The Ship Model Forum

Some more work today, painting in progress on the main and casemate gun turrets and assembly and painting of bridge tripod structure in progress too:





I am unsure if H.M.S. Ramillies had her gun barrels countershaded in this camouflage scheme? I have assumed she did as the regulations call for it and other battleships in this scheme did feature it. All the photos I have of her are from too far away to tell really. They were definitely countershaded when she wore the earlier Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage Pattern.

Nor can I tell the colour of the blast bags? So I have gone with a dark grey, not quite as dark as the steel deck plating. On some ships in the Admiralty Standard type scheme they look dark, on others the countershading of the barrels continues through the blast bag back to the joint with the turret.

The bridge tripod structures of this class were certainly not designed with the model kit builder in mind. They are the most convoluted most awkward shape to scratchbuild. Oh well. in the absence of a set of plans my scratchbuilding will not be anywhere near fully accurate but I hope to achieve a reasonable representation of it. To be continued.

Some minor weathering to the hull. H.M.S. Ramillies was repainted shortly before I intend to depict her so I'm not going to town on the weathering. The lower hull will be predominantly hidden in a seascape with only the odd bit visible due to the wave profile while the ship is in motion. Still a work in progress:



I have also stained the wood deck sheet. I think it looks better than the original version which is far too white for wartime. H.M.S. Ramillies had deck camouflage painted on her planked deck areas when wearing the earlier Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage pattern. For the purposes of my model I have assumed this was removed when she was painted into the Admiralty Standard pattern. Anyway here is the stained deck versus the original colour. Sheet is 1:500 scale generic planking sheet from Mk1 Design:

Some more progress.

I got the main gun turrets painted and added the anti-aircraft weapon platforms to 'B' and 'X' Turrets. The Quadruple PomPom platform is from the Atlantic Models photoetch set. However this only includes a single platform. The other I scavenged from an additional Atlantic Models set which In plan to use for a First World War version of ne of the class. Therefore it was spare. The 20mm Oerlikon tubs are scratchbuilt:



I also got the wood deck fitted. Still some gaps to fill in so it remains a work in progress:

Some more progress. I applied a coat of paint on the ships' boats and also painted a set of 1/500 Tom's Modelworks crew figures . They have their heads in the blu-tak so I can paint their legs. Finally I mounted the bridge superstructure onto the hull. And dry-fitted the funnel:







I need to do paint touch-ups and to blend in the weathering. The intention is to have some funnel dirt and general soot and filth from having been steaming heavily and firing her guns on bombardment duty. But not too much rust as she was re-painted shortly before I am depicting her.

Some more progress over the past couple of days. Scratchbuilt the deck hatches and vents from Evergreen Sheet, a punch and die set and the Atlantic Models 1/500 RN Doors / Hatches set. Also scratchbuilt anchor capstans as I intend to use real chain for the anchors. I am not doing every single vent and hatch and don't have sufficient photos to exactly show Ramillies in 1944. So compromises will be made in this area in the interest of getting her finished.



Also added the anchor rubbing strips to the deck, as well as the mooring bollards, breakwater and blast shields for 'B' and 'X' turrets. Plus some deck stowed Carley Floats. These are 3D prints courtesy of MicroMaster (Shapeways):



I read with interest the revelations on the H.M.S. Hood thread about her anti-fouling paint being grey. This has major implications for other RN Capital Ships also. I already have Ramillies' lower hull painted red.

I'm going to mount her in a seascape so there will be very little of the lower hull visible. I might just weather the visible areas to an indistinct muddy faded colour. I had already weathered it somewhat to mimic the lower part of the boot topping being washed away / faded away. Will have to think some more about it. Unless anyone happens to have Ramillies' records to hand indicating an actual colour.

Some more progress today. All ships' boats have been fitted to their cradles for later placement on deck.



Scratchbuilt 20mm Oerlikon tubs added to the stern.



4 inch HA Guns and 40mm Octuple PomPoms added amidships. The 4 inch HA Guns are 3D Prints from MicroMaster (Shapeways) and the 40mm Octuple PomPoms are those from the Atlantic Models 1/500 R Class detail Set. The PomPoms are really nice I think.

I love your Ramillies, Mr. Church! Super build.

I hope to built this ship one day in 1:350. One way or another.

Btw: Ramillies was named after a little village in Belgium, not far from where I live: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramillies,_Belgium

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Thanks Maarten, glad you like it!

I agree a 1/350 Ramillies would be lovely. My preference would be the First World War Dazzle Painted version, followed closely by the 1944 scheme as seen on my 1/500 model. She had an Admiralty Disruptive scheme too as well as an unofficial three tone camouflage before that. So plenty of schemes to choose from!

Interesting regarding the name, in all my research I never looked up the origin of the name. I figured it was an historical battle from somewhere but did not know it was a village in Belgium. Thanks for the info!

Back to the model, I have got some of the more fiddly parts done. Added the handrails, steps, HACS Directors, PomPom Directors, 20mm Oerlikons as well as some scratchbuilt missile jammers. Also added the mainmast and made a start on the rigging. This will be basic simplified rigging:



I added the Quad PomPoms and Oerlikons to 'B' and 'X' main gun turrets too. They look well I think, plenty of firepower:



Plan is to hopefully finish off the rigging before cluttering up the shelter deck with the ships' boats, deck vents, 4 inch ready use ammo lockers and the lattice crane. Edging slowly towards overall completion.

Some more progress. Not the best photo due to limitations of Macro Mode on my phone camera. As an aside the earlier photos seem to make the blue hull panel look much more brilliant and vibrant than it really is. Quirks of phone cameras.

Anyway, I have scratchbuilt paravanes. Paravane representations were moulded onto the superstructure side on the original kit. The scratchbuilt replacements should be an improvement. Also I assembled some cable reels. Just to add to the general deck clutter and give her that 'in active service' look. The cable reels are from the White Ensign Models 1/400 scale set as I don't know of any being available in 1/500. Another compromise but I hope it will be minimally noticeable at the end of the day.

I also twisted up some fishing line and glued it together and painted it dark grey. Hopefully it will adequately resemble flota nets when dried out and cut up into short lengths. Reference photos show Ramillies sporting plenty of flota nets in 1944.



Separately I have assembled all the 4 inch ammo lockers. These using the Atlantic Models 1/500 doors and hatches set, with Evergreen square sections forming the bulk of the lockers.

Brilliant work so far! Following with great interest.

_________________
The merchant shipyard

Thanks Neptune, glad you find it interesting.

Some more progress. Have added the ships' boats, boat booms, all the cable reels, the paravanes, the 4 inch ammo lockers, the davits from the Atlantic Models Detail Set and an Eduard etched White Ensign. This is officially 1/700 scale but I think it looks OK?





Some more details still to add, but getting close to completion now. My fishing line flota net idea failed unfortunately as the final thing proved impossible to cut into the short lengths required. So Plan B has been activated to just use regular household string soaked in artist's medium and painted. It will be less accurate and more frayed than the fishing line but hopefully will look passable.

Some more progress.

Started cutting out the flota nets from the artist's medium soaked string. They successfully cut this time which is good. I made plenty of length so can reject any that look too poor and should hopefully have enough good ones to fit out Ramillies. Once smoothed out a bit and installed on the ship, followed by paint touch ups they should look OK hopefully. Or better than omitting the detail at least:



Also added the anchor chains. These are Artwox 1/700 chain which I stretched out between two cocktail sticks and primed and painted. The Blake Slip Chains etc are the etches from the 1/500 Atlantic Models 'R' Class set. I don't like etched chains as the main anchor chains as I think they look too flat. But they look just the part for the smaller diameter Blake Slip Chains:



Next up, installation of crew figures.

An amusing little aside, it seems sailors aboard the real H.M.S. Ramillies enjoyed a spot of model making back in 1936:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX11yRDr24E

All in all a fascinating little snippet of the past.

The model (yours, not the one in the video ) looks terrific!

_________________
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

Very nice result of much work on a really poor kit. Your Ramillies looks the business!

Very nice!

Lovely!

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I appreciate all the kind words lads, many thanks to everyone who commented. Glad people are enjoying watching the build progress.

Some more progress today. I have added a set of crew figures, Tom's Modelworks 1/500 Scale Crew Figures. I placed them manning the anti-aircraft weapons and the 4 inch dual purpose guns for the most part. The Oerlikons and PomPoms are probably somewhat under-manned in reality, but oh well. Not sure I'm bothered adding another whole crew set to her! I'll have to think about it. I also added the flota nets formed from string as mentioned above. These are attached to the splinter shields.



As mentioned at the outset my intention is to depict her as seen during Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France in 1944.

I decided to bite the bullet and add more crew figures. I have spent so long on Ramillies already that the additional time required to paint and fit the extra figures is very small in the overall scheme of things. I'll add some to Ramillies and some to Royal Oak which also needs crew figures added.

The figures are another set of Tom's Modelworks 1/500 figures as before. Painting in progress:



i'll hopefully start work on the sea base shortly.

Some more progress, the final round of progress on the ship in fact.

I added the extra crew figures and the rubbish chutes forward on the hull sides. So that’s her fully completed and manned, unless I spot any additional minor paint touch-ups?

She took quite a bit of work to complete, more than I anticipated. Primarily due to her extensive AA, radar and missile jammer fit. As well as the torpedo bulges. A close call between her and H.M.S. Royal Oak as to which was the more difficult build? Ramillies probably edges it due to the radar and missile jammer fit and having to research all of that.











All her Oerlikons now have a crew of three each with more crew assigned to the PomPoms and the 4 inch battery also. All that remains now is to build a sea base and mount her in it. I’ll post more updates as I work on that.

In other news work is already advancing on my next project, H.M.S. Revenge in her 1918 fit. Should be significantly less complicated than Ramillies: