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The Battleship Knyaz Suvorov 1905


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Things are moving together from all over the world. A set of brass and aluminium gun barrels have been dispatched from Tarnów, near Krakow in Poland. [£10]

1841764469.jpg2993.jpg

These books are coming from the Amazon (Brasil ;)). I did a school history project on the Russo-Japanese War in 1968 (the project, not the war), and this is all quite nostalgic for me. Personal involvement, no matter how convoluted, is necessary to maintain my interest in the autumn and winter of a project. The techniques book is, I hope, the one that Andy recommended. [£18]

My PE order is in the Hands of White Ensign in Leominster, UK. [£43]

Finally, just for fun I've ordered a 10 RUBLEI Banknote of TRANSNISTRIA (1994) from an eBayer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This carries a portrait of the original Knyaz Suvarov, the Nineteenth Century general which I thought might look good on the stand. [£3]

Seventy-four quid invested already. I hope this build takes as long as I anticipate so I get my money's worth (Bearing in mind that 2012 is the year that I economise on this hobby :D). There's another incentive to finish the thing though. :)

And Andy, that's a fascinating photograph but I'm not biting - the kit stand is fine. Did you notice the small child on the gangway at the bow? I'm also very impressed with the health and safety provisions for the gang of platers working up high on the stern. No wonder the shipyards killed so many men.

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Look forward to seeing you have a go at this Don.

Just in case you don't think you've got enough reading material for the coffee table, I have recently three really good cheap books (the sort of thing sold in the 'Works'.)

Hore, Peter. The Ironclads. An Illustrated history of the Battleships from 1860-through to the First World War. (Southwater, 2006, 2008)

Hore, Peter. Battleships of World War I. (Southwater 2006,2008)

Ireland, Bernard. The Illustrated Guide to Cruisers. (Hermes House, 2008)

I paid £3 for each of them. Lots of lovely photos.

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Oh, and seeing as modelling Tsushima battleships seems to be a national pastime in Russia, there's quite a bit of photographic reference out there for these ships. No doubt helped along by the more liberal interpretation of copyright in Russia.

http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/01/029/index.html

Knowing your eye for pleasing human-interest details in your models, I for one would love to see you model Suvorov with her hammocks on deck and the sailors' rig hanging out to dry in the rigging... (see photo 11 above)

Will

Edited by Killingholme
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ill just leave this here and let the idea start to take root;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Oreg..._dock,_1898.jpg

Fantastic photograph.

Great details. I like the men working on the funnel caps. Their little rig looks like it runs up the funnels, but the ropes are cleated-off on the deck- they therefore have no control of moving it up or down themselves. Do you think they were told by the men down on deck 'you can come down when you've run out of spit and/or polish.'?

It also appears that Laurel and Hardy are helping repair the stbd. propeller blade...

936full-stan-laurel-oliver-hardy1.jpg

Will

Edited by Killingholme
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Oh, and seeing as modelling Tsushima battleships seems to be a national pastime in Russia, there's quite a bit of photographic reference out there for these ships. No doubt helped along by the more liberal interpretation of copyright in Russia.

http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/01/029/index.html

Knowing your eye for pleasing human-interest details in your models, I for one would love to see you model Suvorov with her hammocks on deck and the sailors' rig hanging out to dry in the rigging... (see photo 11 above)

Will

Hello Will, thanks for that link. There are some amazing photos there. I also used the site to Google in Russian and picked up several more excellent pictures, both photos and paintings, and an excellent built up example of the model. I am normally careful not to use someone else's model as a reference but in this case I'll make an exception.

1192091947_sany0030.jpg

If I get close to that, I'll be very pleased.

AND! My gun barrels arrived from Poland today.

IMG_0033.jpg

Nice.

As to human interest, am I ready for 1/350 figures? Hmmmm.

111.jpg

These are the officers, mostly killed at Tsushima a year later, when the Suvorov was reduced to the appearance of "a brazier of the type used for roasting chestnuts" before being capsized and sunk by torpedoes.

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Something tells me this is the beginning of another masterpiece.

First boat? It's unlikely to be other than 'satisfactory' to 'marginal'. That will be god enough for me.

This is not false modesty, just realism. I'm not letting you put me on a pedestal here because I will

be working in the dark a lot of the time and it's very easy to fall off pedestals in the dark. :)

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The picture of the crew is awesome... those are some serious Russians ! One looks like Lenin, another is a dead ringer for Putin and almost all have the insanely cool Russian style moustache. Brilliant !!

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Hello.

I am Russian and I assure you we are also building a model, sometimes when we do not drink vodka and do not ride on the bears.

This is a joke. :D

From this set difficult to build a historically accurate model, it is very close to Borodino, but you still need a lot of rework.

Here are three links with a description of the construction of three models of battleships Borodino type

Russian language. but the author shows a lot of photos of the process of construction.

Blog about Borodino

Blog about Emperor Alexander III

Blog about Orel

I think you can help.

Regards Danila.

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In a show of Solidarity with Don I've just brought the Hasagawa IJN Mikasa so once you've finished your build there will be something ready to Sink it :D we can have our own mini Russi Japanese war GB hehe ;)

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The picture of the crew is awesome... those are some serious Russians ! One looks like Lenin,

another is a dead ringer for Putin and almost all have the insanely cool Russian style moustache. Brilliant !!

They are much younger than I'd expected. Poor lads!

Hello.

I am Russian and I assure you we are also building a model, sometimes when we do not drink vodka and do not ride on the bears.

This is a joke. :D

From this set difficult to build a historically accurate model, it is very close to Borodino, but you still need a lot of rework.

Here are three links with a description of the construction of three models of battleships Borodino type

Russian language. but the author shows a lot of photos of the process of construction.

Blog about Borodino

Blog about Emperor Alexander III

Blog about Orel

I think you can help.

Regards Danila.

Thanks Danilla, those blogs are great fun, especially when translated by Google. They are also very useful.

In a show of Solidarity with Don I've just brought the Hasagawa IJN Mikasa so once you've finished your build

there will be something ready to Sink it :D we can have our own mini Russi Japanese war GB hehe ;)

Just stay away from Torpedo Boats and give me a fair fight.

This came today:

IMG_0048.jpg

It's that banknote with the picture of the original Prince Alexander Suvorov. It's intended for livening up the stand. Cool quiff!

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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  • 4 weeks later...
One thing about looking at all of these threads, I am learning a lot about the real ships history, & what the earlier ones looked like. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

That's half the pleasure for me Carl. I wrote a History project on the Russo-Japanese War when I was 12 and it's great to revisit the period 34 years later.

The White Ensign PE is now back in stock and on its way to me. I should be making a start soon but this won't be a rushed job. I estimate a year to finish her.

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Hello Don.

There is a new set of additions to this model - resin turrets 12 and 6 inch guns, and smoke funnels. Here are a few photos.

The manufacturer is a company in Russia - Complect ZiP.

E-mail in first photo.

Regards Danila.

P.S. This is not advertisement. :)

photo_1_1327070886.jpg

photo_2_1317201684.jpg

photo_2_1327070886.jpg

photo_9_1317201684.jpg

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That White Ensign consignment arrived safely this morning. I've never seen 1/350

scale ship etched brass before. Oh dear! It's so incredibly delicate that I know I'll

mangle at least half of it.

It has helped me make my mind up about one thing though, I am definitely going to

waterline the boat. I'll need the base to protect the etch and the rigging from my own

clumsy handling.

I will also be able to weather the thing which will hide a lot of probably sloppy

construction! :) After a voyage of 18,000 miles from St Petersburg to the unfortunate

incident at Tsushima, the "nd Pacific Squadron was looking quite battered and filthy.

They burned a half-million tons of coal on the trip with much sooty fallout. They

encountered at least one hurricane to blast and fade the paintwork. They are

reported to have accumulated a couple of feet of weed at the waterline too. So

there's plenty of excuses for a 'weary warrior look'.

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Hello Don.

There is a new set of additions to this model - resin turrets 12 and 6 inch guns, and smoke funnels. Here are a few photos.

The manufacturer is a company in Russia - Complect ZiP.

E-mail in first photo.

Regards Danila.

P.S. This is not advertisement. :)

photo_1_1327070886.jpg

Hello Danila,

These are tempting. However, I have the White Ensign etch now and I think that will improve the kit turrets enough for this build. Thanks for telling me though, just in case of a shipyard disaster!

Edited by per ardua ad ostentationem
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Great to hear you're waterlining it. Ships belong in the sea!

I understand that the action of the sea on ships can be very harsh on the paintwork. The trans-Atlantic liners needed repainting after their maiden voyage because the sea would strip the paint on the forefoot clean off. Here's a picture of RMS Olympic arriving in NY after her first voyage- note the patchy/ worn-off paint on the waterline. Once the ship was repainted a couple of times the paint always seemed to 'key' better and lasted longer- making this pattern of weathering very much a 'new ship' phenomenon.

http://darthdevious.blogspot.com/2011/11/ship-history-6.html

Will

Edited by Killingholme
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