Hi Warren,

great to have you on board as well - and great to have you back here after your move, your are bringing so much life to the whole forum! Fantastic job over at the campaign! I still cannot believe your pace, great model and the last bits don't seem to slow you down all that much but there may be a different perspective as to what is 'slow'

Russ, spot on...but well, no complains, as long as the worst thing work does to me is to keep me from the workbench every than and when, that's fair enough

...and a quick update, some more do-dads, partly painted, partly waiting











Tomorrow there should be opportunity to assemble some parts, maybe I'll get a little more impressive update

For now

Jan

impressive just the same Jan! Great seeing all the little bits under some color!!

Thank you, Todd!

Yep, color makes quite a difference! And my crew at the shipyard was quite busy yesterday, hope that I get the update and pictures up tonight. A great and effective day yesterday until - well...I guess you all know there's a point at which you should stop working, sit back and relax. Once you miss that point, things tend to get ugly - that happened to me . I managed to install major parts of the bridge/pilot house and wanted to do a very last thing, install two small PE platforms on the forward mast. Doing so, I knocked down one of the newly installed yardarms. Somehow managed to knock down a crane with my left hand probably in reflex to 'aide' the right hand. Well, turned the ship to the side to fix the yardarm, forgot to remove the 15"ers which in turn tripped. Two landed on the desk, one on the floor - of course the Y-turred, and of course it landed on the Oerlikons . The time I planned to post an update was spent to repair the created havoc but I think I managed without any permanent damage visible

Okay, I hope I find some time for the full story with pictures today or tomorrow, REPULSE is fine!! didn't kill her and I'll give the little PE platforms another 'go' fresh and rested - surprisingly though, the carped monster seemed properly fed, no losses during my tour de destruction...

More later, for now

Cheers,

Jan

I feel your pain..

Sounds like my Dreadnought and its sticky-uppy masts.. The forward mast remained unscathed but the back one got knocked off twice.

Moral of the story, leave ALL the sticky-uppy things until last..

Good luck Jan with the rest of the build,
Cheers
Warren

We believe in you Jan.

Keep up the good work,
Bryan

Bryan and Warren,

thank you for your kind comments and encouragement!!
To be honest, yesterday night I was quite fed up, that's why I posted this morning, when I could laugh again about my clumsiness. And another inspection right now leaves me with the same results - no permanent damage done, all fixed

But here's the long story, at least part of it, will probably split in two updates.

It all started with some PE origami aka railing. Thanks god they are not generic but custom fitted...



This and similar parts are attached to the next level of the bridge structure.





Next level added, and here we have the nice gap that needs to be taken care of...



...and that's done by Mr. Surfacer 500, brushed on with the hairy stick in several layers.



While it cures the pilot house gets it's optical instruments installed.



The roof comes on. Instruments are visible - a little tricky to get that on a picture though...





..and while Mr. Surfacer still cures, shift of focus - And now for something completely different. Couldn't help my creative gizmology. Those 3D etched tampions are simply to good to be neglected, but I wanted to show the barrels open. So what to do? First some color to bring out the etched profile.





And then I decided that they could have been stowed somewhere on the barbettes or superstructure. (I know it's wrong...but I like the effect!)











All right, I'm going to post this...before I hit a wrong button and lose everything like Warren did the other day

...and on with the story

Next in line were the brake waters forward.



Another part that I was a little afraid of, but the Eduard etch is really good to handle!







Mr. Surfacer sufficiently cured, time for sanding





and painting and test-fitting.



I do like the crest on the bridge!



The next platforms up:



Ok, the point of no return: Structure glued in place, starting to fit ladders.



Well, if you have three long ladders to fit, it is the obvious decision to start with the only ladder that obstructs you from fitting the shorter one, visible pretty much centre of the picture, that you forgot in the first place. But that was still early on and I was able to fix it without any further damage. The small ladder is not perfectly in place, but that's almost invisible, even if you know what to look for.
There should have been one more ladder, leading from the first elevated platform into the chartroom (the extension of the compass platform), this one I forgot entirely. Should have been installed before fitting the structure in place. Anyway, it's invisible, and I could still claim it is inside my scratch build extension.

More ladders on the port side.





One more platform up -



- probably that would have been the perfect time to call it a day, but well...

Now it's certainly enough pictures posted for one day thanks for looking and if you're still not fed up the rest of the story will follow soon

I try tomorrow but make no promises

For now

Cheers

Jan

Well played Jan!! One heck an update if you ask me!! Some first rate work indeed!! Great job with brightening up those details, like the crest and whatnots.....looks superb!!

Thank you Todd,

that's very much appreciated!!

I am glad you like my little 'gizmology' with the crests - could be seen quite controversial...but I think it's just a very nice effect...

Cheers,
Jan

LOL...I could see where it might twist some, but in the end there is two things to focus on...first being it's your build and as such, your way!! The other point being they are a fine detail and highlighting them the way you did brings a lot of eye candy to the build, which is very pleasing if you ask me!!

I like the crests, they add much character to the ship.

Bryan

Absolutely first rate work, Jan!

A good save from some dockyard accidents too!

This one is really something to be proud of!

Russ

This build is looking fantastic!!

Gentlemen,

thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement!! This is sincerely appreciated and I am glad to have you all on board for the ride!


Today I installed the little platforms that started the havoc on Sunday. Well, not quite true, I did, but after all, can't be my fault, can it??
Even more embarrassing, I found out that on Sunday I tried to fit them wrong, i.e. ladder outside and platform facing toward the centerline of the ship. This not only doesn't make any sense, it's way more complicated than doing it right. Hmmm....
Photos of that will follow later, haven't cut, resized and uploaded them yet.
But there are some pictures left from yesterday, so let's get on with it

The next platform added, with the yardarms and food ropes.









This was just minutes before I tried to fit the platforms that are connected to the left and right after masts of the tripod construction. The port yardarm I managed to knock down, and the rest of the story has been told.

Last three pictures are after completed repairs







More soon and thanks for looking!!

Cheers,

Jan

Great work Jan,

The Bridge is looking superb, really captures the complex busy structure.

Si

Si, thank you very much!! This bridge structure is indeed pretty complex, and I am not sure whether there is a right way of doing it - at some point along installing all the platforms on the tripod it becomes trial and error and wishing for a third - or fourth hand, preferably way smaller than your own

On with the build

The spotting top







And in place:















And then I started something new, rigging with EZ-Line, just a small beginning to see the effect - three lines supporting the forward funnel. This I omitted on every other model so far. What do you think, worth continuing?







And that's where REPULSE is at right now





I can't say if I manage to get back to the workbench during the next days but I'll do my very best

Thanks for looking and your support, more to follow

Cheers,

Jan

Jan

Very impressive work. She looks beautiful. I like the EZ Line and think it is definitely a keeper. Need to try that out myself. Looking forward to seeing more progress

Dave

I like the EZ line, its just one more great element in the whole busy picture. Also since its along the center of the ship and relatively low it shouldnt complicate future rigging to much.

That Main Mast/Bridge is so commanding, very good.

Bryan

Looking great Jan!! Clean work indeed! Sorry to hear about the woes along the way...price we pay for big hands in a small hobby I guess! You seemed to have fixed things up very well!! Keep it going!!

Wow, Jan, Repulse has never been one of my favorites, but your build may change that...

Absolutely beautiful work!

Very Nice Jan!

Gentlemen,

thank you so much for your kind comments!

Tim, I have to admit that those two battlecruisers, RENOWN and REPULSE, are no ships that you fall in love with at first sight, but both have a great and impressive history, and learning about their concept and the development over time makes them highly interesting. And finally, can't say otherwise, I've fallen in love with them and would go for a RENOWN in late-WWII configuration in an instant, should one be offered sometime!

Thanks all for your opinions on the EZ line rigging, I will go for it and continue.

Cheers,

Jan

Great stuff Jan,

Love the interior detail in the bridge and the spotting top adds so much depth to superb build.

Si

The EZ line looks great Jan!

With rigging, even though you may not see all the detail you know it's there! Kinda like powerlines when seen from a distance :-)

For the trivia lovers...

If memory serves, I believe "Renown" and "Repulse", were colloquially known (somewhat un-affectionately) by their naysayers as "Refit" and "Repair"!

The two ships were laid down as 'improved Royal Sovereigns' under the 1914 estimates, but as the war progressed and with the experience of Heligoland bight under their belt the Admiralty asked for a re-design.

Fischer wanting to push for his Baltic plan, had them changed further making them very much his personal creations, sacrificing armour and armourment for speed.

This led to much criticism of the basic design after the war and many modifications to allow them to continue to be of use after the war.

Nonetheless the crews served valiantly in them!