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Being a passionate of small soldiers in figurines, in the year 1985 I realize my first set of soldiers in moulding. Obtaining a very nice outcome of it, I continued to move on and started making ancient marine figurine. Suddenly a thought came to my mind, to place my small figurines upon a ship model. As I knew how to make wooden model, I started to grasp a model the HMS Victory. I was quite impressed looking at the end result. The figurines added an awesome touch on the model. Consequently I continued to produce models like this for my personnel satisfaction. One day I got the opportunity to participate in an exhibition hence I concluded that there is a great demand for ship model. The idea of having my own business tempted and hence my first business under the name of BOBATO was established in 1997. In 1999 I created my own company named LA FLOTTE LTEE which is settled down at Pope Hennesy Street Curepipe. Initially I made some famous model like the Superbe, Cutty Sark, HMS Bounty, and Caravels of Christophe Colomb the Santa Maria. With the passage of time I was able to expand my business gradually, together with the corporation of some reliable workers who are still working in the company till now. In the present day we have reached a collection of fifty models in different sizes and we are well specialize in our moulding section. Today La Flotte Ltee is a well established and well known company and we are aiming to give our customers the best quality of ship model.
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We receive authentic plan from different museum of different countries for example the plan of the ship Superbe, St Geran, Belle-Poule, La Flore, Hermione, Victory, Bounty, Cutty Sark, Soleil Royal, Etoile, Souvereign of the Sea, Chebec, Belem and Brick comes from association of Marine Museum.
The plans for a ship are of various sheets, with all the details and scale. First we have to remove the pattern of the ribs and center quill so as to build a sort of skeleton of the ship, the skeleton is very important as it’s avoid distortions in climate change. Afterwards it will be planked with teak wood of 3mm thinness but before that the wood will be soak in water for 6 hours so that it can take the shape of the hull easily. We use also palissander, iron and mahogany wood, the deck is made of find layers of wood glued together and being well polish. Then the hull is polished several times to get a nice sharpness. The castles have lots of details and it is made by a specialist in the field. In time all the small parts are being prepared like the masts, canons claps, deadeyes, sculptures and sails. Then the ladies put up the rigging and sail. The string use for the rigging is thoroughly waxed with beeswax and the sails are tinted in an infusion of tea to have oldish.
All the parts help us to give our customer an acute representation of the ships, like the cannons, brass pieces, duckboard, wooden and moulded carving. We received our brass in rod of different diameters, the small ship part and cannon are turned on a metal lathe manually, and it is the same for wooden parts like deadeyes, capstan, masts, spritsail and small pieces are made. We have our moulded section too which unable us to do all the small molding carving like Anchors, figurines, cannons, figureheads and different pieces. To make the moulding, we have to make a master piece in hard wood like “bois de natte” or “Ebony” and then a mould is prepared in silicone. Materials which is used for the casting is a mixer of two metals zinc and lead. Afterward much patience is needed to polish the rough surfaces so as to have a sparkling finish and they are then painted in gold or black.
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Our best markets are: England, France, Italy, Germany, America, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and Australia. These countries have a rich history of naval evolution since centuries. In our workshop we do not only receive visitors coming from these countries but also from different cultured, who appreciate our ship models and recognize our work.
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