Jump to content

The Last Battleship - HMS Vanguard 1/350


andrewa

Recommended Posts

As my avatar suggests, ships and aircraft of the Royal navy is my thing, and I don't often let the lack of a kit get in the way!  This one has been on my list for a very long time, in my opinion, one of the best looking ships ever built for the RN, just around 6 years too late to be useful.  I've been researching and planning this build for years, must have just about every book with decent coverage of the ship, a few good plans and lots of photos and not forgetting the Samek 1/700 resin kit.

 

The hull and superstructure are quite straightforward and many of the other fittings are common to the other ships of the time but the armament was always a challenge too far, all the turrets were unique to the ship as were the six-barrelled Bofors mounts.  So the project always went back on the rainy day pile. and then along came Shapeways...

 

In a new method for me, the hull is made from prototyping board (aka Tooling board/modelling board) it's about the same density and hardness as a softwood, but has no grain or layers.  It can be sawed, sanded and dremelled easily, glues with epoxy or superglue and is very stable and rigid.  I bought a block 50x250x500mm for £30 which has given me enough material for Vanguard, Blake and Norfolk's hulls.

 

I didn't take any photos of the early stages (will do for the next one - but it's not very interesting) but if you imagine a plank 750x100x30mm, then the same plank cut down to the desired profile and hull lines, The finished piece is 709 mm long by 96mm wide.

38035817645_491170b3d4_b.jpg

 

I got to this stage on both Vanguard and Blake's hull over about 20hours spread over a couple of weeks, and it felt a lot quicker and easier than my previous techniques, cutting card templates of hull lines at each frame to help the sanding process was a key step.  It's difficult to see the hull lines in the primer, but I've completed the hawseholes for the anchors and after filling a couple of problem areas will add some plating, the armour and scuttles.

38922018581_cdb4ca2887_b.jpg

 

I must be Shapeway's favourite customer at the moment - Main, Secondary and bofors mounts, hatches, boats, directors, ventilators, carley floats etc 

38035815495_5bfa253867_b.jpg

 

Oh and no skimping on this one, so Northstar accessories, wooden decks and brass tread plate.

38922016711_85a80252de_b.jpg

 

Hull plating and side armour next time...

 

  • Like 21
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, VMA131Marine said:

Can the Shapeways parts be printed in 1/450 scale for use on the Hasegawa kit?

I think so, but haven’t looked too closely. Many of the designers either offer multiple scales or will re-scale items if you ask them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good One Andrew

 

Will keep an eye on this, looks like a good start, may have to have a look at that modelling board for one of my future builds, ive used the plastic card frame technique myself for all my scratchbuilds with milliput for final shape and as long as I can get some decent plans probably takes about the same time but guessing your new method is more sturdy and maybe a little easier to get good results with a bit of practice.

 

Where did you get hold of the flyhawk RN anti slip deck plates? i've been looking for a couple of sheets myself as I have almost ran out for a few months without much luck.

 

Looking forward to see where this one goes!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until these builds my normal method was frame and miliput but this was much easier and quicker, and the finished hull should be a lot less prone to warping, it’s worth a try...

 

have a a look at avrmodel.com - looks like they have the anti slip in stock

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am normally a fan of more modern RN ships but HMS Vanguard has for a very long time been an exception.

 

I am impressed with your hull being carved from a single block, and I think I want to have a go at the technique for a project I have on the backburner. Can you tell me where you got the Tooling board from and what density did you use? Secondly what was the source for your plans of Blake and Vanguard.

 

An awesome start and I am very much looking forward to following this build.

:thumbsup:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The tooling board is very intriguing. Kinda looked on line for US sources but didn't find much, probably because I don't know what I'm looking for.

The shapeways stuff is usually great. I'm converting an old Lindberg U S Navy tanker kit of the Kennebec class to a Mattaponi class (40 feet longer) as a friend of mine served aboard the USS Mattaponi AO-41. Got the correct gunnery from Shapeways - 5"/38 open mounts, twin 40 mm bofers and just recently, 3"/50 deck guns, all in 1/500 scale. They are really nice.

 

Following this build with great interest.

EJ

Edited by EJS
add
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Paul E said:

I am normally a fan of more modern RN ships but HMS Vanguard has for a very long time been an exception.

 

I am impressed with your hull being carved from a single block, and I think I want to have a go at the technique for a project I have on the backburner. Can you tell me where you got the Tooling board from and what density did you use? Secondly what was the source for your plans of Blake and Vanguard.

 

An awesome start and I am very much looking forward to following this build.

:thumbsup:

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Paul,

 

I used     PU600 from these guys:  http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/patterns-moulds-and-tooling/tooling-and-modelling-board

 

Peter Hall uses ProLab 65 I believe:  http://www.axson-technologies.com/en/find-product/Machinable-Products/Modelling-and-Tooling-Boards

 

The ProLab is a touch harder, but I could only find it available in much larger sizes and wanted to try a cheaper route in case it didn't work for me.  I'm really happy with how easy it is to use and very impressed with the strength and stability of the hull - no worries about standing on it or clouting against a shelf (a regular occurrence).  

 

Blake plans are a combination of Jecobin HMS Tiger (post conversion) and the plans in Norman Friedman's british cruiser book - not ideal, but the aft superstructure is fairly straightforward.

 

Vanguard is a combination of plans in again Friedman's book- British Battleships this time, Raven and Roberts Battleships and this Allied Battleships by Robert Dulin  (https://www.amazon.com/Battleships-Allied-World-War-II/dp/0870211005/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0870211005&pd_rd_r=8BV1GBFQRK8ZQD8AYC7S&pd_rd_w=S4LoB&pd_rd_wg=bIOor&psc=1&refRID=8BV1GBFQRK8ZQD8AYC7S) which has a very good fold out plan and hull lines.  

 

Both will also require a lot of photo references as well, but that's part of the challenge!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dave said:

Which size of Carley float did you go with Andrew?

To be honest I'm not sure, the ones in the photo were the 10'x5' small ones, but I also have larger sizes in the collection. I'll work out which are the correct ones to use when I get a bit closer to that stage in the build.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, EJS said:

The tooling board is very intriguing. Kinda looked on line for US sources but didn't find much, probably because I don't know what I'm looking for.

The shapeways stuff is usually great. I'm converting an old Lindberg U S Navy tanker kit of the Kennebec class to a Mattaponi class (40 feet longer) as a friend of mine served aboard the USS Mattaponi AO-41. Got the correct gunnery from Shapeways - 5"/38 open mounts, twin 40 mm bofers and just recently, 3"/50 deck guns, all in 1/500 scale. They are really nice.

 

Following this build with great interest.

EJ

Try looking for Prolab 65, PU600,  Polyurethane Modelling Board / Tooling Board / Protoyping Board.

 

Axson.com seem to operate in US as well as UK.

 

Andrew

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, andrewa said:

Hi Paul,

 

I used     PU600 from these guys:  http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/patterns-moulds-and-tooling/tooling-and-modelling-board

 

Peter Hall uses ProLab 65 I believe:  http://www.axson-technologies.com/en/find-product/Machinable-Products/Modelling-and-Tooling-Boards

 

The ProLab is a touch harder, but I could only find it available in much larger sizes and wanted to try a cheaper route in case it didn't work for me.  I'm really happy with how easy it is to use and very impressed with the strength and stability of the hull - no worries about standing on it or clouting against a shelf (a regular occurrence).  

 

Blake plans are a combination of Jecobin HMS Tiger (post conversion) and the plans in Norman Friedman's british cruiser book - not ideal, but the aft superstructure is fairly straightforward.

 

Vanguard is a combination of plans in again Friedman's book- British Battleships this time, Raven and Roberts Battleships and this Allied Battleships by Robert Dulin  (https://www.amazon.com/Battleships-Allied-World-War-II/dp/0870211005/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0870211005&pd_rd_r=8BV1GBFQRK8ZQD8AYC7S&pd_rd_w=S4LoB&pd_rd_wg=bIOor&psc=1&refRID=8BV1GBFQRK8ZQD8AYC7S) which has a very good fold out plan and hull lines.  

 

Both will also require a lot of photo references as well, but that's part of the challenge!

 

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

Thank you for that, I will look into the PU600 tooling board as I don't want to spend too much just in case I don't get on with it. 

 

As for the plans I will look out for the Norman Friedman book. Did you know that Fleetscale have a set of plans at 1:128 scale for HMS Vangaurd to accompany their fibreglass hull. http://www.fleetscale.com/store/gb/hms-vanguard-ww2/367-1-128th-hms-vanguard-plans.html

 

Thanks once again, I will be following closely.

Paul.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Paul E said:

Hi Andrew,

 

Thank you for that, I will look into the PU600 tooling board as I don't want to spend too much just in case I don't get on with it. 

 

As for the plans I will look out for the Norman Friedman book. Did you know that Fleetscale have a set of plans at 1:128 scale for HMS Vangaurd to accompany their fibreglass hull. http://www.fleetscale.com/store/gb/hms-vanguard-ww2/367-1-128th-hms-vanguard-plans.html

 

Thanks once again, I will be following closely.

Paul.

I didn’t know about those plans - I’ve got their HMS Victorious plans - which are ridiculously big, but basically just a redraw of the aots book plans

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Kris B said:

The adds on must cost you a little fortune. 

I try not to think about that!

 

There are definitely times when I wish I was more interested in 'Obscure german tanks that were never built in alternative versions of WW2'  than real RN warships that fought all the way through the war and beyond, but... I'm not! 

  • Like 3
  • Haha 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Thud4444 said:

Do the Shapeways parts have a slightly grainy feel? If so how do you get rid of it?

They can do, seems to depend on the orientation of the parts when they are printed and the design being reproduced.  All the parts I've ordered this time are Frosted Extreme detail - the highest available option - which seem to be pretty good, but I won't really know until I've primed them.  Thein it's just down to a bit of clean up where necessary.  Have a look at my Jamaica build, the main turrets, directors, boats and carley floats were all from shapeways and cleaned up pretty well with minimum effort.

 

Edited by andrewa
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moving on...

 

The basic hull is now finished, I'll work on the details much later in the build, but for now I've added some plating effect with high build primer and built up the armour belt.  The main section is fairly straight forward, constant thickness and size, but the shallower sections fore and aft get less thick as they get to the extremities. I built up the thickness of those sections with progressively smaller sections of 5 thou placard, then blended everything together.

The main armour belt has angled sections around its perimeter, all added with some careful use of milliput.

 

39115605081_f8bec32d62_b.jpg

 

I've also drilled out the portholes, slightly differently laid out of each side, after matching them to various photographs, difficult to spot in the photos.  The hull is resting on a 30cm ruler in this shot - it's big, heavy and difficult to photograph. 

 

38405541084_a8b7838160_b.jpg

 

The wooden decking for the main deck has been cut to size but not fitted yet - by masking the whole deck and trimming to size before transferring the masking tape to the sheets of decking - sounds simple - wasn't. The fore deck is etched non-slip plating prepared in the same way as the wood and equally tricky.  I'll cut holes for the larger structures and surface mount the details (this plan may change)

 

25248555528_0a82b54a40_b.jpg

 

I've now started mapping out the main superstructure sections based on reference to 3 sets of plans, photos of the ship and photos of the builders model from the science museum. And referencing to the Samek kit, again easier said than done and both the forward and centre superstructures have changed since I took this shot.

 

38405539334_4f3dd69e3b_b.jpg

 

25248553368_d3ee514201_b.jpg

 

Finally I've also started on the main and secondary barbettes - both made up from wooden dowel wrapped with plasticard.  Once they are all cleaned up I'll cut down the sections I need.

 

38405537404_fdb39b3475_b.jpg

Edited by andrewa
  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's remarkable how much progress you can make with a couple of interruption free days off work...

 

All the main superstructure blocks and barbettes have been put together, Vanguard is quite straightforward with very few curves, just lots of flat plate sections needing some careful measuring, cutting and test fitting.  The most complex area is around the 4 bofors mounts at the rear of the forward superstructure nothing too tricky, just fiddly.  The majority of the structure is 1.5mm platicard walls with .5mm decks most of the walls are buttressed with off cuts to ensure squareness.  I recently picked up a small T-Square which is invaluable in getting accurate 90 degree corners.

 

25310881808_d13fac7118_b.jpg

 

25310882138_16909d55dd_b.jpg

 

27398670579_439088e540_b.jpg

 

Extreme close up:

 

39148963532_d11d472459_b.jpg

 

38299675635_a1560e394b_b.jpg

 

Main structural challenge left is the funnels, then some patience whilst everything firms up before a round of cleaning up all the joints and seams.

 

 

Edited by andrewa
  • Like 16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...