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HMS Renown, 'the battleship-yacht', 1905


Robert Stuart

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Hi Robert,

Ship design, like most things is a compromise. In crude terms bigger means you can carry heavier armament (and/or more of it), but you need more materials, it takes longer to build and you need a larger crew to man it, therefore more cost. Also, the increased weight needs more powerful propulsion and that in turn increases the weight as does the larger amount of fuel needed - just like a plane really. I think the limiting factors initially besides cost were that they had problems producing big enough sheets of armour to avoid weakness caused by a lot of joints, many of the shipyards were not able to handle really large ships, neither were docks and in the some cases such as Germany canals were too narrow (their shipyards were inland as they had very little coastine) - that would later cause the US problems with the Panama canal too. Hydrodynamics of large ships were not fully understood, which added to the problems as they had to learn as they went along to a large extent as size increased.

 

Won't go on as it is a complicated subject. Let's just say that the RN 1890 1st class battleships were around 400' long and displaced around 13500 tons, by 1900 this had risen to around 14500 tons, and by 1905 15700 with no significant change in length and speed around 18.5 knots. In 1906 Dreadnought came in at 527', 18000tons and the extra length enabled her to get 21knots. Iron Duke was 622' to carry 26770 tons at the same speed and the Queen Elizabeths were about the same weight, 25' longer and did 23 knots due to better propulsion systems. Projected post war designs would have been in the 45000 tons 800'+ range but the Washington Treaty killed them off. The "economy version" King George V class was around 38000 tons and 725' and did 28 knots. The progression in size was very fast and the length to beam ratio changed as they got longer and narrower. Your"2nd class" battleship Renown was about 390', 14000 tons and did 19 knots apparently AFAIK. Incidentally there are a number of ways of measuring length and displacement so other sources may disagree with my figures.

 

End of lecture!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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PS, 

 

I came across a review of this kit on a website which I thought you might find interesting - the site has not been updated since 2017 and I suspect this review is somewhat older.

 

"Historical Note: This British battleship had a surprisingly short career as a warship. Put into service in 1897 and scrapped in 1914 before the outbreak of WW1 she spent most of her time in service as a Royal Yacht and a tender to HMS Victory. She must not have filled the Admiralty with boundless confidence as to her capabilities. However, this ship is a great opportunity for the RN modeler to add a great looking black, buff and white battleship (or just buff and white as a Royal yacht) in immaculate condition to the great gray fleet!

Kit Parts: this is an all resin kit with no photo etch. All parts are molded in light gray resin. The hull is a one piece casting that incorporates the lower superstructure. Once again Combrig has produced not only a beautiful, clean casting requiring no preparation other than washing, but they have again created a total gem with superfine detail. The other pieces are cast on pour plugs and extremely thin wafer and are also highly detailed and flash free. There are an incredible number of tiny, highly detailed parts in this kit. It is NOT for the beginner in resin. Careful handling is a must to get these tiny parts off of their stubs without damaging them. All parts necessary to construct this kit are included in the resin castings but I would suggest, at a minimum, substituting metal rod or tubing for the upper masts and yards. I know I'm too clumsy for these delicate pieces to work with them in resin and I know I'm not alone in this. This is an outstanding kit.

As more pre-dreadnoughts appear on the market the PE makers are beginning to respond to their specific needs. You can now obtain ratlines for these ships from White Ensign Models and I'm sure more PDBB specific things will come out soon. Combine the ratlines with rigging and rails and a truly exquisite model can be built".

 

This is the site link.

http://www.modelerjoe.net/shipmodellist.html#Intro

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Thanks Pete.

There is a review of the Combrig Renown on Steel Navy that I find useful: http://www.steelnavy.com/CombrigRenown.htm

 

The base has been given a coat of paint all around (zinc white, 'cause that is what I had to hand), and the top & bottom have thin layers of molding (sic) paste.

It is sandwiched between layers of plastic film to help smooth the surface, though that can introduce it's own problems and slows the drying noticably.

itn_renown_011.jpg

 

I've also made a building base (jig?) that should make the ship easier to handle and help protect the sticky out things when I drop the model.

 

itn_renown_012.jpg

 

The hull is placed here for now...

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I've been working on Renown's base - it will be less dramatic than Zetland's, but the same techniques were used.

 

This is with some moulding paste applied, followed by a thin coat of gloss medium - then photographed using the torch on my phone for dramatic effect.

 

itn_renown_014.jpg

 

In normal light, this photographs as flat white.

 

(Reminds me, I haven't had my morning coffee).

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having come to a minor stall with Zetland, and seeing Ray S's Gloucester start, I've done something with Renown.

 

I removed and replaced the shim under the waterline, this time makeing it hull sized.  This is two layers of 10 though (I think) plasticard.
itn_renown_017.jpg
The hole in the second layer is to allow for bumps left when I ripped off the previous attempt.

 

I've also give the kit a wash, and a spray of Halford's white primer

itn_renown_016.jpg

 

(Couldn't get that all in one shot, so I stiched two photos together).
Not shown are the masts - these I think will be replaced with brass items

 

 

 

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Back in post #8, I mentioned that a funnel had broken off one of the launches.
I've now replaced it.  In makeing the repair, I was pleasently surprised to not thet funnel is hollow at the top

itn_renown_018.jpg

 

That is nice attention to detail on this resin kit.

And some modlling - or rarther, painting.
I've given all the decks and walkways at least one coat of paint, two coats on the main casting.
itn_renown_019.jpg

 

The fore deck is painted Taniya deck tan.  The upper and aft(?) decks are corticene brown.  From the photos, you can tell I've used a hairy-stick - I'll see what I think of this later.

 

In 1905, Renown was a Royal Yatch, with the aft deck used by the royal party.  On most ships, an uncovered wooden rear deck would have been usual.  There is photographic evidence that Renown was different, and some sort of covering was employed (link).  Corticene seems a logical option to me.


I've had to take a guess that the foredeck was have been left uncovered. This would have been a working area for the crew, and holystoning that deck would have helped keep hands occupied.

 

 

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