Heller 1/400 Jeanne D'Arc (81034)(ex-L870) + + Finished + +

[davecov]

I will be making the making the Heller 1/400 Jeanne D'Arc (81034):

 

This is the 2014 re-boxing of a kit that was originally released in 1967, Product Number L870. This wasn't my first choice for this GB as I had lost my original kit which was a car. Apart from the car, the rest of my Heller kits are warships so here we are with the Jeanne D'Arc which ironically I had put in my "For Sale" box!  It will be built strictly OOB, no rigging, extras or faffing about as I already have a groaning Shelf of Doom with incomplete ships all failing at the detailing stage (esp. PE). Having said that, this appears to be only the second ship on the Heller GB build list and the first warship so I had better finish it!

 

Pictures of the contents will appear in due course but is unlikely that I will get much in the way of construction done until later in the month.

Dave

[Wez]

Dave,

 

Welcome to the GB and good luck.

 

Very pleased to see another ship entry.

[davecov]

Thanks for the welcome, Wez.

 

Dave

[davecov]

Time to show the contents of the box. Parts are moulded in a grey plastic which is a bit more solid than that used for Airfix kits now.

 

The Hull halves which are about 17" long or for those of you not used to Imperial measurements, four baked potatoes long:

 

Flight Deck, Quarterdeck and Foc'sle:

 

This sprue contains many of the components for the superstructure:

 

Two identical sprues with two Super Frelon helicopters on each (but no Allouettes):

 

Three small sprues with railings for the hull and a length of chain which proved very difficult to untangle:

 

Decals look okay but I won't be using the black boot topping sections. It is much easier to paint it:

 

Paper flags which from the model serial number on the sheet, these were originally for the Heller Charles de Gaulle:

 

Instructions Pages 20-1

 

Instructions Pages 4-5

 

Instructions Pages 6-7

 

Instructions Pages 8-9

 

Instructions Pages 10-11

 

Instructions Pages 12-13

 

Instructions Pages 14-15

 

Instructions Pages 16-17

 

Instructions Pages 18-19

 

You may have noticed a lack of other bits and bobs which is because this is a straightforward OOB build with no aftermarket stuff, no rigging and hopefully no hassle!

 

Build photos will follow.

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

6 hours ago, davecov said:

The Hull halves which are about 17" long or for those of you not used to Imperial measurements, four baked potatoes long:

🤣

 

Baked in butter or oil?

[davecov]

Butter and oil free, Jeroen!

 

Dave

 

[davecov]

I had only two days to get some construction done before I go away for a couple of weeks or so but at least I have made a start.

 

Major components have been cleaned. Annoyingly there are ejector pin marks on the decks so I will be filling those and removing the faint raised lines:

 

Removing parts from sprues and cleaning them up. The three sets of railings took hours to clean up. If it wasn't an OOB build then they would have been binned:

 

The 100mm guns were glued to the bases, making sure that they were all at the same angle. The underside of the turrets tops have ejector pin marks which will need fixing:

 

The components of the Super Frelons have been detached from the sprues and cleaned up:

 

Annoyingly, the Super Frelon halves do not match up and will need a lot of attention to sort them out:

 

A lot of the mouldings have big seams, ejector pin marks and sink holes. A lot of time will be spent sorting these out too:

 

Part removal underway. Where possible I am glueing parts as I go:

 

Here are some of the parts carefully stowed away:

 

I spent virtually all of yesterday cleaning up the mast and attaching the various platforms:

 

When I return I will finish cleaning up parts before filling and sanding.

 

That is all for now.

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

That's some nice progress Dave! Those seems look unfriendly by the way. It fast becomes a chore when you need to clean up every part when all you really want to do is get some construction going!

[davecov]

Back to the modelling bench after my holibobs. Not much to report but I have finished cleaning up the parts and applied filler.

 

As you can see, there are a lot of ejector pin marks in all the wrong places and the raised detail on the decks will be removed during the sanding process:

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[AdrianMF]

I was going to say “enjoy your hols” but welcome back! I should think that cleaning up the handrails is less onerous than messing with PE?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[davecov]

Thanks Adrian.

 

I think it is a case of which is the lesser of two evils, Adrian, although I am not sure which is the lesser!

 

Dave

[JOCKNEY]

Great choice Dave

Delighted to see a warship joining the GB. Those seems look really annoying, however can I congratulate you on the mast, which going by the number of parts is nearly a model in it's own right !

Best of luck with the build.

Cheers Pat

[Pappy]

G'day dave,

 

I second Pat's comments. I have seen this in the LHS  a few times and nearly bought it once, but I would be annoyed that it wasn't 1/350.

 

I am really enjoying your build. It is definitely a product of its time, but apart from the excess flash it still looks like a decent kit will come out at the end, and it would be the basis of something special if you eanted to throw some resin and PE at it,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[davecov]

Thanks Pat and Pappy.

 

The Heller ships are a bit clunky but if you have the dosh for aftermarket parts (if available) and patience they are a good basis to work from. I have neither right now, hence the OOB build! As for scale, I am too old to worry about such things nowadays and build anything that takes my fancy in the same way I build Airfix 1/600 and other manufacturer's 1/700 kits without losing sleep over the difference.

 

Back to the build and I have been installing the kit guard rails in the hull. They aren't very pretty from this side:

 

However, they look okay from the outside and I am hoping that they will look even better after painting rather than look worse:

 

The mast got some more additions and is now ready for painting:

 

I glued the hull halves and then set to work on the superstructure:

 

The decks were dry-fitted to the hull but the hull halves are not perfectly symmetrical with there being a 2-3mm difference. Doesn't sound much but the flight deck will not fit correctly on one side forward and aft. I also dry-fitted the superstructure. Here there is another problem where the aft section of the superstructure below the funnel does not fit snugly to the bulkheads. I will need to extend the deck using plastic card strips:

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[davecov]

This build hasn't been forgotten but I have been away from the modelling bench for a while. However, I can report some progress.

 

Pieces of plastic card were glued to the join of the hull halves to help secure the join prior to sanding:

 

After a long sanding session the hull looked like this. Props and rudder will be fitted much later in the build:

 

The anchors are the wrong shape and the instructions tell you to fit them vertically. In fact, the flukes should point aft:

 

Super Frelons have been assembled - apart from the main rotors. One of the Frelons has lost a wheel but I scratched a replacement later:

 

All smaller parts have been cleaned up and are now ready for painting:

 

More parts:

 

And more. Note that I have put plastic card strips on top of the Exocet launchers:

 

Even more parts:

 

Still not finished with the parts:

 

Finally, the remaining small parts:

 

The superstructure has proved to be a right pain. I fitted a plastic card strip across the front of the walkway to fill some gaps. I also blanked off the lower bridge windows and fitted the deck:

 

I still have a lot of work to do at the aft end of the superstructure as there are gaps that need fixing:

 

Next step will be to finally get down to some painting!

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

Oof, that is not a good fit at all. The hull looks very good though. There's definitely a lot of paintwork in your near future 🙂 

[davecov]

Lots of painting to report.

 

All smaller components and bulkheads were painted with Colourcoats RN Light Weatherwork Grey (NARN52):

 

Then they all got a second coat of NARN52:

 

Lots to do:

 

Luckily I have plenty of crocodile clips:

 

The hull after two coats of NARN52, remembering to paint the inside of the hull along the openings. I will leave it for a couple of days before masking up for the painting of the boot topping and lower hull:

 

Decks (apart from the Flight Deck & Lift) were masked up and sprayed with a first coat of Colourcoats RN Dark Deck Grey (NARN54). The Flight Deck & Lift will be painted a darker shade of grey:

 

Liferafts were given three coats of Colourcoats Matt White (C03):

 

The propellers were painted with Alclad 2 Polished Brass (ALC-109):

 

I now have to return to the superstructure to fix the fit issue.

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

6 hours ago, davecov said:

Luckily I have plenty of crocodile clips:

I was just thinking it when you said it Dave 🙂 

 

Wow, lots of parts on this one, I'm sure it'll look pretty impressive when finished.

[davecov]

A lot done today. I had meant to deal with the superstructure but I was in a painting mood so that was done instead.

 

The Super Frelons were given a camouflage finish although I think the Heller call out for H27 wasn't quite right but it will have to do:

 

Windows were drawn in and rotor blades fitted. I still need to apply a coat of varnish:

 

Hull was masked ready for a coat of Colourcoats RN WW2 Anti-fouling Red (NARN42):

 

First coat was applied. Next coat tomorrow:

 

Rudder, propshafts and hull of ship's boats were also done:

 

The Flight Deck was given a coat of H27 Matt Sea Grey but the contrast with the other deck's colours wasn't strong enough for my liking:

 

To correct that, I oversprayed the Sea Grey with H123 Satin Extra Dark Sea Grey. Much better:

 

Now where is that superstructure assembly?

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[davecov]

Lots more done since I last posted.

 

The hull was given a second coat of Colourcoats RN WW2 Anti-fouling Red (NARN42):

 

Masking tape was removed a couple of hours later:

 

Fitting the decks was always going to be difficult so first of all I glued the Quarterdeck:

 

The Foc'sle was only dry-fitted as the fit of the Flight Deck needs checking first. It looks like there will be a large gap to fill:

 

Dry-fitting the Flight Deck. It had to be pushed back hard to meet the bulkheads at the Quarterdeck and I had to remove a little piece from the hull on the port side to get it to fit correctly. Unfortunately, the Foc'sle had to remain in the same position and the large gap will need filling with plastic card:

 

Although only dry-fitted, the Flight Deck doesn't need much tweaking and will need very little glue when it finally comes to fitting it permanently. That won't be done until the superstructure has been sorted:

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

That's looking very good! Nice work masking and painting that hull and the helo's look pretty comfortable there as well with their camo on.

[Rob S]

Very nice work. 

 

This brings back memories as I built one of these in the late 70’s.  Even though I should have really been concentrating on building 1:600 scale things in other scales like this crept into the “Fleet” to “enhance” it’s “capability”. 

[davecov]

Thanks lads 👍

 

Yesterday, I was finally able to get to work on the issues with the superstructure.

 

At the forward end, the filler on the plastic card additions have been sanded smooth:

 

Turning to the aft end, I added strips of plastic card both inside and outside to fill the gaps:

 

Filler time:

 

After sanding there were some areas that needed filling again:

 

Once sanded, it was time to give the whole superstructure a coat of filler/primer:

 

Next step will be to give the superstructure a light sanding before I move on to the top coats.

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[davecov]

Another little update.

 

I decided not to use the kit decals for the boot topping and so it was masking time. My technique is to put a strip of masking tape (6mm wide for this build) masking tape along the full length of the hull where the black is to be sprayed. I then put further strips of masking tape along each edge of the original masking tape. Once that is done, I remove the original pieces of tape which (hopefully) leaves a parallel area ready for painting:

 

The first of two coats of Colourcoats Matt Black (C02) was applied:

 

After a second coat was applied, all masking tape was removed. There was a very slight piece of bleed which would be easily fixed:

 

However, the stern part of the boot topping needed widening so the masking tape came out and the first of two coats of matt black were applied. Forward of this section, I resprayed the light grey where there had been some bleeding:

 

The filling and sanding of the superstructure was completed and I gave the decks two coats of Colourcoats RN Dark Deck Grey (NARN54):

 

Once the paint on the decks was dry, I masked them and gave the rest of the superstructure a first coat of Colourcoats RN Light Weatherwork Grey (NARN52):

 

That is all for now

 

Dave

[JeroenS]

Nice work Dave, good tip on the masking.