1/350 Dunkerque and Strasbourg

[StevenVD]

To get the PE hangar in, I had to cut wider in the plastic deck.



The box is fitting well into the superstructure.



BBB has some enormous anti-skid surfaces to add to the kit. These are quite thin and have to be straightened. The plastic obstacles need to be removed.



I don't find the source BBB uses to determine the anti-slip locations, at least the one on the hangar deck is wrong. But the detail is so beautiful I want it on Dunkerque too. Maybe I find some generic plat at IPMS Houten this weekend.



A small part of the superstructure is covered with PE plating. I don't see the point, because the thin splintershield now borders the thicker (though commendable) plastic shield behind it.



All watertight doors are now installed with an open doorway. I suppose some will fall off after a while, I can always shut them later.



The boat supports are a nice extra detail with their tensioning cables, but the instruction is extremly rudimentary and doesn't even show the direction of the parts.



The bollards are all replaced now, something Dunkerque would also be missing if I don't find a solution.



To check the fit of the wood deck, I had to move some of the PE doors.



To place the right door types I had to check on Dunkerque, all Strasbourg doors are drilled away and as mentioned no instructions are available.





Then it's Dunkerque's turn.

[StevenVD]

The searchlight platform of the two ships is identical and in the kit some plastic pillars are used to support it. Though these are reasonably thin, it can be improved with wire.



I changed the position of the supports so these all continue below the maintenance platform. Some ejector pin marks are filled up with CA.



The length of the supports is 6x14 mm and 2x6 mm. First I connected them like this.



But working upside down can lead to errors, it was the other way around.



The pattern of the supports was drilled through to the deck, so the roof can be plugged onto it. This is very tedious to install but the result will be much better.



The drilling on Strasbourg was also passing through the PE anti-skid.



The smoke stack is now upgraded on Dunkerque. Because the kit has a horizontal plate under the funnel cap and a plastic sawtooth shaped grate on top of that, the upgrade is also horizontal. When you check Jordan's section of the ship like it can be seen on Wikipedia, the grate would be oblique. I decided to use the PE as it was intended as I had no pictures proving the error.



But altogether it is better to cut a hole in the plate, because the centerpiece of the PE grate extends below it.



That also improves the look:



I had forgotten to remove the footrail, but that could be done now:



The ladders are installed with the burrs serving as locator pins, which should be a lot stronger.



Then the railing is added.



The rear maintenance platform and the ladders are a good fit.



At the bottom some small grates are replaced and then the stack is connected to the superstructure. I'm curious if BBB can overtop this with the Strasbourg stack.

[StevenVD]

I've come to the realization that Bigblueboy has included fret H twice in my set and they have omitted fret G, containing most of the smokestack parts and a lot of railing. That I could only find in this external review:



https://modelshipworld.com/topic/25090- ... -blue-boy/

The good side is that these railing parts are relatively easy to replace with the extra H fret containing railings and with some Strasbourg kit PE.

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow - that's really intensive PE work. Nicely done.

[StevenVD]

Thanks, Martin. After looking at the sparebox I could assemble almost all missing smokestack parts already.



BBB makes the interior grate different than Shipyard. The cap has less steam pipes and these are now asymmetrical.



The VeryFire CL-55 set procured some footrails.



At least when one side was cut off these parts.



Holes had to be drilled while it was glued on.



Shipyard has enough steps to do Strasbourg too; they use them on the main turrets too but I prefer to use some ex-Essex 5 inch gun ladders in stead. Later I added some L'Ars�nal railing and the Hobbyboss kit maintenance platform, but with the ladder now on the side of the stack. Because of that I had to make the platform more narrow.



Back to Dunkerque, to continue the conning tower. Part of the doors have been drilled out.



Both tower parts are drilled, the windshields will also be replaced.



The level between these tower parts has to be razed on the bottom. I use the kit part as it is for post 1940 use, the Meirs al-Kebir pictures show this config. Shipyard has a large PE part for the anterior period. Some marks on the plastic are filled and part of the edge on top of the piece needs to be trimmed for a new venturi system.



The reinforcements are added after the assembly. Part of the PE is obscured by the superstructure.



The admiral's bridge has some interior girders in the ceiling. I decided to pre-paint the floor parts before closing down.



You can't imitate the manual and just glue the windshield on the plastic. A ridge has to be chiseled on the upper and lower edge to make it fit and close it down. The circular saw is useful to keep the ridge aligned.



The window is now fixed.



After adding superfluous CA glue, the window is filed. No edges should appear.





The new venturi parts were added and understood that Shipyard had made me assemble the lower level venturi parts in the wrong direction. I corrected this, but I hope these instruction errors will not keep mounting.



Another thanks to colleague-warshipper Pieter at the ESM for lending me his nice book at the ESM SIG Warships stand this weekend.



These anti-skid plates on the superstructure at midships are hereby corroborated and I ordered some comparable IJN plating to add this to Dunkerque too. Also the bollards will be replaced with Flyhawk replacements, I ordered three different US instances.

[sirmaumau]

excellent work

[StevenVD]

Thanks, Sirmaumau. Today Dunkerque continues to rise.



On the backside of the conning tower some intricate railing shapes are needed.



The round shapes can only be preformed to fit.



This platform will later hold two searchlights.



The French battleships from now on had the directors in stacks on top of the conning tower and the rear. The high position was unlucky because this appeared to topple the directors soon in a fight when the ship was shaken. This will be the front director, so three copies will be needed...



A radio mast has to be composed with lots of small parts.



The thread needs to be cut at an unprecised length. I compared visually with the manual.



It fit exactly with the rigging.



I did not want this to fall off so I glued it to the tower.



Again a railing part to shape.



Seven searchlights get Shipyard PE. Some of these get a flange to the deck, but this is missing a pinhole so I drilled this in the PE.



The slats added to the lights improve much on the appearance.



Three other lights are added to the conning tower. The enemy visualisation clock is here added to the front, but from the book last mentioned a picture shows the clock moved to port and was replaced by a platform.



The order from MB K�nig came in.



I can't use the IJN anti-skid, it's finer than on Strasbourg. I now ordered two plates from Ace but these are coming from Charkiv in Ukraine.



They should be almost identical to Strasbourg. Most other producers don't show dimensions in their drawings.



The Flyhawk Bollards I will do perfectly for the small ones.



The 4 large ones will take the turned metal of Bollards 3, but the plates should be scratched as these have to be 5mm long.

[StevenVD]

What still bothered me was the ugly chequered pattern on Dunkerque's bow. I wasn't going to buy an extra BBB set just for that, so it had to be scratched somehow. I still had the outline of the used PE plate in the BBB fret.



The capstan and bollard holes were cut out of it, with some minor errors that would be filled in later.



Then the lengthwise running engraving lines were added.



The most daunting prospect of this endeavour was the engraving of hundreds of anti-skid hole lines. Individual holes were out of the question, but even simply engraving the line is a great improvement on Hobbyboss' checkerboard.



Not too many deviances here, this will do.



The piece was then hammered flat and glued to the Dunkerque bow:



It was still missing the channels for the anchor chains. Some selected PE fret parts are installed.



Flyhawk Bollards #2 are a perfect fit on this kit. #3 needs some drillingwork at the kit base plates.



That's because these are slightly overscale, but the extra height here visible on this Strasbourg test-fit can be resolved by sinking them in the plate. The thickness can't be reduced, though the top roundel is identical.







Now Strasbourg's conning tower will be tackled.

[StevenVD]

The plastic windscreens are removed, a cover plate will be used from Bigblueboy.





I had removed the plastic venturi part of the kit, but BBB wants you to keep that and glue the PE on top. I was missing some shielding and decided to replace all of it.



Before removing it, I had reproduced it in fret parts of 4mm height.





My new additions fit to the model and the venturis could now be mounted.



The support ribs are not all provided by BBB. Only on platform "B" these are replaced. "A" was managed by Hobbyboss' own PE but the top platform "C" is strangely not mentioned at all. It has 26 plastic ribs and is most conspicuous. A good thing that Shipyard gave a whole set of supports with the pre-1940 platform of Dunkerque, these will be scavenged after trimming them.



The result, and more to come...

[StevenVD]

Now the foretop is replaced by photo-etch.



I had to scratch the director platforms from unused Essex catwalks, BBB seems not to mind the thick plastic of the kit.



Combining parts of catwalks, it can be rendered acceptable.



These railings would come from the missing BBB fret, so I used what's in the kit.



I will work on Strasbourg's mast later, BBB prefers flat PE over wire. Seems easier but I will probably replace the lower part with the wire.



They also have different additions to the searchlights. No lattices in front.



No flange below, but they noticed the cast-on elevation cog and replaced this with something nice.



This is the status quo with some deck houses added:

[JIM BAUMANN]

WOW ! a really very very impressive amount of work, and fascinating in its evolution.

Bravo-, usually one ship at a time is enough.... but 2 differing vessels of the same class is
a masterclass in self discipline

JIM BAUMANN

[StevenVD]

Thanks for the appraisal, Jim. Sadly I can't continue the practice of 2 models with the Richelieu class, because Hobbyboss never conceived Jean Bart as a kit. This update will only feature Strasbourg, Dunkerque's anti-skid plates order is still pending.



The ammunition lockers are a bit overscale, the braces always sit too low on the superstructure even when the lids are pressed against the venturi.



The front mast is so 2D that I wanted to include a bit of Dunkerque mast instead.



This looks more firm.



You'd say the reference pictures are abundant for making some perfect photo-etch copies of the typically French motto plates, but none of it is without errors. BBB (letter B) has identical plate edges but all the side spacing is pulled between the lettering. Shipyard (C) exaggerates the corner cuts and Hobbyboss just makes very cramped and rounded plates with coarse surfaces.







Lots of small PE particles are added, like lockers, vent and davits. Some errors were unavoidable, with the BBB instructions deviating from reference pictures. I later moved the "Honneur" plate to the front and I still have to move a ladder and the davits.



These are for the rear director.



You can use the PE side plating over the enclosed outlook part, but while cutting the doors and windows I decided it would be better if I removed the plastic sides completely.



Here it is sitting on top of the director. I had to fill a seam caused by enveloping the original floor without sanding that.



Parts to improve the rear mast.



A radio antenna is added, but most ladders needed small changes or were not indicated in the manual.



All is still lined out well.



Let's check the Micromaster turret proportions, nobody seems to have made any review of this. I also measures the position.



It compares favorable to this picture.



To reduce cost I ordered them medium quality. Some planes can be improved by sliding a lancet over the indentations.



Clearly the turret was designed using the original plans, now published for free on http://3dhistory.de/wordpress/warship-d ... est-first/ .



Micromaster made one error and this is the diameter of the muzzle, seemingly rather copied of 380mm guns. Measuring muzzle diameters on pictures and detracting the calibre form that, this leads to 1,4 mm diameter, and Micromaster approaches 2mm.



This and the coarseness of the barrels can be remedied with sawing off the BBB guns and using these on the resin blast bags.

[StevenVD]

Now it's time to replace the Micromaster barrels with the BBB ones for Strasbourg. These are trimmed to 25mm.



I file them until they fit in this Mastertools slide ruler.



The stumps on the turret are then trimmed. Care needs to be taken working on these thin turrets, the resin tends to crack at the seams.



The barrels are aligned by sometimes adding a bit of styrene to the blast bag.



Then that area is filled with CA and putty.



The B-turret follows the same steps.





Both turrets get foot rails and a tripod visor. I notice that in Pieter's book both had this starboard periscope, so why is one left off in each set?



I had noticed in my barrel review that Shipyard has these barrels deviating to a countertaper shape. Therefore one Model Master set is used on Dunkerque instead, featuring aluminium barrels with the correct muzzle shape and width.



These barrels are also easy to mill.



A seldom used tool is now getting used more often.



For every turret the alignment is checked.



Two 90mm guns will later be added to the turrets. These were coaxial with the main guns and used for aiming practices.



The Shipyard wood deck is tested.



The overlap with the anti-skid plate copied from Strasbourg is showing. Part of the anti-skid plate will have to be trimmed, because the wood deck can not because of the hatches at the front.

[JIM BAUMANN]

Good heavens-- very sharp
...immaculate and fastidious barrel work!

Foredeck.....
Hmmmnnn!

that is a dilemma.

How much is there to cut away? is the mistake tapered or is it parallel

Initially I would have been inclined to trim the wood deck-
-it will be easier to cut with a blade and probably easier to lift in small( plank by plank ) pieces after your initial cut

is the wood deck glued down?

either way--the very best of good fortune to get over this hiccup / set-back


JB

[FFG-7]

MN Dunkerque - France�s Unlucky Fast Battleship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqymL-JCbD0

[StevenVD]

Thanks Jim, I'll deal with that deck soon. For now I'm still consumed by the gun turrets. I've only found some short moving video fragments from these ships when they were at Spithead before the war.



Shipyard has some nice anti-skid parts for Dunkerque that weren't on the Micromaster 330mm turrets. Why not use these after all?



But I have to remove some parts that would have run under the rotation system in the kit, where that is done in PE.



BBB did not include this for Strasbourg, but I had some comparable texture in some Flyhawk IJN plating.



It's a bit chunkier but still better than flatness.



Now we're headed for the DP guns. You get enough of this for seven guns if you want.



Best deal is Bigblueboy now. The anti-spray hatches for the mantlets are provided as open and closed versions and are superior to the single set of Shipyard covers without hatch, so I will use BBB for both ships with the closed hatches on Strasbourg.



You can't ditch Shipyard completely, they have the better director PE with lots of bolted flanges that match with the pictures.



The lenses even have the correct covers.





BBB lacks these bolted parts but for the extremities of the tubes.



I decided to drill the kit parts for the barrel axis instead of working with the Master Models resin axis, as I would have had to pillage the unused set too.



On this picture I had used Bigblueboy on the left and Shipyard on the right, but there is a noticeable difference in calibre. If you read the BBB manual, they speak of 152mm guns, though Dunkerques only had 130mm secondaries. Maybe they are confused with the Richelieus, that had 152mm. It seems they also used that number for the muzzle diameter, about 0.5mm or even 170mm. Length is comparable with the kit.



So I used my Master Models barrels for Strasbourg. Both these and Shipyard measure 0,3mm. That's a lot closer to 130mm and with a comparable length.



I glued the axis to the turret bases.



Then I dry-fit this. You'd not need glue because of the tight fit.



Each ship had also two double 130mm gun turrets as an extra.





The BBB options are now all better than Shipyard, with open hatches that had me cutting holes in the mantlet.



Dunkerque's midships show these guns, but still no anti-skid or boat stowage. I hope this order will arrive soon.



Dunkerque's aft director set is now being built.



It has a lookout with minimal PE this time, and with railing on top. I sawed the plastic for the windshield.

[JIM BAUMANN]

lots of good and diligent works!

Just a thought;

to simulate tread/ skid-plate-

more subtle that the PE (?:) -- you could use ' Butter ' paper....

mount it on paper with CA--or thin styrene--or fine PE fret waste surround
and put the railings around the OUTSIDE edges-- so that the bottom rail ( waterway)
is not above the deck level

( This also neatly cleans up the PE/Butter paper join )

read here about Butter paper ( or you can use cigarette packet foil which is even finer)

;http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=154091&hilit=butter+paper&start=140#p965450

example below

Hope to help
JB

[mick]

great work

[SG1]

Awesome work. The scratchbuilt antislip bow plate is just spectacular. Bravo!

[Edoardo81]

Holes had to be drilled while it was glued on.

Wow I've missed the post for a week and you're already close to the end!!

How you did the holes with that perferct alignment?