With the Wasp being boarded by myriad little crewmen at the moment the road is clear for a new blog, (after a surfeit of aircraft I'll be building a ship again). I have chosen the 1/350 battleship Borodino, ( battleship is the classification given to it in the references I have found, so not battle-cruiser). Not the most successful design of battleships with a stability problem due to the superstructure, the 5 ships of this class went into service between 1904 and 1905. 3 were sunk on May 27th 1905 at Tsushima, 1 was scuttled by its crew with the wreck later being scrapped and the final ship was captured by the Japanese, rebuilt and renamed and eventually scrapped in 1925.
I have bought the WEM PE set and after market barrels for the main and secondary batteries. Looks like an interesting build.
Julian

October 28th update:
first photo of the Borodino. Fit is not specifically too good, (euphemism for bloody awful). Reminds me of the old tin Monopoly game token battleship. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound:



Cheers guys, be gentle,
Julian

Good luck with this one Julian,

After Varyag I fancy having a bash at this beast to keep her so will be watching with interest.

Si

I have the Varyag in my stash Simon. The Borodino is a "child of a lesser God". Lots of flash and the fit, well it isn't
I still like the look though and nowadays I hate binning a kit just because its difficult to build so I'll battle on with this one.
Julian

Looking forward to watching this one from the House of Julien.....Cheers mark

Borodino??

Jajajaj Friend Julian this you anxious for you Gentle Bismarck and do not last more and it lit tooth to the nearby thing!!!
In your hands did it could only of museum, but that I spend with LDH 1?? did you end?

regards

It is small isn't it Still no news of the Bismark yet so I decided to pick something unusual from my stash. It is certainly a challenge
The LHD-1 is finished except for a wooden base and a lot, a very big lot, a huge lot of crewmen Still working on it though
Julian

Thank you very much Mark,
sounds very exclusive: house of Julian, either that or an " El-Cheapo" place of ill repute
Cheers,
Julian

Update Oct. 31st:
Curses, threats, miles of tape, buckets of putty and some judicious re scribing but the beast is being tamed and sitting pretty in a coat of Vallejo primer:








cheers,
Julian

Nice to see you underway with another one and she is looking good so far......Cheers mark

Hi Julian.

My Borodino arrived today and before unwrapping the box all I could hear was lose parts rattling around in the box. The dumb half-circle stand parts have all come lose. Oh well.. the other surprise is that mine doesn't seem to have much flash if any. Maybe I have gotten lucky for once.

Where did you get your barrels from mate?

Cheers
Warren

Looking good Julian, Excellent work hiding all the bad fit.

SI

http://www.modelsforsale.com/
Mind you that was in May 2010. Very nice people to do business with.
If your Borodino is flash free you are extremely lucky

The half circle parts are supposed to be bollards, once cleaned up and painted black they will look quite nice.
Julian

Thanks Simon,
I am quite chuffed with how it is coming together myself. Didn't really expect much from it but am being pleasantly surprised by the looks of the beast.
Julian

I had similar fit issues. BTW are you gluing your turrets in as they needed a pin fitted in from under the deck if I recall rightly.

http://www.militarymodelling.com/albums/member_album.asp?a=17905

I nearly always glue the turrets unless they are so big that they can't get lost
(like the Trumpie 1/200th Arizona)
Beautiful build you did, love your green bottom, (if you will excuse the pun).
weathering is excellent too Looks as if she did the big voyage from Europe to Tsushima. You should post some pics here at MS
Cheers,
Julian

P.s. Checked the turrets but they go in later than the decks

Thanks Julian. I haven't finished the rigging yet - huge mental block there. The green bottom came from a description of one of the other ships sinking and showing a flash of her green hull as she turned over. Something different anyway. I was indeed trying to show her as she passed Singapore "extremely fouled". I blogged it all if you search the site.

Sorry to hi-jack. I hope yours goes well - I enjoyed the build.

No problem mate, I enjoyed looking at your photos of the build. Hope I can build something equally as good
Julian

I think you will do a lovely Job on her Julien after seeing your previous Work.....Cheers mark

In spite of about 6 kilos of Bismark lying in my hobby room I have been making progress on the Borodino. Anti fouling red has been sprayed below the waterline and I have a added a light coat of marine growth around the waterline made up of dark red/brown, followed by light green, slimy green and black. this finished up by a coat of matt Vallejo varnish. I am very happy with the effect so far. More to come :








Cheers,
Julian

Hello Julian, You're off to a great start and I'll be following along to see how she turns out. Love the secondary battery at the stern, even though it does make her look a little like a cartoon battleship. So, where's Popeye? Al

Popeyes building her Al
Julian

That ship is pure steampunk

Great work on the hullcolor - keep focus !

I agree. The Anti-Fouling looks great Julien.....Cheers mark

Jan, Mark,
thanks guys, I am extremely pleased with the effect so far. I will try and stay focused The model itself is better than you would expect
Cheers,
Julian