RGL

Mike, I constantly have to clean up around myself and put a little tea towel near my lap. I seem to look up and see myself surrounded by "things" as my workspace gets smaller and smaller. This was a very simple kit after the Varyag and the very bashed Emden. Everything went together very simply. I am in the process of research for the Yamato at the moment and it is daunting as it is a very non linear kit.

Now, a few months off perhaps, school holidays and a garden to tend.

Next will be the HMS Victory of Battleships. I've done a bit of internet shopping for a few upgrades as well.

I bough a cheap first version off ebay for a bit of practice months ago, and you can see the hull sizes differ somewhat to the Dreadnought.

Thanks for all the likes and follows.

Greg

Well, final net added and the flags, came up OK,.

Amazing what a difference is in size, the Varyag from 1899, the Emden from 1906;

Finally parked in the shed

The metal work is amazing, Way beyond my ability.

Here in Australia we also have lawyers who specialise in "Family law", (divorce), who will clean you out and have you paying for multiple cats that you will never see until you die.

Coming together nicely, I love the colours

Haha, the only power tool I can use is my Dremel and my lawn mower!

It's gets very busy up there when the rigging begins, making up a little jig with two pins, then three layers of battens will help you get them uniform is shape and size, and helps with alignment and getting those little bends at the end. I always make an extra for the inevitable breakage or loss.

In my signature block

In an exercise of supreme pointlessness, I have completed the starboard side torpedo nets.

Attaching the nets is somewhat of a nightmare, as the nets do not align to the boom, so I slung them under the booms, which is technically correct anyway. I used some helping hands to align then together and tied them up.

Then the rigging, all those brails finally have some balance and use.

Finally parked up for a while beside her sisters until I get a few more days off to finish the Port side. Then just add some flags and pull the plastic off the base and consign her to the digital graveyard.

Just make sure your topmasts and top gallant masts will fit into those battens now otherwise it will be a nightmare later

Now for the next nerve racking adventure, the torpedo net booms. They have 1mm hooks which need to be glued into the hull points, then rigged up. I have only done the starboard side so far and it appears to have gone to plan, but I will have to add the gangways before I can add the net itself which I am still experimenting with for colour. There are brails which also need to be run but I done think I will as they will not be that visible, or maybe I will. It will get very fragile from here on in.

The colours on the deck are amazing, that is no easy task.

Togo is about 1.5mm. I have a Scatters that will fit in a barrel but it would just look like a blob.

Thus the original photos of the ships cat! How could I not!

Next, the awning stanchions. This is pretty much the last of the onboard rigging and makes it all very busy.

The running lines for the torpedo nets are now done, I have added the rear night lifebouys.

There always needs to be a ships cat

Really nice work, lovely clean lines.

I reckon there will be a lot of other builds around. Generally where I get my inspiration from, Russia & Poland seem to have a huge community, use google translate for the words, cut and paste in a search engine and go to images. Probably telling you how to suck eggs tho!

If you are so inclined, you can use a very fine pencil (like a clutch pencil) to put treenails in. I did it on mine and it came up quite well.

I reckon if you've spent the $ on the upgrades you should. Not a biggie, and run an LED through the baseboard up through the supports (use some hollow brass rod) into the hull. There is a lot of imagination you could use there, even if you make the flight deck removable.

Go to the Northstar models website (Dr Google it), they are in the Ukraine and have some very useful stuff. Their eyelets and turnbuckles are very nice, I suggest you get 2, 1 to blacken and 1 to paint.

Well, I'm in

Ah, symmetry