1/350 HMS Hood (scratchbuild)

[LE BOSCO]

HI EJFoeth

waaaaou!incredible work,I start to lose all my superlatives
a surgical precision!!!!happy new year
nicolas

[Rob 2]

I have also been following your build for some time and it still has the ability to totally blow my mind.
Stunning,
Rob.

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Notice there's a lot of planks and beams sticking out. Now, HMS Hood also carried a lot of planks and beams next to the funnels, deposited loosely and without any structure, so it might just be a neater and safer way for storage. On either side of the turrets of HMS Rodney (bottom right) you can find similar racks. These are shorted and appear to be oars storage racks? I cannot tell for sure for HMS Hood.

Hi EJ,

Reading this I was wondering: might it be that these racks are wood stores for so-called 'shoring wood'? I noticed on warships such stores are quite common, for the event of hull damage, due to battle or otherwise. At first glance it looks like an assorted heap of timber, beams and planks of various sizes. The wood is used to 'shore' or support temporary repairs to the hull.

Cheers,

[EJFoeth]

I think so and you can find it on nearly all RN vessels if you look closely.

[Christian M.]

Jesus ... what a fantastic detailing!

Normal kit will with normal PE & Co. detailing still look like a toy ship in comparsion. Alone the life rafts ... fantastic!

[EJFoeth]

There are many booms, davits, and derricks scattered around HMS Hood's decks and superstructure. The rigging and davits are drawn up in excellent detail by John Roberts' Anatomy of the Ship: HMS Hood and Anatomy of the Ship: HMS Dreadnought. A full list of booms and derricks is given in Maurice Northcott's HMS Hood: Design & Construction (Ensign Special or Man o'War, same content). Together they have nearly all the information we need for the 1941 version. From the images can be concluded that some booms are tapered, but derricks are not. All booms and derricks are wooden, except the main derrick.



Here you can see a paravane being deployed or recovered (A), but this is not the paravane derrick. This derrick is operated next to A turret, while the actual paravane derricks were stored directly aft of the forward breakwater where a pair of paravanes were stored (B). You rarely see these derrick deployed though and if you want to add them the best option is to either model them lowered (C) or not at all (D); Most images of the forward breakwater show the derricks to be absent. So, if you build the Trumpeter kit you'd best throw these parts away.



The second largest set of derricks consists of three pairs of 40ft derricks. These derricks were used to load ammunition or hoist boats. When HMS Hood was completed, one set was stored near the bridge, one set was fitted to the smaller cranes on either side of the funnels, one set was stored at the deck side on either side of the main derrick and one set was stored to the quarterdeck (4 pair). For the 1941 version, two pairs of derricks were fitted to the bridge bulkhead, below the smaller sounding booms, while the other two sets remained fitted to the smaller cranes. The quarterdeck derricks were removed.



Another set are the 36' 9" sounding booms. No resource specifically identifies their location, but two booms of the same length were fitted above the 40ft derricks during the final modification. This indicates that the sounding machines themselves were on board when HMS Hood was sunk. The image shows the sounding boom deployed during outfitting (A). Two sets of booms are fitted for embarking and disembarking. One set of 50ft quest warp booms (A) was fitted to the hull near the bridge and one set of 30ft6in swinging booms was fitted at the quarterdeck bulkhead. These booms were all tapered. Note how all these booms were rigged with a stay and two lines.



The swinging boom near the quarterdeck bulkhead is very difficult to spot in photographs taken during the war. The stays are easier to spot (A), even though the boom is not (B). Note that the 40ft ammunition derrick at (C) was removed when the air intake in the quarterdeck bulkhead was covered up (D). The stay for the swinging boom is still present in the image bottom right.



The largest derrick is of course the main derrick operated from the main mast. Here you can seen the main derricks aboard HMS Rodney (left), HMS Inflexible (top right) and HMS Hood (bottom right). The style of the main derrick appears the same for all capital ships and the drawing in the Anatomy of the Ship: HMS Hood is not accurate. There are small changes in the rig of the derrick between ships and the hoist line does not loop back the same number of times for all ships.



The flange couplings of the main derrick were simulated with tiny triangles added with a very fine pair of tweezers. The pully in the end of the derrick was added as well for proper rigging. The start point of the derrick was 'milled' into shape with the cross table of the drill press.



The support on the main mast was built from plastic plate; you don't always need photo-etch to make such difficult to make shapes (even though I should have).



The list comprises of

1 65ft main derrick (1)

2 50ft guest warp booms (2)

2 30ft 6" swinging booms (3)

4 40ft 4t ammunition derricks (4)

2 40ft 5t boat & ammunition derricks (small cranes) (5)

2 36ft 6in sounding booms (6)

2 12ft paravane derricks, mostly stored

Northcott lists one 8ft derrick present as late as 1931, but I haven't been able to find any image, so I guess it was stored out of sight with the paravane derricks?



Most work on the derricks was spent adding small rings!

The smaller davits will be treated in a small follow-up post.

[Christian Bruer]

Hello EJ,

nice booms! Just wondering about all the fine and detailed photos of HMS Hood! A good resource is always helpful to find out what is possible to show in that scale!

[richtea]

Superb detail work E.J.
By the time you finish HMS Hood we will have run out of superlatives.
Regards
Richard.

[LE BOSCO]

Hi EJFoeth
again a "intergalactic work" necessarily in! for make as much detail at this scale,you have to come from another planet or from another galaxy !!!!!!!!!
congrat's
Nicolas

[EJFoeth]

Thanks guys. If only the headache would go away

Next:
- davits (most done)
- fitting out hull with mushroom vents (vents done years ago)
- redesigning pompom (far advanced)

[EJFoeth]

Right, the pompom was completely redesigned from scratch and will contain more than 100 individual parts once completed. It should make much more sense to build it with interlock folds making soldering and fitting easier. With the last pompom design, the ammo trays were the most vulnerable part and I hope that is now solved! This is the Mk V, the Mk VI is nearly the same with one or two minor differences and nearly indistinguishable from the Mk V except for a few details that I'll point out when they are done. That is, if the design even works.

I think I'll redo the quad Vickers as well....

[LE BOSCO]

Hello EJFoeth

your pompom ,promise to be the most detailed I've ever seen,I can not wait to see them mounted
superb work
comgrats
Nicolas

[EJFoeth]

Right, I've been distracted by getting to know my soldering iron but it seems to be working. I have my first all-soldered cable reel. The difficult part was getting the 0.3mm center rod in. I tried to drill in a 0.3mm hole in the drums, but just couldn't do it with my lathe. A few drills broke, even at the highest rpm (3,000, too low!) and with my brand new pin chuck �nd being really careful while drilling. I ordered some 0.5mm tube from Albion Alloys with a 0.3mm inner diameter that arrived today. I drilled in a 0.5mm hole in the drum, inserted the rod, soldered it and cut it to size. This worked!

So, this reel has two drums with an inner tube, a center rod and center disk, plus 3 etched parts on either side. That's only 12 parts and I have to add 4 more They all fit on the 0.3 rod so fixing them collinear was easy, sort off. Now I can make more. I need only three of these; They have the most parts but are also the largest. Then there's about 20 smaller ones. My newly arrived optivisor should come in handy!

[JIM BAUMANN]

very very good indeed--I have just caught up on your boom-making.....


S T U N N I N G !!

JB

[Timothyo]

You are just now getting an Optivisor? I don't know how you did your previous work w/o one! Your work is inspirational!

Timothy

[EJFoeth]

Good eyes I suppose But with an optivisor I should be able to spot small errors before making a pic with a macro lens. I bought the cheapest optivisor I could find with maximum magnification and a 10cm focal distance... I need a few more lenses I think!

[sotter]

I have never seen before such amazing skill!!! How its possible? Could you do some tutorial how deal with very small elements (glue, solder)?

[EJFoeth]

Thanks. I was planning to write a small post on the soldering; I only tried this a few times bit it seems to be working now. I'm going to exercise a bit more with soldering the cable reels this weekend, provided the heavily worn drive belt of my lathe doesn't break, and then continue with the real challenge: the new pompom models with two types of solder with a different melting temperature. After that I should be more familiar with the soldering

[EJFoeth]

Not that many photographs are available of the weather deck amidships. This area was briefly out to the open but quickly covered by the shelter deck. Still, most drawings and the Anatomy of the Ship volume shows the location of vents and details to add.



It's just a minor issue, but note that the bulwark was changed when the boat deck was extended. The position of the accommodation ladder was moved aft when the pompom were placed in the 1929-1931 refit. Note that the ladder is stored on deck in the upper image. The fairlead apparently also switched position. Naturally, this means that the bollards placed on the deck were moved as well. If you go to the Willis collection of thewebsite of the HMS Hood association you'll notice the bollards just aft of the first of the three 5.5" guns and the fairlead itself. This change is missed by all drawings so the exact position was estimated to be between the first and second 5.5" gun.



This image shows a few nice details. A 5.5" ammo dredger hoist is seen at (A). All the 5.5" ammo hoists weree removed by 1940, however, the 4" ammo hoists on the shelter deck are all located exactly at the same location but one deck higher. As know the forward and after 5.5" ammo magazines and shell rooms were converted to 4" ammo magazines, I'm confident sure new ammo hoists were fitted even though these are not mentioned. At (B) a support stanchion is seen (with a white band) that are clearly indicated on the drawings. A ladder to the shelter deck is indicated at (C). There's something at (D), but I haven't been able to identify it. I'm not sure it was still present on HMS Hood in 1941 and decided not to add it.



On this nice side view of HMS Hood two large deck vents are seen at (A) and (B). Note that the vent at (B) is seen to face aft at (C). A 5.5"ammo dredger hoist is visible at (D). Note that the cradles (E) for the boats and launches are exactly above the support stanchions.



Pictures after HMS Hood's various refits below decks are rare. Upon comparing pictures of HMS Hood from 1934 and 1939, it appears that support columns are placed below the 4" guns at (A). The aft one is particularly vague. The R-class battleships do not have these columns below their 4" gun mounts so perhaps I'm over-analyzing. Note the left-over detail from the davits at (B) that needs to be reproduced.



In these four small images support columns appear to be present, well enough to decide to add them to the model. If you have your drawings nearby: the in the bottom-left image is not the officers-of-quarters position (a small position at about the same location ), as this position was removed in 1929-1931.



So, this is what the model looks like below the boat deck. One of the disadvantages of my model is that the hull is still the old White Ensign Model core. Because I "like" the way the hull looks now and the amount of time invested in it, I decided not to scrap that part. Still, the new styrene decks were added rather amateurishly; glued directly on resin and putty (oh no). Note the patchwork of replacement decks. This looks awful but will be very hard to spot once to model is done. One of the greatest risks is that the bond between the deck and hull will give way and the model is ruined beyond my emotional capacity for recovery. In order to avoid that, the superstructure pieces will not be glued to the deck; note the brass pins; the are drilled into the hull 1 cm deep acting as an anchor to the deck parts. Each brass pin has been tapped with a M1 thread (very carefully!) so that the superstructure parts can be screwed down, all cleverly hidden beneath gun mounts and directors. Some of the brass pins that remain visible on the model have been fitted with a styrene jacket for easy painting. The thinner support columns were drilled in using the drill press. The deck openings for the stairs going to the lower levels are visible.



Details that are know to be present below decks are the afore-mentioned vents, hatches, wash deck lockers, 4" ammo lifts, bollards, support pillars, davits and the chutes. The hatch was based on images of a King George V class battleship where the chute is in the open near the aft breakwater. The davits were made in series, four of which are to be placed on the quarterdeck. The four davits I liked least were placed below decks. A slight waste of effort, but nice for this very picture and people taking the time to check if all detail is accounted for. Note that the name place with the text 'HMS HOOD' is placed behind the hatches in the bulwark her name can now be found on six places on the model. The bottom-right image shows the cordage reels, the 4" ammo supply hoist (that is, a bit of styrene strip) and rods leading to the mushroom vents (if you have a vent of deck, the piping has to go somewhere).



Now that most of the hull is complete I decided to add some additional detail: a small line scribed between contiguous armor plates. The artwork by Burt in his battleships books shows these lines and even though they are not very visible on most photographs I decided to add them anyway because it looks rather nice. Now, the lines by Burt prove totally imaginary after cross-referencing them with HMS Hood's shell extension plan from the National Maritime Museum. It's just a matter of counting the frame numbers, taking the non-constant frame spacing into account, and a bit of scratching to do. Here the hull problems resurfaced again and many lines required repair and rescratching, including some repair work of the armor belt (plastic) delaminating from the resin hull. Sigh, that was very depressing and it still looks bad. Perhaps I should just paint the model and be done with it. The hatches on the side of the hull were added as were the remains of the davits. These hatches were done twice, because I damaged the hinge system beyond repair during the line scratching.

[bismarck builder]

hi
OMG genius
gary