The Ship Model Forum

This is a first rate piece of work.... Ive just started building the Hood with the Pontos extras. Im a complete novice to the world of ship building so I thought why not start with an ‘Uber’ difficult kit! Ive started in reverse order ie guns, small boats...the boring fiddly stuff and then move on to the hull and superstructure.

Any hints welcome on how your gap fill PE parts to plastic.... using PVA glue as gap filler but any help most welcome.

Loving your work and especially the shelter deck....

Anyhow... thank you for sharing your thoughts, pictures and techniques as they say ‘pioneers get the arrows and settlers get the land’. Good look with it all, looking forward to the next blog.

Hi guys..

Happy New Year to all..

First my apologies to capt Bob for not being around to acknowledge your post, thank you for your kind words on my build.
I was reminded tonight on FB that I haven't posted anything on building Hood for a long time. For this I am sorry, Hood has not been abandoned, it's safely stored awaiting my return and I promise that it will be finished. Alas, currently I have a live steam locomotive to complete which I started over 10 years ago, which now takes up all of my time and I need to get it as close to finished as possible before 2023 as in that year the full size celebrates its Centenary year.
So don't give up on me guys...if I can, I'll sort out a case for it later in the year and see if I can find time to do some work on her. Actually I miss working on her, perhaps I'll try to find some leisure time during the evenings once I have the case sorted.

I see lots of good Hood builds out there, keep up the great work chaps...

Kind regards

Pete

Hi everyone, hope you are all safe and well during these difficult times? it's been a long time since I have done anything to my model of Hood but hopefully, I'll be back on here soon with some proper updates. Yesterday I ordered a glass case and my first step will be to fix the hull to its base when it arrives in a few weeks time.
I now come to the reason for this post, I intend to sit the model on a mock slipway although I'll probably have the ship sitting level rather than on a slope just for cosmetic reasons, how far I go with this is not yet known but I would like to find out more about the wood that was used for the 'cribbing' under the keel, the slipway rails and then also the bow and stern cradles. I have looked at the photos of Hood's launch where I can see the cribbing is a dark wood but not sure what the slipway rails are made from. I'm assuming wood for this era but it looks very light in colour so unsure. I do realise that the ways themselves would have been greased or covered in tallow but don't think this is the reason for the very light colour seen in the photos?

Currently, I'm thinking of using walnut strips of various sizes for the cribbing and cradles although this may change due to cost.

Any info that you guys could share to guide me in this would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Pete

Hi Pete! welcome back, and we are looking forward to your new updates. Like you I have not made any progress for ages either. Regards, Pete in RI. Ps, don't forget the hull antifowling is grey, not red.

Thanks for the welcome Pete, alas the hull is already painted and I'm unlikely to change it at this stage.. never say never though...

Cheers

Pete

Good day all, well I have spent this morning reading through the various 'Call to Arms' pages on 'Hood' in an effort to catch up on what has changed since my last work on this model back in 2018, yes it really is that long ago, I best pull my finger out...

It seems to me that there have been a number of important changes to the views paintwork and perhaps a few small item placements too? The most obvious being the anti-fouling and some sections of the deck.
I have taken a brief look at the suggested colour details on the Hood association website and also the artwork from Sovereign. Luckily I am not that advanced with the build re-deck colours that I can't make changes as although the shelter deck is permanently fixed none of the upperworks has been so attached yet.
One issue that I do have if I repaint the lower hull is that I have already placed the plimsol line decals, does anyone know if Trumpeter could supply another set if asked?

Can I ask if the newly discovered details have now been added to the excellent association Trumpeter review and also is the Sovereign artwork the currently accepted image of how Hood looked in May 41?

I accept that new info is always coming to light but I need to make a decision on what needs changing before getting stuck in too far.

Has anyone actually made a list of the new details that have emerged over the last 3 years to help me in setting out the way ahead?

Thanks in advance and well done to those Hood models being built out there, I have viewed snippets of some and they are looking superb.

Kind regards

Pete

PS: what do you guys do to remove dust? luckily my model has been stored up in the loft room which is in fact a spare bedroom with little dust but there is some which I now need to carefully remove.

Evening all

i have been busy today in sorting out the model and deciding on where to go next, in fact, I have yet to work out what my plan of action was when i stopped 3 years ago, hopefully with the new dawn tomorrow my head may remember my battle plan. having reacquainted myself with the Pontos kit, I find myself asking what the hell was I thinking when deciding to build yet another HMS Hood?

The first thing to make a decision on was 'colour scheme' A few things to note, first up is the grey, I note when rereading my build that there was a differing of views when it came to the grey, the official colour stated today being 507A whereas I have used 507B. I have revisited this and my decision back then will stand, I have some 507A and for my eye, it's just too dark. Now I accept the views of those respected folk who say it should be 507A and that may well be the correct colour when painting full size, but in my mind, it's just too dark for a 1/200 scale model. before making this decision i revisited the known photo's of Hood in May 41 and my view hasn't changed. So the first decision is to stick with what I did 3 years ago. next up is the anti-fouling, the argument for grey is compelling, you can't argue with written evidence as supplied by Frank. However, I am going to use modeller's license and retain the red, this is not only to make life easier but also to have a more attractive model when displayed in the front room. let's just say, my wife, says 'red'...


As for the boat deck etc, I will follow the current thinking and repaint the sections concerned in brown. Life is made a little easier for me here as it looks like I will be able to remove the Pontos etched decking making repainting an easy exercise.

I spent a large part of today separating the model from its 3-year layer of dust, not too difficult although thank god that the decks are still relatively clear. I first dusted everything with a clean brush while holding a hoover at a safe distance from the brush to stop the dust from settling somewhere else. Once that was done I went over everything again with an earbud and cotton cloth, I used plain water to remove any stubborn dirt and then dabbed each section dry with the cotton cloth. I only dislodged two parts which were reattached after the deep clean was finished.

A couple of sections to the de-gaussing cable also needed a small amount of thin CA to reattach.

I have taken one picture to show that we are ready to continue with the build, although for the life of me I have no idea where to begin, a little reading tonight may help get the old grey cells working (I suspect not), or at least woken up to remember my previous plan of attack.



One other point, I had planned to make up a slipway for the model to sit on, this may change for a couple of bronze pedestals which would be a much quicker thing for me to make, minutes on the lathe instead of weeks at the bench, after all, I still have that loco to finish..

The next job will be to repaint the shelter deck plating and perhaps give the deck a wash, more soon..

Pete

good day all, I wonder if some of you would share your opinion on the display case base colour for me. As mentioned I have ordered a custom-built case for the model and today have received some base samples for me to choose the colour from.
I had planned to use royal blue, 5th from the left but on receiving the samples I'm not so sure as some of the lighter colours which I would never have contemplated before might be a better option, what I mean is to make the model stand out more.

Anyway, here's a photo showing the samples lined up against the hull, all comments most welcome.



Pete

Evening guys

Well, this is the first proper update in 3 years, and even then not a lot to show but at least I have found where I left off and made a start. note that one of the first things that I did was to change the colour of part of the shelter deck following the latest info. I haven't followed the new recognised scene entirely, most obviously being the anti-fouling colour but also I'm not going to follow the 'cement' colour around the boat deck nor the brown between the two forward 0.5 MG's.

Anyway, moving on, I have now attached all of the small bits to the outside of the Admiral's Signal platform prior to painting, I'll fit the various booms later, along with any trunking/piping etc. With the basic modelling done I sprayed the deck the appropriate colour coats colour, once dry I masked off and sprayed the 507B grey.
With that done and after a night to dry I permanently fixed the section to the model.



And a view from the front...please excuse the dark shadows in all these pictures, I had to use an LED flashlight to get enough light for the photo's.



This view from the back shows the added brass etch which extends the sidewalls and also includes the 4 supporting pillars. A note here, I positioned the pillars so that the ends lined up with the deck above, this seemed to make sense to me. However, in doing this the funnel base can't fit between the inner pillars? Not a big deal but worth pointing out for others, not wanting to try and reposition the pillars I simply machined two small steps in the forward end of the funnel base so that it fits between the pillars as it should.



This closer picture shows the issue better, as can be seen, the actual pillars are nearly up against the moulded location tab for the funnel base to fit around. The plastic is too thick to squeeze between the locater and pillar. You can see where I have machined a step on either side of the base so that it will fit between the two pillars.



Here we see the funnel base pushed fully home and also the fore bridge has been dry fitted to check all is ok.



In case you thought that I had forgotten, yes I did remember to glaze the portholes before fitting, I tried to angle the flashlight to get a glare to show they are glazed.



For the next update, I should have all of the other parts required on the Admirals platform and the fore bridge. I seem to have lost my collection of pictures so will need to find some others that show these areas in more detail first.

Pete

Hi Pete, nice come-back. On the colour of the base, I think that the black would make the model pop. But, you could get some sheets of old card or newspaper cut to size and give them a squirt with any apropriate coloured paint you have laying around the house. Try the model against those as I think you have enough of it built/painted to see how it will look.
On the funnel base, I did not have that issue.
On the upcoming Tripod fitment, dryfit the tripod parts and decks thereon carefully. I had an issue with the alignment of the tripod leg pieces. They just would not align straight. When viewed from certain angles the had a kink to them. I the end I replaced them with brass tube. Was quicker than trying to fix the plastic bits.
How did the Pontos wood deck fit? I have not got that far yet, am still working on the shelter deck. Any tips on fitting the deck would be welcome. Regards Pete in RI

Hi Pete

I think that I can live with the red, after all, I bet that 99% of models built have red hulls... I now know why I had the issue with the funnel base, it's purely down to me not paying attention, perhaps in part due to the long break in the build. When fitting the brass etch extension to the sides I had fitted then against the lip sticking out under the deck rather than flush with the outside of the wall edge giving me a small step, yes the same size step as the pillars needed for clearance. Live and learn, as they say, I'm not going to change it as it's not something that stands out unless you know about it.
The Prontos wooden decks are superb, I can't recall any issues when fitting them. As with most things dry fit them first to check and when fitting properly, don't press down firmly until happy that all is how it should be. Also when doing the shelter deck check the wooden part with the brass etched parts that they butt up against. IMHO all of the Pontos decking parts both wood and brass have been worked out to perfection.

Cheers

Pete

I'm sure that you hood builders must already have this book, but just in case I thought that I would share what arrived today. All I can say is 'wow' to the drawings within, perfect for us model builders. I'm not saying that all the details are spot on but they look good enough to me. Most useful are the isometric views which help greatly when studying less clear 2D drawings. The rigging layout, in particular, is very helpful. if you haven't got this book, go get it now.
'The Battlecruiser HMS Hood 7024 Top Drawings'

There are drawings for both 1/350 and 1/200 with many smaller parts in larger scales for clarity.



Anyway, please forgive me for those who already are aware and enjoy to those who weren't

Pete

Welcome back indeed!

Now a noob as me have someone to follow as soon I get stuck with sniffing glue and swearing (which happens way to often )

About the display base colour, IMHO I would go with one of the pale ones. You want your masterpiece to be the center of attention, not letting the background “stealing away” interest or creating a “conflict”. Will be interesting so see your display case, still pondering about mine (=

Be very wary with that publication
It’s nice looking but the HMS Hood Association explicitly tells us to avoid this for reference. (http://www.hmshood.com/hoodtoday/models/trumpeter/trumpeter200.htm , under “Reference to Avoid”).

Although, a sharpshooter as you can probably easy find what’s right or wrong in a heartbeat

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Slava Ukraini

Thanks for the welcome Chipmunk, I'm afraid that I have gone for one of the darker colours, blue to be precise. Mind you changing the base colour isn't a big deal if I decide to later.

Yes, I have read the association words of warning, I fail to see why they would do so for this particular book? It has a wealth of info in it and IMHO has drawings better than I've seen elsewhere. Like all such books, you take the info at face value and pick out the bits which you know are correct and leave those which aren't, but hey, how many publications out there are up to date which the current views on Hood, I suspect none. The isometric views are worth it on their own, the rigging, in particular, is very clear and easy to read. If used and cross-referenced with other works I think it helps fill in some gaps. You can never have too much reference material...

Kind regards

Pete

Good afternoon all, a few more steps completed with the forward superstructure.

First, the Admirals signal deck now has the inner rooms, vents, etc painted/fitted along with the stairs/railing down to the deck below.



I then turned my attention to the semaphores deciding to make them all from brass rather than use the kit poles as suggested by Pontos, main reason for this is strength, I could see the plastic poles not lasting long and the PE arms being easily knocked off, especially during construction. Therefore I chose to use brass rod of the same height for the poles and solder everything up. I added a few extra details using suitable parts from the kit PE parts. Later I'll have a go at adding some white lycra to represent the operating ropes which is what I think they are from photos and reading up on semaphores. I believe that these ropes(?) were later changed for bicycle chains but this didn't happen until after Hood's loss so think it's safe to assume her semaphore's used ropes/cable. Other details include the signal lamps and the flag lockers with some signal flags within. I did print off a couple of sets of the flags to scale for the smaller flag size used but the printing paper was too thick to roll them up. I may try again using much finer paper, for now, I just cut the flags up until they fitted in the lockers just to add a little colour. I think the flag boys would be for the 'high jump' leaving the lockers in such a mess... BTW, I chose black and white as that's the colours I've seen used in coloured illustrations online.



A close-up of the detail, the dust and marks will disappear once the model is finished, cleaned, and clear coated. Note that I also added the canvas covers in a rolled-up position on top of the lockers, these were made from wool which was soaked in thin CA and rolled before spraying with an activator to cure. At some point, I'll need to add the tying points for the halyards along the flag deck, I may make a strip of something to attach to the back inner face of the small bulkhead which I believe is where the ropes are tied down too? Then painted in 507B grey which is how they look in the 1939 colour video. I really shouldn't use the macro lens, makes those tiny gaps look massive...lol



Lastly a picture of the conning tower platform and its structures, I have enhanced the voice pipe detail up the sides of the captain's sea cabin with some brass rod, I'll add the more prominent voice pipes down the outside area once the next deck is on as they run under it.



That will be as high as I go for now although I'll probably add the railings/stairs for the conning tower platform deck and then leave it until the rest of the ship below bridge height is completed?

Thanks for looking

Pete

The problem is that not everyone does detailed research. Some folks don’t want to (they want a “one and done” or “one stop shop” approach). Some of these folks may see this inexpensive and nice-looking book and assume it was the end all piece of research - it ‘looks good’ so it ‘must be correct.’ What a mistake they’d be making in this case. That’s why we don’t really recommend it to the layman (our warning is actually intended for folks who aren’t overly familiar with the ship’s details).

Of course, even if they do additional research, who will they choose to believe? Case in point: Trumpeter. When developing their 1/200 kit, they chose to follow the Kagero book rather than accept the latest correct information that we offered freely to them. In doing so, they actually went backwards in terms of accuracy (their 1/700 kit was more accurate in many ways).

Of course, the above is not true for everyone. True Hood enthusiasts know the deal and should know where to go. Likewise for detail-oriented folks. They can balance multiple sources, etc. Of course, we’ve had doubters among that lot as well. Again, frustrating.

I have to say that the book is very nicely presented despite its errors. It has potential. It could be most excellent if the author ever wishes to issue a corrected version (we’ve offered to help). After all, some of the errors are not his fault: In his defence, I believe he may have based the main designs on some earlier Eastern European plans…Plans which were drawn up at a time when certain photos and discoveries had not yet been uncovered. They also do not appear to have consulted the official plans at that time (or else they wouldn’t have cocked up the size of the second funnel the way they did) .
Additionally, some of the details that we now know to be different than previously assumed, were only found after the book was published. So, he cannot be faulted for these things: i.e., lower bridge extensions, boat deck UP shield shapes, corticene usage, grey antifouling, etc.

Other errors, unfortunately, were well known and resolved before the book went to press, and a little bit of online research, could have been beneficial: i.e., configuration of areas outside the compass platform, admirals bridge, AD platforms, the MFDF structure, the second funnel (that’s a “doozy!”), the amidships searchlight platform/MBW, the ACP, various boat deck bulwarks, etc.).

That’s why we don’t recommend the book. Folks can choose to believe us or not…obviously not everyone will. If folks DO buy it, we recommend they consult EJ’s website, our website, this forum and as many other books as possible! Please don’t rely too strongly upon the Kagero book.

Fortunately, in the case of the 1/200 kit, the Pontos set exists! The folks who use that will be able to correct the vast majority of errors present in the kit.

_________________
Frank Allen
H.M.S. Hood Association
http://www.hmshood.org.uk

Morning Frank...

I hear what you say and have read the info available out there countless times so do have some grasp of what I am trying to do. Not saying that I'll get everything right, for example, I won't be changing the anti-fouling colour but would hope to make a good representation of this great ship. I am very familiar with EJ's fine work and have used the excellent info on his site a few times to help. The book in question does help with its isometric drawings to better understand those drawn by John Roberts in his superb 'anatomy' book, especially when tracking the rigging lines. I'm a long way off that but will need it at some point, in the meantime I'll keep researching and buy more books on Hood.
The Pontos kit is superb but could do with slightly thicker railings as they are very delicate to work with, the ones around the forward 0.5 quad mg's being a case in point. There are some anomalies too, one such I have just come across while making the brass section bulwarks along the midsection. I was in two minds as to which side to have the stairs fitted but this was answered for me when noticing that the 'Hood' nameplate at the entrance from the stairs has been etched the same way up for both sides. So my decision was made for me and I did the side where the name is shown the right way up...

This isn't my first model of Hood, these days I'm much more into steam locomotives but when this kit was released and after reading the info on your fine site commemorating this great ship I decided to build yet another, my fourth model of this superb warship, IMHO the most beautiful warship to ever set sail.

This will be my last model of Hood and so I hope to do her proud.

Kind regards

Pete

Continuing with details on the shelter deck I have made a start on the splinter shields and also made/fitted the bulwarks on either side below on the main deck underneath.

here's the splinter shield for the port side forward UP rocket mount, you can see where part of the kit shield has been removed and a higher tier added to the shield itself.



I hadn't realised until now that the shields in the Pontos PE kit for these are in fact just templates to mark out what needs to be removed from the kit shield. This particular template also gives the position to add the extra tier.



the other two Up rockets midsection also had their splinter shields adjusted which can be seen in the last photo for tonight, this next photo shows the bulwarks made and painted ready for fitting. For these I soldered the top and bottom rails and glued on the supports, for the port side I have opened the doors and will fit the stairs later, I have left the 'HOOD' nameplate unpainted.



The last picture shows the bulwarks fitted and the splinter shields painted, I can see the rear of the bulwark this side needs adjusting a little, and will do that later.



I think that the next job will be to continue making/fitting the remaining splinter shields around the shelter deck.

Pete

continuing with the splinter shields, I have now completed those for around the 4" secondaries, currently, I am finding making this model a bit of a struggle due to becoming partially blind in my good eye, yes the other is not as good so please forgive any bad bits, I hope to sort anything obvious when/if I can see better during the next few months.

anyway, enough of my lame excuses and onto the details... For assembling the shields I made myself a small jig to help with the aligning of parts. In this picture, the shield has already been folded but my approach was to fit the triangular supports along one side first while still flat (side with the most), fold to shape, and then fit the remaining supports. These are tricky little things for which I really don't like to glue as it's too easy to knock them off, a few got dislodged on final fitting after painting, I'll sort those out later. These are done now but my plan for the future is to use a resistance soldering unit for all brass work. I'm in the middle of sorting this now, I'll report back when something has been sorted.



Here we see the two rearmost shields folded roughly to shape and awaiting the small supports to be fitted on the other side of the shields before painting.



here we have the 3 rear 4" mount shields (port can just be seen) I have some tidying up to do here but will leave that until I have more sections that need the final touches when I can then fill in any discrepancies.



The forward mount shields note that daylight can be seen under the starboard mount, this is one of the small jobs that I'll tackle later to blend things in, I'll see if it will push down and hold with a dab of glue, if not with a little filler/paint.



a view from above...



The last picture for tonight shows the progress so far, note that I have also fitted the propellers.



The next job I think will be the funnel bases, perhaps even the funnels themselves too? Hopefully, by this weekend or perhaps early next week the case will be delivered, I'll turn up two pillars in bronze for this day. If I have got the measurements right I hope to have one of the boat's booms extended on one side, the stairways too. This will, of course, mean positioning the model to one side of the case. I'm not 100% sure yet as to what this will look like, if I don't like it I'll just mount the model down the center line and keep the boom closed, or perhaps not fully open? I'll just have to wait and see how it all looks.

Thanks for looking guys...

Pete

Very neat piece of folding the splinter shields

Bravo!!

JIM B

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