Hello folks,

Recently I just completed a review of Trumpeter's 1/350 Scale that will soon be posted right here on Model Shipwrights. I wanted to get the ball rolling on building and start the blog. I will post the link to the review here as soon as it goes live.

The kit



There is over 500 pieces to this kit including the healthy compliment of photo etch parts. Well, I guess the best place to start is always the hull.





Pretty straightforward; two-piece hull and the weather deck. Everything went together okay with the exception of the hull sections. I noted in my soon to be published review the two pieces to the hull fit well together however there would be a small gap that will need tending to...nothing to out of the ordinary when it comes to molded hull sections. The main deck section fit like a dream though.



I managed to clean up some of the superstructure parts and drill out the port holes as I did with the hull as seen above.



A little mocking up is always needed....



Another point I brought up in my review is in regards to the 15 inch barrels supplied with this kit. The ends of the barrels seemed to have an unnecessary collar around the muzzle end. I found a suitable replacement barrel set for this kit online from B & D Barrels last week and ordered a set. Even though I could have turned down the barrel ends , it was certainly a no brainier as the brass barrel replacement are correct, a super quick delivery and only set me back $6 US....no shipping since I am tethered here in the US. No worries to our friends outside the US, shipping runs a typical $2US for international.



Here are the barrels altogether; B&D Barrels, and Option 1 & 2 with the kit.



I gave the barrels go this morning and things turned out just fine I think!





Always a good point to mock things up and see where I stand...



There is plenty of work ahead of me on this one still! Back to the bench I go!!

Thank for tuning in!!!

Without doubt, this will be the most distinctive ship in anybody's collection. Have a good build, Todd!

--Karl

Thanks a bunch Carl! Doing my best to try and have some fun here...LOL!! Distinctive for sure...nothing like 1/3 of a battleship to ruin someone's afternoon!!

Nice one Todd, I'll be following this build. Bought one myself so I am curious how you find this Trumpeter offering. Keep the photos coming

Thanks Julian, glad to have you along for the ride! Everything seems to be shaping up the way I expected after looking at the kit for review (I assume it will get posted soon....). I also expect to find somethings here and there as these can only be notice from building and not just reviewing. If anything goofy pops up, I will be sure to fire away!!

Very nice, indeed - or should I rather say 'very ugly'? This thing is so 'special' that is it just absolutely fascinating!! I could not resist and have on in my stack, too - but it will have to rest there for a while. Saw somewhere that Pontos may be working on a kit...

I am very happy to see it been built here, I will be following with much interest! Looks promising so far, I am looking forward to your progress, Todd!!

Cheers,

Jan

Hi Todd,

What Julian said, will be particulary interested too see how the kit's etch works.

Si

Thanks Jan! Happy you could make it!! "Special" is one way to describe it...LOL!! Not much to look at but could leave one heck of a mark with her punch. I am interested on the Prontos side of things...full deck? In my limited knowledge up until now, I was led to believe the decks were armor clad. There was an article somewhere on the Abercrombe having plated decks...no deck shots of the Roberts, figured it might be clad too.

Thanks for dropping in Si! The etch appears to be straightforward. Not to many complex bends in the mix. Some really delicate pieces...radar and finding array stuff. Slow and steady should do the trick.

Will be watching with interest

Cheers Kev

Thanks Kev!! Glad to have you along for the ride!!

What a distinctive "class" of ship - a real Ugly Duckling but sure to find its way into my stash ASAP!

That it is Andrew!! LOL...a big floating gun! Thanks for swinging by!!

Now here is what I could find on the decks: "On the main deck 160lb non-cemented armor was fitted for protection to main magazines, and 120lb over machinery spaces, tapering to 80lb forward. On lower deck aft over steering gear 120lb non-cemented armor." (The Design and Construction of British Warships 1939-1945, Volume I, pg. 45). Lb of armor stands for the weight of a one square foot size plate, 40lb equalling appr. 1 inch of thickness.

Roberts' main deck is located where the bulge joins the main hull. the 'visible' deck is the upper deck, no record of plating there. Regrettably no pictures, however, I would still assume wood planking on the upper deck unless proved wrong...

Cheers,
Jan

Wow Jan, thank you for that info. A big help. There is one section of the aft superstructure where there is molded decking in place. Not having the book you mentioned or intimate knowledge of the flooring on this ship, could the bridge and other various exterior locations have cladding as well?

Todd,

I'll check that and come back to you.
Just checking my watch and realizing that the nasty part of life that allows me to maintain the shipyard and buying new models (aka work) is calling upon me

Tod -I have given my wife your details, because after reading your kit review and now following your build online I "had to" contact my LHS and pre-order this kit! RRP is $53 AUD, which I consider good value, especially when you consider that not that long ago you would have spent $50 on an etched metal set.
It seems that HMS Roberts is the final kit EVER to enter the mancave!! What I need to know is how did she get unchained from the sink to look in the mancave anyway!

Hello Andrew,

LOL...well I am sorry she got off the chain! I assume by "details", you meant my location...thanks for the heads up, looks like I got at least 24 hours to hide as we are about 13000 miles apart! You should enjoy the kit! Just got done working on some tiny parts tonight. The relief etching on the brass parts are done nicely...real easy to bend into shape. I would suggest Gel CA or PVA (White school glue) to attach the PE. PVA being the best sometimes as it holds exceellent when dry but you can wash off any mess ups! I hope to snap some pics tomorrow to show what I have been up too. I did decide to pick up a couple extras, will cover that tomorrow as well!!

Hi Todd,

With regard to Roberts' maindeck, it was not planked, there is a good picture on P129 of the "The Battleship Builders" by Ian Johnston & Ian Buxton of the ship completing fitting out & clearly shows painted steel deck.

All the Ilustrations in the Profile Morske book also relate only to an unplankeddeck.

Si

Thanks Simon! Appreciate the heads up. This may be odd and hurt the ears a bit but I don't have either book at the moment... Looks like I best be putting some of this on the wish list soon!!

A small update for tonight. I am not rushing my way through this one, trying to have some fun and not drive myself too crazy yet. The kit parts a great and the added PE in the kit makes things that much better! Some lockers needed a face lift to start things off.



A little CA and things moved right along! I was going to only replace the Big Guns and have a go at building this more or less OOB...but after trolling the net last week and with too much time on my hands, I cave and ordered a couple extras.



The 20mm single are not actually present from what I can tell.I seemed to have overlooked the placement in my review and where there would be 20mm AA there are what appears to be 40mm singles...in all honesty, this could be correct after a refit maybe but judging from most of the old grainy pics they look like single AA's to me...so I picked up the Master 20mm Oerliken set.

Aside from a small handful of single 20mm AA's on board, the Robert was outfitted with the MKV duel 200mm/70.



This is one tiny piece to mess with. Of course not knowing the configuration when I set the gun in haste, and before doing a little research on this gun, the guns are placed a bit forward more than they should be...no matter as I am changing things a little and this is for reference anyway. I had to make a couple of modifications to the existing part to make things come together.



After a little trim, I cut the shoulder stops off a couple of the PE parts from Master's set, took the sighting and mounted it on the front of the shield and added a little seat.





The shield is basically a block of plastic on the kit part and I was going to fashion a new one from brass shim stock but came to my senses and pushed on. Maybe the next time I will go that route...LOL!! I am noticing now, one of the back ends of the guns is rotated a bit. Like I said, these are tiny and even with the extra specs, hard to see! Once straightened out, these should pass!

Next up was some surgery on the 4" guns. Again, I picked up a set from Master with more than I will need for the job but was cheap and ready to go.



Basically I did this so I would not have to drill out the barrels! I think these will work well too!



I also gave in and decided to pick up one last thing, a set of 40mm Pom Pom's from Flyhawk. There will be 4 in the set and I only need the one full and then some surgery to make two half jobbies.



Should be a nice improvement. I do still think OOB this would dress out nicely, I just happen to be stuck on the couch waiting for the doctor to okay me to start a little rehab from my back surgery...so the fingers start clicking and the parts just magically show up!

Onto some of the "other stuff". I have been making the rounds on some of the superstructure parts getting them ready. Railings and ladder work soon some of the deck fitting will pop up!





I am running out of blue-tape box top space for the parts so it it time to get some things together I think.



Well, that's it for the moment. I sanded the filling I added to a small gap in the hull and will be adding the wells, breakwater and the propeller shaft mounts soon and prepare to get the hull painting out of the way I think! Still out some on painting other things but all part of the game!!

Almost forgot...some radar stuff...LOL!!



Thanks for stopping by for a lQQY!!

Very good Todd, nice work on the armament and gun director(s)

Todd - Very nice and neat work, damn you!!

I see your aftermarket additions and have to add them to my wishlist - you don'tknow a good (by that I mean cheap) divorce lawyer?

Thanks a bunch Julian!!

Thanks Andrew? Appreciate the kind words and sorry about that...she has not accepted the fact that the life of a Plastic Widow is never easy.

Divorce lawyers? There's always Dewey Cheatham, and Howe? Or maybe the firm of Smith & Wesson? Al

WOW Al!!

Looking good

Cheers Kev