Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Dreadnought 1907

[bbrowniii]

Really great stuff, Bill. I love the look of that wood deck. I've got the 350th Warspite kit (the Academy Premium one) and that came with the wood decks. This is a good little intro to them - hopefully I'll remember some of your lessons!!

[deafpanzer]

WHOA WHOA! Looking great already... jeez you are not helping me because I want that kit too. Jeez! Was it easy to use the AM deck if you didn't have to scrap molded objects off the kit's deck?

[wbill76]

Boyd, thanks! I have to agree on the look of the wood deck, it's an impressive little add-on even if it does add some small complications due to its added thickness...but then it's really no different than working with adding zim on a piece of German armor for example. This is the first time I've used a wood deck and so far I'm impressed with the results.

Andy, the deck, so far, has proven very easy to use. It's not permanently applied yet, just laid down so I could see how it would work and where adjustments might be needed. This particular deck had a very precise cut/fit...everything lined up just like it was supposed to and has adhesive on the back so it's 'self sticking'. In order to do the test fit, I did have to cut through the covering film on the back to remove all the little inserts in the various openings, but otherwise it looks like it's going to be fairly straightforward to use/apply.

[deafpanzer]

Thanks Tex!

[mrt51]

Coming along nicely!

Terry

[wbill76]

Thanks Terry! Plugging along a little at a time on this one.

[modelfreak72]

Ok. That's two floating type thing's for Bill, well I guess you can say it's a floating tank of sorts. LOL!!! Looking good Bill!

[wbill76]

Aug 8, 2014 21:55:52 GMT -5 modelfreak72 said:

Ok. That's two floating type thing's for Bill, well I guess you can say it's a floating tank of sorts. LOL!!! Looking good Bill!

Well that's true too I suppose! Not saying that this is a pattern but a battleship is armored and has some very big guns to go with it. Glad to have you along MF.

[wbill76]

Continuing on with the efforts aimed at the hull details and getting it ready for the first round of painting, I decided to add the screen covers to the front part of the anchor chain guide holes, a missing detail that isn't covered in either the Eduard PE sets or the kit. I tried several different ways of scratch-building this item including using sheet styrene and drilling out holes by hand and using some nylon mesh screen material but neither of these produced the desired result. After scrounging around in my spares bin, I found some old photo-etched steel Pzkpfw III intake screens that had what I wanted.

The challenge was to cut them to the right shape...so I created a pattern by taking a pencil and doing a rubbing with a piece of white paper over the hole's opening on the super deck to get the outline. This was cut out and then photocopied onto another sheet and only the front half trimmed out. Using some sharp sturdy scissors, I cut the mesh into the desired shape and then fine tuned it with Tamiya sprue cutters where needed until I had three suitably sized screens. The screens were glued in place with liquid glue and gently pressed down with a wooden toothpick into the desired position.





The next little detail that I needed to add were the 16 'ribs' that were welded over the waterline belt armor plate join seams on each side of the hull but which Trumpeter neglected. These can be clearly seen on the plans and in reference photos as having some thickness out from the hull vs. being just flat strips, so I settled on using some 0.6mm diameter styrene rod to do the job. They had the right width but needed to be flattened, so I secured the rod with a length of masking tape and used a sanding stick to flatten one side, then turned the rod over and flattened the other side.



The Kagero 3D scale plans were invaluable in determining their height and placement around the hull and it was through this process that I realized that Trumpeter 'mirrored' some of the hull details in terms of number/placement of portholes and hatches so in those cases my 'fall back' landmarks of choice were the torpedo net booms.



Speaking of the booms, those came next. In some spots where the booms needed to pass over the ribs, some additional sanding/flattening was needed but otherwise everything mostly played nice with each other. The kit parts only give you the option of having the booms in the stowed position and of course there's no torpedo net provided for but I'm not worried about that for my purposes.



Next were the keels. Both of mine had some warping to different degrees and in different spots on their respective parts, so some careful work with liquid glue and positioning in terms of starting at the front and working my way along in small sections was necessary to get them both in place and lined up properly.



Rounding out this stage of activity, the propeller shafts, support struts, and rudders were installed.



Tomorrow will likely see the first round of painting depending!

[Leon]

WOW!!!!the wood decks look awesome and the hull details look great Bill.

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon! Glad to have you back from the far off land of IPMS Nats! Have to agree with you on the wood decks, definitely adds tremendously to the detail IMHO for a ship of this size and scale.

[deafpanzer]

Nice touch bringing details... it will look more complete when done!

[TRM]

What a great bit of progression Bill! Decks look fantastic as does all the hull work!! She is moving along nicely!!

[wbill76]

Thanks Andy! One of the downsides to having the Kagero 3D reference book and plans is that it does show all the little details very thoroughly...so I have to pick my battles in terms of what is worth spending time on and what's not given the scale of the model in question. The Trumpeter kit has a nice level of detail to start with and adding a couple things here and there just ups the value IMHO.

Todd, steaming right along on this one! Should get the primer coat on later today (fingers crossed!).

[wbill76]

First step in the hull painting process, an overall primer coat of Model Master enamel Flat Black by airbrush. This will serve 3 purposes, the 'usual' primer purpose to ensure no bare plastic is left laying around, serve as the 'boot stripe' color for easier masking on the hull, and offer the option of pre-shading for some slight variations when the hull red and gray are applied in the next rounds.



This will get the chance to set up overnight before the masking is done for the hull red to come next. She does look awfully menacing in just the black though, have to admit!

[TRM]

She is a sexy one Bill!! Love her in black as well!!Nice and clean!!

[Leon]

Have to agree with you on the menacing look Bill.

[wbill76]

Thanks T and Leon! It's interesting that at one point the British did actually paint the hulls of their battleships black as a carryover from the days of wood and sail...but I can only imagine what that would've been like on the inside with all-steel hulled vessels!

[moramarth]

Aug 11, 2014 22:13:50 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Thanks T and Leon! It's interesting that at one point the British did actually paint the hulls of their battleships black as a carryover from the days of wood and sail...but I can only imagine what that would've been like on the inside with all-steel hulled vessels!

The "Victorian" scheme was red underwater, white boot-topping, black up to the main deck (or sometimes higher, say to the top of the main turrets), white above that with buff funnels and masts.  Some minor non-combat vessels retained this even after the switch to grey.  For tropical service the scheme was all white with buff funnels and masts, later a lighter grey than that of ships in home waters.  Interestingly the old tropical scheme was re-adopted for a while in the peace between the world wars, and the original Airfix boxing of HMS Suffolk showed her so painted (although I'm not sure it was appropriate for the refitted version in the box).  I can't recall the date of the changeover, but the Japanese were wearing grey by the time of Tsushima in 1905 although some of the recently built ships had left British yards in the "Victorian" scheme (or something similar) and I suspect the RN changed about the same time. (The Russians at Tsushima still wore something similar to the earlier schemes, but I think they used a brighter yellow rather than buff, and some ships skipped the white in favour of all-black apart from the yellow bits.)  So "Dreadnought" only missed the "Victorian" scheme by a few years: I think I have the .pdf files for a card model of her, I'm thinking of trying a little Photoshopping...

Cheers,

M

[wbill76]

Thanks for the info M! Always neat to see how things like ship paint schemes evolved over time right along with the technology (and perceived threats) that were prevalent at any given moment.

[deafpanzer]

Wait a minute! You made a HUGE mistake! You used flat black instead of your usual Italian Dark Brown!!!

Looking great... keep it coming buddy!

[wbill76]

Aug 12, 2014 12:06:48 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Wait a minute! You made a HUGE mistake! You used flat black instead of your usual Italian Dark Brown!!!

Looking great... keep it coming buddy!

Sharp eyes there Andy...but that's because an Italian Dark Brown boot stripe on the hull would be a little odd... This way I save a paint step!

[wbill76]

Second step in the hull painting process is complete. Careful masking over the black coat from yesterday and some MM Insignia Red produces the hull red portion.



After the bandages are removed, the patient seems to be doing just fine.



This will get the chance to sit overnight and then the fun begins with the gray top portions.

[Leon]

Bill I'm really liking the black and red paint.That would make an awesome stealth ship.

[TRM]

I thought this was going to be a long term project? LOL!! Looking great Bill!! I should probably get painting the Roberts, ey?

[406 Silverado]

Some mighty fine building and painting Bill. Here is a mojo pic for you, in color too.

[deafpanzer]

Bill, the red looks fantastic!!! You are definitely on the roll!

Rob, where is that ship? I'd love to visit it one day...

[moramarth]

Aug 13, 2014 10:38:34 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Rob, where is that ship? I'd love to visit it one day...

I'm pretty sure it's USS Texas:
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/battleship-texas

Cheers,

M

[deafpanzer]

M, thanks for the link!!! It is perfect... Bill happens to live in Texas so now he has to visit this ship this weekend!!!

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon! Have to agree with you there...no superstructure, just a long sleek black hull slicing through the water.

T, long term? I never said long term...I only said it would be an 'involved' project! It's all relative of course in terms of getting the chance to work on it a little at a time each day. Things will start to slow down some when I have to start tackling all the details...there's still a LOT left to do with this girl. And yes, you should stop slacking on the Roberts!

Rob, thanks for stopping by and the nice color shot of USS Texas tied up at San Jacinto. Maybe one day I'll get the chance to pay it a visit...if Andy decides to come down maybe...it's still a loooong way away from El Paso though!

Andy, my hull is like a red, red rose...oops, don't want to add any marital motivation to you! As for visiting over the weekend, Houston is only about a 16 hour drive away from here depending on the speed limits...it's faster to fly!