Way back in the 1870's Australia was a little scared that the Russian fleet were coming to attack us, The richest state at that time, Victoria, decided they would protect themselves with one warship and ordered what was to become Australia's first ironclad, the HMVS Cerebrus.
From Wikipedia..
HMVS Cerberus (Her Majesty's Victorian Ship) was a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF), and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1871 and 1924.

Built for the colony of Victoria, Cerberus was completed in 1870, and arrived in Port Phillip in 1871, where she spent the rest of her career. The monitor was absorbed into the CNF following Federation in 1901, and was renamed HMAS Cerberus when the navy became the RAN in 1911. By World War I, Cerberus' weapons and boilers were inoperable; the ship was retasked as a guardship and munitions store, while carrying the personnel of the fledgling Royal Australian Naval College on her paybooks. In 1921, the ship was renamed HMAS Platypus II, and tasked as a submarine tender for the RAN's six J class submarines.

Rather than clog up the main blog for the Ironclads Group Build I have started this blog to cover the rest of the construction of this 1/350 ironclad.

Here are the parts supplied for the ship. You have to make your own masts out of 0.8mm stock. I have ordered some brass to do this.

The moulded in planking is nice and fine.

So after a quick clean up of the almost non-existent flash I have already painted and stained the decks and now masked her up so I could spray the white on the superstructure, what little there is..

Here are all the parts after painting, except the boat hanging brackets that still need painting. The Combrig instructions are a little vague just saying white, or black or yellow instead of specifying colours from any maker's range. So I guessed at the yellow and used one from Gunze which is a bit less yellow than others I have..

I didn't ant to go overboard with the weathering of the decks etc as I am sure they would have been kept immaculate. Also notice some of the small parts of the casting where either not moulded properly or the parts have broken off in transit. I will need to make a few up.

And here is one of the two turrets used to house the cannons.
Either Victoria's fears were unfounded about the Russians, or they looked with fear on the one small ironclad Victoria had.. I think the fears were unfounded..

Nice one Warren: Oz seapower !
Julian

Indeed Julian, not an easy thing to find unfortunately. I would love to do the HMAS Sydney of Emden fame, and a few others, but I am not sure if they are available. Might have to do a Google search.
Also, what diameter rigging would I be using in 1/350?

Oh this will be a fun one to watch. You are doing a great job as usual Warren.....Cheers mark

True to scale flag halyards would be invisible. I would go for some EZ-line, (Mark pointed the stuff out to me and it is excellent), thinnest gauge you can get.
cheers,
Julian

Thanks Mark.

I agree with the thiness Julian. I have Ez-Line but I have found the diameter is not consistent and goes thick and thin all through the line. Not good enough..

Looking good Warren. It is coming along nicely.

Randy

Hello again.
Thanks for that Randy.
Time for an update of my work during the week.

See, I haven't been bludging at all!

Foredeck

Stern bit

And the wheel house and forward turret.
Some touch ups needed here and there. The fun bit is going to be working out how to attach the boats to the davits.. Any ideas?

Well, this is one was the simplest ship I have built for ages and also one of the most satisfying as it was my first resin ship.
Well, it is finished now and here are a few shots.



I found a picture of the Cerberus with no lifeboats on board and the davits swung back as I have put them. I really have no idea how I could have attached the lifeboats and made it look even remotely to scale.
The three masts are all brass pipe and the two flag poles are plastic tube.
The two stairways are from a 1/350 PE set I used for the North Carolina and I had a few spares. No PE came with the kit at all.
I have some Royal Navy railings coming that I will paint and apply, but for now I am calling this finished. Rigging just doesn't look very scale in this scale no matter how thin it is, so I will not worry.
Thanks for looking..

Very nicely done Warren.She has lots of character.....Cheers mark

Nice clean Job Warren.

On the boats, She looks good clean, shows off the flying bridge better.

Attaching them, tricky, I have made up tackles for boats in chocks and swing out to deck level, but never tried suspending boats from them.



Basic method, shown above with brass rod & copper wire.



Not very clear, but fitted.

I am not sure with boat outfit on Cerberus, but I would have thought they would have need something solid projecting from the Davit for the boat to sit on, to stop any movement in a seaway. Must admit I have gone i nto this ship in detail.

Anyway, great build Warren.

Si

Nice work Warren.

Looks great Warren. I am glad you were able to finish it up. Now my project isn't all alone in the official gallery!!

If you get a minute would you mind posting a couple of your pictures in the official thread as well please?

Thank you and thank you for taking part in my campaign. I like your entry.

Randy

Will do now Randy..