Dunkerque 1:250 scale

**roncar** · #1 02-23-2022, 03:43 AM

My fascination with French naval design continues. Now, after building a series of pre-WW1 oddities, I have made a start on one of the relatively more modern examples – the Dunkerque of 1936. Designed, with its sister ship the Strasbourg, to counter the emerging German pocket battleships, the Dunkerque has the lean and hungry look of a hunter. The eight-gun main armament is all mounted in two turrets forward.
I have re-printed the WAK 1/200 card kit to a scale of 1/250 and the finished model will (just) fit in my 36 inch display case. My printer has given me some grief, producing 50 different shades of grey, but the result is likely to show more life than a just a flat painted surface. The kit has fixed turrets, but I am cutting out spaces for turntables for them.

**Don Boose** · #2 02-23-2022, 07:34 AM

The last two classes of French battleships were beautiful to my eye.

And so is your model.

Don

**roncar** · #3 03-09-2022, 06:50 PM

Some progress has been made on the superstructure and some of the ship’s distinctive profile is starting to appear. In adding some detail to the model I have drilled out all the portholes and cut out all the windows in the bridge structure. After colouring the white edges, I have glazed all these openings with clear nail varnish (applied from the back).
I find that the nail varnish has a thick consistency that is simple to apply and can be teased out to cover fairly large openings. I was a little concerned about some larger openings situated on angles of the lower bridge structure, but even these were filled effectively with the varnish. With this method, light is defracted a little unevenly – this ensures the portholes have a bit of sparkle - and I hope that at this scale it doesn’t matter too much with the larger window spaces either, as on a real ship there would be persons moving and various pieces of equipment seen dimly through the windows on the ship’s bridge.
The model provides some interesting detail inside the aircraft hangar at the rear, so after some thought about how the hangar door operates, I have simulated it in the open position, with the intention of displaying one of the aircraft, with wings folded, on its trolley inside. Another aircraft can then be mounted on the catapult.

**Don Boose** · #4 03-09-2022, 07:14 PM

Excellent superstructure!

Don

**wireandpaper** · #5 03-10-2022, 01:29 AM

looking forward to see those Loire 130.

**PAPER FAN** · #6 03-16-2022, 02:02 PM

I've never would have thought of nail polish. It's a good look, wonder how well it'll hold up in 1:200.

I'll try it on pocket bb builds.

**roncar** · #7 03-23-2022, 10:54 PM

Raising the funnel(s) on a model ship is always a milestone in the build. The Dunkerque’s distinctive profile is more evident as the deck layers build up. But wait, there are more levels of that forward superstructure to come! It’s starting to look like one of those pagoda structures from Japanese battleships of the period (only much more elegant, because it’s French).
The arms of the rangefinder come separately but need to be precisely aligned, so I drilled through the housing assembly to position a piece of plastic rod across. Then the rangefinder arm for each side could be slipped over the rod with confidence in the alignment.
After constructing the shroud and vents on the top of the funnel as per the kit instructions, I was a bit disappointed to look at photos of the actual ship and see that the shroud was actually much lower and the vents virtually invisible. I proceeded to cut them down as much as I could without ruining the funnel. The shroud is still a bit high, compared to the photographs.
There is a 1:350 Trumpeter model of the Dunkerque that has the higher version of the funnel shroud, so maybe the ship underwent a later modification. Meanwhile the reference photos I am using were probably taken pre-war, and that’s the version I am building.

**PAPER FAN** · #8 03-28-2022, 08:22 PM

Good looking build. I love my version, very majestic and far more attractive than her younger siblings.

The comment about the Japanese ships is interesting considering they are really not any higher than the stupidly designed giant crows nests on the American standard battleships of the same period. The Yamatos would be a closer comparison.

**roncar** · #9 03-29-2022, 07:18 PM

I must put the Graf Spee onto my build list. The Dunkerque was designed as the French response to the German pocket battleships and was involved in the search for the Graf Spee. It would have been an interesting conflict had they ever met.

**Don Boose** · #10 03-29-2022, 09:06 PM

Beautiful work on your model! Exceptionally clean and precise artisanship.

Don