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Author Topic: Fear God and Dreadnought!  (Read 20934 times)

raflaunches

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Fear God and Dreadnought!
« on: January 07, 2016, 06:26:38 pm »


Hi everyone

Just to let everyone know that my current build of HMS Prince George will continue in the very near future but this project has taken the prime position for two reasons:

1- It’s the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Jutland this year, for those not in know it was the biggest clash of Dreadnought type battleships ever, and probably the biggest naval battle in history.

2- I want to complete the model ready for the Mayhem Weekend at Wicksteed Park, 28-29 May 2016, the closest dates to the 100th Anniversary of Jutland.


The Dreadnought

A bit of history to dis-spell some of the myths of the Dreadnought and the proceeding classes.

In the early years of the 20th Century a unique warship was built in Great Britain, her name is famous ever since not because of heroic deeds or involvement in a great sea battle but as a revolution. This ship was called HMS Dreadnought, all her successors were all referred to as ‘Dreadnoughts’ and anything before her are now called ‘Pre-Dreadnoughts’.

Pre-Dreadnought battleships were built between the late 1880s and 1904 and were typically armed with four large calibre main guns (usually 12 inch) mounted in paired forward and aft turrets supplemented by twelve medium calibre weapons (typically 6 inch) placed in a broadside arrangement. The lack of effective fire control largely limited the gun’s accuracy and their effective range left much to be desired, typically the warships of the era battle ranges were less than 2000 metres. The mix of armament meant that observing shell hits and splashes on a target was difficult to ascertain which weapon was firing and gave the resulting hit or splash. This dilemma favoured the adoption of uniform, heavy armament on future battleships.
The concept to arm battleships with a single, heavy calibre type of gun was not a new one, it was first proposed in 1903 by Vittorio Cuniberti, the Italian Navy chief designer. Since Cuniberti’s idea didn't impress the Italian Admiralty he published an article in the world famous Jane’s Fighting Ships presenting his idea of a 17,000 ton battleship with a dozen 12 inch guns protected by 12 inch thick armour and be capable of speeds of up to 24 knots.
This was the cornerstone of the ‘all-big-gun’ concept which quickly gained the attention of the Royal Navy Admiralty, they liked the idea but thought is was too daring- they had the most to loose and they believed that the issues of long range fire control would have to be addressed before the potential of Cuniberti’s idea could be realised.

In 1904 John ‘Jackie’ Fisher became First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, his main task was to reduce the ship-building budget and ensure at the same time that new Royal Navy vessels would be more capable and effective. Amidst massive controversy Fisher sold off 90 warships and put a further 64 into reserve claiming that they were too weak to fight and too slow to run. In 1905 Fisher became President of the Committee on Designs, a body created to develop the first British ‘all-big-gun’ battleship, Fisher had been actively lobbying for a battleship with uniform weapons since 1900 but it was not until now that he had enough leverage to persuade the Admiralty to give the project the green light. Fisher’s plan was to build a battleship armed with 12 inch guns and capable of speeds up to 21 knots. He claimed that the warship could be built in less than a year and the costs of her construction and maintenance would be lower than contemporary Royal Navy vessels- thus the idea of Dreadnought was born.

Prior to 1905 the ‘all-big-gun’ battleship concept had been considered not only by the Royal Navy but also by the navies of Japan and the United States of America. Initially the Royal Navy planned to replace the 6 inch battery with 9.2 inch weapons thus extending the range of the secondary guns but the idea was dropped after the lessons learnt from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 where the only guns that mattered were the heaviest ones. The first vessel designed to incorporate the new concept was the Japanese battleship Satsuma whose construction started 5 months before Dreadnought was laid down however due to delays in gun production she only carried four 12 inch guns and a battery of twelve 10 inch guns thus falling short of being a full ‘all-big-gun’ warship. Meanwhile in America the U.S. Navy was lagging behind the British and did not start the construction of their own ‘all-big-gun’ battleship until late 1906 when the USS Carolina was laid down.

The Royal Navy considered the speed of their new battleship to be a crucial issue. The common naval tactic of line-ahead involved a line of ships firing broadside at the opponent, if the ships were fast enough to cross the enemy line (crossing the ’T’) they would be able to put all the guns to bear on the opposing ships while the enemy could only reply with their forward firing guns. Fisher wanted to use the speed advantage to achieve an optimal distance from the target since firing the big guns at close ranges was less effective due to a flat trajectory of the shell. Several years before on June 26, 1897 a new type of propulsion was presented during Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee naval celebration, the steam turbine developed by Charles Parsons, appeared at the Spithead Review along the warships of the Royal Navy. Turbinia demonstrated her extraordinary capabilities in an unauthorised run in which she accelerated to 34 knots leaving all Royal Navy vessels in her wake. This demonstration convinced the Admiralty that the future belonged to steam turbine propulsion.

The decision to use steam turbines on Dreadnought was as controversial as the decision to fit heavy guns only. Steam turbines had many advantages: reduction of cost and weight, higher reliability, smaller dimensions and better fuel economy. However steam turbines are most effective at high speeds, to operate efficiently at slower speeds larger rotators were required which went against the weight savings, therefore the use of steam turbines required four propellers instead of two. Dreadnought was fitted with Parsons turbines installed in pairs in two engine rooms and each drove two propeller shafts. The steam was generated by 18 Babcock and Wilcox boilers with a working pressure of 250psi, they were designed to deliver 23,000shp, enough to accelerate the ship to 21 knots. During sea trials Dreadnought achieved 21.6 knots at 27,010shp.

Dreadnought was laid down on October 2, 1905 at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in Hampshire. The choice of shipyard was no coincidence as Portsmouth was considered to be the fastest ship-building facility in the world and therefore the only one that could possibly build a big battleship in under a year. To meet the deadline the hull was simplified as much as possible and the number of steel profiles and thickness of skin plates were reduced to the minimum. The result was a vessel that was only 450 tons heavier than HMS Majestic, a battleship built in 1894-95. Dreadnought was officially launched by King Edward VII on February 10, 1906. Sir Reginald Bacon took command on July 2, Bacon had been involved in the Dreadnought programme and was therefore the ideal candidate for the post. There were two unknowns in the new design, the operation of the powerful steam turbines and the effects of firing broadside salvos of the 12 inch guns, it was feared that firing all eight guns simultaneously could result in damage to the ship’s structure especially around the wing turrets. The first steam trials were performed even before the battleship was fully outfitted.

Dreadnought had an overall length of 527ft, beam of 82ft 1in and a deep load draught of 29ft 7.5in. The battleship displacement varied depending on the load from 18,100 to 20,700 long tons.
The warship’s main battery consisted of ten 12 inch /45 calibre Mark X guns mounted in five twin turrets three placed on the ship’s centre-line and two wing turrets. Dreadnought could deliver a broadside of eight guns between 60 degrees before the beam and 50 degrees abaft the beam. Beyond these limits she could fire six guns aft and four forward. The 12 inch guns fired a shell weighing 850lb (390kg). Initially the maximum elevation of the main guns was 13.5 degrees but that was increase in WW1 to 16 degrees. With a muzzle velocity of 831m/s the gun’s range at 13.5 degrees was 17,990 yards which increased to 20,435 yards at 16 degrees.
The secondary armament consisted of twenty-seven 3 inch/50 calibre or 12 pounder Mk 1 guns positioned on the forecastle deck and quarter decks, on all superstructure decks and turret tops. The guns fired a 12.5lb (5.7kg) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 790m/s at a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, its maximum range was 9,300 yards.

In addition to the main and secondary batteries Dreadnought carried five 18 inch submerged torpedo tubes.

Fisher didn’t care much for Dreadnought’s armour protection as in his opinion it was only additional weight reducing the battleship’s speed. Nonetheless, the vessel’s most critical areas were very well protected, the main armour belt was 11 inches thick tapering to 7 inches. Bow and stern extensions were 6 and 4 inches respectively whilst the citadel had 8 inch bulkheads and an 8 inch extension above the main belt was fitted. The thickness of the deck armoured varied depending on location (1.5 to 3 inches) whilst the turret sides were 11 inches thick with 3 inch armoured roofs. The barbettes were 8-11 inches thick and the conning tower was awarded the same armour protection as the main turrets. Dreadnought was originally fitted with anti-torpedo netting but these were removed at the beginning of WW1 as they greatly reduced the top speed of the ship and were deemed ineffective.

Dreadnought was the first warship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with electronic instruments for communications between fire control stations and the gun turrets. There were two fire control stations, one at the head of the foremast and one on the platform on the signal tower between the foremast and forward funnel. Both stations were fitted with the 9ft Barr and Stround FQ-2 rangefinders, the firing data was calculated by a Dumaresq mechanical computer.




The Model

Whilst out in Cyprus I contacted Ron at Dean’s Marine and he had a kit ready for me in less than a week- I collected the kit just 10 hours after landing back in the UK!
Many of the visitors to Ron’s Open weekend would have seen me trying to sneak the kit in to the back of my car- Lets just say it was spotted when I got home!

The model kit is designed to 1/96 scale and it can represent any appearance the ship underwent in her career if you ask Ron he can sell you the extra bits for the torpedo netting. I chose the simpler option of a WW1 era vessel and intend to represent her in May 1916- I know that unfortunately Dreadnought did not participate in the Battle of Jutland as she was in for refit at the time but I wanted a Dreadnought to sail at Mayhem at Wicksteed 2016 in time for 100th Anniversary of Jutland we intend to celebrate.
I will be using two homemade foggy units, one for each funnel, as I believe that a battleship of the period needs ‘smoke’ pouring from the funnels. Two car heater motors will be used to propel her and the decision can be made at a later date if I wish to power the inner props with geared cogs and belts.
The kit comes with a one piece 65 inch long 11 inch wide GRP hull, four trays of fittings (white metal and resin, five sheets of plastic card with pre-marked items to cut out, four sheets of vacform fittings (such as funnels, conning tower, ship’s boats), a new upgraded 4mm thick laser cut deck and forecastle, a laser cut planked deck set, and the best items (in my opinion) in the whole kit- five GRP main gun turrets, absolutely amazing quality of the casting.

After reading the instruction package (its a big one and worth reading) I decided that I would build the centre superstructure first. Why I hear you ask…?
After my experience with building the superstructure on my HMS Prince George I didn’t pay attention to the instructions and had to modify the GRP item to fit the hull when it would be easier to match the hull to the superstructure. I hear you still saying… but the superstructure doesn't go to the edge of the hull on Dreadnought!
Well, the forecastle needs to blend into the ‘citadel’ where the conning tower meets the deck, any mis-alignment will stick out like a sore thumb, and I would rather the model not be 100% accurate by a 1mm than it not fit.

Work starts tomorrow!
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ballastanksian

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2016, 09:03:30 pm »

Excellent! I await your first progress report. Have fun:O)
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Bob K

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2016, 07:45:12 am »

Stunning choice Nick.  I have seen excellent examples of this built, and it really is a fine model.
I must admit I have been tempted myself, but it is too long for my car back seat - which is my limiting transport factor.  Nice write-up. I look forward to your build log with great anticipation.  :-))
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raflaunches

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2016, 11:49:29 am »


Hi everyone

BIt delayed getting the pictures and build log on the forum due to my pictures and information being on my Mac in my room at work, and my broadband going down for a while. But I'm back up and running at work so here we go!!!


Nick's Portsmouth Model Dockyard Week 1 to 2

Progress on Dreadnought is going well, the central superstructure has been made and started to be detailed. There have been a couple of minor changes from the kit (mainly due to personal choices)- the foremast has been changed to brass (the kit has a nice piece of 12mm dia dowel) and I've included some upper superstructure deck supports from plastic rod reinforced with steel wire (you can buy this already incorporated like I have). The only other thing I have changed is moving some of the fittings around to suit my references. I have made up half the number of 12pdr gun kits so I can place them in to the central superstructure. These are all white-metal kits and are very similiar to the ones I built for my Majestic class Pre-Dreadnought but look the part, you could go 3D printed options but you will not see 2/3rds of them due to their locations.
The vacform funnels are nicely formed you can see one half placed onto the funnel casings just to see how it all goes together- remember I'm including 'smoke' generators so everything is being built around them. I've borrowed my Dad's new toy (a Proxxon Pillar Drill) to get some nice 90 degree holes perfectly placed. To get the funnels from the ‘smoke’ generator all lined up nicely I used a 20mm dia hole borer- beautiful!
I cut out the upper superstructure deck I decided after reading my reference to cut off the ‘spar’ deck plastic supports and replace them with brass I-section which just makes it a little more refined- a personal choice but it also makes it a lot stronger to support the ship’s boats.










The hull has not been forgotten…

With the basic central structure made I built the hull to suit. I filed flat the GRP hull sides and drilled out the prop shaft exits and the rudder posts. Dreadnought had two rudders and the kit versions are lovely being made from resin and are detailed to suit- nice one Ron!
With the shafts fibreglassed and filled in to the hull, I followed the kit instructions (I wonder how many of us actually follow them!?!) and added the 18mm square hard wood hull supports and 10mm balsa deck supports. The laser cut 4mm thick wooden main deck was trial fitted inside the hull, this is made up from two parts, split at the ‘wave breakers’ on the main deck approx 1/3 along the length of the hull. A bit of minor filing and it fitted snugly. This is where the important alignment comes into play. I measured the location of the central superstructure and placed it on to the deck so I could make the forecastle deck. This took a good couple of hours to line up to ensure it was central and lined up with the superstructure but worth the effort.
I took the hull to Wicksteed Park MBC lake to see what the approximate ballast would be- this turned out to be quite a lot! Four 12v SLA batteries, two smoke units, two car heater motors and four 1.5lb lead strips for trim ballast just to get to the minimum low waterline!


Unfortunately I'm waiting for my iCloud to update with my pictures, so the latest pictures are slowly being added to my photo collection.

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raflaunches

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2016, 12:54:37 pm »

Hooray, iCloud has updated!


Pictures of the hull being ballasted.








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Nick B

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ballastanksian

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2016, 09:16:49 pm »

Cor you are cracking on with that! Mind you may is not that far away.
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2016, 09:51:58 pm »

Hi Nick...watching along again with interest.....a few questions...

1. are all of Deans build kits as supplied with the marking location printed on the material?
2. we see you ballasting & this leads to the question of what is the horizontal tide line on the hull assumed as about 18' from her current water line?....... Is it in fact a LWL from as being under full sea load? [coal bunkers, water, munitions & crew]
3. the WIKI people list her as 18120 long tons light draft and 20730 long tons deep load [with the difference being an  approximate 10% of her nominal displacement]
4. if this is the case, will it have any bearing on your ballasting?

Keep the images coming :-)) ..... Derek.........[image of the tide line below]
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2016, 10:54:26 pm »

Hi Derek


That's got me thinking, according to Robert's book anatomy of the ship HMS Dreadnought the black boot topping for the upper waterline finishes at the bases of the torpedo net booms, so the tide line you've pointed out is a bit of an enigma as you've rightly pointed out its too high. It's a very clear line so it's got me thinking, I think the picture might be Dreadnought on sea trials and one of the pre trial tests is the list/roll test in a flooded dry dock. That's my only theory at the moment, I'm open to others giving their theories- it's a very interesting point Derek has raised.


I intend to ballast the model between the two water lines to prevent a lack of stability if too lightly loaded and not prone to decks being awash if ballasted to the maximum. It's the safer option in my opinion and ensures that I can lift the model too! :D


As to the marking locations printed on the plastic, all the kits I've built from Deans Marine have had them and they give approximate locations of the fittings, not always 100% accurate in mm but good enough for a guide.


More pictures to come tomorrow, enjoy the build. :-))
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Nick B

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2016, 11:36:07 pm »

Nick......Google has many images of the Dreadnaughts ...& many show this line.....

Some images show the boom net poles just above the water line, and others with the net poles say 10' above the waterline

Inclination tests [performed on completion build and after every major docking] are carried out in light ship mode which has the lower stability over full load condition

[I have seen these drydock inclination tests on a number of RAN vessels.......they strategically place predetermined masses of steel reinforced concrete blocks on one side of the vessel, then surveyors confirm the angle of list O0]

From this I suggest it is safe to discount the line to be associated with any inclination tests, however considering the many images of Dreadnaughts with this LWL tide line would suggest that the vessels had spent considerable time at these deeper drafts

Derek
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raflaunches

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2016, 11:44:46 pm »

One theory out of the window!


The line seems to follow a plating line but can't see why it exists as its definitely too high for a possible waterline as torpedo booms are supposed to be above the waterline to prevent them gathering flotsam.
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Nick B

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2016, 11:49:48 pm »

Looks to me to be the top of the armour belt possibly.

Colin
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2016, 12:16:20 am »

Here is an image of another Dreadnaught HMS Bellerophon ....the horizontal hull line is more distinct and does appear as a plating line

We also see what appear to be the stern port lights or port holes which are below the line......[oops ...cropped from the image >>:-( ]

This image also provides a better size image of a sailors height compared with the hull plating & relative heights etc

So I should delete/discount the following comment :embarrassed: .....

however considering the many images of Dreadnaughts with this LWL tide line would suggest that the vessels had spent considerable time at these deeper drafts

Derek
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2016, 10:26:32 am »

I've now had a chance to look at some of my own books and there is a photo in Burt's Battleships of WW1 showing Dreadnought's hull before the armour plates had been fitted and which shows pretty clearly that the line referred to is the top edge of the armour belt which probably stands proud of the plating above it giving a ledge of a few inches. That is what you are seeing.

Colin
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2016, 10:57:03 am »

I think Colin is right, I've taken some pictures of my hull and it seems to match up.



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Nick B

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2016, 11:11:11 am »

Towards the stern, the armour belt steps down by about the height of a deck.

Colin
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2016, 11:26:08 am »

That seems to match the GRP hull, it steps down at the aft most turret, wonder why it looks so dirty?
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2016, 12:31:15 pm »

Could be coal dust. If the ship was on trials she wouldn't have had a full naval crew aboard.

Colin
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2016, 12:32:32 pm »

The line is definitely the top of the armour plating - the thin strips depicted on the model hull are cover plates between normal plates and armour ones.

As to the 'dirt' issue, I wonder if it's rust? The cover plate protrudes slightly - has this just had its paint abraded off by hhawsers/anchors?

Andy
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #18 on: January 26, 2016, 01:11:14 pm »

I believe that the armour belt plates were bolted through the recessed shell plating to the ship's structure using blind bolts. I have seen references to wood packing being used between the two layers of plating to level things up so perhaps the line is the caulking used to seal the joint.

Colin
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #19 on: January 26, 2016, 01:26:43 pm »

Yes, and the wood [Teak] was also in two layers laid with the grain at 90 degrees to each other....I found this last night in a video type photographic image documentary somewhere after searching many diverging threads of Victorian Battleships of the Royal Navy

Must have been viewing than the current OZ television programmes  {-) ..... Derek 
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #20 on: January 26, 2016, 07:49:35 pm »

I thought they had done away with the wooden backing sometime in the 1880s once cemented steel had been introduced? I was under the impression from what I have recently read that the teak can be considered as the 'softer' element of compound armour when wrought iron was the 'hard' face.

I know they used wood as a buffer between copper sheathing and the iron, and later, steel plates until decent anti fouling paint was introduced.

Interesting and exciting stuff:O)
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2016, 11:36:54 am »

Thanks guys, at least we all now know what it is!


Turrets...


There are five beautifully moulded GRP turrets in the kit that require a little filing.

I've put a pencil line on the part that requires removal.








And the finished filing.


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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2016, 12:08:21 pm »

Those turrets look really beautiful Nick.  I must say the quality of Dean's fittings keeps getting better and better, cast, resin, GRP and vac formed mouldings.  I would love to build one of these but it is too long for my back seat.  After having seen a superb example of their 'compact' HMS Bronnington at our lake on Sunday I might go for the HMS Royal Marine.
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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #23 on: January 27, 2016, 12:24:00 pm »

I'll look forward to your build. I know that there are some interesting releases from Ron this year that I'm looking forward to- SMS Wespe and HMS M15.


I've just this minute finished drilling out the port holes in the hull, thank God that Dreadnought didn't have as many as the Majestics! :}
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Nick B

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victorian

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Re: Fear God and Dreadnought!
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2016, 03:04:25 pm »

Brilliant write up Nick, thank you very much!


Don't forget when studying the detail that there still is a Dreadnought - the Texas, the 'Best British battleship in North America'. I used lots of details in her when building Mars.


Here's a pic - I've got plenty more if You're interested!



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