by Doug Hallet
1/400 FNS Jeanne D'Arc (Heller)
The FNS Jeanne D'Arc serves as the cadet training ship for the French Navy and has a secondary role as an auxiliary helicopter assault ship for military operations. She was recently used in that role off Somalia, where she participated in a French and Canadian commando raid against a pirate home base. Originally commissioned in 1961, she is currently perhaps the oldest serving warship in any major navy, but is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2011. Those of you who are familiar with the ship will know that she never actually carried the missile launcher shown on the bow, this being a mistake that Heller copied over from the plans they probably obtained from the French Navy. Later versions of the kit have the correctly portrayed Exocet tubes, but my kit had apparently been sitting on a hobby store shelf for over 30 years and was the earlier version. Badly warped in places and having decals that practically fell apart after soaking, it was a bit of a challenge getting this done.
This is my first attempt at a sea scene and was as much a learning experience as anything else. I used the hard-Styrofoam base technique pioneered by Frank Spahr and Guido Hopp, both of whom are good friends and provided some assistance, or at least as much as is possible from across the Atlantic. On reflection, the Cobalt Blue acrylic color that I used for the sea is perhaps one of the less likely sea colors, but I am ascribing the scene to one portraying Jeanne D'Arc somewhere in the brilliant waters of the Mediterranean, moody sky notwithstanding. The gently undulating waves were carved into the base with a Dremel attachment at a very shallow angle and sanded down before painting. The wake was made out of a resin spackling paste, which was suitably "frothy", but very crumbly. I sealed it in with acrylic gel and then painted the white on top of it.
