Institut de France, Paris, L'Instant Durable, 1:250[FERTIG]

  • Model: Institut de France, Paris
    Authour: (Design/Colour) Jean-Marie Lemaire
    Copyright Date: 1992
    Collection Number: 27
    Scale: 1:250
    Number of Sheets: 17
    Number of Parts: 326
    Note: Permission to photograph and transmit material* from this édition granted by L'Instant Durable: http://www.instantdurable.com in low resolution
    *Max. 3 pictures


    I would like to thank Alain de Bussac, directeur de la collection de L' Instant Durable for permission to highlight the quality of this model's publication with pictures photographed from its introductory pages.

  • Looking forward to this one, John :) It is one of the very few I.D. I have waiting on the shelf. The detachable dome looks rather complicated to build. Very promising, too ;)

  • Certainly an interesting choice, John. Looks to be a little complicated, but you will do it justice!


    regards

    best regards
    mit herzlichen grussen


    Fred


    In Build:
    Panzerkreuzer Infanta Maria Teresa

  • Thank you.


    This building has a rich history! It is located on the left bank of the Seine opposite the Louvre. It began as a church and was converted to a library when Cardinal Mazarin left two million books in his will for the foundation of a college. General Bonaparte was closely associated with its membership.


    You can see a virtual tour of the site if you go to:


    http://translate.google.com/tr…France,%2BParis%26hl%3Den


    Click on the virtual tour and you will see six areas of interest to explore.


    John

  • Here are the parts that will make up the entire base of the model. Like many French models in this line, the ground level is elevated. You can see the grey panels with their blue tabs that will make the vertical foundation walls.


    I do not rely on the buildings that will sit on these base parts to keep everything flat. The paper is thin and the base is easily warped. This publisher does not supply additional card stock for reinforcement, although some recommend it in their instructions.


    On this model, there are approximately 648 square centimeters of street in front of the buildings. I would like to lay down some smooth pavement and a plane surface that will run back under the buildings to the back of the model.

  • Hi John,
    Instant model are very spesial, für the aloow a lokk into the building. That's way I love them but als have no further space for building. My space in my modelcellar is saved for my fleets.


    With the best regards


    modellschiff

                                                                                   Artikel 1 GG:

    Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.

    Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt



  • Hello modellschiff.
    Yes, space can be a determining factor with this craft. I'm working on my second storeroom downstairs...


    The four parts that make up the base of this model are intended to be joined together with tabs. I usually try to avoid overlapping parts that employ them - especially on open flat surfaces such as the large pavement area in front of this building. Light casts a shadow on the joint and makes it quite noticeable. Butt joints are much cleaner and easy to achieve if there is underlying material to span the joint.


    Photo One shows the parts in overlap position. In Photo Two, the underlying tab is removed.

  • Cutting tabs off mating curves is a little trickier.


    First Photo: The Parts


    Second Photo: Cutting Off the Curved Underlying Section


    Photo Three: Test Fit.
    It looks as if the curves of the two parts are making a flush fit. They are not. One is riding over the other a little bit. If this situation is left, there is no benefit to the effort of cutting off the tab. In the fourth photo you can see the overlap when the parts are turned over.

  • To correct this, a little bit of tape is applied to anchor one end of the joint. Then the parts are flipped over again and carefully manipulated into correct position. Then a knife with a very sharp point is drawn around the curve. The knife rides the edge of the curve and the tip slices through the offending underlay. The pencil is pointing at the sliver removed.


    First Photo: Anchoring the Parts


    Photo Two: The Correction


    Photo Three: The Piece Removed

  • You're welcome lriera. You can achieve almost seamless joints with regular tabs also. Just cut them off and reglue them under the part a millimeter. Voila, you have a step ready for a flush join to a mating part.


    In Photo 1 there are three parts that are not required for my version of this model. The large rectangular part is a vertical support for the foundation that folds down. A different system will be used for the substructure. The other two pieces are tabs.


    Photo 2 shows the assembled skin of the base. There are gentle undulations in it, but they will disappear (hopefully) when the skin is bonded to a base 'deck'.

  • The skin of the base is bonded to the 1mm card deck with contact cement. (rubber cement) Glue is applied to the back side of the skin and the card. Both parts are set aside and allowed to dry. Once the two surfaces touch, the bond will be instant. But you can manipulate things so that you can progressively reveal glue as you press the two surfaces together. A sheet of wax paper is placed over the skin's dry glued surface. It will be gently pulled out as the card is pressed down. This lets you progressively work out any air bubbles or wrinkles. This technique is used to laminate counter tops.


    In photos 1 & 2, The card is being applied to the back of the skin. Notice the wax paper covering the skin. Only a strip of glue at the bottom is revealed to start the application.


    Once the card is in the proper position, the wax paper can be slid up to reveal more glue. (Photos 3 &4) The parts are turned over so that the top surface can be closely watched and pressed down as the wax paper is slowly pulled out.

  • The front edge of the raised base requires no reinforcing card as it is terminated at, for the want of a better term, a sea wall.


    Edit: There is a better term. I have often heard of Paris buildings being either on the 'left bank' or the 'right bank' of the Seine. Therefore, the proper term would be embankment.


    I may have misled the reader. The base does not need reinforcement at the front because of the embankment, but the embankment itself is quite heavily reinforced from below.

  • Dear John,


    be sure about my best wishes to your new model! I`m sure it will be another outstanding one !!


    best regards Frank

    Im Bau / under construction:


    StuG III, 1/25, GPM


    zurückgestellt bis zum Renteneintritt
    --- KRAZ 255 B 6x6, 1:25 ---


    und vergesst nicht, es ist nur ein Papiermodell........

  • The first building to be constructed is the central church with its Grecian façade. The portal section is seen here. The upper corners were intended to be left open in the recess. I have chosen to close them with corner bracket strips. (yellow). The green yoke keeps the walls of the recess parallel and the whole unit easier to manipulate into position. It can be handled as one unit when being glued into place behind the porch rather than have to glue each side and the top into place one at a time.

  • I mentioned Cardinal Mazarin earlier. His tomb was installed in this church in 1693.


    One look at these two photographs and you will instantly recognize this as a model of high quality. It is nice to work with artwork that has been painstakingly drawn by hand. Jean-Marie Lemaire has done a fine job. This is not a computer generated model. You may have noticed the brushstrokes on the wall at the front of the model.

  • Hello Yu,
    Yes, this model has great potential. I hope I am up to the challenge.


    The portico of the church was interesting, but a bit difficult to build. That was due mainly to the mitered angles involved with the cornices.


    The second picture is one of my favourites. Many of you will recognize it. It was actually a fluke that it turned out at all. None of the parts are glued together. I just gathered them up in the palm of my hand and arranged them to appear assembled. One take - one shot with the camera and it worked. I guess it would have been taken four years ago.


    I show it here to compare the approach of making capitals for columns. On the French model the capitals are part of the architrave. The columns rests against their back surfaces .On the German model the capitals are individually made - three sided - and slide in front of the columns. They have not been applied yet in the photo.

  • Here is something a little different. One tab is attached to the frame of the window. The upside of this arrangement is that the window is quite easy to centre when it is being manipulated into position from the back. The downside is that this tab could make the window position itself a bit too far to one side in the frame. The paper thickness of the window frame could be exposed. However, tooling the frame back against the tab seems to work.


    First time I've seen this arrangement.

  • The walls are closed. It was the roof that proved quite a challenge. I can see how this element could be quite frustrating to a model builder. Without reinforcement in strategic places, it would easily rack and twist out of shape. What complicates matters is the fact that the big dome hole splits the roof in half at the back. The two halves have to be joined around the hole in the same plane. There is a little bit of mansard roof, hip roof, flat roof, shed roof all rolled into one here. It must have been a roof framer's nightmare to construct.


    I found one printing error. The leading edge of the main front roof is intended to slide under the pediment roof and glue to a tab. Instead of being printed blue, that tab, C11 was printed yellow. That would have bent it outward and either over the roof or block the roof from sliding into place instead of backward and under the pediment roof.

  • Good morning Ricardo. Thanks. Yes, I find constructing domes challenging at the best of times. This one could do me in.


    Externally the dome is circular, but inside the rotunda walls are oval. In the first shot, you are looking down into the rotunda. You can see the stairs at the bottom leading forward through an arch.


    In the second shot, you see the floor of the rotunda. Those are chairs on the floor - one half green and the other side gray.


    The third shot shows the floor of the rotunda from the bottom of the model. Actually, the floor is a little short of the bottom plane of the church foundation. The tabs won't reach the base of the model. Not a problem.


    I must confess to a flaw in my model. You can just see the top of a vertical strip of paper running down into the rotunda in the last shot. I found the oval too small on my model and had to open it up with a slit to let it expand to the proper shape. I should have checked its size by fitting it to the top plate under the dome before I glued it closed.

  • Thanks for the exageration, John :D :rotwerd: Well, at first sight, I'd use a similar method as in the Berlin Cathedral. I put some pictures on Friedulin's thread. It is here:


    Berliner Dom [FERTIG]


    The trouble is that all the slices are drawn around the circular base. Once you glue any two of them together, they should go straight to the final position. It makes less sense to glue the slices in pairs, than in groups of 4 and so on. Access to the interior gets harder, too, as the hole in the base (not yet cut, on your picture) is rather small. Another snag is that there are 24 slices and they get very thin on the top. I'd make the inside tabs shorter, perhaps to the point where the dome will be covered by other parts. The remaining bits would be put together with an inside small circular part, added at the end. Anyway, it looks challenging ;)