The aircraft carrier Foch was with his sister ship, Clemenceau, the first modern build French carriers. Built in the late 1950's and commissioned in the early 1960's, both carriers were the heart of the French fleet for over 35 years. The Clemenceau was decommissioned 1997 and the Foch was decommissioned 2000 and sold to Brazil as Sao Paulo . HP Models have produced both ships in 1:700 scale. The Clemenceau as the ship was built with the original eight 100mm AA guns and the Foch in her late configuration with only four 100mm guns and two SACP Crotale missile systems.

The kit has only a few parts: The hull, flight deck, five parts for the island, and some smaller parts for guns, radar, mast and boats but all parts are very finely cast and have good details. The flight deck has small holes on it. The kit included some resin planes. 2 Super Etendard, 4 Crusader, 2 Frelon and 4 Alize. They are not bad but I have replaced the Crusaders with some from Fujimi. For the Frelon helicopters I  have not found a photo-etch replacement so I have up to now not placed them on the ship. The radar I got from L'Arsenal's French radar set of the 50-60's. The decals are from Starfighter Decals.

Christoph Mentzel
Deutschland

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