HMS RODNEY my Kitchen

[Gregory Shoda]

Zathros: As to the rationale for positioning all of the 16 inch guns forward, the official British reason was to save weight. Weight was very important as the Nelson & Rodney were built under the terms and conditions of the Washington disarmament treaty. No battleship could be built over 35,000 tons standard under the terms of the Washington Treaty. (This ensured that the Hood would be the largest battleship in the world for 20 years as she was completed before the treaty took effect.) The British were not convinced that a satisfactory battleship, mounting 16 inch guns could be designed. However, the pressure was on to build 16 inch gun battleships because the Americans already had 3 Colorado class ships and the Japanese had 2 Nagato class ships each armed with 16 inch guns. Prior to that time, 13.5 inch, 14 inch and 15 inch guns had been sufficient for a ship to be considered a "super dreadnought."

By bunching the 3 turrets forward, the armored area could be reduced, thereby saving weight. The belt armor ran from the forward turret to the secondary guns astern. An added benefit was that the magazines were placed at the widest part of the ships enabling greater protection for them from underwater attack.

The French copied the idea of placing all main armament forward in their Dunkerque and Richelieu classes. However, they were not at all satisfied as they contemplated moving the second turret aft in the proposed third Richelieu that was not completed.

The British were also not all happy with the Nelsons not having the ability to fire aft, Admiral Beaty having to defend the design by saying that British ships did not run away & therefore were not interested in shooting backwards!

[Teamski]

Also, as a result, the Nelsons were slow boats.

-Ski

[jkrenzer]

In response to the deck question, I only place the main deck on 1/16 balsa, very close to 2mm as recommended by the designer for card stock thickness. 1/32 is close enough for 1 mm and I some times use that for the superstructure decks although except for the first superstructure deck most of them are card stock exclusively.

The bulkheads and keel also go on 1/16" balsa. It is easier to cut and to sand.

Just bought the cabinets, ooof.

The Rodney has not been touched in a week, but I will do some light skeleton work later today.

[jkrenzer]

Progress Report:

38 hrs on kitchen vs. 10 hrs on Rodney.

I have the Rodney's skeleton finished. I will now add strips to each buckhead for applying the skin. I am using black card stock instead of white just to see how it looks. I will post the preskin photos once I get there. The deck is very smooth, I am expecting a clean build.

The cabinets are on order, new drywall is up. I have to putty and sand then wait for the cabinets to arrive.

[redhorse]

The kitchen looks like a real chore. I bet it will look great when it's done. The Rodney looks good too, I'm gonna have to try balsa one of these days.

It also looks like you have been having some very nice weather

[lriera]

You are doing very well both jobs. The balsa trick is a really interesting one. I am also going to try it in the future.

[jkrenzer]

Status report.

Hours:
Kitchen 47 hrs
Rodney 19 hrs

Progress:
The kitchen is fully wall boarded and the first coat of paint is complete. I little more putty and sanding. No pictures of this stage.

The Rodney is progressing.
In the 1st photo I have started papering the hull. I used black card stock to cover all the formers, this has worked well. Photos 2-4 show the lower hull plated. Since I was was dry wall puttying and sanding so much I thought to use the dry wall putty on the hull. Much to my relief this worked very well to fill the voids and sanded easily with 600 grit wet/dry paper. I never filled a hull before (see my Porter and Paris photos for the best I can do without putty). The old Fly model is not computer generated and there is no way to paper the lower hull without gaps. In the past I used thin copy paper strips over the seams (see my Nagato and Portland models). The difference between these kits is the former are computer drawn while the later are older hand drawn kits. The last 2 pics show the 3 piece upper plating installed on the port side. The fit is remarkable and only required 40 minutes to install all 3.

Tomorrow I will finish the starboard side.

This comming weekend is a holiday in the US so the kitchen will get most of the effort, and during drying breaks I hope to get the shafts installed on Rodney.

[cdavenport]

Is that spackle or putty in the seams? If so, you can forgo the necessity and tedium of having to fill seams if you fill the spaces between bulkheads with styrofoam. My Hunley build thread describes how to do this. Though much smaller than your Rodney I learned this technique from the RC guys and have used it in much larger models to good effect.

Also, one of the things I have learned to do with ship models is to trim the bulkheads down a bit all around which ensures the color plates fit with a bit to spare; it's easier to trim than to add.

Hope this helps with future builds.

[Beachead]

Looks awesome. I have some novice questions though. The use of balsa, 2mm board has me stumped. I understand the concept but I don't seem to grasp the execution. I did poor with word problems way back in my school days so the more detail the better. I'm guessing there is a thread in the technique section maybe?

The other is, way couldn't matching lateral hull plates be attached at their keel edge and then laid on the framing? Probably the size has something to do with it I suppose. Larger pieces would create control problems. Anyway, lookin mighty fine. Really like the regular updates.

[davel1950]

Hi I'm new to all this
why are you transfuring the formers to balsa wood ,is this normal and is the rest of the model made from the card kit
Dave L

[jkrenzer]

I started using balsa for only the main decks, it was much easier to cut and simply does not warp like heavy card stock. It was so much easier to cut and sand that I just started using it for the bulk heads as well. You have to be carefull glue the decks in place as white glue is still the best way to glue the paper to balsa. I pour the white glue into a small bowl the spread it with a 2 inch paint brush. The deck card stock is usually heavy enough not the stretch or bubble as the white glue tries to expand the paper. For the thin sheet bulk head patterns I use a glue stick that dries fast enough not to cause the paper to stretch. It just does not have the holding power so it tends to peel. I then just touch up the edges with CA. The entire frame is fitted then little by little I dab CA into the slots.

The nice adder is the model weight is much lower and handling is easier.

As far as the gaps, this is not so untypical of the older kits. Some guys make their own by laying grid paper over the bulk heads then tracing the needed shape. I time consuming process I will try someday.

I like the idea of the foam, I don't have any tools for it but it looks good. For this model the edges would still not match on the paper plates even if layed over foam.

I think the hull will look once I paint it. The upper hull sides went on very easily and smoothly.

Back to another paint coat on the kitchen and time allowing I will put the 3 starboard plates on tonight after the Kitchen work.

[jkrenzer]

Another 1.5 hrs Thursday evening, some work on the two shafts and the rudder. The kitchen got an hour of touch up spackle.

I rolled the shafts over wooden dowels.

This hull has been a pleasure so far and I will paint it while the kitchen paint dries this weekend.

We are finally suppose to warm up in the northeast US this weekend. We are just finishing a 2 week stretch of 20 deg F below average temps. I am looking foward to some warmth finally.

[Stev0]

Shouldn't this thread be retitled ... HMS Rodney, my Galley?

[jkrenzer]

Update on the projects;

Kitchen - 70 hrs, Rodney 22 hrs

The Kitchen is proceeding, the cabinets will leave the factory Monday and the preperation is almost complete. The wall opposite with no cabinetry has the waynescoat (what ever they call it) in stalled. Spent the last weekend stripping, sanding, and refinishing the window over the sink.

While the stain and then the varnish were drying i got some fun work done on HMS Rodney. The lower superstructure is built in 4 parts, 3 of which are framed in. Those three are completed and the fit was perfect.

Fly Models in all their old ways just seem to look the best when done. This model is not perfect in fit but the hull is fairly smooth and the upper works seems to fit great. The walls have no stretch or sags. the deck is flat smooth. I still believe Fly has it right, just enough detail to look great but not so much to be obviously over done like some of the newer GPM kits.

[jkrenzer]

I took a few more shots since we actually have some sun here in central NY. At this point I laminated the superstructure 1st deck level and painted the hull. I tried to get a contrast showing the decks. I the last group of photos I placed my other 2 Fly models USS Portland and IJN Nagato for comparison.

The kitchen is getting close to assembly. The cabinets should arrive late this week or early next. Once they are here I will likely stop working on Rodney all together.

Tonight I will work on the foward superstructure as it has no internal frame. The superstructure is built in segments 31-34. 31 is the last to be installed. The deck is laminated after installing 32-34 because 2 pieces cover 3 and the seams are not collinear.