Calling all French Pre-Dreadnought fans

[Gone Asiatic]

VMT!

Any pics would be most appreciated!

[JBA]

dear all,
I am toying with the idea of building a part of the Mass�na in 1/35 for a next-ish diorama -i indeed love her end, stripped and sank voluntarily at Seddul Bahr.
The only thing that would stop me would be the lack of reference.
I was wondering if existed precise plans or even a close-up picture of the opening hatches of this boat on each side, or those of any boat that could look a bit the same.
Same thing, would any plan or picture exist of the *inside* of the 140mm turret?
I studied quite a lot the Service Historique plans, but there is nothing about the guns there.

I know I throw a bottle in the sea here. Knowing my French colleagues, the only ones who might know this probably don't have internet in their homes

[JIM BAUMANN]

Ahoi Jean B

1/35 eh...?

Having built the heck out of Massena....

drop me an e-mail--because I 'may' have something useful in my copious Massena file...

Best wishes

Jim Baumann

[cerberusjf]

I thought people here might be interested in this thread in another site.. Looks promising, I wonder what the resident Massena expert thinks?
http://www.kartonbau.de/wbb2/thread.php ... r=0&page=1

[Gone Asiatic]

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hoche.htm

Yumematsu Kobo is contemplating producing a kit of this wonderfully Jules Vernesque ship

[MichelB]

That would be a lovely freaky ship! Only my scratchbuild of the Victorian floating castle would top it in Steampunk zaniness...

[Golden Bear]

Hi, this is my first post here. Jim Baumann pointed me to the site and I'm glad to see more people that are interested in early metal warships. I've been scratchbuilding French pre dreadnoughts out of card stock. First at 1:400 and now at 1:250 scale. Here is an example of my 1:250 build of Charlemagne, completed last January or so.

Carl

[Golden Bear]

...and on another topic... Jim posted a picture of Carnot with some arrows asking about features. The first, on the left, is an air scoop that was not always rigged. The other is the cross member of the large structure for handling ship's boats. It seems to move on tracks on inboard and out to pick up boats and deposit them onto the deck.

I'll try to get some photos posted in the Gallery later. They include my first feeble attempt: a 1:400 Hoche. I need to redo that one at 1:250.

Carl

[MartinJQuinn]

Here is an example of my 1:250 build of Charlemagne, completed last January or so.

Carl

Welcome! Nice - I like that.

[Caravellarella]

Dear Boys & Girls, do any of you know why there are no finished examples of a Combrig Danton class battleship in the gallery? In fact I've never, ever seen a finished example of these kits. Are they flawed in some way or just unpopular?

I have lots of images of all 6 ships, should I post them here?

Terry (Caravellarella)

[Bob Cicconi]

I have the Danton, but didn't build it yet. I did build the Fleetnet Liberte as the Democratie. I thought it was a very nice kit, almost to Combrig's standard, which is outstanding for a limited run kit. I'll have to do the Danton soon.

[Caravellarella]

Dear Bob, the Combrig kit is gorgeous. I have the Vergniaud mayself, but I can't make it as I seem to have lost the ability to make a model (the perils of having been a professional modelmaker). Please will someone make one and put it into the gallery?

Terry (Caravellarella)

[JIM BAUMANN]

Hey Bobby ( and Terry)

I have some useful pics of Danton--including on deck views

You want them? mail or PM me

@ Bobby-- I think the fleetnet kit is incorrect--I reckon they did not have planked decks....?


@ terry...

all you have to do is make a start!--procrastination never did finish fair model!
BTW--a s you are a merchant ship fiend also..

you have seen my threadlet....?

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=41802

JIM B

[Rob]

Bobby - Jim is right over the fleetnet kit.

Terry - I got about 70% done on Voltaire but haven't had the time to finish the thing. Too involved in modern RN subjects at the moment. The kit has one or two minor issues but it's not too bad.

Rob

[Caravellarella]

Dear Rob, what issues does the kit have as I haven't spotted any (yet)......

Thanks, Terry (Caravellarella)

[bonmaquettiste]

Salut!

Concerning the JSC 1/400 scale D'Entrecasteaux paper card model, there are some other French Navy paper card models in 1/200 scale:

Orel from the Ukraine - Third Class protected cruiser Lavoisier in white color scheme, 1/200

Modelik from Poland - dreadnought battleship Courbet as in WW-1 in 1/200 scale

Modelik from Poland - armored cruiser Dupuy de Lome / rebuilt with 3 funnels / gray color in 1/200 scale

Answer from Poland - WW-1 four funnel destroyer Spahi in 1/200 scale

Best regards,

Alain

[cerberusjf]

There is also Lavoisier in 1/250 by Golden Bear Models. I haven't seen one in the flesh, but the build looks promising.

http://www.gremirmodels.com/lavoisier.htm

Cheers
John

[cerberusjf]

It is very exciting to see photos of the 1/350 bouvet kit in Jim Baumann's review on this site

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... eview.html

This is a personal dream of mine come true. Would anyone be interested in creating a thread for this ship to pool as much information as we can so we can do justice to the kit?

[MartinJQuinn]

It is very exciting to see photos of the 1/350 bouvet kit in Jim Baumann's review on this site

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... eview.html

This is a personal dream of mine come true. Would anyone be interested in creating a thread for this ship to pool as much information as we can so we can do justice to the kit?

Let's see how much info we start to accrue here before we split the Bouvet into it's own thread. If it warrants it, we'll start a Bouvet-centric thread.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Bouvet is gorgeous!

I will share anything pertinent I have shortly-- I am still collating....


Meanwhile--ever loyal to the wacky and bizarre I have comenced the build of a 1/700 CARNOT-- again--using the starting point of theYumenstu Festival dreamworks kit.

Again--much like my Massena marathon from the same manufacturer...

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... eview.html

It all looks ok at first sight... and then you start looking at photos REALLY carefully...! arghhh!

The hull is too shallow, the stern is all wrong--pointed instead of the delightfully curvy derri�re....

The midships Barbette's are wrong, the platform housing is the wrong outline and too low....
the cast on hatches are all closed and far too prominent... the aft small turret is in a hollow recess when it should have a continuation piece above....

...funnels are wrong, deck layout is wrong....

Alas-in fairness-- there are 'no' plans per se of Carnot-- so any build is dependant on outline drawings and examination of photos...
That said... if I could easily locate pictures and spot all the errors--so should /could the manufacturer..!

Scratchbuiling?- maybe I should have...

--but the model will be almost entirely scratch other than the underlying platform of the original hull casting.!!


So I have reshaped the stern, removed all the hatches and hollowed out the hull, made new barbette platform, added a shim to the lower hull, reshaped the bow ...

The distinctive hatches will be shown almost all open-- they rely accentuate the extreme tumblehome shape...

I have elected to make the black 'void' using tiny squares of black decal strips... laborious--but once furnished with upper and lower hatch lids ( paper) the effect should be better than I achieved with Massena and Pelayo.

Here are a few images to illustrate progress so far.

cheers

Jim Baumann

etc etc etc