Steve's Models

[Sailor Steve]

As some know, I've been working on my own tabletop miniatures naval rules for a couple of decades now. To play we use 1/2400 scale models, though the game scale is much smaller - 1/9000, so 1 inch = 250 yards, or 8 inches is roughly one nautical mile. Unfortunately nobody makes all the models I want, and I can't always afford to buy the ones that are there, so I also print up counters to go with the game.

But as always, this isn't really about the game or the models to play it. I've always loved to build models, and have been doing so since the Revell "box-scale" kits of the 1950s (the models are in a lot of diferrent scales, so the boxes they come in were all the same size). I haven't been able to build anything for several years, what with being homeless and then moving around a bit, but now I'm settled in and am planning to get to work once I get a decent computer desk and stop using my card table for that purpose.

While researching the variety of 1/2400 ship models I became curious about 1/700 models. I've built some in the past, but thought them too big for gaming and too small for display, but began to think they might be perfect for my 'jones' (need) to build. So I was online and found a source for Russian-made models of First World War ships. I thought they would be resin but they're actually plastic, so I tried to order a Majestic class battleship, but they were out. Actually they were out of pretty much everything, but then I spotted the 1894 German Brandenberg class. So I dropped the money and waited. And waited.

It came today, and after opening the shipping box and getting rid of the packing stuff I found a tiny 7 x 4 x 1" (179 x 100 x 25mm) box with a photo of SMS Weissenburg on it, and proceeded to open it thinking "Well, let's see what I got for my fifty bucks".

Once it was opened my thoughts changed to "Wow! I got a bargain! They could probably charge more!" Don't tell them I said that. The model itself is 161mm (6.34") on the waterline and 27mm (1.06") on the beam, and is incredibly detailed! I mean it's gorgeous. Don't take my word for it.

Overview - kit and box


Closer shot of the hull


All the pieces, with the etched-brass parts in the foreground


The bow section of the beautiful hull


The bridge pieces


Captain's steam launch, the largest of the ship's boats


What the pictures don't show is that the model even properly represents the side-firing torpedo tubes, which on most large ship were aimed 90 degrees to the broadside, but on thise early German battleships were aimed 30 degrees fore and aft, respectively.

I won't be starting it for awhile. As I said I need to get a desk for my PC and free up my building table, plus get my tools out of storage and buy some new ones as well. I also have airplanes I want to build, and I want to get their Royal Soveriegn and Majestic battleships as well, and probably others in the future.

But it's a start.

Sweet. Looking forward to pics of the completed model!

[denny927]

wow....get back in time at my 15, 20 yo....I remember build my USS Missouri(tamiya) all night along until 5, 6 am

good old times, sadly with work, wife two childs, a little department, no way to come back for this things...maybe when I grow old

great model man, looking for the progress.....

[denny927]

not my model but almost is the same, in aspect, dimension and colors

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by denny927

not my model but almost is the same, in aspect, dimension and colors

I had all 4 off them
The Iowa class battleship

USS IOWA(BB61)
USS NEW JERSEY(BB62)
USS MISSOURI(BB63)
USS WISCONSIN(BB64)
Every one of them was build in scale 1:350)

Markus

[Sailor Steve]

You didn't build Illinois and Kentucky sitting on their slips half finished?

Lazy!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by denny927

looking for the progress.....

Unfortunately the model building table is still doubling as a computer desk. I can't afford to order a new one and I can't even think about buying a used one as I don't own a car to pick it up with.

In the meantime I've purchased two more, the British Royal Sovereign of 1893 and the Majestic of 1895. I'd post pictures but they're just more unbuilt models. The detail is just as good and the Majestic has always been a personal favorite of mine, but there's really nothing to see yet.

[ossoo2020]

wowww...great man

[Gunsilnger]

Very nice!!

[Jimbuna]

The grass on that runway needs cutting

[Sailor Steve]

Another day lost. After playing music all night Monday I was in no condition yesterday for anything but sitting. This morning I got half the main rigging done. This afternoon I started on the other half and ran into trouble. Things wouldn't glue down, and when they did they were out of place. Cut that part away and do it again, then discover that some piece I'd already done had come loose. It took three tries to get it all where it belonged. Finally, though...

This represents a fairly standard Western Front aircraft.

[Sailor Steve]

Next project: Morane-Saulnier 'BB', a rather obscure reconaissance biplane built in France, but the only buyer was the British Royal Flying Corps. There were less than 100 built, and some controversy over how many of them had the planned 110-horsepower Le Rhône 9J engine and how many only had the 80-hp 9C.



I'm using the fuselage from the Revell Morane 'N' kit as a basis, but this will be mostly scratchbuilt. The first problem to be overcome is that the Revell kit is wrong right from the start. It tapers to a point at the rear, where the real aeroplane tapered to a horizontal knife-edge, just like the square-bodied model 'H' before it, and like the Fokker and Pfalz eindekkers, the latter of which was an exact license-built copy of the 'H'.

[Sailor Steve]

First step was to cut a pair of shims out of scrap plastic, then sand and shape them so the tail was the proper width and the fuselage taper matched the drawings.



I recently picked up a rare off-brand model of the Morane 'N' which the maker claimed was much more accurate. It's also a lot smaller, which is causing some concern. Harleyford's Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War says the 'N' was 22' long, and their Reconaissance Aircraft book says the 'BB' was 23' 2", which is less than a foot difference in length. The off-brand model 'N' is much smaller than Harleyford's drawing. On the other hand a couple of other sources say the 'N' was 19' 1" long, which is exactly what the off-brand model is. If that's the case then the Revell 'N' model is oversize by quite a bit, but it's perfect for the 'BB' conversion.

In any case I think it's going to be a fairly easy conversion.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Looking good Steve.

[Sailor Steve]

I was about to get the decals on when I realized I had also left off the pilot's machine gun. It wasn't easy to forget but it was hard to find because not one of the photographs shows it. I finally found it on a three-view drawing, half buried under the cowling. I had to do a lot of digging and repainting, but I got the gun installed and the decals on.