1/350 Dunkerque and Strasbourg

[StevenVD]

Now that Essex and Hancock made their shakedown cruise at SMC Veldhoven, it's time to get to something else. I liked the idea of a double build, so that will now be repeated with a new subject. The French battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg are both produced by Hobbyboss in my favorite ship scale 1/350. Before that, Heller had done them in 1/400, so part of the aftermarket is dedicated to this scale. Only Shipyard and Bigblueboy have a comprehensive set for the new models, and by the time I realised this I owned or had bought components from other brands that are included in their sets. Some of the stuff I have two or three times by now. Let's check it out.





Dunkerque:















Strasbourg

















Most of the sprues will be common, but it's clear that the bridge components differ. Compare the boxart of the ships to see the extra bridge level of Strasbourg:



Apart from the wooden deck sets (also superfluous because these are present in the larger sets) I ordered turrets from Micromaster. Of these I will remove the printed barrels and use brass turned ones. The upgrades of PE, wood and resin parts are described in an article I made earlier in the review section: viewtopic.php?f=85&p=1027734#p1027734.

As a reference for these two ships I only have the Jordan and Dumas book of French battleships, divulging about the Normandie, Dunkerque and Richelieu classes.









There seems to be no such thing as a NavSource for French ships, so I have an array of pictures without captions. Both ships had a short career before the outbreak of the war but were damaged at Mers El-Kebir and later bombed and scuttled at Toulon.

Dunkerque:











Strasbourg:











To replace the default plastic nameplates from the kits I ordered two naval medals on Ebay, about 5 centimeter in diameter. These are still en route to Belgium. I might do the same when I get to Richelieu.

[FFG-7]

what years do the models represent as I have the 1939 plans of the Dunkerque from the French naval site before it was hacked saved on my computer? there is a somewhat French version of Navsource in this link. http://www.netmarine.net/bat/listes/desindfr.htm

[StevenVD]

Thanks, FFG, that looks quite useful. The pictures are a bit more hidden in the site but I found them. For Strasbourg it is obvious from the boxart that the B-turret has the neutrality colors in an Atlantic scene while Dunkerque seems to be shown during the action in Mers El Qebir.

[Pieter]

Hey Steven, I have book called " Das Ende der franz�sischen Flotte im Zweiten Weltkrieg Toulon 1940 - 1944" by Hannsj�rg Kowark which has many pictures of Dunquerque and Strasbourg being dismantled. IMHO scrapping and dismantling pictures are the best reference pictures. You may want to look that one up or I can bring it to ESM in november. Though at your current building speed you may be finished by that time.....

[FFG-7]

Steven, you are welcome.

[StevenVD]

@FFG: Strangely the Strasbourg hasn't got its own entry on that site, it's only referenced once on the Dunkerque page. I was looking to some other ships and found no reference to the carrier B�arn, though the destroyer B�arnais is present.
@Pieter: we zien elkaar zeker op de ESM, want ik heb dezelfde modellen aangemeld als bij de SMC. Dat lijkt me een interessant boek.

This week I received both medals and measured them to be the same dimension.





The Dunkerque medal gives the names of famous Corsairs of the Dunkirk families Jacobsen en Bart. Vanstabel was a captain in the 18th century revolutionary wars.







Strasbourg's medal had some info included, speaking about a "steamboat Strasbourg", artist Guiraud, 1950. I did not have to pay that much for it.



Let's get to work and sand these hulls.



The sprues were found broken off briskly and that left some marks, but the seams were all removed cleanly.



Strasbourg got a degaussing cable that is missing on Dunkerque.



Hobbyboss indicated to drill some holes, but the leaders are touching the holes they do not want you to drill. I missed one of these, but the wood deck will cover that up.



This breakwater is replaced but the deck edge thingy should remain.



That worked once for Dunkerque, so let's repeat that for Strasbourg.



One thing to pay attention to are the boat rails after B turret. I saw a PE set for these in the Woodhunter deck set, so I removed the plastic. Apparently the Shipyard Dunkerque set I do want to use makes use of these plastic rails. I did not yet remove them on the second kit, so I'll try to use the PE for this one but it is very thin. Actually it's made to rest on the wood so I may have to remove the slits.

[FFG-7]

I have the BEARN 1927 plans if you are looking for them, 30mb.

[StevenVD]

Thanks, but for B�arn 1927 I have detailed 1/500 plans and sections in the Marines �dition book.

[FFG-7]

then yours should be the same as mine as I got mine from the French naval site before it got hacked.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Most interesting project!
............double build eh? .......

I am having enough trouble ....with a single build
of an obscure French ship! ( Bretagne )


best wishes, tenacity and perseverance
( you have proven that you have all that ....with your Columbia extravaganza !

Jim Baumann

[mister me]

Note that Dunkerque did not have the round breakwater around turret #1

[StevenVD]

Thanks for the comments, the build is now taking off slowly.



It seems like at some time there was a breakwater difference. It seems that an angular plate was used in stead of the round one here, or is this something else as I see the rounded shape at the far side of the turret? I would have to alter the deck planking for that. But this difference was temporary, in attachment below you see a shot of both ships with a round breakwater.



To get the plastic front deck to fit, some tension is active.



I avoided these tensions with a piece of sprue cut to the right length. Like that the deck will not warp.



There is a picture of open watertight doors on the ships, so I use the PE doors in stead of the kit ones. These are as detailed as the Shipyard ones, though.

This toy clamp worked well on the hull. Ther deck is now fixed completely. I did have to clip the wall left on the picture to fit it in the slots on the deck.



Overall the deck is fitting well.



The bridge has the last two F40 doors of the Shipyard kit.



The conning tower front has a PE cover plate, but it is shown to be applied to the plastic. As Dunkerque did have an armoured communication channel inside the bridge, the front was not armored so I'm cutting away the plastic front. This would be visible in the windshield.



More plastic is removed for the shipyard venturi. I had to adapt the angle of the PE venturi base plate to the plastic.

[Edoardo81]

I'm beginning to think it's normal for you to make two ships at a time!

[StevenVD]

Thanks, Eduardo. It's like the movie, You Only Live Twice. So now the same is done for Strasbourg, but it will be different. Even the kit deck now fits easier without some sprue to extend the beam.



Bigblueboy also replaces the hatches, but it won't tell you how to place them. In the instructions they are not mentioned even once. I found the ones with the viewing slits in row 3 and 4 so I used these like in the Dunkerque. If I wouldn't have that reference, I would have had to guess. So you see the advantage!



I now drill through the doors before I remove the hatches. Like that it's easier to locate and to remove the kit detail.





Bigblueboy has put more effort in its watertight doors than Shipyard, the inside is now textured. The only problem is it seems to show a diamond pattern that is not reflected in reference pictures (see top) and even if it would work on the plain doors, it can not be correct for doors with a viewing slit as there is a central reinforced profile in the way on the backside. But it's nicer than the empty Shipyard inside.



I then added the rear wall of the armoured box like in Dunkerque.



Here Bigblueboy takes a step further and opens up the airplane hangar in two levels.



A hole needed to be cut through two decks.





The front deck part is completely covered by PE. Apparently Hobbyboss saw some kind of continuous chess board here. It becomes now clear why Bigblueboy is the pricier set, it has included some important details that Shipyard omitted.



I hope after removing the surface detail that I can reconstruct the ship chain areas.



The deck is glued, taking care not to get any glue through the many holes for bitts.

[Neptune]

As far as I can see, that diamond shape is actually representing the locking mechanism of the door. They are stanchions that extend by the rotating movement of the handwheel, by extending, they lock the door on the edges at 6 or 8 different points to have a good weathertight closure.
Didn't see any reference picture in this topic yet.

In any case, nice build. As mentioned, it seems to be normal for you to build multiple ships in a single theme each time.

Perhaps the Zeebrugge or Oostende raids are something for you or Marijn to tackle in the future?

[StevenVD]

Thanks, Neptune, I included part of a picture in the top right corner of the detail view of the door fret A. These doors don't show that locking system.

I have no WW1 ships, I guess another carrier will appear later but I don't have any doubles there.

[Neptune]

Ah, thanks, now I see. Indeed nothing there. However, there are often different types of doors on a ship, with the strongest ones often only used on main decks where waves might get onboard, while on higher levels, such locking mechanisms are lighter. Not sure if your picture is from the main deck?
It's an interesting door in any case, since I wonder how it did lock...

[Dan K]

Love double builds. Great project.

[StevenVD]

@Neptune: I didn't want to include the complete photo, it's proproperty of a picture gallery and filled with watermarks. It was taken by a photographer named Gaston Paris. The rearmost door seems to have an externally mounted hydraulic system, that was in use on French ships as opposed to mechanic systems in other navies.

https://www.galerie-roger-viollet.fr/fr ... 2975077302
I'll check for some additional pictures of open doors.

@Dan: thanks!

[StevenVD]

The front splash guard has 32 reinforcement triangles and for each of these you get a replacement set.





But I wasn't too keen on using the 2D chain anchoring bitts, so I scratched these in 3D with PE rings and wire.



The deck house in front of A-turret is replaced with PE, but to avoid reflections I painted the inside black.





The plane hangar is really a treat to watch, it has a moveable elevator. No idea about the interior color, I suspect this was white?