1/350 French Cruiser Georges Leygues - but.... different

Madhatter · February 05, 2026, 12:55:16 AM

hey guys
First one off the bench for the new year: Trumpeter's 1/350 French cruiser he Georges Leygues. Now, I know you'll be expecting some kind of crazy WOWSL inspired camo scheme to be applied here, but alas, I went for something different this time. No doubts everyone here has seen a bare metal car or plane etc, but I have not seen anyone do a bare metal ship before. Now, maybe Google is selective in what it shows me, but when I looked it up, no results came up other than a PE ship. So for me personally, this is a first.
The only items not in metal are the life rafts and life boats. Everything else is in stainless steel, Iron, titanium, brass or that dura-something colour (I can never remember how to spell it out).
Its not perfect and I almost dropped it right after I finished it, which is why a couple of the railings are bent and the mast is sitting oddly. I just can't seem to build a ship model without bending something the wrong way. Maybe I should just stick to sci-fi

Yeah I could've spent more time on the life boats but my mojo and patience ran out. They'll do

I did lightly scribe those panel lines, using WOWS as reference.

Anyways, that's all but as always, thanks for stopping in and having a look

See you soon

Si

zenrat · February 05, 2026, 01:11:43 AM

Tray bon mate.

NARSES2 · February 05, 2026, 01:39:12 AM

That looks terrific

I can see it proudly sitting on some yard managers desk, or maybe in the Board Room instead of the more normal wooden models of yard designs.

She's a nice looking ship as well, but then a lot of the French designs were.

Old Wombat · February 05, 2026, 01:57:08 AM

Bare Metal Battleship! *

Cast Iron Cruiser!

Very nice work, mate!

[*: Yes, I know its not a battleship!]

Steel Penguin · February 05, 2026, 02:03:37 AM

a darn fine result

the metal finish with the few non metals makes it look very much like an exclusive, yard produced desk top model.
And wile you say there are errors and wonkyness, they dont show in the pics that i can see. perhaps its the problem we all have in that as the builder we see every little flaw, wile others see the awesomeness.

Madhatter · February 05, 2026, 02:07:53 AM

Funnily enough I not long bought the 350th version of the Richelieu along with a PE set and I was thinking of doing it in bare metal, I won't now that I've done this. I'll just have to find a different scheme for her that accents the beautiful lines.

zenrat · February 05, 2026, 03:00:14 AM

Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 02:07:53 AMFunnily enough I not long bought the 350th version of the Richelieu along with a PE set and I was thinking of doing it in bare metal, I won't now that I've done this. I'll just have to find a different scheme for her that accents the beautiful lines.

What colours did Cardinal Richelieu and his minions wear in The Three Musketeers? Scarlett and Black wasn't it? That'd look good on a boat.

Madhatter · February 05, 2026, 03:05:22 AM

Quote from: zenrat on February 05, 2026, 03:00:14 AM
Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 02:07:53 AMFunnily enough I not long bought the 350th version of the Richelieu along with a PE set and I was thinking of doing it in bare metal, I won't now that I've done this. I'll just have to find a different scheme for her that accents the beautiful lines.

What colours did Cardinal Richelieu and his minions wear in The Three Musketeers? Scarlett and Black wasn't it? That'd look good on a boat.

That's not a bad idea actually. In that case, I have a scheme I can do after all

Weaver · February 05, 2026, 04:52:09 AM

That looks really good - well done.

I wouldn't worry about the bent railings: if you look at close-up pics taken on board the ships you'll see plenty of those in real life.

I've always liked the French 3-triple-6" cruisers, both in looks and concept. This shows the Georges Leygues late in the war, after she'd joined the Free French forces and been refitted in the USA, hence the quad 40mm Bofors mounts and the removal of the aircraft. I wonder if Trumpeter do, or intend, an early-war version? Originally, the deckhouse in front of the aft turret was an aircraft hangar and the catapult was on top of the turret, offset to one side so that the guns elevated past it.

Madhatter · February 05, 2026, 11:38:37 AM

Sadly, Trumpeter are not like Hasegawa or Fujimi who offer multiple versions of one ship throughout their service life and they (Trumpeter) usually only offer the late or last version. I'm sure they would do an early and late version if it were armor or a plane, but not so much ships. Although to be fair, they do offer the Montana as it was conceptually modelled way back when and also the Ohio with the later bridge and masts etc, but that's like the only example I know of.

Captain Canada · February 05, 2026, 02:17:56 PM

Great job on that one. Love the finish. They look so real with the railings etc. She looks awesome on the shelf with her friends !

Old Wombat · February 05, 2026, 10:56:57 PM

Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 11:38:37 AMSadly, Trumpeter are not like Hasegawa or Fujimi who offer multiple versions of one ship throughout their service life and they (Trumpeter) usually only offer the late or last version. I'm sure they would do an early and late version if it were armor or a plane, but not so much ships. Although to be fair, they do offer the Montana as it was conceptually modelled way back when and also the Ohio with the later bridge and masts etc, but that's like the only example I know of.

Trumpeter do HMS Dreadnought in 1907, 1915 & 1918 versions (I have the 1907 & 1918 variants

).

buzzbomb · February 06, 2026, 12:38:15 AM

Interesting finish, but usual great finish

Madhatter · February 06, 2026, 12:41:46 AM

Quote from: Old Wombat on February 05, 2026, 10:56:57 PM
Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 11:38:37 AMSadly, Trumpeter are not like Hasegawa or Fujimi who offer multiple versions of one ship throughout their service life and they (Trumpeter) usually only offer the late or last version. I'm sure they would do an early and late version if it were armor or a plane, but not so much ships. Although to be fair, they do offer the Montana as it was conceptually modelled way back when and also the Ohio with the later bridge and masts etc, but that's like the only example I know of.

Trumpeter do HMS Dreadnought in 1907, 1915 & 1918 versions (I have the 1907 & 1918 variants ).

I stand corrected

zenrat · February 06, 2026, 12:52:24 AM

Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 03:05:22 AM
Quote from: zenrat on February 05, 2026, 03:00:14 AM
Quote from: Madhatter on February 05, 2026, 02:07:53 AMFunnily enough I not long bought the 350th version of the Richelieu along with a PE set and I was thinking of doing it in bare metal, I won't now that I've done this. I'll just have to find a different scheme for her that accents the beautiful lines.

What colours did Cardinal Richelieu and his minions wear in The Three Musketeers? Scarlett and Black wasn't it? That'd look good on a boat.

That's not a bad idea actually. In that case, I have a scheme I can do after all

Here you go. From the '73 film.