[roncar]

With six funnels, positioned in two groups of three, the cruiser Jeanne d’Arc has the most distinctive profile of any warship I know (even the Danton class battleships only had five). Launched in 1899 she failed to reach her rather ambitious designed speed and was initially plagued by boiler and engine troubles. However these latter were evidently overcome as her career in one role or another lasted through until 1933.
I encountered an unusual problem at the start of the build, as one page of templates for the frame appears to be missing, so that seven of the twenty hull cross sections are absent. Fortunately, the official French naval plans and drawings are available (see the Dreadnought Project website) so that I have been able to identify the missing hull profiles and calculate the appropriate scale to print equivalent templates based on these official plans.
Attached are some photographs that illustrate the solution to this problem. The hull cross sections coloured blue are the ones I have created myself. (Note – there are not two models here, just two halves of a hull being built outwards from the waterline. This is intended to ensure that, when joined, I have a complete hull frame that is not banana-shaped.)