I've always wanted to build a model of one of the really early "pre-predreadnought" armoured turret warships. I chose HMVS Cerberus due to the availability of a free paper/card kit of this subject and the fact that there's an entire website (http://www.cerberus.com.au) devoted to the ship with many photographs and drawings of the ship. It's also a bit smaller than similar Royal Navy ships like the Devastation and Dreadnought, hence the finished model will be more compact.
For more information on the history of this ship, see the above link. It's a turreted coastal defence monitor (often referred to as a breastwork monitor) built in the 1870s for the navy of Victoria (Australia), and is similar to British ships like HMS Devastation, though somewhat smaller. It was the first ship to use the classic "predreadnought" layout of two main turrets either side of a central armoured superstructure. The hull of the ship is currently rusting away as a breakwater, and its fate is currently uncertain.
The model is based on the Paper Shipwrights free paper model downloadable from http://www.papershipwright.freeserve.co.uk . I just printed out the plans and instructions, and enlarged the dimensions measured from the plans by 2.6 to build the ship at a scale of 1/96. I'm building the model to represent the ship during the late 1880s, with a shortened shelter deck, single mast and additional light guns for anti-torpedo boat defence, hence I've had to adapt the plans slightly.
I am intending to build this as a R/C model, using a fairly unconventional "low-budget" method (more on this later, if I can get it to work). This is the main reason for my choice of 1/96 scale - I would have preferred something like 1/150 for space reasons, but the motor/RC gear I have won't fit in a hull narrower than about 12cm.
It's constructed from styrene sheet of various gauges, Slaters textured sheet is used for the deck planking, and Evergreen-type styrene stock (strip, tube etc.) is used for most of the details. I may use white metal casting for some of the smaller deck fittings (bollards, capstans etc.) and the 6pdr and Nordenfelt guns.
The model is designed so that the major components of the ship are removable, which makes detailing much easier and should also allow the finished model to be dismantled for easier transportation. The superstructure lifts off the deck, the flying deck lifts off the superstructure, and both (rotating) turrets are removable.
Since the ship is almost symmetrical, but not quite, I've drawn large arrows on the hull to remind me which end is which!
Anyway, as this is a MUCH simpler ship than the Belfast and I have all the plans and reference material I need, it should be completed soon. I am still working on the Fletcher along with some smaller ships and a couple of aircraft models, but hopefully the Cerberus should be completed within a month or two, less than this if I'm lucky. I started work on this model on the 11th, so it has progressed from a pile of styrene sheet to its current form in only 5 days (with a couple of hours of work per day).
Here are the photos (apologies for the fairly poor quality)
Early stages (12/10/06)
The model in its current state (15/10).
The model in dismantled form.
Close-up of the superstructure and turrets. A 1/96 figure (from the Revell USS Kearsarge) gives an idea of the ship's size. The conning tower (oval thing aft of the turret), charthouse and skylight assemblies are not yet complete or fixed to the deck, and the turrets currently have no roofs.
As you can see, the 11" turret guns are very simplified in form, just cylinders (this is what they should look like) - as only a short length of the barrel will be visible on the completed model, I really didn't think it was worth scratchbuilding accurately-shaped barrels and breech details.
More updates soon hopefully. Today I painted the turret interiors, added more details to the charthouse, added the roofs to the heads and the bow/stern bulwarks to the hull, and started work on the skylight for the flying deck.
This is what it should look like when finished:
http://www.cerberus.com.au/labeleddrawing.jpg
