French First Rate and Third Rates

Third Rates (80) and First Rate (120)

Bucentare class 80 gun Third Rate

It's about time I got started on the 1/2400th scale French Napoleonic ships, so I have base coated and undercoated the first five, ready for blocking in. I've decided to use a matt black undercoat rather than the conventional white, as it's what I've been using for the ironclads and has worked well for those, the downside being that you need to block in with white or a basecoat shade on anything that isn't actually black. The first five ships include a 120 gun First Rate and four 80 gun Third Rates. I haven't decided yet whether these will be for the 1770's - 1780's or the early 1800's, so names are up for grabs. If I go for the latter, the 80's will be of the Bucentare class - Bucentere, Neptune, Formidable and Indomptable, while the 120 gun First Rate will be the Ocean, name ship of the class.