Weltkrieg Project 3 - Naval

I'm going to put off for a bit the follow-up post about the Imperialism map-making experiment. Suffice it to say for now that it's going okay but not without some obstacles to overcome. But I'm still confident of making a go of it.

As indicated in the first post, this imagi-nations world war is inspired by the campaign guidelines laid out in Phil Dunn's Sea Battle Games book.  Hence the planned emphasis will be on naval activity, but you know me, can't resist painting some soldiers too.  The action on land will hopefully take on a more concrete form than abstract battles between 10,000 man blocks, but with smaller skirmishes representing much larger scale battles.

It was the introduction of the WTJ series of Rapid Prototyped Plastic models which inspired me to backdate the project to the pre-dreadnought era. And 1/1800 is the scale of choice, for several reasons.  First, it seems a reasonable compromise between the playability of 1/2400 and the appealing detail of 1/1200.  Secondly, available models: WTJ, some additional offerings on Shapeways, and the opportunity to use my antique lead BMC ships.  And 1/1800 is about as small as I can reasonably go with scratch-building.  Yes, I could probably build 1/2400, but wouldn't be able to improve much, if at all, on Panzerschiffe where the ease of buying inexpensive commercial models would render my own labor hours a waste of time.

My plan is to adapt the Dunn template of real ships renamed for ficticious navies.  But not to the extent of drawing playing cards to randomly assign them to the player's fleets regardless of national origin.  My intention is, for the most part, to group the ships in their historical fleets with accurate color schemes.  The models should retain some commercial value if I later divest myself of the collection or upon my demise. 

Which navies are essential ?  I think the following:

* Britain
* USA
* Germany
* France
* Japan
* Russsia

That almost completely takes care of the 7 Great Powers in the Imerialism scheme, perhaps some combination of Italy/Spain or Austria-Hungary for the other.  And who is not to say that Minor powers won't have fleets as well ?  Of course they could.

With that lengthy preamble out of the way, let's take a look at a recent scratchbuilding effort, a French Danton class battleship.  I did this model at 1/1800 scale, the usual composite materials of wood, styrene and brass wire.  I also used balsa wood in places in lieu of basswood, not entirely happy with the appearance of the model on that score but it did save some time.  Having based the ship on the Jane's Fighting Ships plan, not surprisingly the freeboard is a bit accentuated relative to the prototype:

 

The peacetime livery ca. 1900 is how I want to paint the "French" ships but probably anachronistic. The slow pace in French shipyards meant that these "semi-dreadnoughts" weren't launched until ca. 1910 (already obsolete by the time they joined the fleet).  And speaking of semi-dreadnoughts, you have to think that the 9.4" secondary battery would have caused fire control problems when mixed with the 12".  The extra turrets sure increased my build headaches but once I started the ship, I wanted to finish it.

A few more pics:

Not the greatest build as I was a bit rusty. Nevertheless, satisfactory.  I did choose to make it a bit simpler than what I did here with the Austro-Hungarian battleships:

 

Upcoming posts: follow-up about the map, some words about the army figures and a few more BMC ships reworked.  I have on order some WTJ ships as well as a few from Shapeways but the lead time on scheduling the production runs of these models means it'll be another week or two before anything arrives.

The Queen's Navy - 1/1200 Scratchbuilds

Here's some old ships that I built a while back. 1988, to be precise !  The construction is pure balsa, with wire for the guns & masts. Let me amend that, some of the ship's boats are metal castings, but I haven't the foggiest memory of where I got them.

Here's HMS Majestic and Caesar in their spiffy Victorian livery:

And a couple armored cruisers, HMS Diadem and Argonaut.

You'd think that with as much time I sunk into detailing these, I'd have gone to a little extra trouble to sand the wood smoother in spots. But such were my construction techniques at the time. 

What do these have to do with the new project ?  Being the wrong scale, they relate only indirectly.  But the naval element ca. 1900 certainly plays into it. More anon.

Dvienadtsat Apostolov (12 Apostles) - 1/1200 Scratchbuild

Here's a one-off in terms of scale and subject matter. This is one of the older battleships in the Russian Black Sea fleet, the Dvienadtsat Apostolov.  This 8700 ton 2nd Class battleship was launched in 1890, this photo shows her in with the 12" main battery in the original barbette configuration.

Image courtesy of Big Bad Battleships

I have modeled the ship in somewhat later trim ca. 1900 with the barbettes covered with armored shields.  Sorry, no work in progress pictures but it's in my usual composite construction method.  I used the 1/800 plan from "Warships of the Imperial Russian Navy: Volume I - Battleships", an old book published in 1968, written by V.M. Tomitch.  This 102 page paperback is well worth a purchase if you can find it anywhere. The plans are excellent, with a top down and profile view of each ship - all you need really.

I cut the tops of toy figure game tokens to make the turret domes. Other than that, it was a relatively straightforward build process.

High Seas Fleet - Part 2

Finished the Nassau.  I think I may have let a bit too much realism creep in, just can't help myself it seems.  Still, the overall proportions are closer to the BMC/Minifigs ships than prior scratch building efforts.  It's a credible first effort at this style, I think.





High Seas Fleet - Part 1

I've completed another batch of the BMC/Minifigs ships, will post shortly. Just a quick update here about plans to build German counterparts for the British ships.   I had some time over the long holiday weekend here (Memorial Day) to start construction.  The idea is to at least approximate the old-school style of the BMC ships.  Aside from over all simplification (the lack of boats and so on), to my eyes the two salient features of the old models are the high freeboard and exaggerated funnels.

Here's the Nassau, hull and superstructure completed.  The photos are rather poor, but they'll serve to give the general impression.

It's the usual composite technique, basswood hull and mostly styrene for the upper works.  Not so much left to do, but for me the turrets are always a tricky bit.  The ships of this class had large cranes on each side, not sure yet how I'll make these. And as the BMC capital ships feature torpedo net booms, those will be necessary as well although prior experience tells me they'll be a fiddly piece of work.  Haven't yet decided about adding casemate guns, but as all the cut outs for the firing arcs are in place, aside from the time to drill holes and insert the wire, there's really no point in not doing them. And the masts will be simple. 

Time permitting, I should finish at least the construction later this week, if not the painting.

Edit: 5/31/11

Added a better shot.  My basic technique is to shrink plans down to the desired scale and use them for templates. If you're aiming for accuracy, you've got to be careful about using Jane's for this purpose as the silhouette pages are for accurate ID and the plans themselves more intended to illustrate the various armor thicknesses and layout of the guns.  But so far as these more stylized models go, Jane's fits the bill providing the top down views have enough detail. 

Austro-Hungarian Pre-Dreadnoughts. Part 2

The next battleship production for theK.u.K Marine was the Erzherzog Karl class.

From Big Bad Battleships:
 

The main armament was four 9.4"/40-calibre guns -- domestically produced copies of the Krupp SK L/40 -- mounted in two twin turrets. Although each vessel carried nothing heavier than these 24-cm medium weapons, the class marked an advance to the European standard of armament distribution, if not to the the 12" standard adopted by first-rate navies of the time. In fact, these small battleships compared favorably with the second-class battleships fashionable in the 1890s British fleet, mounting 10" rather than 12" guns. Certainly the Erzherzogin were not at the forefront of naval development, coming into commission around the same time as HMS Dreadnought. In other aspects of performance, and certainly in their smart appearance, they compared favorably to their Mediterranean counterparts. Like their predecessors in the Habsburg class, these three ships were little more powerful than a French or British armored cruiser. However, the high-muzzle-velocity, quick-firing Krupps 9.4 (manufactured under license by Skoda Works in Plsen) was an outstanding performance weapon of its time, inviting comparison with the 10" guns of other navies (notably the Italians, the Austrians' chief rivals).

All three ships were constructed at STT in Trieste, with the Karl going down the ways first in 1903 and commissioning in 1905, and each of the others succeeding. The last ship, the Ferdinand Max, was commissioned in 1907.

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/frameset9.html



Prior to painting. 1/1800 scale.



The battle squadron unites.

Austro-Hungarian Pre-Dreadnoughts. Part 1

First up, the Hapsburg class:

From Big Bad Battleships:
SMS Habsburg, the KuK Kriegsmarine's first full-blown pre-dreadnought battleship, on trials in the upper Adriatic in 1901. Armed only with three 9.4" (24 cm) 40-caliber Krupp guns (in one twin turret forward and a single aft), these three ships were little more powerful than a large armored cruiser in other navies. Nevertheless they marked a significant stride for the Habsburg Navy: they certainly had the look of a pre-dreadnought battleship in other navies. Moreover, the high-muzzle-velocity, quick-firing Krupp 9.4s outperformed the 10" guns of other navies (notably the Italians, Austria's chief rival). See the article under Links for specifics on this notable artillery.

Voted through the Vienna legislature as part of the 1899 program, the ships were designed by Austria's chief naval architect, ing. Siegfried Popper. They bear the mark of his clean, uncluttered, and balanced hand, with nicely spaced masts, funnels, and gun emplacements. The Reichstag was sold on the expenditure as delivering a good bang for the gold mark, with ships that packed a hefty armament into a small (8,300-ton) package, promising maneuverability and shoal draft for operational versatility, plus slightly better speed than comparable ships of the time. Though the ships did not reach their design speed of 20 knots, they fell only fractions of a knot short, and were well regarded, at their time of commissioning, for their intended mission.

Over all the Habsburgs met their navy's concern for moderate firepower, protection -- and expense. They provided a good bang for the buck (or in this case, the gold mark.) They certainly marked an improvement over the earlier armored cruisers and coastal monitors in terms of seaworthiness and fighting power.

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/frameset9.html

In keeping with the WaS roots,  I built these ships in 1/1800 scale.  The construction technique is the usual composite materials.

Looking rather comical dwarfed by the WaS mini, the Japanese battleship Nagato.

2nd 1/1600 Scratchbuild - HMS Indomitable

And now equal time for the British, the ill-fated Battle Cruiser Indefatigable.  A word about the strange scale choice of 1/1600 is in order here.  I used the excellent ship drawings featured in V.E. Tarrant's, Jutland: The German Perspective.

While I can't say this book broke any new ground about the exhaustively covered Battle of Jutland, the author at the very least did an excellent job with the artwork, featuring line drawings of every capital ship class of each side.  Most useful as each features a top down view as well as a profile.  About the only critique I can level is the misplacement of asymetrical wing turrets on several ships.

The build is done in composite style, basswood, styrene, brass wire and cardstock.

First Scratch Build - SMS Von der Tann

Here's a ship inspired by War at Sea minis.  I started collecting them several months ago in a burst of enthusiasm.  However, Pre-dreadnoughts and World War 1 ships have always held my interest more than World War 2.  Not to mention, having bought scores of ships intending to play the US vs. Japan and having obtained exactly 0 Japaneses carriers in my "pulls", it occurred to me that buying random booster packs in hopes getting the ships I needed was going to get seriously expensive.  More often it was a case of  "Arrrgh, another stinking Finnish Brewster Buffalo squadron !" 

However, this abortive foray into WaS did introduce me the great bunch of fellows at Forumi: http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/

Having participated in posting WaS repaints to a very kind reception, I decided to expand my horizons to the realm of scratchbuilding.  I had occasionally built crude balsa models at 1/1200, but this was the first go at taking a more precise approach.  The ship is 1/1600. Yes an odd scale, I know.