Jump to content

Ark Royal III 1/350


Recommended Posts

Looks really good. I had been wondering how all you scratchbuilders skin the hull and now I know! I would like to try something along these lines like a destroyer or WW1 Cruiser as a start. Subjects like yours can only inspire! Well done, keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing.

Ray

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the kind words. This is my first complete scratch build and I'm learning a lot as I go. I haven't found any of it really difficult so far - though it has been tricky in places (i.e. needing two or three goes to get right) and I've made a few mistakes. For example, the knuckle at the stern is not as pronounced as it should be and the flight-deck over-hang is slightly too deep at the extreme stern. These are impossible to rectify now without wrecking the model. Other faults, such as the the shape of the quad machine gun platforms, I can sort out later. I may have been better advised to start with something simplier, but I think the hard part is now done and it matches the plans pretty well. The only part I'm uncertain of is scratch-building the 4.5" gun houses, as I've been unable to find really good photos of the mounts. I believe that these mounts were unique to Ark Royal and Scylla.

I've decided to splash out on Master 1/350 products (brass pom-pom guns, quad machine guns etc), and Admiralty RN boats. I've also got a small stash of OOP WEM 1/350 Swordfish and Fulmars, though the Fulmars might not get used, as I'm looking at the feasibility of converting Trumpeter Dauntless into Skuas. An earlier time-frame would also mean that I'd get away without a degausing coil. The rest of the details will be time consuming more than anything else and it progress will be slow now for a few weeks (holidays etc).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ian,

I hope I'm not too late in finding this for you but I came across this very good photo, taken from a shipping magazine dated 30 December 1938

It shows off the massive overhang very well, plus the widths of the bulwark strengthening inside the quarterdeck area and also the sponson strengtheners.

The netting and fencing around the stern of the flight deck is worth noting also.

HTH

Mike

scan0067.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 4 months later...

It's been a while since my last confession. Having finished the basic construction on the hull, it was clear that there were a number of problems to sort out. The cable deck needed redoing, the port midship pom-pom sponsons were mounted too high, the flight-deck overhang over the quarter deck was not even on both sides of the hull and the forward knuckle was too pronounced.

It had got to the stage where I was heartily sick of the project, so ignored it for a few months, before picking it up again over the Easter holiday period.

The cable deck now looks like this:

DSC_0005-2.jpg

It is probably good enough since it will only be seen through the hull openings. I removed the poor attempt at a steam pipe on the roof of the cable-deck before fitting.

I cut out the midships pom-pom sponsons and made a new set and which are now back in the hull at the correct depth:

DSC_00242.jpg

I also used milliput to finish the 4.5" sponsons, which still need a bit of attention to make even:

DSC_00252.jpg

The flight-deck above the cable deck is now glued to the hull with the cable deck masked with foam peanuts and tape. The water-line shows a repair to the bow where I manage to drop the model onto a brick floor:

DSC_0032.jpg

I haven't finished sorting out the area above the quarter deck, but the hull now looks like this:

DSC_00282.jpg

DSC_00273.jpg

The next task is the quarter deck and flight-deck over-hang. After that, all of the light AA and searchlight platforms need bracing supports and the hull openings and crane deck need detailing and boxing in. I'm still undecided about whether to bother to reduce the forward knuckle.

Here's a slightly older view with the 1/600th kit for comparison.

DSC_00102.jpg

Hopefully the interval until next update won't be as long

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

A small update. I've been busy correcting the obvious faults on the hull. These are the angle of the round-down and the forward 4.5" opening (of which more later). Compared with plans and photographs, the round-down fell away too sharpely.

img1922.jpg

The old Airfix kit has the angle right, so I decided to razor saw through the hull under the round-down and insert a wedge. You can see the cut in the photo.

DSC_0077.jpg

With the wedge inserted, there was a slight buckle in the flight-deck, which I've corrected.

DSC_0078.jpg

Now that I'm happy with the shape, I've started to detail the stern. The first job was to cut openings in the hull above the quarter-deck. These still need to be sub-divided with plastic card. I also detailed the search-light position, fitted a deck to the opening in front of the round-down and added splinter shields to the 0.5" gun positions and the main 4.5" sponsons from brass sheet. The search light and 0.5" sponsons are braced to the hull of the ship, but I'll add all these more delicate structures later.

DSC_00283.jpg

Finally, I've started to add the re-inforcements to the hull under the round-down from micro-strip.

DSC_00313.jpg.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Thanks for the kind words. This is my first complete scratch build and I'm learning a lot as I go. I haven't found any of it really difficult so far - though it has been tricky in places (i.e. needing two or three goes to get right) and I've made a few mistakes. For example, the knuckle at the stern is not as pronounced as it should be and the flight-deck over-hang is slightly too deep at the extreme stern. These are impossible to rectify now without wrecking the model. Other faults, such as the the shape of the quad machine gun platforms, I can sort out later. I may have been better advised to start with something simplier, but I think the hard part is now done and it matches the plans pretty well. The only part I'm uncertain of is scratch-building the 4.5" gun houses, as I've been unable to find really good photos of the mounts. I believe that these mounts were unique to Ark Royal and Scylla.

I've decided to splash out on Master 1/350 products (brass pom-pom guns, quad machine guns etc), and Admiralty RN boats. I've also got a small stash of OOP WEM 1/350 Swordfish and Fulmars, though the Fulmars might not get used, as I'm looking at the feasibility of converting Trumpeter Dauntless into Skuas. An earlier time-frame would also mean that I'd get away without a degausing coil. The rest of the details will be time consuming more than anything else and it progress will be slow now for a few weeks (holidays etc).

This is very ambitious subject for a first scratchbuild. Anyway, so far so good, keep up the good work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ian

great model of my favorite ship

I have been building her at 1/144th scale on and off for the last couple of years,and I know the scarcity of information

There are some good photos of the 4.5 mount and the vickers guns at the following site

the dock museum

"the vickers photographic archive"

go to armament>naval weapon>naval gun

photos 28 to 33

keep up the good work

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi John, and :post1:

I hope you enjoy it here as much as I do.

great model of my favorite ship

I have been building her at 1/144th scale

Any chance of some photos, that sounds like quite a project!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I've finally managed to find the inspiraton to work on this again.....

The island this time - I struggled to get the shape of the island right, as it is not symmetrical. For the base of the island I made 60 thou plastic card sections from the 'as fitted' plans and filled between the sections with P38 auto filler. The funnel was made by using plastic card cross-sections and plastic tube, filled with P38 and sanded back to shape. The base and funnel match the plans very well now, though the funnel still needs a funnel cap, which will increase its height a little.

I'm making the decks in various sections, as this is easier to match to the plans and will allow for painting. This is my third attempt at the curved bridge structure with recesses for windows (between C and D decks). I found that using blocks of resin for the curved wings worked best as resin is easier to sand back to the correct shape. I still need to shorten C-D decks before attaching to the island base and build the screens around the front of B deck

With the base of the island and funnel on the flight-deck, it actually beginning to look like Ark Royal...

006.jpg

002-1.jpg

003.jpg

002.jpg

001.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

More progress on the island:

DSC_00244.jpg

DSC_00264.jpg

DSC_0028.jpg

Still a fair bit to do, but it is gradually taking shape. I'm struggling with the arrangement of D deck (top deck of island). I still have the searchlight platform to add behind the direct and mast, but do not have a clear photo of this area. Has anyone got a photograph they could share?

Many thanks,

IG

  • Like 2
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...