This week we’re updating all of the cruiser classes in our French Aeronef fleet. This includes the cruisers Jeanne la Pucelle and Formidabile, and the commerce raider classes L’Epee and Fléche. Whenever we release one of these updates we always try to add something new as well as replacing the older models; the British got the Minotaur Armoured Cruiser earlier this year and the Germans the Lützow Fleet Cruiser and Hansa Torpedo Cruiser. The French are no exception – they get the brand new 6-turret Jules Ferry Armoured Cruiser class.

We’ve followed the layout of the older models for the designs but in detail they’ve all changed considerably (for the better !). All of the models feature one-piece metal hulls and separate turrets. Our existing French fleet packs will have the new designs instead of the old ones.

VAN-403 – L’Epee class Commerce Raider – £4.00
VAN-404 – Jeanne la Pucelle class Cruiser – £3.50
VAN-406 – Formidabile class Light Cruiser – £2.50
VAN-416 – Fléche class Light Raider – £2.50
VAN-421 – Jules Ferry class Armoured Cruiser – £4.00

During the Crimean War, the French used a number of Floating Batteries – ironclad hulls with a complement of heavy guns, but no means of propulsion. They were towed into position by smaller vessels – mostly paddle-steamer frigates – and used to bombard Russian coastal forts with some success. They were also deployed to the Adriatic during the 1859 Franco-Austrian War.

They struck me as a great idea for some new Aeronef vessels. Using the same idea of battleship-sized but unpowered vessels with lots of guns, this time flying rather than floating, I’ve come up with two different variants.

The first model is the Redoutable, the early version of the flying battery idea. This has 18 heavy guns in open mounts on the deck and a small deckhouse for the gun crews to shelter in.

The second model is what I imagine to be an updated version of the design – maybe a few years later, the original vessels were upgraded. These vessels, known as the Solférino class, retain ten of their original gun mounts but with the end ones replaced by two heavy battleship turrets and, in recognition of the increasing threat posed by fixed-wing aircraft, two turrets each mounting three rapid-firing small calibre AA guns. The vessels also have a small steam-powered engine to provide power to operate the heavy gun turrets, and a mast with spotters to provide centralised fire control.

VAN-420 – Redoubtable Flying Battery – £7.50
VAN-420a – Solférino Flying Battery – £7.50

Our Aeronef update programme continues today with the release of five new German cruisers. Three replace the existing models, while the Hansa and Lützow are new designs.

The Köln is one of the oldest German models in the range and both it and the Emden had small cast-on turrets. The new versions have separate turrets and much more detail. The Prinz Heinrich model has a twin heavy turret up front along with a smaller one aft.

The Hansa is a variant of the Emden hull, but with two larger turrets in place of the latter’s battery of small turrets, plus torpedo tubes along the flanks.

The Lützow is a heavy Flottenkrüzer with five larger turrets.

VAN-303 – Köln class Heavy Cruiser – £3.50
VAN-306 – Emden class Light Cruiser – £2.50
VAN-314 – Prinz Heinrich class Heavy Cruiser – £3.00
VAN-325 – Hansa class Torpedo Cruiser – £2.50
VAN-326 – Lützow class Fleet Cruiser – £4.00

The last batch of Aeronef release from Salute are the redesigned British cruisers and escorts. The British get eight new models, replacing the Exeter heavy cruiser, all frigate and destroyer models plus as a bonus there is the the brand new Medusa class Armoured Cruiser. The cruisers and the Arethusa destroyer have separate turrets (including new twin and single gun small turrets), and there is a new AA version of the Arethusa called the Bulldog class with three triple-AA turrets.

VAN-102 – Exeter class Heavy Cruiser – £3.50
VAN-103 – Osprey class Patrol Ship – £1.00
VAN-105 – Cygnet class Torpedo Ship – £1.00
VAN-107 – Cossack class Corvette – £1.00
VAN-108 – Steadfast class Frigate – £1.25
VAN-112 – Arethusa class Fleet Destroyer – £2.00
VAN-112a – Bulldog class AA Destroyer – £2.00
VAN-128 – Medusa class Armoured Cruiser – £4.00
VAN-7018 – British Small Twin Turrets (x15) – £1.50
VAN-7019 – British Small Single Turrets (x15) – £1.50

There are also a couple of other new models that didn’t quite make this release (they had rather thin tails that refuse to cast reliably so they’re off being remade) – they should appear sometime in May.

Our final release for this week is another pair of Aeronef, the Spanish Príncipe de Asturias class carrier and Halcón class fighter. The carrier is a multi-part resin and metal kit, while the fighters come in packs of six. There is also a new Spanish carrier packs with a carrier, fifteen Halcón and six escort vessels.

VAN-1710 – Príncipe de Asturias class Carrier – £9.00
VAN-1711 – Halcón class Fighter (x6) – £1.25
VANFP-1703 – Spanish Carrier Pack – £22.00

Today we switch from spaceships to Aeronef, as the new Italian battlecruiser Grande Ammiraglio Silvio la Verde steams onto the website. The sleek lines of the vessel mask a powerful armament and ships of the class often form the core of an Italian battle squadron.

VAN-1809 – Grande Ammiraglio Silvio la Verde class Battlecruiser – £8.00

It’s been a busy week … the slight downside of going away for a few days is that there tends to be a bit of a backlog of orders when I return, so I’ve been ploughing through those this week – hence the lack of posts on here. I’ve pretty much caught up and everything should be back to normal by the end of this week.

We also missed out on a release last week – we were all primed and ready to go when a flaw was spotted in one of the new moulds at the last minute, so we held off until it could be remade. All is good to go now, so if you’d like to settle down, we’d like to present the latest new releases in the Aeronef range…

Years ago, Phil came up with a single Aeronef model for the Chilean aerial fleet – the Santiago, a battleship with two massive quadruple turrets and not a lot else. This was later joined by a single small escort vessel, and that has been the extent of it for the Chileans.

Today the Chilean fleet gets a boost to become one of the better equipped South American aero-navies. The Santiago has been replaced by a new resin-hulled design with separate turrets and metal fittings, and there are several new cruiser and escort designs.

The Santiago’s all-big-gun layout gives it massive firepower to take on enemy capital ships but, apart from two small support turrets, it’s pretty much unprotected against smaller vessels and aircraft. For this reason, the Chilean fleet features a lot of escort vessels equipped with small rapid-fire guns and AA turrets. There are also torpedo and patrol boats to complete the mix.

VANFP-1601 – Chilean Fleet Pack – £22.00
VANFP-1611 – Chilean Torpedo Flotilla – £4.00

VAN-1601 – Santiago class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-1602 – Encalada class Escort Cruiser – £3.50
VAN-1603 – Chacabuco class Light Cruiser – £3.00
VAN-1603a – Pinto class Light AA Cruiser – £3.00
VAN-1604 – Esmerelda class Torpedo Frigate – £1.00
VAN-1605 – Serrano class Frigate – £1.00
VAN-1605a – Condell class AA Frigate – £1.00
VAN-1606 – Anchova class Patrol Boat – £0.50
VAN-1607 – Riveros class Torpedo Boat – £0.50