The Ship Model Forum

HMS Dorsetshire and her sister HMS Norfolk comprised a two-ship sub-class of the famous County Class cruisers and were the last of these significant ships to be built. I�ve seen references to both the �Dorsetshire Class� and �Norfolk Class�, but the later seems to be the more widely used designation. Dorsetshire was commissioned in 1930 and spent most of her life prior to World War 2 as part of the Royal Navy�s China Squadron. In 1941 she was in the Atlantic involved in the Bismarck pursuit, torpedoing the battleship at the end and credited by some with delivering the coup de grace. Back in the Far East in 1942, she was sunk by Japanese aircraft, along with HMS Cornwall, in the Indian Ocean.

This build should probably be titled as a �semi-scratchbuild� as I am utilizing a purchased fiberglass hull, as well as various other commercially available fittings and bits. The hull was obtained some years ago (in the early �90s I think) from a shop in England called Midway Models. At the time they produced a range of �semi-kits� aimed at the RC market, all in 1/192 scale, which included Nelson/Rodney, KGV, and Hood in addition to Dorsetshire. While I did have the foresight and good sense to purchase the Rodney along with the Dorsetshire I now regret very much not buying the other two as well.

Along with the fiberglass hull, the kits included plans, fittings and other miscellaneous parts. The fittings provided were apparently obtained from a variety of sources and are of widely varying quality. Manufactured of cast metal, injection molded plastic, and cast resin, they include gun barrels, secondary guns, torpedo tubes anchors, deck fittings, boats, rafts, hatches, doors, etc. Most will not be used because they are either crude and/or incorrect for their intended application. The kit also came with some vacuformed �shapes� meant to be used for the funnels and gun turrets.

The plans provided, however, were excellent-a two-sheet set drawn by Norman Ough, and a work of art in their own right- depicting the ship as originally constructed in 1930. I decided I wanted to build her in a later configuration, as she was after her 1937 refit, which meant the plans would need to be modified. The differences between 1930 and post-1937 were not great and involve mostly her AA armament and fire control. The most noticeable change was the replacement of the four single 4� HA mounts with four dual 4� Mk XIX HA mounts and the relocation of two of the mounts aft abreast of the rear funnel. The four single 2 pdr mountings abreast of the bridge were removed and replaced by two 8-barrelled pom-pom mounts on raised platforms either side of the after control structure, while two raised platforms between the fore and middle funnels with quad .5� machine gun mounts had been already added during a previous refit. The single high angle director was removeded from the roof of the after control structure and replaced by circular tubs on each side for the pom-pom directors, but two HA directors were added on either side of the bridge. Other changes included some minor reconfiguration of the bridge structure, relocation of davits and boat stowage and a more robust aircraft catapult to accommodate the new Supermarine Walrus. Other than the addition of some 20mm mounts in late 1941 she would retain this configuration until the end. The photo below shows the twin 4" mounts along with the one of the quad machine gun mounts on its elevated platform.

Since I could find no plans of her in the 1937 configuration I decided to make my own and started searching for photos of the ship which would allow me to draw her in the desired configuration. I began with the two best resources I already had: Raven and Roberts British Cruisers of World War Two and Man o�War 1 County Class Cruisers, and was able to find some helpful photographs of the ships taken during the appropriate time period (Dorsetshire and Norfolk were apparently virtually identical). I also found two photos of a magnificent model by Norman Ough of the ship in drydock undergoing the 1937 refit. These photos, along with some very useful drawings of typical British warship details, also drawn by Ough, were found in PC Coker�s classic Building Warship Models.
I was also able to find a surprising number of photos of Dorsetshire at various websites on the internet. In addition I collected whatever drawings and information I could on other County Class ships, such as the Profile Morskie booklet on Kent, and a plan set of HMS Sussex, recognizing that although there were many differences between these ships and Dorsetshire that there were perhaps some common details that would be useful. I also found a 1/400 JSC scale paper model of Norfolk which I obtained. I have a fairly large collection of 1/200 paper models, which I have not to build but to use as 3d plans and references. I have found them to contain details not usually available, even in some very good plan sets.

I am fortunate in that my office has a large format copier that will make copies of drawings up to 32� wide and, for all practical purposes, unlimited length. It was, therefore, a simple matter to make a full-size copy of the Dorsetshire plan and, utilizing a high-tech, state-of-the-art material known as Wite-Out, I blanked out the areas needing to be modified, re-copied the plan and drew in the modifications on the blank areas. Building the model had actually already commenced with the construction of one of the main gun turrets. The intent was to make a master which will be used to form a mold and cast four turrets in resin. I have never done any casting before so this should an interesting learning experience.

My usual construction method utilizes Evergreen sheet styrene plastic of various thicknesses along with their wide variety of other rectangular, angular and tubular shapes. The pieces of plastic are typically joined by bringing them in contact with each other and then applying Ambroid ProWeld liquid cement with a small paint brush. Capillary action pulls the glue from the brush to the joint between the pieces and a welded bond results. At times I also utilize a gel-type cement, made by the German company Faller, which comes in a plastic squeeze bottle with an applicator tip of very small diameter stainless steel tubing, allowing excellent control of the amount applied.

More to come.

Why can I see just the $%&@ little red cross?

Francisco P. de Nanclares wrote:Why can I see just the $%&@ little red cross?

The last two seem somewhat "reluctant" to come up for some reason. If you right click on them and hit "Show Picture" you should see them.

Steve Sobieralski wrote: If you right click on them and hit "Show Picture" you should see them.

I never knew until now, that this trick could be done (watch out, red X marks!)...

Steve, I want to wish you good luck on your project! The "Counties" make excellent subjects to build, in any scale.

Their hulls (except for Suffolk and Cumberland) ought to allow plenty of vertical clearance for internal RC equipment and controls in 1:192. From the tone of your post, I presume RC is not in your plans for this build...?

Looking forward to your build, also welcome to the board

...likewise, can't wait for this one!!....Dan, you've just gave me a heart stopping moment as regards vertical clearance for RC equipment!!......how much is needed for the average set up?.....my little KGV steamer is about 75mm from keel to main deck in 1:90 (910mm LOA).....I'm not planning to rc it right now, but I want to build her so its possible for a retro fit at a later date......what about distance between frames?.....jeez, I knew I'd have to start worrying about this sooner rather than later...I've built the keel and frames, dry fitted them snugly, and the intention was just to make shafts, rudder post and leave some kind of cavity

.....also, nice tip on the little red crosses!!!.....I've been sittin here missin out on loads o pics, quietly fuming!!

First, I don't know why some of the photos in my first post are reluctant to load. For me, its the usually last three that don't come up and, as they were the largest files, I've tried downsizing them but that doesn't seem to have any effect. Worse yet, I seem to be having the same problem in this post, so please keep right clicking on the photos and hit "Show Picture" if you want too see them. Sorry for the inconvenience and if anyone has a clue as to why this is happening I would be glad to hear it.

RNfanDan: No RC, as you'll see below, I'm strictly a static builder. I'm sure the hull could have accomodated the gear, especially some of the modern micro equipment, but its difficult enough for me getting models to look right, much less work at the same time!

ARH: Thanks for the welcome. I have admired your work on this and other sites for some time.

Back to the build:

The fiberglass hull, as supplied with the semi-kit, had a smooth skin with no plating detail or portholes, only raised hawse pipe lips. The overall shape, however, matched the plans and the bow knuckle was nicely done. The first step, even though the hull was over ten years old, was to wash it thoroughly to remove any latent mold release agent that might be present.

The next task was to mark out the location of the portholes. I did this by taping a copy of the outboard hull profile to the hull and marking the centers of the portholes with the sharp point of a drafting compass. Once this was done on both sides, I drilled out the portholes using a pinvise and, several hand cramps later (there were a lot of portholes in a County hull), this was complete.

Before adding the deck I epoxied in a piece of bass wood along the interior hull centerline to serve as blocking for screws to secure the hull to a stand. Rectangular plastic deck beams were cemented at about 2� intervals across the hull and along the inside of the hull perimeter. .030� sheet plastic decking was then glued on to the beams, allowed to dry and then trimmed at the hull edge. The hull was thereby permanently sealed (no chance of any RC gear going in there now).
Using the plans as a guide, I next drilled three holes through the deck and hull for the hawse pipes. Evergreen tubing, sized to fit the holes was then inserted and super-glued in. After the glue set the tubing was trimmed flush with the deck and hull.
I then located and drilled four holes in the stern for the shaft tubes and installed them. The rudder was cut to shape from sheet plastic per the plan, the edges rounded and a rudder shaft tube added.

The bilge keels were made using thin rectangular plastic strips. To obtain the taper (most bilge keels are shaped like the trailing edge of an airplane wing in section with the broad edge attached to the hull) I clamped a pair of scissors in a vise with the blades open to a very slight angle. I then drew the plastic strips through the open scissor blades, gradually shaving off material until one edge of the strip was appropriately thin. They were then cut to size, the ends shaped and super-glued to the hull.
Having gotten at least some of the more tedious of the hull details underway, I wanted to get a start on some topside details. I decided to start with the aircraft catapult atop which eventually sit one of the very nice 1/200 Supermarine Walrus models which I obtained from Ron Crawford several years ago.
I really enjoy building trussed structures for ships, such as catapults and cranes. The basic technique is very similar to building a balsa airplane kit- lay the main members down on the plan, cut intermediate members to fit and glue. It is also an effective lesson in practical engineering as it is quite amazing how rigid and strong these little structures become once all the triangulating struts are in place.

The catapult carried aboard Dorsetshire consisted of a central section which rotated on a turntable that sat atop the torpedo workshop. Two other sections that extended for aircraft launch telescoped into both ends of the central section. All was fairly well detailed on the plans and I soon had the basic structure of the central section and one of the telescoping ends complete.

I was somewhat disturbed, however, by the fact that there were some obvious discrepancies when I compared what I had constructed per the plans with the photo of the catapult below. Then I realized the problem, I had forgotten that the Dorsetshire had been equipped with a heavier catapult to handle the Walrus in 1937 and I was building the original catapult built for the much light Fairey biplanes with which she was originally equipped.
Well, fortunately not too much time and material wasted and (hopefully) a lesson learned.

Looking good, keep the work comming, looks like its going to be a very good build. ARH

I seem to have difficulties seeing the pictures , any reasons?.
Dave Wooley

I have had to change the ftp to http, to post pictures please put,


http://warshipmodels.com/~users/then your name /picture number.jpg

Steve Sobieralski wrote:

Francisco P. de Nanclares wrote:Why can I see just the $%&@ little red cross?

The last two seem somewhat "reluctant" to come up for some reason. If you right click on them and hit "Show Picture" you should see them.

Yeah, I know the trick, but it usually doesn�t work for me and I tried to no avail here. Thanks anyway.

Francisco P. de Nanclares wrote:

Steve Sobieralski wrote: The last two seem somewhat "reluctant" to come up for some reason. If you right click on them and hit "Show Picture" you should see them.

Yeah, I know the trick, but it usually doesn�t work for me and I tried to no avail here. Thanks anyway.

I SEE NO LITTLE RED X

ARH wrote:I have had to change the ftp to http, to post pictures please put,


http://warshipmodels.com/~users/then your name /picture number.jpg

Thanks Ron, I'll do that from here on out.

Hi Steve welcome .MAGIC I can now see all the pictures. Really a fine piece of work . You say that the model is for RC . Also you used information in PC Cokers book Building Model Warships. I still rate this book as the bench mark for publications on Warship Modelling and for me it remains the best.
Dave Wooley

Hi Dave, glad you are able to see the pictures. I believe the hull that I am working with was originally produced with RC use in mind, but I am actually building it as a static model.

I agree with you completely about PC Coker's book. I bought my copy directly from him when it was first published back in the '70s and have spent many pleasant hours with it since then.

Work on the Dorsetshire has continued with some more work on the hull details and initial construction of the superstructure.

For me, the making and fitting of propeller shafts and brackets is one of the more challenging tasks in scratch building a ship model. The exact configurations and locations of the various components are often not very well defined by your average set of plans, and it is usually a matter of cutting and fitting until the proper positions and alignments are obtained. Fortunately, for a static model it is only necessary that these areas basically look right, on a working model, of course, alignments and clearances are very critical.

Using cardboard templates cut to the hull contours to locate the positions of the propeller shafts, I cut and fit the struts for each of the four shaft brackets. The photos below show the shafts with the bracket struts roughly cut for length and angle of attachment to the hull. The propeller shafts are aluminum tubing which is more rigid than the same diameter plastic tubing would be. The propellers are made by Classic Warships as replacements for the plastic items in the Revell 1/72 German S-Boat kit. However, they were originally the propellers for CW�s 1/192 Sims class destroyer kit and they match the diameter of the propellers shown on the Dorsetshire plans. The rudder fitment is also shown. The grey material is Gunze Sanyo �Mr Surfacer�, which I use quite a bit for fairing and to fill minor gaps.
The next photo shows the steps in making the shaft brackets. The bracket tube is plastic sized to match the diameter of the propeller hub and with one end slightly tapered. The struts are then glued to the tube and cut to length and angle to meet the hull. Then small triangular fillets are roughly cut and cemented to the struts were they meet the bracket tube and the hull. Everything is then sanded and filled to shape. I find that a Flex I File is very useful for shaping the curves at the fillet pieces.
I also have started work on some of the superstructure sub-assemblies, beginning with the bridge. The first photo shows the various subcomponents, including the main battery director and the compass platform with the wind deflector baffles in place. Deck beams have been added to the underside of the upper bridge and rectangular holes cut for inclined ladders. The second photo shows the basic structure assembled and the third shows the director and compass platform in place.
[attachment=0]bridge2.JPG[/attachment

[attachment=0]bridge3.JPG

Looking good,

Nice!

Excellent work I particularly like your shafts and propellers . look forward to more pictures and thanks for posting
Dave Wooley