Hi all,
I usually build planes and AFV but for a change I’m going to build a ship. I’ve read a few good things about Tamiya’s 1/350 Prince of Wales so that’s the one I got, well that and I was able to get it for about 25 Euro.
My girl-friend had been nagging me to start it, so last night I got it out to have a look. I opened this big box. Wow, look at the size of this thing, it even includes cute (dare I say cute) little aircraft. Even though I couldn’t wait to get started, I was a bit overwhelmed by its size and wasn’t quite sure where to begin.
So, as it’s been a while (only 20 years) since my last ship, I was wondering does anyone have any basic tips on planning, construction and painting ? Or point in the direction of where I might find some tips myself.
Is there a website that has some more info on the Prince of Wales ??
Thanks for any help.

Hey "mossieramm"

Study hard and follow the assembly instructions.. if you are not used to build ship models - that's my most sincere advice
Although it looks very complex, consider building it in sub-assemblies instead of making it as a whole.
Hull, superstucture, turrets, small bits (catapults, cranes, ship's boats, etc).
Take your time and pay attention to details...
You can always put your momentary doubts / questions here - the crew is very helpfull

Here are some links for the real and models of POW
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/uk/uksh-p/pow12.htm

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/prince.htm

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=+site:www.modelshipgallery.com+HMS+Prince+of+wales

Hope this helps,

Skipper

Skipper's advice is right on the money. I've been doing Tamiya's WW II Missouri, and I imagine that there have to be quite a few similarities in the construction process.

I found the basic instructions pretty good for assembly. The one thing that I did which I think was quite helpful is to NOT secure all the "small items" such has weapons, etc if that is shown in each step.

I have done all the "major" work (superstructure etc) in each of the steps, and separately completed the "add ons" for later. That has allowed for painting, detailing and handling of the larger bits and avoided (mostly!) damaging the smaller stuff.

If you've ever seen any of the construction photos of warships, you'll notice that when they're "launched" they don't have much of the fittings in place, they're added later. That's somewhat the way I did my Missouri.

In fact, even now, the main gun turrets, the 5" turrets, the 40mm mounts, and the Mk 37 directors are NOT secured. They are all on a rod which goes into a hole in the deck. So not only were they not installed permanently as part of the construction process, they can be rotated once set in place.

As you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask and I'll be happy to help if I can.

Tom

I didn't build the Prince of Wales but I did do the King George V which is almost the same kit. It is a very simple straight forward build. I just added a basic photoetched kit to mine. Tom has gone to a very complex and super-detailed buld of the basic Tamiya Missouri kit, but his method of building it is the approach to take whether you are just building it straight out of the box or super detailng it. Test fit all y0ur pieces and make sure they go together. I for one would paint the hull before you add the deck pieces on. Paint the deck pieces after you glue them down to the hull, not putting anything on them. After paint is all set and dry then adding the sub-assemblies you have built (superstructures, main guns, funnels, AA gun tubs, etc)

Blaster,

why would you add the decks later?

The idea for my KGV is to add the decks and railing (yes, I am going for the super detailing route as well), and then to paint the whole assembly. The idea being that adding the decks (and the slight amount of filler needed in mine) after having painted the rest of the hull would damage the painted part.

It is going to be an awesome job BTW to do the masking, as I am building the ship in its early 1944 fit (So with camouflage).

Paint plan is primer, then paint the decks (wood) first. Mask them of. Then the other horizontal surfaces, then the vertical surfaces...

Of the top of my head four colors are used (Grey, Light Blue, Dark Blue and Black). So my idea is to spray the whole hull grey first, then everything not grey light blue, then everything dark blue and black dark blue and last the black. Setback is that some areas (the black ones) will have 4 layers of paint. Advantage IMHO is that colors will be even, and masking will be much easier. And it is easier to spray dark over light then light over dark....

So, what is your opinion of my paint-plan?

Thanks in advance,

Harm

Mossieram,

the KGV is a beatiful kit (I am building it myself).

What you can do, is make a workstand to fix the hull on. It is what I did and it works great. It is an easy way to turn the hull into a solid platform when finishing of the ship (superstructure, railing, rigging).

I saw it used by a guy who built an awesome Bismarck model. Then later you can use the attachmentpoints to fix the ship to its final stand (unless you want to use the Tamiya stand).

There might be some pictures still in my gallery or the Dreadnaught thread...

The trick: Drill two holes in the bottom of the hull along the keel. Fix nuts on the inside (Bisonkit), helt in place by popsickle stick parts (so you get to snack as well), arranged along the sides of the hexagon (Bisonkit again). This provides extra attachment surface for the nut, and prevents the nut from turning along when all the decks are glued in place.

Make a wooden stand with holes for bolts at the same distance as the holes in the hull. Make sure you have something soft between the hull and the wood (piepschuim oid), fix the bolts through the holes to the wood into the hull, and you have the hull fixed rock-solid in place.

Hope this helps,

Harm

Edit: The pictures are still there. The decks and superstructure are still not glued in place....

And it looks like I will able to work on the ship again from mid June onwards.

I have found that assemblying the deck prior to putting it onto the hull works best for me. I haven't been 100 % successful in eliminating seam lines btwn the sections, but found this works best by gluing on flat surface and hides them better. I don't do well with rescribbing entire sections especially since the wood detail of decks is raised. I paint it separatly from the hull because i personally find it easier to do a bit of touchup rather than a ton of masking. The more times you have to paint and mask is that many more chances you have of eithr misalignment or having paint creep under mask. Don't forgt that the bottom of hull is red thus adding one more color you have to spray onto hull.

Correct colors for PoW's Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage scheme are:

MS1, MS3, B5, B6, 507C, and White.

That said, however, at the time of her loss the MS3 had been painted out.

We have all these colors accurately matched and available in our Colourcoats enamels. No minimum order on paint, and we ship worldwide.

Thank you for the helpful replies.
I've started various "little" sub-assemblies, and also cleaning the deck and hull. I tried a little dry-fitting of the 3 piece deck to the hull and found that the deck-pieces don't fit into the hull, the hull is to narrow.
Any tips on how to widen the hull so the deck will fit ??

A lot depends on your approach and your equipment. I have a light/magnifying glass on an adjustable stand, as opposed to glasses that I wear. That somewhat limits my viewing/working space. I probably spent about 6 months working on just the center section. I made a deliberate trade-off decision to not glue that to the hull for a couple of reasons.

The first was that it would have made trying to get just the perfect angle under the glass just about impossible, trying to move the entire hull around. It's too long and cumbersome. And I plan on placing the finished model on a wood plank base, and not piercing the hull, so a fixture wasn't what I wanted to do. And handling the hull for 6 months would have probably had a significantly detremental effect on the paint job. It was a lot easier working with just the deck section.

I'm sure I'm going to have some "issues" when I mount all three finished deck sections to the hull, with filling seams between the deck and hull and the deck pieces themselves. And I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to do some touchup, and that part of the build may not be as good as I'd like.

The foredeck is going to wind up being done as installed for a different reason. The biggest reason is because the structure around the forward 20mms needs to be not only seamless to the hull and painted as one unit, it has to be on top of the foredeck. And because the deck blue stain on the foredeck has to go far enough underneath it to make painting that AFTER assy not practical, I have to paint the deck blue first, secure that to the hull, then add the "bull nose" , and then mask off the painted deck section to paint the forward part of the hull in haze gray.

For that section (and there is nowhere nearly the amount of detail work), I'll detail after it's installed. I don't know if that's the best way or not, but it's the best way that I could come up with.

I think it really comes down to what works best for the individual. And the sequence could easily be different depending on the construction of the ship and the amount of detail to be added.

Tom

I knew I had a better reason, thanks Tom. He's right, continual handling of the hull can become a mess. The last 350 scale I did was the Lexington, which of course is the only way to do an aircraft carrer. I do my 350 scale babes full hull and the underside with the props and rudders can break easily with too much handling, plus I find it much easier to mask and turn without any added encumberances

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Mossieramm,
Found this on the internet.
It'll be useful for matching mixes.
http://steelnavy.com/rnchips.htm
Tom
Edit: sorry can't remember how to make the link 'live'

Hi, I'm returning to modelling after a very long time and I'm new to this forum, And sorta computer dumb! So cut me some slack please. I ordered a PoWs kit, Trumpeter, and like to know if ther e are products to spice it up, and I'm wondering how long this forum has be rolling, is this the only page of threads for battleships or am I just being stupid? Cheers K

Keltic,

go to White Ensign Models, they produce PE sets for almost any modern ship out there... and have a whole load of other ship related stuff (paints, kits etc). I ordered form them once, and in my experience, service has been good.

http://www.WhiteEnsignModels.com

Supposedly there is someone out there who produces turned brass barrels, and though they look awesome, they are at least for me way out of my league...

Hope this helps...

Harm

So Fred... Welcome Aboard Modelshipwrights
Harm already have given you an excellent place to search for AM parts...

This forum... Modelshipwrights is rolling for about 1 month, but we already had four years running Warships in Armorama so all content is here... it's just a question of browsing the proper area of interest. Those topics that have not been migrated to those areas are under General Quarters

And by the way.. are you from Hallifax?
I have visited Hallifax and of course HMCS Sackville in my Navy days!
Great place, friendly people!

Once again Welcome

Skipper

There is indeed, Steve Nuttall. I can attest that his work is excellent, as I have both the 16" and 5" barrels of his on my 1/350 Missouri.

Here's his site:
http://www.modelbarrels.com/

Tom

If I'm not mistaken, the Trumpeter POW kit is 700 scale. and there are several aftermarket photo etched kits . You can get the Tom's version for less than $10 at Greatmodels.com. Just in case you have a 350 scale Tom's also makes one for that. They are not as super-detailed as the White Ensign, but cover about 90 % or so of the same thng. They arealso considerably cheaper. As Tom Hathaway mentioned, Steve Nuttal does custom barrels. To my knowledge, he is the only one right now, but I think some of the major companies are looking to do this. Steve is expensive running about $5 a barrel for main gun and $2.50 a barrel for smaller. It can add up. I think a full Bismarck set ran $110

Thanks for your helpful responses, I'm excited about getting into modelling again. The internet is such a super resource, especially when your out in the sticks. I live on Cape Breton Island, so I'm about 4 hrs from Halifax, which I believe is my closest hobby store! Thanks again I'm really enjoying this site. Cheers FMK

I am beginning a POW also, only that it is a Revell in the scale 1/570, #05070, for the Dreadnought campaign. I intend to build it OOB, and I would like to paint it only in one color, instead of the three colors camo scheme. Then, please, which the gray tone I should paint it?
Speaking in Campaigns, where are they here in the Shipwright? I am lost in this new harbor.
I thank any help.

Hey guys,

Here's another web site for the PoW

Force Z Survivors Association

Gator

Gaucho, the Campaigns are located in "Fleet Maneuvers"

Tom