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1⁄350Le Richelieu, September 1943.
Le Richelieu September 1943
The Setting…
I wanted to portray the ship in a diorama in a New York Navy Yard before leaving for Europe to join the home fleet at Scapa Flow after an extensive refit and trials in the East Coast.The battleship was painted in a Soft Edge MS-3X Camouflage utilizing USN Colors.
The Model…
The ship came from Trumpeter. The hull was sawn off to make the kit a waterline model. Several Corrections had to be made in the superstructure, especially the top bridge, the radar and range finder equipment and additional extensive detail added to achieve the required result of the battleship. Motor boats were scratchbuilt, Bofors guns were correctly altered, Anchor chains were added and all piping and trunking on the superstructure was scratchbuilt from telephone wire. All the detail in the lower superstructure was scratchbuilt from bits and pieces of evergreen plastic rods.
L’Arsenal Upagrading Set was used and this was as well further detailed to enhance the model even further. The rigging was not an easy task and very fine straightened fuse wire was used. Additional boats were added on the forward deck. Figures came from a mixture of L’Arsenal and Fujimi Offerings.
The model was airbrushed in White Ensign Colourcoats enamels which I always use, and I will recommend them to any marine modeler. . Of course a lot of masking had to be done to get the many camouflage patterns throughout the whole ship. Shadows and highlights were laid on using acrylics and the intermediate color was blended in using a combination of drybrushing and sponging the paint always in a downward motion. The model was finally weathered in oils and I tried to be as subtle as possible to achieve the correct medium, the half way road, not too heavy ,not too insignificant. It is pertinent to note that although the Ship had still just been painted it still had to be weathered as it spent a full month in the Atlantic Ocean for extensive Trials. A final coat of matt varnish was sprayed on the ship