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Hobbyboss 1/350 Dunkerque


S-boat 55

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HI All, 

 

So this is my second work in progress entry, the first - ICM's 1/350 Grosser Kurfurst is on hold due to it getting squashed when rearranging the office, the super structure wasn't damaged but the hull looks like its gone 5 rounds with Yamato! I'm slowly sorting the damage out but given I'd put it on hold a bit anyway as its was stopping being enjoyable its likely that I wont get if fixed quickly. I'd already started playing around with this one a bit anyway. To start with I just placed the main parts together to see how they fit - pretty well is the answer, there was nothing deck/hull wise that leapt out as needing sorting. She's an odd looking ship to be sure but elegant with it,

 

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With Grosser Kurfurst I was working on the idea of RC conversion, thought about it with this one as well but decided against taking the chance of watching my work sink in the middle of a lake in Gloucestershire. Decided to try drilling the scuttles out to add depth, tried this with a 1/350 Dreadnought and I wasn't sure on the outcome but thought why not try it again. There are about 120 per side, compared to some builds on here this isn't many but it took a while, also opened out the square windows in front of B turret, did that by drilling out then cutting square with a fine point blade - don't know if there is a better way than that?

 

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One thing I hadn't realised when I bought the kit was that it includes a decent amount of photoetch, I'll add a pic later of it but there are 5 small sheets, this will be a challenge as I was goig to attempt a bit of etch on Grosser K but never gt that far so this is the first proper go. I'm pretty happy with my first attempt;

 

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Ive started a bit of painting as you can see, the steel decks are Humbrol 123, the hull/ss 125 and main deck 71. Hobbyboss' instructions said different but given no one really seems to know what exact colour they were thanks to poor/destroyed records I've allowed myself to go with what I have. For reference i got hold of a copy of 'French Battleships o1922-1956' by Jordan and Dumas. I think its a great book, very interesting explanation of why these ships ended up the way they were. In it Dunkerque is said to still be a dark Atlantic grey 1942 just as she wore on operations with the RN in 1940. the difference between her 42 look is a tricolor on Turret B and no division markings on the funnel. Couldn't resist the tricolor look so as going fr a 1942 appearance just before scuttling. 

 

So with a bit more colour on the main parts, I decided to paint the waterline first this time - not sure I like doing it that way, but it's done now;

 

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My camera is giving it a blue tint on the superstructure, its not that blue although it does have a hue of it. but you can see from the two photo's above how from a different angle the blue reduces. second attempt at photoetch went well I think,;

 

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I promise I wont post a pic of every bit of photoetch - I'm just pleased I've managed to do some! Having read over 'Ship models from kits' by Griffith, I've tried highlighting individula planks on the deck by adding a bit of Humbrol 196 which is very light grey, i'll then do more with a bit more light added then darken a few and see how it looks. What are people thought to running a pin wash for the grooves between the planks? I'm not sure if that would look too much?

 

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Last pic - the ill fated Grosser kurfurst in the background; 

 

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Im hoping to finish Dunkerque quite quickly -  by the end of the year as I have a chunk of time off work but we'll see,

 

Further update to come on the weekend, thanks for reading my muddled waffling's, 

Edited by S-boat 55
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Seen a couple of builds on this ship I think it is very attractive was thinking of adding it to the grey fleet looking great so far and I would add a wash to the decking David Griffiths book is a great little information source will be following to see the progress 

 

Stay Safe 

beefy 

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Nice work especially on the PE.  One of these will reduce the "sweat factor" immeasurably...

https://www.modellingtools.co.uk/cutting-and-folding-set-hold--fold-bug--modellingtoolscouk-etch-cutting-set-9969-p.asp

 

Other tools are availbale as they say - hiigh initial outlay but worth every penny IMHO!!

Rob

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5 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Nice work especially on the PE.  One of these will reduce the "sweat factor" immeasurably...

https://www.modellingtools.co.uk/cutting-and-folding-set-hold--fold-bug--modellingtoolscouk-etch-cutting-set-9969-p.asp

 

Other tools are availbale as they say - hiigh initial outlay but worth every penny IMHO!!

Rob

 

Agreed, I have a larger version.  As you say, not cheap but absolutely pays for itself in time saved and accuracy of bends.

Edited by johndon
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Hi all, 

 

Thanks for the recommendation re tools - I've looked at them and wondered, I'll see how I go and then if I find doing photo etch mainly enjoyable I may well invest, 

 

Got a bit of work done on her, the Loire float plane is together, I'm actually going to try adapting it to add some missing frame work, I saw it done on a build log on another site and it looked great question is if I can pull it off or not. The kit comes with two so the second my be adjusted to folded wing and sat in the hanger or used as spare in case my plans to adapt the first don't come off. The moulding on the whole kit is very good, very little in the way of seams and not flash to speak of, 

 

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Master Barrels are in now for the main guns, these one come with resin mounts which is very handy as there's less fear of cutting the old barrels off the mounts and then trying to get the replacement ones to sit square. The secondary guns are the same. 

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Lastly a quick shot of the photo etch that comes with the kit - I think this makes it very good value compared to others, especially as i got mine 2nd had off evil-bay for a song, it lacks rails for the main deck but otherwise its pretty good. The one downside is there is no option but the photoetch in places, for example the catapult is not offered in 'back up plastic' as well so its get it right first time.., it'll be fine what could possibly go wrong! 

 

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Lots left to do and 15 days left to finish her, 

 

 

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So my goal of by the end of the year may not happen, but we'll see, some progress is being made albeit it slowly, one issue I find is three coats of paint by brush takes a good long while. Id guess that may be quicker with an airbrush but that's not currently an option so I shall persevere, I'm pretty happy with the rear most deck although the camera is making it look a little more blended than it really is, , just wondering what to do wash wise, also I've gone with a fairly bright red for the hull. What are people thoughts re a different finish below the water line to above, i.e Satin beneath and matt above or even gloss below and satin above?

 

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So far the PE i've done i'm happy with and enjoying but we'll see if that continues, 

 

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nearly to the point where a few bits can be properly fixed, the funnel needs another coat and should be able to go on;

 

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Hopefully get a good shot of where I'm at with things tonight, 

 

Thanks,

 

 

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Gidday, I'm not an expert on ship's colours and I sometimes forfeit authenticity a little for the sake of a good looking model. (If I've just offended the model ship connoisseurs I apologize and will wash my mouth out with soap and water. 😁) I nearly always paint my model ships in matt paint. I don't think I'd go too bright on the underwater hull, because it's a large area and could dominate the viewing of the completed model. Just my thoughts, anyway. HTH.

     These two ships were quite graceful I think, and the model should look good when finished. Regards, Jeff.

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Thanks Jerry, I'll admit to being rather crude and simplistic with painting - as a troglodyte I still use the method I used 50 years ago - enamels straight on with the hairy stick. I know there are much more refined methods used now. And I'll take your suggestion for a mouthwash on board. Regards, Jeff.

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As for a troglodyte (HMMM time machine?) I love painting so much....

 

and how much....

 

 

that I would visit the Dentist to have a root canal without the aid of any pain reducers!!😵

 

Have fun and stay safe

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Thanks for the comments,

 

How that mouth washing going? 😉

 

So as promised a few shots of things dry fitted together showing where things are at. In order to make any real progress now I'm going to need to get a chunk of the photo etch done. I know its customary to treat large warships as a series of small subassemblies but the forward tower will ideally just need to built from the deck up as it doesn't lend itself to being assembled post photo etch. Talking of PE do others pre paint then fit and touch up as needed? 

 

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Best pics i could get in natural light on a very wet day in Gloucestershire, the grey o the hull needs another coat so will be as the rear superstructure.

 

Thanks for thoughts re paint finish, at present I'm finding that when thinned the satins I use dry very much matt anyway. Is testors dullcote okay to brush?

 

Any thoughts re the red? I don't want to get too much further and then conclude I need to repaint it as the deck will be fixed on soon,.

 

thanks for looking

 

 

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38 minutes ago, S-boat 55 said:

Talking of PE do others pre paint then fit and touch up as needed? 

For the PE railings I tend to paint bend and touch up as to other bits I try and get as much fitted to the main parts and then paint as one HTH

 

beefy

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8 minutes ago, beefy66 said:

For the PE railings I tend to paint bend and touch up as to other bits I try and get as much fitted to the main parts and then paint as one HTH

 

beefy

If it works for you I shall try the same, thanks

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1 hour ago, S-boat 55 said:

How that mouth washing going?

Gidday, I thought I'd try red wine, in fact three times tonight to make sure it worked. 🍷

 

The model continues to look good. May I ask, what are those 'track rails' on the deck behind 'B' turret?

Regards, Jeff.

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21 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday, I thought I'd try red wine, in fact three times tonight to make sure it worked. 🍷

 

The model continues to look good. May I ask, what are those 'track rails' on the deck behind 'B' turret?

Regards, Jeff.

So they're for moving some of the ships boats around, I can see them being a pain to paint though, was thinking I'd seal the deck first so when it invariably goes wrong I can at least clean it up and not affect the deck to either side,

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  • 2 weeks later...

So given it was the festive period I thought I'd get a lot done, .... never mind! 

 

The reason I was hoping to get Dunkerque finished was I was fairly certain there was something on its way to me;

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As you see there was, - I already have an itch but will be 'good' and get Dunkerque finished. My only thought is Revell went a little overboard on the box! I'm really enjoying building dunkerque, the fit is exceptional and her lines are growing on me, so much so that I came very close to picking up her sister ship Strasbourg as well - still might. 

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I decided to tone the red down as had been hinted at, very pleased with the end result. There's still a little touch up to do on the water line but that shouldn't take long. I have at least stuck the lower section of the tower on and the funnel, rest of it is just dry fitted. 

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Aside that its been a case of slowly pre painting the etch, its slow but hopefully by the end of the week I can start tackling getting real progress on the smaller bits as the deck is nearly ready for a wash. First up will likely be these;

 

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More later,

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Edited by S-boat 55
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  • 2 weeks later...

So life has been lifey and stopped me doing much, but progress at last - the photo etch has begun going on to some bits, 

 

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Bending curves is fun! the platform has varying degrees of curve and so it took about 15 minutes to do, i'm hoping I get a bit quicker. much much more to do, 

 

Sam

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Evening, 

 

So tried my first pin wash to bring out the detail a bit, I realised that I may need to do some of this as I go rather than all at the end. I'm pretty happy with the results, Just used a thinned bit of humbrol black satin, the pic is merely to show the contrast with it applies against not. 

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Having done that I thought why not try it with the deck as it was still to be finished and fixed to the hull. It turned out to be more of a mix an match of an area wash and pin wash as it didn't always flow where I wanted it to go. Any thoughts, comments or friendly critique welcome as I'm looking to improve from project to project. I think I'm happy enough with this one though, although I've toyed with the idea of a very pale grey or almost white wash over all of the deck. 

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So having done that the the fore and quarter decks were finally fixed in place. At which point i promptly realised that the last thing i had meant to do was open up the fixing holes for various little bits in the foredeck. Ooops! Not wanting to end up doing it by eye or be beaten i took to using the wifes reading light (small sun level brightness LEDs) to show where the thinned areas were and then open them up from the top. Worked a treat. The only confusing thing is some of the holes are doubled up to allow for positions for the sister ship. The instructions show this but not very cleary so it took a few minutes to work out where things were to go and which holes to open. 

 

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Putting the main deck in place I finally discovered a small alignment issue, its the first one of the kit that i really remember and its not exactly huge. Had I of joined the decks to each other before sticking them to the hull this wouldn't have been an issue as all it really needs is a good squeeze.

 

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The issue is there is a limit as to how hard you can press on the lower deck. So my solution was to open out the area under the forward superstructure to give me access to literally squeeze it together when it comes to it. I wont fix it down quite yet as I'll need to check the rear bulkheads align okay first and its getting a touch late.

 

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More soon

 

S

Edited by S-boat 55
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Gidday, I thought that was a brilliant (no pun intended) idea with the lights to locate those holes. That round breakwater just in front of 'A' turret looks awfully close to the barbette. It must have been a nightmare to paint in there. You'd think that French naval designers would show more consideration for future generations of ship modelers. 🙂 Regards, Jeff.

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4 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday, I thought that was a brilliant (no pun intended) idea with the lights to locate those holes. That round breakwater just in front of 'A' turret looks awfully close to the barbette. It must have been a nightmare to paint in there. You'd think that French naval designers would show more consideration for future generations of ship modelers. 🙂 Regards, Jeff.

You'd of thought but clearly they didn't, it wasn't too bad to do, but then as it's so close a wobbly line in the inside doesn't notice lol !

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  • 2 weeks later...

Apologies progress has been very sparing/slow but I've been trying to work out how to go about getting ti done rather than bit here and there when i could do it more quickly if a little bit of coordination came in. 

 

So with a view to that i figure get all the little bits built as far as possible to allow 'mass painting t occur - which by brush isnt quick, the replacement barrels for the secondary guns came out well, couldnt have been mor easy to line up at they come with resin mounts. 

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Apologies the photo isn't great, this in turn led to the turrets and I found the photo etch details that go around the openings are slightly too large, not sure there's much i can do about it now though, 

 

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I'll need to tidy up around them pre painting of course, 

 

Lastly tried adding a pre painted ladder to the side of a rear bit of s/structure, I've noticed how others' builds these seem to stand away from what ever they are mounted on a bit so i tried chopping a small bit of some spare railing to pack behind to rungs and see if it came out, Im pretty happy with the look i think but boy was it fiddly, maybe there's a better way but i cant think of one right now, 

 

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And good golly gosh close ups aren't kind are they!

 

More hopefully soonish, I have been working on finishing the hull off but that's a few days away, 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

So days turned into a month but hey she's back! Yay!

 

So not done a lot really, just ben painting a few bits but thought I would post to show the project hadn't disappeared into obscurity, 

 

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Dry fitted everything so far that is readyish and she's looking good I think;

 

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Hopefully more in somewhere less than a month!

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