The Ship Model Forum

Now that my H.M.S. Royal Oak is nearing completion it is time to make a start on my next 'R' Class in 1/500. This will be H.M.S. Ramillies in her 1944 fit.

References will be R.A. Burt's British Battleships of World War One and British Battleships of World War Two books plus Norman Friedman's 'British Battleships' book as well as photographs from the Imperial War Museum Website and internet. Also the excellent 'Battleship Ramillies - The Final Salvo' book by Ian Johnston with Mick French.

I will document from the start of the build this time. Same as with Royal Oak, I will make compromises everywhere throughout the build. Therefore the model will be nowhere near 100% accurate. But I will add detail and try and improve the venerable old kit... So let's get started:

The hull halves are assembled and aft deck installed. The casemate section has been sanded back to the hull and the incorrect detailing removed. I will rebuild it in Evergreen Strip to more closely resemble the real ship. Ramillies in 1944 had some of the casemate guns removed and plated over so I am currently thinking of ways to build the plated off sections.

The basic superstructures and funnel have also been assembled and caked in filler to hide the enormous gaps due to the very poor fit of the kit. The angle on the kit's funnel cap (or clinker screen) looks too shallow to me so I have raised it with Evergreen strip and will sand and file it to better match the real ship.

Next up after that will be to add Ramillies' very distinctive large torpedo bulges from Evergreen strip.

I have added the first layer of the torpedo bulges fro Evergreen Strip. Once dry I will add the second layer and finalise the shapes of them. Good thing I bought some extra tubes of filler recently. They will be needed here. I intend to mount her on a sea base so will not have to fine-tune the joints from the bottom of the bulges to the hull which conveniently saves some work. I love when that happens! No need to bother with propellers, propellershafts or rudders either. It does not bother me that she will be rudderless out of sight below the sea base.

Some more filling work carried out to the basic superstructures and shelter deck also. The kit depicts the Shelter Deck as being planked, as do most kits of 'R' Class battleships. Indeed not knowing any differently at the time I depicted it as such in my first two 'R; Class kits. We live and learn. This area should be steel plating as discussed in the CASF 'R' Class thread. So a layer of filler is required to kill the planking detail and to eliminate all the holes in the deck for fitting the kit supplied ship's boats. I will be using Atlantic Models photoetched cradles as supplied in their 'R' Class Detail Set.

The Atlantic Models Photoetch set provides a photoetch deck sheet to fix to the incorrect aft superstructure of the kit. Their sheet is planked though and should be plated like the surrounding deck. No matter though, there is an easy fix. Turn the sheet upside down and leave the planks facing downwards and out of sight. Problem solved.

Love to see these old kits come to life. Nice start!

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks Martin. Yes a dedicated photoetch set helps greatly.

Some more progress. I drilled out the portholes and scratchbuilt the casemate gun deck. It presents an odd concertina-esque pattern when viewed from above.

Also glued down the forward deck and filled and filed the torpedo bulge into somewhat acceptable shape. A spray coat of primer once it is dry will reveal a multitude of sins no doubt which will need correction later

I didn't use any yet David. I built the casemates by eye assisted by as many photographs as I can find in the books I mentioned above. Nowhere near fully accurate but an improvement on the out of the box versions and should hopefully look there or thereabouts by the time I finish them?

I have the Kagero HMS Royal Oak Book and the Profile Morskie HMS Resolution 1942 book alright and will probably make use of them when scratchbuilding the bridge structure later. I don't know of any plans specific to Ramillies in 1944.

They are not fully finished yet, only the broad outlines of the recesses for the guns are done. The fit of the kit is so poor that I would never be able to properly align the gun mounts top and bottom before gluing down the forward deck part. So I have to glue that down first.

Once the forward deck is set in place and glue has dried then I will fully finish off the casemates as I will have a solid base to work off for each individual one. Four of them will be plated off with no guns so that will bring will be some variety to the model.

Indeed. Poor with a capital 'P'.

Some more work on the casemates. They look an unholy mess at the moment but will get better when cleaned up and when more detail is added. I hope. I cut out styrene circles using a punch and die set to make the tops of the individual gun mounts. I will fill and file them to make the curved profile of the individual casemates. Then add straight strip to these to make up the armour plating as noticeable in photos.

While waiting for the glue and filler to dry on the hull I decided to do a marathon session and tackle what is likely to be the one repetitive tedious part of the build. Assembling all the light AA Armament. In 1944 Ramillies sported:

2 x Octuple PomPoms
2 x Quadruple PomPoms
22 x 20mm Oerlikon Singles

All are thankfully now assembled but remain to be painted. There are not enough Oerlikons in the Atlantic Models set to do Ramillies in 1944. But no matter as I had spares from my Royal Oak build as she did not need any. The PomPoms are assembled exactly as per the Atlantic Models Instructions. Same as the Oerlikons. I have mounted them all on styrene circles cut out using a punch and die set.

Even more to do than in the case of Royal Oak - prolific close range AA, and those bulges which are nor easy to get right!
I can only envy the pace you are working at.
I suppose you will build all five sisters.

Yes indeed. Ramillies in 1944 will probably involve the most work to covert of any of the class. Though Arkhangelsk / Royal Sovereign in late war fit was plenty of work too. Ramillies in 1944 had all the extra AA Armament as you say but was also festooned with Radars, Radio Aerials, IFF Sensors, Radar Jammers etc.

It would be a project in itself to try and properly identify and get good clear photos of every bit of electronic equipment she had in 1944. I will kitbash and scratchbuild as best I can based on the photos and references I have. My torpedo bulges will be nowhere near 100% correct but I hope they will be better than nothing.

As regards pace of work, my current pace is very much the exception rather than the rule. COVID-19 Lockdown has a lot to do with it. I would normally be busy with other things but lockdown prevents most of that. So I may as well work on the Ramillies. I would never normally progress a build this quickly. Ultimately yes I will do all five sisters. I may even do some twice? When I can't decide which camouflage scheme I prefer?!

I spent most of today working on her. But when I lay out all the work it looks like very little!! I got her photoetch radars assembled, kit bashed her missile jammers from scrap photoetch, scratchbuilt the four 20mm Oerlikon Gun Tubs for the tops of 'B' and 'X' Turrets. Also assembled the main battery rangefinder with associated radar set and scratchbuilt the HACS directors and added radars to them.

Some more progress today. Added armour plates to the casemates, much filing and sanding done to the torpedo bulges and now starting to add the basic superstructure to the hull. Edging slowly towards having a base hull that can be detailed up. And to get it ready so I can start the custom cut out of the wood deck sheet.

Also assembled the funnel and scratchbuilt the twin 20mm Oerlikon tubs for the quarterdeck. The single Oerlikon tubs are 3D printed ones. The ship's crane base is from the Atlantic Models kit but the lattice boom is kitbashed from one meant for a Japanese Cruiser. This is of course wrong but it looks closer to Ramillies' Lattice crane than the one in the kit. So it will do. One of many compromises on this build.

Some more progress today. I got the hull primed and partially assembled the mainmast. The kit parts for the mast are too poor to use so I replaced them with brass tube instead.

Some more progress.

I have almost completed one of the more awkward parts of the build, cutting out the wood deck sheet to fit. Conveniently a 2 Euro Cent coin almost exactly corresponds to the diameter of the barbettes. That makes for a handy cutting template, with only some sanding required afterwards to achieve a good fit. The deck is not fully ready and still requires final adjustment to fit. It is also far too light and will be masked off and darkened in due course when I begin painting.

I have also masked off the hull sides in preparation for additional priming to represent hull panel lines and to outline the torpedo bulges. I am not modelling every single one, only broad outlines at the bow and stern where the plating was most noticeable. Awkward gaps were filled with Humbrol Maskol Liquid Mask. First time I have tried this so we shall see how it goes.

The deck looks great. Kudos to you for being able to cut it out so precisely.

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks Martin. It is nowhere near perfect when you look closely. But is 'within acceptable limits' I think. I have a template made up so I simply trace around that in fine drawing pencil onto the fresh sheet of deck planking. Cut it slightly oversize and it can then be sanded and filed hopefully to a smooth fit.

Some more progress today on the hull. Ramillies in 1944 had lots of her portholes plated over. I made some blanking plates using a punch and die set and some scrap photoetch sprue. Scrap photoetch sprue was also used to make up the curved plating over the two removed casemate guns on each side. I cut it to size and curved it using a roller set. The actual portholes are from North Star Models. Also added ventilation trunking to the barbettes scratchbuilt from Evergreen strip.

Some more progress. I masked off the waterline and sprayed the lower hull red. Not worried about full coverage underneath as she will be mounted in a seascape with only slivers of the anti-fouling paint below the waterline visible, if any? Ramillies was a very overweight lady by 1944 and would have sat deeper in the water than ever. Indeed even when new the class were regarded as 'wet' ships.

I also stained the wood deck. It looks far too bright when left untreated. See untreated scrap piece alongside for comparison. I tried to go for a dulled down natural wood look. Ramillies did have deck camouflage when painted in her disruptive camouflage pattern up to D-Day.

I have surmised that it was removed and the now bare wood decks given a coat of varnish / dulled down at the same time as she was repainted into Admiralty Standard Scheme A. Standard Scheme A painting instructions did not specify any deck camouflage. She was repainted sometime between D-Day in June 1944 and Operation Dragoon in August 1944.

Some more progress. Hull sprayed blue, Humbrol blue as I cannot get Colourcoats B20.

I have started scratchbulding the bridge structure using re-scaled Profile Morskie plans for HMS Resolution where applicable. The Atlantic Models photoetch for the foremast starfish looks well I think. The structure is the one from the kit cut to size and filled and filed. Windows added using photoetched ladder turned sideways.

I do not have plans for Ramillies so what I don't have details of I am guesstimating using my available photos. The platform below the director is scratchbult from 1/350 IJN gusset plates and splinter shielding.

Some more progress today. Did some work on the bridge structure. It is awfully convoluted and awkward to build. Between split levels and having to all fit around a tripod mast. Then there are gusset plates stretching between levels too which if assembled will be nigh impossible to paint. Some careful thought is required as to how to sequence the build so that everything fits properly and can be painted as well. A long way to go on it yet. I added the handrails to the director platform as it will be too difficult to do this after it is positioned on the mast. Will have to try not to break it in the meantime.

Also gave the hull some coats of battleship grey. After masking off the blue panel on the lower hull. The main grey colour is supposed to be 507C Light Grey. I have used Humbrol 127 instead due to not being able to get Colourcoats paints. I believe it is a close enough substitute though so I am not too worried about it.

Between various things I have not had a chance to do any work on Ramillies since May.

However I got some done today,mainly kitbashing the kit boats to more resemble 45' Picket Boats and adding the Atlantic Models photoetch thwarts to the kit's cutters, afterfirst hollowing them out. Also scratchbuilt the 6 inch secondary casemate guns from Evergreen tube and brass rod for the barrels. Blast bags are built up using layers of Artist's Medium.



Masking tape removed and superstructure partially dry-fitted. Paint touch ups and weathering need to be done before permanently fitting any of it:



Half a hint or a resemblance to a battleship but a lot of work still to do.