Calling all French cruiser (La Galissonniere etc...) fans!

[WI_Chris]

well, there's the "French warship" thread below, but these ships deserve their own categories.
some of these French ships are just stunning!

Has anyone had any experience with the WSW George Leygue?
How hard would it be to backdate it, pre-US refit? (I may not do that anyway, but the idea of her at Mers-el-Kebir is interesting to me.)

Thanks guys.

Chris

[Quincy]

Hi Chris:

I think it might be easier just to buy the HP Models kit Jean Di Vienne 1938. It is a La Galissonniere class cruiser.


Bob Pink.

[Sean Hert]

I would love to see a La Galissonniere and an Emile Bertin, and Suffren... among others (DD's, Dunkerque's)- in 1/350. I love the wacky 37mm Type 1933 AA mount, and would appreciate a nicely molded one.

[SouthernCrossModels]

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum and surprised to see little on these magnificent cruisers in this forum or on the internet as a whole. In my research for this ship I havn't found much on small plastic kits and none in the larger 1/350 scale for these ships, which is a great shame.

I decided to build a large model of this class a while back. I have received my new plans of the Georges Leygues from France about 3 months ago, they are very nice i must say. And the hull master is well under way.I'm planning to build the Gloire in it's 1944 camo pattern in 72nd scale, as i have almost finished HMAS Hobart 1945 in this scale ,too. Here's 3 photo's of this painting challenge;

[Felix C]

I am not sure but believe you can use the hull of Heller's 1/400 De Grasse to convert to this class of cruiser and the triple 6" turrets from the Richelieu for the main battery if you wish to cast new ones in resin.

[Zed]

What scale are you planning on the Gloire in? I too am making this ship in 1/400, as Sean suggests using the hull from de Grasse and the turrets from the Richelieu(suitably modified). I have the hull done and the deck, just awaiting the inspiration to start on the superstructure. I have the WSW version as a guide as well as the drawings from France.

[mellotronage]

I've just purchased Combrig's ALGERIE kit. Does anyone have an approximation for the paint used on her? Someone told me a while back that IJN Sky Gray would be close- I think it was monseur L'Arsenal..... I'm supposing this is all guess work because paint chips of the French Navy don't exist any longer? Thanks for any imput or ideas on this!

[Banks]

Myself and others have asked this question hear and elsewhere, and never really gotten an answer. That is a such and such paint brand 123 type answer. The best I have come across other than pictures of models is an article in the old Dan Jones "Plastic Ship Modelers" magazine. It was written by Falk Pletscher and decribes French names and date of introduction for the various color shades they used before the armistace. If you can get a hold of a copy it is no.25. Their are still no mfg. paint recomendations, but my best estimate from all this stuff is humbrol #127, maybe lightened a bit. The French called this light bluegrey color "gris clair no.1". This was dated back to an instruction of Nov.8 1929 (CM 747 CN/6) which introduced this color. It also called out "gris sombre" for horizontal surfaces like the fo'c'sle deck forward of the breakwater. "brun rouge" (red brown) for linoleum decks. A later regulation of Aug 26 1931 (CM 526 CN/6) introduced "rouge pour pont" (deck red) as the new paint for those parts of the main and upper decks that were not covered in linoleum, to give these decks a more uniform appearance. I have seen pictures of models with the entire aft portion of the ship, where there was a wood deck, painted in this deck red. I use Hu #100 for this red color, it looks like th e color of dark tomatoe soup. For the dark grey I use Hu #79. It is a little light but has a slightly sun bleached look. Lastly there was a back dated 1940 version of Richelieu on this web site, that looks really good. If you can find it contact the builder and ask him what colors he used.

[sirmaumau]

?that's a very interesting issue.John Dumas referred the fore and superstructure decks' color as dark grey in his book,but according to the color photo of Richelieu arriving New York, she was really painted with something like brown or oringe at least in fore deck.That is why I chosed the tamiya acrylic --"2/3XF6+1/3XF10" for richelieu 1940.Which color is more reliable,if I want to rebuild her?

[Dan Banks]

First time I have heard that but if you have a color photo, I guess someone painted it red. It's funny, I remember seeing pictures in publications of British destroyers and cruisers,pre-war with brown or red brown on the fore part of the ship. The old Warship in Profile series shows that on Cossack and Exeter. I wonder if John at WEM could be talked into comming out with an early French Warship line for colorcoats? There seems to be more French ship kits on the market. If someone ever does a Dunkerque or Algerie, we would have to have it.

[moomoon]

About Painting of French warship, the info I have are (main source is the excellent serie of books about the french torpedo boats and destroyers published by Marine Editions)

1908:
blue grey (looking darker than the grey used before)
08/11/1929:
light grey (mix of white and black only)
26/08/1931:
red-brown paint on deck not covered by linoleum (paint has about the same color than the linoleum)
09/12/1937:
glossy light grey
1937:
temporary national markings on some main guns of ships operating around Spain (civil war), became permanent markings in Sept 1937 for ships based in Toulon till April 1939
06/01/1940:
dark grey for ships operating in the North Atlantic
A light blue grey "similar to today's French Navy tint" reapplied when ships got back to Toulon and the Mediterranean.
17/07/1940:
national markings reapplied on some of the main guns

I don't have my litterature about the La Galissonniere cruisers class here but I remember that decks and roofs were dark grey (either natural metal or paint?), linolem or wood (some ships had linoleum, others wood deck at the stern).

About the reddish paint at the fore part of deck, check this painting from Marin Marie, a great painter who if I remember well was at Mers El Kebir during the sad events of 03/07/1940 (anyway he was in Noth Africa and he was an official painter for the French Navy). Here we have Dunkerque battlecruiser (Noth Atlantic area dark grey) and La Provence battleship (which have no wooden deck, Mediterranean area light grey).

Same tint appears on Normandie

The 10000t cruiser Duquesne at Paris Marine museum also has a reddish foredeck (so does the Dunkerque battlecruiser in the same museum)

However the last 10000t cruiser Algerie in again the same museum has a dark grey foredeck...

[mellotronage]

I just wanted to say 'thank you' to you folks for helping me depict a more accurate ALGERIE. Good insight here, as usual!

[maxim]

Back to the light cruisers of the La Galissonni�re class:





This is the Georges Leyques built in her 1956 fit (Suez Crisis). I built her using the WSW kit, which depicts her 1946 fit. I added the main mast, removed the midships 20 mm Oerlikon, altered the boats and radars. WSW offers the post-war version, HP Models has kits of the original fit and the fit after the modernisation in the US in 1943. The WSW kit is now old, which can be seen in the details, e.g. the AA guns, which have to be replaced (by Niko Models and 3D Model Parts).

For more information see here:
Georges Leyques (1/700, WSW)

[maxim]

Yes, it is Kersaint built using the L'Arsenal T-47B 1/700 kit. The Tartar version would be interesting! I hope that L'Arsenal will release it - or I have to convert it myself.

[able]

[maxim]

Nice Models!

Which kit do you used? And which for the De Zeven Provinci�n-class cruiser in background?

[able]

Nice Models!

Which kit do you used? And which for the De Zeven Provinci�n-class cruiser in background?

All no kit except kirov

[maxim]

Impressive scratch building!

[Captain Morgan]

I purchased a Poseidon La Galissonniere on eBay. It’s sort of funky because you assemble the hull out of heavy duty Photo etch and they included no instructions. I had to fix the errors that prevented the parts from fitting right (missing slots in the PE and removing a section that shouldn’t have been there) but it’s building up nice. I do have a new WSW kit to check hull features against. I may do a build thread in picture posts to show the kit, but it will only show the final hull assembly since I didn’t take pictures of the problem parts. I tried contacting Poseidon for the instructions but they didnt bother to respond.

[Gcj]

Just received my birthday present to myself � Combrig�s 1/700 Algerie. Wow what a kit, just so well detailed. Fortunately, I have the Profile Morskie to supplement the otherwise poor instructions. But to do the kit justice I have a couple of questions. Hopefully I am in the right place to get them answered.

The only thing that lets the kit down in my view are the weapons. The single 37mm are nice and detailed and the quad MGs are fine (they are very similar to the USN Chicago piano mounts of which 3d model parts make a nice example but that wouldn�t be quite right?). The twin 37mm mounts are OK (but gluing individual 37mm barrels??) but as I intend to build her pre war I don�t need these. The 8� turrets are nice but Micromaster do even better ones which are tempting. But the let down is the 1931 twin 100mm mounts which should have an open back but the ones in the kit are solid and lack detail. Micromaster do some very nice 1937 model twin 100mm but these are fully enclosed so not right for the Algerie. Anyone got any bright ideas or know of a manufacturer I have overlooked?
As I want to model her prewar I will have to remove the cowl on the stack. In 1938 the AA fit was modified with the 4 single 37mm moved to the rear, and 2 of the quad MGs were moved from rear of the boat deck � one to on top of the bridge and one to the rear slightly offset. I am OK on their 1938 locations but have no info on the original location of the 2 quad MGs that were moved other than rear boat deck which isn�t precise enough and I would like to build her in 1937 fit. Any ideas?