A  model of the frigate "Blas de Lezo"

by Juan Carlos Gorostiza

 In a former post on my blog "Oteando desde Getxo" (Scanning from Getxo), I presented some ship models manufactured by my friend Juan Carlos Gorostiza, which bind to the charm inherent to any ship model, the simplicity of the construction methods used by Juan Carlos, what makes doubly attractive the contemplation of his models with the awareness of his techniques. But note that simple methods do not mean this is an easy job, much less. In my opinion it is doubly worthy achieving so good results when the methods are so affordable.

Now I present in this post the photos of the frigate Blas de Lezo model, in various stages during its construction. This frigate of the Spanish Navy  belongs to the class  Alvaro de Bazan, was launched on the Navantia's shipyard in Ferrol and is at service since 2002. She was named in honor of Blas de Lezo and Olavarrieta, lieutenant general of the Spanish Armada in the eighteenth century.

This frigate is one to the first European warships equipped with the American combat system Aegis, and with a radar able to detect aircraft movements in a radius of 600 miles, allowing them to operate at the same level with the most modern U.S. Navy units and participate in the development of the missile defense system. She has the capacity to detect and track up to 90 moving targets and to control air and surface missiles.

In following pictures you can see the progress of the model during its construction.

My congratulations, once again, to Juan Carlos Gorostiza for his contribution to the art of ship modeling with this new model of the "Blas de Lezo" frigate.