Hi all,
Here are some photos of my completed Tamiya HMS Rodney kindly Donated by Mike Durr.





All comments welcome

cool looking ship! why the funny design? It look as if it is half a battleship

Andrew, is that a 1/700 kit? And how long is the actual model?

It does seem an unusual shape, but I'm no expert. Must have looked pretty impressive coming over the horizon!

It was one of the bb's made btwn the wars They were treaty BB's designed to pack a punch, yet still fit the tonnage weights set by one of those Washington Naval COnferences. I'm just shooting from memory here so I don't have exactitues as to which conference and weight limits. In ny case, Andy good job for an old kit.

andy great job and this class is still one of my all time favs
Ian

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Yes this is the 1/700 kit its about 30.5 cm long.
Shain is right about the unsual design to fit in with Post WWI rules.

Great Job Andy! I was curious as to the size as well, for a 1/700th it looks bigger.

In ragrds to the design, at first I thought "man that's ugly!" bit the more I see it, the more I like it. It's just really interesting. Seeing it in its camo makes it all the more interesting and I've been considering finding one for myself.

These were the ships known as the "Cherrytree Ships." So called because they were 'cut down' from their original designs by the Washington naval treaty. The Brits also called them Rodenol and Nelsonol because they looked a bit like oil tankers that usually ended in "ol." The origianal design was a bit better looking, but still strange because the 3rd turret was between the bridge and the rest of the superstructure.

A very nice job on an oldie but a goodie Andrew. Very appropriate, considering your name. RN sailors used to refer to the Royal Navy as "The Andrew."

Really? That's so interesting! What is the origin of this term?


I'm serious Rodger, you should be writing naval monographs...

I really don't know, and nobody seems to know for sure. My uncle, who was a "boy" seaman in WWII thought it was because Saint Andrew was a patron saint of something to do with the sea. I've also heard it was the name of some ship or shore establishment called Andrew.

Good Job, Andy, and a very interesting entry! Congratulations on having the first completed entry in this very young group build...Are you sure that I couldn't convince you to build a couple more??!!?? Just kidding, as I remember that you had said earlier on that you were going to be moving soon, so thank you for your participation in this most excellent campaign, but if you find the time, don't be afraid to add another entry if you can...
Gunny

Great looking Rodney, Andrew. I haven't built a ship in years (apart from the wooden Bounty). Now if I could just get my hands on an early dreadnought it might just get me out of this modelling rut that I've dug myself into and into this campaign. Just need to get round SWMBO (can't have new golf clubs & models so the kit may have to wait for bad weather)

Thanks everyone for the great comments


LOL Rodger this is the first time I have come across this. That is really interesting.

The term is in fact still in use - not that widely, but some of us still call the RN 'the Andrew' (along with several far less complimentary names, usually when we are talking about procurement, terms of service, and so on...)

Hi Andrew!

Your Rodney [or "The Andrew" :-)] looks great!
From what I can tell in the pics, a clean built!

May I sugest just a little extra work for the rigging?
It will improve your BB a little more

Great job,

Skipper

Hi All

If iam not mistaken the large navel guns outside the Imperial War Museum in London are in fact from the Rodney.
Cheers Chris

Thanks guys,
Rui, I don't think I have to confidence to do the rigging. Are there any how tos out there?
Thats interesting Chris. Hopefully while I am in England next year I will be able to see them.

The IWM's guns are from a couple of 'R' class Battleships

http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2492

Don't forget to do HMS Belfast, which is not that far away from the main IWM building. It's a nice walk along the South Bank, past Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre.

Thanks for the information David..........I will keep that in mind for next year

For battleships maximum tonnage by ship was 35.000 tons and for main guns nothing bigger then 16' guns (406 mm), still, you could put as many of these guns you like. Nelson and Rodney, in the real shape, like in the model, almost did pass the Washington Treaty limits. A very interesting class of BB's and in fact any model of them is always good to see!!! Keep it going.

Filipe thank you for the information about the Rodney and the Washington treaty

If I remember right the design was to bring as many guns as possible to bear on a foe "Crossing the T" as the naval term goes. The bridge on a conventional design blocks one or two turets from firing during this manuver, three in front alows more guns to train on a target longer......I think......had somthing to do with the battle of Jutland.....were do we pick up this stuff anyway??????

Hi guys

You were completly right Drader regard the guns outside the IWM i was contacting the IWM regard another topic and wanted to find out more had a nice e-mail back from this guy very informative,quick respons to could be some one that might be good to have on file for you navel guys, where did i get the idea that it was the Roney i was close they begin with R ..LOL LOL Cheers Chris
Dear Mr Edwards
Thank you for your enquiry.
The two 15" naval guns mounted in front of the Imperial War Museum came from two different battleships of the Royal Navy - HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution. They were made in 1915 and 1916 and came to the IWM in 1968.
22 ships of the Royal Navy were armed with 15-inch guns. The gun is actually formed from a series of tubes, which were heated and then shrunk over each other. The A tubes of each gun are each wound round with 170 miles of wire. Each barrel weighs over 97 tons. They could fire shells over 16 miles.

Morte information on them can be found on our website, at:

http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.990

I trust this is of interest
Fergus Read
Acting Head
Department of Exhibits & Firearms
Imperial War Museum
Lambeth Road
London
SE1 6HZ

The idea of having all the main armament forward was to keep the ships length as short as they could. It was the first class of BB built for the Royal Navy with the American 'raft body' armour principle instead of providing only medium armour thickness over a larger area of the ship. This meant the armour citadel wasn't as long as a traditionally laid out main armament BB and therefore could be thicker.
The class also had a very good anti-torpedo armour layout.
Andy I take it the model depicts Rodney in the early war years? the mainmast was shortened considerably around 1943.
I like the positioning of the main guns pointing over the starboard bow but can't quite see from the pics if the DCT (Director Control Tower) placed above the bridge is also pointing in the same direction. All three turrets would get range and bearing info from this so if the main guns were in action it would always be pointing at the target.
Wish someone would bring out a 1/350 plastic example...still we can dream.
Tom

Check out this site:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4433/

It has a lot of info on HMS Rodney, and great B&W pictures of the ship.

Naturally, it's my favorite Battleship...