1/350 SS Model 3d Print HMS Conqueror

[RustyB]

Hopefully the correct place for a build log , if not my apologies.

I'm dipping my toe into the world of 3D printed ships with this one so it'll be a learning curve for me .

Picked up the above print , (actually sold as HMS Orion ), and plan to use it to build Conqueror in her Jutland era . This is because my grandfather served on her 1914 - 1919 with a short posting to take part in the Zeebrugge Raid. He was gunnery Boy Seaman, having signed up at 14 in 1914 , and so was just 16 when he was in the battle of Jutland .

I appreciate this is a 'rip' from WoW and so has some good and bad parts , also depicts Orion at the start of the war, according to Mr Burt they changed a little as war progressed

So , on with the show .

Comes as a hull in three parts,

[RustyB]

So cleaned up and glue them together




Some hole filler later



And then decide that the totally overdone and fake plating would be better gone

[Timmy C]

Hopefully the correct place for a build log , if not my apologies.

Was close - moved to the "Works in Progress" subsection.

[marijn van gils]

Of to a good start!

Gluing three hull halves together and filling the gaps wouldn't be my favourite activity...
I hope producers will get bigger printers for models in this scale!

[MartinJQuinn]

Comes as a hull in three parts,

How much trouble was it removing the hull section from the solid print raft?

[RustyB]

Removing it was a bit of a pain, although the hull is double skinned. Used a rotary tool cutter , and then tidied it up with a flat sanding block . Then used slow setting thick CA to position and glue them , it seems robust. TBH I've not done a resin ship or a 1/350 ship either before so learning as I go .

The hull details are mostly fictional , the plating is 'silly' and the portholes just randomly put in 'sort of' the right position . After staring at it on the bench , decided it all better go and be replaced with some proper PE portholes instead of what can best be described as molehills .

There's been some cycles of fill , sand , prime going on , getting there slowly







Scale seems to be an issue , if this is 1/350 then it's about 38 feet too long and 2 feet too wide , so maybe the scale is closer to 1/330 ish . Also no instructions so will have to play around with printing some plans to roughly the scale of the model .

[RustyB]

Shot of Orion for reference , she's no Hood or KGV for bulging armour belt .

[marijn van gils]

The hull details are mostly fictional , the plating is 'silly' and the portholes just randomly put in 'sort of' the right position .

Scale seems to be an issue , if this is 1/350 then it's about 38 feet too long and 2 feet too wide , so maybe the scale is closer to 1/330 ish . Also no instructions so will have to play around with printing some plans to roughly the scale of the model .

Aie! I hope the designer didn't take too much liberties with the shapes and proportions of the hull too...

[RustyB]

The hull details are mostly fictional , the plating is 'silly' and the portholes just randomly put in 'sort of' the right position .

Scale seems to be an issue , if this is 1/350 then it's about 38 feet too long and 2 feet too wide , so maybe the scale is closer to 1/330 ish . Also no instructions so will have to play around with printing some plans to roughly the scale of the model .

Aie! I hope the designer didn't take too much liberties with the shapes and proportions of the hull too...

Indeed when I can size some plans to suit , then hopefully all will become clear. Doing some brief work with comparing the super structure ratios it seems more over scale than completely out of whack but TBH as this is the only show in town for an Orion at this scale , I guess I have to work with what I have .

[RustyB]

So , the hull sides are now ready for their portholes to arrive , time to look at the deck. Not much for options here other than paint it . Gave it four coats of different deck wood colours, with strips of masking as I went to give it some variation, filtered with a dilute to tone it down and washes it with Van Dyke brown oil . Probably a bit dark for Home Fleet, but for Jutland, 2 years into the war ? The oil will tone down a bit when it is dried out .







Will start with the superstructure next, question for those more knowledgeable than I ? Would the decks by dark grey steel or corticene , which I don't think would have been fitted in 1911 ? The plan view I have shows brass 'strips" maybe ?, or maybe just joints in the plate?, any advice appreciated

[Dan K]

The planked deck looks pretty nice.

[marijn van gils]

I guess I have to work with what I have .

Yeah, that's always the case of course. No model is perfect, and neither is any kit... (but there is variation of course! )
But the only alternative is scratchbuilding, and that would of course be a completely different project. And also no guarantee for success...

The planked deck looks pretty nice.

Yes, it does indeed!
Luckily! I would say, because I have seen some 3D-printed kits with decks that have planking grooves like the hull plating on this kit...

[RustyB]

I guess I have to work with what I have .

Yeah, that's always the case of course. No model is perfect, and neither is any kit... (but there is variation of course! )
But the only alternative is scratchbuilding, and that would of course be a completely different project. And also no guarantee for success...

The planked deck looks pretty nice.

Yes, it does indeed!
Luckily! I would say, because I have seen some 3D-printed kits with decks that have planking grooves like the hull plating on this kit...

Thank you both, I've come to realise that this is not a 'shake and bake' model with 3D, a lot of lazy choices by the designer - which is a shame as for a bit better research it could truly be outstanding .

[RustyB]

So....after scanning and sizing I now have an answer as to the shape .

If we go with the assumption that the length is the main dimension, she's about 10 mm wide in the hips , and 5mm taller from keel to main deck, although the turrets , & most of the superstructure fits the plan at whatever scale we are calling this (approx 1/325) .

At least now I have a way of placing the parts where they should go, and now knowing the descrepency hopefully that won't irritate me too much and spoil the build .

[RustyB]

Awaiting some PE etc to come and some metal barrels , so made on start on its sea scape with a large chunk of XPS .



Also looked back though some old photos and found this picture of the man himself on board Conqueror in 1914

[RustyB]

Bit more progress this week

Having removed all the fake port holes and plating , replaced them with PE ones using scale printouts for reference (my wife thinks I'm nuts... but actually found it rather fun )

Painted the antifouling and boot topping , and then covered it all in a version of Admiralty Home Fleet Grey 507A . Deck fittings next.

Also been working out how it all fits together with no provided instructions , and how it deviates from 1916 Conqueror, as this 'kit' is Orion as launched

It's a shame it will carry few of the pretty 3D boats as it will be built as she appeared in 1916 , probably fitted more more Carley floats, as the boats were left behind in wartime according to this book I"ve been reading











Metal barrels are technically 12.5" for Invincible as I could not find any 13.5", so they will suffice - they will need some fitting to replace the very thick 3D ones . I reckon should be an improvement .



This is post Jutland according to IWM (1917?) , but as close to May 1916 as I can find , a fine sight doing about 18 knots



IWM claims this is Conqueror but as far I can research she was only a flagship in 1921 after returning from the Med, and by then the turret scales had long gone so not sure, but it's a nice picture regardless .



Also picked up this book , which has a lot of nice details regarding her sister Thunderer .

[ModelMonkey]

Really nice work cleaning up the hull! Much better looking.

Great subject, too!