The Ship Model Forum

Having finished my 1:144 Harry S Truman I am making a start on the above and have a few questions for any Russian Navy fanatics on the Board.

1 - Does the whole Cross Sword Radar fitting rotate, or just the dishes on the top?
2 - Do the dishes on the Cake Stand rotate
3 - What do the words on the bow and stern say - in English? If I new this I could use the 'Russian" on my computer to generate same back into Russian - or does anyone now where to get the letters and numbers in 1:144 scale? Also the emblem on the stern?
4 - Does anyone know where there are any decent pictures - from slightly above - of the Port side edge of the Flight Deck - is there a catwalk for example?

Well practically Cross Sword is a guidance radar. The dishes on top turn around all the time to scan the area. When it's going to illuminate the whole thing turns to aim the main dish at the target.

Dishes on Cake Stand rotate indeed.

I don't have much time now, but I'm sure Michael can give you the pictures you need of that port side edge along with good shots of the words and emblem.

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The merchant shipyard

Hi Bannon What a superb project , well I would say that But seriously it is a challenging project at any scale .Neptune has answered your first two questions . I can find out the meaning of the Cyrillic script on the stern and bow . Regarding the catwalk , perhaps for starters this will help . Which section of the flight deck edges do you require? and do you have any photos of the port side? Also it would help to get a copy of Barry Deans book "Kiev and Kuznetzov Russian Aicraft Carriers" published by Concord ISBN 9623610408 . If you haven't already I would recomend you purchase the Trumpeter kit. When building Moskva at 1:125 the old Airfix kit proved invaluable.

Dave Wooley

it is a page open on kuznetov in this board at
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=34697&view=unread#unread
i have lot of images and some russian book so if you need i can send offline some scan
ciao peppe

Dave,

Since posting my daughter has come up with the answer for the Russian 'words' - she has a friend who speaks Russian - so I'm following this line. I have the book you mention but I still can not define the Port side of the catwalk. The area I can't sort is forward from the Port Quarter to the end of the angle, like so much of the hull it appears rounded in the main but is it like the sides of the Ski Jump - rounded out directly from the deck? I have bought the Italeri kit for scaling up and dimensions etc but this area is not good enough.

Neptune

Thanks for that - all I have really got to do is work out the drive - not difficult - the 'lock on' feature may will be another thing

Pepe

Thanks I'll keep you 'on file'

Paul Bannon

One other thing I forgot - hull colour below the waterline. Most show it as conventional Red but I have one set of colour drawings that show it as GREEN. I would very much like it to be green, because, like the ship herself, it's differant - anyone got the story?

Bannon could you send me a PM thanks
Dave Wooley

Dave

Sorry - whats a 'PM' ?????

Hi Bannon Sorry about that . A PM is a personal message which can be sent from one MW member to another , a sort of in house e-mail. .You will fined this at the top of the board headed "new messages" click and it should come up.
Dave Wooley

Despite the questions I have made a start on the model. The only way I could think of doing the Bow section was with sandwich construction - don't like this method - but with all the double curvature bits it appeared the only way. I think the method is to heavy - the lighter the hull the more you can get in, especially batteries - if you need ballast, use batteries!!!!

The Kuznetsov is, like the HST, will again be in two halves

The frame will now be roughly planked, wrapped in plastic and the inside painted with fibreglass resin before filling and sanding the outside to a good finish.

The small hull on the frame is the Italari kit used to draw scaled up plans. In the HST I used anchored nuts and loose bolts - thanks to boatman's suggestion I have used coach bolts and wing nuts - the simplest things are often the most clever !!

Hi Bannon the pic's of your build look nice an clear an its nice to see like HST you are doin a good job of the build an thanks for the mention about wing nuts i hope to post my nimitz build on this site soon look forward to seein some more pics when you post them
chris the boatman

Hi Bannon good to see your efforts coming to fruition . This is going to be an awesome build.
Dave Wooley

Dave

Tried the PM bit and don't think it worked - how about e-mail?

PAUL BANNON

I'll PM you with my e-mail address . There will be an indication that you have a PM waiting at the top of the board were it says new messages just beneath the logo.When it does click on that and your PM board will open.
Dave Wooley

Just a couple more pictures of the hull build. I.m afraid I'm a little old fashioned with my hulls and stick to plank on frame. I know Fibreglass is the present favourite but it appears to be no easier and the end result appears to still require stiffening where the old plank and frame comes up rigid by the time half the planks are in place.

Bow section is just about ready for final sanding before undercoating and building a good finish for the top coats.

Unfortunatly the use of sandwich construction on the bow has made this section a little heavy at 4.25ibs with the stern likely to come out at about 3ib's, giving a total in the region of 8lb's for the basic hull. My HST required 50lb's of ballast to get her down to the waterline so a conservative estimate looks like being in the region of 40 - 45 ib's payload for the Kuznetsov. Should be enough for three 12 volt and two small six volt batteries and all the electrics.

I think the bow has come out reasonably well, although frame 2 turned out a little bit 'fat' but it wasn't to obvious until I had the planks in place - it will have to pass.

Hi Bannon your build is developing very well . Question What material will you use for the deck?
Dave Wooley

I look forward to your construction of the 1/144 scale model of the Admiral Kuznetsov. Do you have a new pictures of your model?
As you may be aware I'm building the same model at 1/72 currently working around the stern cutting holes into the hull. Hope to have the holes filled and shaped before I go on holidays to Tumut before christmas but if not there is always next year.
At least with your model you wont have the trouble I have with transport.

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Building
1/72 Admiral Kuznetsov
1/72 Frunze Russian Battle cruiser
1/72 Steregushchy-class corvette

Mick
Tumut Australia

Dave

The flight deck is something that is exercising my small thought processes rather a lot! With the HST I started with 5mm ply - to heavy at 9ib - to much weight to high. Went to 1/8" plastic sheet as used by sign makers. This worked OK and was less than half the weight BUT sailing one day in bright sunlight the plastic EXPANDED by about 1/4" all round> I could live with this but with the Kuznetsov you have the added bonus of a 12 degree ski ramp!

The answer in my mind at the moment is Fibre glass - if I can get a good enough mold made for the ramp. Laying up is easy using a piece of glass as a mold and two layersof 2oz matt will come out very thin and strong and will be OK for the flat sections - then I'm back to the ramp?? I'll get it sorted eventually.

Ozpirate

Couple of picks attached - one of the inside of hull with 'ballast' roughly laid in and another of the hull on 'tow test' It sailed very well and had a pretty authentic bow wave. Have you sorted anything out on how to produce the name on the bow and stern? As a point of interest do you know what it says? It's a real mouthfull -Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union, Kuznetsov !!!!!

General

Drive shafts, motors ,rudders and stabiliser operating systems will be going in over the next couple of weeks and next outing should be under her own power.

Mate I'm a long way of that point of putting the name on the ship. As like you working on the hull. Currently making the holes in the stern for all the parts that belong there. Next will be cutting down the hull from the deck line to the hanger deck line in parts of the hull. I plan to put a hanger deck in. Once that is in place and stable The next steps will be motors, stabilizers,Rudders and have a look what else I might do before I continue building up to the deck line and finally putting a deck on sometime mid to late next year. After all its a hobby not a business!!!
Here a few of my model. Shot one was a very early stage

This was its first time in the water back in October 2008

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Building
1/72 Admiral Kuznetsov
1/72 Frunze Russian Battle cruiser
1/72 Steregushchy-class corvette

Mick
Tumut Australia

A few more pictures of my Kuznetsov.

I wasn't to sure when Dave said the project was 'awesome' - was that a polite way of saying 'difficult'? The project has come close to going in the skip a few times over the last couple of weeks. The Italari kit was ok for making the hull and giving the locations/size of everything but short on detail - the port side of the kit is completely wrong and I have ended up working entirely from photographs. I would not say it's correct in every detail but I'm happy enough with the result so far.

Props have been made and fitted complete with oiling tubes and the rudders are in place as are the stabalisers. Again, nothing on the stabalisers - not shown on any pics I have. However, as the boat is an upgraded Kiev I have assumed they are fitted and decided to fit them in such a way as they will be most effective. They will be piggy backed onto the rudders for now but would be better if they worked independantly. I intend to limit their movement with the mechanical linkage eg 100% rudder movement, 50% stabilisers

Paul Bannon