1/350 Kirov (Trumpeter Modified)

[Timmy C]

Regarding the bridge wings:

http://balancer.ru/forum/punbb/attachme ... item=89160

http://balancer.ru/forum/punbb/attachme ... item=89182

Looks like a |_|_|_|_|_| shaped thing attached to the lower edge of the outside of the bulkhead, upon which that perpendicular circle is placed.

[Neptune]

That circle is a daymark used for navigation. When you are at anchor you have to mount such a "ball" ,because it's in fact one circle and another perpendicular on that one to form a sort of ball shape, on the best visible place. I bet they mount it on both sides of the bridge, because they don't have place that is visible all around to mount it.
Such a ball is also part of the restricted manoeuvrability marks of a ship. Often when they are doing helo operations, they are mounting a ball, a diamond and a ball on one line on top of each other to show that they can't manoeuvre too easily due to their operations.
On regular ships these balls are kept somewhere inside and only attached to a lanyard when necessary. Russian ships however seem to have them in fixed places, ready at all times for use. So technically this "circle" is attached to the two ends of one line. Pulling one end will get the ball up, sliding up, pulling the other end of the line gets it back down.

Here is a picture of the same line-up with both restricted manoeuvrability and anchor balls attached (on an udaloy)
They are attached to both sides of a line to avoid it turning around in the wind (which we have a lot in the merchant) and getting tangled up!

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[ozpirate]

Regarding the bridge wings:

http://balancer.ru/forum/punbb/attachme ... item=89160

http://balancer.ru/forum/punbb/attachme ... item=89182

Looks like a |_|_|_|_|_| shaped thing attached to the lower edge of the outside of the bulkhead, upon which that perpendicular circle is placed.

I would love to have seen what your talking about but your links can't be seen here in OZ. All I get is a try to download from another site and again a dead link.

[Timmy C]

My pleasure, Bob Thanks Roel for the lesson!

And just for you, Mick - reuploaded onto here:

[Neptune]

Since you enjoy that and to be complete...
At night these daymarks are exchanged for lights (although nowadays these lights are just kept on all the time). The ball becomes an Anchor light (all round visible light, posted forward). The restricted manoeuvrability (two balls with a diamond in between) is exchanged for two Red lights with a white light in between. Should be all around visible, that's why on warships occasionally you'll see multiple lights on different places. That's necessary when you have a cluttered ship, where you cannot mount a light that can be seen all around. Mounting it on one side of the mast, if the mast is big, will have it invisible from the other side of the mast.
Most obvious is the lights mounted on the Zeven Provicien class of air warfare frigates of the Dutch Navy, they have the lights on the four corners of their phased array mast.
There is another sign, two balls during the day, or two red lights during the night that indicates "not under command", engine failures, loss of rudder/steering gear. That is why you can occasionally see additional red lights mounted.

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[Neptune]

Yes, these are part of the international ColRegs. Everybody has to follow these. There's a lot more of it as you can imagine, but the things I explained are the most common. In those colregs there are also rules regarding aircraft carriers and minesweeper/hunters etc. To make sure everybody knows what's happening and how to react on it. Some Navies however think they are above the rules and don't give way when they should... Slightly annoying Same counts for most container ships, they always think that they are king of the sea because they are in a hurry...
The black ball and the ball-diamond-ball are the most commonly used for them, so I guess they have them stand-by most of the time.

[travelling_man]

Hi Bob

Been following your fantastic build with great interest! Any updates for us???

Cheers

Steve

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[navydavesof]

Bob,

I love watching your progression! I am sure you have answered this already. I have read the whole thread. What era and what ship in particular is this?

Keep us posted, Bob!

[travelling_man]

Thanks Bob

Your work is out of this world!!!

[Sauragnmon]

Bob, beautiful work man - sheer awesomeness. The work on the SA-N-4 launchers is spectacular - not going to dare and have one popped up just for a little extra spice?

Dave - there's only one ship it could be, and that's the Kirov - only Kirov had the SS-N-14 launcher on the foredeck. Just looking at the bow third of the ship, you can tell with the Kirovs which ship it is, due to the differences in equipment fits. You can do the same on the aft section, if you can see a few simple details. The later three are closer in layout, but still differ in fit - AK-630, SA-N-4, presence of SA-N-9 radar on the aft block, etc. There was a significant ammount of time between the completion of each of them, and their equipment fits vary between each of them.

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[Bill Livingston]

That is a really good explanation of freehand airbrushing Bob

I used to mask all the time because I much prefer the fine finish you get with an airbrush... particularly with 700 scale ships, thick paint and brush strokes look awful... I discovered recently that I could freehand airbrush far more than I originally thought and have since reduced the amount of masking I do... And you are right... once a wash is applied you really dont see much of a problem... the wash basically camouflages the loss of a sharp edge. Obviously hard edge camo still needs masking, but you are right, you can freehand more often than you think...

Mind you... looking at your model and the edges you have there... your airbrush technique is obviously exceptionally good. Out of interest, what do you use? I Have used Badger and Paasche but I have a plastic thing now... cant even remember what it is called, and, although it looks terrible, it is actually very good indeed... I have a very good compressor though... and I think that is more than half the battle when it comes to decent airbrushing...

Good explanation...

[navydavesof]

Bob, beautiful work man - sheer awesomeness. The work on the SA-N-4 launchers is spectacular - not going to dare and have one popped up just for a little extra spice?

Dave - there's only one ship it could be, and that's the Kirov...just looking at the bow third of the ship, you can tell with the Kirovs which ship it is, due to the differences in equipment fits. You can do the same on the aft section...

Nice, nice! I noticed that on the different ships, some have 2 guns on the back or only one, and the CIWS guns up front were originally in the rotating turrets and the modern (?) ones are the duel gatling gun set up? It's nuts!

This is a beautiful model. I wish we could see progress more often

Keep up the great work and great eye for detail, Bob!

[Sauragnmon]

Yeah, that's a basic analysis of them... it goes a little further than that:

Kirov - AK-100 gun mounts x2 on the aft block, modified aft structure compared to the rest to step the forward AK-100 above position. AK-630 mounted on the helipad level. SS-N-14 twin-tube launcher in the forecastle. SA-N-4 beside radar farm, Pop Group radar mounted to sides of the bridge structure.

Frunze - SS-N-14 replaced with SA-N-9 areas (planned, not fitted). Eye Bowl radars replaced with platform for Cross Swords Radar. AK-630 forward, four mounted on aft structure. SA-N-9 positions set on helipad, Cross Swords to be placed over aft structure forward of Kite Screech. SA-N-4, Pop Group radars on the farm. AK-130 turret on the aft weather deck level.

Kalinin - First ship to integrate Kashtan/Klinok SAM/CIWS combination system - Hot Flash search set replaces Forward Bass Tilt. Kashtan in place of two AK-630 and Aft Bass Tilt in modified positions. SA-N-4/SA-N-9 positions as Frunze.

Andropov - Features Tomb Stone radar on top of the bridge for S-300FM support. Kashtan CIWS/SAM. SA-N-4 launchers and Pop Group radars deleted - Aft SA-N-9 positions and Cross Swords radar fitted.

That's a crash course in recognizing the four sisters, and if you know what you're looking at, you should be able to figure out which one it is in about ten seconds - just look for the big features like SA-N-4 launchers, Kashtan/AK-630, Gun turrets, or other big keys.

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