H.M.S. Rodney 1:200 - Public Build III

[MartinJQuinn]

Impressive work - that's a one big a$$ed boat!

[Koppalakki]

Good job!

Color scheme and weathering is very pleasing to my eyes!
Looks really subtle even though there's quite a lot infact nicely balanced!

Be sure to post the pictures with the rigging attached aswell!

[Angeliccypher]

Well executed!

[Strategos Augustus]

Thank you gentlemen!

[Strategos Augustus]

Rigging is usually my favorite part of the project.

Seriously. When it is not too far out of the comfort zone and there are not too many new things to learn, I like rigging the most.

This build was a little bit rushed. I actually finished up the rigging at around four am the day of the show...

But I think we pulled it off.

Rigging HMS Rodney was a minor challenge in terms of getting it right. I have no decent documentation or plans germane to Rodney specifically so I was forced to rely on photographs of both sisters and my excellent Anatomy of a Ship: Battlecruiser Hood book. I have a set of middling quality plans for when the Rodney was completed but those are frightfully unhelpful. The Hood's rig has a number of similarities to Nelson class ships as sunk and so I used her scheme as a basis for my efforts. Whenever a photograph contradicted the Hood scheme I tried to accommodate the change.

It is not perfect by any stretch but I feel that we are most of the way there.

I used two grade of fine silk thread.

Here are the stays around 'Queen Anne's Mansion':






I am exceedingly pleased at how well the mainmast turned out:






This is taken from the HMS Hood book:


Making the blocks for the signal halyards. I'm using plastic next time!






Yours truly getting stuck in:






Here she is all shipshape. Finished at last! Added insulators and fittings to the rigging. I relied heavily on my Hood plans and photographs of Hyun Soo Kim's HMS Prince of Wales.


Managed to win a bit also:

[Strategos Augustus]

A sweetener of pictures to come:



I'll post a few moderate quality shots of the finished ship a later on in this thread. But I will be having a photo shoot when I am happy with the outside lighting. I received my new camera and we shall see how much further we can improve over my mobile phone's work.

I am curious to know, for an indoor shoot, what sort of background everyone prefers. I am all rather new at this but I figure I will need to up my photography game if I am going to stick with this online build concept.

I plan on taking a set of images outside and a set indoors to see how they turn out.

[Joe Simon]

Nice rigging job! I can't believe how fast you built this!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Fine looking model!

Staggeringly fast build...for such a huuuuge model!!

Bravo

JB

[Koppalakki]

Nice work with the rigging!

I just upgraded my home "studio" so I can post some photos later.

I also use a mobile to take the photos so on the same boat!

[JohnS]

Great work & congratulations on the show awards.

... I am curious to know, for an indoor shoot, what sort of background everyone prefers. ...

I'm no photography expert, but I've tried all sorts of coloured backgrounds of photographing models (not quite as big as your ship, though ). I've had the best luck with matt light grey, light blue, & black backgrounds. These colours don't seem to want to overexpose and provide good contrast for the models.

Here's a few of examples to start a discussion.

Matt light grey background

Matt light blue background

Matt black background:

Other's may have better experience photographing larger ships.

[Strategos Augustus]

Nice rigging job! I can't believe how fast you built this!

Fine looking model!

Staggeringly fast build...for such a huuuuge model!!

Bravo

JB

I must confess that I built the thing before I ever uploaded a single photograph.

I expended around 364 hours on this project (including drying and curing times). The majority of that work was achieved between late July and September 23rd (the day of the show). I think that it was still a rather quick effort but certainly not nearly as quick as I may have led some to believe. I was, especially towards the end, spending nearly every spare hour on the project. I got very little sleep....

I did rig the entire ship in a single sitting with a brief stop for some food. That took about eleven hours and ended at around 4 in the morning. How's that for madness?

Well, it was either that or miss the show.

[Strategos Augustus]

Great work & congratulations on the show awards.

... I am curious to know, for an indoor shoot, what sort of background everyone prefers. ...

I'm no photography expert, but I've tried all sorts of coloured backgrounds of photographing models (not quite as big as your ship, though ). I've had the best luck with matt light grey, light blue, & black backgrounds. These colours don't seem to want to overexpose and provide good contrast for the models.

Here's a few of examples to start a discussion.

01 Stbd Side.jpg

Dog Stbd.jpg

167 Port Bow.jpg

Other's may have better experience photographing larger ships.

I like all three for different reasons.

I'll have to experiment I guess.

I've decided to shoot outside. I'll have those pictures up as soon as I through with processing them.

[Strategos Augustus]

Here is my poor quality set of indoor shots using my phone:

[marijn van gils]

Still extremely fast!

Congrats on the awards, and on the model!

Cheers,

Marijn

[Aop Aur]

Congrats on the model completion and show winning! You build very fast! The weathering and colours look great! I especially like the bow rusting and chipping effect. And this is one very nice camouflage scheme!

Aoo

[MartinJQuinn]

Impressive all the way around. Well done, and congrats on the award. If I didn't already have several hundred unbuilt kits in my stash, I'd seriously consider getting this kit.

[Bill Livingston]

Apologies if I have missed this, I did look back... but which RN figures did you use?

I need a large number of 200 scale figures for my Hood.

Thanks in advance

[J. Soca]

Nicely done!!





Jose

[Strategos Augustus]

Thank you gentlemen! I do appreciate your remarks.

[Strategos Augustus]

Apologies if I have missed this, I did look back... but which RN figures did you use?

I need a large number of 200 scale figures for my Hood.

Thanks in advance

No worries! I only made a single oblique reference to my crew in my first post on this topic.

I decided, for reasons of simplicity, to utilize Trumpeter's WWII US Navy Figure Set. That is item TRP 6633.

It comes with 60 figures in 6 poses on 6 sprues. Three are in USN sailor whites and the other three sprues are of USN officers and petty officers in the tropical khakis.

I figured the mold details were sufficiently fine that I could paint over the details to give everyone an RN winter uniform.

Here are a couple links to current US listings. I am not sure where to find them in the UK but I've bought mine directly from China on eBay. I think I spent around $11.00 to get them to my front door. So, if you wanted to do 600 people, $110.00 at the rate I found. I don't know what the alternatives might be, but I went this route because it seemed pretty quick and dirty.

https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagorie ... o=a&sc=200

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Trumpeter-1-20 ... SwvcJZ6UCb

Hope that helped.