Building Jean Bart

[Greg S.]

I started my current model project in March 1997. It started out as a model of the battleship Richelieu but quit after I realized that I was unable to interpret the details of the drawings that I was working with. I did finish the skeleton of the hull before I ceased work.
Since then, I obtained drawings of Richelieu and her sister ship Jean Bart from the French Archives internet website and have obtained some photos of models of the ships.
A few months ago, after finishing my last project, I decided to recommence work and to use the hull to build Jean Bart instead. As Jean Bart was blistered whereas Richelieu was not, I had to make some corrections to the hull.
Lately, I've been experimenting with a floating hull plating construction method. The Jean Bart is much bigger than my last model and I find that the system (which is meant to avoid the hungry hull look of card ship models) is a bit problematic. Grasping the model midships feels uncomfortably spongy. My theory is that the model is not meant to be handled much.