Building the french suffren sna

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Pont of interest. Steve Reichmuth is the guy who produced the wooden masters of the 1/96 SKIPJACK model we (D&EMiniatures) turned into tooling and kit parts back in the day. This guy, of the old-guard, is still very much at the top of his game. Each and every D&E SKIPJACK out there on patrol has a bit of Steve in it.

With admiration and respect, pal.

[Albacore 569]

Completed Mast for future Suffren class SSN (in French SNA). I like to build subcomponents first (no pun). Scraping up money from retirement to build her. We all know its not an inexpensive hobby but look at the beautiful things we create.

Photo above of Suffren class second contracted hull completed - Duguay-Trouin.

Study the sensors names designations in Wikipedia sensor list on the Suffern SNA, they will give you names of the important but less well-known periscope and mast manufacturers. Once there - don't expect much but you can find a few trades show photos of their 'products' Use the google translate for French into English. then use same translator for pasting in French words from English to do photo searches in French websites and be surprised what pops up. Others notice I don't seem to build modern US Navy subs. I love them, but I get information I wonder about, and in a zeal to be as accurate as I can, but morally worry about whether I am compromising our sailors.

I thought my models aren't that good and hell they are just models right? But when a friend was visited by the NCIS over a pump jet he was building for me, then I was concerned , The pump jet was British and the boys dressed in blue jeans (Not MIB look...lol) said oh that's different - sorry to bother, and then Norman Freidman himself sat with me at the Groton regatta with Jim Christley seemed to want pick my mind how I look for things on the internet as he gobbled up French fries. Seeing my Permit Museum model displayed in a Russian website I wondered & decided, hell there are many cool foreign designs too. in many cases far more interesting too that no one else builds,
So that's my policy, unless they are already razor blades.

Marc DeAntomio said my research was great and said I have basically the same info he gets in a concise package from the Navy to build a display model of a new conceptual design being considered. I said humbly maybe that's nice, but you get it all in a single package envelope, I have to search the net for months looking around. Whatever.






Suffren visited the British subbase in Scotland a few years after becoming operational and fortunately cameras were clicking at the new sexy French girl at the party. I was puzzled with the mast head on the right, with the uniquely shaped cut water. It's basically a fancy shape to cut periscope wake. The twist copied in function from the many German U-boat photos in WW2 with a cable wrapped around the periscope necks to break up the wake feather.

The black object on top is actually the radar rotating piece that just happened to be edge on when the photographer pressed the button. Supplementing manufacturer image found shortly later shown below explained everything. All masts are non-hull penetrating electronic and or optronic masts with optics far surpassing human 20/20 eyesight.

Operationally, these optical masts stay up for only a few precious seconds, then quickly pop down under the surface. The 360 view TiVo recorded in high detail then looked at in the control room on big digital monitors. In the beginning periscopes where and still are such remarkable instruments.

Having bult a telescope - a pericope with such a small lens aperture in small head to gather enough light, and often fogged with humidity before filling those masts with nitrogen & the WW1 observer often viewed the target upside down depending on the optics of that particular scope of that period. It's not like in the old movies anymore. It's why we love to build models of them.

[Albacore 569]

Making observation optronic mast.

[Fishb0y]

That's a great movie! I was impressed that they had speakers and a microphone in the mast.

[Albacore 569]

While the Drawings and fixtures are mailed to Bob Martin. Making use of time building the Suffern Masts. 1/64 scale.



Attack Optronic cope head. Mistakes made. Later shortened height so only one lens (lower 0ne) retained. Studying the available photos
and whatever product display phots I could find of Thales periscopes.




First 'draft' ALL WRONG. Shortened attack scope. Stripped paint (leopard spots way too big, too dark too). Too much contrast.

Interesting the French seemed to have changed their camouflage system for breaking up the verticals on their masts.
Gone are what I call 'onion rings' pattern and replaced with a new generic more American style pattern. I think that's clever,
since the onion rings splotches as on Argonaute are too unique an identifier the masts were a French sub just from the masts.



Start to fashion a facsimile of an Observation Optronic mast Its all just concentric brass and aluminum K&S tubing.
Kinda fun to slap together in the shop.




This is more like it!

Size and shade of leopard spots closer to real. L to R - Radar, a HDR antenna mast (best guess),
Optronic attack scope & optronic observation scope head waiting more K&S aluminum shipment in a day or two.

In today's sleek modern submarines, clean lines and reduction of any flow noise - model details comparatively seem
scarce and when available scream out to be highlighted when possible.

The inner tube for a representation of the observation scope is polished to make a reflective like window, I bisected the
scopes big opening so left ride has a green area, - whatever solid or a sensor (ranging radar?). The optronic masts today are
incredible and have vision optics far exceeding human vision. "They've taken human error out of war, heini."

I remember the surreal scene from the movie 'On the beach' (1959) where a sailor - Australian Actor John Melillon (later Crocodile Dundee)
in a small boat has a conversation with Captain Gregory Peck. Impressed me how sophisticated submarine masts might be.

[Albacore 569]

While the fixtures and flash drive is being sent to Bob, starting ot build the masts.

[Albacore 569]

Completed the Dolphin 2 1/48 scale Israeli Submarine 'Tanin'. Paused to reflect on what I learned and what was now possible for one more go at another model. Size of model had to be restricted by three factors.

1.. (1.) Budget - use the same OTW dive module common to the completed Argonaute and the Dolphin

2. (2.) Selection of subject meaning a single shaft subject and can employ bow planes. (3.) The size of my car trunk. lol. (and my old back), but I have a dolly to handle the weight. Length limits to around 5.5 feet maximum. Removeable sail so height wasn't an issue. I joke with fellow modelers locally my car trunk is the Panima Canal. Meaning American warships for decades were limited in beam to the width of the Canel till the Midway class a carrier.

3. The method for the main hull section building would use a PVC pipe again. Using a PVC pipe saved a ton of money 3 d printing, is super robust and no or little hull warpage in the sun too when out at the pond. When model is completed, you can't tell the pipe is there. Good system for building actually. But it restricts because of PVC pipe diameters t just a few options. Using a 5 foot long 5-inch diameter PVC pipe (outside diameter 5.56") worked perfectly the Dolphin 2's dimension to facilitate a scale 1/48 scale model.

I could build a Rubis class SNA in 148? I'd need a 6.5-inch diameter PVC pipe for a 1/48 scale that would be 60 inches long with 3d printed parts. The Rubis class are the smallest 'combatant' nuclear subs in the world. I had sufficient drawings and photos to make something. The important American NR-1 since decommissioned and scraped was the smallest. Beautiful model subject. But my dive module would be too big for some scales of a NR-1. But building Rubis, I'd just be really building a slightly different beautiful plump stubby Skipjack.

Why not leap ahead one generation and build the new French Suffern SNA? Possible? Looks like with research it was. Again, something different. The scalloped sail and the swept back X stern fins, the pump jet looked really cool!

In 1/64 scale, half the scale of the 1/32 Argonaute (or Suffern double the size of Argonaute), a Suffern would be 5.5 inches diameter, roughly and 62 inches long. It could easily take the existing Dive module. Like the French Argonaugte, it grew on me, so was this sleek mysterious 'different, SSN. Ok then.

Sent drawings, some I myself drew or expanded on, and photos to Bob Martin.