The Ship Model Forum

Because I recenty bought both Hobbyboss' 1/350 Dunkerque and Strasbourg kits, I was looking for reviews for the aftermarket items that are available for these. I found a build log for the Bigblueboy upgrade, but not for the Shipyard one. I also had wood decks and barrel sets for both models before I had the mutimedia upgrades. In this review I will determine what will eventually be used for the builds somewhere in the future. If somebody got experience in these models, reactions are welcome.



These are the models that were concerned.





Bigblueboy Strasbourg and Shipyard Dunkerque upgrades, only available on eBay. There is only a Strasbourg Bigblueboy set, but there are Shipyard sets for both ships. Shipyard also sells the decks separately, as well as some other companies.



Twice the master barrel set, widely available. From one of these sets I will still be needing the Dunkerque light AA barrels set. These appeared not included in the Shipyard upgrade. I'll compare the barrels with the other upgrades below.



Wood Hunter Strasbourg deck set, also bought before the Bigblueboy set was provided. I left it out but if there's any interest I can add it to the comparison.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/shipyard-works-350028-dunkerque--1479902

The Shipyard Dunkerque wood deck I got with the rest of the ship kits, strangely as we'll see this differs from the wood deck in the large upgrade above. It's more elaborate with the sloop decks included.

Now I'll compare the Bigblueboy set with the Shipyard set. One observation is that B. costed a lot more while being for an almost identical ship model, € 196 vs. 93. This discrepancy I could not explain looking only at the differences in the sets.



If you open the Shipyard set, the wood deck and the manual will show first, but this deck is not sealed. There is a mask included.



Under it is a pillow with a hole for the barrel set, in a small plastic box.



The PE set is found below this. The frets are as large as 2/3 of the box.



If you open the Bigblueboy box, the deck is not loose but is sealed and fixed to the lid. This may protect it from clattering. The underside of the deck is the same yellow color as used for masking, but if this would be the mask then it would be mirrored?



The barrels are taped to the PE in one pack. Also better against motion. When the Shipyard zipbags were observed, they wore many clattering marks from the barrels. Luckily the brass is harder than the small plastic casing and couldn't hit the other contents. It is also visible that there are two kinds of metal used for the Bigblueboy PE. Maybe the steel is used for the finest details.



These frets are smaller but outnumber the Shipyard ones.



Comparing the front deck part, what is immediately visible is that the Shipyard deck above is a lot thinner. You'd say this is a plus, but it's so thin that in some instances the veneer in the wood breaks up the structure. I'd do better to use the separate deck set I had with the ships, than this damaged part. The alternative would be to cut out the damaged planks and replace them with some of the spare material.



If both decks are superimposed, the Shipyard one is a bit larger at the front. Which set has the correct fit with the breakwater will have to be determined while building. The two holes right on the picture are only in the Strasbourg deck, maybe this is a difference between the ships?



The planking is not identical. Bigblueboy has longer planks. I don't know yet if this can be visually checked with reference.



This picture shows the difference in thickness, Shipyard is almost translucent and Bigblueboy is a millimeter thick.



I compared the main turret barrels of S., B. and M. While S. has a tapering muzzle like in some English barrels, the other two are comparable to pictures of the gun.



The secondary battery is showing a difference in length, with the M. version on top being more than 1mm shorter (but I wouldn't unpack it lest it could be resold).



The difference in the manuals is in the format, oblong or regular.



From what I can see yet, some parts differ little with B. replacing the kit parts completely and S. reusing things from the kit. Observe the structural difference in the middle, it seems only one can be correct.



Here also the crane is completely replaced in B. Later I will see if this is improving the detail or diminishing the thickness of parts. S. has some extra airplane detail. It also has two reference pictures, seemingly taken from Polish reference.

I bought the Micro Master turrets for the main armament of Richelieu, Dunkerque en Strasbourg, on Shapeways because he currently does not sell on his site. I chose the regular tan resolution.



You can appreciate the size difference of 380mm versus 330mm turrets here. Printmarks are clearly visible and will have to be abraded. The barrels won't outperform my aftermarket ones, so they will be removed. On one turret this is even unavoidable, they are clearly settled out of the perpendicular. I will have to cut my metal barrels to the length behind the blast bags.



The main reason for my order are the underscale turrets in the Trumpeter Richelieu kit, copied from 1/400 Heller plans. Even L'Arsenal's resin remedy tops off at 1/380. So this 60 euro set of turrets is currently the only solution.



Then you get the entire turret pre-assembled. It's even hollow for the interior detailers. Or in case you need to build Jean Bart with the open B turret roof.



He sells Dunkerque and Strasbourg as different products, but I'm missing the difference if there is one. But those extra details will be worth the effort without too much sanding around them, I hope.

Can the Big Blue Boy set also be used for the Dunkerque?


TIA

Darcy

Hi Darcy, sorry for not noticing your question earlier. I didn't start building the kits yet, but I'll try to answer:



For about 95 per cent I believe the sets to be exchangeable, but as you see in my picture, the bridge area has some additions for a secondary stage in Strasbourg. There you could maybe leave off a stage. Another noticeable difference is that the searchlights are installed completely different, and in Dunkerque the railing around them seems connected. This probably has consequences for the PE part attributed to the railing in both ships, but it seems nothing that a bit of generic railing can't resolve.

A third difference is visible behind the smoke stack, where some large PE part is provided for an extra compartment that was apparently added in 1942. Before that, a smaller structure stood there. I didn't check if Shipyard has any part for that.

Thanks Steve.

Because of an incident in my Bigblueboy set for Strasbourg not containing a G fret, I discovered that there is actually a Dunkerque Bigblueboy set, 35054. There was a hint at this, the wood deck in my set was designed for Dunkerque with a planked passage through the superstructure and this is completely covered by the Strasbourg superstructure. Now that I am making a build log at viewtopic.php?f=59&t=390291 I can say something more about the difference. The BBB set has a lot more of anti- skid plating including the peculiar bow anti-skid pattern that Hobbyboss failed to reproduce. It also has turned brass bollards missing in the Shipyard kits. Only the BBB watertight doors have interior detail. Check if all PE components are included, I will have to find replacement for part of the railing and smokestack PE that were on that missing fret.

Where did you find this specific set, Steve? Scalemates doesn't have it listed. I have tried finding it online, however, without any luck so far.


TIA

Darcy

On Ebay it can be found just like the Strasbourg set.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=du ... 4084.l1313

To get it to Scalemates either the manufacturer or somebody that owns one set should post it there. BBB would probably not venture to Scalemates itself, so it means waiting until somebody cares to upload their stash.

Today I finished both models, so I can add some additional info.

It appeared that Shipyard has a lot of a certain kind of tripod deck edge supports on the G fret, I suppose this could have functioned for applying a sun cover. I saw a few of these supports on ref pictures but I omitted them, because they're not in the manual.

The dimensioning of the railing seems wrong in both sets, but worst is Shipyard with a lot less stanchions, where this should only be the case at bitts locations. BBB only has the stanchions a fraction too low and resembles the pattern better (but not at the bitts...).

Shipyard has reduced dipole antennas for the yardarms, it's best to keep the Hobbyboss antennas in stead, or use BBB. Shipyard only has single railings on the yardarms, you need this for the cage aerial connection though.

BBB has no footrails to improve the stern detail, Shipyard does so abundantly. BBB is also missing inclined ladders, that were provided in the HB frets but lack detail. Shipyard has them, and even four superior boarding ladders. But the booms are better in the BBB set.

AA gun barrels are only 37 mm in both sets, 13.5mm had to be sourced from Master Models.

Micromaster turrets were made fit only to out-of-the-box superstructures, these will not fit to PE turret rings from both sets. A small incision will facilitate fitting.

Shipyard had no turned brass chocks like BBB had, these were sourced from Flyhawk. The anti-skid coating for Dunkerque had to be ordered from ACE. Wooden decking for the whaleboats and PE superstructure for the barges are only found in BBB, but Shipyard has more difference in the oars provided. The masking for the deck was not used.