The Ship Model Forum

This is by far and away my most favorite (and, to my eye, most aesthetically gratifying) class of ship. I love each one and all of the different paint schemes applied. It is indeed a long term ambition of mine to have an example of each ship in each paint scheme. Including a hypothetical postwar Impero and a hypothetical Spanish example. To that end I have amassed an embarrassment of relevant Trumpeter kits.

A minor point, I wish that someone would make a dedicated PE set for the Littorio and Vittorio Veneto. I elected to build this iteration out-of-the-box with only generic ladders and railings. With that in mind, I went for the solid plastic kit supplied catapult and did my best to make it work. I have a proper set for my 1/700 Roma but I did not feel inclined to purchase a duplicate set or to rob Peter. Had to make struts for the Ro.43, which is anachronistically in the prewar/early war bare metal with recognition stripes. By the date my rendition is supposed to portray, the aircraft would have been green.

For this build, I went with the scheme applied in May 1942, using a number of competing references as well a my modest collection of photographs. There are plenty of minor contradictions that need reconciliations and in the case of one minor details, I even contradicted the photographs! They removed the red and white air recognition stripes late that year and so chose to omit them. I like this arrangement because it gives the viewer a chance to appreciate the shape of the foredeck. I also have done plenty of red and white decks in the past and I have a several projects lined up that will include them (like my 1/350 Littorio). Obviously, it's also a much easier job to paint! A little anachronism is the lack of radar; I was unable to source one and decided not to make one since this was supposed to be a quick project. Eventually, I'll have to take some better photographs, alas, I've dismantled my photobooth for the time being - I want to make a larger setup that can accommodate 1/200 capital ships.

I made the jack and the admiral's standard and I raided a 1/350 Roma for the flags - this kit does not come with any markings aside from the name and the aircraft insignia.

In any case, this is what Trumpeter's kit looks like more or less OOB.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Nice work. They were fine looking ships.

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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

Came out beautifully, very smart looking ship. The green lower hull makes them looks very unique!

Do you have a build thread?

I see that it is OOB but if you went all in, would you change anything except radar?

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- @Shipific on IG
my gallery

Thank you, they were indeed.



Thank you! Sadly, I didn't document this one.



Well, apparently the WEM aftermarket is supposed to be for all three ships - which I had not known.



I would have to get my references out to track the specific dates of radar installation - they were installed from mid-1942 onwards. This means that the fishbone camouflage patterns as well as the as-commissioned configuration won't need radar.

These 1/700 kits come with a small PE fret that has the stern crane and some funnel fittings. The only really critical omission imho is that lack of a catapult. Here is a grainy picture of it from HobbySearch:



I really like the Shipyard Works Roma upgrade set - I have one for my 1/700 Roma. Plenty of differences between superstructures. Shapes of the platforms, configuration of equipment, as well as the famously reconfigured bridge windows. Lots of pieces that you would have to leave on the fret.

Which is why I'd probably just bite the bullet and see if I could find a WEM set at a good price. This won't happen for a while - as all my other kits of this class, bar the aforementioned Roma, are in 1/350. I don't have Vittorio Veneto in 1/700, so I might conceivably get the WEM set if I get that kit to do a late war 'Allied' scheme with the grey rectangle over the belt (the only scheme I've not got a kit allocated towards).

Although, truth be told, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'd invest in better flags (Trumpeter for some reason doesn't bother with proper Italian naval flags for any of its RM offerings...) and I need to find a rigging solution that is more delicate and better suited to running grounding lines for aerials. I typically use silk thread for my ships, but the gauge is a bit big for this scale, so I went down to a very fine thread used for tying fishing lures. Maybe time to experiment with Lycra.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

A very nice build, I love Italian ships. My very old Vittorio Veneto has generic PE, my more recent Littorio has the WEM fret which I found very useful. I bought quite a few of the WEm frets and also used them on my Andrea Doria and Giulio Cesare.

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IPMS Fine Waterline Special Interest Group

Great looking battleship. Really well done. I have her sister ship in my stash.

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Jim

Wow! I had missed this thread! A most lovely build!
I like the way you painted the camo scheme, weathering is very effective too and the anti-fouling green is super, i agree, it makes them unique. The Ro43 seaplane is a small jewel per se
Congrats!

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http://www.3xblackcats.wordpress.com

Lovely!

Italian ships are so handsome and this model is beautifully done.

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-Steve L.

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That's a really nice build. Beautiful class of ships.