The Ship Model Forum

Very, very nice and clean work - I plan to modify my kit's respective detail similarly.

Exquisite work, Richard.

World class work. Just love it.

Glad you were spared any scalpel-induced collateral damage yourself.

Excellent! I like how you're correcting the model, I think that without any further information there's not much more that can be done if not trusting AR drawings, and the few clear period pictures.

OK, so this week has been a backtrack in the light of new info week.

One thing that has been really nagging me is that the line drawing in Raven's British BBs of WW2 shows the starboard pom-pom platform being quite different to port; a) the 2-storey support housing has a big section of the 2nd story removed, b) the main deck level vent box in front of it is not there and c) there is some box structure between the platform and the funnel. Not having any pictures to go by I chose to 'overlook' this and build them as mirrored copies.

Enter George...... :wave_1:

I thought about building a whole new platform and salvaging the brass deck but if I was going to do that, why not see if the change could be made with minimal collateral damage. It worked AND at no point did the extra sharp scalpels I was hacking away with draw blood. Most unusual.

Not knowing what c) was,but knowing that the Warspite (AOTS) had a vent there (1930's), I guessed that this was the vent not being moved when the pom-pom was added (something they did do on the other side). So I salvaged the vent I had built and reshaped it to match Raven's drawing (except he draws it as merging into the side of the funnel, I chose to stop at the support struts for the searchlight platform).

This also introduces a new problem, whilst the pom-pom itself sits atop a large circular column, half of the platform is now unsupported. Answer? Invent a support beam structure to go underneath. This drawing shows what I came up with, which has no factual basis whatsoever.

[attachment=4]stbd-pp-mod.jpg[/attachment]

On the left, the original, on the right, the modified part (the round front remains the same). The green are the beams (and if you look closely a dot where I decided to put a column) and the red is the modified vent housing that conveniently sits underneath is a very supportive sort of way.

And here's the thing in progress:

[attachment=3]IMG_2732.JPG[/attachment]

I actually made a small sub assembly for the beams by gluing strips of paper onto a print out of the drawing above which was trimmed and painted before gluing to the underside of the platform. Only the tapered edge pieces were added individually. The bulwark was the only victim of the process, which was OK as there was a cutout for a ladder down to the no-longer there vent box (see previous posts).

The new vent location:

[attachment=2]IMG_2733.JPG[/attachment]

And that made a mess when removed from it's original position....

Dry fitted:

[attachment=1]IMG_2731.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]IMG_2730.JPG[/attachment]

Glad I did this.

Very impressive! :thumbs_up_1: :thumbs_up_1:




Jose :wave_1:

Awesome work! Your skill at scratchbuilding is just admirable.
These pictures will help me no end when I finally tackle the detailing of my Barham's funnel.

I'm running out of superlatives. Stupendous comes to mind today. It's simply fantastic work.

Wow. Exquisite work, Richard.

That alllooks razor sharp!

very nice indeed ! :thumbs_up_1:

JIM B :wave_1:

Outstanding workmanship! Keep up the good work.
Stunning!

And a sneak preview of what's else has been going on.

[attachment=0]IMG_2716.JPG[/attachment]

Getting close...

[attachment=3]IMG_2712.JPG[/attachment]

I has some difficulty deciding where to place the pom-pom platforms exactly as there were some ambiguity between the different sources I had as to the size of the base housing under the funnel. Eventually I found a photo in Raven's British BBs of WW2 that showed that the access ladder up to the platform was just inside a large channel support running down the back of the searchlight platform to the main deck. I was originally going with a simple round pillar underneath as a support but having seen otherwise made a channel section out of paper; even got the slight kink in it.

[attachment=2]IMG_2713.JPG[/attachment]

The inclined ladders are from the Infini Models 1/350 Ladder set (nice...). The PomPom is from BigBlueBoy; absolutely incredible but, wow, delicate and intense work; I'm doing a little bit per day. I'm thinking there should be a self-help group for BigBlueBoy brass assemblers providing emotional comfort ("your eyes will uncross with time", "the shakes will fade", "nobody gets that bit just right", "are those tears of joy or anguish?").

[attachment=1]IMG_2714.JPG[/attachment]

And the mysterious additional platform under the pom-pom.....

[attachment=0]IMG_2715.JPG[/attachment]

That pretty much concludes the fundamental build. From here on it's the fragile things: railings, pipework and so on. Those will probably wait until this assembly's fixed on the hull and won't get handled anymore.

Great scratchbuilding work! :thumbs_up_1:

definitely a small quantum leap in ' crispness'

worth the effort-- looks sharp! :thumbs_up_1:

JB

Finally crossed into 'not happy' about the paper bulwarks (splinter shields?) for the pom-pom platforms. I did these originally by gluing a plain strip of paper around the brass platform edge and then tried to mark and add supports etc in situ. It just looked too uneven so -rip- start over. This time I drew out all outlines and guides for the supports as well as a locator line across the bottom that ensures that the bulwark top/bottom ran parallel to the platform (which overhangs underneath the platform slightly). I additionally added a step down around the front and a second ladder opening, features depicted in the Profile Morskie drawings which may or may not be accurate but certainly add a pleasing additional intricacy. The ladder access slots where cut out after the assembly was complete.

This is the drawing:
[attachment=3]60.jpg[/attachment]

In progress:
[attachment=0]IMG_2698.jpg[/attachment]
The supports are cut to shape on the edges to be glued but oversize elsewhere so they're easier to handle. Once this has set hard (the paper's soaked in CA), the tops of the supports are trimmed down and top rail pieces added. Finally everything is trimmed back to size.

And here's one of the original next to the mk2:
[attachment=2]IMG_2694.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]IMG_2695.jpg[/attachment]

It's been given a thin wash of Me Surfacer 1000 to highlight any glue blobs or rough spots. Doesn't show how much easier/quicker the artwork made this assembly.

Just guessing, but these could have been protected torpedo lookouts positions. It would be interesting to have a look at the Admiralty as fitted plans even if there's the possibility that these additions were never recorded before the ship sank.

Talking about the paint work on the signal deck I think that it was 507B , it's not a shadow.

That's an interesting picture. Thank you.

It also illustrates what looks like an error in the Trumpeter 1/700 paint guide (that I've been using)

The light grey area at the front of the funnel

[attachment=1]hms-barham1 copy.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]IMG.jpg[/attachment]

That can't be a trick of the light??

This is very interesting!

...it remembers me something :heh:

By the way much better than my so far :thumbs_up_1:

Under the pom poms platforms there was something around the trunk, a sort of catwalk that I wasn't able to identify.

[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y28/Rufus368/hms-barham1.jpg[/img]

[quote="RichardP"]Right now, the top of the pom-pom rail and the bottom of the searchlight platform are trying to occupy the same space. Bugger.[/quote]
Ah, even the masters have hiccups. Hope for us mere mortals! :heh:

Seriously, that is some sick work.