The Second TRICOLOR REVOLUTION
Le Redoubtable class SSBN
Heller 1:400
by Matt Stein "Liberty, Equality, Solidarity" - after 200 years, nothing (important) has changed - and the Demonstration of People's Power these days (especially) in France, is directly relevant to we here in the USA, who got our "Red, White and Blue" straight from their TriColor of the Revolution - the
first time around - along with our founding, constitutional principles. In acknowlegement of (all of) which, I assembled and gave this unique paint job to this French sub:
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FULL RESThis is the decades-old Heller kit, whose fit was surprisingly good everywhere except atop the sail (see below). Note the basic hull shape of this boomer is very slender - almost precisely the proportions of a (respectable) torpedo, which impression is furthered by twin, in-line counter-rotating props at the stern. Note also the nose is pinched, so that my painting French TriColor stripes around it gave rise to the (startling) impression of a dilated, staring cat's-eye. (Which, when you think about it, is exactly what a bow sonar dome is: a giant "eye", looking for a glimmer not of light, but of sound.) On the real thing, torpedo tubes are set into the upper-midle section of this "eye" - very much as on contemporary Soviet boats.
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FULL RES----------------------------FULL RES--Between the long hull and shape of the casing "turtleback", this boat presents near ideal contours on which to paint a flag - actually, looking more like a long pennant, it turned out. Meantime, features of the molding are crisp, and the sail cap appears accurate, with off-center mast wells and true cockpit cutout, with deck below. However the fit of these parts left much to be desired: the cap overhangs the sail, requiring much careful filling/shaping, and locator pits to accept the masts' feet in the internal deck do not align, when assembled. Likewise, the sail planes are joined by a shaft which is entirely too long, causing much cursing when (re-)attached several times - my fault for not checking fit sufficiently in the first place. In contrast, fit was quite good around all the delicate tail assemblies, which provide for moving rudders and dive planes - though, curiously, fixed propellers. The latter, as well as the masts in the sail, I painted gold and silver - a (perhaps not so) subtle nod to the precious metals - "the People's Money" - also known historically as among the only "Honest Money", a bit of ancient wisdom never truer than it is (for the whole world) today.
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FULL RES---------------FULL RES--------------------FULL RES---On this build I tried out, for the first time, all-Tamiya glossy spraypaints, which, while going on just beautifully, did present several major problems. Firstly, even after drying they do
not like to be covered with masking tape, losing their glossy finish to the tape adhesive, when removed. Ergo, the blue on this build - the last color (working from light to dark) to go on - ended up retaining (by far) the best finish. Possibly letting these paints cure for a few days or a week might avoid this problem - but not when building a model-in-a-day, as here. Secondly, overpainting by hand with these paints completely - and I mean
instantly - dissolves all underlying paint, making retouching all but impossible, particularly on light- or white areas. Ergo, all the smeared, inadequately touched-up spots on this build. Both the above problems explain why the nose stripes - devlishly hard to mask, the first time around - remain uncorrected.
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FULL RES--------FULL RES----- -----FULL RES----I wanted to cut-and-paste white-letter decals to spell out "Solidarité" (Solidarity) or "Le Imparable" (The Unstoppable) - something like that - over the year "2010" on the sail, in support of People Power (world-wide), but my decal spares proved insufficient. Plus, cobbling together so many tiny letters - all in a straight line - is
hard to do, you know!
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FULL RESIn any case, this build was a real kick - a
true "model-in-a-day" - taking about 13 hours, with 3 or so of those just for sequential colors to dry, and perhaps another 3 for puttyings to harden, before work could resume. I may try this kind of thing again on any vessel(s) having interesting contours, promoting a striking effect.
As for The Revolution,
Part Deux, we can only cheer - and here highly resolve - that this be the beginning of an end to a hundred-years' cruel and horrifying night - and the start of a new day!
Semper Fi,
-Matty
