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[Edward Pinniger]

I'm looking for additional reference material for the 1871 turret ship HMS Devastation, and am wondering if anyone here has any photos (particularly close-ups) of John Hollis's superdetailed 1/48 model, seen here: http://www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article.asp?a=552
The photos on the above page are the only ones I can find online - they were taken at the 2007 Birchwood/Warrington show. I haven't seen this model at any shows I've visited (including the Warwickshire show in November), or I'd have taken some photos myself.

A fellow Mayhem member has very kindly lent me some plans of Devastation but (being copies of the original drawings, showing interior machinery as well as external fittings) they're rather hard to decipher, and photos of a detailed, accurate model of the ship (John Hollis's is the only one I know of) would help immensely in working out what goes where!

[pugwash]

You have quite a job on there Edward - looks a complicated build.
Geoff

[victorian]

Can't help on photos of John Hollis's model, but the NMM have what may be an original builder's model of Devastation in their reserve store in SE London. It is possible to make an appointment to view this extraordinary collection and photography is allowed. The Devastation model is crude by John Hollis's standards but may well contain contemporary information unavailable elsewhere. You can see their catalogue number SLR0099 in the attached photo. What scale are you working in? Devastation survived until 1908 and would fit well into a re-creation of the 1897 Jubilee review!

[Colin Bishop]

You will probably be unable to to gain access to the NMM models until they have been moved to the new respository in the No 1 Smithery Building at Chatham in February 2011. There is an article on this in the Model Boats Winter Scale Special issue on 29th October. When preparing this I was given the following statement by the NMM.

In respect of those wishing to view models for research purposes, from February 2011 a dedicated Collections Research Area will be available for those interested in exploring the united ship model collections of the National Maritime Museum and Imperial War Museum. Public access to stored collections will be by appointment Thursday to Saturday between 10-4 from February 2011, utilising the new Collections Research Area. In the meantime, access to NMM’s stored ship models will be temporarily suspended to all visitors between August 2010 and February 2011 whilst they are moved to the new facility.
In February 2011 new and improved cataloguing and images of many of the ship models will also become available on the National Maritime Museum website www.nmm.ac.uk

Colin

[victorian]

Colin

Thanks for posting that. Hopefully this is a positive move for those of us interested in contemporary warship models, provided that photography is still allowed. I don't think it's often appreciated just how many models there actually are or that the quality of the later models reached such extraordinary standards. In many cases, the models represent the only authentic source of information about long-lost ships apart from the few grainy photos and as Edward says, hard to interpret official plans.

It would be interesting to hear the NMM's position on photography in view of their monstrous policy at Greenwich.

David

[Colin Bishop]

In many cases, the models represent the only authentic source of information about long-lost ships apart from the few grainy photos and as Edward says, hard to interpret official plans.

David,

You must be a mind reader, that is exactly the line I have taken in my article. We have 4 pages devoted to it in the magazine and the consultants for the project are very keen to see it given a positive write up. Paul Freshney and I went to the official opening and it shows every sign of being the facility we all wanted to see. They really do seem to be keen to encourage research using the models so fingers crossed all round. When we visited they had only just strarted to transfer some of the models but the photos with the article give a pretty good idea of the new facilities.

Just as a 'taster' the photo below shows part of the 'Maritime Treasures' section where a representative selection of the IWM and NMM collections is on public display.

Colin

[Edward Pinniger]

Thanks to all for the replies. It's certainly going to be a complicated build, even if I do manage to find some more reference material, but this is a ship I've wanted to build ever since I started scratchbuilding! I'm planning to build it in 1/96 scale which should allow a good level of detail whilst still being a manageable size.

There's a photo of the NMM model on their website - http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=SLR0099 - it's very basic by "builder's model" standards, but could be a reasonable 3D reference point for the plans if I can find some more photos of it.

Anyone know which model boat clubs or societies John Hollis belongs to? It might be worth me contacting him directly,