M o d e l W a r s h i p s . c o m French navy BRETAGNE 1855

Scratchbuilding the French navy BRETAGNE 1855

in 1/700 scale by Jim Baumann

Bretagne 130 gun ship 1855 The French Navy ship Bretagne was the largest ' wooden wall ' sailing man-'o-war . She was a giant is sailing ship terms, displacing nearly 7600 tonnes, She was 270 feet long ON DECK-- plus the huge bowsprit fwd and spanker boom aft. She carried 1170 crew. Her eight boilers produced 4800 shp to turn the single screw, allowing the vessel to reach well over 12 knots - in 1855 !! -- under steam along she had a range of over 1000 miles Her vast tall sailing Rig lent her virtually limitless range , under sail she was recorded at 13 knots. Her 130 guns were considered to be formidable armament in her day She was completed too late to see action in the Crimean war . Naval construction design progressed quite rapidly and overtook her . By 1866 he was rendered obsolete and was decommissioned to be as a naval traing school Barrack ship. She was scrapped in 1880.
The Bretagne model in 1/700 I had wanted to build, a model of Bretagne for a long while-as we had a large Musee de Marin print of the ship hanging on our wall.
As there was not likely to be any hope of a kit in sight , after gestation period of thinking time of 6 years I finally took the plunge and decided to scratch-build the model, from a carved wooden hull in 1/700. I had in readiness commissioned a custom made set of Ratlines in stainless steel Photo-etch back in 2018—so felt I had no option but see it through and not back out! The plans available are fairly comprehensive- but not entirely accurate and leave a lot to deduction The starting point was a piece of Australian Jarrah Hardwood that had seasoned for the last 160 years as part of Victorian Barrack room floor, it was unlikely to warp.! The hull was formed and shaped roughed out on a belt sander
The task of making a 130 gun ships from a hull that was 120 mm ( 4 ¾ inches ) long on deck became a daunting project-... and a challenge!
The build would occupy me for almost exactly one year, this is detailed a step-by-step right here at Modelwarships.com at this link I did derive an immense amount of satisfaction upon the eventual completion of this model and it has spurred me on to extend my modelling palate to include more sailing ships