Libertad (1925) - 1/100 - Spanish light cruiser (type F)

[Valeriy V]

I am glad to welcome all forum members!

I am starting to build my next project and perhaps it will be of interest to fans of British naval shipbuilding and the Spanish Navy.

 

 

Edited February 20 by Valeriy V

[Valeriy V]

The cruiser was designed on the basis of the British "E" type.

As a result of further improvement of the "E" type cruiser project, in 1921 Watts created the project of the Spanish cruiser "F". Its hull and power plant almost completely repeated the British prototype, but the arrangement of the mechanisms was not echelon, but linear, which allowed to give the ships a more harmonious silhouette with two wide smoke pipes, grouped in the middle part.

 

The turbines and boilers were unified with the Churruka-class destroyers, which, in turn, were created on the basis of the British Scott-class leaders. Thus, the F-class cruisers were slightly superior in power (design - 83,000 hp) to their British E-class predecessors, being slightly faster. The armor remained virtually unchanged: the 76-mm main belt occupied about 40% of the hull length, covering only the engine and boiler rooms, with the belt thickness decreasing at the ends.

 

The armament was significantly improved. The main caliber artillery consisted of eight 152 mm Vickers guns and was placed in five mounts located in the centerline of the ship. The two end mounts were single-gun, and the other three (both elevated and the middle) were twin. Thus, all guns could participate in a broadside. The powerful artillery was supplemented by a branched and perfect for its time fire control system, including the main command and rangefinder post and two additional posts. The anti-aircraft armament was also strengthened and included four 102 mm guns, the torpedo armament remained unchanged: four triple-tube devices, unified with the Churruka destroyers.

 

[Valeriy V]

I usually build ship models in the style of demonstration models from shipyards of the beginning of the last century.

In this case, I mainly use wood and metal, painted, polished or anodized with nickel, rarely - silver. I try to minimize the use of plastics.

 

 

[Valeriy V]

The hull parts of the model are designed on a computer and cut on a laser machine. This is a common practice for many.

 

 

 

[Valeriy V]

Then I cover the hull with a wooden strip and process it with sandpaper.

 

 

 

[Jerry L]

Quite interesting. Will be watching and learning.

[Ngantek]

Intriguing project! An attractive ship and the hull looks great so far. I like the style of model also so will follow with interest. 

[theskits62]

Hi Valery, Glad to see you on this site. Looking forward to seeing this progress, i'm sure it will be superb like the other projects you have shared on NRG - Good Luck Brett

[Valeriy V]

10 hours ago, Jerry L said:

Quite interesting. Will be watching and learning.

 

10 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Intriguing project! An attractive ship and the hull looks great so far. I like the style of model also so will follow with interest. 

Jerry L, Ngantek, I hope will  won't be disappointed. 🙂

 

 

 

[Valeriy V]

10 hours ago, theskits62 said:

Hi Valery, Glad to see you on this site. Looking forward to seeing this progress, i'm sure it will be superb like the other projects you have shared on NRG - Good Luck Brett

Hi Brett!!

I'll try to keep this thread interesting.😊

[Micha_Pol]

I remember your Varyag build from "Modelshipworld". Knowing your level of proficiency I am sure we are in a a real treat. Best of luck.

[ColonelKrypton]

A big model of a good looking and interesting vessel.

 

It will be very interesting watching this build come to life.

 

cheers, Graham

[Steve D]

I'm also very excited to see you post on this forum Valeriy, your work is outstanding, I'll be following along 

 

Must try that half hull framing technique, not sure why I've not used it, easy way to keep the hull straight, always learning 

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Valeriy V]

Thanks, Steve!

I switched to this method of making the model hulla long time ago. It allows you to use different materials for the skin.

As an example, the photo shows two options - straight skin from ash veneer 1 mm thick and diagonal skin with two layers of maple veneer 0.7 mm each.

 

 

Edited February 21 by Valeriy V

[Jeff.M]

Oh my. I have seen your work elsewhere.  Looking forward to this. 
 

Best,

 

Jeff

[Valeriy V]

The model hull is mounted on its own supports.

 

 

 

[Valeriy V]

The body of the model is covered with fiberglass and epoxy resin.

 

 

 

[Valeriy V]

The cruiser's hull is filled and sanded.

 

 

[Valeriy V]

I am looking for a drawing of a propeller that was installed on British cruisers of the 20s of the last century. Perhaps someone will have a drawing of a similar three-bladed propeller.

 

 

 

[Steve D]

3 hours ago, Valeriy V said:

I am looking for a drawing of a propeller that was installed on British cruisers of the 20s

Hi Valeriy

 

I suspect that is a really tough request.  Shipyard drawings did not detail propellors, only a vague assumption by the draughtsman of blade count, diameter and probably a reasonable stab at hub dimensions, they would not have had any more information to hand.  Propellors were designed in conjunction with the  engine suppliers, made in specialist foundries and shipped as equipment to the yard

 

I did a quick search through my marine machinery handbooks (I have about 6, mostly from the early 20th century) and found the following sketches in the design sections of two of them

 

From Verbal Notes and Sketches by JW Sothern published in 1918 I found

 

   

and

 

 

 

Neither of which look very much like your photographs.  Sorry for the poor scan, it is very hard to scan images on this book, it has over 700 pages and doesn't open very well for the scanner

 

From The Marine Steam Engine by Sennet and Oram, 1916, I found the following three illustrations of three bladed props which may be more help.  The first two have blades fitted mechanically to the hub to allow the blade incident angle to be adjusted

 

 

 

This last one is the closest to the photographs.  It's a solid cast bronze for destroyer service.  It doesn't detail the blade washout but judgement can provide a reasonable stab at that

 

 

This last image should be good enough to work from given you will know the overall dimensions I think, the others are just for completeness

 

Hope this is of some help

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Valeriy V]

Hi Steve!
I really appreciate your responsiveness! Yes, you are right and the last destroyer propeller is the closest in shape to the cruiser blade. I will use this drawing as a basis for my propeller.

Thank you!  👍

[Valeriy V]

I am attaching a photo of the cruiser HMS Caradoc  propeller which completely corresponds to the latest drawing from Steve.

 

[SallysDad]

This is really interesting. I am glad I found your build. 

Could you give me links to other ships and build logs you have on the internet, I would appreciate that a lot. 

What scale is your model? 

I think your method of building has a lot of merit. It is very clean and neat.

[steve5]

this is going to be an interesting build , really like what you have done so far valerie .

[Valeriy V]

6 hours ago, SallysDad said:

This is really interesting. I am glad I found your build. 

Could you give me links to other ships and build logs you have on the internet, I would appreciate that a lot. 

What scale is your model? 

I think your method of building has a lot of merit. It is very clean and neat.

Thank you! The cruiser model is being built in 1-100 scale.
I have posted 3 model building processes on the Internet. One of them is not finished yet.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19333-varyag-1901-by-valeriy-v-finished-scale-175-russian-cruiser/#comment-590896

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/35437-ss-blagoev-ex-songa-1921-by-valeriy-v-finished-scale-1100-soviet-union/

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/34120-cyclone-class-destroyer-1902-by-valeriy-v-scale-145-russian-imperial-navy/#comment-971702