/L lineup, and the box comes with a CD (or DVD) with instructions. Which I have not bothered with yet, I just downloaded the instructions from the A/L website. Those PDFs are pretty low resolution however, it might be smart to get the ol' DVD reader out of the attic and attached to my PC to see if the stuff on the CDVD is any better quality...
Click to expand...
I haven't had a computer with a disk drive since 2020!
 
Allrighty (since saying O K A Y keeps getting replaced by an emoji), I think I will gaive this build log thing a go. I think I need all the help I can get. As you've seen above, I already started building a bit, but I can only make progress during the weekend, since I work away from home during the week. And things are going slowly anyway... So much sanding!
 
MattInFrance said:
Allrighty (since saying O K A Y keeps getting replaced by an emoji), I think I will gaive this build log thing a go. I think I need all the help I can get. As you've seen above, I already started building a bit, but I can only make progress during the weekend, since I work away from home during the week. And things are going slowly anyway... So much sanding!
Click to expand...
Hello Mattijs,

Then I am in good company.

Work on my ship isn't moving very fast either.

It has to be done alongside all sorts of other activities, such as playing golf (3 times a week), two board positions, helping out around the house, and of course spending time with my ex-fiancée...

So I’ve already given up hope of finishing my ship within a year.
 
Peter Schaap said:
Hello Mattijs,

Then I am in good company.

Work on my ship isn't moving very fast either.

It has to be done alongside all sorts of other activities, such as playing golf (3 times a week), two board positions, helping out around the house, and of course spending time with my ex-fiancée...

So I’ve already given up hope
Click to expand...

MattInFrance said:
Allrighty (since saying O K A Y keeps getting replaced by an emoji), I think I will gaive this build log thing a go. I think I need all the help I can get. As you've seen above, I already started building a bit, but I can only make progress during the weekend, since I work away from home during the week. And things are going slowly anyway... So much sanding!
Click to expand...
Matti - Looking forward to seeing your build log. You can probably avoid finding your old CD-Rom player and look up the Renard videos from A/L on YouTube. For the sanding and saw dust - vacuum often and wear a KN95 mask. I have asthma, so the sawdust would kill me without a mask. Good luck!
 
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