54 replies to this topic

[Phil Reeder]

Possibly the most famous British battleship of the steel era ,The Grand Old Lady had a very eventful career,stretching from Jutland to the landings at Walcheren in late 1944.During this time she survived numerous hits by her enemies ,11"/12" shells in 1916,a 500lb SAP bomb off Crete in 1941,and the worst of the lot ,a Fritz-X guided missile in 1943,as well as being damaged by a couple of mines .She could be "wayward",her steering breaking down at the most awkward times,as at Jutland ,and even on her journey to the breakers yard ,she broke free and ran aground in Cornwall,where she was dismantled.She certainly had a mind of her own!
No kit has been eagerly awaited or requested as a 350th Warspite ,first off the mark is Academy.I was hoping that this kit would be an improvement over their earlier Graf Spee kit ,and I haven`t been disappointed,it is a good workmanlike kit ,which for £39.99 is a bargain.Of course it doesn`t have the "sharpness" of Trumpy`s latest kit s ,but with a bit of elbow grease it can be turned into a good model .I`m planning to use the minimum of PE and aftermarket stuff ,the only additional thing I`ll be using is an Artwox wooden deck,but not in the manner intended(more on that later).

anyway here I go again!! first the "sprue shots"

Cheers Phil

Edited by Phil Reeder, 27 November 2011 - 11:52 AM.

[Phil Reeder]

The kit comes as a full-hull ,but with an engraved seam inside ,for those ot us who like waterlines.After a few strokes with a heavy-duty Stanley blade the lower half came away as neat as a whistle.After a bit of cleaning up ,i attached a waterline plate from plastikard.
The upper line of portholes ,just forward of the 6" gun casmates,are set too high,so I filled them in,and drilled out a new row set slightly lower down.At this point I also removed the 20mm tubs alongside "B" turret and the splinter screens surrounding the midships 4" AA guns ,as she didn`t have these in 1938.


Bye Phil

[Silver Fox]

I'll be watching this one with interest. I always felt it was such a pity she wasn't preserved, but they didn't think that way just after WWII.

[Graham T]

I'm sure I remeber building the old Airfix(?) kit many years ago. Just googled Warspite & find that she did indeed have an intersting career!

[Seahawk]

.. even on her journey to the breakers yard ,she broke free and ran aground in Prussian Cove in Cornwall,where she was dismantled.She certainly had a mind of her own!

Just a little correction on the history part: the Internet is wonderful for embedding errors as fact before you know it. Although many sources say that Warspite was dismantled in situ at Prussia (not Prussian) Cove, she was in fact lightened and towed around to Marazion beach (near St Michael's Mount), where she was finally dismantled over several years: I have my father's photos to prove it. Reportedly a lot of the woodwork from her wardrooms etc ended up in various Marazion pubs. I vaguely recall that one of them has (had?) a Warspite room but could be wrong about that.

[moaning dolphin]

Hi Phil,
Good to see you doing this, I got this at Telford with the WEM etch. Looking forward to seeing your progress and finding all the pit falls!
Cheers now
Bob

[TonyR]

I can verify that she was broken up off St Michaels Mount, As a young lad (a mere kid really), while away at boarding school, we used to have our summer holidays in Cornwall, and I can remember seeing her being dismantled. They used those big 'ol DUKW amphibs to cart stuff away, and I can always remember them coming in off the sea belching diesel fumes everywhere and trundling up the beach. There's a causeway that goes from the beach all the way to St Michaels Mount that's accessible at low tide, and we were taken over for a treat one afternoon. Once on the mount you could get a better look at what was going on. We were too young to really understand the whys and wherefores, but the memories are still there.
Tony R.

[Chewitt]

yes was a pity Warspite was not saved,but the country was bankrupt,just like today,nothing has changed much,away will be watching this one,can't wait for Queen Elizabeth 1/700 coming out next year

[Phil Reeder]

The fit of the decks to the hull was almost perfect,requiring only a few areas to be filled in,I`ve added some additional detail to the catapult ,and applied a primer coat followed by a coat of Light grey AP507C(50% Vallejo No 990 + 50% white).
I orginally planned to do something a bit different with the wooden Artwox deck ,but it didn`t work out as I`d hoped,so I reverted to applying in the normal manner.This is the first time I`ve used one of these wooden decks and I must admit I may be using them in the future.I needed to alter it to take into account the lack of 20mm tubs and the 4" blast screens,I got round this by cutting out the areas effected and cut some new pieces from the borders of the sheet ,and fitted them in place.It seems to worked out well.

One question I would like to ask ,do I need to give the deck a coat of matt varnish to seal it properly?

Bye Phil

Edited by Phil Reeder, 28 November 2011 - 08:17 PM.

[ScottC]

Looking good Phil, the wooden decks look great
I'd seal em with some varnish to be on the safe side
Scott C

[Shar2]

To be honest, I've never needed to varnish the wooden decks, but then my completed models are kept in cases.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Hi Phil and NICE LOOKING BUILD! Warspite (LOVE that name btw) is legendary.

I think your wood deck looks absolutely stunning and that it adds both depth and substantial texture to your ship. The drawbacks of using them do not outway their visual benefits in my view.

I varnished mine, but I don't know that its necessary. My thought was to seal out moisture but I dont really know if that is factor in the long term stability of them or not. I placed mine on painters tape when i shot the varnish to prevent any "roll up" as per below pic and the results were satisfactory.



Looking forward to seeing your Warspite as the construction continues...GREAT job on her so far!! -Tim

[Vulcanicity]

Just a little correction on the history part: the Internet is wonderful for embedding errors as fact before you know it. Although many sources say that Warspite was dismantled in situ at Prussia (not Prussian) Cove, she was in fact lightened and towed around to Marazion beach (near St Michael's Mount), where she was finally dismantled over several years: I have my father's photos to prove it. Reportedly a lot of the woodwork from her wardrooms etc ended up in various Marazion pubs. I vaguely recall that one of them has (had?) a Warspite room but could be wrong about that.

There's a large steel-bound wooden spar mounted on the clifftop at Prussia cove to commemorate the original accident and the salvage/breaking up operation. I've always wondered if it was actually from the ship proper; on the hope that it was, I picked up a small lump of rusty metal that had fallen off the bindings, and keep it in my tiny collection of famous ship relics... (along with some Cutty Sark rivets, SS Great Britain iron, and a small chunk of teak deck from HMS Iron Duke...)
This is a lovely build by the way, I'm looking forward to seeing it progress. Warspite is probably my favourite warship of all time, and I'm very tempted to buy the kit and get back into ships again!

[avro683]

The fit of the decks to the hull was almost perfect,requiring only a few areas to be filled in,I`ve added some additional detail to the catapult ,and applied a primer coat followed by a coat of Light grey AP507C(50% Vallejo No 990 + 50% white).
I orginally planned to do something a bit different with the wooden Artwox deck ,but it didn`t work out as I`d hoped,so I reverted to applying in the normal manner.This is the first time I`ve used one of these wooden decks and I must admit I may be using them in the future.I needed to alter it to take into account the lack of 20mm tubs and the 4" blast screens,I got round this by cutting out the areas effected and cut some new pieces from the borders of the sheet ,and fitted them in place.It seems to worked out well.

One question I would like to ask ,do I need to give the deck a coat of matt varnish to seal it properly?

Bye Phil

Hi Phil, great start there. I would have thought that varnish would be appropriate, wouldn't the real decks have been sealed?

Tony

Edited by avro683, 30 November 2011 - 01:02 PM.

[Phil Reeder]

I put the hull in a seascape using my usual method ,however I have added a refinement,when all the sea has been painted with Humbrol Gloss colours,and when completely dry ,I have applied a coat of Clear Acrylic gel used by railway modellers for ponds ,rivers,etc,to deepen the shine.Also It protects the the paintwork.I have tried to depict the Warspite going at near full speed,using a photo as a guide, of an R class battleship going full tilt , in the Raven and Roberts book on British Battleships .

Cheers for now Phil

[tommyinuk0]

Hi,
I am an aircraft modeller, checking out the land and sea forums to see what other modellers get up to. Glad I did.
Wow! That sea looks so realistic, well done on a fantastic build so far. The decks look great too. I am going to follow your build as I think she will look stunning when completed! Good luck and brilliant job so far.

[Phil Reeder]

I`m quite pleasently surprised at the level of research Academy has done on this kit,they have included two types of anchor in the kit,which according to the AOTS book is correct,Brownie points to them!!
I found some 6" barrels that I had bought for a failed Konig build ,and these were the correct length ,and whats more fitted almost perfectly in to the location holes on the casemates.a stroke of luck.The ledge alongside the foscle is I believe covered with "corticene",although,I`m not 100 per cent sure of this,but looking at close-up photos of this area on other QE class ships from the inter-war years,it does look like the corticene,you can see the overlapping layers.

Bye Phil

[Richard G]

Looking good Phil, following this one closely to see how you modify the bridge as I'll probably build a 1940 Warspite rather than 1943. Less AAA stuff for a start

[AngloSaxon]

Great looking build. That sea is amazing work.

[seadog]

So far, so brilliant! I'd love to build this kit too. How thick are those wooden decks?
F