Free Plans of 19th Century Italian Barquentine "Fidente"

Italian "Ship-Schooner" Fidente

From Italian archives come the plans of the “Ship-Schooner” Fidente (Trusting).

In English we would refer to her as a barquentine (alternatively barkentine), which wikipedia defines as "a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts."

I've found a few historical reference to European emigrants arriving in the U.S. aboard a "brig" named Fidente, which as sail-rig terminology can be somewhat loose depending on the person writing it, but nothing solid on her history. If you can track down any more info, please let us know via our contact page.

Even without further documentation, I think Fidente would make a handsome ship model, and would be a good subject if you're not quite ready for a full-rigged ship model.

French 20th Century Warship Le Gladiateur

Le Gladiateur 1933

For those of you who enjoy 20th Century warships, here's an interesting project for a ship model builder: A French net-laying ship, Le Gladiateur, launched in 1933. She was scuttled at Toulon  in 1942 by her own crew to avoid capture. She was salvaged the following year by Italians, then captured by Germans and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in January 1944 as SG18. She was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft in 1944.
Due to her relatively small size (compared to a battleship) she could be built at a larger scale and still create a ship model of manageable size. Our page on Le Gladiateur offers ships lines plans, outboard profiles, and deck plans: everything you need for scratch-building a highly-detailed ship model. We have more detailed plans available as well. For more information on those, please inquire on our Contact Page.