This is my rendering of the French protected cruiser "Lavoisier", commissioned in 1898. I have chosen it because it shows all the difficulties for a French cruiser of the period : general "fierce-faced" look, plough bow, exaggerated tumblehome, practically no superstructures and an incredible expanse of empty deck to be filled with an equally incredible number of objects, all hardly remarkable, yet conspicuous if absent.
My most complex model ever !
The following link will show her in company with HMS "Hydra" (1880)
http://img525.imageshack.us/i/fullybw.jpg/
In fact the "Hydra" class boats, very powerfully armed and armoured coast guard vessels, had been built precisely to counter possible raids from French cruisers: the "Entente Cordiale" was yet to come.