Orel #16 Russian pre-dreadnought Admiral Ushakov

[cdcoyle]

Subject: Russian pre-dreadnought Admiral Ushakov
Scale: 1/200
Publisher: Orel
Designer: Dmitry Hotkin

Admiral Ushakov gained everlasting notoriety by being sunk at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 when her crew chose to go down with the ship rather than surrender. I ordered three of Orel’s pre-dreadnought designs, and this one is the least exciting of them, for reasons we shall soon see.

First, though, let’s describe the kit. It comes in an A4 booklet, with eight pages of parts, one-and-a-half pages of diagrams, a couple of nice line drawings, and one page of instructions (one page each of Russian, Polish, German, and English). It is rated a '3' for difficulty on a scale of 1 to 3. Mr. Hotkin has had many of his designs published in Poland, and the kit uses the same styles of design, layout, and construction technique as found in Polish offerings such as those from GPM or Modelik. The kit shows Ushakov with a black hull and gray upper works. The assembly of the kit looks like it should pose few problems.

However, the kit bothers me in at least a couple of aspects. First, the colors of the kit are less than satisfactory. The decks are printed in a beige tone. Ladders, ship’s boats, and funnels (which are supposed to be yellow) are done in the same color. It just doesn’t look ‘right’. The mettalicized ink used for the screws and ship’s name does not have the same luster as the ink used in Orel’s Retvizan kit. Most nettlesome is the fact that the colors do not match the model depicted at Orel’s website at all. It is apparent to me now that the model shown at the website is Orel’s previous release of General-Admiral Apraksin, Ushakov’s sister ship. I ordered Ushakov partly because I liked the colors shown on the website, and partly because I assumed that Ushakov, being a later release, would be a more accomplished design. Now it looks as though I should have ordered Apraksin. Kudos to Orel for offering very reasonably priced kits, but shouldn’t the display photos show the actual product?

Check out the kit at papermodeling.net.

Regards,

[Renaud]

I have the one issued by Promodel I ordered five years ago, somewhat different, it seems to me.

[Clashster]

Yes, I have the ProModel version from GreMir - the coloring is very similar to the Orel sites pictures. Michael has some nice photos on his site of his offering (probably why I bought it, I like the pics!).

Chris

[Art Decko]

At another forum, about Russian pre-dreadnoughts, there was a long thread about just what color those yellow funnels actually were.

It turns out ... apparently no one really knows.

The original paint specs were very vague, (basically "mix yellow ochre and black"), and there is no historical standard for what color yellow ochre is (it ranges from yellowish to amber to almost rust).

There are many surviving first-hand descriptions of the color, but they are highly contradictory, ranging from "yellow" to "olive" to "cinnamon". There are a few period paintings and posters, one that appears otherwise accurate shows a reddish-cinnamon hue.

Lacking color period photos, it's hard to say. Curious mystery.

[cdcoyle]

A barrel set is available from GPM.

[Fishcarver]

The yellow colour on the metal parts probably started as zinc chromate, which is a kind of mustard-yellow colour. Liquitex yellow ochre or Jo Sonja Yellow Oxide will work for a base. Salt exposure would have introduced a bit of red oxide here and there, especially in joints. Metal surfaces subject to wear would be bare metal, easily simulated by rubbing with a soft pencil.

Jim

[Art Decko]

(mis-post)