Thursday 12 December 2013

Ship Bodging


In a shock development I recently acquired on eBay a batch of 1/1200 scale ships.  Well OK then, another batch of 1/1200 ships.  This lot was all plastic kits and includes yet more Scharnhorsts, Bismarcks, KGVs, New Jerseys and (of course!) Yamatos!  There are also three of the Esci/Revell Littorio class BBs and a few other bits.
So what to do with them all?  I already have all three Littorio class BBs (in balsa) so I clearly need a fourth - the never-completed Impero.  And I have plans for the other two.  Oh yes indeed.
There were a few small turrets and so on missing from some of the ships so one of the Yamatos (above) has been partly cannibalised to repair her sisters.  I need names for more Yamatos now - any ideas?
Main turrets removed and ready for undercoating.
One of the KGVs was missing a funnel and boats - but luckily I had the missing parts in the spares box - courtesy of David Crook.  This gives me all five ships of this class!
One of the pair of New Jerseys sacrificed a number of parts in the interest of her sister's conversion to a Montana.  Never actually built, the Montana class was to have been a wee bit longer than a NJ with 12 16in guns in 4 triple turrets.  Using my typically subtle modelling techniques I sawed a NJ in two just aft of the er, aft funnel.  The gap was filled with balsa and when dry a touch of filler (below).
More of this disturbing saga soon.

17 comments:

The Ferrymen said...

Tim,
The Shinano was originally laid down as another Yamato-class BB and later converted to a CV. As long as you're doing what-ifs, you should have a Shinano that was completed as a BB to battle the Montana, right?
Regards,
John

itchy's wargames said...

Musashi & Shinano were the only 2 actaully named |I believe ?.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Not even the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty can stop your building programme Tim ;)

Archduke Piccolo said...

I was going to say Mushashi and Shinano, unless you were going to go with the latter's aircraft carrier conversion (Shinano was never completed as a battleship).

Two possibilities:
1. name further units after the front names of Japanese Admirals associated with these vessels: Isoroku, Takeo, and Seiichi, say.

2. Two others of the class were planned, called Ship Numbers 111 and 797. Japanese for 111 seems to be hyaku-ju-ichi and for 797, nanahyaku-kyuju-kyu (I think, I'm not sure). Perhaps these could be adapted: 'Hyakujuichi' and 'Nanahyaku'. Incidentally, those numbers would make fine differencing on the model vessels.

Al said...

Great models, actually quite well detailed for the scale

Tim Gow said...

The Ferrymen
You should be aware that I already have five Yamatos!

Tim Gow said...

itchy's wargames
Got 'em both already!

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
Good ideas - especially given that I need names for five ships in all!

Tim Gow said...

Geordie
That treaty has long been torn up!

Tim Gow said...

Al
The bigger ships are nearly a foot long, so plenty of room for detail.

Wg Cdr Luddite said...

My name suggestion is Tomato.
Seriously Tim, your megalomania just gets worse !
Would you like the name of my therapist ?

Tim Gow said...

Wg Cdr Luddite
You have a therapist? It's not working.....

davidcrawford19 said...

Naming Japanese battleships is easy! They were named after ancient provinces of Japan, so all you have to do is dig out the board belonging to the game Shogun, and name away.

Paul Foster said...

Good score Tim.

Tim Gow said...

davidcrawford19
Thanks - a couple of people have suggested this - it looks like the way forward. I only hope I don't run out of provinces.....

Tim Gow said...

Paul Foster
At £2 a ship definitely one of my better buys!

Chris Kemp said...

If you run out of ship names Tim, then the under-appreciated Hollywood Film about the "Yomama" where Yule Brinner plays Vice Admiral Seiichi, may provide inspiration :-)

Kind regards, Chris.

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