Jump to content

HMS Renown, 'the battleship-yacht', 1905


Robert Stuart

Recommended Posts

This is a first for me - a resin kit.

HMS Renown (together with HMS Zetland), will be my first steel ship - I've had a go at tall ship in the (distant) past, but never something this modern.

The box:
itn_renown_001.jpg

 

And, just to show how big this thing is, the hull

 

itn_renown_002.jpg


 

HMS Renown was laid down in 1893, launched in 1895, and commisioned in 1897.  In 1914, just before the First World War, she was sold for scrap.

This build is to model HMS Renown as she was in 1905 ...

  • Like 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice choice, I did her a couple of years ago in the black scheme. The resin is beautifully moulded and it fits together like a dream. My biggest problem was my sausage fingers and my eyesight 😆 thoroughly enjoyable build and a great starter for a ship resin kit, looking forward to it going together!

Bob

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Rob, Bob

20 hours ago, rob85 said:

Nice subject and interesting looking kit (read challenging kit!).

 

1 hour ago, moaning dolphin said:

I did her a couple of years ago in the black scheme.

The black scheme would have been very smart.  I'll be using the white, though that has enough challeging oddities to have me scratching my head.

 

Robert

 

Mmm, Rob, Bob, Robert ... is there a theme emerging here?
People with other names are allowed to comment here ...

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys.

I had a few moments to take a photo of the parts ... can you call it the sprue shot?

itn_renown_003.jpg

 

One broken piece - a funnel from the launch (toward the bottom right of the picture).  Not too bad for resin, especially with all those delicate stick things (yards, lifeboat davits &c) floating around.

That rectangular thing in the bottom centre - there may be bits of mould (the casting mould?) stuck on there, though it feels soft for that.  I have no idea (yet) what it is for, or if I even need it.

Combrig have supplied three anchors (to the right of the image above).  Three would be normal, but Renown carried a spare, just above the waterline, near the stern (visible in my modelling notes, below).

modelling_notes_01.jpg

 

OK, serious modelling problem - how do I organise a spare anchor, when I have no spares box?

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure about this!! :banghead:

That looks far too stressful a project to me........but I am looking forward to seeing it in progress!

Good luck!! :popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh yes - from an era when the Senior Service knew how to make good looking ships.....I've always wanted to do one of these resin ships but they look far too daunting. I've got a car & paper HMS Good Hope on the go, but probably too far advanced for this GB to enter.

 

Anyway, good choice by you, you've got one follower here on this GB anyway :)

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Robert Stuart he didn't serve of the Renown. Served as a Royal Marine on Exmouth, Albion, Cumberland & London during WW1, followed by Eagle, Tiger, Revenge, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and Furious. We only discovered his service record last year when sorting through old paperwork

 

I do think the pre-dreadnought battleships are interesting ships. I have sourced kits for about half of them but have yet to build any yet.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Jb65rams said:

I do think the pre-dreadnought battleships are interesting ships. I have sourced kits for about half of them but have yet to build any yet.

Well, they are not that big and they'll take less space if you do go ahead and build them.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/13/2020 at 9:01 PM, Robert Stuart said:

Well, they are not that big and they'll take less space if you do go ahead and build them.

 

Quite right. The pre-dreadnoughts tended to be relatively short and wide in the beam which gave them plenty of internal space for propulsion and ammo etc and it made them more stable and therefore steadier gun platforms. In fact due to some curious thinking in the design department, some of the Armoured Cruisers such as Warrior and Minotaur were actually longer than the battleships of the period - they needed to be long and narrow to get higher speeds I think - less hydrodynamic drag. Similar sort of thing to Dreadnoughts vs Battlecruisers a bit later.

 

Years ago I built a lot of 1/700 ships, and was surprised how relatively tiny the kit of the old Dreadnought USS Arizona was compared to later designs such as Washington and Alabama, but again that was a case of lengthening to allow faster speeds I think, amongst other considerations - the Iowa's being perhaps the ultimate expression.

 

Pete

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

On 2/11/2020 at 2:21 AM, Robert Stuart said:

Mmm, Rob, Bob, Robert ... is there a theme emerging here?
People with other names are allowed to comment here ...

Gidday Robert, seeing as I'm allowed to comment (  😁  ) can I put my two bob's worth in? I've not heard of this ship before, only the battlecruiser, and neither do my reference books mention it. Thank goodness for the internet. I also know nothing about resin kits, other than some modelers like them, and some hate them, so I'm very interested in how this turns out.

     I think that since HMS Dreadnought made her appearance (1906 was it?) the earlier ships have been somewhat over-shadowed. I think it is good that some modelers like yourself have taken them on board. Perhaps I should too, one day.     Regards, Jeff.

 

P.S.   I've just noticed - two bob's worth - no pun was intended.  😁   Regards again.

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, PeterB said:

The pre-dreadnoughts tended to be relatively short and wide in the beam which gave them plenty of internal space for propulsion and ammo etc and it made them more stable and therefore steadier gun platforms.

Thanks Pete.  I've only begun to scratch the surface of developments in this period, so I don't know the reasoning.
There may have been a saving in materials, the technology involved in making armour plate (for the hulls) was changing fast at this time.  Or they may not have known how to place the engines and shafts efficiently?

 

Robert



 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Jeff, welcome to the party.  Two bob? (A florin, two shillings, or 10p in today's GBP ... except with two bob, you could be looking at an Airfix series 2 kit in the local Woolies.)  On resin kits, while I have used resin components, this is my first resin kit (I've always been worried by the dust issues associated with the material).

 

Yeah, there have been several Renowns (wiki lists eleven https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Renown), several Dreadnoughts too 🤫.
This Renown was Jackie Fisher's flagship (twice), and is thought to have influenced his ideas on the use and design of warships.

 

There is a timeline for Renown hidden here (sorry, nothing specifically Austrailian - apart from the changes of monarch).

Spoiler

time_line.png

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

References

Meant to say, the Royal Collection Trust is a great source of images for HMS Renown in 1905
https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/page/1

 

The site is quirky to use and search, but has some great images.

For HMS Renown go to the link above, and type in Renown.

You'll get two options: Renown (HMS), and HMS Renown

Choose one option, or the other - each option has different images attached.

Be careful with the captions on the images - some are excellent, others are ... outside their author's area of expertise.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MarkSH said:

A very interesting build all round, but fascinated to see how the base goes together, especially getting the wave 'frequency' right.

You may know where I want to go ... though my HMS Zetland should be moving faster.

Progress today.
To my eye, waterline models, generally, ride too low in the water, so I've added a bit of padding (this is expanded polysteryne).

 

itn_renown_007.jpg

 

itn_renown_009.jpg

 

IMO, that looks better (maybe a little high ATM).  By the time I've added a few waves to the base, it should be fine.

 

The base has been wrapped in plaster bandage, seen here with HMS Zetland's base.

itn_renown_010.jpg

 

Renown's base is the larger, lower example.
Both are very green in that photo, hence the sprue drying rack.

  • Like 3
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...