Calling all MN Richelieu & Jean Bart fans

[Persona non grata]

Thanks for the list of issues.

As a side note, I am putting together the Jean Bart (about 50% done) right now and the fit is fabulous. I have very few seem problems at all.

Also, according to the pictures I have been able to locate, the kit "looks" like Jean Bart. I am willing to live with it - warts and all. It does look very nice together.

[shipmodeler]

Take a look at the photo of the superstructure of Jean Bart (REF.: Marine Museum, Paris, France, photos by JP Binot). Isn't the highest deck (below the fire control top) overhanging out a little bit? Is the Trumpy Jean Bart the same way or is it vertically flushed there?

[Persona non grata]

Isn't the highest deck (below the fire control top) overhanging out a little bit? Is the Trumpy Jean Bart the same way or is it vertically flushed there?

Yes. It resembles the model - and more importantly - the prototype.

[Aidan]

I stand corrected,

[Bill Clarke]

Thanks for the list of issues.

As a side note, I am putting together the Jean Bart (about 50% done) right now and the fit is fabulous. I have very few seem problems at all.

Also, according to the pictures I have been able to locate, the kit "looks" like Jean Bart. I am willing to live with it - warts and all. It does look very nice together.

Have to agree with you there Jon, it is a nice kit, BTW are you gong for natural deck colour or that dark grey ?

[bgire]

are you gong for natural deck colour or that dark grey

Jean Bart never had painted wooden decks : only natural colour...

And I agree with you : despite the flaws I pointed above the kit is a very good one and does justice to the last French battleship.

[Dravian]

Alright, I'm actually just looking for someone who has done this model. Once I get my tax return back, I'm going to be picking it up as a ship to work on. Though, I'm wanting to do more of a germanized one, as I don't see them giving that to Vichy after the fall of Paris. Okay, I'm evil. Anyway, I'd like to know what kind of tools I need to work with it, and which ship in the german line would be the best to pull parts from, or a pe set for it, for grabbing german AA off of to put on there. Maybe toss a set of 5x torp tubes on both sides as well.

Also, any thoughts, ideas, comments would be greatly accepted.

[MartinJQuinn]

You can find one right here, done by "Angeleyes".

[Mr. Grumpy]

if you wanted to germanize it, you could get a kit of the trumpy tirpitz. secondary armament and AA would be taken care of. it will have the torpedo tubes in it too. freetime has one of these kits on clearance for about $15.

150mm secondary turrets
105mm heavy AA
37mm AA
20mm AA

everything but their 20mm mounts should look OK and Tirp would have enough of them to place on your kit.

you could keep the triple secondary turrets. a little work and you could make them a little more similar to the turrets on Nurnberg and the other german CLs.....just say that whichever CL was broken up or whatever and the triple 6 inchers were mounted onto your germanized richie.

PE could go with GMM's german warship set which would cover a lot of different things.

[Dravian]

Well, I wanted to be uber mean, and take off the 6" trips, and replace them with the long barreled Eugen 8" guns. Because well...they had some SERIOUS range. Only problem is with the fact of the size differentials. Not sure I could find a good place to get the guns for it, or if the guns with the PE kit would look right.

[Mr. Grumpy]

though it may not have that uber-mean german look to it, but if you want some bad ass 8 inchers for secondary armament...what about a baltimore class kit to supply the three secondary batteries?

i think trumpy makes a couple of them.

9 big 8 inch guns on the stern courtesy of the USN or

6 8 inch guns from a PE kit or

9 6 inch guns from the original rich kit or

6 5.9 inch turrets from a tirp kit.

the baltimore turrets may not fit with the space available but would be more fearsome than the turrets from PE.


you could just keep the original secondary armament. take a look at the turrets on the Nurnberg...add some filler or file the turrets you have into the proper shape and bam you have "german" 6 inch cruiser turrets.

[Gernot]

And four quad 20 mm on top of 'B' turret would look just great Or two single 40 mm and two quad 20 mm. Don't forget late-war the 37 mm were being replaced by those 40 mm Bofors.

I would think that some of those rounded German directors would look pretty cool on Richelieu too. And an Arado floatplane of course.

Swastika on the bow, and Red turret tops

[Dravian]

Yeah, only problem, is the Baltimore had the trip 8's, not the Long duals from the Prinz. I mean, those things had some insane range. She was firing shells alongside the Bis, and she was apparently scoring on the Hood as well. They were like 60, or 65 caliber. Anyway, I think those would be more fun than the trip 8's, but we'll see. But yes, quad aa guns are going to be a fun outfit. Especially in the 'V' of the front. Pity though that was an upgrade that happened in the US after France rejoined the war, but, what can you do?

Also...since this is an after US 'upgrade', there is no seaplane launcher...which is....kinda gay. Anyone know if it would be a good idea to try and retrofit it with one somehow?

[Mr. Grumpy]

60 caliber vs 55 in the Baltimore (navsource)


you could probably just fit three PE turrets on the stern to replace the 3 original turrets. 6 total guns vs the slightly shorter range US weapon but you will be able to pack 9 of them in the same space! More bang for the buck. 9 look a little more fearsome than 6.


Drop the catapult. by the time the rich was available for use...the time for catapult launched seaplanes was near or at the end. just wasted space....could be put to better use bolting as many AA as you can on deck. If you want to go with a catapult....just use any US version catapult on the stern. from what i have seen...french catapults would be closer to american catapults than a german one (PE or Scharnhorst or Bis)....then again the germans may have mounted their own onto the stern anyways. if they did, it would look like the catapults on the hipper class or scharnhorst class ships than the one on bismarck.

what about german radars and rangefinders?

[Persona non grata]

The three range finders on top of the 152mm turrets are identical and must use the M8 part. Unfortunately only two M8 parts are supplied.

I just did this part of the instructions. There are indeed 2 M8 parts only and one from the G fret. The directors from M and G are slightly different - but not really noticeable. It still looks good.

[Persona non grata]

The three range finders on top of the 152mm turrets are identical and must use the M8 part. Unfortunately only two M8 parts are supplied.

Dag nab it!

NOT CODE! ... QUOTE!

[russclark]

help, there seems to be differant confiqurations on 57mm guns on j.b ,which ones do you guys think are right. pic 2 has extenson out the lower front,100mm,s on richilieu have them to.pic 3is from plans from french site about j.b. pic 1 is from a model in french museum.

[cerberusjf]

....

[russclark]

still stuck on bilge keels on j.b did she have them or not,also does anone how what colors the paint is on this pic any help greaty appreciated.some models show keels but drawings of hull plans do not

I had a look at Dumas' book on "Jean Bart" and any photos I saw of the bulges show them without bilge keels. Whether they are representative photos or she had bilge keels at some point in her career I'm not sure.

thank you for the info on the bilge keels,most pics showing them are on drawings or models.i will go with no keels,thanks again

[russclark]

opps after more searching found this drawing from "plan de bateau" have no idea what that means,drawing shows bilge keels,i might have to flip a coin to see which is right