Hi again everyone, Ok, a few questions. 1. What is the ship designation (equivalent of USS, IJN, HMS, etc) of French and Imperial Russian/Soviet Russian ships? I have heard two for the French, one being MN and one being FS. I've not heard of any for Russia. Does anyone know? 2. Where is a good place to get plans for French never-weres Normandie and Lyon and for Russian battleships? 3. Are there any really good, detailed tutorials for building RC scale warships that don't require exotic tools or materials? Thanks all! Ryan W.
Not sure about (1), but for (2) I know a guy who built a Normandie. It's a fairly simple hull shape, too. Not sure why you'd want a Lyon, because the extra quad is in a horrible location and you don't gain any speed or armor. I've got a few Russian ships, but none of the later ones. I've only got their predreads. For (3), just start digging around in the Warship Builds section of this forum. You'll find a lot of good stuff there. I know there's a few proper "how to"s for Big Gun warships, but they are many years old and out of date. Wooden warship construction techniques have evolved way past those. The best thing you can do is come visit, and I can show you how it's done in person.
It wouldn't surprise me if Tugboat has a set of Normandie plans tucked away on his computer someplace. heh. To get an idea of the size and hull shape of a Normandie, check out the "Bearn CV" thread stickied at the top of the Warship Builds section. The Bearn is a carrier that was built on a Normandie hull. The class hull had a stepped stern deck vs the all flat single level deck the Bearn had. The thread also has a lot of information if a person wants to try building a wooden hulled ship (which happens more often than not due to how few fiberglass hulls are made for hypothetical ships). Isn't there a Normandie battling in Treaty?
Were the Normandie plans on the French archives? I looked for them this morning but did not see them.
Wow, thanks again guys. Seriously, this is like one of the best web communities ever. I appreciate the plans for the Normandie. If was gonna go French, that is probably what I would do, but I do like the look of the Lyon. There is something awesome about four quad turrets. lol. I'll check out the Bearn build thread too. Good call on that. I also looked on the French archives, but I think they only do plans on ships that were fully commissioned.
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Checked the French archives this afternoon and found they did have the plans of Languedoc . I did not scroll any further down to see if Normandie was there.
LOL, thanks GS... The link to the Normandie plans is below, James is correct, the only plans for the Normandie are in fact the Languedoc, a ship of the same class. They will need to be scaled to 1/144 scale. http://www.servicehistorique.sga.de...php?id=265
Which is fine with me as that being one of my favourite parts of France would be the one I plan to build. (if it did not exceed my self imposed unit limit, and of course it were legal in MWC).
Wow, thanks. I am downloading them now. Do you think the other ships of the class would have varied much from these? Oh, and what about French dazzle paint? This thing would look awesome in some dazzle.
Oh, hey Tug, do you happen to have any plans for the Russians? Im specifically talking about the Gangut post-modernization. Thanks.
Why, yes, yes I do. Since I'm building a post-modernization Gangut on commission at the moment! I really need to get my website going. The interface on this site won't let me upload >5 or 10 MB files.
Hard to say what the differences would have been between the various Normandies as none were completed. Nothing major I would suspect, just odd bits of 3 vs 4 searchlights on the main mast for example. Not sure that the French went in much for dazzle in the First World War. There are some interesting Russian disruptive paint schemes that I have seen pictures of but no good articles that I have read. My suggestion would be if you want a dazzled Gangut, find a dazzle pattern you like and go with it.
The French dazzle pattern consists of white shapes on a white background Preferably on a flag! Sorry Francophiles, I had to say it! Now I'll have to watch out in the shop to make sure that the Jean Fromage doesn't 'accidentally' put a few BBs into me for my comments...
LOL @ Tug. If I do build a French ship, it will unofficially be named FS Frommage du Guerre. Either that or FS Jerry Lewis..., I havn't decided. I'm thinking you guys are familiar with the naval MMO Navy Field? They have ship skins you can do on your local system called "sprites." A few of them are pretty cool: Lyon Class BB: http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/jiveslug/?action=view¤t=LyonDazzle.jpg Gangut Class BB: http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n168/jiveslug/?action=view¤t=SevastopolDazzle.png I personally feel they add a lot to the appearance of these vessels. Again, I am just not sure how "legal" it would be to do a non-historic paint treatment on a ship....
As a member of MWC, I have no problem with reasonable non-historic paint jobs on ships. Some people get more slack than others; Brian K's 11 year old daughter wants a pink Kent-class cruiser, and I am not telling her NO. And, it IS an allied ship, so pink is vaguely appropriate I actually feel that I owe a debt of gratitude to the Marine Nationale, as they alone among the worlds navies have scanned in and posted their ship plans for historians and people like us. Hence, the SB-101 class was based on the cruiser Edgar Quinet (and hence my ship, MN Jean Fromage).
There was a pink ship(with glitter) at MWC Nats 2008, it battled. Nothing in the rules says you can't do it. But expect to take some flack for it. Other than that any paint scheme that is remotely realistic looking nobody is going to mind. This isn't a historical hobby, its a game played with ships that shapes resemble actual ships from history. But its a ton of fun.
