La Belle 1/48

Submarinerblue · Jun 30, 2018

This is going to be a “semi-build” log of La Belle from H4Models, a Chinese company I never heard of before. I call this a semi-build log since I have not been taking photos of every stage of construction and many of those I did take were not intended for posting.
I bought the kit on eBay. I was not aware at the time of any other dealers in China. It arrived within a week.
On the whole I was quite satisfied with the kit. The wood is mainly cherry with boxwood carvings.
The instructions are photos with a few phrases in pidgin English. They were photocopies and some of the photos were not very clear. I’ll post some pictures soon.
Not a kit for an inexperienced modeler.
More to come.

ADC · Jun 30, 2018

Looking forward to your build. This will make a gorgeous small highly detailed POF model. Yes the instructions are quite basic. I suggest you refer to the the La Salamandre build logs especially Uwek’s for hints. The La Belle kit is from the same maker CAFmodel, and has a similar though less complex build profile.

Uwek · Jun 30, 2018

Great news......I am also looking forward to see this built. I am building like ADC the La Salamandre from the same manufacturer like your La Belle.
Do you have the planset of the La Belle with the draughts by Jean Boudriot for help?
I am sitting in the first row to follow your log - highly interested to see - If you want you could see in my "Media" a scratch La Belle in 1:24

zoly99sask · Jun 30, 2018

I will watch this build too!!

paulv1958 · Jun 30, 2018

yes please front row

Submarinerblue · Jun 30, 2018

Here are some photos of the instructions

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Maarten · Jul 1, 2018

Hi,

This is a great little ship. Looking forward to your build. Like Uwe mention if I were you I would buy the ANCRE La Belle monograph with it.

ADC · Jul 1, 2018

The La Belle is an interesting simple little ship. Was meant to be shipped in kit form to the colonies and assembled on site. However it was decided to complete it in France and sailed across the Atlantic. This La Belle kit is very faithful to the ANCRE monographe.

Submarinerblue · Jul 1, 2018

Here is a photo of the building jig and the frames in place but not faired. The jig was well designed, but required some opening of the slots to fit. I prefer to fair the frames after the hull has been removed from the jig. The futtocks were cut precisely, but the laser-cutting left very heavy charing on all lasercut pieces in the kit. This was quite tedious to remove.

Submarinerblue · Jul 1, 2018

The deck planking on the actual ship was curved. Evidently this was common on French ships of the period. The kit supplies pre-cut curved planks which is great because it would have been very difficult for the Modeler to cut them himself and get them to fit. The downside is that there are no extra curved planks so that if you ruin any you’re in trouble.

Submarinerblue · Jul 1, 2018

I thought about getting the Andre book, but I didn’t want to spend 110Euros. I was able to find sufficient information on the web for my purposes. There is an animation of the construction on YouTube, and many photos of a completed models.

Submarinerblue · Jul 1, 2018

I meant th Ancre book. Damn autocorrect!

Uwek · Jul 1, 2018

Submarinerblue said:
I thought about getting the Andre book, but I didn’t want to spend 110Euros. I was able to find sufficient information on the web for my purposes. There is an animation of the construction on YouTube, and many photos of a completed models.

I have the planset, which is in scale 1:24. see f.e. The thread about stoves in the „construction details of ships“........ I am planing to make a plan review with photos of the drawings and the book in the next days.
But as you said....there are a lot info available in the web, nevertheless a drawing set is not wrong to have....

Submarinerblue · Jul 1, 2018

Would you have a drawing set of the rigging that you could share?

Uwek · Jul 1, 2018

Submarinerblue said:
Would you have a drawing set of the rigging that you could share?

I have to check which info / drawings are available for rigging, but usually the plans are very good in this regard.....please send me a PM

donfarr · Jul 1, 2018

looking forward to this build as this is on my to do list very shortly, hope to learn from your build. THANKS Don

Submarinerblue · Jul 2, 2018

Here is the completed framed hull sitting in the temporary stand that was included in the kit. The frames have been mostly faired, but it was very difficult to remove all the laser charing.

zoly99sask · Jul 2, 2018

Seems like you still need to go over a few more times with the sander,but the framing looks at the first glance.

Submarinerblue · Jul 2, 2018

Actually I had to do a lot more sanding at the bow and at the stern.

Submarinerblue · Jul 3, 2018

The model is now at the stage where I’m ready to start rigging. I wasn’t originally planning to do a build log so I didn’t take pics of the intermediate stages.
The windlass and the ship’s boat are separate kits that I got on eBay. I believe they are by Master Korbel. The scales are actually 1/72, but they seem to fit fine.
I’m considering repainting the figurehead in all yellow to match the rest of the paint scheme.