1/350 Kirov (Trumpeter Modified)

[Charles Landrum]

Bob,

They are circles! Okay seriously, my guess is that item A is the winch assembly for the davit. Item B looks like a Soviet version of the J-Bar davit with a built in light duty hoist. On my ships we used them for accommodation ladders, torpedo recovery and rescue swimmers to name a few. It is an odd location, but might be to hoist gear off the boat before it is recovered by the davit. I do not have any pics that any real clarity to that area.

Charles

[carr]

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[Neptune]

I agree with Charles though, definitaly is a winch, you can also see the wire go up towards the Davit. I'll see if I can make you a drawing or find any pics of a similar thing on other ships. mounting that winch inside a shed is not really an option and I even think it's not allowed considering the launch procedure of a lifeboat, so near the other davits you will find another such winch as well. Considering the place of this one, I suppose it could be anywhere near the other winches, behind corners like this one perhaps?

The other one is certainly a Davit, has a small wire drum on it on the back. Again I'll see if I can be of any assistance with that, they're pretty common on every ship, they have a Safe Working Load of about 0.5 to 0.9t and typically a small wire of about 5mm.

[carr]

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[Neptune]

Perhaps they use that particular boat more as a regular launch than the real lifeboats, that would explain why the davit is there.

However, after some research I've come to the conclusion that that winch is probably not for the lifeboat davits. they seem to have a different system, with the winches being mounted on the upper platform, forward and aft of the davit (with appartently two winches per boat station). The big machine you've shown seems to be a winch, at least I suppose I see a small drum on its inner part, I'm not even sure of that anymore, might as well be something different. The sheds probably don't have anything special to do with the lifeboats though, they might as well be lockers of some kind, placed there for convenience.

[carr]

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[Neptune]

The pipe looks like the size for a high pressure hydraulic pipe. We have hydraulic mooring winches onboard, so it wouldn't be too impossible. The position of the pipe is a bit strange though, normally it would enter close to the gearbox rather than the other side of the drum. You can now clearly see two wires going up though, one would typically be fixed on that winch or the deck, the other one on the drum. The strange thing is that the drum, or whatever it is, doesn't seem to have any wire rounds turned on it. Which makes me think the actual drum is located behind the cylindrical parts (also suspected that from previous picture).

As a second thought, given the presence of only one pipe and lack of rounds of wire on the cylindrical parts along with the shape of these rounded parts, might mean that it's actually an air driven winch. With the air coming from the pipe, going through the turbine shape, while expanding, towards the gearbox, which is on the right side of the turbine to be a gearbox transferring power of the turbine to the slower turning drum (located down and in front of the turbine).

I'm more aking to believe the second thought.

[carr]

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[Neptune]

Actually on our own systems, hydraulic and air, there are no real shut-off valves or drains on deck either. So that doesn't surprise me at all, perhaps these are located, together with the pump and tank, in those deck houses.
I've checked some ships, like Udaloy, Krivak, Neustrashimiy and Slava up till now, none of them have anything similar. They have much smaller winches, which is more similar to what Kirovs have in front and behind the davits.

[carr]

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[Neptune]

In that case I'll give a different theory, which might sound crazy. A similar davit has been used before on smaller ships to lower a dipping sonar. I think it was the Grisha or Pauk class. Sounds completely out of place and very unlikely, but it's been an idea from the start when you came up with this.

[carr]

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[Neptune]

Wouldn't exactly jump to such conclusions, but who knows? Only a better view would give more info.
A few facts we know: the winch seems to have two wires going up "inside" the small shed. There is one pipe going in the winch from our point of view (a return pipe could come or go from the other side. And that's about it. Whether it's connected to that davit has not been proven. Whether the davit is anything more than an embarkation light or help for loading/discharging any parts towards the boat when it's in the water, we also don't know. The last thing however sound most logical, given the davit's place near the embarkation ladder. The winch, if at all connected, couldn't be placed near the davit due to space constraints.

If it is a sonar deployment winch, a lot of questions still remain, why there? how would it work? When is it deployed? etc.

It was nothing more than a thought. A possible answer to the question you asked is for support. The davit has to go overboard, so it has to be placed on the side, for any weight, it would require more strengthening (below and above deck) than just placing it where it is placed now.

[tonphil1960]

Amazing build you have here. I am about to start the Kirov in 1/700, with PE and only a few mods. Your build will help me with many details I'm sure. After doing a few searches I failed to find the hull and super structure grey color mentioned. You being knowledgable in the modern soviet are I'm sure know that anwer ? What grey for modern Soviet ships ?


Tony

[carr]

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[tonphil1960]

Thanks Bob, I did a Keiv a while back and used any old grey, just want to be as accuarte as possible on this one.

Tony

[carr]

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[LE BOSCO]

hello Bob
You made a work of sctrach of one incredible precision
I hope to have one day your dexterity
regards
Nicolas

[carr]

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[JIM BAUMANN]

>> magnifying light <<

I use an Optivisor ( x 1.75 ) DA-3) with daylight strip lights....

Excellent contrast- gives a a sporting chance to see what one is doing...

'cos the camera will tell all!


JB