SSModel
1/700 French Battleship Courbet


 
 

Reviewed January 2024
by Martin J Quinn
HISTORY
According to Wikipedia:

The Courbet-class battleships were the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy. These were completed prior to WWI. The class comprised four ships: Courbet, France, Jean Bart, and Paris. All four ships were deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for the entirety of World War I, spending most of their time escorting French troop convoys from North Africa and covering the Otranto Barrage. An Anglo-French fleet led by Courbet succeeded in sinking the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Zenta in the Battle of Antivari. 

Between the wars the surviving ships (France sank after striking a rock in Quiberon Bay in 1922) were modernized several times, but they were not rebuilt thoroughly enough to prevent them from becoming obsolete in comparison to modern German or Italian battleships. They were relegated to training duties during the 1930s. Courbet and Paris escaped to Portsmouth where they became depot and accommodation ships after the French armistice in 1940. Courbet was scuttled on 9 June 1944 as a breakwater for a Mulberry harbor used during the Battle of Normandy.
SSModel Courbet

The SSModel Courbet comes in a brown flip-top cardboard box. Inside the box, sitting on a piece of foam, is the waterline hull and five print rafts, 3 bags of turned brass barrels, and a bag with 3D printed anchor chain.  Everything is printed in a hideous orange color.  After consulting French Battleships of World War One, by John Jordan & Philippe Caresse, this model of the Courbet appears represent the ship circa 1931.

THE HULL 
The hull scales out pretty much perfectly in length and beam.  There is nice details printed on the deck - bollards, winches, hatches and vents.  You'll find raised plating detail aft of the breakwater, but scribed detail forward of it.  The raised plating seem a bit overdone to me, and is also uneven, especially on the casement deck. 

SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS
The majority of superstructure is printed as one large piece, which is going to make painting a f'ing nightmare. There is, however, some finely printed details here, especially the boat racks.  The cranes are thin, but warped.  The after superstructure/mast is also printed as one piece. The mast shows some warpage, and most likely won't stand up to any sort of rigging.

As someone else said to me, "just because you CAN print these parts in one piece, doesn't mean you SHOULD".  100% agree. 

MAIN BATTERY TURRETS
These are, at best, just ok.  The turrets and barbettes for the superfiring turrets are printed as one piece.  Frankly, I think the blast bags are pedestrian at best, especially considering these are 3D printed, and could have been designed to be the more than tube shaped. 

BOATS/AA GUNS
There are two identical print rafts, with ships boats and AA guns, as well as some small secondary directors.  The directors are very small and very thin.  The barrels on the AA guns are also very thin - they are as fine as human hair. While I don't have any good drawings of photos of the boats, they seem a bit pudgy and toyish to me. 

BRASS BARRELS
The main and secondary barrels are done in brass.

ANCHOR CHAIN
There is petite and nicely 3D printed anchor chain included. 

INSTRUCTIONS
I know that the model doesn't consist of many parts overall, but these are more "suggestions" than instructions. 

CONCLUSIONS
I'd definitely categorize this model as a "mixed-bag".  On the plus side - it's an actual 1/700 Courbet-class battleship.  The only previous kit I know of this class is the out-of-production HP Models kit.  The hull is decent overall, other than the oversized plating lines on the deck, and there is some nice detail and some finely printed parts included, along with brass gun barrels for the main and secondary weapons.

On the negative side, lets start with the horrid orange color, which I imagine is going to be difficult to cover. Then there is the one piece superstructure, which is going to be a nightmare to paint.  Again, just because you can print one giant part doesn't mean you should. The cranes and the mast are very thin, with pronounced warping, while the blast bags for the main battery turrets look like extensions of the barrels, not blast bags, and the instructions are totally inadequate.  I'd recommend this only to die-hard Marine Nationale and/or Courbet-class fans, who MUST have this ship in their collection. Everyone else, cross your fingers that Combrig has this in the pipeline.

This is SSModel's 1/700 Courbet, kit number 700527, the waterline version.  It's available on eBay starting at around $77.00 and up, before shipping.  Thanks to Rich Harden of the Toms Modelworks/White Ensign Empire, for loaning me the kit for this review.