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.