The Ship Model Forum

Yep, I'm now building a Nelson.



I'm going to approach this one under a different philosophy than my previous builds. This means I've set some personal goals and ground rules:

First, it's my one and only "official" winter hobby project and I'm gonna finish it. I am not going to embark on any other modeling distraction.... it's Nelson or nothing. I am also making a goal to do something on it at least once a week, no matter how small that something is. Hopefully that will keep my build moving forward.

Second, I'm building a model ship, not attempting to create an impossible tiny replica of the real thing. It's OK if some things turn out "modelish" looking because that's what it is. I'm keeping it real; no wild mods or super-crazy detail obsession or reaching for the great pie in the sky. I'm going in with realistic expectations, in other words.

Third, I am aiming for a good clean build and am not going to hunt down and attempt to fix every last accuracy issue (saving that for the Iowa!). The focus here will be on the fundamentals... good, clean and quality craftsmanship/assembly.

Fourth, I'm actually following the directions and Trumpeter's instruction order in an attempt to stay organized.

And so it begins... at the beginning, of all places!



Today I learned what pain was as item #1 on the instructions are the octuple Pom Poms. Pontos REALLY went nuts on them detail-wise but gun #1 is going together fairly well despite being fiddly as hell to put together (still not quite done, have to do the sights/bars) and the other 5 should go more quickly now that I've figured out how to put them together (not an easy job with those instructions!).



More to come!

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

The title of your thread has me curious, Jason—are you building the kit as depicted, or post-dating it? The box says it's Nelson in 1944, but that's not true; the general consensus in the CASF thread dedicated to the Nelson class is that the result of an OOB build (or possibly even one that's augmented with detail sets) would produce the ship as she was from early '45, after a winter refit that increased her AA armament once more.

Not that that matters overall, because I expect by next spring you'll have produced an outstanding ship that we can all admire. Just wish my own Nelson build hadn't stalled out due to problems with the kit PE (which is rather thin and a tad fragile IMHO).

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Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

wow... I already booked this thread....

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...in my shipyard...

You're right... done a bit of reading (but not too much!) and saw Nelson got a final refit in the USN Pennsylvania Naval Yard in early '45 (as portrayed by the kit but with wrong box date) before being deployed to the Pacific at the end of the war. I'm generally aiming for postwar (as in the historic pic above) so late 1945-early 1946... basically clean peacetime paint scheme (no blue rectangles along the hull sides) after Nelson returned home but before she was sent to the scrappers in '49? I believe.

On a side note I managed to get quite a few pom-pom subassembiles knocked out today... feels good to smell some glue and bend some brass after a 5 month-ish hiatus!

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Well, that clears that up then, doesn't it?

Glad you've got properly stuck in, means you won't get easily distracte...





































...bunny.

_________________
Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

Hi Jason:

I just read your opening statement about your build philosophy for the Nelson. Good going. I am looking forward to your build log as I have this kit in my mind to get, not sure, but it's there. I have been working on the 1/200 Arizona since October, and dedicated since February. I have a long way to go, but like you, I do a little every week. Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. It is making progress. The "Pom Pom's" look great. Are the barrells turned brass? I have a Pontos set for the 1/350 Academy Indianapolis, but the directions are a nightmare. You have done wonders with it.

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Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Thanks! I'm really impressed with the pontos set for this kit... they always do good stuff, but of the sets I've bought from them this has gotta be the best. I know Pontos has been criticized before for their instructions but they ARE getting better and their stuff was never intended for the inexperienced builder. And yes, the pop poms have tiny little brass turned barrels.

Here's what the instructions look like:


Rather than building 1 gun mount at a time I am in the process of mass-producing sub-assemblies... makes them somehow seem less scary.

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Hi Jason:

Wow, that is mind boggling! I can see where the assembly line process would take the tedium out of building one of these complex assemblies. Not sure I would have the patience or the will power to tackle something of that magnitude and complexity.

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Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Hello Jason

i'm happy to see that you re-done a "big project" I will follow with interest your post and wish you good luck for your project which is on a good start
cheers
Nicolas

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https://ladiagonaledubosco.blogspot.fr/

Thanks Mark and Nicholas!

Some more progress...







Feeling surprisingly unfrustrated by the pom-poms so far...

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

still moving along with the pom-poms and I built my first 4.7" gun (#2 on the instructions). There were six of them on the Nelson, the same as the pom-poms. I'm still debating whether I should do bar steps on them... that detail wasn't included in the pontos set and as you can see they are seriously tiny despite all the extra detail the pontos set packs inside 'em.

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Wow! Great job with the one you've finished. And I'm glad you placed a razor blade there for comparison. You have no idea how small these parts are until you see them placed against something you can relate to. Those pom-poms look mind boggling! Good thing you only have 6 of them to build!

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Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Time for my weekly update...

My gun box keeps getting filling up with subassemblies... man these things are tedious!



I know watching dozens of little guns go together makes for boring posts so I thought I'd share some "eye candy" picks of the kit hull and superstructure pieces dry-fitted together as well as some of my thoughts on it... I can already see it finished in my mind's eye

















She'll make an impressive display! As near as I can tell things look pretty good... comparison of the kit with photos of the actual ship seem to match very well proportionally. While I have no intention of checking the kit vs plans I can say the hull is a pretty good representation... or at least the shape is plausible, unlike some OTHER Trumpeter 1/200 kits . It also helps that I've been unable to find a pic of the Nelson or Rodney in a dry dock... it seems the stern area below the waterline and around the propshafts is perpetually an accuracy problem area on Trumpy's big kits and I don't know if Nellie follows the trend. Please don't tell me if it does!

There are quite a few warped portholes unfortunately but not too many. I will probably redrill the ports to be perfectly circular, replace a few that are really bad and grind them out from behind as I've done in past projects for really great looking scuttles. I will probably replace the "eyebrows" too as they look a little too low-set and toy-like to my eyes. I'm still divided on the plating... it's a bit too much compared to the real ship but it does look interesting. Anyway, I've got a while to think about it as the hull comes last... the instructions go reverse from normal and deal with the superstructure first so that's the direction I'm going too.

On a side note, I recently got a new smartphone (Galaxy S6) and can now take really nice detail pics which upload straight to Imgur in seconds with virtually no effort. The future rocks! Now we just need a site upgrade to support really high resolution pics.

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Good luck with the light AA. I did finish all 14 quad 40 mm and the 34 20 mm. The detail and engineering of the Pontos items is impressive. The first 40 and 20 mm's I did I though they would take months. However when you do get the figured out, and have. The technique down you can get through pretty well. I would build say four to six at a time, making all the sub assemblies. This gave some feeling of progress which is indeed important. When they get tedious, go do something else! I wonder how they turn these tiny parts, must use bronze or a hard brass on CNC micro lathes? I find turning such small items a real challenge!

Cheers. Tom

Pom poms and 4.7's looking good.

Nice pictures of the hull and main superstructure, she is going be an impressive beast.

following with interest,

cheers

Si

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Simon Heathwood

Thanks for the encouragement gents!

Today I also get to make the proud announcement that step #1 (build 6 pompoms) is done. (minus painting anyway)





They are quite the little monsters to put together but man are they worth it...

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

I've got 50 20mms already done from my ill-fated Missouri project... unfortunately the shields and sights are different than the Nelson's so I'm stuck doing it all over again... 62 of 'em. I've got practice at least but I'm definitely not looking forward to step 5. Still, it's good to get this tedious high-effort low initial reward stuff out of the way early and it's the "little stuff" that really makes a finished model shine in the end.

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Just don't get burned out with the small stuff!

Good so far! T

Looks great!

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Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Jason, if you ever start to feel burned out on those dinky li'l 20mms, you could always cut it into three parts by building one of the main gun turrets after so many 20mms.

Of course, the main turrets are listed last in the instructions... :p

_________________
Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10