HMS Hood 1941 by OnTheSlipway - 1:350

[OnTheSlipway]

@joe100 invited me back to this forum. Registered a few years ago and then forgot about it... Anyway, I've been working on and off (mainly off) on a 1:350 scratchbuild model of HMS Hood in 1/350 scale that I actually intend to finish now. Most of it is logged at https://ontheslipway.com/ ; I'll just continue with the last blog-post in progress!

 

Hood modelers were recently confronted with two changes in HMS Hood's appearance. The first one related to the underwater hull; it was most likely never red, but either slate or black. Research is ongoing and I expect the painting guide of HMS Hood on the official website to be updated soon. Second, we had a discussion on the application of Corticine on board HMS Hood (Corticine is often spelled Corticene in admiralty records). Corticine is a linoleum-like substance, a ground cork and caoutchouc or India rubber mixture, that was added to the decks as an anti-slip measure. On the exterior it was usually applied for bridge deck areas where the crew was expected to stand for prolonged durations. Dave Weldon, who studied HMS Hood a fair bit longer than I did, has Corticine on the shelterdeck of his Hood model the large open area around the bridge and funnels. I had noticed that this area had a rectangular gridded pattern on the deck, but never made the connection this could be corticine. After all, these lines follow the plate pattern of the deck and no appreciable contrast change with the rest of the ship is observed.  But the gridded pattern is a strip pattern, and upon closer inspection of photographs and based the logs corticine, as well as an a lengthy discussion with the Hood Assocation, we came to the conclusion that corticine was indeed present. The pattern is estimated to have a 6ft x 12ft spacing, laid symmetrically with regard tot he ship centreline and starting on the expansion joint that runs through the emplacement of the forward pompoms.

The ship logs also indicate that Semtex was added in 1937. Semtex is also an anti-slip material, troweled on and confined at the edges by small headings of steel welding on deck. It was a rough material said to wear down shoes quickly.  It can appear in several colours, reported to be light grey, tan, blue, green, or red brown, with only tan and light gray as an early WWII option, depending on the manufacturer (They remain unspecified in the logs of HMS Hood). The location of the Semtex is indicated near the emplacements of the 4inch high-angle guns. When we look a bit closer on all the images of the deck it is clear that the grid pattern is only partially present, indicative of both Semtex and Corticine regions; many of these pictures were taken in either 1940 or 1941. So, with some certainly we can now say that the entire shelter deck is either wood, Corticine, or Semtex; there is no spot of dark deck grey to be seen (not counting on top of the various deck structures).

 

 

 

With this new information I went to work, adding the lines in stretched sprue; this material is cheap to make, and can be easily glued with the sprue pulled taut on the deck. The difficult is aligning all these lines with so many obstructions already on the deck, so I had to mark all positions carefully and use tape to fixed the lines fore adding glue. Calipers were often used to get the distances correct. Some lines were not entirely satisfactory and were replaced. The far foredeck was especially tricky but worked out very well. The the pompom area was given a corticine treatment as well, but that was later shown to be incorrect.

 

I recently picked up a bottle of Plastic Magic via a tip on the Britmodeler forum; it's a very thin liquid cement that you can apply by a fine brush, similar to Tamiya's Extra thin cement. I always used Uhu's (with the needle dispenser) or sometimes glued using thinners. This new glue is much easier to use, and I wonder why I didn't pick up these thin glues earlier. This is a small experiment with a 0.13x0.20mm strip that could be glued very easily. Note that there are three ammo lockers forward of the UP launch emplacements; these are on many drawings but not on any photograph and were removed, causing a lot of damage to the deck,

 

The bridge deck was also covered with styrene, so here's a shot of the strips in process; this part isn't done yet. While I was at it, I carved out a small step in the splinter shielding where the saluting guns used to be present.

 

While adding the strips I noticed that all the parts on the model aligned with the 12x6ft corticine strip pattern except the forward UP splinter shielding. Plus a new pic showed I didn't have the outline exactly right. I made a small model in Rhino first. I made a small plug on the lathe to help positioning the shield during gluing. Small stiffeners were added, as well as a small aerial trunk built from discs and Magic Sculp.

 

The rest of the splinter shields were only partially finished, many missing the stiffeners in the back. The two pics on the lower row show these strips are a strip and a small triangular plate. Also noticed a small storage container on the after most shield , presumably to store items required for the 4in guns. The bottom-right image shows the windows to the Admiral's day cabin (with the dining cabin forward, also with two windows per side) that are shown a bit below.

 

The strips were added by first adding smalls trip of masking tape with the right spacing. Small strips of 0.13mm were added next. When the glue had set these were beheaded using my clipper. A series of support triangles was added next. The photographs show that each triangle is not the same height as the splintershield, so I rounded that the height to the first half foot. The bottom left shows the copper at work, with a series of strips of the correct width. A small styrene template is first used to cut the strip at an angle and then chop it to size.

 

Results of the shelterdeck as it is now; the arrows indicate the location of the lockers, both confirmed in photographs.

 

The smaller shield as a smaller opening where a small hand wheel was present to lower some shutter. Although I have no good pics of the aft 4in gun emplacement, I added the locker as random detail.

 

I added another random locker  to the forward 4in gun emplacement, and also replaced the splinter shielding around the pompom in the new style.

 

While I was at it I decided to do another experiment with my new glue and built a set of windows for the admiral's day & dining cabins. The openings are only 2x2 mm, so I needed very thin strips. I used a stop that was touching the blade, giving an about 0.15mm thin strip. This means I'm cutting of slices half the strip thickness. I added a bit of colour to not worry too much which side is "down". I made a small assembly line using tape; not entirely useless as the small and medium strips were about the same size and initially parts ended up mixed making for bad windows. Building these small parts in series also ensures that the glue can set between each step. A total of 8 windows of 22 parts were built

 

 

 

 

And the result; I had to do some carving to the back plate which was quite unnerving, but nothing went wrong! The rest of the part is in line for cleaning up.

 

 

There's a small awning rail on the side of the quarterdeck bulkhead that was made from some leftover GMM ultra-fine 1:700 railing set. I prefer fixing the rail by drilling in the model, so I added a small line and taped the rail in place. With a 0.2 drill the right location was first 'marked', later drilled in using the pin vice. Then follows the horrible part; inserting the rail in bulkhead. I use a bit of tape to keep the part in place. I forgot to photograph the gluing process, using a small 0.25mm strip wedged between the rail and the bulkhead as a spacer, gluing one or two locations at a time. Some minor aligning and re-gluing is typically required afterwards (plus after handling damage).

[Morgan]

It’s nice to see your work on MSW, it must be a year since I last checked out your website, I need to drop in again and see what other updates I’ve missed.

 

Gary

[OnTheSlipway]

The last year I've been working on something else (DIY audio project); Hood was shelved so little happened except the above..

[Joe100]

It’s good to have you here friend! Of course your Hood is absolutely stunning, and the research is top-notch. By the time the other details of the paint scheme are worked out, I think we’ll have the most accurate model of Hood in existence. 

 

For everyone else: EJF and I have known each other for going on 20 years now and all I can say is that MSW will have gained yet another top researcher and modeler. 
 

best regards,

 

Joe

[KeithAug]

Amazing detail - very impressive.

[Ryland Craze]

Wonderful work.  I really like your detailed build log with all of the research.  I cannot wait to see more.

[mtaylor]

Excellent research and modeling.   It's great to see you here at MSW.

[OnTheSlipway]

 

The davits were made from 0.5mm brass rod with both ends tapered to 0.3mm. The pairs of holes were drilled in as explained in this post. Two davits were pairwise bent into the right position and then angled inward by about 12 degrees. Small 0.3mm rings from a 0.7mm tube with 0.2mm holes were soldered to the davits (bottom left); next two small etched parts and the rest of the tubes were added. After a few hours the davits were complete.

 

 

The gripping spar was next; I sanded the ends a bit to indicate the square region. I didn't file the ends square but flattened the ends in the vice. Two small 0.2mm holes were drilled in where the spar will be supported. I also made two "construction sites"  from MDF with four small 0.4mm tubes that will be added to the model as well. The davits and spars fit really well in this temporary position. The spar isn't soldered into place yet, two cushions need to be added that I'll make from magic sculpt pressed gently into a whaler model for a good fit, but these small models need to be made first.

Edited January 30, 2022 by OnTheSlipway

[Canute]

Solid research, outstanding modeling skills. Welcome aboard.

[KeithAug]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:23 PM, OnTheSlipway said:

The davits were made from 0.5mm brass rod with both ends tapered to 0.3mm. The pairs of holes were drilled in as explained in this post. Two davits were pairwise bent into the right position and then angled inward by about 12 degrees. Small 0.3mm rings from a 0.7mm tube with 0.2mm holes were soldered to the davits (bottom left); next two small etched parts and the rest of the tubes were added. After a few hours the davits were complete.

 

Remarkable!!!!!!!

[OnTheSlipway]

 

In Hood's 1939 refit the 30ft gig position was modified to permanent 27ft whaler positions (AOTS Hood). I noticed there are a few ropes running  from the end of the boat deck towards the whalers (A); these ropes plus pulleys remain visible until the end of Hood's career (D) when a small stump mast appeared as well (F). Looking closely at images of the boat deck I also found that a rope is running from the whaler position back to the derrick of the main mast (B); I could not find a good picture showing if it is the same rope as at (A). A system of two blocks was placed on the aft of the boat deck and the system is tied up somewhere out of sight between the skylights (C).

 

 

While scanning my trusty McDermaid &; Manual of Seamanship I found the above images in the latter with a few examples of block variations (there are many others, see  this HNSA page). It appears when a rope goes back and forth between two blocks it's called a purchase when that number is even and a luff when that number is odd. So that would mean in the image above our mystery cable is a luff plus a separate block running the rope towards the skylights (I wonder how long it will take a modeller of a man-o-war to master instantly naming a hoisting system correctly).

 

 

Stump masts, ropes, blocks and  pulleys are not uncommon near davits as this sketch shows throwing me further of track. But, if you want to lower I boat then one might think that the block should be much farther away from the davits or you don't have enough rope left to lower your boat; both in this sketch and aboard HMS Hood the layout is meant to hoist something in.

 

 

The drawings of the main mast do not show any other lines other than the lift & purchase lines plus a thrice line---an additional line when hoisting a boat in that is used to pull the ring of the boat's sling over the hook---- but that is not a line that would require a system of blocks. Note that the cabling layout for the hook is called a (single?) purchase and not a(n inverted) double whip, but soit.

 

 

I later found the rope in action in this clip where the crew is lowering a boat; this rope is not meant to do any hoisting itself and appears to be merely a side guy meant to control the lateral movement of the main derrick itself. I'm now fairly certain that in the top images ropes A and B are the same.

 

 

That leaves the stump mast; I think it was added simply the clear the 4" turret when working the derrick and is not related to the davits at all. I estimated its height at 8 feet based on railing height and a side view showing the top of the mast.

 

 

The stump mast image top left shows a single lug, a studless shackle and a pulley. The lugs & shackles were made using the same methods as detailed in the post /Ground Tackle part I, top-right showing two small lugs and four rings held in position using take and a 0.2mm drill (on which the solder doesn't hold which is very convenient). The small tripod was soldered into place using a small jig made from MDF and tape. A tiny bit of reheating was enough to fix the small angled supports with a tiny bit of CA to prevent  the lug and the shackle  falling to pieces. The pulley was made from 0.5 and 0.7mm discs punched from 0.13mm styrene.

[OnTheSlipway]

 

This is a bit of work from just before my DIY audio project (woodworking!) that ran over eight months or so and not work done in the last weeks. Remember to not leave your model unattended or properly protected against Sigrid the Destroyer when your attention is diverted to other projects.

 

 

Various eyebrows and details were added next. There's a small je-ne-sais-quoi on the bulkhead, and a similar pair against the bridge superstructure (top left). It might be a pulley to pull up the awning, but I've not been able to find an image where this part is actually used. A small cover over the vent opening was added as well. A number of small vents and the supports for the ladders will added at the last minute; too worried they may break off during handling.

 

 

A number of aerial trunks is present, given in full in the AOTS, section F (rig), with each group running to a separate W/T office. An auxiliary W/T aerial runs from the top starfish to a trunk near the conning tower; this trunk as a small ladder (top left images). The main aerial and main auxiliary trunks are situated near the main mast; I managed to find only a few images that shows them both (top right images). The main trunk is a fair bit larger and is a open cylindrical structure with an access hatch seen open (outer top right). A third trunk is present just aft of the searchlight platform; according to the AOTS this trunk was added in 1937 and runs to the second W/T office (bottom-left images). The bottom right image shows the original position of this aerial trunk at the aft end of the shelterdeck, but it was moved aft when the pompom bandstand was added.

 

 

I found images of various aerial trunks on other ships with a larger trunk aboard HMS Prince of Wales, and a few smaller trunks aboard a destroyer and HMS Rodney.  A fair estimate was made to create the parts using my lathe (which was really fun to do).

[Roger Pellett]

A wonderful job at a challenging scale, and the picture of the ship’s cat is priceless.

 

I see that you live in Wageningen.  Are you involved with the Hydrodynamics Lab (Towing Tank) there?

 

Corticine:  Someday, I intend to build a 1:32 scale model of a Royal Navy steam picket boat similar to those carried by Hood.  I have been aboard and photographed the boat operated by the Royal Navy Museum. As I expected, her deck is entirely exposed wood planking.  

 

Describing these boats, late Norman Ough has written, “The decks were usually covered with Corticine.”  There are, of course numerous photos of these boats on the web.  At least one shows lines running perpendicular from the steel deckhouse outboard to the rail.  This is where the crew’s feet would land when sitting on the wooden benches along the deckhouse top.

 

I would be interested in your thoughts and research concerning this.

 

Roger

[OnTheSlipway]

I indeed work at our local hydrodynamics institute, mainly as a researcher on propeller design optimization (Hence the propeller icon!).

 

The steam picket boat is a subject that used to fall just outside my research era as both pickets were removed from Hood early 1941 according the literature. However, I've been going over various photographs and I'm trying to determine if one of the steam pickets was still aboard HMS Hood when she was sunk as a) the boat deck photographed in 1941 shows the boat crutches still present b) I have no photograph of the fast motor boat that was supposed to replace here and c) I think I can spot it (very vaguely) in an image taken the 22nd of May 1941. I also have a series of photographs from a 1941 album that shows the steam picket present, but you always have to be very careful as the date when the image was taken is always uncertain.

 

As far as I know the roof of the aft cabin was typically corticene but the deck itself was not. I have the image below that shows the launch in full detail and from the looks of it the deck is not covered by corticine. I also have a few additional images here https://ontheslipway.com/50-ft-steam-pinnace/ .

 

source: https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/hms-hood-at-vancouver-hms-hood-steam-launch

 

This one is certainly planked all over:

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205280507

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by OnTheSlipway

[OnTheSlipway]

 

One of the issues that complicates any HMS Hood build is the area below the shelter (or boat) deck; the main deck parts should be fully painted before securing as the region cannot be accessed. The number of photographs of this region is modest and I made post earlier <a href="https://ontheslipway.com/below-decks/.">here</a>. The ceiling of the shelterdeck was populated by structural elements, mainly a few larger longitudinal girders A &amp; B). Some transverse girders appear perforated (C); I copied this style to multiple locations while playing with my milling machine. The outer girder appears to be placed where the shelterdeck used the end before it being widened in 1938. The bottom-right image is reproduced with permission from the <a href="http://www.hmshood.org.uk/">HMS Hood association</a> and shows the area below the boat deck quite clearly; other images from this 1940-41 album indicate a few minor changes to the model were in order!  A few details could be seen on other images: the hammock rails (D) and support stanchions (E)  placed below the boat crutches on the boat deck. These pillars have a white center, covered by a sewn-on canvas gaiter (painted stanchions are also observed on other ships). Now we can also find the ammo lockers for the UP launchers that according to Northcott were stored below decks (4 lockers per launcher, F) . A series of Denton rafts is found (G), a very large vent trunk (H).  At (I) a Dan buoy is found stored against the ceiling as identified on the Britmodeler forum; these buoys were used to mark a channel swept of mines. All warships were fitted with mine sweeping gear (paravanes) that was only effective only against contact mines and useless against magnetic, acoustic, or pressure mines, and there's something counter-intuitive about using HMS Hood as a minesweeper and having her carry danbuoys. But once noticed I started spotting them in more places, see e.g. Jonhston's & Buxton Battleship Duke of Yok, page 161, with a buoy next to the engine room vent. More on a small model of these buoys in a later post

 

 

I bought a few original plans of HMS Hood earlier showing the shelterdeck and the structural details; these support beams are spaced 4 ft apart.  I previously added some random detail to the ceiling of the shelterdeck when my favourite modelling tool apparently was putty and everything was glued with Uhu plast (bottle with a small needle); I switched  to bottle of Plastic Magic and Tamiya (ultra) thin cement last year and this was really a step up in build quality. Some damage was collected during handling so the girders were readded in the form of strips. I had some fun with the milling machine and added a few larger perforated beams. I can only see one of these clearly on one image though but why not. I also changed the angled outline of the deck slightly, letting the angled parts end exactly on a beam end; the original plan set that I have does not seem to follow the outline very well and the model now matches the photographs much better. The position of the support pillars was drilled in earlier; the pillars themselves were made from three Albion-Alloy tubes, so that the centre can be neatly airbrushed white. Unfortunately, the pillars positions were added based on the general arrangements and do not end up exactly below the girders. I cheated a bit and lowered all pillars, the outboard row of pillars end up behind the main longitudinal girder and I added some strip at the ends of the inner row where all pillars should end.

 

 

The overall effect is quite nice... (pillar strip apparently not yet added here).

 

 

The hammock rails were added next, using a simple alignment tool to glue to etched parts in place. I put the rails right between the girders. If all goes well, none of the support stanchions and hammock rails intersect (did a lot of measuring and drawing to convince myself).
 These are very fragile so the part is now much more difficult to handle..

 

 

The larger trunk is the the dynamo room vent and appears on the boat deck. It is open on the sides on some images and closed off on most others and copied that style. The trunk didn't really end up nicely with the position on the main deck on my model. I already had a vent there, but that one was in the as-built configuration: I missed the extension to the boat deck. I gave it a slightly larger sweep to the side than on the original drawings. This was a really tricky part making an angle in the horizontal and to the side, and only after fitting the entire part I could see if it would align well; this took a few attempts. The main deck on the hull took some damage and Ill probably add a very denton rafts to cover it up.

 

[Joe100]

Gorgeous!

[KeithAug]

A lot of very nice detail and I think your reconstruction of the ships cat is extremely convincing😀.

[OnTheSlipway]

Thanks both 👍 There's cats everywhere in our house and the cover is mandatory, but otherwise they have not damaged anything....

 

The part above has had its first primer & scratch removal pass... after a small break I'll continue with forward superstructure deck and then give the hull one more pass...