Dunkerque class
Komentáre
34 25 October, 01:17
Steven Van DyckFor a review on the aftermarket products shown see shipmodels.info/mws_..p;p=1027734#p1027734
25 October, 01:29
Matti ThomaesWauw Steven, already a new mahousive project , looking forward to the build, 👍
25 October, 05:48
TreehuggerWhat is the significance, or the meaning of the name 'Jacobsen' on that coin in photo 13? Anyone know? 'Jacobsen' is a more or less common surname.
25 October, 06:42
Steven Van DyckThanks for the interest. For Jacobsen see fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famille_Jacobsen , it's apparently a family of infamous corsairs also related to Jean Bart. It even mentions the medal at the end.
25 October, 09:18
Steven Van DyckBoth medals have now arrived. These will be useful as nameplates on the base. One had the description "paquebot Strasbourg", translated as cargo ship, and would be cast in 1950. I started with sanding the hulls to remove the casting traces, these are apparently broken off the sprue leaving two scabs. I noticed one difference, Strasbourg got a degaussing cable. I removed one breakwater from the front deck, taking care not to remove the detail around it. The drilling locations are not very clear, indicator lines passing multiple holes. I started removing Dunkerques sloop rails as I noticed that in the Strasbourg Woodhunter deck there are some PE ones, but now I notice that Shipyard wasn't planning on replacing the plastic rails in their wooden deck. And these rails are lying on the wooden deck, so they're very thin. I'll have to compare very well.
31 October, 11:58
Steven Van DyckI wanted to fix Dunkerque's deck. The hull is a bit narrow so I introduced a fitting piece of sprue before I glued the deck in. So there are no unnecessary tensions on the deck. The Shipyard watertight doors are replacing the kit ones, that are actually as detailed as the PE but I saw on pictures that these doors are all placed open. Some drilling is done to open up the doorways. The front of the conning tower should not have much of armour contrary to the rest of it, because only the internal communication channel is armoured. I therefore did not simply glue the PE plating on it, but removed the thick plastic first.
10 November, 00:40
Steven Van DyckThanks, Ingmar. Now the deck of Strasbourg is fixed, but the Bigblueboy set has some extra requirements. The doors now have a backside structure, though not the correct one I suspect. I found a rectangular profile in stead of their diamond pattern. They also request to open up the airplane hangar in two levels. Then the atlantic bow deck is completely covered with a large PE plate sporting the correct anti-slip pattern. It's so nice I rue that it won't be available for Dunkerque, that has got a bland chequered pattern from Hobbyboss.
12 November, 19:40
Steven Van DyckThe Strasbourg deck is further elaborated. The front splash guard has 32 triangular teeth, but you get 2 spares for each of the instances. So you can lose an entire set without stalling the project. You also get some 2D bitts that I rather changed to 3D, using PE rings and wire. The front deck house is replaced with PE, but it has 8 windows so I painted the inside black. The airplane hangar is a complicated design but it has a fully functional elevator.
16 November, 21:24
Jörg SchäferA real Steven Van Dyck, I'll stay on board. 😁
As always, excellent precision.
17 November, 04:44
Ingmar StöhrI always like it, if you get some spares for the tiniest parts! As long as there is space on the fret, it doesn't cost the manufacturer anything and it helps calm your nerves.
17 November, 08:58
Steven Van DyckThanks for the attention, today there is much PE work to be seen on Strasbourg. Large anti-skid surfaces are provided, that don't always seem to be carried in reality. This is hard to corroborate because the topside is rarely seen in detail on the pictures, the one I found didn't have it. All doors and bollards for Strasbourg are replaced. I hope to find some for Dunkerque this weekend too when I'm at IPMS Houten, the set for Dunkerque doesn't have these.
19 November, 12:26
Steven Van DyckThe searchlight platform on both ships is getting wire supports in stead of clunky plastic. Then the Dunkerque funnel is upgraded. I decided to cut a hole in the plastic part under the funnel cap, though I think the grid should have been canted like in the diagram from Wikipedia. But this is so schematic that won't try to change that. Lots of footrails are added, I drilled holes for these.
21 November, 11:50
Steven Van DyckA minor setback, in stead of fret G I got twice fret H in the BBB Strasbourg set. What should have been included are most of the smokestack parts you see on Dunkerque already and a lot of railing. But that can be replaced of course.
21 November, 18:18
Ingmar StöhrComing along nicely! Great work with the support pillars and also all the microscopic PE parts! Sorry to hear that you got the wrong sprue. Hope you can sort this out!
21 November, 19:26
Steven Van DyckThanks Ingmar, I was already able to construct most of the Strasbourg smokestack. You can see it in this update together with the Dunkerque conning tower that is growing level by level.
27 November, 17:10
Steven Van DyckHere I am again, with an update on Dunkerque's superstructure. Some complicated railings to shape, the director top with a radio mast and seven searchlights are all improved with Shipyard. But for the bollards and the anti-skid plates I did an order at MB König. It appears the Flyhawk bollards 1 and 3 can be used. But the IJN anti-skid is too fine so I ordered Ace a-002 now, this should be identical to Strasbourg.
30 November, 01:32
TreehuggerQ1: Have you decided on any one paint scheme? (unsure if you pointed this out in the past)
I think a plain gray would look nicer than one with camo, as a plain gray would I think enhance all the details, while a camo will be distracting I think.
Q2: Any idea if MicroMaster big-turret parts for these ships, are old products or if they were created recently? I think I've seen photos of yellow'ish color.
30 November, 10:10
Steven Van DyckI've bought the paint yesterday, it will be Atlantic scheme. These ships were both plain dark grey in their later career, even after arriving in the Mediterranean. For the turrets there is at least this 4 year old link: britmodeller.com/for..que-hobby-boss-1350/
30 November, 11:15
Steven Van DyckI scratched a replacement bow plate for Dunkerque, by engraving lots of small lines with a scalpel. Then the piece was hammered and glued to the bow, some holes were filled in. The Flyhawk bollards #2 were a perfect fit, #3 is slightly overscale (test-fit pic 136) so I sunk these in the deck plates for a bit. Now the Strasbourg conning tower is tackled.
2 December, 13:11
Steven Van DyckThanks, Ingmar. Even more PE is schratched for the sides of the conning tower. The supports for the tower of Strasbourg come from 3 locations, A is from Hobbyboss' own PE set, B is from Bigblueboy and C was apparently forgotten by them and is being retrieved from the pre-1940 platform Shipyard provided for Dunkerque. I also used some wire for the supports.
4 December, 17:25
Steven Van DyckNow the Strasbourg conning tower received a PE front structure and also the director assembly that Dunkerque had. But the platforms on that are not to be embellished like Shipyard did, so I managed that with some lingering Essex catwalk parts. The searchlights have a nice elevation cogwheel and some steel deck houses are added.
1 8 December, 23:32
Steven Van DyckThe superstructure is now adorned with lots of small PE particles like ammo lockers, venting tubes and davits. For the rear director a brass plate is rolled in a cylinder. The rear mast got some fine yardarms and a radio antenna. The typical French Marine motto plates are compared and BBB with version B comes out as best, with the octagonal edge correctly shaped. Nevertheless they omit some spacing on the sides. Shipyard (C) has the spacing but the vertical edge is too short and Hobbyboss (A and D) has them almost rectangular with a coarse surface. The Micromaster main turrets are true to the plans of the ships . The top view of these plans shows the guns a lot shorter than the side view, so I cross-checked with pictures. I only noticed that the muzzles of the turret barrels are overscale, so replacing the barrels with brass will improve that. Thr printing was set to medium quality, so I treated the surfaces with a sharp blade to remove the small ridges.
12 December, 12:12
Ingmar StöhrYou really keep up the high pace and the quality! Looking all great so far!
12 December, 22:32
Steven Van DyckThanks, Ingmar. Now both main turrets have their barrels replaced, one with the BBB brass barrels and one with Master Models aluminum ones that have the correct muzzle. Dunkerque's wood deck is coming over the scratched anti-skid plate so that one will have to be trimmed.
1 14 December, 00:18
Hugh CAST.Your job is really amazing. I've some nice PDFs on these elegant battleships. If you want me to send you these documents, give me your E-Mail adress by private message.
14 December, 21:11
Steven Van DyckThanks for the info, Hugh. The update today is mostly about the smaller guns. For the 90mm coaxial guns I decided to add the Shipyard anti-skid platform PE on top of the resin turrets. I had to replicate these parts for Strasbourg out of IJN anti-skid plating. Then the 130mm guns are improved. BBB got the calibre wrong so I used Master Models barrels instead, but its mantlet hatches are the better ones and it has opened and closed versions. I used those for both ships then. Shipyard had the better director PE, but there is none left for Strasbourg. Now the large director on Dunkerque's mast is built like those built earlier, but with only railing in stead of a plate around the lookuout.
1 18 December, 00:17
Steven Van DyckThe aft director of Dunkerque is built, also with a mast a little different. Now the 37mm guns are built, but only Strasbourg gets brass guns for now. I'm looking for a three-bladed prop for her, while Dunkerque gets the four-bladed kit props like they are showing on a reference pic. They had different engines and thus different propulsion.
19 December, 21:34
Ingmar StöhrGreat work - as always! In a picture 215 the yard arm on top of the rear range finder??? Seems to be at a strange angle, or is it only the camera and perspective?
20 December, 06:41
Steven Van DyckThanks, Ingmar! You should compare with picture 170, the shape is an uneven X.
20 December, 10:03
Steven Van DyckThe boats are now constructed with BBB PE, that brings planking on the otherwise bland plastic deck, together with brass propellers, railing and steering equipment. I painted the interior of the covered boats black. Shipyard PE is without the planking parts, so I will try there too to scratch something. I also ordered 5 sets from Master Models to have some brass 13.2mm guns and a complementary 37mm set for Dunkerque.
1 21 December, 21:01
TreehuggerLooks like you have proper counter rotating propellers. On the Hobby Boss 1:350 Guam kit, they didn't bother adding counter rotating propellers. I had to saw two of the four propellers, separating the spinner from the prop blades, flipping the prop blades part around, and gluing the spinner back on, on the "other" side. An easy fix.
23 December, 11:15
Steven Van DyckEight more boats are done for Strasbourg. Here I forgot to paint the interior...
24 December, 14:04
