My 1/400 HMS Hood and 1/1200 battleships.

[kie_taylor83]

Hi guys,

Just thought I would put up some pics of my 1/400 Hms Hood. She is my first attempt at a bigger kit.

She is nearly finished, but when moving house my girlfriend dropped her and damaged the main mast and compass platform.

I'm my own biggest critic and am aware of my lazy painting but I welcome constructive criticism.









Just a few of my other kits,

My 1/1220 Bismark, Gneisenau, Duke of york and Iowa







Thanks for looking folks.

Kieran.

[USSWisconsin]

Very nice, I love the subjects, those are awesome ships.

A suggestion - have you considered trying a clear matt finish to dull the paint? The shininess of the gray (and the boats) on the Hood is something I noticed - perhaps a dull finish would enhance your work - your painting isn't bad it looks neat and well done. The others look less shiny - did you do something different with them - or is it just the pictures? Painting the ends of the barrels flat black or even drilling them with a tiny bit might add something too. I think they are quite presentable as they are - please don't take this suggestion as a negative comment. Thank you for sharing - they are very nice models.

[kie_taylor83]

Thanks for the comments pal.

The shiney paint on the Hood is somthing that caused me a bit of a headache. I ran out of paint halfway throught and had to buy a new tin of paint. Not sure why, same paint code and make. Can i get clear matt finish from a model/hobby store?

Like the idea about drilling the barrels.

My plan in the 1/1200 is make an awesome battleship/cruiser fleet. KGV and Tirpiz are underway.

[USSWisconsin]

I have some matt spray fixative that I have used - got it at an art supply store - it comes in an aeresol can - it is pretty thin - so it shouldn't make a noticiable layer if you use it sparingly. I would try it on a test subject first to get the technique down.

[FJV]

It really depends on how far you want to take things.

My advice would be to look at building threads of ships on modelling forums and improve your skills.

I always look in awe at what's displayed there, even though I'm not a modeller myself.

For instance look at this site in Dutch.

Modelbrouwers.nl modelbouw • Toon onderwerp - Revell 1/72 Type VIIC/41 U-boot `U995` NIEUWE FOTO`S

That is a really nice bit of wheatering IMHO.

[Doktor]

They look pretty nice. Do you have better focus pics on that first ship?

A question, the turrets are fixed or they can rotate?

[kie_taylor83]

Oh no the turets are free to move. I just have them like that cause that is the position I imagine they were in when Hood engaged the Bismark. I am struggling with the focus too on the pics, can't seem to get it right.

Cheers Wisconsin will deffo give the matt finish a try.

[Gun Grape]

1/1200? I could hardly focus when building my 1/700 NJ. Wouldn't even try anything smaller than that. Bravo Zulu

Is that the Heller/Airfix Hood or the old Lindberg kit?

Some PE railing would make your good job even better.

[JAD_333]

Hi guys,

Just thought I would put up some pics of my 1/400 Hms Hood. She is my first attempt at a bigger kit.

She is nearly finished, but when moving house my girlfriend dropped her and damaged the main mast and compass platform.

I'm my own biggest critic and am aware of my lazy painting but I welcome constructive criticism.

I'm not expert on models, but looks to me you've done a nice job on all your models. I always enjoy looking at models. I recently visited the Int'l Seafarers Union museum in Piney Point, MD, and they had some pretty good ones on display.

[kie_taylor83]

Thanks for the comments guys. :-)

Gun grape the kit is the airfix 1/400 kit.

Going to buy the airfix 1/1200 sink the bismark kit later on, so when i have done that i will put up some more pics.

Just need to find a 1/1200 Hms Rodney now too.

[kie_taylor83]

Hi guys Finished the 1/1200 King george V today.

Heres a few pics.





Thanks for looking.

[Pedicabby]

Nice work dude.

[kie_taylor83]

Hi Guys,

Not been here in a while as things have been crazy busy, moved house, got a dog and I'm planning a wedding too now

But I just thought I'd update my thread with some of my other models I have built during the mayhem.

Im still trying to get through the huge back log of kits I have bought over the years.

So here are my latest offerings

County class heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk

Attachment 34310

Yorktown class carrier USS Enterprise

Attachment 34312

Here are a few other pics too.

Started a 1/1200 HMS Hood too

Attachment 34315

and my 1/400 Hood made it to our new house but fell foul of a broken mainmast AGAIN

Attachment 34316

Oh and i thought i'd share this offering from my fishtank Its a sunken Bismarck

Attachment 34317

Well its nice to be back anyway, hope you like my latest offerings got loads of kits to get on with:
1/1200 hood, prince of wales, tirpitz, scharnhorst, uss hornet, the full airfix "sink the bismarck" set, a 1/400 warspite and a 1/570 titanic.
Going to be a busy boy.

[John the Pom]

Anybody remember Eagle Wall 1200 scale models?

Hi kie_taylor83 just been reading about your adventures in the 1200 scale.
Way back in the late 50s & early 60s a company in England started to release 1200 scale war ships in battle series, the company was Eagle Wall. At this time there was only a few Airfix 600 scale model available plus the usual Revell, Aurora & Lindbergh models all in varying scales. The Eagle Wall kits came in water-line or full hull similar to today's 350 scale kits. They were issued in Battle Series & the first was the “Battle of the River Plate” with the Graph Spee, HMS Ajax & Achilles ) two HMS Ajax kits) & HMS Exeter., & what superb kits they were, not just 10 to 15 parts like the Revell Mini Ship series ( more about the later) but real kits with 30 plus parts, I remember you needed really pointy fingers to make them. They stood-up well against the Airfix offerings & even surpassed them in many instances. The instructions also included line drawings of the ships that looked like they were taken from Admiralty drawings; superb value at 2/6, ( 12.5p in today’s money) I kept the art work & instruction until 1985 when I moved back to SA, and now I really rue the day I binned then.
The River Plate series was followed by the capture of the Altmark with the Altmark & HMS Cossack, this was followed by the Battle of Narvik with HMS Warspite ( better than the Airfix kit) one kit to cover the H Class destroyers including the leader with 5 guns & similarly the German Z class destroyers.
This was followed by the Bismark saga with the Bismark & Prinz Eugen HMS Suffolk & Norfolk ( Again one kit) HMS Hood & Prince of Wales, KG5, never did see the HMS Rodney kit) and again HMS Cossack from the Altmark series to represent the Tribal Class destroyers & finally HMS Victorious. One thing I remember about the KG5 kit was that they recommended that the cranes to be painted orange???, still it looked the part when finished.
The final series was the Battle of the Atlantic which again used the Tribal class & H class destroyers plus the Swan Class and some escort Frigates & Corvettes (one of each in on box, now that’s value), the final kit was the German submarines, this kit had 5 submarines in it from the small costal one to the last big ocean going class, the costal one only had about 6 part including the lower hull but the bigger ones you were looking at +/-12 parts, quite impressive for 1961.
Unfortunately the models were never available through the usual model shops, I only saw them at a corner cafe in West Watford. I think they only got them in especially for me. I often wonder what happened to those moulds as I’m sure kie_taylor83 you would go gaga if you they were still available.
Arfix made some 1200 waterline modes & I understand that their HMS Hood is better than their 600 scale one. I believe they do the Bismark, Hood & Cossack, hopefully they will enlarge the range to include the other ships in the Bismark saga.
Heller made a very small model of the Bismark I think it must have been about 1500 or 1800th scale, it was tiny with many nearly impossible parts not a waterline model only full hull but it did make up into a fine TINY model, Far better than the Revell offering a few years later.
Finally the Revell Mini-Ship series. I brought the full range of the first issue which was the Bismark Missouri KG5 an Italian Battle-Ship ( as I had never made anr Italian war-ships) and the aircraft carrier, I think it was the one in your photos, USS Enterprise. The Missouri was very good as was the Italian Battle-Ship, the KG5 & Bismark I through in the bin in disgust, especially the Bismark it really was terrible; I know Revell can do better. To me the star of the series was the USS Enterprise. Now I’m not really an aircraft carrier guy, give me big guns, so I left the carrier till last & was I in for a surprise but I made it up OTB with the kit colours, fit very good , assembly no real problems, detail fair or good considering the size, & finally how she ‘mugs’ when complete Excellent really Excellent. I was really impressed. The Missouri the Italian Battle-Ship & USS Enterprise are still on show at the model shop in Plumstead Cape Town .
Your 400th scale Hood is an Arfix badge engineered Heller kit, may be so bold as to suggest you try the Trumpeter 350 version, just remember it’s big.
Go well and happy ship modeling.
Happy Modelling And remember we do this for fun. John the Pom