Merci beacoup MLF,

your help and the kind support of the French authorities that you have been in touch with, are invaluable!

Summing up:

• 1911:
  • tower color not specified
  • steady green light
  
  (source: Jean-Cristophe Fichou, Les Phares de France (website)).
  
  
• 1922:
  • tower painted red
  • green light, period not specified
  
  (source: notice by the Subdivision des phares et balises de Brest)
  
  
• 1950:
  • dark tower (black or red? Maybe fouling/seaweed at the bottom?) with a central light band (white or yellow?)
  • light color and period not specified
  
  (source: picture by the Service de l'Inventaire du Patrimoine Culturel Direction du Tourisme, du Patrimoine et des Voies navigables, another picture posted by Kendras (year unknown))

All in all, I think I will opt for the red tower and green steady light configuration, i.e. the best documented, though it might have changed before the outbreak of the war...

Any thoughts?

hi gap,

Another picture from delcampe.net which shows La Plate - no dates though. I think it is showing the tower all red as per the 1922 notice?

I think you are right re. opting for the all red config (between wars). The 1950's one would be a post-war, and the cardinal would be post 1971 (or there-abouts)

Regards,

MLF

Another good picture, and it clearly shows that the dark portion near the waterline is just algae!

At this point, the 1950's paint scheme might be interpetrated as a North cardinal mark (black on top and yellow near the bottom), though the current West mark usage makes much more sense in that position :hmm2:

Since we are at it, let me know if you find anything about the nearby Tourelle du Chat. This beacon is currently painted as a South cardinal mark and I think it has been recently restored, but some pre-restoration pictures show traces of what could be the remains of a previous red paint coat, especially evident near the base. I would be glad if we found pictorial or written confirmation of my suspects...

Merci pour tes recherches, MLF ! :yeah:

I received a b/w photograph this morning from the same source as the Notice to Mariners I posted yesterday. It is a close up (very clear) of the Tourelle de La Plate from 1936 which shows the tower all in one colour. i have asked for permission to post it in this thread. I have also asked about La Tourelle du Chat.

Regards,

MLF

:yeah:

I have received permission from Direction Interrégionale de la Mer Nord Atlantique-Manche Ouest to publish the photograph on this forum. All photographs are copyright © DIRM NAMO
From the email: "vous pouvez utiliser nos photos à partir du moment où vous indiquer le copyright suivant: © DIRM NAMO "

The person who has supplied these will look for info on La Tourelle du Chat at the beginning of next week:yep:. They have emailed a photo of Le Chat taken in 1935 but I think I will wait for more info before publishing here as it looks somewhat different to La Tourelle du Chat of today - still with 2 platforms but somewhat thinner. The internet seems rather sparse on info re this one.

The photo of La Tourelle de La Plate is from 1936.

Regards,

MLF

Excellent picture. Please, say thanks to the people from Direction Interrégionale de la Mer Nord Atlantique-Manche Ouest, and show them our little project if you think it can please them. :D
From the new photograph it is clear that the original gas cylinder with the annexed light platform, looked quite different compared to the one we have in place in our model. Since we are at it, I think I will correct the small inaccuracy

Yes, it is true: information on this lighthouse is a bit scarce. Neither Rowlett nor Fichou say anything in their articles about any rebuilding or restucture of the tower which might confirm your impressions, but they might have missed this piece of information.
Anyway, my model of the lighthouse, based on recent pictures and on Fichou's drawing, is pretty much ready though its texture is still WIP. So far, it looks like this:

I sent screenshots of the Tourelle de la Plate (V12) in game:yep:

I found this link on the internet - don't know if you've seen it?

http://www.leuchtturm-welt.net/HTML/FRPK/FR.HTM

Has another photo of La Plate (attached)

I've attached also the picture I received of Tourelle du Chat (1935 when it was finished) but I'm not sure- as I said it looks different and there isn't a rock showing (high water??/). I wonder if it was too thin so an outer skin of stone was added? We'll see what they can find next week:03:


Your model looks excellent.:up:

:up:

Another excellent picture indeed. No, I had not seen it before, I wish I had :doh:

Yep, it looks like a kitten... the small brother of Le Chat :O:

The tower missing its granite base and having no rocks around it, are not a big surprise: as you said, the picture might have been taken during hide tide.

What is strange, is the apparent weathering of the paintwork, especially around the base where there seem to be algae encrusted on the concrete: in 1935 the tower had to look (almost) new

Also note the position of the door relative to the access ladder, and its big size compared to the rest of the gallery :hmmm:

But probably wrong, lol :D

Edit: Talking about Le Chat, Fichou says:

"autorisée par la D.M. du 7 janvier 1929. les travaux commencent en juin 1929 et sont totalement achevés en décembre 1936, après l'allumage du feu"

and, a bit below:

"28 août 1933 : feu à occultation toutes les 6 secondes"

That means that from 1933 to 1936, though being already in place and operational as a light, the tower might have been subject to improvements and possible reinforcements, but by 1935 it should have had gas cylinder and lantern already installed :yep:

Why are you trying to be so precise ? The only important thing is to know if there was or not a lighthouse for each place. If it's too hard to find info about the aspect of the building and light color/sequence during the 1940s, let's use the nowadays characteristics. Moreover, the lights will be switched off during the war, so why taking so much care about them ?

If you agree, after La Vieille, La Plate and Le Chat are finished, I would like to focus on Le Four (which can be used on several places).

:Kaleun_Wink:

I suppose more or less for the same reason that induced VonDos redoing two or three times, and with our blessings, Queen Marie's hull and superstructure :D

While I agree that we shouldn't let our common love for details (and the crhonic scarcity of information) to delay our working plan, I really think we should aim at a reasonably high level of historical accuracy to attein a decent (and not so "precise", after all) result and, above all, I don't see why we shouldn't make the best of the information MLF has patiently digged for us.

After all, it's our hobby: let's take our time on it, and enjoy it in the meanwhile :)

I like it, but I think the list of WIP lighthouses and beacons that I currently have on my hd is longer than the ones you have mentioned above.

The following lighthouse are nearly ready and waiting to be imported in game:

• tourelle de la Plate (damage-splitted, but I have to repaint it and to redo its gas cylinder/lantern platform);
• Phare de la Vieille;
• tourelle du Chat (but works on it are suspended until updated on it by MLF);
• grand phare de l'île de Sein

Moreover, the following day beacons are game ready:

• amer de Plas-ar-Scoul;
• pyramide des Chaumes.

In additon to thos models I have a French lightvessel, the Dyck, on the making, though with a low priority. This is what I have got ready so far:

https://i.imgur.com/rnzOaJl.png

As you can see, even though I have kept relatively silent on this mod during the last few weeks, waiting or looking for new information to become available, I have not been idle on the rest :03:

:up:

Waiting for them ! http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/icons/icon7.png

beautiful ! :yeah:



PS : texture of Le Chat looks enough good for me ! :D And I'm happy that you gave up on green algae ! :O:

You forgot something :

:Kaleun_Wink:

You are right :D