Ahoy Shipmates!!!

Sit back and enjoy the story that MSW Crewmember Louis Carabott has for us today. It is of the French Battleship Le Richelieu as she departs New York after her 1943 refit.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

If there were a vote for the MSW build of the year, this would probably get my vote, unless the unlikely would happen and some thing better shows up the rest of the year

Very nice work!

Cheers/Jan

This diorama is a triumph! Port scenes are usually most interesting and Louis has pulled together many elements masterfully: a gently weathered look for a ship just out of the yards, pier equipment, vehicles, green harbor water, yard craft, and purposeful activity amongst the crew figures.

Add to that a challenging camo scheme and you have a diorama for the books.

On a historical note, it's unusual to see a warship at the height of the war having so many boats on board.

--Karl

You have done really, really well, this is magical especially the shading that gives an almost 3-D effect which I'd love to see a step by step, not being funny but when I paint, I try to distress the paint work as I like my work looking a bit on the rough side, I have thought of shading but never had the bottle for the amount you've achieved, which I honestly like the look of.

I assume this is the 350 scale kit. I picked one up way back when, but kinda wondered why. After seeing yours, I am glad I did. Truely a work of art. Is there a PE set for it? I have some generic rails, but may want to go a bit further. I'll just do mine as she is, so I won't be looking for an upgrade kit.

Yes, this is really as good as it can get ! A genuine 1/350th masterpiece
cheers,Julian

Sure Lou, anyone can do a fantastic job with a beautiful dio in 1/350(lol)

Absolutely fantastic!

He was working on this for a while and sending me bits and pieces. The first ones he sent were the unfinished storage tanks. Then the train and tug boats. It was a real treat getting the little peeks from time to time.

Louis is on vacation at the moment, but when he returns I am sure he be pleased by your commnets...

Great Dio!!!

Hi Louis

Congratulations on a very impressive dio!
Full of action (even if it's peaceful action!) with a very busy pier, as usually they are!
Also think you have made an excellent job with the Richelieu!! The camo is simply amazing!
You are a resourceful modeler

Cheers,
Rui

Very nice Louis.(talk about an understatement!!)
Worth the wait and the extra effort.
Very good painting and shading .Lots of action.Everything, from the seascape to the pier instalments has an air of extra realism.Almost makes it as a 3D picture of the real thing.

Excellent work!
I bet it's even more inpressive in real life!
BZ!
Guido

Nice job on researching this and digging out the photo you used for reference. I think you've set the definitive high bar to-date for the 1/350 model. Magnifique!

A stunning model indeed....!

Simply magnificent. Love the paint job with colour fade and. Your builds have a distinct style in painting (loved your illustrious!), with artfully done highlights that show off the dimensions of the model very very well. Like modelling the impressionst style

Another masterpiece Louis!

Gentleman ...just came back from Holiday and just read all your kind comments about my model. I thank you all. I enjoyed this project very much and like Kostas said it was well worth the wait:):)....
The Richelieu is such a beautiful and unusual ship. Karl I also thought like wise about the number of boats on a ship during wartime....but I came across an overhead shot of the ship sailing out of New York and it had 3 additional boats behind Turret number 2...so I just stuck them on :):)
Thanks once again and best regards from the little island of Malta
Louis

My favourite build of the year so far - wonderful, Louis, the camo blending couldn't be any better than that, and the composition is superb.

Peter F