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

[Old Collingwood]

Perhaps this was something they provided for, but never actually used.  I can't imagine letting one of these get anywhere near anyplace they even suspected had mines.  Likewise, some had submerged torpedo tubes.  Torpedo range, 5 miles.  Main armament range 15 + miles.  They'd be more likely to hit one of their own.

Looking forward to more progress pics.  This is a type of vessel and model I'm not likely to be involved with, so I'm participating vicariously.

Thank you for that - I will do my best just I am not thei fastest builder but do not intend to be as it is a vocation  for me and i learn as I go along.

 

OC

[RGL]

I discovered yesterday to put my lamp on my right hand side (I'm right handed) and it makes everything easier! Who knew? My 4th kit and I just figured that out.

[Old Collingwood]

A bit more work this afternoon that nealy started out with a disaster   as i spilled a full cup of hot coffee over my deck parts that had been finished, i thought they had been ruined but after rinsing the forward deck section under running water, and dried with a hair dryer it was ok.  I think the layers of top coat had protected the paint work and wooden deck.

Anyway i decided to continue and create a possitive out of possibly the end of my build, and i glued the forward deck section onto the hull, this was made a lot easier under my new lamp stand and held in place with a couple of clamps,  the only fault with the fit is a slight gap against the one side but i can work around this a few ways - filler or just letting the rails cover this when i get round to doing that.

 

Here is a pic folks -

 

OC.

[jbshan]

I've found several images showing a couple of chains (?) between the forward fairlead and jack staff leading down and a bit aft, both anchored and underway.  They may have intended to hook up the paravane, use it, then, upon recovery, restow the chain.

I still don't think they would have let her anywhere near enemy-mined waters, at least without an escort more suitable for that work.

[Old Collingwood]

I've found several images showing a couple of chains (?) between the forward fairlead and jack staff leading down and a bit aft, both anchored and underway.  They may have intended to hook up the paravane, use it, then, upon recovery, restow the chain.

I still don't think they would have let her anywhere near enemy-mined waters, at least without an escort more suitable for that work.

In reference to the paravane linkage/s - I have found this pic of a different but similar ship, showing the link chains running from the bow bottom up to the bow fairleads, I am not sure if they end there or continue along the deck towards the breakwater.

[Old Collingwood]

Thanks to greg i managed to get a bit more glue in the forward deck join, this brought it together better and closed the gap better, so next I decided to fix the mid ship deck section in place, then I dry fitted the wood deck laminate and trimed slightly around obstructions to aid its placement,  after a few adjustments I peeled off the backing and bit by bit layed the decking sheet down, this needed a bit of adjustment here and there, but over all not a bad fit,  I have dry fitted the stern deck section as well just to see how it fits.

 

Here are a few pics folks.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

After letting the decks settle I noticed that around the mid to bow, the port holes had become partially obscured and blocked by the deck,   i found the corresponding drill bit and carefully set about re drilling all the port holes, by gently drilling into the bottom section of the deck hidden inside the hull.

Next will be to start on the fittings on the deck - brass covers etc and the waterbreak, I will use the plastic one that came with the kit but I will file down the edges slightly to give it a sharper profile, including cutting out the walk through sections.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

A bit more progress today - i lightly weathered the wood deck section I have fitted so it matches the other sections, this was done with just a diluted black wash then wiped away with a rag, just leaving a bit of detail between the planks,  next i cut the waterbreak from the fret and tidied up between the ribs, then i genly thined the profile a bit, after a coat of light grey I glued it down onto the deck.

It will need cleaning up a bit where it meets the deck and the ends trimming, then I will have to deside whether or not to cut for the walk way or just show them as closed, as they were made with two slot in sections.

 

Here are some pics also showing my work station and new light/magnifier.

 

OC

[RGL]

Nice, how many times has your head hit it?

[Old Collingwood]

Nice, how many times has your head hit it?

Not Yet

 

OC

[Old Collingwood]

Two more updates today folks,  I cut the spurnwater parts from the brass fret then dry fitted to check alignment, i applied a small amount of PVA then placed them on both sides, I also fitted some of the brass covers on the deck - same procedure using PVA.

 

Just the two pics folks.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Glad to have found your build thread of the Warspite. it looks great!

[Old Collingwood]

Glad to have found your build thread of the Warspite. it looks great!

Thank you for the compliment - I am trying to make her look as realistic as possible as she was in 1944.  your build is looking great aswel.

 

OC.

[CDW]

This is the Academy kit?

[Old Collingwood]

This is the Academy kit?

Yep its the Academy kit with part of the Pontos detail set  also the Lifecolour paint set.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Next move tomorrow is start on the 6 Inch Casemates that she carried on here lower broadside  deck, she had the barrels removed prior to D Day but kept the housings that were just turned inward, I will do the same with mine.

Here is a part pic from my drawing I did showing the four casemates on the lower deck and how they blend in.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

I started on the casemates yesterday each one comes in three sections top middle and bottom(souds like strike it lucky)   first off i sepaerated them in to groups of four and glued the bottom sections on to the deck first, I did this both sides till all eight were in place, next I seperated the middle section that contained the barrel shroud, I had to file off the joing pip from the fret then glued onto this this the top section, the whole two pice section was then carefully glued into possition ontop of the bottom section(hope you are foilowing this ok)

After completing four sets I noticed I had managed to mar a few areas of the hull from Constant handling - as for some reason the lower hull just seemes to have a very slight tacky feel to it and picks up all sorts of stuff, dust marks etc(it should be hard and set solid as the Vallejo top coat was applied months and months ago, this was applied by brush over the top of a thoroughly dry enamel rattle can finnish that gave me my hull red finnish.

Also I noticed that I had somehow got some poly cement on the lower hull and this had caused a slight run and melted into the finnish slightly, so Im pondering ideas to treat this area - light sanding then a small masked off spray from that enamel rattle can? or a bit sprayed into the cap and applied with a small brush.

But its protecting the painted hull during all the months and months of work ahead, its so soul destroying seeing the once nice paint work getting shabby and tacky :o

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Decided folks after some careful looking over my hull, and some research - some rather drastic re-work needs to be done, in the shape of filing away a few profiles that are supposed to be pump hull tubes(these where cut back higher as the boot line was highered due to her extra weight), this also includes a few going lower than the boot line, so after filing/sanding i might aswell give her bottom side hull, boot topping a fresh spray,  i will then do any touching up - finish off the hull fittings and add her depth markings to the semi shiny surface.

I will then do any touching up to the two coats of grey on her camo, and get hold of a good flat rattle can top coat, as I couldn't get  smooth even coats of acrylic top coat with a brush.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

I made a start earlier yesterday on the pump outlet pipes along the mid boot line, I started with a medium corse standing stick and gradually worked my way along the hull, i cleaned up as I went with water as this gave me a smoother finish, I  finnished off using a much finer(well used) sanding stick and cleaned up with an abrasive sponge pad.

One side has been finished like this and tomorrow I will attack the other side with the same method,  after I will finnish off fitting the casemates and any other small bits along the hull, I will then tape up the top edge of the Boot line and also mask of the lower torpedo bulge round to the bow/stern, and cover the props/spinners/rudders and re-spray the red anti-fouling.

I will put her aside to fully set and harden before I mask up to spray the Boot Line.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

A bit more of an update but minus any pics,  as I am trying to hold on to the small amount of Internet allowance we have left, till our next next fill up and pics take allowance up.  anyway - I carried on sanding the pipes off and am very happy with the finish, I also  decided that now was the time to correct any other issues on the hull - while I had the chance,  so I sanded around the bow as there had been a few bubbles,  that where from the paper armour plate that had not settled,  but by doing this I kind of made the situation worse and ended up with a shallow gouge down through the paint layers and paper, and to the plastic hull,  this was going to need some work to rectify as it looked terrible.

I sanded the area quite hard to blend the area as best as I could, then I did a lot of thin washes with my brush over the dent and over the whole frontal bow area, inbetween I force dried the paint using a hair dryer and continued till the dent was filled, the result from doing this for several hours was sucsess.

 

I moved away from this and started scrappng the top line against the recess ontop of the Torpedo Bulge, to get a more accurate line for masking when I spray the boot line after re doing the lower hull sides Red Antifouling.

 

At the moment the hull looks like a car when its having body work done on it - Rough  LOL.

 

OC.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Old Collingwood

[Old Collingwood]

Folks - here is a pic to show what I had intended to do(its a pic showing the side and the alterations marked on it)  I have done both sides like this but also other alterations as mentioned above, I will take some more pics tomorrow to show the pre - painting stage.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

Some update pics folks showing the prep work and masking completed on one side, just need to mask up the other side and the top will need completely covering before I spray the Anti-Fouling.

 

Hope all the bodywork hasn't shocked to many folks

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

I spent the last two days in the sunshine doing my other hobby - photographing planes, so this gave me a good break from the build kind of rested my eyes, I will be back on her today masking the hull top sides and deck to make sure no paint sprays onto that section, I will spray the bottom and part sides - upto the Boot line with the red I used before, then put her aside to dry thoroughly.

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

I didn't know if I should post this or not - but I have not been having a very good time with the build, I seem to be going backwards and not improving anything on it,  when I was rectifying the hull sides I managed to knock several deck fittings off including several bollards, the small block on the rear deck kept getting the brass derrick supports bent and broken, so I managed to remove the whole block and put it aside,  next was the spinners - I managed to break one of them in two but I found the piece and glued it back on, only to be knocked off every time I handled the hull, one of the props it came un glued from the hull and needed securing.

Today I masked up the whole top side and deck with layers of tape like a tent ridged in the center - at least no spray should kreep in, well i put a couple of surgical gloves on went outdoors and sprayed the whole bottom and sides up to the mask, with the same rattle can as I used before, it went on in a couple of layers but - Its Orange Peeled folks , no doubt the enamel base over the top of the Water Acrylic hand painted top coat, even though that had been painted on months and months ago.

 

Not a happy bunny at the moment with it :(

 

OC

[CDW]

Wow, I feel your pain. Have been there and done that before.

Maybe take a break from it for a while and do something different to break the cycle. Then when you come back to it, do it with a fresh start type of attitude. Given some time to think about it a while, you'll probably think of some creative ways to fix things up and all will be good again.

[RGL]

Things will always go flying off, it's a natural hazard. Use some 1000 grit sandpaper and sand the whole hull back and redo. Enamels and acrylics don't play well together.

 

The thing about this scale is corrections often don't work, ill of term plan to do something then realise when it comes to the point in the build I have to execute that plan it is impossible as its too small to achieve without ruining all that came before. As such one does what one can and moves on.

 

On my Emden I attempted to use some Vajello paints and they just would not work. Don't give up, attack from a different angle.

[Old Collingwood]

Wow, I feel your pain. Have been there and done that before.

Maybe take a break from it for a while and do something different to break the cycle. Then when you come back to it, do it with a fresh start type of attitude. Given some time to think about it a while, you'll probably think of some creative ways to fix things up and all will be good again.

Than You for your kind words, I'm kind of going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment, the boats playing up a bit, my camera had died on me, my other hobby is Aviation or Aircraft Spotting and that aint going well as my cam was firstly no good for that and secondly its died, and lastly my health aint to great at the moment, all while being rather strapped for cash so cant even get away for a break.

 

OC

[Old Collingwood]

Things will always go flying off, it's a natural hazard. Use some 1000 grit sandpaper and sand the whole hull back and redo. Enamels and acrylics don't play well together.

 

The thing about this scale is corrections often don't work, ill of term plan to do something then realise when it comes to the point in the build I have to execute that plan it is impossible as its too small to achieve without ruining all that came before. As such one does what one can and moves on.

 

On my Emden I attempted to use some Vajello paints and they just would not work. Don't give up, attack from a different angle.

Thank you for the comments greg, I thought I would have some fun and games with the hull, but as I was feeling a bit dissheartened, I rushed on with spraying the bottom,  its that constant learning curve where you see inperfections later that should have been done beforehand, with my situation it is from now having better light and a more powerfull magnifier, and my errors show through clearly, and more so on the pics I took before my cam broke.

Like I said above - I'm going through a bit of a rough path at the moment, but just need to weather it out, and hope for better things soon.

 

OC

[popeye the sailor]

sorry to hear your not feeling well     paint can certainly be a bother sometimes.....but you learned something,  so something a little good came from it.   keep at it my friend......you've done some great work so far.

[Old Collingwood]

sorry to hear your not feeling well     paint can certainly be a bother sometimes.....but you learned something,  so something a little good came from it.   keep at it my friend......you've done some great work so far.

Thank You my friend.

 

OC.