HMS Lion by Ian_Grant - 1/150 - RADIO - RESTORATION - WW1 Battlecruiser

[Ian_Grant]

@Kevin-the-lubber, here is an update.

 

Bambu Studio does indeed have a simplify function, but it appears to default to "Very High" detail level which is what the screen shot above depicts, believe it or not. When I lower the detail level not only does the hull exterior get even worse, but the interior details (floor gratings etc) start to disintegrate too.

 

Here's a screen capture of "Low" detail level. Now that's an ugly hull!!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Ian, in that case I’d guess that whoever uploaded the model had to simplify because of file size limits. Is there any way of tracing back to the designer and getting the original?

[Ian_Grant]

6 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Ian, in that case I’d guess that whoever uploaded the model had to simplify because of file size limits. Is there any way of tracing back to the designer and getting the original?

You can contact designers via Yeggi/Thingiverse.  I noticed that the steam pinnace design, which prints with a perfect hull, was by one designer whereas the other boats were by a second designer. I had not noticed in my excited downloading.

 

The second designer's intro notes that he is a "beginner" and warns not to expect perfect designs. Indeed, the images on Thingiverse show the same hull scalloping as I see in Bambu Studio. Far be it from me to chide him about this; he has done a great job on the interior and has far more 3D skill than I. So it's back to sprucing them up by myself, somehow.

 

Thank you for the suggestion, Kevin!  And indeed for this trip down 3D-file-world!  

[rookie]

I also spent a lot of time looking for downloadable whaleboats pointed at both ends for Morgan

my first one I did not realize was not for 3D printing so it did not slice well or print very well

 

i also tried pulling apart the various pieces so I ended up just printing  the bare hull with seats etc removed 

 

this can be done in blender.  I think the top right window shows the separate parts and each can be deleted 

Edited August 11 by rookie
Typo

[Ian_Grant]

A little more progress. I've had Lion on the water at three club pond sails. Very relaxing and it's fun to chat to the same 5 or 6 other guys who show up at the park. This week there was a boy hovering around interested; gave him a shot at steering her around. Among other things in a constant flow of talk, he remarked, "You  must be the youngest one here".  HaHa.  Says something about the hobby. 

 

I added the port and starboard navigation lights, at the level of the charthouse deck. Still need to make white ones for the foremast/mainmast.

I started working on the mainmast stays, then realized they would get in the way of drilling holes and adding stanchions for the aft shelter deck railings (which I have been procastinating about for weeks!). I now have the stanchions for the inner railings made, glued in, and painted grey. I decided to add the boats in the aft well deck before the railing threads were in the way. I spent a l-o-n-g time painting these boats; even then in the end I decided to forego painting bootstripes and red u/w hull on the steam pinnaces since it seemed too much more taping etc for results not all that visible. Here we see the two steam pinnaces, and two stacked boats. The port side will contain the "admiral's launch" beside the pinnace. I can't find a suitable, cheap, 3D file so I'm going to use a whaler hull which printed nicely. I added trailboards at bow and stern and will paint up all fancy for the admiral's use. Don't know whether they slapped grey paint all over these boats in wartime or not. Also visible in the pic are the "green ball" and "red flag" of the helm indicator for ships following when in line ahead, and the inner rail stanchions. I added handrails to the two ladders, from 0.5mm brass rod.

I printed a prototype for the Hotchkiss gun emplacements; she carried two on the aft end of the shelter deck according to Norman A. Ough's drawing. God knows how I will make tiny Hotchkiss guns.....TBD.

Last, I finally glued on the forecastle breakwater which also has been sitting around painted and ready for weeks.

I ordered and have received (just this week) a sound board with USB programming cable and speakers. It's a great little board which plugs directly into an RC Receiver channel (taking power from it too), specifically the channel which has a 3-position switch on the Transmitter (commonly used by pilots for full flaps/half flaps/flaps up). In this case you click it up say "n" times, then click it down once. "n" is the number of the sound track you want to play (board can store many), and clicking it down triggers the audio play. The board can store almost half an hour total of sound.

 

I have WAV files for bosun's call, klaxon, and the old-time steam driven triple-note whistle. Club members suggest "God Save the King" (this is 1916!) and heavy gun fire to go with the rotating turrets. I'd also like to play a voice calling "battle stations" but I have not yet found it with a British accent, only American.🙄  Should be fun!!  For example, other club members with model Corvettes have sonar pinging, sonar pinging with a return echo from a sub, gunfire, depth charges exploding, "action  station" calls (no Brit accent but they're models of Canadian corvettes).

 

We're starting our trip the day after tomorrow so it will be a while for the next update. Thanks for following!

 

 

Edited September 1 by Ian_Grant

[FreekS]

Looks very nice! One of my club members has a sound module that includes the engine (of a MTB) starting and the sound rising with speed. Very impressive. I’m still contemplating what kind of sounds I could use in my submarines!

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, FreekS said:

I’m still contemplating what kind of sounds I could use in my submarines!

 You might try the PingMaster 5000. 

[Canute]

US subs used Fairbanks Morse (FM) inline opposed diesel engines. FM also built train loco for a number of years post WWII. Some companies do make sound modules for model locos, but in an RC boat they'd need to be in a waterproof casing.

[Veszett Roka]

On 9/4/2025 at 5:59 PM, FreekS said:

I’m still contemplating what kind of sounds I could use in my submarines!

I have a very-very bad idea:
 

 

[ddp]

with or without the smell?

[Ian_Grant]

Thought I needed to post a "proof of life" message, so here we are.

 

Worked on the rest of the ship's boats; ten of them in two stacks of three and two stacks of two. It took me days and days to find suitable printable hulls, break off the print supports under seats etc, and paint them. They printed with very nice floor boards etc but many of them were ripped up in the process of removing the supports. Fortunately you can't see inside the lower boats in the stacks. For the stacks of two, I needed a hull with two pointy ends for the upper boats; I used a "Titanic Lifeboat" file for the them because they printed cleanly. For the stacks of three, I inverted the 16ft dinghies on top because the tiny interior details were too delicate to clean up neatly. These dinghies are 1.1" long.

 

Also added the admiral's barge (albeit as a whaler because that printed better) all painted up fancy. Don't know if they kept it fancy in wartime but anyway..............

 

Boats in the aft well deck. Still need to rig the outer railing on the shelter deck. Barge has red/gold trim.

Rigging on the aft superstructure.

Boats at the forward superstructure. Tiny dinghies are painted red on bottom. Fore and main funnel bracing wires complete on the starboard side; not started on port side. Boat cranes not fixed in position yet. You can just see a couple of the Carley rafts I drew and printed. By the way, why were bracing wires needed for funnels on these ships but not on later ships? Welding instead of riveting?

View of forward superstructure.

Next up? Let's see.....foremast stays and many signal halyards; radio "aerials"; two tiny sounding machines and booms for the fwd shelter deck; two hotchkiss guns aft; main deck railings (🤔); brailed torpedo net and booms.

 

Also I need to investigate the app for programming the sound effects board. No rush now as the RC club sailing season has pretty much ended unless we get another warm Wednesday.

 

I want to finish this and complete my "Preussen" model this winter.

 

Edited October 20 by Ian_Grant

[Glen McGuire]

Looks sharp, Ian!  Well done.

[Ian_Grant]

Does anyone here recognize the purpose of this spar, and apparently associated large wood cask, circled in the pic:

The 3D rendering (which I already know has errors in it; it's not infallible) shows a pair like this, port and starboard, and a similar pair at the forward superstructure.

 

My Ough drawing shows the following: yes there is a spar, albeit stowed at a different position, but no cask.

He doesn't seem to show any at the forward superstructure

 

Also, I'm puzzled by how the free ends are being held in position.

 

If anyone can shed light on this for me I'd be grateful. Thanks!

[ddp]

look at the bottom of the search light in that circle & you'll see 2 dotted lines to that spar. whether those lines go to the top of the spar or not i do not know. is that "wooden" cask actually wood, painted metal or some other material? what time period does it show the spars & casks & is it same time period as your model?

[Ian_Grant]

1 hour ago, ddp said:

look at the bottom of the search light in that circle & you'll see 2 dotted lines to that spar. whether those lines go to the top of the spar or not i do not know. is that "wooden" cask actually wood, painted metal or some other material? what time period does it show the spars & casks & is it same time period as your model?

The searchlight towers were added after 1916 and are shown dotted in this Norman Ough drawing which shows an earlier appearance. I believe the dotted lines you mention run to the edge of the platform and just happen to be behind the tip of the spar. I do not know if the cask is really wood; I've only ever seen it in the 3D rendering, which is from the "HMS Lion" entry at navalencyclopedia.com.

[Keith Black]

 Ian, wild guess here.......were those spars used to hold the torpedo nets (removed after the Battle of Jutland in 1916) and the barrels (which have domed tops) were used to store the netting when not deployed? 

Edited 7 hours ago by Keith Black

[Dr PR]

Boat boom?

 

We used long poles and buoys to mark locations - for mine fields, channels, etc. The spar passed through a hole in the buoy. On the lower end of the spar a cable and weight were attached to anchor the buoy. At the upper end of the spar was a flag (and a radar reflector after radar was invented).

[Ian_Grant]

10 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Ian, wild guess here.......were those spars used to hold the torpedo nets (removed after the Battle of Jutland in 1916) and the barrels (which have domed tops) were used to store the netting when not deployed? 

Keith, thanks but afraid not. The torpedo nets were massive - they were rolled up and lashed down on shelves running most of the length of the ship outside the main deck railings. In the 3D rendering image above, the net is the long black thing. There were "brailing davits" spaced at short intervals along the sides too, probably about 80 of them in all; I had already sort of decided to omit them since I already have to make about the same number of stanchions. 🙄

 

I have some brailed cord to dye black to represent the nets.

[Ian_Grant]

7 hours ago, Dr PR said:

Boat boom?

 

We used long poles and buoys to mark locations - for mine fields, channels, etc. The spar passed through a hole in the buoy. On the lower end of the spar a cable and weight were attached to anchor the buoy. At the upper end of the spar was a flag (and a radar reflector after radar was invented).

Thank you Dr PR!! That seems likely given it's circa WWI. I have noticed that the "boom" seems to be simply clipped to the top of the blast shield without any rigging at its tip. Now that I have a story in case anyone asks, I will install a pair or two.

 

Thanks again, and best regards!

 

Ian

[Javelin]

Given their position in relation to the boats's position, I'd also say they are the booms to moor and embark the boats. They also seem to be long enough to serve that purpose. 

Regarding rigging to deploy and stow them, no idea. Perhaps connected near the upper stowage support? 

[Ian_Grant]

39 minutes ago, Javelin said:

Given their position in relation to the boats's position, I'd also say they are the booms to moor and embark the boats. They also seem to be long enough to serve that purpose. 

Regarding rigging to deploy and stow them, no idea. Perhaps connected near the upper stowage support? 

Good guess, but the long boom on the main mast seen in the rendering going off photo to the left is a large crane to handle the well deck boats.

There are two smaller cranes for the forward boats.