Proposed French Navy Battle Cruiser
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| Yet another "what if" ship from IHP is this French Battlecruiser Grill. This would have made an interesting ship with it's massive beam. It would have been a very heavily armed ship with three quad turrets with 13.4" guns. I have been able to find very little material on this design so I will just have to leave the history for the build review to follow later. | ||||||||||
| The hull is cleanly cast and void of any defects. The only noticeable flash was at the waterline. The deck is nicely planked and has a good amount of surface detail. Thankfully the anchor chain is not molded in place. Instead the anchor ways are cast clean. You use real chain (see below) for this ship. | Click images
to enlarge  |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
| The funnels look nice, but I prefer not to have the funnel grills cast in place in favor of the hollowed out look. The superstructure is almost all cast onto the hull so only a small bridge structure and aft mast platform are separate. Plastic rod of different sizes is included to make up the masts. |  |
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
| The main guns are cast on gates at the back of the turret. Openings for the gun barrels and mounting pin are cast on. The gun barrels are CNC turned brass, really nice looking. They really add to the value of the kit. |  |
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
| Enough anchor chain is included to do this ship and perhaps a few others. Little extras like this will save you trips to the hobby shop for scratch building supplies. |  |
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
The instructions are pretty basic and include a few detail
views. A few extra views would be nice to show the assembly better.
|
||||||||||
Conclusions:
This is not a kit for beginners, it requires some experience with resin and metal parts. With a list price of $153.00 it is pretty pricey, but it is truly a one of a kind and the inclusion of anchor chain and machined brass gun barrels help make it a good value for such and obscure subject. Thanks to Imperial Hobby Productions for the review sample check their website for a complete list of Ship kits in metal and resin. Mike Bartel the CEO has been producing a lot of these proposed ship designs. Get yours while you can, this is a special interest kit and it is unlikely to be produced again when this run is sold out. |
||||||||||
© ModelWarships.com
