COBI Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle Set 4868

COBI's Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle is a 1:300 model of the flagship of the French Navy, built from 4,272 blocks. The flight deck lifts off to show the hangar, the aircraft elevators work, and miniature combat aircraft and an airborne early-warning aircraft fill the deck and hangar. A wood-look display base and a printed nameplate are included.

A carrier driven by submarine reactors

Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ever completed for a navy other than the United States Navy. It was commissioned in 2001 and replaced the conventionally powered carriers Clemenceau and Foch.

Its propulsion is borrowed from the French submarine fleet: two K15 pressurized-water reactors of the same type used in France's ballistic missile submarines. Nuclear power gives the ship practically unlimited range at speed, and it means the fuel space a conventional carrier would need can hold aviation fuel and ammunition instead. The price is that the ship cannot simply be sent to any shipyard — each refueling of the reactors keeps it out of service for many months.

It has taken part in operations in Afghanistan, over Libya in 2011 and against ISIL from 2015.

In the COBI range

COBI's other carriers at 1:300 include the Akagi (4851) and the Graf Zeppelin (4826) from the Second World War.

Specifications

Pieces: 4,272 · Scale: 1:300 · Removable flight deck, working elevators, display base