Le Coureur 1776 1:48 (CAF) by Salty

[Salty]

Fellow modellers

Some time ago, I thought it would be nice to build Le Coureur. She wasn’t available on the CAF website for quite a while, but one day a kit popped up so I ordered it then and there.

I have reached a bit of an impasse with my model of La Salamandre - see https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/search/284353/?q=Salamandre&t=post&c[title_only]=1&c[users]=Salty&o=date - and I think Le Coureur will give me more experience and confidence to complete her at some stage in the future.

I started building a little while ago, but kept some pictures and notes of my progress which I will post before starting the log in earnest.

My kit arrived safely from Tom at CAF and I started with the keel:



Here is the jig:



There are a few blocks of soft wood from the local hobby shop holding everything square and in place, but I think they will be straightforward to remove when the jig has to be dismantled later.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[Salty]

I decided to build the stern next:



There was a little bit of guesswork in cleaning up the CNC machined parts (they were quite fuzzy on the outside), but everything seemed to fit nicely together in the end. It’s a bit of a shame it will be completely covered in the final model.

PS Sorry, but I just noticed the blue tape around the middle frame which holds everything steady in the jig.

Kind regards

Salty

 

[RichardG]

Looks like a very good start.

 

[pianoforte]

That's developing very nicely, I wish you continued success.

 

[Salty]

Richard and Adi, thank you for your kind comments. I wish I had started with everyone else a few years ago, but am looking forward to it nonetheless. She’s a lovely ship and a little usual for a model ship with the clinker planking.

The next job is the frames. Here are some of the frames for the bow:





I have taken a slightly different approach to finishing the outside of the frames and have been using a knife (to remove most the of the material) and then a razor blade (to make the final adjustments to the steps).



The knife has to be very sharp to cut cleanly across end grain (quite common in the floor timbers). I also use the knife for the inside bevel, but then finish with 240 grit sandpaper and a scraper. The scraper is also useful to check the bevels are flat (fore and aft).

The frames seem to be cut very accurately, but there are some very slight differences in the laser markings for the bevels between the front and back. This is perhaps more pronounced on the reverse side of the billet, but the correct position can be marked in pencil by reference to the plans.

Kind regards

Salty