The Ship Model Forum • Post a reply

Board index » ModelWarships.com general forum » Picture Post » Works in Progress

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]

1/400 MN Béarn

Moderators: BB62vet, MartinJQuinn, JIM BAUMANN, Jon, Dan K

Post a reply

Username:

Subject:

Message body:
Enter your message here, it may contain no more than 60000 characters.

Smilies

View more smilies

Font size:

	Font colour
[quote="FFG-7"]I have the 1927 French naval plans of that ship from the French site before it got hacked a number of years ago. is 69 files at 96mb.[/quote]

Options:

BBCode is ON

[img] is ON

[flash] is OFF

[url] is ON

Smilies are ON

	Disable BBCode
	Disable smilies
	Do not automatically parse URLs

Question

What is the name in the logo in the top left? (hint it's something dot com):
This question is a means of preventing automated form submissions by spambots.

Topic review - 1/400 MN Béarn

Author

Message

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

I'll check if this is a worthwile change, because it means a lot of cutting, sanding and resetting. Now, some work on the hull is shown. The port galleries were drilled out but not refurbished. I used spare PE for this. It should have been T-profiles with beams bending inward but that would have been too hard to make from the exterior.

I proceded to bend these railings for the catwalks. The missing ribs on the underside have been replenished.

But then I realised that I misunderstood the quite sketchy instructions and had made an error in the port catwalk placement. This was also the cause for the missing level change. I have to remove the long part and then place this further back. I did this carefully to preserve the PE ribs on the underside.

Only a few ribs came loose with the removal of the catwalk. I do need to make a lot more for the short part that will tak its place under the galleries. The long part is restored to the kit form by adding the two cut halves. Because it will now take position on a slightly curved edge, I snipped the side at two locatons so it would follow this curve.

A ridge of CA glue is milled from the hull.

After restoring the catwalks, the railings can be put back. The ladders are spare from former projects. L'Arsénal has failed to add enough of these for all the level differences.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:59 am

FFG-7

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Jim, when trying to upload the picture to this site, the upload bar swings back & forth for 10 minutes or more even for a file less then 1mb in size by which time I cancel the upload & edited the post. tried jpeg, png, tiff(original file format) & bmp.
here is a crop view but not as good as full size as numbers cannot be read properly if at all.

Attachments:

BEARN1927C003 - 3.jpg [ 343.15 KiB | Viewed 86 times ]

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 9:44 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

I took 2 pictures of the stern next to plans in the book.

Attachments:

20250724_114735.jpg [ 2.41 MiB | Viewed 96 times ]

20250724_114704.jpg [ 2.68 MiB | Viewed 96 times ]

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 4:50 am

JIM BAUMANN

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Of the drawing is too large to upload here;

FFG-7 could you do a screenshot of the area on the plan and post it here a a jpg ?
or you can send the screen-shot to me as an e-mail via the e-mail button below?

I would be very interested, almost a much as StevenVD :wave_1:

Kind regards

Jim Baumann :thumbs_up_1:

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 2:31 am

FFG-7

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

according to this drawing, the inboard props should be further back to the stern & maybe also the outboard props.
forget about the drawing as this site has upload issues as it won't let me upload a 588kb file.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:26 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Thanks, Jim. Apparently the planes were multiple millimeters too large, they should have measured about 18mm overall and that's also the length of the elevator. And now the rest of the airwing is built.

Levasseur PL101

I almost used the wong airframe on these wings. They look alike and differ a bit in length.

All these resin planes use the fragile PE pin system to fix the upper wing like the Déwoitines seen above.

It's a relief when the lower wing is fixed.

Here L'Arsénal did not draw the Levasseur 101 axle, I presumed it had one like the L10 in the picture above but this might be wrong. In the Levasseur 7 drawing the struts are drawn as straight as the L10 ons, but these should be under an angle. This is quite misleading as you don't have the space for vertical struts. I removed the PE locator pins because the resin is too hard and thin to drill.

The axle is reproduced in ABS.

Levasseur 7

The difference here is the rectangular wing profile.

The lower wings got placed harder, because of the struts that had to be added later on.

I did not add an axle here as it was used as a torpedo bomber.

Vought 156 F

The casting skin is removed. There is an option for resin wheels and I took it. The PE wheels are nicer than the Eduard ones, I might use them in stead for the Levasseurs.

No locator hole for the tailwheel was provided.

The locator pins for the landing gear were bent to use for gluing to the wing surface. The propellers are badly attached to the fret with 4 points. It took al lot of effort to clean the burrs of the fine PE blades.

Loire Nieuport

A peculiar design with the faired front wheels and reversed double tail rudders.

These are completely built from PE.

The front wheel fairings are not present in the model, the resin wheels are pressed in a PE part.

The prop system is cleaner here.

The airwing is now ready for painting, though the Déwoitines can't be placed near to the front due to the bad fit to the elevator.

The ship's propulsion system is made entirely from resin. The drawing shows the inner axles with struts mounted both to the keel, this is incorrect. On the model the struts are partly connected to the hull.

Removing the axles results in damage and scarring to the complete part. It's best to replace the shafts. 1.5mm ABS rod is used.

I made an error in the first shaft, the traces are still visible on the hull. This could be avoidable by numbering the resin parts.

I removed the locator pin, why drill in the propellers if the placement is obvious?

The rudders were added after drilling holes that were not indicated. This concludes the underwater hull construction.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 7:08 pm

JIM BAUMANN

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Good work on the elevators!! use a No 10 P scalpel Swan-Morton blade to flatten the oval cut-outs in the crane
aircraft fuselage length versus elevator....

which is wrong? :scratch:

best wishes and strength to carry on!

JIM Baumann

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 11:00 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Some old PE frets are now selected to construct the vault in the elevator.

Some narrow beams are cut to 8.5mm.

These are used to make these tension frames.

Most of the elevator is now constructed like on the picture.

This crane should get some drilling.

But I'm used to building cranes with PE. I first tried to trace the resin on some foil.

But I never got the shape as clean as the resin.

So I drilled the holes after all. The PE was found in the Dunkerque remains.

The smallest planes are built. The wing removal was difficult with 2 broken parts.

Four small pins should locate the wing on the monocoque.

These are quite frail and would break easily.

The spars will fix that problem.

The resin wheels are mounted on these too.

There seems to be a dimension problem. These should fit in the front elevator.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 9:21 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

i'm going on scratching with the front elevator cage.

The Pontos Essex sets I used both had this useful fret.

The shape could be refined to get the outside of this framework of perforated I-beams.

I separated the desiderd frame from the fret and removed the unneeded partitions.

The section is split in two halves and filed clean from burrs.

Four of the frames were made. Because of the part numbers etched in them, one cracked, but it can be mounted on the inside. The perforated part of the I-beam can be added from a generic set.

I drilled between the holes in the beam to get the slit shapes. They are a bit oversized, but the smallest beams with better holes seemed too fragile to drill. The beams were added to the frame.

Two crossbeams are added and the frame is closed down. Then it's glued to the elevator roof.

A second frame was added. I still have to add the tension braces and the vault.

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 5:02 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Thanks, Martin! Some more changes follow in this update.

I noticed the added foil was loose at the edges. To ensure it to properly adhere to the plastic, I clamped a metal object to it and poured some Zap under the edge.

The starboard edge where the island sits, slightly deviates to the bow. This is according to plans, but the hull doesn't fit to the deck like that. Also, if the island is aligned to that, the stack would not be parallel to the keel.

So I cut it along the hull line and rounded the rear part again.

The tie-down-like things and other removed deck parts were added again. I made the planking foil to tight and I had to add a metal strip to both sides. Some filing was needed to level that strip.

Before fixing the deck, I made sure stuff can't fall in the elevators and disappear. I walled off the open holes with some leftover foil parts that were painted grey, I know there were fire curtains in the hangar. Then the main part of the deck was glued to the hull with some clamping.

The extremities are fixed later on with superfluous styrene glue. The deck was too stubborn to risk CA glue.

The 1935 changes to the ship were not all provided in the kit, so I had to make an important addition to the front deck edge.

In this 1936 picture the changes under the flight deck can be seen.

First the bracing under the girders had to be sawn off. This risky undertaking was almost done when the entire girder was knocked away. It was put back where it belongs and the stumps were filed.

Drilling the holes in the plating could be done with the Proxxon, but I hate to clamp the parts. I could manage it with the Dremel.

The 5 plates were then glued between the posts. There was a working space inside. I don't know if I can add a floor between them, there is a telescopic mast going through.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 6:02 am

MartinJQuinn

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Wow! You are ALL in on this build! Very creative solutions

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 9:06 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Now it was time to tackle the planking.

I had toyed with the idea to disassemble the unused Dunkerque decks that are in my stash. After counting the planks on one half beam section I got to 100. If the beam of 6.3 mm was divided by 200, a plank width of 0.3mm resulted. Even the generic decks for 1/700 on Scalemates only go to 0.5mm. Wood decks were apparently out of the question.

But there is a way to get to this using metal foil, like I did on earlier BB builds. A series of points at 3mm interval is connected with an engraved line, and then these are separated in 3 strips, and the last step is to try to get two lines in each of these 1mm strips. Not all of these were on par, but the general idea looks like it should. No butt ends were attempted, these look irregular in pattern.

Drawing these lines and paying equal attention to each offset is the hard part.

Two parts are needed, the flight deck length exceeds the metail foil dimension.

While trimming I missed the rear elevator edge. This means there is a seam close to that edge.

The elevator shaft is opened up. I am happy there are no rounds like on US carriers.

After removing some deck edge details, the new surface can be applied on the rear deck and the elevator doors.

The front part has a system of what look like tie-downs. This is copied to the metal deck.

The cutting of this copy causes some canning.

That can be hammered out.

The front deck part is also fixed with CA and the seam is filled. The only thing missing is the deck edge plank running around the flight deck. On the rounded parts this will be evident, but if I would remove 1 mm I would need a plank that can be molded around the deck edge. Maybe I should avoid this like I avoid the butt ends...

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 3:53 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

In this update, most resin parts of the island are replaced. This is done because of the poor detail of windows and doors. The parts have simple geometric forms and can be copied to styrene floors with sheetmetal walls.

The lower part is copied here. 8 portholes were sourced from Essex remnants. Doors are from Dunkerques.

The next floor has large rectangular windows, that are drilled in after bending the metal. I didn't have more French doors so from this part it's Veryfire cruiser doors.

Some damage to the windowstyles will be repaired later. All of this is drilled by hand and then cut with a new scalpel blade.

Compare to the resin parts with what seems like heavy shutters. I did not like the look of that. Why was this not slotted into the resin? Then I would only have replaced the doors.

The second floor is easy and has smaller windows. I avoided damage here.

After some filing the three elements fit under the smoke stack.

I had to cut out the round from the stack in the top floor, as there was no more room under the stack for even a PE plate.

Another objective is scratched from the list. But the next one will be even harder. Stay tuned...

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 5:11 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

Grey paint is applied to the finished deck parts fore and aft.

There is one picture where the middle elevator floor is visible through the doors, and it is a lot lighter than the deck. I assumed it was a steel floor and painted it grey too.

The ship will be supported by the same brass struts as the Dunkerques.

Some 12 millimeter holes will have to be drilled, but this time on a composite hull.

Some cracking was heared at the last hole, but the hull held.

These holes have almost the required diameter.

One polishing stone has the perfect dimension to finish the holes.

There the supports need to be fixed.

After dragging out some leftover sprues with round channels (I have a large hoard of these in a backside corner of my hobby room) I created these housings for the supports. They are reinforced with the intention not to break up inside the closed hull.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 7:22 am

marijn van gils

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

This kit looks like a lot of work... Perfect for you! :big_grin:

Great work Steven! :thumbs_up_1:

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2025 10:15 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

The flight deck is cast in one part with closed elevator shafts. You do get the resin hatch parts for the middle elevator, with some kind of halfhearted option to put these on the flight deck with the elevator floor on deck level.

Let's make this more intriguing by opening up two of the shafts and adding a bit of hangar deck interior. No more than a few centimeters are needed, because of the scant insight only from flight deck level.

On the hanger floor plan, the sidewalls are taken in by work offices. I can close these down.

The interior for the middle lift can be attached to the flight deck, this makes connections easy. I later had to make a cutout at the front for the sprue bulkhead I made last time. Therefore the deck now only fits with a slide to the front.

From flight deck level, a continuous floor is seen and the lower hangar deck is obscured.

The elevator floor is inscribed with a middle line and floor edge, but the resin parts are blank on top.

Because there is a ceiling fixed to the front elevator, the only relevant position here is almost at flight deck level. The ceiling will rise about one centimeter above deck level. In the book, four offices are built around the elevator, with a corridor between them running after the elevator. I have to attach these interior parts to the hull, because a transverse bulkhead is present here, and the deck is now sliding. This bulkhead can be used to attach the office walls.

Because of that moving ceiling and any plane in the elevator, looking into the shaft will be restricted.

The island of this kit is the most impressive assembly, with PE floors sandwiching the resin superstructure blocks. Some sawing is required and the smoke stack needed repair.

A tool is necessary to fold this PE. It seems correct with the island detail plans.

I will probably replace two of the resin bridge parts to get some interior view. I don't like the offset windows on them. The stack will not be opend up like the "Cul de Lampe" though, the mesh detail is commendable.

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 6:17 pm

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

I found a description of the ship's anchors, there are two of 8 tons, one of 9 tons and one of 3 tons that is probably shown here. Later this is changing a few times.

Attachments:

20250610_200330.jpg [ 270.39 KiB | Viewed 443 times ]

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 1:16 pm

FFG-7

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

is that an anchor just above the vents you had just put in?

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 11:51 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

I found some sets of support ribs to detail the two large catwalk parts.

The so-called "Cul de lampe" aeration ducts were quite rudimentary on the model. The only reason for this might be the option to build the ship before 1936, when the front half of these hole were still absent. But for me it is unacceptable.

I had some generic fine gauze sets, but that would be problematic as the plastic is 1.2mm thick and the gauze would have to be cut in fine parts if it had to sit on top of the hull. If only I had an existing PE-grille with partitions in the mesh that would fit on the holes... Would this 1/350 Zuikaku windscreen fit?

I calculated the number of needed screens and it couldn't fit better than if I had designed it for this purpose. But only if I cut up the windscreen in 38 equal parts. The only differences are missing borders, but that would not be obvious due to the repetition of the parts.

Now I could make the necessary perforations.

The holes were perforated with varying drill diameters and then cut out, filed and covered with Tamiya glue to soften them.

The mesh parts are added with minimal glue quantities. The lower row is bent with an X-acto handle to follow the curvature.

Some hatch holes were added from the pictures.

I closed down the inside of this venting hole, adding two floors and a partition wall. This was painted grey. I did not detail the uptakes, the mesh is not that translucid.

Some partitions had to be painted before assembly.

I did the same with the port gallery. At right the catwalk parts had to be clipped, causing me to lose some of the support ribs added.

Apparenty L'Arsenal has simplified the port catwalk construction, removing the level difference they show on their own painting instructions. I noticed it because I would be covering portholes if I put it like they say in the assembly instructions. I alos noticed that they leave out inclined ladders, therefore closing down the catwalks with railings where you would have the ladders. A good thing I have some spare ladders from the Essex project.

The starboard catwalk can retain its single level, though it misses the ladders too. The deck edge is here aligned with the island sponson, showing the warping of the hull because no bulkheads are installed.

So I added one myself.

Assembling the deck will now be much easier, but the sponson still has fitting problems.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 8:49 am

StevenVD

Post subject:

Re: 1/400 MN Béarn

I started the assembly of the rear flight deck support frame with the PE pillars. These fit on locator pins. I first put these as per the manual. They are difficult to bend because the perforations border on continuous bend lines. A folding tool is a must here.

But the plastic frame shows that the rear pillars should be reversed.

Only then the framework girders should be added.

There apears to be a fourth elevator to Béarn, a retractable island that was a primitive feature found on contemporary ships. After some tests it was not continued. These sections show the multiple levels it had.

I wanted to incorporate th windows it featured, so I wanted to replace the resin part wit some Greenstuff styrene. It did not react to Tamiya glue, so I used CA.

These flashy pillars for the front flight deck ware replaced with 2mm brass tubes.

These had to be located with plastic rods. The rear tubes interfered with the hangar walls, so these were cut shorter.

Some L'Arsénal details are unacceptable when compared to the ref pics. The front panama vault in resin is replaced.

Also, the breakwater looks rather like a castle wall and should be interrupted for the ship's anchor chains. Parts of it are replaced with Veryfire capstans. The starboard capstan base was mirrored in the L'Arsénal model, I can't change this anymore in this phase.

This walkway is in 2mm thick plastic, so I searched for a spare PE fret that could win some space.

Only after installing this part, I found evidence that there likely was no bridge between the deck edge walkways.

I installed the girders, these are very fiddly and a simplification of the real construction that was multi-layered.

Strangely, L'Arsénal uses 3-bar railing over the whole of the model, while most areas show 2-bar. I found some 3-bar on the side gallery ref pics.

At the stern sponsons, railing is added too, but strangely none is featured at the poop deck.

The side gallery walkways are so overscale in thickness I wanted to replace this with styrene foil. I only have to replicate the ribbing, which was commendable.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2025 8:40 pm

Board index » ModelWarships.com general forum » Picture Post » Works in Progress

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]

Jump to: