HMS Warspite by Old Collingwood - FINISHED - Academy - 1/350 scale - PLASTIC

[Old Collingwood]

11 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

nice start on the masts  

Thnaks denis,  so much better  than the kit plastic ones.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Hello all,

 

Thanks again for all the interest, likes and comments.

 

I made a start today on wiring up the mast and yards,   for this I used my stash of very thin copper wire,  I started with the top level and attached them to the two yards, then I came a quarter of the way down the mast and added the two support wires.

After the wires were secured with ca glue,  I gave the cables a coat of black  and the mast/yards light grey,  next was to drill the placement hole on the deck of the rear block and secure the lower mast.

 

I then attached the two support cables to the edge of the rear block and secured with ca,  and to finish off I glued in place the radar ontop of the mast.

 

Here are a few pics.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Old Collingwood

[popeye the sailor]

the deck is beginning to look busy.............nice job!   

[Beef Wellington]

Catching up on a lot of progress, some really beautiful results, well done OC!

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

the deck is beginning to look busy.............nice job!   

Thanks mate,   bit of a backward step though - due to me trying to rush more work to the mast area, I knocked it a couple of times on my magnifier as it was quite low to my build, and the wires have streached and are now sagging,  cant realy correct it as doing so will spoil things.

So they will have to remain as un-tensioned cables.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

33 minutes ago, Beef Wellington said:

Catching up on a lot of progress, some really beautiful results, well done OC!

Thank you jason.

 

OC.

 

 

[BANYAN]

Nice work OC; the mast turned out well.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Old Collingwood]

20 minutes ago, BANYAN said:

Nice work OC; the mast turned out well.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Thanks pat,  apart from the sagging cables - I am tempted to try to get them taught again tomorrow.

 

OC.

[cog]

You might want to get EZ line, which is an elastic thread used on models, if you put it on streched, you won't get those sagging lines

[popeye the sailor]

try pulling out on them slightly where they attach.......I use the same diameter wire.   I get mine from electric cords

[Old Collingwood]

12 hours ago, cog said:

You might want to get EZ line, which is an elastic thread used on models, if you put it on streched, you won't get those sagging lines

Yep guess so, I was trying to make do with what I have for now, as I have a small lit of things I will ned to finish her.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

More work today - first I  attacked those saggng lines, I just adjusted them slightly and applied more ca - did the job I think,  then I had a change of plan with the paint scheme on the mast,  I decided to paint the mid upper part black and keep the lower and extreme top light grey,  next I attached the ladder to the mast   and considered it a done job.

 

Next was to carry on with the main deck under the hanger/boat deck, this is the general area where the 4in gun mounts live,  first I built four pe boxes and attached them to the armour shields, then I painted and placed two ammo casses in the mid area(Still needs a final coat on the boxes,                then I turned my attaention to the 4in mounts.

These mounts include the Master barrels - first I had to cut away the kit barrels just leaving the breeches,  then I had to drill nto them with a 0.5mm drill bit - then I just glued the barrels using ca checking the alignment,  then while these were setting I had to work on the base for the mounts just a quick tidy up,  then when the the glue had set I was able to attach the two shoulder mounts and glue it down to the base,   then just a simple job of gluing on the cover.

 

Another batch of pics today showing the process so far.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Hi everyone,   more work today on the 4in mounts - I painted the two that were constructed consisting of light grey inside and fittings, black breech and barrels, and mid grey outer,   then when dry I fitted them down onto the deck,  next was to construct the other two.

 

Here are a few pics showing them and the two unpainted ones just dry fitted.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

So,    decisions - decisions  tomorrow   - do I glue down the completed hanger/boat block  or leave it off till I have built the main tower block?

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Good evening all,  quite a good day today on the ole girl,  first I did a bit of tidy up with the placement of the hanger block, there was some placement lugs on the deck getting in the way of letting it sit properly on the deck,  but I have decided to leave it off till one of the last jobs.

 

I decided instead to create turrets  x and y  these are made up  of the kit main parts, and the master barrels.

 

First thing to do was to drill out a few of the sights that are missing on the kit turrets, this was done with a 0.5mm drill bit (after going crossed eyed doing it)  then I fitted the rangefinder units to the turret,  next item for my attention was the blast bags,  these are well known in the kit to have the wrong alignement for the barrels (being below 0deg elevation when fitted oob)  so I decided to cut away the the parts of the bags that lock into the turrets,  this allowed me to sand a better angle on them allowing me to set the barrels at a higher elevation.

Next I glued in the master barrels and set the correct alignemnt -  the barrel/blast bags were then glued onto the turrets.

 

On both turrets there are (two each) oerlikon round and part round shield tubs, these are two different hights due to the elevation of the x turret,   these were glued inplace and adjusted for the correct alignment.

 

So as we stand at the moment the turrets are just awaiting pe platforms under the rangefinder units on turret x,  a couple of ladders and escape hatch covers,   then painting (jobs for tomorrow).

 

OC.

[CDW]

She's talking now. Those big guns mean business. Looks real good OC.

[Old Collingwood]

11 minutes ago, CDW said:

She's talking now. Those big guns mean business. Looks real good OC.

Thank you for that.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Oh!   I just noticed  - I need to squeeze  those barrels in slightly,  they are slightly out of true.

 

OC.

[RGL]

You’re flying along, looking good. It’s funny how the camera picks up things they mk1 eyeball misses. 

[Old Collingwood]

6 minutes ago, RGL said:

You’re flying along, looking good. It’s funny how the camera picks up things they mk1 eyeball misses. 

Thanks greg,   your so right there,  what bugs me is the dust,   no matter how many times I blow it off - its always there in my pics, sometimes its dust thats settled in the paint during application though.

 

OC.

[CDW]

I'm so old, my breath is dusty. Blowing off the dust doesn't work for me. 🤐

[Old Collingwood]

1 minute ago, CDW said:

I'm so old, my breath is dusty. Blowing off the dust doesn't work for me. 🤐

I use my hairdryer for it  (it needs a purpose since I have no hair myself)

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

WOW OC!   she looking the business now!    the turrets look really good.........were the blast bags molded to the housings?   I was reading how you installed the barrels on those smaller guns,  and it made me think.   why can't you drill holes in the mounts along the hull {the ones with the broken barrels}........and make the barrels from brass rod?   could be doable      she's look'in awesome.......keep up the good work!   

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

WOW OC!   she looking the business now!    the turrets look really good.........were the blast bags molded to the housings?   I was reading how you installed the barrels on those smaller guns,  and it made me think.   why can't you drill holes in the mounts along the hull {the ones with the broken barrels}........and make the barrels from brass rod?   could be doable      she's look'in awesome.......keep up the good work!   

Thank you for the kind words denis - really appreciate it,   are you on about the  four casements on each side below the main deck level?    these were removed late 43  and just left their casements, the openings for the barrels was plated over and the casements were turned round leaving a smooth round appearence,  they used to house 6in units but was decided they were not needed hence their removal.

 

OC.

[Piet]

Finally had some time to check in on your build OC. Magnificent work my friend. I's a joy watching your ship grow up to a real fighting lady!

 

Cheers,

[Old Collingwood]

16 minutes ago, Piet said:

Finally had some time to check in on your build OC. Magnificent work my friend. I's a joy watching your ship grow up to a real fighting lady!

 

Cheers,

Thank you so kindly piet.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

5 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I need to squeeze  those barrels in slightly,  they are slightly out of true.

 

Shows what I know. I just thought it was the camera angle or macro effect. Great work.

[Old Collingwood]

14 hours ago, lmagna said:

Shows what I know. I just thought it was the camera angle or macro effect. Great work.

Thanks lou,  its a combination of factors to be honest, but I have checked them and they are square strangly enough.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Evening all,  so carrying on from building my 15in mk1s,  next step was to add the different bits of pe - including  steps, escape hatch and access platforms under the rangefinders,   after these had fixed it was time to paint the x turret,  this was going to be AP507B mid grey - after several thin coats I decided to do a little bit of highlighting by dry brushing some white,  it came out quite good I think.

 

Just a few pics.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Good day all,   another good day on the ole girl,   I managed to paint up both x and y turrets including doing a bit of shading and dry brushing, by using a fine pencil and dry white painting.

 

So both turrets are now glued in position and I can move on to the main structure.

 

Here a few pics showing where I am at this stage.

 

OC.