1/350 HMS Barham (1941)

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:04 am

I was not sure of being able to make a online scratchbuild post, my English is poor, but the importance of the feedback here at MW.com is too much tempting, so, why not, lets try it!

I love the QE class for a lot of reasons, they were all different, their life was long two wars, they took part in a lot of actions in the Mediterranean theatre, with the "R" class they are the most representative british battleship design of WWII ... and a lot more...

The beginning is set in November 2006 when I found a copy of the Profile Morskie n.44. I was reading the online scratchbuilt forum here at MW.com and I begun to think about a large ( ... large is relative to my home storage capabilityes

) british battleship for my collection.

Soon the history of HMS Barham attracts my sympathies, but the profile Morskie was not enought, it still lacked to me a copy of "British Battleships of WWII" ... in this stage my wife was decisive, she found a copy of the book for Cristhmas ... probably I will never know how much she paid for it

!

So I was ready to start studying the project :

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:19 am

A few month later me and my friend Marcello decided to start the building.

I planned to realize the hull with three layers of balsa wood glued with rapid "white glue", this acts in about 5 mins.

First we cut every layer, and then we glued them, this is the result:

The hull was still rude, but my base to start the building was ready. In the 1/700 Exeter I used only one piece of balsa and a lot of spray putty in order to smooth the surfaces.

The scale of the Barham allowed me to change and to use some plasticard to cover the hull. This was made in order to have a plastic smooth surface were to be able to add the necessary details.

This operation was made with 0.25 mm, 0.5 mm plasticard and CA glue.

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:39 am

Maxim's POW and Steve's Dorsetshire were a "gun shot" for me.

I begun to think about a wood main deck, but I realized that for this first "big" model it was too much for my modeling skills, I had need of something simpler...

I chosed a simplified version of the pattern, I needed to start with something simple in order to be able to complete it, I need to make mistakes to learn how to make things, so the final chose was for a 1X1 mm wood strip cut in the length of 30 mm.

I understand that this was out of scale, but for the first time form me was acceptable.

The second problem were the borders around the superstructure and barbettes, my decision was to omit it and to cover all the deck in only one solution. In this phase a did a lot of mistakes, but learned how too and next time I'll be able to build a more realistic wood planking.

This is the result:

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:50 am

The hull structure was almost finished, she still lacked the bow, the stern, the hull plates detail and the Bulges. I decided to add the small details later to avoid any damage handling the hull.

The bow and the hull plating was made with 0.25 mm plasticard, it is not to scale, but I'll sand it in order to reach the correct proportions.

Bulges were made with 2.0 mm plasticard in only one piece P/S. This operation took me 3 days of work, also if in a waterlined QE BB we see only a small part of bulges, the shape was a pain for me.

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:01 am

After the bulges it was time for a bit of fun.

I went to Marcello laboratory to start milling the barbettes and to make some test for the 15" gun barrel.

Barbettes were an easy task, we milled a solid resin cylinder and then we cut it to measure.

The barrel was another thing

fist try was made again with a resin cylinder, but we had just a few minutes before to realize that resin was not right to reach the thin diemeter of the 15" barrels.

Second try was made with a alluminium cylinder, this time the result was a bit better, but I think I will not use our barrel, when ready I'll buy CNC barrels in Germany.

My need of fun was not satisfied, so I decided to build the MKI mount for the 15". For this operation I used the usual materials from Evergreen while the canvas covers were made with Milliput.

As a side note the Profile Morskie plan has a mistake about the towers 'cause it shows rivets on the roofs, we saw that on MKI there were not.

This is the result:

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:06 am

...back to the hull!

This is the "up to date" stage, I'm building the armor around the 6" shields. Again the Profile Morskie is wrong. Checking the Raven/Roberts drawings on British Battleships of WWII I saw that the armor belt around the 6" gun deck was smoth while the Morskie represents it with chines on the side.

As usual I trust A/R drawings so I modeled the armor smooth:

Post by **Dave Wooley** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:47 am

Yet another superb 1;350 scratch build like the Royal Oak the Barham is a ship we seldom see modelled. Thanks for posting
Dave Wooley

Edward Pinniger · Post by **Edward Pinniger** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:05 am

Looking very good so far! Your technique of hull construction looks to have been very effective; how easy did you find the process of adding the styrene sheet to the balsa "core"?

This class of ships is one I'd like to scratchbuild myself one day, though probably in a larger scale. I want to get more experience building smaller ships, though, before I attempt something as large and complex as a battleship.

Torpedo · Post by **Torpedo** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:07 am

Dino, what a wonderful report! Nice to see what progress you made and how the ship is "growing"...

Don't worry about your english - I know the problem. For me it's fine, but I am only a foreign "Kraut"

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:00 am

EPinniger - To add styrene sheets over balsa is simple ... sometime too much simple, CA will rush when it touch the balsa wood

, so "one shot one kill" when you put in place the sheet must be in it's right position no way to change it.

In this way, if needed, you can add some irregularity to the hull just modelling the balsa before to glue the styrene, this could be useful for modern ships without armor.

Torpedo - .. mate you ispired me

, usually I'm a lazy modeler, but after your translation work I decided to start my post!

Dino

Jefgte · Post by **Jefgte** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:10 am

What a great project...

Barham is a very nice BB with tragical spectacular End

Very nice deck & well detailled hull.

Bravo Dino

Torpedo · Post by **Torpedo** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:02 am

Dino, that's what it's all about. Inspiration! I can't show my wife the progress - she only asks me WHAT has changed - so I am getting on YOUR nerves

Serious. You're doing a great job not only modelling, but also describing your work. Good, that I inspired at least someone!

ModelWarships Gallery Page · Post by **ArizonaBB39** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:23 am

Dino, the ship is looking very nice so far. That is a very interesting way to build the hull, you've inspired me to say the least. Hmm....now to find the time to scratchbuild something! Keep us updated for sure!

Filipe Ramires · Post by **Filipe Ramires** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:37 pm

That's quite a good job Dino!!!

Avery Boyer · Post by **Avery Boyer** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:45 pm

Very nice, can't wait to see more!

Laurent · Post by **Laurent** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:01 pm

Hi Dino ,

all I wanted to say has already been said ...

Regards ,

Laurent

Post by **JIM BAUMANN** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:19 pm

very good Dino--having seen the super job you did with Exeter--I am sure this will again be a atmospheric model when completed!

check your inbox for a PM

Best wishes

Jim B

Laurence Batchelor · Post by **Laurence Batchelor** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:51 pm

Very nice Dino, does this mean in between university work I must keep an eye out for Barham material?

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:35 am

Laurence Batchelor wrote:Very nice Dino, does this mean in between university work I must keep an eye out for Barham material?

... Laurence ... I didn't dare to ask it ... but you are welcome

, anyway no need to hurry, it's a long project and I'll take my time to finish it. I'm still collecting some material for you about the Regia Marina unit dislocation during WWII. I forgot to say that my provider changed my e-mail now it's d.carancini@alice.it

@ Jim: Thank you for your help

Dino Carancini · Post by **Dino Carancini** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 7:22 am

Time to put in place X barbette. First I need somethink to check its position:

With this copy of the plan, drawn over a transparent sheet, I glue the barbette in the correct position:

I proceed drawing the walls over a 0.25 plasticard sheet:

...once cut this "thing" will be one of the walls near X barbette: