The Ship Model Forum

Hi all,

After checking the forum, I think there is nothing on this beauty, so -- to open this new thread -- here you are some pics of my French Navy D612 Tourville, as she appeared in 1999, when she last visited Vigo, my town.

This class is not very good looking, to be honest, but it has got a something around them that makes these ships very attractive, I would say.

The model is the old Heller 1/400 Duguay Trouin. Heller has got some very scarce models, but that are little else than an empty frame OOB, and have to be scratch-built almost completely. The potential of these models is nevertheless inmense, in my opinion.
The basic structures are more or less OK, so all the rest is patience and time at a 50%-50% rate.
It has been stopped for the last four years, as there are some construction problems that I have not been able to solve yet, but I will resume it inmediately after finishing my HMS Campbeltown.

Here you are some pics of the general progress :





The bridge windows are made with stretched sprue, and filled with Staedler chinese ink, which has a very realistic satin gloss finish when dried :





The bridge mast, as most of the details, is made with stretched sprue :



The Exocet containers are made with the basic pieces of the model, plus a yogourt cup, and stretched sprue. They are not finished yet.



The comunications structures are made with a yogourt cup, a piece of Ferrero Roche chocolates box and a MacDonald´s coffee spoon, and completed with stretched sprue. The round aerials are made with a piece of sprue.





The Crotale AA system was entirely scrtach-built with stretched sprue. It is not finished yet. It lacks the framed nets surrounding it, the same nets that should go roung the flight deck, the problem that keeps the proyect at a halt.
The big boxes on the sides of the hangar are a spoon of MacDonald´s as well -- I only discovered Evergreen this last summer.





The mack was entirely done with stretched sprue as well. It was the longest, but not the most difficult thing. It includes around 360 pieces now, minus AA radar, another 60, as far as I can remember.






The 100 mm. were a delight to make, 3 pieces plus lots of stretched sprue



And the Lynx was one of the most nerve-breaking things I have ever made. The rotor is a picnic plastic plate cut in 1 mm. stripes, and the windows were painted using a 0.01 Staedler



I hope you like it.
It is far from being completed, and it needs overall details yet, but you can already have an idea of what´s going on.
Of course, all suggestions and advice will be more than welcome.
Best regards from the North Atlantic shores,

Willie.

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Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Wow. Just amazing work. I don't think I've ever seen so much done with stretched sprue!

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De quoi s'agit-il?

I agree, this is fantastic......or should I say fantastique!!....I don't think there's enough French ships about, hopefully that'll change with the new french website.

Very nice work. Adding details is hard work. I love to see modern nonUS navy models. All we have are Nimitzes, Ticonderogas, Burkes, Garcias and Tridents now. Quality but not much variety except in attack subs.

Very nice subject indeed. Enjoy the detail.
Mr. Shoda, do you have a link to any of the Garcia's??
I am looking to model the Brooke class which uses the same hull and cannot find hull stations anywhere.

I agree with all of the above. Amazing stuff done with stretched sprue.

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"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

A couple of pics more, this time A/A radar, made with strectched sprue as well.









It needs some sanding in the main frame -- macro pics are but extremely useful for these little details -- but the basics are already there.
I hope you like it.
Best regards from spain,

Willie.

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Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Lk 23,43).

Very outstanding stuff! I just found this same Heller model today and purchased it on eBay. They are hard to find.

Your build and the pics will help immensely.

I have a project to build modern Carrier Battle Groups from all of the major sea powers (US, UK, China, Russia and France) in 1/350 scale. For the French, because Heller is really the only available larger scale model maker for their vessels, I am having to go 1/400 scale.

For the French group I now have the Heller CDG, this Heller model which I will build as the De Grasse D612 becasue it is the only one still in service, and two of the La Fayette frigates already purchased now. I am still looking for a Forbin (Horizon) and one of the current French SSNs but cannot find them.

Here's a link to my entire project:

Jeff Head's 1/350 Scale Modern Carrier Battle Groups

Cheers and BZ!

Jeff in Idaho, USA

I am a big fan of Heller 1/400 My Tourvilles, Duquesnes, and Foches were lost in a move and I have not been able to find the Duguay Trouin. I have a DeGualle, a Duquesne, Jeanne D'Arc, and the Foch underway replenishment escadrille.

Your work is excellent! The attention to detail and dedication is commendable.