The Ship Model Forum

Thanks a lot Secondo. I have looked at the Lifecolor RN series, especially since they are mixed in Italy, but do not care for their greys or green. On actual ships there is so much variation in color depending on who mixed the paints and how long since it was painted, weathering, lighting, etc. Which is why, I guess, there is a difference between White Ensign and Lifecolor with their respective RN "kits".

So I am trying to strike a fine balance between historically accurate color and what is pleasing to the eye of the beholder, namely me, but also anyone else who sees the finished model. But, one has to be close enough to satisfy, too. I will look closer at the Red and White as offered by Lifecolor.

_________________
Current Build - Trumpy 1/350 Roma
Future Builds - Revell 1/350 Bismarck, Trumpeter 1/350 Prinz Eugen and Academy 1/350 Graf Spee

Again I'm not able to find reference pictures. On the Trumpeters kit there are 4 small cranes on the foredeck. Is it correct? And are they placed as in Giampiero's painting scheme picture? (I added black boxes around them)

Thanks again for your help,
Risto

Hello Risto

Yes ,the position is correct

Ciao
Giampiero

Afternoon everybody from the rain drenched sunshine state.
I have long admired and been fascinated with the Roma as well as her sisterships. I finally broke down and purchased the 1/350 Trump. kit and, with my limited skills, hope to build the Vittorio Veneto.
I have two questions that I hope you can help with:
1. I have seen builds of these ships with a red anti-fouling paint as well as a green anti-fouling color, and wonder which is correct?
2. I have also seen images of the Roma with the red and white diagonal air ID stripes and the Vittorio Veneto without them and, again, wonder which is correct (possibly both).
Apologize if this has been covered in previous posts, I'm still relatively new.

Thanks in advance......Mike

Might be better posted under "Battleships" thread.

Just a suggestion....

_________________
Danny DON'T "waterline"...!

1. Official color was green.
2. For september 8 1943 Roma has the stripes but Vittorio has not. You can find some schemes of Giampiero in this thread.

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=14016&start=360

Regards

My Roma 1/700











Aaand my 1/1800 Roma in progress:



The model is going to have full PE railings, crane, catapult, and other details. The masts were scratch built. The detail of this 3d Printer model is amazing. A new era of model kits is coming, that's certain. Any questions, please feel free to contact me. Jblavender@gmail.com

I'm building the 1/350 Roma kit now. For the most part I'm happy with the level of detail included with the kit which I think is fine for 1/350, and Trumpeter's own PE sets and barrels for it. However I noticed that none of the ships boats have propellers on them. Are there any small inexpensive PE upgrade sets that I can buy that include those details?

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

I'm not aware of a 1/350 PE set for propellers only, perhaps the Regia Marina detail set has them.
However, as you will only need the boats that were carried on the aft superstructure (no boat was ever carried on the main deck while the ship was operational; this is the most glaring mistake Trumpeter made in its kit, even tough in bona fide, and the most common mistake done by modellers building the kit; please avoid it!), you may try to cut your own propellers from some generic PE scraps.

_________________

Ok Secondo. Thanks for the tips. The large number of boats about the model is something that actually draws me to it. Is there an earlier fit that I can model the ship as, with minimal modifications, in order to keep all the boats? If I model the ship as intended, all the boats aside from the 4 locations that are directly ahead of turret 3 get left off? Should I remove all the boat cradles also?

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

AFAIK, and according to all the photos I've seen, Roma never got her full complement of lifeboats; if you want to use them all, you can build an "Admiralty" model showing the ship full hull and fully accessorized as she was to be delivered by the shipyard. But if you want a realistic model you will have to leave them ashore (as you said, all of them except for those on the superstructure ahead of turret 3, but check some photographs to be sure as the complement changed in time). All the cradles, for some strange reasons, were left in place.

_________________

Thanks again Secondo. What time period is the kit intended to represent? All of my models are full hull. I try to keep the details as correct as possible for the time the model represents.

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

You're most welcome
As for the time period, Roma had a very short active life and since the beginning she already had all the improvements that wartime experiences suggested, so she underwent no visible alterations. Only the disruptive scheme changed, the white panels being covered by light grey in the summer of 1942, and the number of planes: in the summer of 1943 a second Re 2000 was embarked, but both fighters were not aboard for her last sortie.

_________________

Thanks yet again Secondo! What Tamiya paints are closest to the colors I need? I have Tamiya readily on hand. I know about the Lifetone paints, but don't really want to order a bunch of them, when this is the only Italian vessel that I plan on building for the foreseeable future.

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

Dark grey: xf63
Light grey: M13
Air-rec red: xf7

Steel decks were left unpainted; they were treated with a lead-based protective agent or directly holystoned with lead ingots (the Navy was TOUGH, those days ), so their colour was something in between natural metal and lead.

_________________

Here are some pics of a 1200 scale I painted for a friend & my 2 - 2400 scale (paint in progress). When he gave it to me 1 of the 38cm barrels was broke - I drilled it out & replaced it with a steel pin - can you tell which one it was?

I can't remember where did I find it, but someone recommended the following Tamiya colours, which I have used in my build and they seem to be very good match:
XF-24 Dark Grey (for the camo)
XF-19 Sky Grey (light gray to be used everywhere)
XF-75 IJN Gray (for the deck)
XF-7 Flat red and XF-2 Flat white for the stripes

I also tried XF-66 light gray, but that looked far too light and has a blueish hue, which I didn't like.

Thanks Secondo and Rvuorenr. That is most helpful. Are there any online resources that show where vertical ladders on the masts run? I'm sure I will need to add some extra details from my extra PE parts stash, aside from what Trumpeter has out for the model, but I don't have really good detail references for this ship.

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

I still need some references to where ladders in the masts are located. I'm sure they were there and I'll need to add them from my extra PE collection.

_________________
Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

It seems that the ladder was on the aft side of the mast, but I can't confirm that for sure.

_________________