Heller. French carrier Foch

[stevej60]

Hi folk's,my second(and final) build for this GB is Heller's big but quite basic carrier Foch.Launched in July 1960 and commissioned three

years later she served with the French navy for over thirty five years before being sold to Brazil and re-named Sao Paulo in 2000.The kit is

basic with not that many parts so OOB is the order of the day the kit was given to me by my eldest from the wardrobe of doom as part of

a set which contained  supply ship and destroyer so as a change from far too many aircraft and as the kit has decal's for Foch included

I thought it would make a nice change.She has a complement of Etendard,Crusader and Alize aircraft all quite nicely molded pity Heller

didn't include decals for them and I don't fancy painting them! Here's the box contents.

 

[USS_ESSESS]

Very interesting subject! I always wondered how the quality of this 1/400 Heller ships might be, so I‘ll be watching closely if you don‘t mind.

cheers Konrad

[Rabbit Leader]

I’m keen to see this one as well and if my limited nautical knowledge is correct this A/C Carrier has similar characteristics to the HMAS Sydney and Melbourne. (Perhaps?)

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[stevej60]

2 hours ago, USS_ESSESS said:

Very interesting subject! I always wondered how the quality of this 1/400 Heller ships might be, so I‘ll be watching closely if you don‘t mind.

cheers Konrad

Hi Konrad they are basic kit's by today's standards but someone with your detailing skills and patience could really produce a show

stopper from the base kit,at around £35 in 1/400 scale its a big chunk of plastic so even buying etch and other items your going to come

nowhere near what Trumpeter and others would cost if they produced one!

48 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I’m keen to see this one as well and if my limited nautical knowledge is correct this A/C Carrier has similar characteristics to the HMAS Sydney and Melbourne. (Perhaps?)

 

Cheers.. Dave 

I think they were  heavily influenced  by the British designed  carriers of the day Dave,taking in the angled deck,steam catapult's and

mirror landing sight etc they had a similar tonnage to the Majestic class carriers HMAS Sydney and Melbourne.

[stevej60]

Morning folk's,only got an hour at anything over the last few days so dragged the monster box into the loft yesterday to see what lies

ahead,the hull and flightdeck are only two pieces and molded in a nice soft plastic so cleaned up with no fuss.There's no warping which

Heller's ships can suffer from at times( My eldest has the much newer Charles de Gaulle which is appalling).I don't want to get bogged 

to much with detailing but some of the radar detailing is poor so a bit of scratch building needed here and there.Here's the basic island parts

assembled.

 

Careful painting and the fact Heller supply molded railing should enhance it,size is a problem here she is on my 3ft work table!

 

[Bugle07]

She's looking good!

 

Big beastie ain't she, may have a look at the older range from Heller, see if anything interests me.

 

Will be following along to see how she turns out!

 

Geoff 

[stevej60]

Welcome aboard Geoff,I've see a good few of these Heller 1/400 kits in the flesh,they're basic by today's standards but big and 

imposing when built.

[Rabbit Leader]

Nice start Steve.. that does look a decent size doesn't it! 

I know you're going to build this as close to OOB as possible, however there's plenty of scope to go to town with something as impressive as that.

 

Cheers.. Dave  

[jean]

Hi Steve,

 

if it's French, it can't be too bad.... Did I hear groans at the back?

Seriously I saw that kit built eons ago by someone with far more talent than I will ever have, and it looked fantastic! So you will get a winner, even OOB. Just put a recording of "La Marseillaise" in the hull that start playing when someone rings your door bell, or flushes the loo, or whatever takes your fancy!

Imagine one of these USN monsters at the same scale! They would dwarf the Foch.

Have fun, and I will definitely follow.

 

JR