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Building the Admiral Nahkimov, 1889

The bowsprit safety net was fashioned from a piece of fine mesh, edged with stretched sprue.

Where appropriate, the standing rigging was tightened by shrinking with my usual incense- smoke method...I spent over 40 hours rigging the model...!!

I was very tempted to rig some sails, however, the photos I have show the sails only deployed whilst at anchor...perhaps for drying or training..?

The Tsarist Naval ensign was made using a piece of light cartridge paper and a blue ball-point pen, crumpled to simulate the flag fluttering in the breeze.

The ship was mounted on a stainless steel plate covered in artist’s watercolor textured paper. I used Humbrol paints throughout, Black and White; except for the Funnel, Revell Matt 19. The deck was done in radome tan, covered with a light coat of Humbrol Oak satin, and dry brushed over with WEM Teak.

I mounted the model at a very early stage, so as to minimize handling, and thereby lessening consequent damage to rigging. All in all a tricky, but ultimately satisfactory, model to build. The Kombrig kit is an earlier effort from that firm, yet despite its vintage and simplifications, it is still a valid starting point, more so if one where to build a later version.

Useful images for a later fit can be found here:

Images

Essential Printed References

"Modeliska Kolektsia", no. 2 1995 essential to understanding the ship-useful photos but very helpful perspective views.

"Admiral Nahkimov" by W W Arbuzov, ship monograph packed with drawings and photos.

There is some debate …she may have had a light grey funnel early in her career; the color scheme of my model was decided for me by a contemporary color illustration, painted by a naval officer of the time, from life. This image can be found in a book by V D Donsetko, "Russian Armoured Fleet 1863-1917".