ArtickWarspite

Great, thank you. Will check it out.

Admittedly the teak base was almost an afterthought. It was the cheapest I could find in the shortest time frame, and wasn't the finest quality. I could have spent more time smoothing it out with the sander, but it's bit late for that now. At the start I had delusions of grandeur of placing it on a diorama base in stormy seas. That was before it became apparent this was going to be a year and half's work.

Hi all, I have not been on here for a while, but have noticed all the images that I previously posted of the Nelson have now disappeared, so I'm trying this again by using flickr. Below is the work in progress shots & final images for the giant 1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson that I built in 2019-20. But first, a quick review on my experiences and what was learned during this process to help anyone here who may have an interest in building one of these monsters one day: Trumpeter 1/200 HMS Nelson Pontos 1/200 HMS Nelson aftermarket set North Star Models 1/200 figures (A & Brass pedestals & teak base. Colourcoats enamels July 2019 – November 2020 This kit was a massive project. Over 1,700 parts, the addition of the aftermarket PE set and the camouflage paint job ensured this project would take well over a year to complete. Quick summary; A challenging build, but a satisfactory one. Plenty of hurdles to overcome, but once you make inroads, it became easier as time progressed. Should you attempt one? Many people have said over the course of the build they felt intimidated by the amount of parts and the complexity of them and therefore would never try it. I would honestly say, if you even were mildly interested in trying one of these one day, and had a basic knowledge of using brass & photo etch- do it. A lot of the build was much easier than it looked, and the daunting aspects of the build were not as tough as originally expected. A builder with limited experience can make this whole Pontos kit shine, and you can use as little or as much of it as you want. If you want to build the kit only, then even basic modelling skills will make this look good. If you want to try the Pontos set on top, then it’s recommended you have at least a small amount of PE & brass experience. The Trumpeter kit The kit itself was typical Trumpeter. No flash, good fit on the parts with good detail, though with some of their traditional inaccuracies. Nice of them to supply some PE for it, though this is replaced with the Pontos offering. The one piece hull design is a great idea, and the deck fit on top reasonably well. Interestingly, the main gun barrels were much shorter than the Pontos replacements. But on the whole even without the aftermarket kit, these ships carry enough detail to warrant their big size, and make up a good looking build just on their own. The paints The colourcoats enamel paints came out looking great. The colours feel very accurate, and the blues & greys are subtle enough without being too bright. Admittedly it’s been a while using enamels, but you get past that pretty quickly. I probably could have made things much easier for myself and gone with the 1945 single colour scheme, but that wasn’t visually interesting enough for me. The figures The Northstar Models figures were highly detailed and carried multiple interesting poses with a good selection of different types of sailors & officers. In terms of 200 scale naval figures, these 3D printed figures are right up there. There were two let downs with these figures. One was that they were moulded to the casting block way too close together, so cutting one off often took another off at the knees- this was especially difficult when cutting really thin parts as they are very fragile figures. The other issue was that dealing with Northstar themselves wasn’t easy. It took about 3 months to get the product. I was told the item had shipped and was given a tracking number which didn’t exist. Then I sent about 8 unanswered emails over a space of 6 weeks with no response. Finally I did get a response saying it was on the way, with the same tracking number- which now worked. Pontos aftermarket set Finally the Pontos set. Loads of PE, resin and brass. I loved this set- to a point. It amplified everything so much. 8 barreled pom poms with 10 parts in the kit, carried over 30 in this one! The detail was amazing across the board. Even for a newbie like me, it wasn’t too difficult to use this set- challenging yes, but a set like this can be used competently by someone with intermediate skills. It’s not reserved for the exclusively advanced. As fantastic as this aftermarket set is, it was let down greatly by one aspect, and this had a knock on effect which ultimately made this set harder than it needed to be- and that was the instructions. The images were not clear enough- especially smaller images like the jack staffs or smaller parts. There were no instructions on how to make many of these components- just an end picture, so I had to rebuild segments of things from time to time when it came to fitting them on the ship. More than once it called for using the wrong part or wrong railing which was in fact a different number, there were not arrows or diagrams or a process of which parts to use first. There are also many different parts & accessories which come in the set which are clearly meant to be used for something, but there is no reference to them anywhere in the instructions- text or images. It's like you’re expected to know where they go, which for a ship could be anyone’s guess. The pieces which are required to do the main battery were very hard to fit correctly. A lot more detail in the instructions were required for this part especially. This was compounded by the brass barrels which made the front of the turrets very heavy making construction harder still. The ammo boxes for the pom poms were also difficult to use so I used the kit ones instead. Anyway, you want images no doubt. Let's hope the images stick around this time..

Hi All, After a considerable amount of time away from the hobby, I'm turning my attention to the Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Dreadnought 1915 as my next project. I built the 1907 version of the Dreadnought back in 2013, so this is like a 10 year project to make pretty much the same ship with 10 years of gained ship building experience to see just how different they will look. In regards to aftermarket parts for said ship, it's still going to be kept relatively simple. Just the addition of a railing set, decking & metal barrels. No extensive PE this time around. But what I would like to know is what the differences were between the 1907 version of the Dreadnought & the 1915 version? Reason is that I have ordered the only Dreadnought railing set I can get hold of which is for the 1907 version. ...I hope that the money spent was not wasted doing this. Secondly, I want to make sure that the paint scheme was in fact the 507A NARN04 which is the standard grey at the time according to the Colourcoats paint range. Perhaps @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies can confirm this information? If anyone can help with the above questions, that would be most helpful.

First of all, an apology to those who had been following the in progress build. It ultimately got to the point where progress slowed down enough to not warrant an update, plus all the images I had been uploading were disappearing over time. I'm working on getting the latter resolved, though it is yet to happen at this stage. So, it's been a while since I did an update and well, the update is that the ship is finished. So here it is. But first, a quick review on my experiences and what was learned during this process to help anyone here who may have an interest in building one of these monsters one day: Trumpeter 1/200 HMS Nelson Pontos 1/200 HMS Nelson aftermarket set North Star Models 1/200 figures (A & B) Brass pedestals & teak base. Colourcoats enamels July 2019 – November 2020 This kit was a massive project. Over 1,700 parts, the addition of the aftermarket PE set and the camouflage paint job ensured this project would take well over a year to complete. Quick summary; A challenging build, but a satisfactory one. Plenty of hurdles to overcome, but once you make inroads, it became easier as time progressed. Should you attempt one? Many people have said over the course of the build they felt intimidated by the amount of parts and the complexity of them and therefore would never try it. I would honestly say, if you even were mildly interested in trying one of these one day, and had a basic knowledge of using brass & photo etch- do it. A lot of the build was much easier than it looked, and the daunting aspects of the build were not as tough as originally expected. A builder with limited experience can make this whole Pontos kit shine, and you can use as little or as much of it as you want. If you want to build the kit only, then even basic modelling skills will make this look good. If you want to try the Pontos set on top, then it’s recommended you have at least a small amount of PE & brass experience. The Trumpeter kit The kit itself was typical Trumpeter. No flash, good fit on the parts with good detail, though with some of their traditional inaccuracies. Nice of them to supply some PE for it, though this is replaced with the Pontos offering. The one piece hull design is a great idea, and the deck fit on top reasonably well. Interestingly, the main gun barrels were much shorter than the Pontos replacements. But on the whole even without the aftermarket kit, these ships carry enough detail to warrant their big size, and make up a good looking build just on their own. The paints The colourcoats enamel paints came out looking great. The colours feel very accurate, and the blues & greys are subtle enough without being too bright. Admittedly it’s been a while using enamels, but you get past that pretty quickly. I probably could have made things much easier for myself and gone with the 1945 single colour scheme, but that wasn’t visually interesting enough for me. The figures The Northstar Models figures were highly detailed and carried multiple interesting poses with a good selection of different types of sailors & officers. In terms of 200 scale naval figures, these 3D printed figures are right up there. There were two let downs with these figures. One was that they were moulded to the casting block way too close together, so cutting one off often took another off at the knees- this was especially difficult when cutting really thin parts as they are very fragile figures. The other issue was that dealing with Northstar themselves wasn’t easy. It took about 3 months to get the product. I was told the item had shipped and was given a tracking number which didn’t exist. Then I sent about 8 unanswered emails over a space of 6 weeks with no response. Finally I did get a response saying it was on the way, with the same tracking number- which now worked. Pontos aftermarket set Finally the Pontos set. Loads of PE, resin and brass. I loved this set- to a point. It amplified everything so much. 8 barreled pom poms with 10 parts in the kit, carried over 30 in this one! The detail was amazing across the board. Even for a newbie like me, it wasn’t too difficult to use this set- challenging yes, but a set like this can be used competently by someone with intermediate skills. It’s not reserved for the exclusively advanced. As fantastic as this aftermarket set is, it was let down greatly by one aspect, and this had a knock on effect which ultimately made this set harder than it needed to be- and that was the instructions. The images were not clear enough- especially smaller images like the jack staffs or smaller parts. There were no instructions on how to make many of these components- just an end picture, so I had to rebuild segments of things from time to time when it came to fitting them on the ship. More than once it called for using the wrong part or wrong railing which was in fact a different number, there were not arrows or diagrams or a process of which parts to use first. There are also many different parts & accessories which come in the set which are clearly meant to be used for something, but there is no reference to them anywhere in the instructions- text or images. It's like you’re expected to know where they go, which for a ship could be anyone’s guess. The pieces which are required to do the main battery were very hard to fit correctly. A lot more detail in the instructions were required for this part especially. This was compounded by the brass barrels which made the front of the turrets very heavy making construction harder still. The ammo boxes for the pom poms were also difficult to use so I used the kit ones instead. Anyway, you want images no doubt..

Apologies for the long delay. I have still been busy on the Nelson. Looking back, it appears all my images are going missing, so I'll look to rectify that in due course. So the last 6 weeks or so has seen the completion of the hull painting & weathering. Then the main & secondary battery were constructed, painted & weathered. Smaller parts have been painted but not yet installed and the wooden decking has gone down (yet to be weathered). Plus an expensive piece of teak has been installed as the base. Points to note: The construction of the main battery using the PE provided was difficult to say the least. The brass gun barrels are so heavy they made hard work for installing anything light behind it. Plus adding in these extras tended to create fit issues when putting on the top part of the turret. But of course too much manipulation broke the set up inside. From memory the first main turret I did took nearly 2 weeks. Will remember this for any future projects.. The other notable issue was the decking. Despite this only being the second time ever having done one, it was difficult to manipulate, difficult to remove the removable smaller parts and quite often started ripping the actual decking. The end result turned out ok, but I hoped for better.

Thanks @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies and @foeth for your input. Looking at both images, I see what you're both saying. I think the more conclusive image is the bottom one as it shows more of the hull facing the direction of the light, so I'm satisfied enough that there was only the one panel of G45. At any rate if its raising discussion amongst the experts, then the average Joe will be completely unaware. However this image does show that I have made a mistake on the superstructure. The dark blue on the starboard side wraps around the centre section just under the bridge- which I did not do. I did not have an image which showed the bow so it was completely missed.

@Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies thanks, it's nice for it to really be taking shape after spending so long building smaller components. It is odd that according to the paint plan you originally sent me, there is only one panel of G45 on the entire hull. One would think there'd be more of it but the superstructure only uses it sparingly so it could just be the theme. If those two panels you mentioned were in fact G45, then arguably the side of the front turrets would be the same colour rather than B30 since those panels are directly beneath? Maybe I'm just clutching at straws since I really can't be bothered changing it.. 😛

Latest progress on the hull. Both sides are now fully painted awaiting weathering. The painting process was reasonably straight forward. Definitely happy with the colours, as they feel like the right value and not too vibrant. 11 months into this project now, and feel now that the hull is done that I'm on track. There are also lots of smaller decking components which have been built but not painted or installed yet so I'm probably a little further along than the image suggests. Weathering the hull and building the 3rd turret will be next. Then will paint the remainder of he guns before the rest of the decking goes down. All the smaller stuff will be after that.

So carrying on from the last post, the superstructure is almost done and the pedestals are now in place. Next will be priming and setting up the hull with the little pieces required to get it ready for painting this weekend.

I just realised it's been a few weeks since I've done an update. No images unfortunately, but there has been progress. The latest additions have been railings, ladders, gun directors, AA guns, life boats & launches and numerous little pieces and paint touch ups. As a result the entire superstructure is about 95% complete. Only some more AA guns, a 27ft whaler and a couple of railings are left to do (rigging not included). The pedestals have just arrived so work will begin on the hull next week. It's taken just over 10 months to get this far. Hopefully the remainder will be a touch faster.

A few more little pieces added

After four weeks of lockdown I have painted, weathered and assembled most of the superstructure. There's still things to add like the 20mm AA guns, baskets, foremast, life boats & life rafts but the main parts are all done. The mainmast still needs weathering and finishing off too which will be the next job. I've got a AK weathering deck wash, but it's too dark for what I want, so once I eventually get to it, a thin wash will go down on the deck.

Some more progress on the superstructure and amidships. Most of the superstructure has been weathered and is now having the smaller additions added.

Done a bit of weathering on the bottom of the superstructure and finished the smoke stack in its entirety. (Maybe some weathering pastel to simulate some soot but that's all). Despite building and painting most of the main superstructure components, I'm gluing the parts in place from inside out and bottom to top. I did get the ladder on one of the Bofors mounts backwards, but I'll try fix that later. Again the Pontos instructions were a let down by pointing out the railing around the stack was number 167. This piece is in fact the railing for the conning tower. The proper railing was 655 on a completely different fret. It's a shame really, the Pontos set is fantastic in so many ways but its let down badly with errors in the instructions, vague and small images, unclear diagrams in important areas and no instructions on what to do for the tons of leftover etch you'll have. If the instructions were done like a wingnuts kit, I'd recommend it to anyone.