The Umpteenth HMS Hood on Britmodeller, My First.

[mark.au]

G'day all. This will be an intermittent blog on my first big ship build. I've previously completed only one other, a W Class Destroyer, HMS Wren from the Showcase kit. My usual fare is 1/48 aircraft but since completing a Tamiya P-38 around mid-year I lost some mojo. After a further period of complete modelling inactivity I picked this out of the stash where it had languished for a couple of years. I was, in all honesty, quite a bit intimidated at the prospect of all of the PE (I'm using the Eduard PE set), my least favourite medium to work in. That in addition to all of the little bits and pieces, the sheer size of it, and a definite exit from my comfort zone. But nothing breaks the lack of mojo like a departure from the norm so I put my big boy pants on and opened the box a couple of months ago.

 

As a general, cover-all statement up front I'll say this; I am building my Hood more or less as she appeared on her way to the Denmark Straight. The more or less qualifier is there to cover my interpretive ineptitude trying to understand all the variations in the finer details between the kit and reality. I don't build my aircraft kits to [an aspiration of] perfection and my Hood will be the same. I want this model to look right but it does not necessarily have be exactly right. To that end I have acquired some improvements such as replacement turrets because the kit parts are very noticeably wrong to my eye. I replaced the degaussing cable for the same reason. I likely won't fix the relatively minor things like splinter shields where they should or shouldn't be compared to the plastic. You get the gist.

 

I enjoy the different cadence of ship building. There's a relaxed tempo which seems quite natural. Ship modelling is - for me - unhurried and I have pottered about on my Hood quite content to let the progress come to me rather than push forward as I do with model aircraft. Perhaps it's because with ships one can get painting sooner rather than later, and painting is my favourite part of this hobby. The kit begins with hull assembly, which leads to installing the decks and then, rapidly, to painting the hull. Intermediate tasks included the degaussing cable, opening up and creating an accurately concave profile to the frankly negligently moulded anchor cable channels (there's a word for those but it slips my mind at the moment). I removed a lot of the moulded deck furniture detail in preparation for the exquisite torment that is making miniature PE replications of covers, winches, and other bits and pieces for which I have not yet developed sufficient ship-focused vocabulary.

 

Then, satisfyingly soon on the project and using frequent reference to the Sovereign Hobbies as well as The HMS Hood Association websites (does one need any other references? I doubt it), I painted the hull. I mixed my own version of 507A which I feel is pretty close to the shade on Sovereign's website. I also mixed the grey for the anti-fouling and while the specific shade is, apparently, open to interpretation (it's not red though, I did absorb that piece of information) I made mine a lighter grey with a lean towards green as that's how it appeared to me, again, on Sovereign's site. Many thanks to @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies for that resource. I made the boot line a sort of NATO Black with an intention to weather it later in the process. Here's the result (note that the forward superstructure is not glued; an aircraft guy could never live with that open seam. Actually, a ship builder couldn't either).

 

 

 

I had previously added a Pontos deck set to the collection of aftermarket for this one and now was the the time to see if I was able to install it. To my surprise as well as relief, it was quite easy. The deck went down on both fore and aft very nicely, and the shelter deck followed in kind. What a difference that makes to the overall look of the hull. I did feel it was a little too light in colour though, so I made up a stain and applied what was essentially a wash to darken it up a tad.

 

Next I started on the deck furniture. I was not looking forward to this particularly but actually found that the cadence I referred to earlier became one of relaxed and steady progress. Whereas I normally plan to paint all or most like-coloured parts at the same time, I found that I really didn't care about that as much as I cared about finishing one part of the deck prior to the next. In other words, for reasons beyond simple efficiency I didn't want unpainted PE bits and pieces lying around waiting to be lost, I'd rather make a couple of winches and then paint them and glue them in place before moving on to what might be an adjacent part, perhaps only millimetres from the former. This way I slowly worked my way forward and eventually completed the foredeck.

 

 

With the foredeck done, and perhaps more importantly having validated the process, I approached the rear deck in the same way. There was considerably less to do back there and it was completed quite quickly.

 

 

So, there it is, so far. I've left out quite a lot of narrative in an effort to avoid boring you. I expect most if not all are well enough experienced to know the intricacies of the building processes I have skipped over. I will say that I didn't add any of the PE to the interior areas where they would never be seen again. The deck under the shelter deck (I keep calling it that but perhaps it's the boat deck - that's where the boats are..?) was painted and stained in the briefest of ways as no one will ever shine a penlight in there to see the lack of effort I expended on it.

 

Having completed the fore and aft decks I'm moving on to the shelter/boat deck. I've already begun; last night I spent two hours fiddling with the PE ladders going from the aft deck to superstructure on the starboard side. That story is for another post.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by mark.au
Typos and I didn't like the way I originally phrased the heading.

[Thom216]

The Legendary Hood is a good place to start for a big ship build.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

2 hours ago, mark.au said:

anchor cable channels (there's a word for those but it slips my mind at the moment)

Hawse pipes.

 

2 hours ago, mark.au said:

the rear deck

Quarterdeck

 

2 hours ago, mark.au said:

the shelter deck (I keep calling it that but perhaps it's the boat deck - that's where the boats are..?)

G'day, I think it IS a shelter deck by definition but I also think sections of it get named by the equipment there. So yes, boat deck, 4-inch gun deck are names sometimes used. But I'd seek a second opinion. 🙂

 

       I think HMS Hood is a ship with a particular aura about her, and not just because of her sudden and tragic demise. I've done the Airfix 1/600 version twice, once OOB as about 1932 and the other a conversion to May 1941, your time period here. I don't do AM or PE though. You've chosen one helluva mojo restorer, particularly as this is your first ship, and you've done a beautiful job already. I'm certainly following what you do here.

      Regards, Jeff.

 

P.S. - Jamie and the Hood Association website were of great help to me, too.

[81-er]

You're off to a good start here, Mark. Different from your usual fare, but you're clearly going to make just as fine a model of the Hood as you would with any of your aircraft build

 

James

[Dave Slowbuild]

It’s good to be reading one of your threads again Mark.

Lovely looking progress so far!

[AliGauld]

Didn't notice you slipping this one in Mark.

Off to a good start and I will follow this with pleasure.

Take your time and enjoy it.

Well, apart from the PE bending, of course. 

 

Looking forward to more when it comes.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[mark.au]

On 27/12/2024 at 15:15, Thom216 said:

The Legendary Hood is a good place to start for a big ship build.

 

I thought so, too. Aside from its place in 20th century RN history, the unimaginable manner of its sinking, the loss of virtually its entire crew, it was a elegant looking ship.

 

On 27/12/2024 at 16:15, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Hawse pipes.

 

Quarterdeck

 

G'day, I think it IS a shelter deck by definition but I also think sections of it get named by the equipment there. So yes, boat deck, 4-inch gun deck are names sometimes used. But I'd seek a second opinion. 🙂

 

P.S. - Jamie and the Hood Association website were of great help to me, too.

 

Thank you, my education begins 🙂

 

On 28/12/2024 at 02:09, 81-er said:

You're off to a good start here, Mark. Different from your usual fare, but you're clearly going to make just as fine a model of the Hood as you would with any of your aircraft build

 

James

 

I like your optimism, James.

 

On 28/12/2024 at 03:18, Dave Slowbuild said:

It’s good to be reading one of your threads again Mark.

Lovely looking progress so far!

 

Too kind, thank you.

 

On 03/01/2025 at 06:00, AliGauld said:

Didn't notice you slipping this one in Mark.

Off to a good start and I will follow this with pleasure.

Take your time and enjoy it.

Well, apart from the PE bending, of course. 

 

With you here building a ship, Roger @Dunny as well, all we need is Chris @bigbadbadge to start one and the band will be back together again!

 

So progress to report. I have reached a milestone inasmuch as the hull is now complete (well, almost, see below) to the point where I will put it aside and begin work on the superstructure assemblies. This has been a journey of relearning PE technique and trying to make sure I [literally] don't paint myself into a corner.

 

Here's the current state of play.

 

 

In no particular order, the notables as I encountered them...

 

1. The ready use lockers had horrific ejector pin marks on the backside.

2. I really didn't want to fill all 40-odd so I cheated a little and used spare/unused PE to cover them up instead. Accurate? No, but expedient and only the real experten will know the difference.

 

 

Red: The lockers I left will not be seen once the remainder of the structure is in place.

Yellow: On the starboard side I succeeded in folding this thing to a somewhat reasonable facsimile of the drawing. The port side not so much - the patient died on the table.

 

 

Orange: I replaced many of the hatch covers with the Eduard PE.

Red: But not all; I'm not sure there's a big ROI on the PE. Where I used the Pontos wooden deck the PE was more useful as the thickness of the wood would have buried the kit hatch.

 

 

Yellow: Not all PE was successful... I may revisit this one.

Red: As I'm modelling Hood on the day of the Denmark Straight battle its deck ladders would have been stowed. I learned this after I had spent a couple of hours doing the first two ladders... When I took them off I put in a couple of pieces of brass wire across the doors as I figured there must have been something there to prevent sailors just walking off the edge.

 

 

Yellow: So, not quite finished as it appears I have at least one more set of boat mounts to install. I thought it was strange there were some spares...

 

 

So that's it for the hull for now.

 

 

Next up is the forward superstructure, on which I have already made a start which can be seen in above photo behind the hull.

 

Thanks for following, cheers.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4 by mark.au
Typos, of course.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

19 minutes ago, mark.au said:

As I'm modelling Hood on the day of the Denmark Straight battle its deck ladders would have been stowed.

       G'day Mark, I didn't know that, and I must say I find it surprising. It's the main access from the upper deck to the quarter deck, and reasonably sheltered from wave action. The quarterdeck of this ship was quite wet in a sea-way. The accommodation ladders (outboard of the ship's sides for access from boats) would definitely be stowed when underway at sea.

       You're doing a very good job of this ship, and I'm looking forward to seeing the superstructures take shape.

Regards, Jeff.

[mark.au]

11 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

       G'day Mark, I didn't know that, and I must say I find it surprising. It's the main access from the upper deck to the quarter deck, and reasonably sheltered from wave action. The quarterdeck of this ship was quite wet in a sea-way. The accommodation ladders (outboard of the ship's sides for access from boats) would definitely be stowed when underway at sea.

Hi Jeff. I got that info from the HMS Hood Association website, at the very bottom of this page: http://www.hmshood.org.uk/hoodtoday/models/tips/hoodpaint.htm

 

I also think it’s visible that the ladders are stowed in this photo of Hood on its way to the battle.

 

 

Thanks for comment. Cheers.

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey a big project, glad to hear you're defeating the low Mojo levels , wow what a way to do it!!!!

Great progress so far the deck looks magnificent.  Should be a very impressive model.

I do have a ship build on the go, my HMS Achates build, although stalled at the mo, re what the heck should the deck colour be!!! I must try and do a bit of research but time is off a premium what with, family, work, the cars etc.  So been doing my normal aircraft models etc.  I also have an Airfix Vosper with extras in the stash.

 

Great work Mark

Chris

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

       G'day Mark, I can't argue with that. 🙂 I've seen that photo before, I believe she's on her way to the Denmark Strait. I referred to it when I did my own May '41 build, an Airfix 1/600 modification. The absence of the ladders escaped me though. I guess I'll have to throw my model in the bin and do it again. 😥 Or claim that my model depicts the ship one hour before the ladders were removed and stowed. 😁

Regards, Jeff.

[Dunny]

4 hours ago, mark.au said:

With you here building a ship, Roger @Dunny as well, all we need is Chris @bigbadbadge to start one and the band will be back together again!

Well well well - whose turn in the barrel first?  I am currently printing a Hunter Class hull - we have a broad church...

[81-er]

That looks like an impressive amount of work already, Mark

 

James

[AliGauld]

Seriously impressive work Mark.

Looks tremendous so far.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[S-boat 55]

Interesting re the ladders, I'd not picked up on that before but thinking on it makes a lot of sense, look forward to seeing your progress on her

[robgizlu]

Well Mark - this may be the "umpteenth" iteration of Hood but the 20 "likes" from the first post confirm that it still pulls a crowd 

Love what you've done so far - extremely clean and precise modelling..........Niiiiiice 

Looking forwards to seeing this unfold

Rob

[Micha_Pol]

Very nice looking build of a true legend of a ship. Best of luck! I wish there was a "as built" version of the ship out there, with the secondary (14 cm?) guns, "teapot" searchlight towers etc. I´d build that. Same goes for Kongo, Nagato, Revenge, Warspite etc. I´m just not into 1930s/40s naval units.

[Ngantek]

Hiya Mark, nice to see you back in the ship section. I really enjoyed the Wren, and Hood seems to be right up to your usual impeccable standards so far. Looks great!

 

Andy

 

 

[mark.au]

A lot of very kind comments, thank you.

 

This week was focused on the forward superstructure. I learned that in ship building when you think you're done, there's always something else to do! This was the state of play with the assembly, more or less, a week or so ago.

 

 

I worked fairly methodically off the kit instructions simultaneously checking Eduard's PE instructions to avoid going too far with the plastic to complete the PE steps. Fortunately, there's not a lot of PE in this part of the assembly aside from the ladders. I decided not to use the PE for the starfish at the top of the posts, and I left all the railing for when the assembly was complete. I painted all the decking for corticene because I liked the aesthetic and there's no compelling evidence (I believe) for it to be otherwise. Of course, now I've written this I will be shown to be wrong... I still like the aesthetic.

 

I was about to start the railings when I looked closely at reference photos and the like and realised that they weren't railings at all. The railings were plate and they would have to be fabricated.

 

 

I used the fret framing PE from the Eduard set as it was the right size and worked my way around all of the places circled above in yellow as requiring railing. A couple of examples below.

 

 

The finished results were ok to my eye.

 

 

The rearmost requirements were the trickiest to complete - they'd have been much easier if I'd done them earlier in the assembly by that's [lack of] experience...

 

 

Here's where it's at tonight. Not actually finished, though close. I still have to do a little more weathering and take the fish down a bit from the glossy-ish finish it has now. There's two large pieces PE still to attach as well, but I'll add those later when I begin to permanently attach the various structures to the hull.

 

 

 

 

For now, I'll place this on the hull and start on the next parts of the structure.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

[Dunny]

Mark,

 

Impressive detail work - this is going to be quite something,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[ArnoldAmbrose]

16 hours ago, mark.au said:

This week was focused on the forward superstructure.

      G'day Mark, you've done a superb job of it. I wish you did this three years ago - these photos would have helped me understand the drawings much better when I did my 1/600 scale Airfix conversion to the May 1941 version of the ship. Oh well  .   .   .  🙂

       She's coming along extremely well. Regards, Jeff.

[AliGauld]

Sterling work Mark,

Building up to be very special.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[mark.au]

Thanks gents, much appreciated.

 

A previous comment seems to have disappeared; there was one pointing out I'd made a mistake in added splinter protection for the machine-guns where there was actually only railing. I am going to fix that when I get around to it as I went digging for photos and found a couple from April/May 1941 showing the railing in place (my error of assumption in not checking earlier...). I wonder what happened to the comment, or was it my imagination?! No matter... 

 

This week was filled with some quite demanding work stuff so my bench time was limited to the weekend mostly. Continuing to make my way aft, I worked on the funnels.

 

The aft funnel is shown as assembled with PE in place except for the railing which will go around the forward most structure. The PE on the funnels themselves went much smoother than I had a right to expect and I'm quite pleased with them. The tiny ladders are very tricky for my uncoordinated ham-fisted modelling technique but I managed to get them in place, unbent and without losing any. This is how it sits this evening, ready for paint.

 

 

I actually started with the forward funnel. There's much less work on this one and what you see below is the result of an unassembled start to almost finish on Saturday. All that remains will be to blend the weathering with the rest when I bring everything together.

 

 

And here's what it all looks like at the moment. None of the superstructures are glued to the decking yet.

 

 

I'm really rather enjoying this. Next week is another full-on week at work so there may not be much progress with Hood. I am however hoping to be able to paint and finish the second funnel.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Alan P]

Good to see you producing a big ship build Mark 👍 some really nice work going on, the splinter plating from PE frames is a great idea, and the domed PE grilles over the funnels are very well done too.

[AliGauld]

That is gorgeous work Mark.

 

Cheers,

Alistair