lmagna

I think it may have looked a little like this; This may also help a little: http://www.srcalifornia.com/flags/revuniforms1b.htm I find it notable that the Marine officer's uniform included a shoulder epaulet but the original navy officer uniform didn't. Lou

Piet I think that this little house may have been the radio room or "Radio Shack." I agree though that it seems like the model has no door! Do your plans show one? Great work on rigging the antennas. Lou

The Providence when sailing as the Katy for Rhode Island flew the state flag I believe. When she was sold to the Continental Congress in December 1775 she adopted the Continental Grand Union flag with the Union jack and 13 stripes that had been adopted in October. At the time of the Nassau raid in March of 1776, there is no question that she was flying the Grand union flag as part of Hopkins fleet, but there is still a chance that she may have carried the "Don't Tread On Me" flag as well as that flag was the Marine flag of the time. Lou

Looking very nice Jack A well executed and unique model. Lou

Sad to see your unique and credible work come to such a point this far into the build! Hope you are able to salvage something. Lou

David Possibly it is just a platform that allows a little better footing for the people handling the jib sails rather than standing in a confined area of the bow or out on the boom. Hopefully someone has a better answer for you. (Meaning for me also) Lou

Hi again David I have to kind of agree with Dave. Why is the grating even there? The belaying pin railing, I am going to assume that is what the holes running port to starboard are, would in most cases be placed along the cap rail anyway or would just be an open rail with holes for the pins. But then I am not even close to being considered knowledgeable on ship design of the early 19th century. Nice build either way you end up going. Lou

Hello David Dumb question I guess, but would it be better to shorten the grating at the bow to allow the Bowsprit to remain whole rather than run the grating all the way to the ends of the cap rail? Lou

I have an OLD Sultana kit, one of the yellow box kits and it was missing the hull forming, (Bulkhead?) sheets. As far as I know the kits in those days didn't even have them. I contacted Marc Mosko at Model Expo and he sent me a set at no cost even when I offered to pay for them and the shipping! I was impressed as I have had the kit for years and it was a gift at the time. Lou

The clothespin system works well for holding regular stuff like for painting. but for tiny stuff like Antonio was showing they can be a little clumsy unless you cut the tip WAY down to a point. I would use them if that was all I had, if for no other reason other than they will not leave a mark on the wood, but i still think tweezers are better as they are a little more delicate in their application and easier to use on tiny parts. Lou

Welcome to the forum spider999. It looks like you should have stopped at just a Son! I'm on my third generation of kids myself, (Three born and two adopted) so I know of what you speak. But in truth I think I lost most of my craft time the day I married! Shows you the true power of women over men, it does not really matter if you marry them or they are born into your life they still take over! I wish you all the luck with your build. Lou PS: Just close the gun ports on the lower decks and pretend you did it on purpose!

I would add a like but that sounds like it REALLY hurt compounded by getting your glasses smeared all over your face. Were they safety glasses? In addition I suppose your shipbuilding might be a bit delayed until you get new glasses and can wear them. (Usually whenever glasses are involved the bridge of the nose is as well.) Get well soon Lou

Hello Antonio I don't know about other people but I have an old pair of crossover tweezers that I like to use for stuff like that. I have had them so long that I don't even know where I got them but they are something like this: Hope that may be of use to you as well. Lou

If you have it done on your hands what are you going to do about your throat? (Pharynx) Then you will not only not be able to play but your singing would be pretty useless also! Maybe you could dance though. As for staring at your deck...... What makes you think I'm human? After all you have never met me.Correct me if I'm wrong but that style of decking is called herringbone I think. Lou

Hey Denis you might have Planker Fasciitis! Lou

Some people will go to extremes to get a little extra shipyard time! (Hope you feel better soon! Must have been a heck of a hit to get you sent to the hospital/home.) I got all bruised and a bit cut up once and all I got was cleaned up by the doctor while another doctor was working on my prisoner! I still had to take him to the jail and do all the paperwork before the night was out! I eventually ended up with a black eye! Lou

Carl pretty much covered it in his link. Early on during the navel arms race that followed the building of the Dreadnought, or the "All big gun ship" just after the turn of the century, Admiral Fisher of the British navy envisioned a vessel that carried the big guns of a battleship with the speed of a Cruiser, the idea being that a ship like that could out gun anything that it couldn't out run. His original intention appeared to be something like a later day USS Constitution in concept, never intended to fight in a line of battle along side of the more heavily armored big guys, or at least not at the front of the battle line like at Jutland. Admiral Jellicoe placed his faster but more fragile Battlecruisers at the front of the battle line and his almost as fast and more heavily gunned and armored new battleships at the rear of the formation. This exposed the more lightly armored Battlecruisers to take heavier damage than they should have while the more heavily armed battleships at the rear of the formation remained unengaged for much of the battle. Of course the concept of Battlecruisers was not only copied by the other side but in the case of the Germans even improved on in some respects. For example the SMS Seydlitz took over 20 heavy caliber hits from British ships including one direct hit on a turret from a 13.5" British shell and was also hit by a torpedo. The ship had taken similar damage in a prior battle with the British fleet and survived. Most people say that the reason for the better survivability of the German ships was a better damage control design and much smaller compartmentalization of their ships allowed by the fact that their crews did not live on board when near shore facilities. The only time that Battle cruisers were used in their intended role was in the battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. The last Battle Cruisers to see actual ship-to-ship combat were the German Pocket Battleships of WWII, and the last Battlecruisers built were the Alaska, Guam, and Hawaii for the US navy in WWII. The whole thing pretty much eventually evolved into the fast battleship of which the Bismark was one. The last fast Battleships were the HMS Vanguard and the Missouri class of WWII. I need to quit high jacking your build with history stuff. Now get back to work!!!! Lou

Well deserved I'm sure. This build is quite an achievement by anyone's standards. Holland made a number of mistakes besides firing on the wrong ship. In addition the British gunnery was not good to say the least for a number of reasons and this was compounded by the confusion in targets and equipment/gun failures on the Prince Of Wales. Most people feel he should have closed the distance to much closer range to avoid plunging fire on his much weaker decks. He also limited his number of effective guns to half by choosing the angle of approach that he did. Then of course there was the big one, the British continued to use Battle Cruisers as Battleships even after finding that this may not be a real good idea in WWI at the battle of Jutland. Lutjens and Lindemann made none of these mistakes. Both ships had their full broadsides available And not only probably had better range finding equipment but had the advantage of being able to see the British better due to their relative positions. I believe both German ships concentrated solely on the Hood until she blew up and only then shifted fire to the Prince Of Wales. Lou

You call that a major mistake? The stripes only extended up into the superstructure for a couple of months in early 1941. Then they were painted out from the deck shear up and shortly after were eliminated all together! SO many changes in so short a time frame who could say what she looked like almost day by day? In fact I think i saw a movie taken of the wreck stern and the Swastika is clear to see on the deck even though it was supposedly removed or painted over prior to heading out to sea. I think the idea was to make her look more like the Prince Eugen. That and the sailing positions of the two ships worked to confuse Admiral Holland just long enough that almost all of the shots fired by the Hood were fired at the Prince Eugen, not the Bismark. Mistakes or otherwise this is a fantastic build. Lou

I love how she is turning out for you Jack and that you are still making progress. If your son doesn't like her I'll take her off your hands! Lou

I finally copied the pictures into a picture viewing program and had to blow them up to the point of almost being pixelated before I could see what you were talking about! I am almost certain that if I had not been looking for it, or if it had been painted already, I would have still missed it! I hope on my upcoming project that I will be able to keep my mistakes that invisible! Lou

OK I give up!!!!!!!! How can you tell that the railings are upside down? They look the same to me even when I turn my computer upside down or stand on my head! Tired Lou

Hi Piet I'm enjoying following the build and rehearing the history by someone who was there. I have read a number of books about ABDA and that time frame but your personal involvement brings life to the story. Thanks Lou

That is the thing I love about snow, not only is it beautiful when it first falls, but how it seems to absorb all the sound. Makes the world seem so peaceful! Lou

Hi Denis Not trying to highjack your build log with other stuff. I have seen these used a couple of times over the years and at 1/350 they are VERY SMALL, about 5mm! If they are painted with heavy coats of paint they fill out pretty well. Eduard makes a couple of WWII German sets that are already painted. They can also be bent into different positions to make them even more interesting. Lou